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INSIDE ESPN'S TWO-YEAR OVERHAUL OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL GRAPHICS AND BRANDING

A look into ESPN's new visual identity for college football.

HOW BELI ATE YELP

Beli, launched in 2021, is quickly becoming Gen Z's restaurant app of choice as they dine out more often than any other age group and want a better way to track meals. About 80% of users are under 35, and they've logged more than 75M ratings worldwide, nearly rivaling Yelp's totals. Designed like a social network, Beli lets diners score meals, create lists, and plan outings, making it the go-to tool for a generation treating restaurants as a core part of their social lives.

77% OF SITES LOST KEYWORD VISIBILITY AFTER GOOGLE REMOVED NUM=100: DATA

Google's removal of the num=100 parameter has caused widespread drops in reported impressions, rankings, and keyword visibility. An analysis of 319 sites showed 87.7% saw fewer impressions and 77.6% lost unique ranking terms in Google Search Console. Short-tail and mid-tail keywords were hit the hardest. While reports now look weaker, the ‘lost' keyword visibility may largely be scraper traffic that relied on the num=100 parameter.

HOW A VIRAL GEN Z HOODIE BRAND IS MAXIMIZING SIGNAGE ON A POP-UP TOUR

Dandy, a viral Gen Z hoodie brand, created a touring pop-up designed for social sharing. Locations were scouted with Google Earth and modeled in 3D to ensure every angle was camera-ready. Materials allowed for durability and quick touchups, while details like vintage gas pumps, branded shelves, and prize lockers encouraged engagement. The goal was to connect with superfans and generate organic content over short-term sales.

THE INTENTION-ACTION GAP

Consumers often say they want sustainable products but rarely buy them, creating the intention-action gap. A 2020 laundry project closed this gap by removing barriers, using familiar packaging, securing prime shelf placement, and building demand before launch. The focus wasn't convincing people what they should want, but making what they already want easier to choose and better for the planet.

HOW B2B BUYERS CHOOSE WHICH PROBLEM TO FIX (AND HOW TO MAKE YOURS THE PRIORITY)

B2B buyers prioritize problems by importance and urgency. To make a service a priority, companies should frame it around issues with emotional weight, such as reputation or leadership perception. Messaging should highlight personal, high-stakes problems over operational inconveniences and build urgency by showing daily symptoms through repeated messaging, prompting buyers to act.

3 WAYS TO USE PHOTO-TO-VIDEO IN GEMINI

The top three uses for photo-to-video in Gemini are animating illustrations for internal and external content, turning brand photos into mini-movies, and simulating complex creative visions with detailed scene prompts. It can be used to mock up new brand visuals or simulate specific user scenarios. Each generated video includes ambient audio, and results improve with tighter subjects and more specific prompts.

THE COMPLETE MATCH TYPE PERFORMANCE STUDY: THE BEST MATCH TYPES BY BID METHOD

Exact match delivers the best efficiency with higher ROAS and lower CPAs across bidding methods. Broad match supports revenue-driven strategies, especially with Max Conversion Value bidding. Phrase match underperforms in low-data accounts but improves with Target ROAS or Target CPA as Google gains data. Smaller advertisers should start with Exact and expand to Broad, while larger advertisers can layer in Phrase and then Broad based on budget. Exact match should remain the foundation, with adjustments by bid method and account size.

THE HIDDEN 4TH P: HOW PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS TRANSFORMS MARKETING'S MOST OVERLOOKED ELEMENT

Predictive analytics is turning ‘placement' into a strategic marketing advantage by optimizing inventory decisions based on real-time data signals. Retailers are using predictive analytics to forecast exactly what products to stock, where, and when by combining data sources like economic indicators, seasonal trends, and real-time cultural shifts. Walmart's systems predict storm-driven demand spikes down to the product level, while Kroger monetizes its massive customer dataset by licensing forecasting models to smaller chains. These tools prevent costly overstock or stockouts and align inventory with marketing campaigns.

FOR SPORTS FANS WHO KNOW EVERYTHING

Mel Martin's ad for The New York Times Guide to Spectator Sports shows how to market to experts by narrowing the audience and creating intrigue. He uses targeted language, ego appeals, and curiosities that spark interest without challenging the reader. The structure guides attention with headlines, bullet points, and clear formatting. The ad demonstrates that focusing on a specific audience, appealing to pride, and presenting proof in engaging ways can drive conversions even among tough customers.

HOW TO REPURPOSE CONTENT EFFECTIVELY

Instead of breaking apart one asset and sharing it on multiple channels, use unique channel-specific ways to represent the overarching concept.

A CRM FOR CYBERCRIMINALS

SpamGPT gives cybercriminals a professional-grade email marketing platform that automates phishing campaigns.

I AM QUESTIONING THE MARKETING CAREER CLIMB

Marketing is at a crossroads between AI-driven sameness and work that truly matters.

LTK: THE CMO'S CREATOR GUIDE 2026

Creator marketing is now the top area for 2026 investment, ahead of AI-driven search, paid social, and gaming. 90% of brands use creators, and 97% of CMOs plan to increase budgets. Brands are scaling “creator armies” for always-on campaigns, with most working with 50+ creators. Creator content now spans display, CTV, content marketing, and retail media. LTK reports 2.1x higher click growth and 1.4x higher sales growth for brands boosting creator content compared to competitors.

MINI PRODUCTS ARE EVERYWHERE

Brands are releasing smaller versions of bags, snacks, and beauty items to attract price-conscious Gen Z and millennial shoppers. Sales of mini beauty products jumped 15% in H1 2025, nearly 4x faster than full-size items. Minis work as trial purchases, social media-friendly content, and impulse buys. Even tequila and spirits brands are getting in on the trend, turning miniature bottles into “affordable luxuries” that drive buzz.

HOW TO GET CITED IN AI ANSWERS

AI search rewards consistent authority and authentic brand signals. To increase visibility in AI answers, prioritize publishing high-quality, expertise-driven content on your own site or in respected industry publications. Another tactic is to actively participate in conversations on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and niche forums to help AI models pick up real references. Beyond digital efforts, offline tactics such as presenting at industry conferences, collaborating with known influencers, and contributing data-backed research studies create real-world credibility that AI systems can pick up over time.

HOW ALDI REVAMPED ITS SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY — AND WHY IT'S WORKING

Aldi has shifted its social media strategy to presenting itself as a persona rather than a store. It's no longer focusing its socials on low prices and instead leans into playful, culturally relevant content and viral trends. This approach has driven double-digit growth in engagement on Instagram and TikTok, with some posts reaching over 600,000 shares and far outperforming competitors like Kroger and Whole Foods. Aldi's small social team, which consists of a manager and two associates, achieved this by staying consistent across platforms while balancing planned content with quick reactions to trends.

10 B2B NEWSLETTER TIPS

B2B newsletters work best as short-form, native content that teaches or inspires rather than just linking to blog posts. Send them consistently, monthly or bi-monthly, and from a real person, not a generic address. Avoid generic titles, focus on the reader, and keep copy skimmable. Reserve pitches for the PS, use images or videos sparingly, and publish on a newsletter platform for extra reach. Split dense content across multiple issues to keep them readable and engaging.

in action for yourself.

BUILD YOUR OWN AI-POWERED REDDIT INTELLIGENCE TOOL (WEBINAR)

This webinar shows how to turn Reddit's 50M+ daily conversations into actionable insights. It covers how to analyze customer pain points, map journeys, spot trending topics before competitors, and use AI to craft messaging in customers' own words. The webinar also explains how to build an always-on monitoring system with code templates and no-code workflows and provides tools to surface unfiltered customer insights and track real-time market movements.

YOUTUBE UPDATES

YouTube is rolling out new tools across Shorts, Studio, Live, Music, and Shopping to make creation faster. AI features from Google DeepMind's Veo help create video backgrounds, motion effects, auto-edits, and even turn dialogue into music. Studio gets Ask Studio, collaboration tools, A/B testing, auto-dubbing, and likeness detection. Live and podcast creators gain new ways to engage audiences. YouTube Music is adding countdowns, pre-saves, and fan rewards, while brand deals and Shopping get AI-powered enhancements.

WHAT 3 YEARS AT WIZ TAUGHT ME ABOUT B2B MARKETING

Wiz built its B2B brand by ignoring standard playbooks and adopting high-frequency experimentation. The team launched projects such as a toy store for CISOs and a Kubernetes course taught by puppies, intentionally choosing ideas a traditional enterprise would avoid. These “drops” helped differentiate Wiz in a crowded cybersecurity market and fueled a 10X growth in organic reach. Rather than relying on performance channels, it focused on unpaid attention.

PULL VS. PUSH MARKETING

Push marketing usually shows linear or diminishing returns and requires sustained spend to maintain reach. Pull marketing, by contrast, builds momentum over time but depends on audience discovery and organic engagement. Push efforts can risk brand fatigue and low-quality interactions when overused, while pull tactics may underdeliver without a clear path to distribution.

HOW TO PREDICT LTV FOR NEW CUSTOMERS (WITHOUT WAITING A YEAR)

Three methods to predict LTV for new customers: the 90-day curve method, cohort-based predictions, and predictive modeling.

YOU CAN NOW DIRECTLY CONNECT AHREFS TO CHATGPT FOR SEO ANALYSIS

You can now ask ChatGPT questions about your Ahrefs traffic trends, competitors, query drops, content themes, and more directly in the chat interface.

6 GO-TO CANVA TIPS

Canva hacks to create seamless carousels, glass effects, and gradients.

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ONLINE BRANDS ONLY TARGETING HEAVY BUYERS ARE MISSING OUT, SAYS STUDY

New research finds that about 50% of online sales come from light buyers, while the heaviest 20% of buyers also contribute about half. Around 70% of sales come from customers who purchase more than the average, but the contribution of frequent buyers is closer to 50-70% of total sales rather than 80-90%. This challenges the idea that focusing on heavy buyers or customers further along the funnel is the best strategy. The research shows that brands should target a wide range of buyers to drive growth in the $8 trillion global e-commerce market expected by 2025.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW PROTOCOL FOR AGENT-DRIVEN PURCHASES

Google just launched AP2, a new open protocol for AI-powered agent shopping backed by more than 60 merchants and financial firms, including Mastercard and PayPal. It enables bots to handle transactions while preserving user consent and traceability. This sets the basis for a future where consumers can say “book my trip” and agents negotiate bundles, compare rates, and complete the purchase within defined approval structures. Marketers should prioritize agent-readiness in their checkout and bundling strategies, especially for high-intent multi-item journeys.

YOUR LOGO SHOULD SHOW WHAT YOU DO

Logos that clearly show what a company does make people view the brand as more authentic, positive, and trustworthy. Across 7 experiments with 4,149 people, brands with descriptive logos were rated up to 27.7% more authentic and 18.7% more positive, and people said they were more likely to buy from 174 real UK startups with such logos. The effect is strongest for new or unfamiliar brands, but it can backfire for undesirable products like lice shampoo. Descriptive logos work because they are easier to process, help people quickly understand the brand, and create associations that make the company seem honest and transparent.

HOW TO WRITE A HERO

Creating a clear above-the-fold section on a homepage starts with selecting a reference point familiar to target customers, such as a product category, use case, or competitor. Then explain differentiation, showing why your solution is better within the category, more effective for the workflow, or a superior alternative. The challenge is choosing the right reference and prioritizing segments, since not all points resonate with every audience.

HOW TO GET 4X MORE LEADS FROM YOUR CONTENT–WITHOUT FORMS OR GATES

Capturing leads with forms creates a tradeoff. Gate content and you frustrate prospects, un-gate it and you lose visibility. Since only about 3% of an audience is ready to buy, while 97% are still researching, gating often blocks the majority from engaging. A better path is a contact-based marketing system that tracks behavior without forms. Install identification tools like Clearbit or 6sense, set up CRM attribution, and tag assets with UTMs. Then map content to intent stages, monitor user journeys, and trigger tailored follow-ups and ads based on high-intent signals.

MOCHA

Mocha is a no-code platform that lets non-technical users build full-stack web apps by describing what they want in natural language. It handles everything in one place (i.e., design, frontend, backend, database, authentication, hosting, and payments), so you don't need to stitch together multiple tools.

GURU 2025 (VIRTUAL CONFERENCE)

The world's largest free virtual email marketing conference is taking place on November 6-7. It will feature 2 days of expert-led virtual sessions covering the latest digital trends, email best practices, and emerging tools. Attendees will hear from high-profile speakers ranging from industry leaders to celebrity entrepreneurs.

AD CREATIVE FATIGUE: WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO PREVENT IT

Creative fatigue happens when Meta detects declining results due to overexposure. It's not inevitable and is often caused by small, fixable issues like one-ad sets or narrow placements. It is easy to prevent it by using Advantage+ placements, offering five or more text and headline variations, and customizing creative by placement. Fatigue sets in when people see the same thing too many times in similar spots. The more variation built in the campaign, the longer it can stay efficient without causing fatigue.

WHY COLD EMAILS DON'T WORK

A review of 756 cold emails collected over 6 months shows the majority follow ineffective patterns. Most use shallow personalization, misleading subject lines, and weak calls to action. Only 13% had a clear next step, and less than 40% included any link. Repeated follow-ups and irrelevant offers created more frustration than anything else. For marketers, the lesson is to focus on permission-based engagement and content to build trust before sending the first pitch.

AI SEARCH VISITS SURGING IN 2025—BUT ORGANIC SEARCH REMAINS THE CORNERSTONE OF DIGITAL GROWTH

AI search is quickly growing in buzz, but it still drives less than 1% of referral traffic.

DEAL IS DONE TO KEEP TIKTOK IN THE US

The deadline for TikTok's ban has been extended to December 16.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS: HOW PEOPLE ARE USING CHATGPT

ChatGPT adoption is broadening globally and creating value in both work and personal life. Gender gaps have narrowed, with women now making up more than half of identified users. Growth is fastest in low and middle-income countries. Most use centers on everyday tasks like seeking information, writing, and planning, while coding and self-expression remain smaller segments. About half of interactions are advisory “Asking”, 40% are task-oriented “Doing”, and 11% are reflective “Expressing”. Roughly 30% of usage is work-related and 70% non-work.

ADVERTISING IN 2030

Confidence in gen AI as a creative tool is rising, while VR, AR, and the metaverse have failed to gain widespread adoption. Consumer priorities have shifted back toward price over sustainability. Workplace communication remains more digital than pre-2020, but many companies have returned to in-person interactions. Advances in AI, biometrics, personalization, and bot-to-bot marketing are expected to continue, while global coordination on privacy and lasting changes in consumer behavior are seen as unlikely.

FROM MINIMAL TO WHIMSICAL: HOW WE REDESIGNED USERLIST IN 2025

Userlist launched a major redesign in September after outgrowing its minimalist interface from 2019. The update introduced vertical navigation, denser layouts, smaller fonts, and improved access to assets like segments and profiles. The team added whimsical illustrations, a new logo with intertwined U letters, and consistent microcopy and capitalization rules. The redesign also included a full refresh of documentation and the marketing website, with new modules, screenshots, and layouts.

REDDIT LEARNINGS FROM 3 MONTHS OF TESTING

After 3 months on Reddit, lemlist gained 22% more traffic and 20% higher conversions but lost posts to deletions and account flags. Each subreddit has its own rules, moderators cut anything that feels promotional, and automation backfires. The only way to win is with authentic, native participation. Reddit doesn't drive quick leads, but strong threads do boost SEO and AI visibility.

SEO + PAID TIP: USE VECTOR EMBEDDINGS TO REDUCE WASTE AND CLOSE TOPIC GAPS

Holistic strategies that unify Paid and Organic data expose where you're overspending or under-investing across the funnel. Export your search terms from Google Ads and Search Console, embed both sets of keywords using a text-embedding model, calculate vector distances between each Paid keyword and its nearest Organic neighbor, then identify gaps.

THE 6 FRAMEWORKS YOU NEED FOR 2026 PLANNING

GTM OS delivers a structured approach by guiding leadership teams through the 5 Valleys, 3 Ps, 15 GTM Problems, and 8 Core Questions every quarter. This process uncovers where growth is breaking down, validates whether platform and product-market fits still hold, and isolates the top 3 or 4 priorities for the next 90 days. By anchoring planning conversations in these frameworks, leaders replace ad hoc, reactive decisions with an actionable roadmap.

AI PROMPT ENGINEERING TO WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER

Meta prompting helps you reverse-engineer effective prompts to save time, while basic prompting rules, such as assigning roles and giving clear instructions, improve output quality. Teaching AI a specific voice and tone allows for more authentic communication, and asking it to slow down produces more accurate and thoughtful responses. Other methods include the AI sandwich, where humans draft, AI expands, and humans edit, and fill-in-the-blank prompting to complete unfinished writing.

FROM GHIBLI TO NANO BANANA: HOW AI TOOLS BECOME CULTURAL PHENOMENA

Nano Banana went viral after its August launch, gaining 10M users and powering 200M image edits within weeks. It runs 2-3X faster than GPT-4o. Growth came from frictionless onboarding, share-optimized outputs, and cultural timing. The trend highlights how consumer AI adoption pushes enterprise uptake and raises expectations for speed, simplicity, and virality in product design.