#marketing-roi

#marketing-roi

This year has been volatile for brands. With tariffs taking effect, the job market slowing, and consumer spending barely keeping pace with inflation, it's no surprise that ad spend has slowed in tandem. Amidst economic uncertainty and an onslaught of unanswered questions, brands are increasingly looking for demonstrable ROI in their marketing and design budgets. Some may choose to invest in a costly new campaign or commit to a new brand identity, while others will default to slashing their budgets altogether.

HubSpot's 2026 State of Marketing report uncovered some good news: 65% of marketers are meeting or exceeding their performance benchmarks. But that success doesn't happen by accident. Behind those results are clear priorities, rigorous testing, and a sharp focus on the right metrics. This post explores how the most successful teams are optimizing performance in 2026, and which KPIs they trust most to guide their decisions.

With artificial intelligence reshaping nearly every aspect of how we work, reaching customers has become even more challenging. Search is increasingly less effective, people are overwhelmed by continuous noise on social media, and brands are struggling to find their voice. In 2025, AI upended traditional marketing strategies. It drastically reduced the effectiveness of search engine optimization, yet it also allowed savvy brands to reach new potential clients with well-honed, engaging content.

Every company should undertake an end-of-year review of its fiscal year. There are three things that you should seek to learn from this review. What worked and returned the most cash to your business, what cost you time, money, and frustration, and what needs to change next year so you do not repeat the same mistakes from the previous year.

In an age where digital noise is overwhelming and attention spans are increasingly fragmented, one medium is rising above the rest: video. Whether it's a 10-second TikTok clip, a concise product demo or an immersive virtual tour, video content is a great way to engage viewers, communicate value and drive growth. For organizations operating in hybrid or remote environments-including higher-education institutions, nonprofits and mission-driven businesses-video is no longer optional. I believe it has become a strategic imperative.

One of those most beloved and memorable (albeit sometimes annoying) animal mascots is the Aflac duck, whose story stemmed from an unlikely place. "Our advertising agency was in Central Park sitting on a bench. And they heard ducks and they noticed it sounded like Aflac," the insurance giant's CEO Dan Amos told Fortune. "And so the quack, quack, Aflac became the idea. And that's how we got in.

As the year winds down, most real estate agents feel the pull to jump straight into 2026 real estate goal-setting mode. New targets, fresh marketing campaigns, ambitious listing goalsit's all very energizing. Not so fast. Here's what I've learned in nearly 30 years in this business: the most successful agents pause first. They look back with intention before charging forward.

Right now, it's the fourth quarter. The finish line is in sight, and how you close out the year can make or break your overall success. This isn't the time to play small-it's the time to swing big. At my own $119 million company, PostcardMania, Q4 is one of our busiest and most profitable seasons. In fact, along with Q1, it consistently drives the most growth.

But that wouldn't happen if marketers had access to better measurement that gave them clarity on what truly drives business growth, argues Henry Innis, CEO and co-founder of marketing mix modeling platform Mutinex. "We don't have a perception that marketing is a growth driver in the boardroom," Innis says on this week's episode of AdExchanger Talks. "That's the tough truth for most marketers; we're seen as a fungible cost."

Marketers have a lot of misconceptions about marketing mix modeling (MMM). But it's far less expensive - and easier - to execute than it used to be. Deli meat brand Land O'Frost has been investing in MMM for years, seeking insights into how different cultural trends, campaign strategies and channels impact its KPIs. Historically, it's been challenging to find "solid data points" to prove that certain channels, like paid social and influencer marketing, are driving sales, Land O'Frost COO Saverio Spontella told AdExchanger.

Sixty-one people. That's what it takes to run a single global creator marketing campaign today: an army of strategists, lawyers, analysts, and staff coordinating across time zones, agencies, and spreadsheets. Those 61 people reveal the creator economy's defining tension. It has scaled faster than the infrastructure built to support it.

It's not AI. It's not personalization. It's creativity. More specifically, it's emotional creativity executed consistently over time. The new research, released by digital advertising company System1 and Effie, evaluated over 1,200 campaign outcomes, totaling $139 billion worth of marketing spend, and ad data from over 200,000 people, from challenger brands to massive organizations. And it revealed that many companies have it backwards, ranking targeting as their number one priority when in actuality it only delivers a 1.1x profit multiplier, on average.

If you're a business owner or sales leader at a manufacturing company, you've probably asked this question: "We're spending money on Google Ads, but are we getting the right leads?" It's a frustratingly common problem. You see clicks, you see traffic, but the sales pipeline isn't filling up with the kind of quote requests your team can actually close. The issue often isn't your ads; it's the data you're feeding the machine.

Trust isn't just a nice-to-have in 2025. It's the foundation for every meaningful customer relationship. In an era of widespread misinformation, rapidly shifting social expectations, and tightening consumer wallets, brand trust is now one of your most valuable currencies. According to recent eMarketer data, 62.7% of B2B marketers agree that branding is critical to long-term success. But here's the challenge: proving ROI on trust-building efforts is notoriously difficult.