Know What's Happening in Digital Marketing
Know What's Happening in Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing Pulse
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Every morning
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Tuesday recap
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Samsung Ads and Crumbl drive 23% conversion on CTV campaign
Samsung Ads partnered with Crumbl for a seven‑week CTV acquisition push, delivering over 16,000 app installs and five‑figure revenue. The effort achieved a 23% conversion rate that outperformed Crumbl's social campaigns, aided by transparent attribution through AppsFlyer, and Samsung later reduced the guaranteed cost‑per‑install.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Cvent acquires ON24
Alibaba’s Qwen AI chatbot temporarily stopped issuing coupons after an overwhelming response to its Spring Festival promotion. The campaign, part of a 3‑billion‑yuan plan, generated 10 million orders in the first nine hours, prompting the bot to announce overload on Weibo. Alibaba assured users that existing coupons remain redeemable until February 28 and simultaneously unveiled its new multimodal Qwen3‑Omni system for AR/VR applications. The incident highlights growing pains as the e‑commerce giant pushes its Agentic AI shopping strategy.
🏈 This Week's Top SEO & AI Search News from #SEOFOMO [February 8, 2026] 👇 * The first Core Update focused on Discover? Google rolled out the February 2026 Discover Core Update This is a broad update to the systems that...
Blind boxes are cementing their place in retail, with beauty brands leading the surge. Gisou, Emi Jay, Ipsy and major retailers like Walmart have launched limited‑edition mystery boxes that sell out within days. Ipsy’s monthly mystery bags posted a 30%...
Canadian retail headlines on Feb 9, 2026 highlight heightened regulatory pressure, aggressive discount expansion, and a surge in experiential initiatives. Canadian Tire agreed to pay a $1.29 million fine for false‑pricing in Quebec, while Loblaw rolled out new Maxi discount stores and Walmart...
In 2020 a 25‑year‑old ex‑agency manager founded KPI Media on a bold promise: refund half of any retainer if key performance indicators aren’t met. The agency operates solely with month‑to‑month contracts and a performance‑based guarantee, remaining fully bootstrapped. Five years...
It’s interesting to watch Pepsi & Apple Music, both perennial 2nd placers to Coke & Spotify, be so invested in the Super Bowl. Like, does the Apple Music Halftime Show title do anything for Apple Music?
The food delivery apps are consistently pretty terrible at Super Bowl ads. None of them have anything proprietary or unique to promote, so the all go spectacle with nothing that ties to their brand / product
The episode explains how to calculate the customer lifetime value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio and why it matters for measuring marketing efficiency. It walks listeners through the formulas for LTV (average purchase value × frequency × lifespan) and CAC (total sales/marketing...
The Grokipedia drop is an interesting one to watch; it was inevitable that Google would eventually demote the site in search, but it was a question of when & how big the drop will ultimately be. So far from 1.7M...
The Marketing Analytics Symposium Sydney (MASS) returns on 24 February 2026 to bridge the widening gap between academic marketing research and Australian CMOs facing intense budget scrutiny and AI implementation challenges. Professors from UNSW, Goethe, Northwestern and Vienna will present...
AI content generators can dramatically accelerate the drafting phase of SEO copy, but they are not a shortcut to higher rankings. Effective results depend on precise prompts, structured outlines, and rigorous human editing to meet E‑E‑A‑T standards. Neil Patel’s study...
Meta will retire its recurring marketing messages feature on its Messenger API on February 10, 2026, forcing businesses to stop using the existing follow‑up notification flow. The new Marketing Messages API introduces stricter limits, extending the cooldown period from 24 to 48...
YouTube’s latest Culture and Trends report reveals that NFL content drives massive engagement on the platform, with fans flocking to highlights, game clips, and halftime moments. The study shows that 30 % of NFL‑related views occur during the off‑season, underscoring year‑round...
Fantastic article by John Maeda on building systems for exponential growth vs. merely delivering ouputs that track to linear growth — and why this distinction is crucial in the AI Age. -- LINEAR GROWTH: "Linear growth is steady and visible....
eBay’s Auto Price Reduction tool, which let sellers automatically lower fixed‑price listings every three days, disappeared from the platform in early February. The change was reported by multiple sellers on forums, Reddit, and to EcommerceBytes, but eBay has offered no...
The absolute WORST thing in paid media right now is that everyone is hell-bent on selling you "THE way" to run Meta ads. "THE correct structure" "THE bidding strategy" "THE creative testing framework" ... But the same structure that prints...
In this episode Mitch Joel talks with Phil Gilbert, a former IBM design leader who orchestrated one of the largest cultural transformations in corporate history. Gilbert explains how treating change as a product—focused on people, practices, and environments—creates genuine buy‑in...
The episode breaks down the "5‑Day Subscription Window"—the period between a Shopify store’s upcoming charge notification and the actual shipment—and shows how brands can turn this high‑open‑rate moment into a revenue engine. It outlines a day‑by‑day playbook: reinforce savings and...
In this episode Jennifer White uses the headline‑making $27.2 million Michelangelo foot sketch as a lens to teach creators how to treat foot photos like a collectible product. She explains that demand, scarcity and trust—mirroring fine‑art market dynamics—drive higher prices, and...
The episode examines why fashion retailers have lost roughly 27‑30% of their organic search visibility as Google shifts toward AI Overviews and visual Shopping Graph feeds. It highlights the need to treat product feeds and structured data as the new...
Sharing this for my friends Mike Rizzo and Nish Patel . They're hosting an executive dinner series in March for CMOs and Marketing Ops leaders. The premise: get CMOs and their MOps counterparts in the same room for an honest...
Meta did a global rollout of Threads ads on January 26th. That’s 400 MILLION users open to advertisements. What most people haven’t realized yet is that Threads placement is already ON by default for Advantage+ campaigns. You're likely already on...
The episode examines how Reddit is deploying AI-driven search to deliver personalized answers and boost content licensing revenue, while Meta introduces Vibes, a standalone AI video app aimed at monetizing premium features. It highlights Reddit's shift toward AI to enhance...
Why performance marketing can’t carry the full weight of growth You don’t usually notice marketing failing all at once. You notice the noise first. More campaigns. More dashboards. More spend. And still, less confidence than you expected. Founders don’t wake...
In this episode, Michael Petry, creative director of Golden West Boots, explains how fully immersing himself in his customers' Western lifestyle enabled the rapid creation of authentic, high‑demand footwear. By living the daily routines, music, and culture of his target...
The episode explains that breadcrumbs in 2026 are a critical SEO and UX tool, not just a visual navigation aid. It covers the impact of Google’s 2025 mobile update, the importance of hierarchy‑based breadcrumbs and proper JSON‑LD BreadcrumbList schema for...
Amanda Farley, CMO of Aimclear, discussed the pitfalls of broken tracking infrastructure and the broader need for data hygiene during episode 340 of PPC Live. She highlighted how a global campaign’s pixel failure revealed systemic onboarding and validation weaknesses, prompting...
The 2026 Super Bowl featured a wave of AI‑centric ads, with brands like Svedka debuting a primarily AI‑generated commercial and Anthropic using its spot to mock OpenAI. Meta highlighted AI‑powered glasses, while Amazon introduced Alexa+ through a tongue‑in‑cheek narrative. Ring...
Semrush Local’s GBP AI Agent automates core Google Business Profile tasks such as posting updates, uploading photos, and replying to reviews. The tool begins with an audit that evaluates current posting frequency, photo activity, description quality, and keyword relevance, then...
WordPress introduced a new Claude connector that lets site owners share back‑end data with Anthropic’s chatbot on a read‑only basis. Users can select which data to expose and revoke access at any time. The integration enables queries such as traffic...
In this episode, former Shopify insider Steve Hutt explains how press‑release marketing has become a core, repeatable channel for Shopify brands in 2026, driving authority, branded search depth, and AI visibility. He outlines a programmatic approach—choosing real news hooks, using...
Google has launched a beta feature that lets advertisers run structured A/B tests on creative assets within a single Performance Max asset group. Users can define control and treatment asset sets, split traffic—commonly 50/50—and run the experiment for several weeks...
Google Ads has introduced a diagnostics hub within Data Manager that monitors the health of data connections such as offline conversions, CRM imports, and tagging. The centralized dashboard assigns status labels—Excellent, Good, Needs attention, or Urgent—and provides real‑time alerts for...
The episode explores how AI‑powered data intelligence tools, especially ClarityCheck, are reshaping ecommerce growth by turning messy contact information into reliable, actionable insights. It highlights the financial impact of poor email and phone data—higher bounce rates, wasted ad spend, and...
The episode explores why Poland has become a leading hub for e‑commerce SEO talent and compares the top ten Polish agencies that specialize in Shopify and other online stores. It highlights each agency’s rating, pricing, international reach, and niche strengths—from...
Branded search data has very powerful potential to track even highly localized market movements, and Pizza Hut is a really good example of this. As has been reported in recent days, the Pizza Hut brand has been struggling, announcing a...
Luxury retailer Saks Global has appointed Cheryl Han as its new Chief Marketing & Digital Officer, a role that consolidates marketing strategy and e‑commerce oversight. Han, a former Neiman Marcus executive, previously held senior digital positions at both Neiman Marcus...
Freemans reported an "exceptional" 12% sales surge in the four weeks to Christmas, driven by a first online‑only holiday advert that ran on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Over the 12‑week period to 2 January, total sales rose 9% after a 16%...
I'm convinced we are building the best marketing team in software. But I'd rather tell you HOW we work than try to convince you to apply. Here's what you should know about working on this brilliant, global team: We improve...
The episode explains how SEO in 2026 must shift from relying solely on historical search volume to embracing "velocity"—the rapid identification and capture of real‑time demand using Google Trends. It highlights the power of "Breakout" trends (5,000%+ growth), the 10‑minute...
Choices are good. Customers love having a choice. Until they don’t… Behavioral scientists know that people crave autonomy. We don’t like to feel forced or pushed. We like to call the shots. So, for example, giving someone 2 choices vs....
One of my favorite tricks to get marketing teams more comfortable with AI workflows culminates in an AI Talent Show. Start with a hackathon of sorts, but allow people to create something that supports a personal interest. Ask them to...
Google introduced three 2026 updates for Performance Max: Experiments that let advertisers run split‑tested campaigns against Shopping, Search, or Display; a new data exclusions feature that adds customer‑match and remarketing lists to the audience blocklist; and a Product Overlap view...
PR measurement often stalls due to siloed teams and limited analytics resources. By partnering with SEO, PPC, and emerging Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) teams, PR can link media coverage to concrete customer actions. The article outlines a three‑step framework—connecting outreach...
The episode explores purpose‑driven marketing, showing how aligning a brand with social causes can boost loyalty, differentiate from competitors, and drive sales. Host Tom Hassell of Life is Good explains the distinction between cause marketing and purpose‑driven strategies, then walks listeners through...
Google is testing a new set of follow‑up search suggestions within AI Mode results, displayed as short prompts in white bubbles beneath the AI‑generated answer. The layout replaces the earlier arrow‑based follow‑up prompts and resembles traditional query boxes, similar to...
Everyone wants to make a lot of money. Nobody wants to talk to people about problems. Business doesn't work that way. The more you deeply understand your prospect's problems, the more likely you are to solve them. And THAT is...
What translates from SEO ➡️ AI Search Optimization? The fundamentals don't disappear, they just get applied differently. The skills that made you good at understanding audiences and creating valuable content become your primary competitive advantage. Here's how ⬇️ https://t.co/t2fgxHfLYv
Microsoft Bing is removing its AI‑generated "Frankenstein recipes" feature after criticism that it mashed steps from multiple publishers into inaccurate suggestions, such as substituting ginger with mace in pho. The problematic feature sparked backlash from publishers like Inspired Taste, who...
Doing a livestream on how I OpenClaw and Claude Code for business. Will cover this and specific use cases that allow us to do $45k of pSEO work in 20 minutes, $50k of copywriting in 15 minutes, agent squads, deal...
