#marketing-strategy

#marketing-strategy

Marketers spend billions trying to persuade consumers that a product is right for them. But our research shows that sometimes the most effective way to market something is to say that it isn't for them. In other words, effective marketing can mean discouraging the wrong customers rather than convincing everyone to buy. We call this "dissuasive framing." Instead of saying a product is perfect for everyone, a company is up front about who it might not be for.

Last year was exhausting for many people for many reasons. It's not just job and family stress, or changes in our industry. But as the book title says, it's everything, everywhere, all at once. It felt like I was constantly cartwheeling from one thing to another, from the news to the stock market, the impact of tariffs and so much more. There's always one more thing to deal with.

A few years ago, the art of the brand collab most often involved bringing together two brands that already had overlapping design styles, fanbases, or product categories. Recall partnerships like Nike and Apple's successful 2016 Series 2 Watch launch, for example; or Dolce & Gabbana's elevated designs for Smeg in 2019; or even Lego's 2020 collection with Ikea. All of these pairings make some measure of intuitive sense. But over the past couple of years, something has clearly changed.

On the consumer side, one of the things we talk about from a Gemini perspective is the fact that it is easily integrated into our Google Suite, which we think is our biggest differentiator. We always lean into the ability to supercharge productivity as well as creativity, and being able to do that 10-fold if you compare it to the competitors in the marketplace, because we have an integrated stack.

Schaefer's book makes the case that people increasingly delegate their thinking and decision-making to AI. He illustrates this point with a simple yet powerful analogy: If you're in the diaper business, babies are the end users, but they are not the decision-makers. Decision-makers are the caregivers responsible for the end users. Therefore, diaper companies know to market to the caregiver responsible for the baby, not the baby.

"Now where we're moving is actually a blend of creativity, because now it's a creator economy of authenticity that's coming out," she said on an Inc. panel for National Entrepreneurship Month (watch the session below). "Being able to tell stories like we did previously in the broadcast generation of ads, and then layering in the ability to actually measure that with data."

It's getting harder for publishers to get traffic from organic search. For some publishers, that means they have to spend more money to get people to come to their sites, through paid audience acquisition tactics - like ads to promote their content - and traffic arbitrage. Publishers didn't mince words when they described the pain of declining search referral traffic at the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe last month. Less traffic means fewereyeballs to serve ads to - an existential threat to some publishers' businesses.

Brand loyalty is often less influenced by emotional connection than by pragmatic considerations like convenience and situational need, according to new GWI research conducted on behalf of Razorfish. While nearly two-thirds (65%) of marketers believe repeat purchases are rooted in love for a brand, less than a quarter of consumer respondents cited brand love as a key motivator for repeat purchases or usage across categories including grocery, airlines, credit cards, streaming platforms and hotels.

It's no wonder personalization programs so often fall short of expectations - they're focused on stats, not mindset. Consider this: even within the same demographic group, nearly 90% of people disagree with one another. Demographics tell us who a customer is, but behavior reveals why they act the way they do - and that's what drives trust and loyalty. Here's a slightly controversial take: I don't believe in personas. They work for storytelling and empathy building, but for personalization, they're too limiting.

Pinterest has shared some new tips for marketers looking to tap into the 2026 Back-to-School period, in order to ensure that you have your plans in place ahead of the shopping season. Yes, we're talking post-holidays, Back-to-School, which still feels like a long way off. But as Pinterest notes: "On Pinterest, back-to-school planning starts as early as October. Here, people build lists, save inspiration and make shoppable plans. In fact,

The narrative goes like this: If you want to connect with your customers, you need to tell stories that capture hearts, not just wallets. But here is the truth. Storytelling is not the right investment for every brand. Done well, it can be powerful. Done without the right context, it can become a costly detour. Story takes time, patience and consistency.

Nostalgia is running rampant in marketing, with myriad brands resurrecting old ads, taglines and mascots to build emotional resonance. What happens when an organization wants to do the opposite of nostalgia bait: make consumers forget its most-recognized slogan in favor of something fresher and more relevant? The National Pork Board was recently faced with such a challenge, and its journey to repositioning pig protein carries larger lessons for how legacy brands are adapting to the digital age.

Zero search occurs when people find information or make decisions without performing a conventional search. Instead, they ask AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini to synthesize and explain what they want to know. These tools no longer provide a list of links. They deliver synthesized, conversational responses that blend data, opinions and relevance. In doing so, they're becoming the new entry point to brand awareness.

Culture is how people connect. And as brands work to be seen as relevant, to build relationships with their communities, and to ride the visibility wave of trending topics, engaging in culture feels like a natural way to get in front of consumers. The problem? Not every brand gets it right. Even though participating in, and especially shaping culture, can be powerful when done well, the way brands show up doesn't always deliver the impact they intend.

It's not news that many of the alcohol industry's brand managers seek to bring their products to cities where they themselves don't actually live. These people often live in cities like New York and Los Angeles and commute to smaller cities across the country in an attempt to integrate their brands. But while doing so, they often market through the lens of what's working in their home cities, not necessarily through the lens of what people in their target markets are actually doing.

Simply put: Colors drive emotions, and emotions drive purchasing behavior. The brain processes visuals faster than text, so colors trigger subconscious associations that shape perception before other messages make their way in. For consumers connecting with a brand or product, color helps them instantly categorize products and streamlines their decision-making. It happens fast- customers form judgments about products within the first 90 seconds of interaction, with up to 90% of that assessment based solely on color.

There were three big themes that stood out,

Remember the last time you saw a bright red can in a vending machine and immediately knew it was Coca-Cola without even looking at the logo? Or when you heard that "tudum" sound from a friend's laptop and realized in a split second that they were watching Netflix? Instant familiarity. While every brand aims for this level of brand recognition, it's elusive, built over years of hard work. But what if we told you there are strategies that can help accelerate the process? Curious how?

The way most marketing teams approach AI is probably the way I approach my inbox at 4:59 PM on a Friday. With reckless optimism and zero follow-through. But Katie Miserany, SurveyMonkey's Chief Communication Officer and SVP of Marketing, thinks the real problem isn't AI - it's that most marketers have forgotten a fundamental truth: Just because you can talk about something doesn't mean you should.

Over the course of more than two decades at Ryanair, Dara Brady has helped shape a brand voice that's often irreverent and sometimes controversial. It's an approach that cuts through the noise of regular travel marketing like a loudspeaker in a quiet terminal. Brash slogans of the early 2000s, such as "The Low Fares Airline" and "Ryanair. Fly Cheaper," centered on price. These contrast with the current "Low Fares, Great Care" motto, which pairs strong customer service with competitive pricing.

Wrapping up nearly 10 years of production, Stranger Things has been ramping up its marketing this past month, relying heavily on nostalgia. With many sayings such as "the end of an era" and "one last adventure" on Instagram, it seems like the directors, the Duffer Brothers, are really drumming up anticipation as Netflix's "best TV show" comes to an end.

Taylor Swift's latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, dropped last week, and it has once again smashed records (regardless of whether it was well-received or not. Hint: not so much). The album marked Swift's biggest first-week US album sales, with 2.7 million copies sold in just 24 hours, AND $37 million in ticket sales were earned for the "Release Party of a Showgirl" in global screenings.

Some brands have to do these things when they're struggling, and we wanted to launch a refresh from a place of strength," Trumbull said. "There is risk, certainly, to doing anything, but there's a lot of risk to doing nothing. And I think if you're stuck or refusing to change because you're in a place of fear, I don't think you'll innovate.

Her expertise lies at the intersection of data-driven insights and creative storytelling, enabling her to build marketing engines that not only acquire customers but foster lasting brand loyalty. Throughout her career, Suha has guided a diverse portfolio of clients, from fast-growing SaaS startups to established consumer goods brands, helping them navigate complex market dynamics and achieve significant digital transformation.

One of the most important ways marketers measure success is by the number of people landing on their websites. But that traffic is dropping at double-digit rates, and the trend shows no sign of slowing. HubSpot-the long-time gold standard for B2B SEO-has seen its blog traffic collapse by around 70-75%. The pain is being felt across industries: According to Pew Research, users are half as likely to click on any link when an AI Overview appears in the search results.

British brands are failing to unlock an estimated $10 billion in value by relying too heavily on short-term marketing tactics and struggling to differentiate themselves, according to the latest Kantar BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable UK Brands report. Globally, brand contributes 33% of company value on average, but in the UK that figure slips to 29%, highlighting a significant gap in long-term brand building.