Did the title draw you in?

I hope so, because that’s my best metaphor for this week’ s batch of digital marketing news.

• LLMs.txt is not about getting discovered by AI. Google’s John Mueller says that LLMs.txt can result in an untrustworthy assessment of a website’s content. Focus on HTML is still key for SEO and SAIO, folks, so make sure it’s efficient and clear!

• 80% of ChatGPT product recommendations change when search is enabled in the ChatGPT settings. While not discussed in this story, we think this dynamic represents the high degree of influence of search visibility on ChatGPT (and other LLMs), reinforcing the complementary strategy of SEO and SAIO. 

• Bing Webmaster Tools has updated query classifications! The AI Performance tab now has intent, topic, citations, and citation shares (clicks still are not yet available). Here’s the Bing Help page on it.

• AI is shifting how brand loyalty is earned. The trick is knowing “the signals AI systems use to evaluate trust and relevance.” CMO of Razorfish, Ryan Warren, states the signals AI use to evaluate brands are “how consistently they deliver, how clearly they communicate value, how well they align with a customer’s expectations across every interaction.” 

• seoClarity has an insightful, free AEO Certification Course. You’ll learn how LLMs work and how to approach content creation/implementation on your website.

• Rand Fishkin and SparkToro released some chin-scratching research on zero-click searches across 6 countries. The US and UK had higher rates of zero-click searches than other European countries included (Germany, Italy, and France). Is this because of the EU’s protective legislation? Maybe. Remember: even though zero-click searches are still helpful places to gain brand visibility, as long as your site is well optimized.

• I may have choked on some water while reading this headline: “Social media is the leading source of news, per Reuters.” Before we write this off as a total #YIKES, let’s overlay the pros and cons. Yes, social media is king at spreading misinformation and users can be manipulated by platform owners/algorithms. But, we are able to connect to stories we may have never seen on news channels or in the morning paper. Information runs wild and free in this era — we must parse through it to maintain our sanity.

Over 4 million young people in the U.S. won’t have a safe place to sleep at least one night this year. Covenant House provides immediate and long-term support for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking. They are open 24/7 and provide help to young people in 34 cities across Canada, Latin America and the United States. Discover more: Covenant House.

I think the mixture of forgetfulness and time are some of the healthiest healers.

They provide space to let go of the grudges and repair the wounds that plague our consciousness.

There’s a reason why (most of us) can’t remember every word of a disagreement verbatim. Forgetfulness and time let us view life through a new lens — one endowed with wisdom to uncover happiness and forgiveness despite the troubles that once weighed us down.

¡Adiós, amigos!

Natalie

If you’re hosting a FIFA watch party or attending trivia night soon, here are some fun facts for your crew!

Hey y’all,

Here’s your digital marketing roundup with a little mindfulness sprinkled on top!

• 49% of US AI users say they’re likely/very likely to try a different brand if an AI assistant suggests an alternative. This in spite of lingering issues with AI as only 46% of shoppers fully trust AI recommendations and 86% still check AI information before buying.

• Our VP Marc Engelsman had a chat with Perplexity on Marketing and AI use. Catch some blatant contradictions and interesting insights on creating duplicative content, brand differentiation, and departmental silo mentality.

• Sharing is caring (is not what Google is saying right now). The EU may require Google to share search data with rival search engines, including AI chatbots, to “contest Google Search’s position.”

• ❓Did you know? Google gives users the option to select Preferred News Sources for Google to include in results. What’s even cooler is that news publishers can add those links to their website to make it easier for users to see their articles in results.

• As someone who is responsible for proving the value of marketing, what actions do you take to show success?
  • Develop stronger marketing performance tracking
  • Demonstrate the financial impact of marketing
  • Demonstrate the value of brand and customer relationships
  • Collect competitive data
  • Run experiments
  • Collect customer data
  • Offer novel customer insights
  • Would it surprise you that the above list is ranked in order as captured from the latest CMO Survey? Jaw-droppingly, demonstrating the financial impact of marketing is actually ranked second!

• A different approach to demonstrating the value of brand marketing: leverage growth in branded Google Search data. Think with Google shared a case study on how this could work.

• Control of your Insta algorithm has now expanded to your Explore and Reels feed. The question is: will people actually use it?

• Google Looker Studio changed names… again. It’s now called Google Data Studio… again.

• Dynamic Search Ads will retire in September and transition to AI Max campaigns. If you want more control over targeting, creative, and landing page settings, it’s best to switch over now.

• Ready for something crazy? Meta is on track to overtake Google in global revenue.

There are too many wonderful causes to choose from, so we are supporting them all! Here are our favorite Earth Day charities!

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

The fact that we can type onto metal and plastic and those exact symbols can be read instantaneously across the globe… That children grow from microscopic particles into fiercely individual collections of 30 trillion cells by adulthood… That we mash, spin, and recycle ideas to create infinitely new possibilities.

Every breath, every heartbeat is miraculous.

Let’s give a moment (or many) to reflect on this.

Happy Earth Day! 🌎

Natalie

Did ya know the Great Barrier Reef is the only structure that can be seen from space?

How about that there are 400 trees for every person on Earth? (And can we make that number of trees grow?)

Today has some more fun facts for your perusal.

Let’s get ready to RUMBLLEE!

It’s the last Perceptive Marketer of the year, so you bet we stuffed this stocking with all the good stuff!

First off, a little quiz from our VP, Marc Engelsman!

It’s the end of year already? That’s how fast 2025 has flown by in the ever-changing world of SEO and SAIO. We put together this quiz to highlight some of the key developments we covered in Perceptive Marketer and our Perspectives Blog. Your job is to properly place them in chronological order by Quarter! 

1. Google says AI Overviews are generating more queries and higher quality clicks than search ever has. But it is difficult to verify via Google Search Console as AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Organic Search data are all mixed together and results like Click Through Rate (CTR) can be misleading given the “double whammy” effect.
2. Google soft launches AI Mode via Search Labs. Brands report people are clicking links in ChatGPT Search.
3. 34.8% of people surveyed answered “brand visibility had increased” as one of their most improved outcomes.
4. “Search is dead, long live search!” perspective on how SEO and GEO (what we call SAIO) are like cars and trucks – different in some ways but both get you where you want to go. So you need to evolve to include both in your search marketing strategy.

• Google Search Console Social Insights? It’s another Google experiment with limited roll out, but it would allow you to monitor search queries leading to your profiles, top social channel pages, and other social performance data. If released, it will be a great tool as long as data is not delayed.

• Long time SEOer Duane Forrester looks ahead with “14 Things Executives and SEOs Need To Focus On In 2026”. It includes AI-related developments that will impact the search discovery process and, potentially, conversions. The conversion angle centers on AI’s growing ability to assess “latent choice signals” that are triggered by user inaction and decision avoidance. AI systems will be able to reward websites with positive user experience and actions with citations above those that it detects create friction, hesitation, confusion, etc. Google has long promoted best practice SEO as providing helpful content that promotes positive user experience. Predictive AI is taking measurement of that to a new level.

• Google is rolling out its third core update of 2025 this month. “There’s nothing new or special creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying [i.e., helpful] content meant for people” is the advice Google has provided for previous updates, and it applies to this one as well.

• When attending a Marketing Profs webinar on AI in content creation, the presenter, A. Lee Judge, mentioned one thing every person using AI should have: a prompt library. Compile all the prompts you use/your team uses and put them in one place. As your processes evolve, this will help you keep track of the prompts that give you superb answers. Some tools like Claude have their own prompt libraries for you to use!

• Marketing has always been volatile — it’s a matter of knowing what parts of it can be more volatile than others. The top two according to Marketing Dive are:
  • Brand loyalty – Customer experience and convenience will be playing more of a role than ever before in loyalty. How can your team balance making your product the best and easiest to acquire?
  • AI-driven issues – How can marketing teams implement AI without looking lazy/uncreative/boring to consumers?

You may have seen their signs at the start of a trailhead or in a local park. Leave No Trace helps people enjoy the outdoors while minimizing their impact. This membership-based nonprofit provides hands-on training to make stewards of the environment and preserve highly-trafficked places in nature: Leave No Trace.

My intro was a reference to a scene from Daddy Day Care. 

I know it’s silly (how can a carrot fighting a broccoli not be?), but it’s got a great point in the context of the film.

Plot summary if you need: the main characters Charlie and Phil lose their corporate jobs at a cereal company (where the costumes are from) and create an affordable day care service for the community.

When you first see the costumes in the movie, they are used as a kid’s focus group for healthy cereal (which you can imagine does not go over well). Charlie and Phil are disconnected from their families and pitted against coworkers. When they open the day care, Phil and Charlie spend more time with kids to learn what they actually like. They listen to what they want and ultimately become more suited for their previous corporate jobs than ever before.

This is a glorious lesson in listening. At home. At work. Everywhere. Listening to others is how you can learn how to best help them (and yourself).

((Also, the movie soundtrack is *chef’s kiss*.)) 

(((Did I use enough parenthesis in this section?)))

Have a wonderful winter/holiday season! Stay awesome! ✌️

Natalie

1. 3rd Quarter. “Google says AI Overviews are generating more queries and higher quality clicks than search has ever before” and DBE’s Double Whammies blog post.
2. 1st Quarter. Soft Launch and ChatGPT Search.
3. 4th Quarter. “Moving Beyond E-E-A-T: Branding, Survival And The State Of SEO.” Read DBE’s blog post for more on “Measuring Search Marketing Success in the AI Age.”
4. 2nd Quarter. “How Generative Information Retrieval Is Reshaping Search” and DBE’s blog post “SEO & SAIO Should Come Together (Right Now).”

Whatcha doin’?

Oh, you want to read the latest digital marketing news. Well, don’t let me stand in your way!

• The June 2025 Google Core Update led to traffic recoveries for some sites. Check out the chatter here.

• Got relevant, helpful content but looking for ways to improve your visibility? Take a gander at our Core Web Vitals infographic to find ways to improve your site!

• Conductor published their July AI Overview Analysis based on a review of 118M searches. In case you suffer for TL:DR overload, here are some findings that probably won’t be a surprise if you’ve been joining us each week: 1) only 18% of those searches generated an AI Overview 2) 61% of AI Overviews occur on desktop devices 3) Industries driving the highest percentage of AI Overviews include IT Services (38%), Healthcare Equipment & Supplies (36%), Life Sciences Tools & Services (36%), Education Services (35%), and Biotechnology (34%).

• Ten years ago, for every 2 pages Google scraped of a publisher’s site, it sent about 1 visitor. Now, the numbers have switched. For every 18 pages crawled, a site receives 1 visitor, as Cloudflare’s CEO Matthew Price states. If you’re a publisher, this could set off little alarms in your head. Cloudflare’s pay per click for AI bots seems to be an interesting solution. We’ll keep an eye to see how other software companies build walls for AI bots to scale.

• How long does it take SEO to work? According to Google’s John Mueller, “it depends.” Sounds a little wonky right? But it’s true. Simple on-page edits may see quicker improvements while larger strategic SEO efforts can take more time. That’s why we always counsel 3-6 months for SEO to take hold and monitor ranking progress closely from Baseline forward, though we often see results within 2 months.

• Is Grok the smartest AI bot on the block? That’s at least what X is saying with the bot being able to “solve difficult, real-world engineering questions where the answers cannot be found anywhere on the Internet or in books.” Personally, I think it is far too early to declare who is the smartest. I think human error permeates our creations more than we could ever deem possible.

• CTAs are leading the charge for email engagement. (Not surprising, right?) Well, keep prioritizing those clean CTA buttons to drive the most actions on your campaigns.

• It’s always interesting to see where CMO’s are allocating their budget, staff, and time resources. This chart shows more spending on “Brand” in 2025 than in 2024. And conversely, spending is lower on “Product & Demand” (although P&D is still the primary bucket).

Central Texas is experiencing major flooding right now. Instead of suggesting a specific charity, you can pick from this Charity Navigator list of organizations supporting those impacted by the disaster.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

Have you heard of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (also known as Yoga Nidra)?

It’s a guided mindfulness practice that helps you relax deeply without falling asleep. If you’re looking for a way to settle down before bed or start the day refreshed, you can find free guided narrations on YouTube.

Best Wishes,

Natalie

As the days get shorter, let’s learn more about our only natural satellite, the Moon. Here’s some facts confirmed by NASA…

• Yes, the Moon is getting about an inch farther from us each year.
• Yes, the moon does have water
• No, the moon’s atmosphere is not strong enough to defend against asteroids or the Sun’s radiation.
• Check out more facts here.

Heyyooo!

It’s an amazing day to talk about SAIO.

• 90% of AI search traffic comes from desktop. (Are you surprised? I am… but also not.) Why aren’t more referrals coming from mobile devices? It could be the way AI apps operate and show results on the smaller mobile screens. Or it could be a reflection that the intent of the mobile searcher is far more likely to be for quick info than for deeper comparison. They’re all things to consider when choosing your topic clusters for AI optimization.

• We know SEO bolsters brand visibility and authority. “When SEO Can Be A Brand Health Signal” looks at how declines in certain SEO-related metrics can be a harbinger of a brand’s status and performance slippage. Some warning signs can be declines in branded search volume and falling click-through-rates on branded impressions in the SERPs. Our team reports these metrics in our performance dashboards that include filtered Google Search Console data to show both improvements (and sometimes declines) in branded and unbranded search queries’ Impressions, Clicks, CTR, and Position.

• Your page is indexed, but it has no views. Before you drop to your knees and dramatically scream “NOOOOO”, let’s take a breath to figure out what’s happening. It’s called “Index Bloat” meaning there could be one or more technical, cannibalization, low-quality content problems on the page. This Moz Whiteboard explains it well and gives actionable solutions.

• Chatbots are popping up all over the place… it’s hard to keep up! We got you with this Who’s Who in GenAI Chatbots. We’ve even included which ones are targets for Search AI Optimization! (You’re welcome 😁)

• Pepsi vs. Coke. An advertising battle since the late 1890s. After their Pepsi Crashers ad campaign, Pepsi’s latest move is parodying the “Share a Coke” campaign. These recent ads feel like a banter between siblings, which I feel is more natural than most ad campaigns these days.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) is dedicated to solving homelessness and improving the lives of vulnerable individuals and families. They offer loans to developers who build new affordable housing and services to help communities save money and time on housing solutions, while advocating for legislative change. Learn more: Corporation for Supportive Housing.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

I have a fenced-off garden.

Hopeful veggies and aspiring herbs grow leisurely — with calculated geniality. Beside the raised beds, a conglomeration of native species race to multiply rapidly in between weedings. 

Isn’t it symbolic of life? The unexpected interworks itself amidst carefully tended plans. Neither is more beautiful than the other. To dismiss one would be a great loss. You never know what delightful surprises they may bring.

Happy (almost) summer y’all!

Natalie

🎶 Closing Time. You know the lyrics. You’ve heard the iconic keyboard melody. Did you know the song has a double meaning? Lead singer, Dan Wilson, also wrote it about transitioning into parenthood. It takes on a whole new meaning with that lens. 🙂

P.S. to the P.S. My rock climbing gym when it first opened would play this song at closing time to remind the climbers on the wall what time it was…

Hi all –

March has brought some spectacular winds (of digital marketing change). Check it out!

• “Google Search is 373x bigger than ChatGPT search” — we think this headline is gilding the lily of Google while downplaying an important ChatGPT stat. So, we’re going to call it out: last year, “ChatGPT saw an estimated 37.5 million search-like prompts per day.” Even representing 0.25% market share of search, it’s still 37.5 million search-like prompts per day! And remember, ChatGPT/Search didn’t launch as a free tool until late 2024, so it’s still a baby compared to Google. Imagine what it will be as a toddler.

• It may be too late to impact the 2025 SEO budget, but it’s never too late to demonstrate the ROI of your ongoing SEO efforts! This article defines SEO as a performance-driven investment that is aligned with your business goals with helpful tips on customer segmentation and journey mapping that should include using AI for search.

• Perplexity is expanding its ubiquitous presence by offering a Windows desktop app alongside its mobile apps and Chrome extension. We’ve added it to our taskbar right next to the other Search AI platforms.

• With all the hot gossip around TikTok, let’s turn attention to a (mostly) untapped competitor, YouTube Shorts. EMARKETER’s fun and informative research PDF shows the potential of this channel’s short-form video feature, especially because 98% of people are more likely to trust YouTube over other social platforms.

• Sometimes your PPC needs a refresh… Here are 5 tips to help you draw in quality leads through PPC. My favorite tips include: make your form questions as short and relevant as possible and build audience segments based on intent level.

• Consumer backlash… it happens. Here’s to the brands that strengthened themselves because of it. Overall takeaway: not all ideas work, so learn from the ones that didn’t.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

There’s a problem with the way we view failure — the definition is far too wide.

It swallows the joys of learning and leaves only fearful subordinates in its wake. If we are too afraid to try, learn, and re-do, we lose the joys of curiosity and creativity. Fear of failure holds us from experience. Yet, experience is the precious journey that should be treasured.

The next time you feel discouraged from a project or creative endeavor, ask yourself what’s keeping you back. If you enjoy the pursuit, that should be your motivator. Don’t let fear of the outcome overshadow your spark.

Happy Wednesday!

Natalie

If writing is in your job description (or on your list of passions), check out these resources! Hopefully, they can help you!

• Ann Handley 
  • The style and presentation of her newsletter is always engagingly fun! It goes in-depth into specific pieces of writing to help you learn!
  • Handley’s work is mostly dedicated to marketing and B2B content.
• Enchanting Marketing (Henneke Duistermaat) – 
  • I LOVE Henneke’s LinkedIn posts. They contain clever graphics and motivational tips!
  • Enchanting Marketing Blog helps you hone and add pizzazz to your writing!
• November J. Brown
  • This social media creator mostly covers fiction writing, but her resources list is helpful to all writers!

Hi all,

Missed you last week, but we’re back with all the digital marketing action today!

Another week, another “HUGE” Google story has the SEO world buzzing. No, it’s not more about AI Overviews (that’s so last month). It’s about a document leak that reveals the inner workings of Google’s ranking algorithm. Rand Fishkin, SparkToro co-founder (and formerly, a founder of Moz) shared the documents from Google’s Content API Warehouse that were shared with him and added his thoughts. There’s a lot to unpack, but in DBE’s tradition of Omotenashi, here are the quick hits:

• We used to say there were over 200 factors in Google’s search ranking algorithm. Turns out, the API documentation includes over 14,000 attributes. The depth of the data Google is collecting to feed its API is astounding. For example, they aren’t just cataloging “clicks” – there are “goodClicks”, “badClicks”, and “lastLongestClicks” attributes.

• BUT the documents do not include data on how each feature is weighted in search ranking.

• How does this impact SEO strategies and best practices? Initially, not much. We already factor many of the attribute categories into our recommendations. In the longer term, when we have a better sense of weighting, we will tweak our recommendations accordingly. Here’s the release from Fishkin and Search Engine Land’s coverage. 

• What’s the most important word in marketing? Marketing expert, Mark Schaefer, lays down a real-life example of this word in action. What’s the word, you say? It’s maneuver. While I don’t believe it needs be compared to “warfare” per say, he still makes an excellent point. Marketers need to be swift, accurate, unexpected, resourceful, flexible, and decentralized in leadership. Read more to get the full picture.

• After the big TikTok ban news, the company announced layoffs of ~1,000 employees in operations, content, and marketing. The LinkedIn News page has a variety of opinions and perspectives on the issue. Business Insider gives quotes from ex-employees who were surprised at the abruptness of the scenario.

• In lighter news, you ever wonder who was really behind the Duolingo marketing stunts. Duolingo on Ice? A fake reality TV show where no one speaks the same language? The Super Bowl Ad? That’s the brand team. Zaria Parvez, their Global SMM, interviews Duolingo’s Creative Director, James Kuczynski, to see how the social and brand teams create uniquely original, viral content.

• EMARKETER shares data that “nearly a quarter (23%) of US adults say they research a product online and purchase it in-store”. Their chart also shows other interactions between online and in-store behavior. All the more reason to leverage omnichannel marketing strategies.

• Techie news (particularly helpful for tech startups and media companies): Some brand websites are exploring the fediverse as a way to get referral traffic. The fediverse allows people to interact with others via different federated social platforms (like Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky). This way, your audience can reach you from their platforms of choice. Digiday does a much better job explaining it if you are interested.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

We know AI can do lots of things for us.

But what does it take away when we allow it to create for us?

We lose the flavor, pizazz, complexity, passion, excitement, unknown, truth that’s wrapped up in the creative process. It’s not always easy – coming in inspirational waves, drawn by mysterious currents. You find it buried underneath the blank stares at empty pages. The process can lead us down a pothole-packed road that is miles off the highway on which we started. Sometimes, it hits us in the face with brilliance. Other times, it has the humble presence of the “b” in the word “subtle.”

The meaning of the fluffy paragraph above is: No person or robot is going to say things exactly like you.

You are the originality – the authenticity – this automated world craves. Don’t look down on yourself for not being as perfect as the autogenerated piece… because it’s the imperfections that make lasting impressions.

Keep on keepin’ on,

Natalie

The writer’s voice is one of the key reasons a reader keeps reading.

If you’re an editor, how are you preserving that? Check out this piece from Proofed for advice!

Hiya!

How are you doing, friends? I hope you’re ready for some digital marketing news – let’s get started!

• Fast Company is apparently seeing the same things we are. In their last AI Decoded newsletter, they discussed how marketers are concerned about the ways chatbots perceive their brands. We cannot change what the AI models already know, but we create new, optimized web content now with SAIO strategies to align their answers with what we want them to perceive.

• Does it perplex you how Perplexity’s referrals to brand sites are growing? MediaPost notes: “Perplexity… is most likely to reference product sites, whereas Google SGE will also include informational resources such as lifestyle and news sites.” Although these search engines and chatbots may give different results, we still see some overlap in their sources. This emphasizes the importance of brand authority on SAIO/SEO optimization.

• Last week, we talked about ads appearing in Gen AI responses from SGE and Copilot. Now, Google’s floating the idea of paid plans for those using the generative AI features! Regular search would remain free. But, how many people will pay for Google’s Gen AI when other platforms are giving us just as good, if not better, results? 🤔

• User-generated content… we know about that. What about employee-generated content? (*cough cough* like this newsletter) Jesse Liszka talks of the benefits of employee-generated content. It provides a looking glass view into a company’s culture, giving employees a chance to show their expertise and personality. Highly recommend this if you haven’t already implemented it in your marketing plan.

• We’ve all seen bad AI artwork. Keen eyes are able to spot AI-generated images and some audiences are upset by it. Multiple brands are banning the use of generative AI, even putting it as a clause in their agency contracts. This is a good question to address for your brand if you haven’t already.

• Social Media Manager (SMM) burnout.😔 Like PR, you have to be constantly attentive, creative, and quick. If not carefully guided, this position could be draining on a person/team. Zaria Parvez, Senior Global Social Media Manager at Duolingo, goes over her views of work/life balance as a SMM. She mentions making something beautiful with her hands every day. Adding physical creativity can ground us when most of our days are spent in a virtual landscape.

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

Here’s an interesting metaphor:

“Forests lower temperatures through a mechanism that’s similar to sweating in humans. When trees release water vapor from their leaves in a process called transpiration, the evaporating water cools the surrounding air.”

This is from a Scientific American article on reforestation efforts. Apparently, forests are helping keep the Eastern U.S. cooler. Isn’t that amazing? If we truly look, it’s not hard to uncover wonder in the beautiful, regenerative powers of nature.

Have a superb day!

Natalie

Did you know trees can communicate with each other?? 🌳

Read The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben to learn about our surprisingly social leafy friends! If you’re looking for a quick review, check out the documentary!

Gobble 🦃

We interrupt the day before the long holiday weekend with some important digital marketing announcements!

• The move to GA4 is approaching. MarTech has a Q&A with the Director of Google Analytics on the migration from UA (Universal Analytics) to GA4. It’s a useful read to understand the thinking behind the move and the power of the new platform.

• Twitter now faces an overall 88% reduction in staff since Musk’s has been in charge. No one knows how this is going to play out. All we can do is to continue to follow the blue bird through this uncertain, cutthroat time.

• On a lighter note, national and state parks are offering free, all-terrain wheelchairs for those who need them. This makes me excited for all the possibilities this unfolds. 🍁

• How are you analyzing your brand story in a broader cultural context? Rob Engelsman and his co-founder, Alexa Beck, from Quick Study created the helpful ACES acronym and infographic to help answer this crucial question.

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Lend a Hand Uganda-USA 🌟

There is an urgent need to ensure that Uganda’s 3 million orphaned and vulnerable children have access to safe homes, nutritious meals, schooling, and stable communities. LAHU-USA is committed to facilitating and empowering sustainable change in urban and rural Uganda. The organization strives to give community members the tools, training, and support to maintain and grow each project and believes that this holistic approach fosters permanent change that will improve lives. Thanks to Petia Abdur-Razzaaq for telling us about Lend a Hand.

How can you help? Learn more here: Lend a Hand Uganda-USA.

• Is Google having trouble sorting through the gobble-de-gook? Are search results getting less relevant? Here’s a perspective piece to contemplate.

• MicrosoftTOK is what I’m calling this new feature. Microsoft Ads now supports video ads in their Audience Network. Get the full download here.

We hope this holiday weekend leaves you with happy hearts (and stomachs)! 💞😋

Natalie

Things we are grateful for at DBE:

1. A supportive team
2. Lovely clients
3. A beautiful community of marketing professionals

Thank you all for making what we do possible. 💗

If you have friends who want to join the What’s Hot Wednesday community, here is the link!

Hey-ya!

I don’t know about you, but September is my favorite month. It’s cooling down a bit from the August roasting, pumpkin spice flavors are warming up mugs countrywide, and so many things are beginning. Gotta love it ♥ …. Now, let’s dig into the good word around digital marketing.

• Can social media be complete without ads? 🤔 That’s a topic for discussion. Take a listen to what WSJ has to say.

• Think with Google offers this video with leaders from Grainger, Carvana, and Summersalt explaining their approaches to creating unique, full-funnel customer experiences. If you watch it, you will hear a lot about optimizing customer experiences with data-driven integration strategies. (So maybe you don’t need to watch the video now.)

• ⏲ Quick ⏲ Which generation has the lowest % of “true” responses to the following: “I’m definitely loyal to some companies, and I’ll pay more to shop with them.” Gen Z? Millennials? Gen X? Boomers? The answer to this and other brand loyalty attitudes may surprise you as Marketing Charts reports on findings from a generational Cheetah Digital/Econsultancy survey. (Pssst… want to cheat? The answer is in the PS.)

• If you’re looking to read 300 pages of digital fun facts, Hootsuite released its The Global State of Digital 2022. (If you’re a lil’ strapped on time, we got some cool insights below!)
  • The need and want for social media customer service has increased since the start of the pandemic.
  • 61% of the population reported “finding information” as the main reason they use the internet.
  • The largest demographic of social media users lies in the 20-29 age range.

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Big City Mountaineers 🌟

We all know that nature has a direct correlation to our stress levels. Big City Mountaineers is providing access to the outdoors for youth from communities that have historically lacked equitable access to nature. Through free, fully outfitted, and professionally led outdoor and backcountry trips, they are able to help kids in cities answer their calls to the wild! Check ‘em out: https://www.bigcitymountaineers.org/

• Make sure you’re on Google’s good side with your meta descriptions! Here’s a quick lowdown of this SEJ article:
  • Don’t shove a list of keywords in it. (That just ain’t classy.)
  • Do use webpage content and be specific!
  • Don’t describe your keyword phrase; describe your webpage’s content.

Wishing you a joyful September! 😊

Toodles!

Natalie

PS: It’s Boomers 💥

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