Paid social is a leading digital marketing option for brand awareness and product discovery. Here’s how AI is taking it to the next level.
Digital marketing used to be innovative, but now it’s the norm. Statista estimates that 82.4 percent of total ad spending will be digital by 2030. Success is no longer about simply showing up online; it’s about the specific strategy you’re using.
Tossing artificial intelligence into the mix makes the answer even more relevant. I looked at two major segments of digital advertising: paid social and paid search. I wanted to see how AI was reshaping the digital advertising conversation around these two critical points.
The results were notable. Let’s dig in.
The shift toward paid social in an AI-driven landscape
Google used to dominate search. Sure, some people shopped on Facebook, but in reality, most people turned to Google or even Amazon when they needed to buy something.
That balance appears to be shifting. One recent report found more than 50 percent of social media users are on the lookout for new things to buy. Specifically:
26.7 percent of social media users are looking for either new activities or items to purchase.
26.1 percent of those on social media are actively looking for products to buy.
Add those two numbers together, and more than one in two people are using social media to discover things they may want to buy. Other marketers, like Sixty Gelu, already put the number at 60 percent, which is especially notable now that Google search traffic is facing growing pressure. Yes, AI tools are coming in their wake, but these haven’t been as widely adopted for e-commerce yet.
AI-powered tools like ChatGPT and Claude are changing how consumers research products and gather information. But in the end, social platforms remain one of, if not the, primary drivers of product discovery and brand engagement.
That is the first trend marketers should pay attention to: the landscape has changed. Paid search may not be your only priority anymore. You need to make sure you have a foot in the paid social world, too. Start by auditing your budget and moving a small percentage of your search spend into targeted social testing to meet these buyers where they are.
Navigating customer journeys on social media
Paid social ads are the first step, but they aren’t the whole story. An initial branded encounter on a social media platform is just the beginning of the customer journey. In fact, the best uses of AI go far beyond the top of the funnel.
This shift is forcing an evolution in performance metrics.
To counter this, many performance marketing teams are using AI-assisted workflows to maximize lead quality in real time. For example, agencies like Unicorn Marketers use AI to evaluate incoming leads and filter out low-intent prospects before they drain sales teams’ time and resources.
By using advanced algorithms to continuously audit live campaigns, you can help ensure your creative assets and targeting parameters consistently perform well for high-intent buyers. It can review real-time, granular data at a scale that would be difficult for a human to match. AI is also helping marketers understand why certain ads outperform others. Platforms like Motion analyse creative performance across thousands of ads, helping marketing teams identify the images, messaging and formats that consistently drive stronger engagement and conversions.
Building an AI-backed social strategy in 2026 requires moving past the trap of chasing the latest shiny tool. To avoid the common mistake of over-automation, you should focus on strategy, clean data and intentional integrations by implementing a few tactical steps:
Defining the use of an AI tool in your paid social strategy before investing in it.
Avoiding the “magic bullet” approach to AI by looking for quality data to drive decisions.
Piloting one new AI tool at a time, letting it settle and then adjusting based on the results you get.
Maintain the “human” element behind your AI tools that help preserve nuance and brand voice. (i.e., don’t over-automate!)
Effectively (and profitably) reshaping paid social with AI
Social media is a well-established option that millions use when they want to find something to buy. This has helped position paid social as a major force in digital ad spend and the future of digital marketing.
As AI handles the operational and executional work around paid social, it’s critical to step back from the dashboard and evaluate your broader positioning. Make sure you’re integrating AI with intention while keeping the role of human creativity, strategic thinking and brand positioning in focus. This ensures your automated tools are serving a distinct business objective rather than just generating noise.
Most marketing plans are relying solely on digital marketing, and they are missing traditional revenue-boosting advertising channels.
Trends are seductive, but they don’t always pay off. Just look at Meta’s metaverse. Billions were poured into building a futuristic 3D world for work and play, only for the virtual reality hype to outpace real-world adoption, resulting in losses exceeding $80 billion.
That’s the danger of chasing what’s new simply because it’s hot in the moment.
In marketing, flashy doesn’t equal results. What drives revenue for your business may be far less glamorous. I know it is for me. I built my company, PostcardMania, from a small startup with no investors into a $100+ million business by relying on marketing that works—not what’s trending.
It’s the proven channels that keep showing up, delivering measurable returns, while others spark and fade just as quickly as they arrived. Because at the end of the day, there’s only one metric that matters: does it bring in revenue?
Here’s why, in marketing, reliable beats flashy every time.
Traditional marketing is making a comeback
Have you ever tried opening a social media app to find it’s down? It’s annoying at best and panic-inducing at worst if your revenue relies on it. You probably remember how you felt on January 19, 2025, when TikTok went down for 14 hours. Meta also experienced technical issues on March 11, 2026, causing global outages on Instagram.
The reality is, not every marketing channel is 100 percent stable. Traditional forms of advertising, however, have not wavered. Print media, radio, and television have continued functioning and have been widely available for advertising regardless of political or social uncertainty. People feel they can expect and rely on traditional advertising.
About 67 percent of people find mail trustworthy for protecting privacy, and when 1,200 consumers were asked which marketing channel they trusted the most, 76 percent said direct mail—that’s three out of every four people. Only print ads in newspapers and magazines (82 percent), TV ads (80 percent), and mailed catalogues (76 percent) ranked better, and all are considered unsexy by today’s marketing standards.
If you haven’t added a highly trusted channel into your marketing mix, you could be leaving leads and revenue on the table.
Think about it: Aren’t you still a little suspicious of the businesses you’ve never seen before that pop up on your social media feed? Do you buy from them right then and there?
Most traditional advertising has a higher ROI
Meta’s most recent annual report revealed another increase in the cost of its digital advertising. Looking at Q4 2024 and 2025, ad prices rose by 6 percent year-over-year, and 9 percent for all 2025 compared to 2024.
Digital advertising has become significantly more expensive over the past several years. Price benchmarking puts the average search cost per click at $2.41 in 2019; this benchmark climbed to $5.26 in 2025—an increase of 118 percent. Spending more means you’re making less. While the cost of U.S. postage for marketing mail has also increased, the return on investment of direct mail is still higher than digital advertising. According to research, the average ROI of direct mail is 161 percent and exceeds email ROI by 266 percent, beating digital display ROI by 600 percent, and paid social media ROI by 667 percent.
Digital channels attract a lot of user attention but clicks and shares don’t always translate to revenue. I’ve found this to be the case for my own business. For us, leads from direct mail generate $234.54 per lead compared to digital leads, which generate $41.60.
Bottom line: Try something other than digital ads, track your ROI closely, and scale up what works best for your business.
The decline of digital marketing isn’t just ROI-based
Most of us are feeling it to an extent—more and more adults continue to report negative feelings about digital overwhelm. Multiple countries are implementing social media bans for minors as studies show influencers suffer negative emotional impacts. Doomscrolling has led to rising rates of anxiety, depression, stress, emotional dysregulation, and decreased attention spans. Social media is addictive and trendy, but not always for the best when not used in moderation.
Consumers, on the other hand, report feeling calmer, more attentive, and more in control when interacting with print media or connecting in person. One study found that reading for just 30 minutes can lower heart rate and muscle tension. Another study showed it takes consumers 21 percent less cognitive effort to process tangible direct mail pieces than digital marketing.
Print media, while easy on the brain, increases recall. This is because physical materials improve a reader’s ability to understand and remember a message.
Your marketing channels need to be reliable and consistent, create revenue, and also positively impact your consumer base—even if they aren’t sexy. By implementing more opportunities for your prospects and customers to interact with you in person, on the phone, or through print media, you’ll increase those “feel-good feelings” and build lasting positive relationships.
At IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM) this year, the organization marked its 30th anniversary – a milestone that lands awkwardly in the middle of a fresh identity crisis for the business it helped build.
Because yes, the banner ad really did become programmatic. Then it became mobile. Then social. Then video. Then ‘outcomes.’ And now we’re staring down an era where AI can generate the content, optimize the targeting, buy the media and write the post-campaign report, all before anyone’s even worked out what, exactly, we’re measuring.
And yet, in a room full of people whose job titles have evolved faster than their LinkedIn photos, one thing kept popping up: the IAB’s most important product isn’t a deck, a committee or even a conference. It’s the boring stuff. The standards. The definitions. The measurement frameworks. The shared language that stops a market from collapsing into a thousand incompatible ‘trust me, bro’ claims.
To mark the anniversary, The Drum spoke with some of those who’ve seen the whole arc up close, from dial-up chaos to the present day: Rich LeFurgy, the IAB’s founding chair; Wenda Harris Millard, a past chair who remembers just how naïve (and hilarious) those early years were; Scott Cunningham, who helped push the industry into its more technical, standards-led era; and Peter Naylor, who chaired the IAB in 2012 and watched wave after wave of ‘the next big thing’ hit the shore.
We also heard from IAB CEO David Cohen about what 30 years of compounding growth looks like and why, in an AI moment, the industry may need the IAB’s ‘big tent’ approach more than ever.
Start with LeFurgy and you quickly remember, this wasn’t inevitable. He traces the origin story back to something almost quaint – a trade publication editorial that basically said, this new ‘internet media’ thing needs a trade association. “It sparked an idea with me that I really thought we needed a trade association to establish the credibility of the medium,” he tells The Drum.
In April 1996, about 36 people gathered in San Francisco to map out what the thing should be and, crucially, to model it against the grown-up media associations of the day. Because, as LeFurgy puts it, the early internet wasn’t just messy, it was “absolute chaos in the wild, wild west.”
The credibility problem was existential. There were “outrageous claims… ahead of their time,” he says – the kind of lines we still hear in 2026, delivered with slightly better fonts. Agencies, understandably, weren’t buying it. They had a “wake me when it’s over” attitude.
So the IAB did something that seems obvious now and was radical then: it tried to prove the market existed.
“We partnered with PricewaterhouseCoopers to do an audit of actual spending in the fall of 1996… to show that spending was real and to provide air cover for our salespeople,” LeFurgy says.
The “sticker,” he recalls, was $276m in Q4 1996. Cohen, on stage at ALM, put the punchline bluntly: in 2024, the number was roughly $260bn – and the IAB has grown double digits for most of its 30-year run.
If that sounds like destiny, Wenda Harris Millard is here to remind you it was also… absurd. She remembers being in San Francisco in the very early days, trying to find an office, panicking about being late and calling back to New York for the “address.” The response: “OK, it’s w, w, w.”
“The reason we lived in this crazy bubble… it’s the only thing this young girl knew was when we said address,” Harris Millard says.
That’s the real point of the nostalgia: the industry didn’t just lack tools, it lacked basic shared assumptions. Which is why the IAB’s early focus on standards and measurement wasn’t admin. It was survival.
The rails: standards, measurement and the right to trade
If you want the IAB’s core value in one sentence, Peter Naylor offers it: the IAB helped make digital “as easy to buy and easy to sell as possible.” And that “easy” was hard-earned.
Harris Millard frames it as a practical necessity: “We had to focus on a lot of the standards that didn’t exist… trying to figure out the rules everybody should be trying to play by and you need some kind of a governing body for that to happen.”
Her warning is still current: “The worst thing that can happen is that individual companies run off and decide what their standards… should be… That just creates even more chaos.”
She points to measurement as a defining contribution: “The IAB took a lead role in measurement, because we promised marketers that this would be a very accountable medium.”
LeFurgy is even more explicit about what standards did in those early banner years: they reduced friction. And friction in a market trying to convince Madison Avenue it’s real is fatal.
“There was a lot of friction in the marketplace,” he says. Without standards, “700 different banner sizes” meant teams obsessed with technical negotiation rather than “creating great advertising and great media plans.”
That line matters because it’s the throughline to today: the format has changed, but the role of standards hasn’t. The glamorous world of banner sizes has simply been replaced by the even more glamorous world of AI governance, interoperability, data rights and “what counts as an impression when nobody’s looking at a screen.”
Acceleration: waves keep coming and you don’t get to stop the ocean
Naylor’s mental model of digital isn’t a timeline; it’s a coastline. “There’s been wave after wave of big innovation. We started with banners and buttons and then search and then social media. AI is obviously here right now and all in between is the rise of commerce and the rise of video,” he says.
When he wants an example, he goes straight to the moment TV began to understand the internet wasn’t just “promo.” Disney putting full episodes online triggered a chain reaction – NBC, then Hulu, then OTT becoming “streaming” as default.
His point isn’t just that things change. It’s that the IAB’s job is to stop every new wave from splintering the market into incompatible definitions.
Because digital isn’t a single channel but, in actual fact, infrastructure. It leaks into everything: retail, entertainment, publishing, commerce, creators, the open web, the walled gardens and, now, generative systems that might not need ‘websites’ in the way the last 30 years assumed.
Transformation: from ‘midnight banner swaps’ to AI-era compliance
Scott Cunningham’s origin story is the perfect antidote to any tendency to mythologize those early years. “Way back when, I was the guy who was at the bar on Saturday night and who had to leave at midnight to stumble into the office to change out the whole front of the website so that we had a new banner ad,” he says.
Then, someone arrived with an ad server. “I said, ‘I love you. This is great. Now I don’t have to leave the bar any more on the weekends.’”
That’s not just a funny story. It’s a snapshot of what “professionalizing the industry” actually meant: moving from human duct tape to systems, protocols and repeatability.
Cunningham later helped found the IAB Tech Lab in 2014 and today he’s focused on quality assurance and compliance because, in the AI era, ‘trust’ isn’t a slogan. It’s a requirement for the market to function.
“I joined [AAM] to help the industry put together a lot of good quality assurance programs moving forward,” he says, “because I do believe that compliance is where we need to take things.”
LeFurgy thinks the current AI disruption will be as significant as the dotcom era, but with a key difference: we’re not starting from zero any more and everyone knows enough to be scared.
Which is why his prescription sounds familiar: “Coming together as an industry so that we can create a standard so that everybody’s running on the same rails [and] we do the best thing for the consumer.”
30 years of compounding and the next job for the IAB
Cohen’s anniversary framing was simple: the IAB has been at the centre of every major inflection point because it keeps doing the same thing, over and over, in new contexts – convene, define, standardize, measure, repeat.
The shift now is that the next inflection point isn’t just a new channel. It’s a new actor in the system: AI that can create, distribute and monetize at machine speed while simultaneously raising questions about scraping, rights, provenance and what it even means to ‘trade’ attention.
Meanwhile, retail media is charging in as the newest ‘wave’ and, if the last 30 years taught the industry anything, it’s that retail doesn’t get to invent its own physics. It will need shared definitions, shared standards and shared measurement, or it’ll recreate the chaos that banners had to climb out of.
30 years on, the IAB’s achievement is not that it predicted the future, it’s that it built the plumbing that let the industry survive its own imagination.
Or, to borrow the vibe of those early meetings that LeFurgy described, digital grew up because somebody, at some point, decided the boring work mattered enough to organize around it.
Strong metrics don’t guarantee revenue. Here’s why B2B teams keep missing the connection — and how to fix it.
The Gist
Marketing activity does not always translate into revenue.Strong campaign metrics and lead volume can create the appearance of success even when business growth remains flat or difficult to attribute.
The real problem is structural misalignment.When marketing and sales operate with different goals, metrics and ownership models, both teams can perform well individually while the business still struggles to connect activity to revenue.
B2B growth improves when marketing is tied to revenue systems.Shared metrics, account-focused strategies and tighter coordination across the customer lifecycle help turn marketing from a demand engine into a measurable driver of pipeline and long-term value.
In many B2B companies, marketing performance looks strong on dashboards — campaigns generate leads, engagement metrics are rising, and marketing activity appears successful. Yet when leadership reviews revenue growth, the connection between marketing efforts and actual business outcomes often remains unclear.
This disconnect creates one of the most common challenges in modern B2B organizations: the gap between marketing activity and real revenue impact.
Marketing teams often focus on campaigns, brand visibility and lead generation, while sales teams are responsible for closing deals and driving revenue. Without clear alignment between these functions, even well-funded marketing programs can struggle to produce measurable business results.
In most cases, the problem is not a lack of effort. The gap appears because marketing and sales are often evaluated by different metrics and priorities.
First, marketing teams are frequently measured by lead volume rather than revenue contribution. High numbers of leads may look impressive in reports, but if those leads do not convert into qualified opportunities, the business sees little real impact.
Second, marketing and sales often operate in separate structures. Marketing focuses on demand generation and brand visibility, while sales focuses on pipeline and deals. Without shared goals and data transparency, both teams end up optimizing for different outcomes.
Third, the B2B buying process has become significantly more complex. Purchasing decisions now involve multiple stakeholders across departments. Traditional lead-based marketing approaches are often too narrow to effectively engage these buying groups.
When Marketing Metrics Don’t Reflect Business Growth
Another challenge is the growing gap between marketing dashboards and executive-level priorities.
Marketing reports may highlight impressions, clicks, or marketing-qualified leads. However, executive leadership typically evaluates success through revenue growth, deal size and pipeline health. Understanding customer analytics can help bridge this gap by connecting marketing activities to actual business outcomes.
If marketing activity cannot clearly connect to these business metrics, its strategic value becomes difficult to demonstrate.
A Practical Example: When Marketing and Sales Operate as One System
In my experience building a corporate client division, one of the most effective decisions was integrating marketing and sales into a single operational flow.
When we built the corporate department, marketing and sales were not separated functions. I worked across both roles — from the first client interaction to contract negotiation and long-term account management with corporate clients.
This structure ensured that marketing insights, customer feedback and revenue outcomes were fully connected. Every new client, every market signal and every customer interaction became part of a shared understanding of growth.
As a result, marketing was never disconnected from revenue performance — it was embedded directly into the business growth process.
Bridging the Gap Between Marketing and Revenue
Closing this gap requires more than adjusting marketing tactics. It requires structural alignment between marketing, sales and revenue leadership.
One effective approach is shifting from broad lead generation to account-focused strategies. Account-Based Marketing (ABM), for example, allows marketing and sales teams to coordinate efforts around specific high-value accounts.
When both teams focus on the same companies, messaging becomes more consistent, engagement becomes more strategic, and marketing activity connects directly to revenue opportunities. Effective customer journey mapping helps both teams understand and optimize each touchpoint in the buying process.
Shared metrics also play a crucial role. Instead of evaluating marketing only through campaign performance, companies can track pipeline contribution, deal acceleration and revenue influence. Metrics like customer lifetime value provide a clearer picture of long-term revenue impact.
These metrics create a clearer connection between marketing initiatives and business outcomes.
Rethinking the Role of Marketing in B2B Organizations
Companies that successfully close the marketing–revenue gap typically rethink the role of marketing altogether.
Marketing stops being a standalone demand-generation function and becomes part of a broader revenue engine that includes sales, customer success and business strategy.
In this model, marketing supports the entire customer lifecycle — from initial awareness to deal acceleration and long-term customer value. This approach aligns with emerging marketing trends that emphasize integrated revenue operations.
Conclusion: Marketing Needs a Strong Tie to Revenue
As B2B markets become more competitive, organizations can no longer afford a disconnect between marketing activity and revenue impact.
Companies that align marketing and sales around shared revenue goals gain a significant strategic advantage. Their marketing becomes more targeted, their pipeline stronger, and their growth easier to measure.
In many organizations, the real challenge is not marketing performance — it is organizational alignment between marketing activity and revenue ownership.
Mariia Golitsyna is an international B2B marketing and business growth strategist with more than 15 years of experience working with enterprise clients and global brands. She specializes in growth strategy, enterprise partnerships and the alignment of marketing with revenue in complex B2B environments.
What do the worst marketing misfires have in common? An absolute failure to read the room.
The Gist
AI authenticity crisis. The rush to adopt artificial intelligence has created a new category of marketing failures where technology replaces human connection, leaving audiences feeling manipulated rather than engaged.
Heritage vs. evolution paradox. From luxury automakers to beloved restaurant chains, brands attempting radical transformations learned that evolution requires honouring your DNA while building toward the future.
Crisis management meltdown.In our hyperconnected age, how brands respond to controversy matters as much as the initial campaign—wavering values and murky messaging amplify damage rather than contain it.
The marketing landscape has seen its successes and failures with advertising. The interesting fact is that people are becoming more vocal about what they like and don’t like.
Even Reddit has become a constant source of ad lessons, hosting distinct threads where people comment on bad ads. There is a dedicated channel called CommercialHate that displays ads and commentary.
These ads are more than poorly executed commercials. The responses are examples of sentiment analysis. They are case studies in what happens when brands misread cultural moments, abandon their heritage or let technology override authenticity.
Each failure offers lessons for marketing leaders navigating an increasingly complex digital ecosystem where every campaign faces instant, global scrutiny. In this post, we will look at the most notable brand examples of messaging missteps that have occurred in the last few years, and what lessons marketers can learn:
1. Google Gemini’s Olympic Heartbreak: AI Replacing Human Expression (2024)
Google’s 2024 Olympics ad featured a parent suggesting their child use Gemini AI to write a letter to her favourite athlete. The intent was to showcase AI capabilities.
Critics argued the commercial suggested that even heartfelt messages of admiration—the kind that define Olympic spirit—should be outsourced to artificial intelligence. In a celebration of human achievement, suggesting AI mediate a genuine connection felt tone-deaf. CNBC reported that Google had tested the ad before launching it.
The Lesson: AI Must Enhance Humanity, Not Replace It
AI in marketing faces a delicate balance between demonstrating innovation and preserving human authenticity. Technology works best when it enhances human capabilities rather than replacing human expression. Marketing leaders must recognize when automation crosses from helpful to harmful, particularly in emotionally charged contexts.
2. Levi’s AI-Generated Models: Diversity Without Investment (2023)
In 2023, Levi’s partnered with lalaland.ai to showcase AI-generated models for diversity representation. The backlash was immediate and brutal: critics called it lazy, problematic and racist. If Levi’s genuinely cared about diversity, why not hire real models from diverse backgrounds?
The fundamental error was treating diversity as a visual checkbox rather than a genuine commitment. Using synthetic humans to represent real human diversity struck audiences as fundamentally dishonest—particularly from a heritage brand built on authenticity.
The Lesson: Representation Requires Real Investment
When brands demonstrate support for DEI, customers expect real actions, not just visual presentations. In an AI-sceptical marketplace, automating human representation feels like avoiding the investment that genuine diversity requires. Authenticity demands substance over surface-level aesthetics.
3. Coca-Cola’s AI Christmas: Technology Destroying Nostalgia (2024)
Coca-Cola attempted to use AI to recreate its beloved “Holidays are coming” campaign in 2024. Despite similar festive imagery—sparkling lights, red trucks, joyous families—audiences couldn’t emotionally connect with the AI-generated version, according to CNBC.
The technology’s limitations became painfully apparent when tasked with recreating something fundamentally about human emotion and tradition. Critics described it as cold and impersonal, lacking the warmth that made the original iconic.
The Lesson: Innovation Should Not Erase Emotional Equity
Not everything should be automated, especially content where emotional resonance is the entire point. Brands sitting on cultural touchstones built over decades should recognize that innovation for innovation’s sake can destroy value rather than create it. Coca-Cola’s Christmas advertising carries enormous brand equity—using AI to replicate that heritage without understanding what made it special resulted in a hollow imitation.
4. Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light Crisis: The Art of the Non-Apology (2023)
This partnership became one of the most financially devastating marketing decisions in recent memory, resulting in a $27 billion loss in market value and a 30% sales drop. But as I explored in my analysis ofwhat Anheuser-Busch got wrong, the initial partnership wasn’t the biggest mistake—it was the crisis response.
CEO Brendan Whitworth’s open letter, “Our Responsibility to America,” exemplified everything wrong with corporate crisis management. The statement tried to appeal to everyone while committing to nothing: “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
As Sara McCord, CEO of McCord Communications, noted in my piece: “Marketing to everyone is marketing to no one. … The statement fails to support anyone who would’ve felt targeted in recent days: those who support trans rights see that when the brand was attacked by conservatives it abandoned them, and those who do not support trans rights see no clear commitment to their agenda.”
The Lesson: Crisis Management Requires Clarity, Not Neutrality
Crisis response often evolves into ongoing campaigns when controversy persists. Brands attempting to maintain neutrality while prominent featuring their product strike an inappropriate tone—it feels like covert advertising masquerading as genuine dialogue. Moreover, transforming a brand image necessitates consistent, ongoing communication. Reacting with management changes doesn’t convey this consistency.
As I noted in my original analysis, if established brands are adapting to meet evolving expectations around inclusive marketing—and they should be—then executives need to exhibit more patience with results and be prepared for challenges. Making too abrupt changes can lead to poor partnership experiences and irreparable harm.
5. Jaguar’s ‘Copy Nothing’ Gambit: Selling Identity Without Product (2024)
Jaguar’s 2024 rebrand generated massive controversy with its fashion-forward video featuring no cars, diverse models and the tagline “Copy Nothing.” As I detailed in my analysis ofwhether CMOs can sell luxury without a product, the campaign represented a high-stakes bet on brand messaging over product.
The campaign aimed to reposition Jaguar as an ultra-luxury brand competing with Bentley and Ferrari, but it faced criticism for generic logos and unclear messaging. Most notably, trolls attacked the diversity of models as “too woke,” though these critics were unlikely to ever be Jaguar customers.
The real challenge? Jaguar discontinued most of its lineup and won’t launch its new electric Type 00 until 2026. The brand is literally selling an identity rather than a product—a two-year gap in automotive marketing terms.
The Lesson: Brand Reinvention Needs Proof, Patience and Precision
As I emphasized in my original analysis, marketers must pick metrics and KPIs that measure public campaign response. Brand awareness metrics like share of voice in luxury discussions, sentiment analysis of keywords and brand recognition ensure rebranding creates clear competitive separation.
Equally important: know the right stakeholders for valid campaign criticism. Carefully consider how rebranding messages will be received by different audience segments on each digital channel. Trolls are never your customers and should not dictate brand direction.
The gamble remains unresolved until 2026, but the journey offers lessons: sometimes the brand itself must be the product, but the messaging must clearly demonstrate how 100 years of history brings value to aspirational luxury plans.
6. Zara’s ‘The Jacket’ Campaign: Missing the Room Entirely (2023)
In December 2023, Zara launched “The Jacket” campaign featuring mannequins with missing limbs wrapped in white sheets amid rubble and broken plaster. The timing couldn’t have been worse — the campaign was launched during the Israel-Gaza conflict, and the imagery immediately drew comparisons to disturbing scenes from Gaza, including corpses wrapped in white burial shrouds.
Social media commentary was swift, according to NPR. The hashtag #BoycottZara trended quickly on X (formerly Twitter), and Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority received over 110 complaints. CNN Business reported that Zara pulled the campaign after the backlash, with parent company Inditex claiming the photos were taken in September, before the conflict began.
But as The Drum’s analysis revealed, the real failure was in crisis preparedness. Giselle Elsom, client services director at Truffle Social, noted: “It should then be checked before it goes live, especially during times like these.” Lucy Robertson, head of brand marketing at Seen Connects, emphasized that “brands need to be more sensitive to how customers are behaving and it’s really about reading the room.”
The Lesson: Cultural Context Must Be a Core Part of QA
Scheduled content requires final approval processes that account for current events. As The Drum’s experts emphasized, brands must be able to “switch direction quickly—this is the new normal.” World events can derail campaigns prepared months in advance, so marketing teams need “brave, bold decisions” to pull content that won’t land well with audiences. Cultural sensitivity isn’t just about the creative—it’s about knowing when to hit pause.
7. Bumble’s ‘Celibacy is Not the Answer’: Missing Cultural Movements (2024)
Bumble’s 2024 billboard campaign stating “Celibacy is not the answer” landed during growing conversations about women’s autonomy, dating culture burnout and the “4B movement,” in which some women choose celibacy as empowerment.
The campaign felt dismissive of legitimate concerns about modern dating dynamics, suggesting the app knew better than women making conscious choices about their bodies and relationships.
The Lesson: Know Your Audience’s Reality Before Challenging It
Focus groups made up of your actual target demographic would have flagged this messaging as insensitive before public rollout. Understanding your audience means listening to their current concerns and cultural movements, not dictating what their “answers” should be. When your product depends on people dating, telling them celibacy is wrong feels self-serving rather than supportive.
8. American Eagle’s ‘Great Jeans’: When Wordplay Backfires (2025)
American Eagle’s 2025 campaign paired Sydney Sweeney with the tagline “Great Jeans”—a pun on genes that some interpreted as body-coded, exclusionary and uncomfortably close to eugenics rhetoric. What was meant as playful wordplay quickly became a widely criticized example of tone-deaf marketing.
The Lesson: Clever Wordplay Cannot Come at the Expense of Inclusion
Pre-testing with diverse audiences catches these problems before launch. What seems clever in a conference room can read entirely differently in the marketplace. In our hyperconnected age, every message faces examination through multiple cultural lenses. Clarity and inclusivity beat cleverness when they conflict.
The fix was simple: test the tagline across subcultures and choose language that can’t be misinterpreted.
9. H&M’s ‘Coolest Monkey in the Jungle’: Implicit Bias on Display (2018)
In January 2018, H&M faced global outrage for featuring a Black child modelling a hoodie with the slogan “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” on its UK website. Social media erupted immediately, with celebrities including The Weeknd, G-Eazy, Questlove and LeBron James condemning the ad. CNN Business reported that both The Weeknd and G-Eazy severed business ties with H&M over the incident.
The controversy intensified when observers noted that other hoodies from the same line—featuring phrases like “survival expert”—were modelled by white children. Billboard noted that the incident was “yet another sad reminder of how much more work needs to be done when it comes to understanding the implications that can arise behind certain images and messaging.”
H&M’s initial apology fell flat, forcing the company to issue a more detailed statement acknowledging that “even if unintentional, passive or casual racism needs to be eradicated wherever it exists.” NBC News reported that H&M responded by appointing Annie Wu as Global Leader for Diversity and Inclusiveness, though critics argued the damage was already done.
The Lesson: Diversity in the Room Prevents Harm in the World
As Billboard’s analysis emphasized: “This H&M incident again lets you know that no one of color is involved in these creative teams.” Diversity isn’t just about the final product—it’s about who’s in the room making decisions. The campaign revealed how implicit bias operates when homogeneous teams create content for diverse audiences. Multiple perspectives at every approval level aren’t optional—they’re essential for identifying racist implications before campaigns reach the public. H&M’s stock plummeted, and the brand lost major celebrity partnerships, demonstrating the financial and reputational cost of diversity failures.
10. PureGym’s ’12 Years A Slave’ Workout: Comparing Exercise to Enslavement (2020)
In 2020, PureGym Luton and Dunstable named a workout challenge “12 Years of Slave” and claimed “slavery was hard, and so is this.” The comparison of a voluntary fitness challenge to the historical enslavement of African Americans drew immediate, severe criticism.
The post was taken down, and PureGym apologized, stating they did not approve the post before it was made—revealing another layer of failure in brand oversight.
The Lesson: Some Topics Are Not Creative Raw Material
Some comparisons should never be made, regardless of the “creative” intent. Historical trauma, particularly relating to slavery and racism, cannot be co-opted for workout marketing. That should be a fundamental understanding by marketing teams at brands.
Robust approval processes ensure local franchises or branches cannot publish content that destroys brand reputation. Cultural sensitivity training should emphasize what’s absolutely off-limits, not just what’s questionable.
Conclusion: What Can Marketing Leaders Expect in 2026?
So, we don’t want to just dance on marketing graves here. What can we truly learn and expect in 2026? Start doubling down on customer experience.
Rishi Rana, CEO of Cyara, said in 2026, CMOs will stop measuring marketing success by impressions, clicks and campaigns and start measuring it by experience quality. As AI takes over more of the customer journey, from personalized offers to service conversations, the brand experience no longer ends at conversion, according to Rana. It lives and breathes in every automated touchpoint, he added.
“That’s why marketing leaders will begin reporting a new KPI at the board level: the Experience Quality Index (EQI),” Rana said. “EQI will blend accuracy, speed, and sentiment across human and AI interactions, creating a single measure of how every brand moment performs in the real world. In the AI era, marketing’s job isn’t just to attract customers, it’s to assure the quality of every promise a brand makes.”
Pierre DeBois is the founder and CEO of Zimana, an analytics services firm that helps organizations achieve improvements in marketing, website development, and business operations. Zimana has provided analysis services using Google Analytics, R Programming, Python, JavaScript and other technologies where data and metrics abide.
In today’s digitally-driven world, where consumers are inundated with a constant barrage of advertisements and content, storytelling serves as a potent antidote to ad fatigue. By crafting narratives that resonate with the audience’s aspirations, challenges, and desires, brands can cut through the noise and forge genuine connections that foster loyalty and trust.
As the founder of a consultancy that leaders’ stories into their competitive business advantage, I’ve found that people remember stories more than facts. I focus on making the founder’s journey relatable and engaging through stories. I dive deep into their journey, focusing on the raw, unfiltered moments that shaped their vision. It’s effective because people crave genuine connections, and by sharing these stories, we foster a bond based on shared experiences and values.
To help leaders humanize their message, I asked members of the Marketing & PR Group, a community I lead through Forbes Business Council, for ways they’ve been using storytelling as content strategy in digital marketing — and why they’ve been successful.
1. Real-Life Customer Success Stories
Storytelling has a profound impact, particularly on entrepreneurs. By spotlighting real-life customer success stories, banking is infused with humanity, fostering trust and connection. Storytelling’s success lies in transforming impersonal financial services into experiences that resonate, creating a narrative that entrepreneurs can see themselves in, thus fostering deeper engagement and trust. – Aleesha Webb, Pioneer Bank
2. Brand Narratives
You can showcase your product through sheer brand narratives that connect with audiences. Start by creating a compelling story that revolves around the brand’s values, mission, passion and journey. This way, you can create an emotional connection with consumers by developing brand loyalty and engagement. I’ve found this strategy works well since it humanizes the brand and people can connect with the product more easily. – Vinay Chandrashekar, Long Boat Brewing Co.
3. Captivating Hooks
Captivating hooks will always be a pillar for any successful content strategy online. Without engaging hooks on each piece of content, you cannot capture the audience and “win the click.” Start each piece of content by immediately stating a problem, goal or emotion to your audience. This will lead to much stronger engagement and reach. – Reggie Young, Exit Advisor
4. Social Media Reporting
YouTube and social media reporting have become so impactful that they can even work against you. During the early creation of the company, we begrudged internet trolls which led to tons of false negative content being posted all over the internet. It taught us the importance of owning your content channel (YouTube especially) and being proactive in telling your own story and that of your customers. – Ali Mahvan, Terasynth
5. Brand Videos
Utilizing brand videos to weave compelling narratives around the brand’s values and products has been successful. This strategy emotionally connects with the audience, leading to better brand recall, increased engagement and higher conversion rates. – Mohammad Bahareth, MBI
As the sands shift around digital marketing, says Mike Wickham of Impression, it might be time to reconsider how we target customers online.
Good marketing should always be a win-win. The consumer should win because they’re being provided with a relevant option for whatever it is they’re in the market for. The brand should win by meeting that need and by providing its product or service to the right audience, hopefully, at the right cost.
As someone who navigates both the world of marketing and consumerism, I’m noticing a worrying trend towards fewer, less relevant options presented across paid media platforms.
The algorithm isn’t always our friend
Let me give you an example. I was recently on a quest to find the perfect pair of shoes. Versatile enough for all seasons, suitable for both smart and casual attire, and durable for years to come. Alas, I’m still searching, and not just because I’m incredibly fussy.
My customer journey began the same as most, with a broad search on Google, and I was served a range of options from boots to sandals. Not quite right, but after navigating to the shopping tab, I found a few items closer to what I was picturing in my head.
After clicking on a few options from different brands and browsing their catalogues I still hadn’t found the dream pair, but I had at least narrowed down the style I was looking for. So I returned to Google and provided a bit more detail for my next search (long-tail searches do still exist), only to receive virtually the same list of items in the carousel as before.
The results were pretty much exclusively from the three brands that I just visited. For the following days and weeks, browsing across the web provided me with limited new suggestions. I was re-served the same items time and time again. A poor use of frequency capping is partly at fault here, but the crux of it is, my behaviour gave signals that I was interested in these items, and so the algorithms pushed hell for leather to get me to convert.
I sympathize with these brands, and advertisers in general, who face similar challenges. With a shift towards larger audience definitions and a heavier reliance on machine automation, they’re a little at the mercy of the algorithms to distinguish who is the right customer.
How to identify the most likely customers
So what can we do to help differentiate between a person who clicks a visual ad of a product, engages with the website and decides the product isn’t quite right for them, versus a person who clicks a visual ad of the product, engages with the website and then decides that while they most likely will buy, they first want to compare prices elsewhere and wait for payday?
It ultimately comes down to developing a better understanding of the behaviour and psychology of your consumers. There are often more reasons not to buy something than there are to buy it, so we must begin to dig much deeper.
It starts with research. Understanding consumer behaviour to uncover the’why’ behind the engagement – as well as the ’why not’. Is it to do with affordability, a lack of urgency, or too much choice? Or is it down to concerns over compromise, distraction, likeability, trust, principles, ethics… and so much more? The list of conscious and subconscious reasons for not proceeding can be many and varied.
Behavioural insight often starts with old-fashioned methods, like actually talking to people. Focus groups, surveys and questionnaires are often seen as archaic to digital-first businesses, but they will provide the insights that will help you identify where to begin looking within the data.
Don’t chase every would-be buyer
We have to measure in different ways than before. Parsing small but significant signals of consumer intent, such as attention mapping, engagement depth, dwell time, and frequency of interaction, will help to build a clearer picture between a genuinely interested buyer and a passer-by.
By identifying and excluding those who have shown signals of dis-intent, we’re able to better place our energy into more qualified customers, while the same data informs how we adapt our customer journeys to capitalize on the ‘likely buyers’.
We ultimately need to be better at understanding our customers’ wants and needs. And a key part of this is knowing when to pursue them, and when to let them go. Algorithms have made it harder to do the latter, as they miss the context and the cognitive reasoning in the mind of the decision-maker.
Those are the gaps we need to fill, and it’s the combination of blending behavioural insights with your machine learning tools that will not only help the marketer become more effective with their advertising spend, but also help bring back the relevancy to the consumer.
Affiliate marketing has emerged as a potent business tactic in the ever-changing world of digital marketing. By using this tactic, you may broaden the range of your operations and boost revenue. The core of effective affiliate marketing programs is the requirement to track affiliate links, conversions, and commissions precisely. Marketers use specialized tools for tracking affiliate links to do this. These solutions streamline the procedure and provide insightful data that helps them refine their tactics.
Affiliate marketing has shown to be a successful method for businesses to increase their consumer base and revenue. Investing in reliable affiliate link tracking tools is necessary to use an affiliate marketing system to its full potential. The tools discussed in this article—Phonexa, Affiliatly, AffiliateWP, Boberdoo, and iDevAffiliate—offer different features that meet other marketing goals. By choosing the device that fits your business’s goals and needs, you can optimize your affiliate programs, properly track performance, and get the most out of affiliate marketing in today’s competitive market.
Let’s go into the specifics and see how these tools support businesses in achieving the best possible outcomes from their affiliate marketing initiatives.
Affiliate Link Tracking Tools: Pros and Cons for Effective Marketing
Phonexa: A Holistic Approach to Performance Marketing
Disadvantage: Higher learning curve due to advanced features.
Affiliatly: Simplified Affiliate Program Management
Advantages: User-friendly interface, easy setup, automation of commissions and pay-outs.
Disadvantage: It may need more advanced features required by larger businesses.
AffiliateWP: Seamless Integration with WordPress
Advantages: Native WordPress integration, extensibility through add-ons, compatibility with e-commerce platforms.
Disadvantage: Primarily suitable for WordPress-based websites.
Boberdoo: Customizable Routing Rules
Advantages: Advanced lead tracking, real-time lead distribution, and integration capabilities.
Disadvantage: More focused on lead generation may only be ideal for businesses with a strong lead component.
iDevAffiliate: Versatility for Diverse Affiliate Programs
Advantages: Support for various commission structures, multi-level marketing (MLM) support, and customizable branding.
Disadvantage: The interface may not be as modern as some other tools.
Exploring the Most Effective Options
As we thoroughly examine each instrument, we will not only point out its benefits but also any possible drawbacks that it could have. You’ll be in a better position to choose the affiliate link tracker tool that best suits the needs of your company if you are aware of the distinctive advantages and disadvantages of each one. Let’s begin our adventure to learn more about Phonexa, Affiliatly, AffiliateWP, Boberdoo, and iDevAffiliate’s advantages and disadvantages.
As the competitive landscape continues to evolve, understanding the nuances of these tracking tools becomes paramount in order to stay ahead in the affiliate marketing game. By evaluating the potential disadvantages along with the advantages, you can effectively craft the strategy you need. For example, how to maximize your affiliate campaigns using these platforms. Our comprehensive analysis aims not only to inform but also to empower your decision-making process. The tool you choose must fully meet your business goals.
1. Phonexa
G2 Rating: 4.9/5
Price: Starts at – $100 /month
Free trial: yes
Phonexa provides several tools for lead generation, tracking, and conversion optimization as a complete performance marketing platform. Marketers can precisely measure clicks, conversions, and commissions thanks to its affiliate tracking software. Real-time analytics and reporting from Phonexa enable marketers to quickly modify their strategy to take advantage of new trends while still making educated judgments. Phonexa’s multidimensional capabilities and cutting-edge innovation are two of the main selling points for the company to business customers. Phonexa is definitely the industry leader when it comes to solutions for affiliate tracking software.
Phonexa is unique in the affiliate marketing tracking software industry because of its cutting-edge ability to connect call tracking and attribution with digital marketing campaigns. This becomes especially important in businesses where most of the conversion process relies on telephone exchanges. This state-of-the-art technology bridges the gap between online and offline conversions, giving marketers a comprehensive perspective that enables them to identify revenue sources and enhance the pin-point precision of affiliate marketing tracking methods. Informed judgments and maximum advertising performance are made possible by this synergy for marketers.
2. Affiliatly
G2 Rating: 4.4/5
Price: Starts at – $16 /month
Free trial: no
Affiliatly is a marketing tracking software that is simple to use and ideal for businesses of all sizes. Affiliatly a user-friendly interface and straightforward setup make it possible for marketers to create and maintain their affiliate marketing systems rapidly. Clicks, conversions, and transactions are among the aspects of the platform’s affiliate marketing tracking that provide users with information on the effectiveness of campaigns and affiliate success.
One of Affiliatly unique characteristics is the automation of commissions and payments, accelerating the procedure for rewarding affiliates for their work. It furthermore offers completely customizable affiliate dashboards so that affiliates may monitor their output, earnings, and referral traffic. The focus on usability and simplicity of Affiliatly makes it an enticing affiliate marketing tracker for businesses looking to build and manage affiliate marketing programs.
3. AffiliateWP
G2 Rating: 4/5
Price: Starts at – $149.5 /year
Free trial: no
As a strong affiliate tracking software and affiliate tracker plugin for WordPress, AffiliateWP emerges to assist businesses that operate inside the WordPress ecosystem. The user-friendly interface of AffiliateWP and easy integration with WordPress websites allow it to give extensive affiliate tracking capabilities. Marketers may immediately assess the success of their affiliate activities thanks to the real-time statistics provided by the plugin.
Thanks to AffiliateWP’s flexibility through add-ons, marketers may adapt the leading affiliate tracking platform to their needs. The best use for this flexible affiliate monitoring software will be for companies with certain affiliate program requirements. Because it is compatible with several e-commerce platforms, the plugin is a desired option for businesses searching for the best affiliate tracking software and affiliate tracking solutions inside the WordPress framework.
4. Boberdoo
G2 Rating: 3/5
Price: Starts at – individual payment calculation
Free trial: no
Due to its innovative methods for tracking leads utilizing best affiliate tracking software, Boberdoo stands out. Due to its top affiliate program software qualities, Boberdoo is a fantastic solution for sectors that need a lot of leads. Marketers may monitor each stage of the lead’s lifecycle with the help of the partner monitoring tools and “affiliate link tracking software” available on the platform. The potential of the affiliate program platform may be fully used by your partner to increase sales by optimizing their marketing tactics.
Leads are more likely to be effortlessly sent to the most eligible partners right away when using Boberdoo’s Lead Distribution tool in conjunction with its affiliate tracking software. The success of your lead distribution efforts will be increased by the seamless data transfer across various systems made possible by the integration of affiliate program software. Boberdoo separates out from the competition by placing a strong emphasis on accuracy and quality in lead monitoring, especially by providing efficient solutions to track partner relationships in sectors where obtaining leads is of utmost significance. Boberdoo’s position as a top-tier solution in the field of lead distribution and affiliate marketing is cemented by its superb affiliate tracking software.
5. iDevAffiliate
G2 Rating: 5/5
Price: Starts at – $39/month
Free trial: no
iDevAffiliate is a flexible affiliate marketing program that offers businesses several tracking and administration tools. Because iDevAffiliate supports a variety of payment models, marketers can pay affiliates based on clicks, conversions, and sales. Valuable platform data, including affiliate tracking software, can be used by marketers to improve campaigns.
The user-friendly customization options in iDevAffiliate allow it to be adapted to meet the branding requirements of different organizations. A noteworthy feature of the platform is its ability to support multi-level marketing (MLM) programs, also known as tracking affiliate marketing, which benefit businesses with complex affiliate networks. iDevAffiliate’s adaptability makes it the best tracking software for affiliate marketing. It is a powerful tool for companies wishing to set up and manage various affiliate programs, especially with its extensive tracking features and advanced affiliate tracking system.
Making the Best Decision
Affiliate marketing is a powerful way for businesses to get more customers and make more money. Investing in solid affiliate link tracking tools is necessary to make the most of affiliate marketing. Popular brands in the field of affiliate program monitoring and affiliate conversion tracking solutions, all described in this article, include Phonexa, Affiliatly, AffiliateWP, Boberdoo, and iDevAffiliate.
These systems provide comprehensive deep analytics and precise tracking solutions that let companies successfully enhance their tactics. Every one of these items has a distinct set of characteristics that are created to satisfy particular marketing objectives. By carefully selecting the best solution for your company’s particular needs and objectives, you may significantly improve the efficacy of your affiliate marketing. You may acquire a competitive edge and maximize the benefits of your affiliate partnership by utilizing cutting-edge affiliate tracking solutions.
Are you looking to transform your humble podcast into a buzzing audio sensation?
Podcast marketing is your ticket to reach new listeners and engage your audience like never before.
Through techniques such as strategic partnerships, effective SEO, and leveraging social media platforms, you can elevate your podcast to an entirely new level.
So, are you ready to captivate more listeners and skyrocket your podcast’s popularity?
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are teeming with potential listeners who are just one compelling post away from becoming your ardent fans.
To unlock this potential, consider creating diverse and dynamic content around your podcast episodes.
This could be a compelling quote from an episode that sparks curiosity, a mini-audio teaser that gives a taste of your captivating content, or an eye-catching episode graphic that stops a scroller in their tracks.
For example, if your podcast guest shared a provocative insight or a funny anecdote, turn that into a tweet or an Instagram post.
Another strategy is to start a conversation using trending hashtags or engaging polls.
If your podcast revolves around entrepreneurship, for instance, engaging with your audience using hashtags like #StartupLife or #Entrepreneurship can attract like-minded individuals who might be interested in your content.
Remember, the goal is to pique interest and drive traffic to your podcast, all while adding value and engaging your community.
2. Podcast SEO
When it comes to podcast marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t just a tool; it’s a secret weapon.
By optimizing your podcast episodes with relevant keywords and enticing descriptions, you can make your podcast more visible to potential listeners who are already searching for content like yours.
Consider the fact that search engines like Google and Apple Podcast are the highways that lead listeners straight to your digital doorstep.
By using SEO best practices, you essentially lay breadcrumbs that guide listeners from their search queries to your podcast episodes.
For example, if your podcast episode is about “vegan recipes,” make sure those words appear in your title, description, and even in your transcript.
Don’t forget your podcast website either! It should be as SEO-friendly as possible. Think of it as baking a digital marketing pie that Google just can’t resist.
An SEO optimized site will improve your search ranking and increase your visibility, which ultimately leads to a larger audience and higher engagement rates.
3. Embrace Email Marketing
Whoever said emails were outdated, certainly didn’t understand the power of email marketing.
In the podcasting world, an email list can be the secret ingredient for transforming casual listeners into engaged fans.
Email marketing allows you to connect directly with your audience on a more personal level.
It’s your chance to share exclusive content, episode highlights, or even teasers for upcoming guests. This not only keeps your listeners in the loop but also provides them with value-added content that enhances their listener experience.
For instance, consider sharing an exclusive mini-episode or a behind-the-scenes look at the podcast recording process with your email subscribers.
Or perhaps a Q&A session with you or your guests that’s exclusive to your email list.
Most importantly, unlike social media platforms, you own your email list.
This means you’re not at the mercy of algorithms for your content to be seen.
It’s a direct, unfiltered line of communication between you and your listeners, like sending a personalized invitation for them to dive back into your audio content.
Remember, the key is to provide value.
An engaged email subscriber can turn into a loyal podcast listener, and eventually, an evangelist for your podcast.
4. Harness the Power of Podcast Advertising
Podcast ads have come a long way from just a means to monetize your show. They’ve evolved into a potent tool for cross-promotion and audience expansion.
By forming strategic partnerships with other podcasters, you can swap podcast ad slots, giving each other’s shows a shout-out.
This is like networking at a virtual conference, except your introduction reaches a dedicated audience who love podcasts just like yours.
You could also approach podcasters in your niche, offering to sponsor an episode or series in return for ad slots.
This not only gives your podcast exposure but also associates it with another high-quality show.
Investing in podcast advertising on platforms like Google Podcasts or Apple Podcast is another avenue to consider.
These platforms curate content for their users based on their interests, and your ad could pop up in a potential listener’s feed.
5. Attract with Content Marketing
Content marketing is a crucial strategy that goes beyond promoting your podcast — it’s about offering additional value to attract and retain your audience.
The art lies in creating compelling, high-quality blog posts and articles related to your podcast content.
For instance, if your podcast revolves around cooking, you can publish recipes or tips on food pairing.
This additional content not only enhances your brand awareness but can also funnel readers to your podcast.
Consider repurposing your podcast episodes into engaging blog posts or articles.
For example, a fascinating interview could be transformed into a long-form article, a panel discussion into a listicle, or an informative session into an infographic.
It’s like creating a content ecosystem where every element is interconnected and supports the others.
6. Partner with Influencers
In the era of social media dominance, influencer marketing can be a game-changer for your podcast.
This isn’t just about getting a celebrity on your show — it’s about leveraging the influence of someone relevant and respected in your niche.
When you approach influencers, make it clear how this partnership can benefit them too.
Perhaps they’re launching a new product or book that they want to promote to your audience, or maybe they value the chance to share their insights in a deeper, more personal format than a typical social media post allows.
The beauty of influencer marketing is that it not only expands your audience but also boosts your credibility.
Your podcast gets the endorsement from someone who is already a trusted voice in the field, and their followers are more likely to become your listeners.
7. Tap Into Communities
There’s no underestimating the potential that online communities hold.
They are vibrant spaces where people gather around shared interests, which makes them an excellent hunting ground for new podcast listeners.
From niche-specific Facebook Groups and Reddit threads, to Q&A platforms like Quora and industry-specific forums, these digital communities are pulsating with individuals ready to be wowed by your podcast.
To tap into this, first identify the communities that align with your podcast’s theme or subject matter.
Once you’ve identified the right communities, don’t just dive in with blatant self-promotion.
Instead, aim to be a valuable member of the group.
Start discussions, respond to others’ posts, and provide genuine, helpful insights.
This not only builds your reputation within the community but also primes your audience for when you do introduce your podcast.
For instance, you might share an episode of your podcast that answers a common question within the group or tackles a trending topic.
This organic, value-first approach can earn you loyal listeners and enhance your podcast’s standing in the community.
8. Leverage Analytics
Understanding the numbers behind your podcast can revolutionize your marketing strategy.
Analytics is your secret weapon for decoding the habits and preferences of your audience.
Many podcast platforms provide built-in analytics, and tools such as Edison Research or Podtrac can offer you more in-depth insights.
These analytics can reveal which episodes get the most listens, what times and days see the highest engagement, how long listeners stay tuned, and where your audience is geographically located.
For instance, if data reveals that your episodes featuring guest interviews have the highest listens, consider inviting more guests.
If analytics show a spike in listens on weekdays around 7 pm, this could indicate that your audience prefers unwinding with your podcast after a workday.
Moreover, understanding where your audience is located can influence your promotional efforts.
If a significant percentage of your listeners are in New York, consider coordinating your episode releases with Eastern Standard Time or explore partnerships with local influencers or businesses.
Remember, these insights aren’t just numbers — they are clues that lead you to a more targeted, effective marketing strategy.
9. Optimize for Podcast Apps
Accessibility is key when it comes to expanding your podcast audience.
One way to ensure this is by making your podcast available on all major podcast apps. But it doesn’t stop at just being present on these platforms.
You also need to optimize your podcast for these apps.
So, ensure that your podcast descriptions are detailed and filled with relevant keywords. It makes it easier for potential listeners to discover your podcast when they search for their interests.
For example, if your podcast is about eco-friendly living, include phrases like ‘sustainable lifestyle’, ‘green living’, or ‘environmental conservation’ in your description and episode titles. The more specific you can get with your keywords, the better.
This way, you can reach the niche audience that is actively seeking content like yours.
Also, don’t forget the aesthetic element.
Make your podcast visually appealing with professional cover art and clear, compelling episode thumbnails. This can make your podcast stand out in an often overcrowded app interface.
10. Regular & Consistent Posting
Your listeners, much like fans of a TV show or subscribers of a YouTube channel, anticipate regular content.
To keep them engaged and eager for your next episode, adhere to a consistent podcast production and release schedule.
This reliability is not just good for listener engagement, but it’s a critical component for marketing too.
Regular posting sends signals to podcast platforms that you’re an active podcaster, boosting your visibility.
One strategy is to decide on a posting schedule that works best for you. It could be weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly.
For example, ‘The Daily’ by The New York Times offers new content every weekday, while ‘Radiolab’ opts for a bi-weekly schedule.
Find a rhythm that matches your content creation capabilities and audience expectation.
And remember, a missed episode could mean a missed opportunity to strengthen your listener relationship.
11. Engage with Your Audience
Engagement isn’t just for social media platforms. Building a community around your podcast encourages listener loyalty and deepens the connection they feel with your podcast.
One way to do this is by interacting with your audience through Q&A sessions, either on your podcast or through social media platforms.
For instance, Tim Ferriss frequently includes a Q&A session in his podcast ‘The Tim Ferriss Show,’ where he answers questions sent in by listeners.
Similarly, you could organize regular shoutouts, acknowledging your loyal listeners or even running contests for free merchandise or exclusive content.
This can foster a community spirit that makes your audience feel valued and seen, often transforming them from passive listeners into active advocates for your podcast.
Revitalize Your Approach with Podcast Marketing
We get it; the journey to podcast stardom can feel like climbing a mountain sometimes.
But let’s look at it differently — this is your chance to revamp your game, and this guide is your roadmap.
You’ve got an epic podcast to share, and these podcast marketing strategies can be the wind beneath your wings.
Your voice deserves to be heard by a vast audience, and these tactics can help you achieve just that.
Sam is an Associate Editor for Smart Blogger and family man who loves to write. When he’s not goofing around with his kids, he’s honing his craft to provide lasting value to anyone who cares to listen.
In the new fourth edition of my book, “Email Marketing Rules,” I include quotes from scores of experts who have impacted how I think about the email channel, as well as about marketing in general. Here, I’d like to share six of my favorite quotes along with the wisdom I see in them. In no particular order, here they are …
However, I would argue that these laws have actually protected businesses and the email channel. The truth is the law always lags consumer expectations, as well as the expectations of inbox providers in the case of anti-spam laws. And a growing gap in expectations is a growing risk to businesses in terms of customer loyalty and brand image and reputation.
This danger is most evident in the US, where the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is still sadly in effect. In this country, merely complying with CAN-SPAM would be disastrous, leading to block listings and wholesale junking and blocking of campaigns by inbox providers. As Laura says, our subscribers expect much more from us. At a minimum, they expect us to respect their permission, both in terms of opt-ins and in terms of responding to their inactivity by eventually suppressing future emails to them.
Quality Customers and Quality Emails
“Customer loyalty is mostly about choosing the right customers.”
Where you acquire new subscribers almost predetermines whether your email program will struggle or thrive. If you acquire many of your subscribers through list purchases, poorly done list rentals, sweepstakes and other sources that are far from your business operations, then you’ll be plagued by high bounce rates, low engagement and high spam complaints.
On the other hand, if you’re gaining the vast majority of your subscribers via signups during your online or in-store checkout processes, on your website and in your app, then you will have added lots of customers to your list who are genuine fans that are predisposed to engage with your emails and buy again.
If you’re unsure how your audience acquisition sources are affecting your overall email program health, then start tagging your sources so you can track the behaviours of the subscribers that come onto your list from each one. Chances are you’ll find that one or two of your acquisition sources are responsible for the majority of your bounces, inactivity and complaints.
Too many email marketers still believe that the key to getting more conversions is to get more opens. After all, a subscriber can’t convert if they don’t open the email, they reason.
In the pursuit of high open rates, these marketers often use vague and cryptic subject lines and preview text — often defending their use as being “clever” or in service of creating a “curiosity gap.” However, these open-bait tactics only succeed in attracting curious subscribers rather than ones who are actually interested in the email’s call-to-action. Not only does this result in low click-to-open rates, but open rates eventually decline over time as subscribers end up repeatedly feeling like their time was wasted reading messages they ended up having little interest in.
In these cases, the marketer has sacrificed subscriber trust in exchange for getting additional opens that rarely drove business goals. The wiser path is to respect your subscribers’ time by using envelope content that reflects the content of the email. Long-term, this results in higher total opens, as well as more conversions and less list churn as your openers will have stronger intent.
While John was talking about campaign engagement when he said this, his sentiment can also easily be applied to marketers’ habit of pushing their way into channels that consumers prefer to use for communicating with family and friends rather than focusing on the channels like email where consumers most want to hear from brands.
Marketers: Manage Your Audiences
“The customers are the assets; not the store and not the ecommerce sites.”
Marketers too often get confused about what they’re supposed to be managing. Often, they think they should be managing product inventories. In particular, email marketers often think they should be managing email campaigns.
As Michael points out, the truth is that marketers should be managing their audiences. I certainly understand that business demands routinely drive the goals of email and other digital marketing campaigns, but the overarching focus should be on serving your audience. If you do that well — sending relevant campaigns at the right time and right cadence — then you’ll likely find that you’re also meeting your business goals.
Trim That Bloated Email Content
“When you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.”
Everybody wants a piece of email marketing, so marketers often find themselves fending off requests from their co-workers in merchandising, operations and beyond. (It’s because of those persistent merchandisers that so many marketers think their job is managing inventory levels.) If unshielded from that, email marketers often feel pressured to include an excessive amount of content in the messages they craft, with that clutter undermining overall performance.
Given the trend toward shorter, more focused emails with fewer calls-to-action, as well as the trend toward AI-driven content, it’s more important than ever to have a curated and clear content hierarchy to guide your time-starved subscribers to the actions you most want them to take. When it comes to email content, more usually isn’t better.
Make That Next Email Better
“The strength and power of anything — whether it is a business, an individual fitness plan, or event — has its foundation in an accumulation of small, incremental improvements that all either fit together or build on each other. To sum it up: small improvement x consistency = substance.”
One of my favourite things about email marketing is that it’s a channel that’s built for iteration. It doesn’t matter so much if your last campaign wasn’t perfect, or if you made this mistake or that mistake, because chances are that you’re sending another campaign in two or three days, if not sooner. And every send is an opportunity to get a little better.
I’ve tried to bring this spirit of iteration to “Email Marketing Rules.” With each new edition, I’ve added new rules, concepts and checklists — which are both a reflection of email marketing’s growing complexity and my own personal growth as an email marketer. I hope you’ll join me on this journey of incremental improvement.
