Today's Marketing Pulse
McKinsey predicts agentic AI will power two‑thirds of marketing activities
McKinsey’s new report forecasts that agentic AI could drive up to two‑thirds of all marketing functions, shifting AI from a productivity add‑on to a core strategic engine. The analysis notes early adopters are using generative tools, while the next wave will involve autonomous agents that orchestrate decisions across workflows, guided by a five‑step implementation roadmap.
How To Start a Substack To Promote Your Small Business
E‑commerce brands are turning to Substack to publish editorial‑style newsletters that feel like personal essays rather than sales blasts. The platform offers free publishing, a 10% revenue share on paid subscriptions, and permanent web URLs that can be shared beyond the inbox. Substack’s limited marketing tools encourage storytelling, community comments, and real‑time chat, positioning it as a complement to traditional email‑marketing stacks. Real‑world examples—from Ghia’s Night Shade to Saie Beauty’s From the Saie Office—show how narrative content can deepen customer relationships without overt promotion.
Turn Every Call Into Instant Copywriting Gold
Every team call and customer meeting is now a copywriting gold mine. Let's riff on the topic right now. On the call. Take the transcript later. Work with Claude. Create briefs for events, webinars, emails, landing pages. If you can talk it...
12 Ways to Improve PPC ROI With Automated Bidding (2026)
The article outlines twelve practical steps for boosting pay‑per‑click (PPC) return on investment through automated bidding. It stresses defining a clear success metric, fixing conversion tracking, and selecting the smart‑bidding mode that aligns with business goals. Campaign segmentation by intent...
Sales Planner – Newsletters
Backyard Ventures, an Austin‑based media partnership agency with over 200 clients, is hiring a Sales Planner for its newsletter vertical. The role blends advertising operations, campaign reporting, client management, and introductory sales tasks, allocating roughly 80 % of time to execution...
Stop Agency Overhead: Demand Revenue‑Focused, Actionable Marketing
You hired an agency to make your job lighter... But instead, you’re in more meetings. Weekly status calls. Slide decks full of impressions. Endless “next steps.” The reporting looks polished. But pipeline doesn’t feel any stronger. You’re not looking for...
Boost AI Brand Visibility in 2026: Proven Strategies
Besides the main conference, I'm delighted to be also speaking at The Sip & Search Fringe Event @brightonseo along with @LaffertyN and @THCapper about Top Strategies for AI Brand Visibility in 2026! Here’s what we’ll cover: * How do LLMs...
Why Your Next Email Is Your Best Email
Matt Ragland uses a sudden bird incident to illustrate how newsletter creators often over‑react to minor glitches. He argues that misplaced links, low open rates, or typos are temporary distractions that shouldn't stall the publishing process. The most effective writers...
Zoom Taps PMG As First Media AOR
Zoom Communications has appointed Dallas‑based PMG as its first global media agency of record, committing an estimated $25 million annual media spend. The partnership aligns with Zoom’s transition from a meeting platform to an AI‑first workplace, leveraging PMG’s Alli operating system...
Seedtag Welcomes Brendan McCarthy as Chief Marketing & Communications Officer
Seedtag announced the appointment of Brendan McCarthy as Chief Marketing & Communications Officer. McCarthy, former CMO of Criteo, brings over 20 years of marketing leadership at Fortune 500 firms. He will oversee global marketing, brand, demand generation, and communications to...
Apple, Google Wallets Get Personal
Digital‑wallet platforms from Apple and Google are evolving beyond simple payments, with startups like Badge turning them into interactive commerce channels. Badge’s infrastructure lets brands push real‑time, location‑aware offers and loyalty updates directly to a consumer’s wallet. The San‑Francisco‑based company...
Onsocial
OnSocial repositions influencer marketing as a social‑data problem, offering a toolkit that includes creator discovery, analytics, sponsored‑post tracking, audience overlap analysis, and an always‑on API. The platform targets agencies and brands that need defensible, data‑driven creator selections rather than an...
Billable Hours Are Dead, AI Killed Them, Here's How To Survive
A new VoxComm report shows agency profit margins have collapsed from a historic 30% to roughly 10% as AI accelerates production and erodes the value of billable‑hour models. The authors argue that agencies must abandon effort‑based pricing and adopt solution‑based...
IDeaS Updates Spotlight Marketing Solution
IDe aS unveiled a major upgrade to its hospitality marketing platform, Spotlight, adding a predictive "Potential to Influence" score that quantifies how responsive a market segment is to price and promotional changes. The solution, built on IDeaS' forecasting analytics, will...
Builderius WordPress Page Builder Integrates Claude AI via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Builderius launched an experimental integration that connects Anthropic’s Claude AI to live WordPress projects via the Model Context Protocol. The AI can read the full JSON‑based template, CSS, GraphQL schema and element tree, then apply structural edits, style changes, and...
Kochava Expands Certified Partners Program, Welcomes New Leaders Across the Global Integrations Ecosystem
Kochava announced the expansion of its Certified Partners Program, adding LG Ad Solutions, InMobi, Digital Turbine, Jampp, Adikteev and AppNext to its roster of vetted integrations. The certification requires strict adherence to integration best practices, traffic health standards and completion...
Brands Briefing: Caraway Makes Its First Big OOH Push as It Seeks to Make the Brand ‘Impossible to Ignore’
Caraway, a six‑year‑old cookware startup, has launched its first major out‑of‑home (OOH) advertising campaign to become “impossible to ignore.” The eye‑catching mural at Columbus Circle subway targets high‑traffic commuters. After growing from a pure DTC model, the brand now sells...
Meta Introduces Click and Engage-Through Attribution Updates
Meta is overhauling its ad measurement framework by restricting click‑through attribution to link clicks only, while moving likes, shares, saves and similar actions into a newly named “engage‑through attribution.” The update also halves the video engaged‑view window from ten to...
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 3, 2026
Google clarified image‑thumbnail selection for Search and Discover, confirming it relies on both schema.org markup and the og:image tag. The AI Mode sidebar was found to drop referrer data, a bug the Search team is investigating. Knowledge panels are being...
TapClicks Expands Unified Marketing Intelligence with AudioGO and Instacart Instant-On Connectors
TapClicks announced two new Instant‑On connectors—AudioGO for streaming audio and Instacart Ads for retail media—expanding its AI‑powered Smart Marketing Cloud. The additions let agencies and brands pull audio and grocery‑shopping campaign data into a single platform for unified reporting and...
QYOU Media Launches Performance Media Unit to Scale Creator Campaigns Across Paid Channels
QYOU Media has launched QYOU Amplify, a performance‑media unit that combines creator strategy, paid media buying, advanced targeting and real‑time analytics to scale influencer campaigns. The new unit aims to identify high‑performing content early and reallocate spend instantly, treating creator...
Dstillery, Keynes, and The Trade Desk Partner to Advance Agentic Advertising
Dstillery unveiled its DS-1 agentic advertising platform, partnering with CTV technology firm Keynes and major DSP The Trade Desk. The platform connects directly to Keynes’ Slack workspace via the Model Context Protocol, compressing audience discovery and custom modeling from days...
Stop Mass Emails: Offer Relentlessly, Share Your Solution
You haven’t run out of people to reach out to. You’ve run out of offers. You sent one message to each person once. That’s not outreach. That’s a mass email, sent the long, hard, stupid way. Here’s what I’ve noticed about the...
Comic Relief Unveils Red Nose Day Livestream Campaign with Mr Doodle
Comic Relief has launched a new Red Nose Day livestream campaign featuring artist Mr Doodle, produced by Amazon Ads' Brand Innovation Lab. The initiative streams on Twitch, showcasing Mr Doodle’s live drawing while integrating a Red Nose Day store app...
What Your Brand Signals to Buyers Before You Ever Speak
Middle‑market companies often overlook how their brand story shapes early buyer perception. A clear, coherent market narrative—supported by logical brand architecture—helps investors, partners, and customers quickly grasp the business’s value and growth potential. When the story aligns with evidence, it...
Brick Marketing Develops System for Balancing SEO, AI Search, and Content Marketing
Brick Marketing unveiled a structured system that unites traditional SEO, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for AI‑driven search, content marketing, and coordinated social media promotion. The framework aims to keep brands visible in classic search while also positioning them within AI‑generated...
YouTube Shopping Guide for Brands (Not Just Creators)
YouTube Shopping has expanded in 2026 to let brands turn any video—Shorts, long‑form, or Live—into a direct storefront. By linking a product catalog through Google Merchant Center, brands can tag SKUs within videos, letting viewers purchase without leaving the platform....
Dstillery Has A New Agentic AI Interface For Refining Audiences Faster
Dstillery unveiled DS-1, an agentic AI interface that lets advertisers create and refine custom audience segments in minutes instead of days. Built on the Model Context Protocol, DS-1 integrates with Slack, Microsoft Teams, browsers and pushes audiences directly to The...
Dstillery Has A New Agentic AI Interface For Refining Audiences Faster
Dstillery unveiled DS‑1, an agentic AI interface that lets advertisers build and refine custom audience segments in minutes instead of days, integrating directly with Slack, Teams, browsers and pushing audiences to The Trade Desk. The tool, built on the Model...
Not A Shark Company Aims to Deliver Low-Overhead Marketing and Comms for Game Companies
Not A Shark Company (NASC), a Paris‑based fractional agency for video‑game studios, announced a strategic expansion to meet rising demand for low‑overhead, high‑impact marketing and communications. The firm’s model connects studios with veteran triple‑A consultants, offering full publishing capabilities while...
Instagram “Sends per Reach” Playbook: Designing Posts People Send In DMs
Instagram’s algorithm now prioritizes Sends per Reach (SPR), measuring how often posts are privately shared via DM relative to their reach. Adam Mosseri confirmed SPR as a key ranking signal, shifting focus from likes and saves to intentional private sharing....
Google Discover Traffic Plummets 46%, Search Remains Steady
Big Discover drop but Google search is relatively stable -> Reach (The UK’s largest commercial news publisher) explained Google Discover traffic dropped by 46% in the second half of 2025 but overall Google search traffic is stable "Chief executive Piers North...
Magellan AI Integrates Nielsen DMA® Data to Bring Local Market Measurement to Podcast Attribution
Magellan AI has licensed Nielsen’s proprietary DMA® data, adding local‑market measurement to its podcast attribution platform. The integration maps podcast performance onto Nielsen’s 210 standardized U.S. media markets, enabling advertisers to evaluate impact at the geographic level. This capability aligns...
Cross-Posting Matrix: What to Change per Platform
Cross‑posting short‑form videos in 2026 demands platform‑specific tweaks rather than simple duplication. The article outlines a matrix that details required changes in aspect ratios, safe‑zone placement, caption rewrites, and audio licensing for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Brands are...
Leadership Swaps Hide Costly 18‑24‑month GTM Inefficiency
The hidden 18–24 month cost most companies never calculate There’s a familiar moment in many companies when growth stalls. Pipeline slows. Forecasts wobble. Pressure rises. And eventually, the conversation turns to people. “Maybe we need a different marketing leader.” “Sales...
Garnier Signs Supermodel Gisele Bündchen as First Global Ambassador to Promote High-Tech Era
Garnier has appointed supermodel Gisele Bündchen as its first‑ever Global Brand Ambassador, anchoring the L’Oréal‑owned brand’s new “High‑Tech Nature” strategy that blends scientific performance with natural ingredients. Bündchen will front worldwide hair‑care campaigns, beginning with the launch of Fructis Diamond Sleek,...
People Prefer Smart UI Over Prompt‑Only AI Solutions
AI won't kill UI. At least that's the sentiment I got on my recent (shit 😅)post about replacing @clay (valued at $5B) with Claude Code. It might've seemed like I was hating on Clay, but I was actually playing devil's advocate to...
Third‑Party Praise Beats Ads for Brand Breakthrough
Time Magazine called Allbirds' Wool Runners the 'world's most comfortable shoes' in 2016. That single endorsement launched the brand into the mainstream. Meanwhile you're relying solely on paid ads with zero third-party validation. That's the gap.
Why Celebration Is Better Marketing Than Outrage
The article argues that outrage‑driven marketing, while fast‑acting, yields fleeting attention and limits audience growth. In contrast, celebratory campaigns build lasting community, expand market reach, and generate durable brand loyalty. Examples such as Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance, the Barbie film...
Google Still Dominates Search While AI Reshapes It
Google still runs search. Lots of gurus on here are lying to you by suggesting that Google is dead. The reality says otherwise. Remember: Two things can be true at once. • Google still owns search • AI Search is...
Gmail’s Spam Filters Cut Spam by 95%, Killing Cold Blasts
Gmail spam filters are supreme. I probably get 95% less spam today compared to 5 years ago. RIP to cold email blast automation.
Loveholidays Taps Creators for ‘the Weird and Wonderful’
Loveholidays has unveiled an “always‑on” influencer platform called Book What You Love, created with SocialChain’s The Fifth. The initiative pairs creators’ niche passions with specific destinations, positioning travel as a form of self‑expression. It launches with four creators from Germany,...
Tech Brands Overhype ‘Super’ Specs in Marketing
I know it's all marketing, but NVIDIA calls their GPUs super chips, really super all the things, and now Apple with super cores. Super memory, super storage incoming? 🤣
Tactics ≠ Strategy: Learn the Key Distinction
A tactic list isn't a strategy. Here's the difference and how to fix it. https://t.co/Uwoumcge5e via @Kevin_Indig, @sejournal
Google Updates Alcohol, Prescription Drugs, Gambling & Government Policies
Google announced four policy updates affecting Google Ads and Merchant Center. Alcohol subscriptions are now allowed for U.S. merchants, requiring the Alcoholic Beverages product category and the subscription_cost attribute. Certified U.S. online pharmacies can promote prescription‑drug subscriptions, bundles, and consultation...
Nano Banana Instantly Translates Screenshots Into Argentine Spanish
Not gonna lie, using Nano Banana to say "take this screenshot and switch it to Argentine Spanish" is a pretty amazing feature. https://t.co/E7hxNdfMIK
Link Content Directly to Revenue to Prove Value
How to tie Content to Revenue and prove content marketing value [RevCO F... https://t.co/DrLnhaoEwf via @YouTube
How Thom Browne Went From an Asics Fan to a Collaborator
Thom Browne, the New York‑based tailoring label, has launched its first partnership with sportswear giant Asics, creating a limited‑edition sneaker that blends the designer’s sleek aesthetic with Asics’ performance technology. The collaboration marks a strategic move for both brands: Browne...
2026 Growth Hinges on Alignment Over Optimism
Growth in 2026 Will Depend Less on Optimism and More on Alignment [NEW POST] - B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity - https://t.co/GgaDpWstRs New research from @OuterBox .
Google AI Mode Links Lose Referrer; Investigation Underway
Google AI Mode sidebar links do not pass referrer, Google is looking into it https://t.co/ujHzcQSRQO via @tomcritchlow https://t.co/GqAk4TA1xJ
The Biggest Mistake Leaders Make when Rolling Out AI to Knowledge Teams
In this brief episode, host Jordan Cooney talks with Steve Wonker, Managing Director at New Markets Advisors, about the biggest mistake leaders make when rolling out AI to knowledge teams: launching without solid data and governance frameworks. They explain that...