Today's Digital Marketing Pulse
Consumer journeys go non‑linear, MiQ study finds
MiQ’s ‘From Funnel to Flexibility’ study, analyzing data from 53 million households and 700 trillion signals, shows 87 % of shoppers change digital activities at least hourly and 42 % describe their purchase path as random. The research, based on surveys of over 4,000 consumers and 600 marketers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, challenges the traditional linear marketing funnel.
Also developing:
By the numbers: DOJO AI raises $6M Seed round
Building a Pipeline of Online Leads Through Search Engine Optimisation
The guide argues that search‑engine optimisation (SEO) is the most reliable engine for generating consistent, high‑quality leads, outperforming paid search and outbound tactics. It explains that SEO should target intent‑driven, long‑tail keywords rather than sheer traffic volume, and that converting visitors requires optimized landing pages, fast load times, and compelling, regularly‑published content. The article also covers link‑building, local‑search dominance, and the metrics that truly matter—leads, conversion rates, and cost per lead—showing how a disciplined SEO program creates a perpetual lead pipeline.
Google Discusses Page Weight, Average Mobile Homepage Size, and Googlebot File Size Limits
Google clarified its Googlebot file‑size limits on the Search Off The Record podcast, confirming a 2 MB cap for HTML pages, 65 MB for PDFs, and a 15 MB ceiling for other file types. The limits apply per individual file, not to the...
Google’s Push For Data Strength Is Really A Push For Better Bidding via @Sejournal, @Brookeosmundson
Google is urging advertisers to prioritize data strength, arguing that AI‑driven bidding only works with high‑quality conversion signals. The push spans product updates, tag gateway, server‑side tagging, and new integrations with platforms like HubSpot and Zapier. Google stresses that conversion...
Create Comparison Tables to Make Content Bookmark‑Worthy
Want your content to get bookmarked by everyone? Stop writing boring posts. Do this instead. Build detailed comparison tables of: - Tools - Methods - Approaches They rank well, get featured in AI summaries, and become bookmark-worthy references.
Google Answers If Outbound Links Pass “Poor Signals” Via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
John Mueller clarified that Google does not transmit "poor signals" through outbound links from sites with a link‑related penalty. Instead, the search engine may simply ignore such links if they are deemed unhelpful or misaligned with policy. This distinction means...
DMWF Spotlight: Turn AI Search Into a Growth Channel with LLM Visibility
The Digital Marketing World Forum highlights "LLM visibility" as a new metric for how AI assistants portray brands in search conversations. As AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity become primary discovery channels, brand presence in these responses can...
Accounts in Transit: Nickerson Picks Up Smartify Media
Nickerson has been appointed agency of record for Smartify Media, a digital‑out‑of‑home network that specializes in digital windows and retail displays. The firm will drive integrated marketing and communications to accelerate Smartify’s growth in the commercial‑real‑estate sector. In parallel, Meyocks...
Apple Offers Ads on iOS Maps but What’s the Final Destination?
Apple announced that iOS Maps will now host advertising slots, allowing businesses to promote themselves directly within the app’s search and navigation experience. The ads will appear alongside location results, points of interest, and in the new Look Around feature....
75‑Year‑Old Amrit Kaur Nails Full Push‑Ups in 12 Weeks, Video Hits 1.4 Million Views
Amrit Kaur, a 75‑year‑old Indian fitness enthusiast, posted a 12‑week push‑up progression that amassed 1.4 million views, proving that age need not limit strength training. The viral clip has ignited both admiration and skepticism, spotlighting a growing wave of senior influencers...
Coca-Cola Uncanned Emotions: Not Quite ‘the Real Thing’
Coca‑Cola has unveiled the first installment of its three‑part “Uncanned Emotions” film series to reinforce its FIFA World Cup 2026 partnership. Developed by WPP OpenX and featuring commentators Peter Drury and Luis Omar Tapia, the spot showcases fans cracking open cans...
Roku Accelerates International ARPU Push, Targets 100M Streaming Households by 2026
Roku is refocusing its strategy on monetizing existing users abroad, rolling out ad platforms and premium subscriptions in Mexico, Canada and Brazil. The company expects its global streaming household base to exceed 100 million by 2026, supporting a projected $5.5 billion revenue...
Ignite X Brings Strategic Communications Expertise to Machine Relations: The Emerging Discipline of AI Search Visibility
Ignite X, a San Francisco‑based agency, has launched a new Machine Relations practice aimed at securing brand visibility and citations on AI‑powered search platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude. The service combines strategic communications, brand authority and AI‑specific...
New Data From DAIVID & Kinetiq Shows BODYARMOR Debut Increased Coca-Cola’s March Madness Visibility By 55%
Coca‑Cola’s $5.6 bn acquisition of BODYARMOR has reshaped its NCAA March Madness strategy, replacing POWERADE after 15 years. Data from DAIVID and Kinetiq shows BODYARMOR ads aired 55% more often, with a 71% surge in the men’s tournament and a jump to...
Deep Dive Podcast: James Sibley Says Now Is the Time for Seafood to Invest in Social Media
James Sibley, a 26‑year‑old aquaculture content creator, has amassed roughly 550,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and X, positioning him as the seafood industry’s leading influencer. Starting with short TikTok clips during the COVID‑19 pandemic, he now produces...
AI Chat Generates, Schedules Threads in Your Voice
honestly I manage almost all my Threads content through Claude now. I open a chat, tell it what I want to post, it drafts it in my voice, I approve, and it schedules directly through BlackTwist. no dashboard. no copy-paste. just a...
If We Lost Everything, Here's the Media Company We'd Build (527)
In this episode of This Old Marketing, hosts Joe Polizzi and Robert Rose imagine building a media company from scratch in 2026 with no audience, brand, or team. They explore which formats—newsletters, podcasts, or other digital content—offer the best path...
JWX Partners with QuantumPath to Give Media Buyers Holistic Control Across Their Programmatic Ad Buys
JWX announced an exclusive agreement with QuantumPath to launch a multi‑DSP agentic orchestration layer that sits above existing programmatic buying platforms. The new layer automates campaign setup, pacing, optimization and reporting across more than a dozen DSPs, reducing manual effort...
Consistent Posting Beats Courses in Marketing Mastery
400 days posting on Threads. Not every post was good. Some were terrible. A few I'd delete if I could find them. But 400 days of showing up taught me more about marketing than any course I ever took. Consistency isn't glamorous. It's just effective.
Google Reveals Mobile Page Size Limits and Bot Constraints
I covered the latest SOTR podcast on SER -> Google Discusses Page Weight, Average Mobile Homepage Size, and Googlebot File Limit Sizes https://t.co/h3ts9Sdtec https://t.co/lxKeanoNJe
Leaning Into Serialised Social Storytelling, Not Campaigns
Danielle Bedin argues that the traditional, time‑boxed campaign model is obsolete on social platforms where users scroll endlessly. Brands that post consistently—three to five times a week—see double the follower growth, while periods of silence hurt algorithmic standing. Serialised storytelling,...
From 20 to 200+ AI Mentions in 3 Months
Brought a client from 20 to 200+ AI mentions in 3 months. Now, let's 10x this again to get 2K mentions. So easy. https://t.co/LJjbUtuJoS
Email Marketing Pricing: How to Avoid Overpaying in 2026
The G2‑based guide breaks down email‑marketing software pricing, showing entry‑level plans as low as $9‑$30 per month for about 1,500 contacts but warning that costs climb sharply as subscriber lists expand. It highlights that many platforms continue charging for inactive...
IPL 2026: Mumbai Indians Invest in AI-Led Personalisation Through MoEngage Deal
Mumbai Indians have named MoEngage its official fan‑engagement partner, deploying the AI‑driven platform to personalize digital interactions for the franchise’s global fanbase. The solution will unify first‑party data across web and mobile, enabling targeted merchandise recommendations, tailored content and real‑time...
Google March Core Update Left 4 Losers For Every Winner In Germany via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google’s March 2026 core update rolled out in Germany from March 27 to April 8, and a SISTRIX analysis shows a stark imbalance between losers and winners. Of the 1,371 domains examined, 134 experienced confirmed visibility drops while only 32 posted gains....
Standing Out From the Sea of Sameness
Touleen Barto warns that AI‑driven tools are flooding the market with fast, cheap content, creating a "sea of sameness" that threatens brand identity. While generative technology boosts production speed, it also homogenises visuals and copy, making campaigns indistinguishable. She argues...
Scaling Mobile Campaigns in the GCC Beyond Volume
Scaling mobile campaigns in the GCC is enticing due to ultra‑high smartphone penetration, but rising CPI and intense competition make a pure volume strategy risky. Marketers are forced to weigh quick‑win install numbers against the long‑term value of high‑quality users....
What 400 Sites Reveal About Organic Traffic Gains via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Cyrus Shepard analyzed over 400 websites and identified five traits that strongly correlate with estimated organic traffic gains in the past year. Sites that sell a product or service, let users complete their search‑intent tasks, own proprietary assets, focus tightly...
Primed For Upfronts; How Much AI Is Too Much AI?
The upcoming TV upfront season will be dominated by performance measurement as advertisers push for outcome‑based analytics, spurred by Nielsen’s delayed integration of the DASH TV Universe Study and a recent dip in reported streaming viewership. At IAB NewFronts, Tubi...
OpenAI Has Quietly Launched Its Ads Manager as It Races to Build Out Its Ads Business
OpenAI quietly rolled out a self‑serve ads manager last week, giving a limited group of advertisers real‑time control over impressions, clicks and spend. The pilot’s entry barrier was cut from $250,000 to $50,000, and the platform charges a $60 CPM...
Why Pfizer and Other Blue-Chip Brands Are Building Internal AI Search Hubs to Reclaim Control
Major advertisers such as Pfizer are moving SEO and AI discoverability functions in‑house, creating dedicated internal search hubs. Pfizer assembled its team in just 60 days, adding former agency talent, while peers like Georgia Pacific, U.S. Bank, Adobe and T‑Mobile have...
Meta Pulls Ads That Would Recruit Clients for Social Media Addiction Lawsuits
Meta announced it will remove all advertisements posted by attorneys seeking to recruit plaintiffs for social‑media addiction lawsuits. The decision comes after the company lost two high‑profile cases—one over sexual predators on Instagram and another involving alleged addiction harms. Meta...
M&M’S Powers up Marvel Tie-Up with APAC Gaming Adventure
Mars Foods is expanding its M&M’S‑Marvel partnership into eight Asia‑Pacific markets with a purchase‑linked gaming campaign that runs from April 1 to May 31, 2026. The initiative, built on SUPERFAN’s game engine, lets shoppers scan QR codes on packaging and...
AI Generates Full Video Ads From Text Alone
This is crazy… Now you can make a full video ad with sound just by typing a few words. No camera. No team. No editing. Everything is changing right in front of us. And most people don’t even know how powerful AI has become.
Hip-Hop Artists Church & AP Release ‘WX1’ Track for Auckland Transport Campaign via FEDERATION
The episode spotlights the new track “WX1” by hip‑hop duo Church & AP, created for an Auckland Transport advertising campaign. The hosts break down the song’s lyrical references to local landmarks, bus routes, and the city’s transport infrastructure, highlighting how...
Your Programmatic Budget Is Feeding A Ghost Economy
Dan Johns of Tumbleturn Marketing warns that a massive portion of programmatic ad spend never reaches real users, instead flowing to bots, fake sites, and opaque exchanges. Global bot traffic topped human traffic in 2024, with 51% of all visits...
Fila’s ‘1911 Knit Track’ Boosts Apparel Sales 74% in First 12 Weeks
Fila, through its Korean partner Misto Korea, reported a 74% surge in apparel sales within 12 weeks of launching the 1911 Knit Track for the 2026 SS season. The retro‑styled knit line is resonating with Gen Z consumers, amplified by...
‘Wasting A Lot Of Budget’: Heatseeker’s New CTO On Why Guessing Without Testing Is Failing Marketers
Heatseeker has appointed former Google AI leader Kawal Gandhi as chief technology officer, signaling a push to replace traditional survey‑based market research with AI‑driven behavioural experiments. The platform runs live “ghost ads” on social media to capture real clicks, sign‑ups...
Sunny D Launches Nostalgic Purple Vodka‑Seltzer, Reviving 1990s Ad Gag
Sunny D rolled out a limited‑edition Purple Vodka‑Seltzer, a 4.5% ABV ready‑to‑drink cocktail priced at $9.99 for a four‑pack, tapping the iconic 1990s "purple stuff" commercial. The move illustrates how legacy advertising can be repurposed to drive adult RTD sales...
OpenAI Projects $100 Billion In Ad Revenue By 2030
OpenAI announced that it expects to generate $2.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2026 and to scale that figure to $100 billion by 2030. The forecast rests on a user base of roughly 2.75 billion people by the end of the decade. Achieving...
Macquarie Centre Launches A/W 2026 Season with New Digital-First Campaign via iD Collective
Macquarie Centre has teamed with iD Collective to roll out a digital‑first Autumn‑Winter 2026 campaign, spotlighting its premium fashion mix. The effort features Australian actress‑singer Tammin Sursok and model Francesca Hung modeling collections from Aje, Polo Ralph Lauren, Witchery and Zara. iD...
AI-Driven Marketers Have a Focus Problem
AI tools now let marketers launch campaigns at unprecedented speed, turning execution into a non‑issue. However, the flood of data and simultaneous projects creates a focus bottleneck, leaving teams unsure which initiatives to prioritize. Amplitude’s AI‑driven agentic analytics—through its Global...
StreetIQ Hires Dave Mullan to Drive Programmatic DOOH Push
Australian out‑of‑home platform StreetIQ has hired Dave Mullan as sales director to accelerate its national expansion and programmatic DOOH push. Mullan will lead agency and brand growth, steer the company’s programmatic strategy across DSPs and trading desks, and oversee the...
Google Dismisses Listicles, yet Serves Them Anyway
Google in the NY Times: those self-serving listicles are only a problem for niche queries nobody would ever search for The right sidebar of Google’s AI Overview for “best ai visibility tool” 😂🤦🏽♀️ https://t.co/qOyC9LMVgA
Higher CPMr Boosts Incremental ROAS for 71% Brands
Cool analysis of CPMr on Meta dropping tomorrow. Headline: Higher CPMr campaigns deliver better incremental ROAS in 71% of brands. Not too dissimilar from CPM itself. BUT There is some cool findings on incrementality factor impact and the differences between brands. Stay tuned...
How Kia Cracked Reddit: Inside the Tasman Campaign that Delivered Standout Results
Kia Australia leveraged Reddit’s community‑driven format to launch the Tasman model campaign, focusing on relevance over traditional social. The brand used long‑form, Reddit‑native ads that mimicked real threads, targeting niche outdoor and automotive subreddits. The effort delivered a 480% lift...
Don’t Go Chasing AI Yet: A Framework for Prioritizing SEO Vs. AI Search via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
SearchEngineJournal’s on‑demand webinar warns marketers not to chase AI blindly, urging a strategic comparison of traditional SEO and generative‑engine optimization (GEO). Speakers Alex Hernandez and Orli Millstein outline a diagnostic framework that matches AI visibility to a company’s business model,...
Why Automation Is Raising the Stakes for Strategy in Digital Advertising
Automation is reshaping digital advertising by moving the primary source of value from campaign execution to strategic decision‑making. Roberta Denuzzo, a veteran strategist with experience at Deloitte, Grupo Globo and Google, argues that while platforms can optimize performance, they cannot set...
37% of Your Content Budget Is Going to the Worst-Performing Format | VOL 287
The new B2B Backlink Intelligence Report examined 12,154 content pages from 24 leading B2B brands and 2.4 million referring domains. It found that statistics‑and‑data‑roundup pages represent only 1 % of all content but attract 4.1 % of referring domains, delivering a 4.25× efficiency...
I Used Notes Templates Every Single Day for 90 Days. Here’s What the Data Actually Shows.
After struggling with inconsistent subscriber gains, the author analyzed his top‑performing Substack Notes and used Claude AI to extract common structures, creating a personal Notes Writing Playbook of 30+ templates. By writing daily from these templates for 90 days, he...
EFF Quits X as Posts Now Get 3% of What Tweets Once Got
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced it is quitting X after its posts now generate only about 3% of the impressions they once did. In 2018, the nonprofit posted 5‑10 times daily and earned 50‑100 million impressions each month. By 2025,...