Udemy built its growth by turning its business model into its marketing engine. It created a marketplace where instructors promote their own courses, driving organic traffic and lowering acquisition costs. Its SEO-focused strategy and 200,000+ course catalog capture long-tail search demand, while localized pricing and campaigns across 180+ countries make the platform feel personal and accessible. Udemy for Business added a strong B2B arm that targets companies through thought leadership, subscriptions, and success stories, creating sustainable long-term revenue.
Figma has acquired Weavy and rebranded it as Figma Weave, a new AI-native platform for image, video, animation, and motion design. Weave combines model flexibility with professional editing on a browser-based canvas, giving users full control over lighting, masking, and color grading. The acquisition supports Figma's strategy to pair AI with human craft, enabling creatives to refine outputs beyond first prompts and build more distinctive content pipelines.
OpusClip transforms long-form videos into viral-ready clips optimized for social media. It uses models like ClipAnything to automatically detect highlight moments, reframe videos for different platforms, add captions, and generate brand templates and b‑roll. The platform supports uploads from YouTube, Vimeo, Zoom, Twitch, and more, and offers both a free plan and a paid tier.
Pomelli is a new AI tool from Google Labs and DeepMind designed to help small and mid-sized businesses generate consistent and branded content across social channels. It builds a Business DNA profile by analyzing your website, then produces tailored campaign ideas and editable creative assets. The tool is now available in beta across select English-speaking countries.
A good email strategy starts with intention. The “why” behind each message matters as much as what's sent. Standout emails sound human, use thoughtful segmentation, and prioritize meaningful communication over volume. Focus on impact rather than vanity metrics, viewing unsubscribes as healthy signals and engagement as the real measure of success. Personalized and well-timed messages build trust, while generic or image-heavy ones erode it. Pattern-interrupt emails that spark curiosity can re-engage audiences. Like tapas, the best emails are small, purposeful, and satisfying.
EarBuds is a weekly podcast newsletter that helps listeners find high-quality shows and helps creators reach engaged audiences. Each issue features 5 episodes tied to a theme, including one from the curator's own show and others they recommend. Founded in 2017 to solve discovery challenges and give independent creators more visibility, it has grown into a platform with a podcast, website, and active social presence. The focus is on building lasting listener relationships and giving creators tools to present their content thoughtfully.
Marketing teams want to adopt AI but they don't want brand-killing automation or constant micromanagement. That's why teams are abandoning one-shot prompting and adopting human-in-the-loop workflows instead.
News creators are becoming key players in the news ecosystem, gaining audience attention even in markets with strong legacy media. A Reuters survey across 24 countries found that 48% of adults under 35 who use social media prefer news creators over mainstream outlets, while 79% use social media weekly for news. A Muck Rack study showed that one-third of journalists are now creator journalists, though 40% earn no income from their self-published work and 78% have fewer than 10,000 subscribers. As traditional newsrooms shrink, creators are filling gaps in coverage and reshaping how audiences consume and engage with news.
85% of enterprise sellers still rely on spreadsheets, with only 5% using CRM. Companies use an average of 5 core GTM channels plus 5.5 experiments. Common channels include LinkedIn (66%), SEO (53%), and warm outbound (48%). AI search and intent-based outbound are growing fastest at 51% and 45%. Early-stage companies succeed with founder-led channels, mature companies with scalable channels like conferences and paid ads. AI tools like ChatGPT are widely used, but impact is mostly in outbound, market intelligence, and content marketing. Emerging tools like Clay, Lovable, and n8n help teams run technical workflows and intent-driven campaigns.
Best Western runs its social strategy almost entirely through creators, with 90% of content coming from influencer collaborations. A two-person team manages over 100 creators a year who feature nearly 300 hotels through story-driven posts that spotlight local owners and authentic hospitality. They focus on long-term relationships, giving creators creative freedom to tell real travel stories. All outreach and content management are handled in-house to keep the tone consistent across platforms.
Click-through rate alone is not a reliable measure of PPC success. Ads with lower CTRs often yield higher conversion volume and better ROI when evaluated using metrics like conversions per impression or revenue per impression. This approach helps advertisers focus on qualified traffic rather than volume. For B2B brands, refining ad copy to filter out consumer clicks is especially critical to maintain budget efficiency and lead quality.
For the third year, Webflow surveyed 1,000 marketing and technology leaders [9] about how they're building, managing, and optimizing their websites. Explore the data behind how web teams are navigating AI, collaboration, and technology shifts — and why future success will hinge on systems built for speed, collaboration, and scale. Read the
A guide to building a content audit system with ScreamingFrog, Claude, Zapier MCP, and Google Analytics to identify opportunities to improve existing website content. AI cannot perform a full audit but can support human analysis by combining data from crawls, performance metrics, and SEO tools to highlight underperforming pages. The process involves setting up a structured workflow connecting these tools through Zapier, running site crawls, exporting data to Google Sheets, and using AI prompts to find content improvement opportunities. AI should be treated as an assistant rather than a practitioner. It requires continuous refinement to produce reliable results.
Marketing Genie is an AI-powered marketing assistant from Fractionally Labs that helps startups and small businesses automate their GTM efforts. It turns a single input like an idea or website into meetings, content, partnerships, and revenue by combining automation with the expertise of more than 350 fractional CMOs and executives. This demo shows how Genie researches audiences and competitors, crafts offers, and automates campaigns so founders can grow faster.
Marketing attribution often gives a false sense of understanding and has led to a decline in creativity across the industry. Overreliance on last-click attribution misguides companies into overfunding performance channels like Google while neglecting brand awareness and demand creation. Methods such as “How Did You Hear About Us” surveys and Media Mix Modeling provide more reliable insights, but no system can fully explain human decision-making. The best marketing blends data with creativity, intuition, and a deep understanding of customers rather than relying solely on dashboards and metrics.
The concept of creator-audience fit is focused on the idea that consistent engagement is earned through relevance, not just reach. Establishing fit involves studying audience behavior in digital spaces, capturing their language, and building content formats that reflect their current needs or interests. This playbook outlines how to avoid generic or outdated content by clearly identifying what not to produce and refining content direction through recurring feedback loops.
Horror fandoms offer both seasonal reach and year-round commercial value. Horror fans are highly discerning and respond best to content that feels authentic to the genre. Seasonal audiences drive spikes during October, but the core fanbase engages year-round through initiatives like Halfway to Halloween. Forced integrations are quickly rejected. Success comes when collaborations feel organic, such as leveraging horror iconography or fan-led lore.
The ruling adopts findings from a prior DOJ case, easing the path for publishers to seek damages by establishing Google's monopoly power and unlawful conduct.
More buyers are turning to AI-powered search today – and that number is rising. If you're not appearing in their results, you're not competing. But how can you reverse-engineer strategy to put your name on the AI-map?
PayPal will integrate its digital wallet into ChatGPT, making it the first payments wallet available in the AI platform. Starting next year, users will be able to complete purchases directly through ChatGPT while PayPal merchants list and sell products there. The partnership positions PayPal as a key player in agentic AI commerce, joining other e-commerce integrations with Shopify, Etsy, and Walmart.
Measuring organic growth is becoming more complex. However, traditional SEO metrics remain stable, with 36.5%-67.6% of teams reporting no decline and 35.3% reporting increased trust. While 62.9% of marketers prioritize revenue, conversion, and pipeline, only 31.8% tie growth to business outcomes, with nearly half focusing on traffic. Attribution is complicated by AI, causing many to misclassify LLM-influenced demand as direct, and fewer than 20% use AI-specific analytics. Teams that track predictive input metrics and invest in AI attribution and GEO report higher satisfaction.
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator or free trials from Clay or Apollo to build your invite list. Find a free venue, such as a coffee shop with open seating, or organize a coffee walk. Create an event page on a free platform like Luma to manage RSVPs. Send short, personal invitations through the platforms your audience uses most and expect around half of RSVPs to attend. Stay consistent even if turnout is small, since every event builds momentum.
On's breakout success in a competitive and flat footwear market proves that performance is not enough without emotional resonance. While Nike and Adidas lean on scale and Hoka on comfort-first narratives, On has carved a space that combines high-end design, technical credibility, and cultural storytelling. On supports Olympic sprinters, marathoners, and community leaders alike, keeping its brand grounded and aspirational. Campaigns such as “Soft Wins” use nostalgia and humor to make running feel inclusive, while “Run for Each Other” highlights community bonds. These messages hit especially well with Gen Z and millennial consumers in urban hubs.
TikTok introduced new AI tools to make content creation faster and easier for creators. Smart Split automatically clips, captions, and reframes long videos into shorter clips ready for upload, while AI Outline generates video titles, hooks, and outlines based on prompts or trending topics. Both tools aim to simplify editing and planning so creators can focus on creativity, and all AI outputs undergo safety checks to meet Community Guidelines. TikTok also updated its Subscription revenue model, allowing creators to earn up to 90% of profit payouts if they meet engagement and posting requirements.
Advertising works by nudging memory rather than driving immediate sales. Sustainable growth comes from increasing brand penetration, not loyalty. Brands succeed by being mentally and physically available, balancing long-term brand building with short-term sales activation, and using creative campaigns that build trust. Consistent investment and distinctive assets drive compounding growth over time.
AI is disrupting the economics of content by devaluing evergreen material like Wikipedia's while increasing the visibility and reward for additive, insight-driven content. Wikipedia's human traffic fell 5% YoY as scrapers rose 10.5% and bots surged 162.4%, while Google referrals dropped 35% due to AI Overviews that answer queries directly using its content. Nearly 50% of Wikipedia's keywords now display AI Overviews, yet it receives one-third fewer citations, while sites like YouTube and Reddit have gained visibility and mentions. The shift favors platforms producing net-new insights, pushing brands to reduce evergreen content investment and focus on additive formats such as research, thought leadership, and data storytelling.
LinkedIn's reach has dropped. About a quarter of the feed is now sponsored, and the algorithm favors posts from people users don't follow but whose content engages their connections. Early in the feed, users see posts from people they follow mixed with ads and platform features, but as they scroll, LinkedIn shifts to discovery content to promote new creators. Regular posts get lower visibility since the algorithm favors engagement-heavy content like job changes or layoffs, similar to Instagram and TikTok.
AI search mentions come mostly from third-party sources, accounting for 85% of all brand mentions. Only 13% originate from brand-owned domains. Brands are 6.5X more likely to be cited externally than on their own sites. Nearly 90% of these mentions appear in listicles, comparisons, or reviews. Visibility varies across AI platforms, with 68% of brands appearing on only one system. Owned content builds credibility, while third-party validation boosts recognition and discoverability in AI search.
Infineon and Karta Gift Card have launched NFC-enabled prepaid tags with cryptographic protection. These tags eliminate printed barcodes and visible codes, replacing them with encrypted chips for tap-to-activate or redeem functionality. For brands that offer gift cards, this offers not just fraud mitigation but also a gateway to smarter CRM integration and post-purchase engagement.
Brands using AI-driven retention models can reduce churn by 50-70% and increase customer lifetime value by up to 200%. AI can identify churn risk up to 60 days in advance and trigger targeted interventions by analyzing behavior data such as drops in feature usage or login frequency. Personalized retention strategies address specific causes like poor onboarding or price sensitivity, while lifetime value systems deepen engagement and loyalty. The guide includes a 3-step playbook with sample prompts.
Removing exclusion lists from Google Ads campaigns led to worse performance in a 2.5-month test. It showed lower conversions, higher CPAs, and reduced efficiency. The experiment found that 3 of 4 campaigns performed worse after all exclusions were removed. The results show that well-applied exclusions still help Smart Bidding by focusing on high-intent traffic. However, outdated or overly aggressive exclusions can hurt performance, so advertisers should reassess older lists and test before making changes.
Adding contextual overlays to explain premium features increased Mobbin's paid subscribers by 9%. The new design used progressive disclosure, showing an overlay with visuals, feature descriptions, and an upgrade button when users hovered over “Pro” labels. This approach lets users understand the value of premium content without leaving their current task. During the test, 21% of visitors interacted with the overlay, showing strong interest in learning about Pro features at key moments.
Over 6 million tech professionals read TLDR including developers, product managers, marketers, designers and executives. Get in front of your target audience with an ad placement just like this one! Learn more [10] about running a test campaign.
Pictory turns scripts, blog posts, or long videos into short, shareable clips. It automatically summarizes content, selects visuals from a library of 18M clips and images, adds captions, voiceovers, and music, and lets users customize branding and themes. Features include text-to-video, URL-to-video, screen recording, and video highlight extraction. It requires no editing experience.
This guide provides SMS templates designed to stay within the 160-character limit for various message types. It includes early access, abandoned cart reminders, and Black Friday promotions.
TikTok's US operations are moving to a new structure, with a board of American investors and Oracle managing platform security. The deal, set to be signed Thursday by Trump and Xi, also ends a series of extensions to force TikTok's sale. With control now based in the US, platform policies, ad systems, and data use may shift quickly.
Measuring martech ROI is challenging because organizations treat it as a one-time expense instead of a long-term capability. Tools often end up automating old processes rather than driving growth. To realize martech's potential, treat it as an evolving capability, link it to business outcomes like retention or revenue, and simplify the stack by consolidating overlapping systems.
Brands need to know when to use humor and when to stay serious. Humor can turn a scandal into an advantage, as shown by Astronomer's ad with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jet2's embrace of TikTok memes. However, it can also fail, like e.l.f.'s campaign with Matt Rife, which clashed with audience values. The key is to match tone with brand identity, respond quickly, and read the room. Well-timed humor can defuse tension, but misjudged jokes damage trust. The best responses show awareness, not spin.