You know how great it is that airlines have unbundled every little option so that you can pay for things separately? Want to check a bag? That'll be $50. An extra 6 inches of legroom? $96! Board first, even though everyone's going to the same place? You'd better be part of the loyalty program. It's so fun for flying to be split into haves and have-nots.
I don't like the traditional target market definition that focuses on demographics and firmographics: We sell to small businesses in the UK. Our fast-casual restaurant appeals to college students and young professionals. We target outdoor enthusiasts in the Pacific Northwest Our TV show is targeted at females, 19-29 years old. Sometimes this sort of description warranted. If you sell back-office software specifically for dentist offices under Norwegian law, then a demographic description is accurate. But my experience is that, for most companies, these dimensions incorrectly describe the market.
Is B2B lead generation feeling like a one-sided conversation? You're not the only one who's noticed. Despite access to more channels than ever to connect with leads, a survey by Exclaimer (an email signature software provider) found that 55% of B2B marketers say it's harder to reach customers now than it was five years ago. In fact, 54% cite capturing high-quality leads as their top challenge.
SMB marketers in the B2B sector say conversion rate optimization (CRO) is their top A/B testing priority in 2025, but a new report found most aren't running A/B tests to improve CRO. The " State of A/B Testing Report " from Unbounce found 56% of SMB marketers in B2B cite CRO as their top testing goal. However, only 32% are running A/B tests on their landing pages.
Knowing how much of the conversation your brand already holds makes it easier to see which marketing campaigns are working and which ones might need a little push. In this article, we'll explore how to measure share of voice effectively, including across social media mentions, SEO share, paid advertising, and various marketing channels. At its core, share of voice is about how much space your brand occupies in people's minds and conversations compared to your competitors.
The short-form video world is clocking at lightning speed, where attention spans are dwindling, and content creators must win hearts within seconds. Short-form videos are rewarded by platforms for their straightforwardness, and that's where micro-stories fit the bill. Micro-stories are stories that are condensed into under five seconds, at times powered by cutting-edge edits that leave audiences laughing, gasping, or swiping back to rewatch. Pippit simplifies this art. With its user-friendly editing capabilities, producers can turn raw footage into stop-in-your-scroll micro-stories.
In a world flooded by fleeting social posts and disposable ads, one strategy has proven itself to be durable, credible, and effective: sponsored editorial content. Since 2008, stupidDOPE has been a trusted platform for brands, creators, and innovators who want more than just a moment in the feed. A feature on stupidDOPE is not an ad. It is a permanent digital asset that builds visibility, drives credibility, and fuels discovery across Google, Apple News, and increasingly, the large language model (LLM) search engines
The most elusive and most desired members' clubs know that their real business is experience design.Every element - the guest list, the programming, the way a room feels at midnight - is engineered to make their members feel part of an unfolding story. Luxury brands hit the same note when they stop selling products and start creating truly immersive brand worlds that evolve over time.
In 2025, brands of all sizes are feeling the pinch. The average cost of running ads on Facebook has surged by 21% compared to last year, according to recent industry data. For startups, small businesses, and even established companies, this jump represents more than just a higher price tag-it highlights the volatility of platforms built around bidding wars and fleeting impressions.
East Farmingdale has become one of the more active hubs in New York's legal cannabis market, with dispensaries competing for customer loyalty through creative programs and ongoing specials. While prices in the industry remain tight due to high taxes, steep leases, and low operating margins, many shops still find ways to give back to their customers. For most, this means loyalty rewards, veteran discounts, and rotating daily specials that make shopping at licensed dispensaries more rewarding than ever.
This year, many agencies are increasing spending in areas that help them align immediate client needs with longer-term growth. For some, that means investing more heavily in data and analytics to sharpen decision-making. For others, it's doubling down on talent development or technology to stay competitive. Here, 14 members of Forbes Agency Council share the line items their agencies are devoting more of their budgets to this year and the strategy behind these decisions.
A new force is at play - one that sits in the blind spot of most marketers despite its sheer scale: small businesses. Small businesses make up 99% of all US companies and account for more than 51% of GDP. Collectively, they generate around $6tn in revenue and employ almost half the US workforce. In other words, if small businesses were a nation, it would be the world's third-largest economy.
In today's marketing environment, the competition for consumer attention is more intense than ever. Traditional paid media channels-television spots, billboards, digital banners, and even paid social ads-are no longer producing the same returns they once did. Audiences have become more sophisticated, more selective, and more resistant to overt advertising. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of digital publishing and AI-driven search has created new opportunities for brand visibility in places consumers actively seek content.
Inside its multi-story building, visitors encounter Max Siedentopf's More Is More, a surreal landscape of swelling plastic bags animated by a hyperreal elderly man; Sunshine, a monumental dachshund who drifts between fairytale scenes and futuristic transformations; and Nudake Teahouse, a kinetic, color-saturated lounge that transforms the ritual of tea into a sensory performance. Together with immersive brand spaces, from Gentle Monster's monumental mechanical forms to Tamburins' interactive perfume narratives, Haus Nowhere Seoul establishes a platform for exploration and discovery.
This week, Florida-based fiber provider Summit Broadband announced the implementation of a new brand promise. According to the company's announcement, "This strategic direction marks a significant step for Summit Broadband, reinforcing its investment in network infrastructure and its relationships with both residential and commercial customers across Florida. The company's renewed focus aims to drive innovation, foster stronger community ties, and ultimately deliver an unparalleled customer experience."
The infinite options available - there are more than 32,200 linear channels and 89 unique streaming sources in the U.S. alone - can often feel more like a challenge and less like an opportunity. But by simplifying media planning and buying, leveraging automation and unifying data and audiences across platforms, local advertisers are deriving more value from their campaigns and driving better business outcomes - vital in an environment in which marketers everywhere are forced to do more with less.
Arriving in time for peak candy season at Halloween, the new Tootsie Pop ad follows the exact same storyline as the original, with a child asking Mr. Owl how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, only for the owl to scoff the whole thing after just three licks. Over five decades later, will we ever know the answer?
"Our customer obsession led us to discover that most people were on rideshare autopilot-habitually opening the same app without thinking they had options-even though our data shows riders are happier and drivers strongly prefer us," Lyft CMO Brian Irving tells Fast Company. He says they found their most loyal customers kept saying the same thing of their friends: "They just need to wake up and check Lyft."
Creativity has never been in higher demand, yet agency margins are collapsing. An industry built on the promise of differentiation risks drifting into a sea of sameness, squeezed by automation, technology, and efficiencies. The paradox is clear: As creative agencies are becoming commodities, they are falling victim to the very market forces clients pay them to escape. From my vantage point, the only way out is innovation.
Gaming culture has always thrived on passion, dedication, and community. Whether it's trading cards, retro consoles, or competitive tournaments, the energy that fuels this space comes from people who live and breathe the hobby. Now, XPstore is elevating that culture even further through a groundbreaking partnership with Jabaroma. Together, they're delivering a message that's simple, playful, and unforgettable: smell as good as your cards look.
If you're a creative small business or freelancer who wants to get more clients, you'll want to have a toolkit of strategies to grow your client base. While you might already be ticking the boxes of great portfolio design and you're on all the social media platforms, there are undoubtedly some more out-of-the-box ideas for really amplifying your creative of offering.
There's rarely a dull moment in platform land but even by those standards, this year has been unusually turbulent. A new administration in Washington, rising competition, regulatory pressure and economic uncertainty have all collided to reshape the platform landscape. The Result is a new, more fragile equilibrium for the companies that once seemed untouchable.
But as media fragmentation has gone into hyperdrive over the past two decades, brands have been forced to diversify the ways in which they gain and hold our attention. It's no longer viable or effective to overly depend on traditional paid media tools. Marketers can create content and experiences that attract and engage audiences rather than interrupt and annoy them-and drive results. Some of the best examples of this is what we call "brand entertainment." Brands of all stripes talk about it, but it is the exceptions that truly invest in making actual entertainment.
T-Mobile has signed as the presenting sponsor of "Kittle Things," a new series from sports entertainment platform DAZN and Team Whistle, its social-first publishing arm, Marketing Dive can exclusively share. "Kittle Things" is hosted by San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and his wife, Claire, an entrepreneur, as they share their hobbies and passions alongside guests. Brands including Little Caesars, Lysol and PrizePicks have also joined as segment sponsors for a series of episodes.
