Howdy,

Hold onto your hats — we’ve got some digital marketing news for ya!

• Can a fake brand win at AI search? Apparently, it can and did… in the first month of an experiment done by SE Ranking. Granted, most citations were for branded queries that the fake website explicitly answers. Lots of interesting insights:
  • Perplexity started citing them first, but not always their brand pages.
  • Deep guides (5,000–6,000 words), Review articles, and Comparison (“vs”) articles were the strongest performing content formats.
  • In this experiment, clustering topical articles on a page did not generate AI citations.

The wrap up: AI bots are working to provide the best answers, they just don’t always know when the sources are bogus. It’s up to us to provide the best answers by staying on top of AI optimization best practices.

• Scaling AI companywide is no small feat. McKinsey released some intriguing questions to ask your company before jumping onto the AI train.

• Brands that clearly use AI-generated content in their marketing — what do you really think about it? Pause while you think. Now, take a look at this recent EMARKETER Chart of The Day. The majority of respondents to that question were neutral. Those who said, “it would make them trust the brand less” (31%) far exceeded those who said “it makes them trust the brand more” (7%).

• YouTube is testing a “conversational search experience” for Premium users. Basically, YouTube’s lil AI bot is going to assemble info for you so you don’t have to pilfer it from a bunch of videos. YouTube SEO can only help here, y’all.

• Speaking of social SEO, here’s SocialFly’s article on TikTok SEO, including info on keywords, hashtags, engagement, and trending audio/formats. 

• Influencer marketing — what can your brand do to make the most of your campaigns? Offering creative freedom, clear communication, and growth opportunities are great places to start! What makes influencers stay includes compensation, audience feedback, and a positive brand relationship. 

• Creators… in the C-Suite? Oh yes, well, popular creators are naturally tapped into culture and trends. The key to making this work is alignment on compensation and having the brand/creator/audience fit.

Black Girls CODE is teaching thousands of young women to lead and innovate in the tech/science/math space. Since 2011, BGC has been helping to improve the pipeline for girls of color in tech. The organization has chapters across the globe, including New York, Seattle, and South Africa. Learn how and why this organization needs your support: Black Girls CODE.

I started doing a mindfulness breathing exercise from Thich Nacht Hanh.

“As you breathe in, count 1 in your mind, and as you breathe out, count 1. Breathe in, count 2. Breathe out, count 2. Continue through 10, then return to 1 again…. When the count is lost, simply return to 1 and keep trying until you can keep the count correctly.”

Simple, right? Well, when the pressures of life kick in, staying mindful long enough to get to 10 can be challenging.

I’ve found it to be a stress gauge. The lower my count is, before my mind wanders off into the woods of things past and upcoming, the more I restart the exercise. My goal is to get to 10 at least twice without restarting.

Days with more restarts signal when your mind needs mindfulness most. So, be especially patient, loving, and curious at those times — as they tend to be when we learn the most about ourselves.

You got this 😎

Natalie

It’s the season of the mosquitos. 

Here’s a super-easy, organic mosquito control method for your yard.

Ya welcome.

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.

Howdy,

It’s high time we discuss what’s going on in digital marketing.

• Do you think a 90% accuracy rate for Google AI Overviews is good enough? Or do you worry that on any given search you perform that response will be among the 10% that have errors? How often do you do additional searches to double-check the results? This recent NYTimes article explores AI Overviews accuracy and its implications. (Also, check out Marc’s witty post on this.)

• Quick SEJ Updates: 
  • The March 2026 Google Core Update is complete (looks like YouTube got some added visibility with this rollout). 
  • The Google Search Console bug inflating impressions has been fixed. 
  • John Mueller also reminds us that calling oneself an “SEO guru” is problematic (in a multitude of ways). We all need to remember that SEO is evolving, and we have to continue learning!

• We don’t fully subscribe to the dire tone presented in this article on the Reddit effect. While we’re not oblivious to Reddit’s growing citation visibility, how much that visibility is actually stealing clicks from the other citations in AI results and SERPs? Still, the suggestion for brands to leverage their subject matter experts to provide authoritative, human content in website and community content is one we fiercely advocate.

• For my techies 🖥️: Have you thought about MCP for your website? Market Context Protocol (MCP) acts as a standardized bridge for LLMs to communicate with external data, applications, and services. Basically, it helps AI chatbots get accurate information from your site through clean, semantic access. Here’s a cool video on implementing MCP across apps! Thanks to Corinna Zennig for bringing this up with us!

• While written for B2B marketers, this Martech article’s ideas of connecting messaging, user experience, and CTAs apply to all marketers including search marketers. The big difference is that searchers are a self-selecting audience with implicit or explicit intentions, so the alignment of messaging relevant to their search is critical to get the click. Then, user experience and calls-to-action alignment are needed to complete conversions.

• Claude AI now works in Microsoft Word. Check it out!

• HubSpot’s Loop Marketing strategy aims to adapt modern marketing strategy to the AI era. Their prompt library can help integrate AI into your planning.

673 million people go to bed hungry. 

30% of people worldwide are food insecure. 

32% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to a healthy diet. 

Action Against Hunger’s mission is to save the lives of children and their families. Learn about them and how you can help: Action Against Hunger.

Hey, you’re doing a good job. No ifs or buts. Accept you’re trying your best.

That’s all.

Best Wishes,

Natalie

You know when you’re listening to a randomized playlist and a song hits the exact moment perfectly. 

This piano cover by Jon Michael Ogletree is magical. 🎹🪄

Hey y’all!

Come sit… we’ve got some digital marketing news to talk about.

• Google Search Console (GSC) has been reporting inflated impression data since May 13, 2025. Clicks and other metrics weren’t impacted, but you should watch your click-thru rate in addition to impressions in the coming weeks as they fix it.

• SEO platforms were the most replaced marketing tool in 2025. AI capabilities, cost pressures, and the changing needs in a shifting search landscape were the main drivers. The AI capabilities being integrated into SEO platforms include content generation and optimization, SERP analysis and intent modeling, and workflow automation. Two thoughts:
  • These AI capabilities are tactical and can not replace the need for a strategic approach to optimizing for traditional search and AI search engines; and 
  • Relying on solely AI to create content can actually be counter-productive to search visibility.

For my technical SEOs: Llms.txt, a Markdown file to help large language models (LLMs) understand and use website content, has limitations including the manual maintenance updates and the lack of relationship model. Duane Forrester in SEJ suggests having four layers of a machine-readable content stack on top of llms.txt.

• Improve AI content generation prompts by including more strategic directives with clearer direction on the desired output. One of the checkpoints offered for managing content is a “Human-in-the-loop (HITL)” protocol that is required at the strategic start and the editorial finish. Full guidance in this Martech article.

• Speaking of HITL, Tom Fishburne takes an ironic look at the concept. Some thought-provoking data included: “only 17% of workers believe AI is reliable without human oversight, 64% expect the need for human review to increase, and 20% said AI made customer situations worse.”

• The use of AI in marketing is “quickly becoming another test of brand values” that requires addressing, according to Quick Study’s recent survey of US customers. The use of AI needs to be justified and used in a way that morally aligns with your customers.

Protecting and preserving our nation’s national parks is their goal. With over 1.9 million members outside the organization, they advocate for conservation on the ground, in the courtroom and on Capitol Hill. Learn more about what they do: National Parks Conservation Association.

You finally made it. 

Stress that’s been perched on your shoulders like a spikey-toed hawk makes its long-awaited departure. While that stressful situation flaps away, something in you lets go….

A little cold snowballs into an achy, energy-draining ailment. 

Or a pain arises in a part of your body, as random as a bingo drawing.

This is called the “Let-Down” effect, and it happens right after something stressful unwinds. Your body tells you, “That was tough — I need a rest so urgently that I’m making you stay still for a while.”

While we may not fully prevent a let-down, taking care of ourselves amidst the inclement time may be key to preventing major bodily upheaval.

You got this 😎

Natalie

Did you catch the title reference?

Here are some of the show’s greatest moments!

Hi all!

We got your feedback on our LinkedIn poll, so here’s our take on tracking AI Visibility:

Tracking your visibility on AI platforms takes some sleuthing and, unfortunately, there is not yet a single source of truth. Here is a list of tracking tools and their limitations… all in one convenient place (you’re welcome:).

Free for all:

• Google Analytics
  Positives: GA4 tracks AI-driven traffic from Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT and other AI chatbots.
  Negatives: AI Overviews or AI Mode cannot be tracked separately from all Organic Google Search traffic. Also, while you can track sessions and key events like any other session source, you’re not going to see the original prompts the users clicked to get there.

• Bing Webmaster Tools
  Positives: The AI Performance tracker that shows you CoPilot grounding queries used in prompts people used to click to your website and the number of citations gained for pages on your site.
  Negatives: Grounding queries are the shortened phrases the AI used to do its backend search and not the actual prompts entered, so they are directional at best. Bing Webmaster Tools does not show actual clicks on citations so you only have a sense of citations “impressions”.

• Temporary Chat Prompting
  Positives: Certain AI chatbots can give you a snapshot of example responses, without the bias of previous conversations. See rules on Perplexity Incognito Mode, ChatGPT Temporary Chat, and Claude Incognito Chats. (Note that there are data retention periods for safety purposes, but they shouldn’t influence future chats.)
  Negatives: It is unconfirmed whether Copilot and Gemini use previous chats to influence temporary chat options. There is no data on the number of times these prompts were used (like we can see with Google’s Keyword Planner for average keyword search volume).

• HubSpot AEO Grader:
  Positives: Analyze your presence on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini while seeing competitive and perceptive “topical” data.
  Negatives: AI Overviews, AI Mode, Claude, and other AI chatbots are not included in the analysis.

Paid Options:

• Answer the Public
  Positives: Known for long-tail traditional search query research, ATP has a newer AI Model research feature to show you how people are prompting AI bots around specific topics.
  Negatives: The charts are pretty, but this is another directional tool as there is no way to gauge the volume of usage for the suggested prompts.

• Moz
  Positives: The new AI Visibility feature (requires a medium subscription plan) may be interesting as it advances out of Beta. Their Prompt Suggestion and True Competing Content features are great places to research topics for content and how your content is faring from search and AI chatbot perspective, respectively.
  Negatives: We won’t know until the Beta rolls out.

How We Use Them:

Our team integrates the Google Analytics AI-Source traffic data into our dashboards. Then, once a month, the Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance feature provides insight on which pages are being cited in Copilot and the grounding query topics that are driving clicks. Temporary chat prompting shows how a brand performs in specific, high-value prompts. To get a zoomed out perspective of how a brand is viewed by AI chatbots, HubSpot AEO Grader offers generalized insights. Answer the Public gives great ideas on prompts that can be helpful for fueling future content creation and refreshing previously published content. Moz features are also great directional tools to further enhance your content creation strategy against competitors.

Follow to stay tuned for the next LinkedIn poll, so we can answer your burning SEO/SAIO/digital marketing queries!

• We got a Google Spam update — the first of 2026! It’s relatively new, and you can peek at your rankings to see if you’ve been affected. If you’re following white-hat SEO best practices and releasing relevant content, you should be good, fam. ✌🏼
  • Also, we’ll keep you posted on the March 2026 Core Update that’s going live during the next 2 weeks.

• 🎥 OpenAI is shutting down ChatGPT’s video generator, Sora, and thus its $1b content partnership with Disney. As OpenAI has still yet to make a profit, Sora’s struggle with copyright violations, the public distaste of AI deep fakes, and vast competition influenced the decision.

• Fan-out queries tell us how people and Google/AI chatbots may be looking for your brand. Moz labels 10 fan-out query types to help with prompt research.

• Is AI ruining the job market? We need to flip that: how can AI enhance the job market? Catch this enlightening conversation between Erin McGoff, career advice creator, and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Rolansky.

• Speaking of using AI to enhance, let’s discuss using GenAI in high-trust industries (think healthcare, legal, etc.). Alexander Amatus in Marketing Profs lays the steps for use without jeopardizing trust:
  • Clearly deciding AI’s uses
  • Defining non-negotiables to AI
  • Creating content workflows with AI to upskill marketers
  • Setting boundaries with what AI can and can’t do/access

• It’s a 🎶”tale as old as time” (if you only go back to the 80s), but it is still lingering and languishing. What is it? The Sales vs. Marketing silo mentality. Only 56% of companies say they feel highly aligned across functions. Understand the challenges and solutions for those yearning for alignment via this Unbounce survey, MarketCharts visual, and Marc’s LinkedIn Musing.

• It’s not just Sales and Marketing either. Here’s a story about “Why CMOs struggle and how aligning with CFOs changes everything.” Bottom line: success lies in getting agreement on measurement values and the analytics attribution to prove it. It’s not the easiest of tasks, but improving the lines of communication is a good start.

Building supportive, stable communities by helping families build and improve their homes is what Habitat for Humanity is all about. Learn more, and consider a team project for your company that can help your community too!

“Perfectionism kills curiosity by telling us that we have to know everything or we risk looking “less than.” Perfectionism tells us that our mistakes and failures are personal defects, so we either avoid trying new things or we barely recover every time we inevitably fall short.”

~ Brené Brown Atlas of the Heart

You are more than your knowledge, your mistakes, your failures; you are the phoenix that rises from them to be the human you are.

Keep sparkling ✨

Natalie

Because we all deserve to laugh, here’s one of my favorite memes for ya.

We all know an adult like this in our lives — this kid’s performance 10/10.

Hiya,

Just a few stories for you today, but they’re good ones!

• Bing Beta Bulletin: Bing Webmaster Tools launched a new “AI Performance Dashboard” section in beta last week. It’s a good step forward in AI citations measurement but it comes with some caveats in this early stage:
  • Data is limited to Copilot and Bing Search platforms — no ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.
  • November 2025 is the farthest the data goes back.
  • Only citation appearances are reported — no clicks, CTR, or Avg. Position. Also, citations may be acknowledgment of sources for the content presented and not necessarily links to that content.
  • It shows which pages on your website were cited.
  • The data shows “Grounding Queries” that Copilot used to retrieve the cited content — not the actual user prompts.
  • Still, we’re very excited by this new tool and are already exploring ways it can be used to track SAIO success as well as guide future optimizations. Here are links to more coverage from Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Roundtable.

• It’s been over a week since the Super Bowl. Which ads do you remember, and do you remember the brands the ads were for? Chances are the ad had a celebrity (or more) in it. Tom Fishbourne’s Marketoonist has an amusing take and the accompanying story is a good read about the importance of “fluency” — the accuracy and speed of brand recognition.

• Turning articles into short-form videos sounds like a great idea. (But how do you do it?) Here are some hot tips from SEJ:
  • How-tos, listicles, FAQs and case studies naturally lend themselves to videos.
  • Some tried-and-true hooks include a surprising stat, question, or direct stake.
  • Don’t forget to include related keywords in captions, on-screen text, hashtags, etc. for SEO purposes!

• When you hear the word “elite,” how do you react? What connotation do you glean? In her recent Fortune article, Alexa Beck, co-founder and managing partner of Quick Study, dives into American culture’s paradoxical love-hate relationship with elitism. She gives practical advice on how luxury brands should be marketed to signal status through confidence and authenticity instead of pretense. Luxury brand marketers… you should read this!

Their mission is to “provide free coats to children and adults in need while promoting volunteerism and environmental sustainability.” One Warm Coat is a national nonprofit that holds coat drives and donations to protect people from the cold. They repurpose used outwear to stay as sustainable as possible. We’re sure you’ll warm up to their mission. Visit their website: One Warm Coat.

Scientists still don’t agree on how the sport of curling works.

How and why do the stones curl the opposite direction of their launch? Regular stones don’t do that. Over a hundred years of research cannot explain it.

My perspective? This is modern magic. We’ve explained so many things in our world. We know the sun rises from the rotation of planets. We know deciduous trees unfurl their leaves based on the amount of daylight they receive.

A little mystery is good for us… keeps us wondering… keeps us discovering… keeps us creative. 💭

Keep on swimmin’ y’all!

Natalie

Did you catch the 2 sprinklings of a movie reference throughout the lower half of this edition? 

Well, here are some fun facts about the film!

We’re back!

Thanks for tuning in to the first Perceptive Marketer of 2026! You’re pretty awesome if we do say so ourselves. Let’s dive into the digital marketing mania.

• How can you prove SEO’s value when organic search traffic gets miscategorized as direct or unassigned due to cookie consent refusals? We’re glad you asked. It’s all about traffic quality! Get the full download from our VP Marc Engelsman: “SEO Analytics Treasure Hunt: Tracking The Hidden Value of Your Organic Search Traffic.”

• What will matter in 2026? According to 10 seasoned marketers in this Think with Google article, 2026 will be about integrating AI more effectively and efficiently in your marketing strategies. The old stalwart is the importance of ✨Branding✨. “Brand matters more than ever” and “Brand is back as the growth engine, supercharged by tech but differentiated by humanity” are our quote highlights.

• “Google’s Mueller Weighs In On SEO vs GEO Debate” is the headline. The gist? Examine your referral traffic and research your audience to see how they are using AI search platforms. Oh, and Google continues to indicate that AI optimization and traditional Search optimization share similar infrastructures so “you probably don’t need a separate framework, but you do need to understand how discovery is changing.”

• Top 2026 marketing priorities, according to the UserTesting study of marketing professionals, include (1.) strengthening brand authenticity & trust, (2.) driving measurable ROI, and (3.) mastering GEO. They describe their approach to GEO as (1.) actively optimizing content for AI search/discovery and (2.) piloting GEO strategies in select campaigns. Where do your GEO (aka SAIO) priorities lie?

• The next time you post on your brand’s socials ask yourself: “Would someone who doesn’t have a clue who I am share this with a colleague?” Tom Boston, Brand Growth Manager at MySalesCoach, encourages us to ask if the content we’re producing provides enough value. This is one of the quotes from Sprout Social’s Inspiration worksheet.

• I’m not sure you’re ready for this Meta madness.… Meta is testing limiting certain Facebook users to sharing two links per month in organic posts, unless you pay for a Meta Verified account. The truth is… link posts didn’t receive much engagement in the first place. If one of your accounts has been chosen, you have a few options according to Social Media Today: choose the best 2 links per month, try posting links in the first comment, post Reels instead, pay for Meta Verified, or stop posting on Facebook.

• A large corporate brand poking fun at AI slop? Yes, please! Almond Breeze teamed up with the Jonas Brothers to develop a delightfully quirky commercial on the technology’s flaws. How can we add more levity to our content in the midst of AI’s takeover? More importantly, how can we use it to develop the brand authenticity needed to be successful in this era of business?

For farmers, it all comes down to planting technique and the quality of seeds and supplies. One Acre Fund helps small farmers across Africa increase their yields and profits to create thriving communities. Learn more about their work: One Acre Fund.

When was the last time you washed the dishes?

Last night? This morning?

Now here’s a trickier question: When was the last time you washed your dishes without thinking about anything other than washing the dishes?

Thich Nhat Hanh talks about this in his book The Miracle of Mindfulness. When was the last time you were fully present to experience just this moment, instead of mulling over moments previous or upcoming?

Mindfulness seems like a momentous goal, but really it is just practice of steps… steps like washing the dishes and focusing solely on that.

I hope you (respectfully) continue kicking butt and taking names in 2026.

Happy Wednesday,

Natalie

ChatGPT scraped its knowledge base to motivate us in 2026. Here are my favorite lines:

• You don’t need to have it all figured out—you need to stay adaptable.
• Progress matters more than certainty.
• You are allowed to change directions.

The full response is here.

What’s going on, you ask?

There’s always something going down in digital marketing — here’s your update!

• Why every AI search study tells a different story is a fascinating look at the state of research around AI search. Bottom line, a review of 5 different studies conducted by major SEO platforms and agencies reveals there is a “core consensus that isn’t a consensus.” Each study is flawed by its design, its sources of data, and the biases of each company’s intentions to validate its POV and solutions. Before you start panicking, the solution offered is a regimen of “rigorous self-measurement” of what is specific and relevant to your brand (and, we would add, your competition).

• While there is no consensus on AI search data, there does appear to be a growing consensus on how SEO and SAIO (aka  AIO, AEO, or GEO) optimization strategies are not just complementary but intertwined. Take this blog on Optimizing for AI Search: Why Classic SEO Principles Still Apply as another example of what we ourselves have said before and reported on here:
  • There is a correlation between AI citation probability with high Google rankings.
  • Google’s E-E-A-T framework for organic search also impacts citations — directly and indirectly through rankings.
  • Topic coverage beats keyword optimization.
  • Tech elements like schema and content formats like FAQs are more likely to support gaining citations.

• ‘Tis the season, so Search Engine Journal offers thoughts on How CMOs Should Prioritize SEO Budgets in 2026 Q1 and H1. The suggested allocations are to “protect a baseline allocation for core SEO,” “create a separate experimental pot for AI discovery,” and “invest in measurement that explains real user behavior.” Or you could wrap it all under one umbrella initiative like we do for our clients.

• YouTube is the most popular social platform among Americans. Surprised? Probably not. How about that half of U.S. adults say they use Instagram? If you’re managing socials, this Pew Research Center study has some interesting findings.

• Writing content? Have you heard of the Writing GPS? Ann Handley covers how the process is, yes, very messy, but it’s your own. Change. Retry. Adapt (more on this one later). See how you can create a process that rolls with inspiration while staying locked in toward the final goal.

Every child deserves nutritional food to support healthy growth. That’s why I love supporting No Kid Hungry. With programs to fill the gaps where support breaks down, they ensure children have meals at school during the year, over the summer when school is out, and at home when their families can’t provide for them on their own. Not everyone has bootstraps, especially our little ones. Healthy children, healthy future—for us all.

An excerpt from Paulo Coelho’s Warrior of the Light which is a collection of short-stories on becoming the hero of your own story:

“The Warrior of Light sometimes behaves like water, flowing around obstacles he encounters.

Occasionally, resistance might mean destruction and so he adapts to the circumstances. He accepts, without complaint, that the stones in his path hinder his way through mountains.

Therein lies  the strength of water: It cannot be touched by a hammer or ripped to shreds by a knife. The strongest sword in the world cannot scar its surface.”

Adapting is in our nature and we hone it to find the best path forward… toward our goals and dreams.

Best wishes on your quests, fellow Warriors of the Light.

Natalie

It’s like organic, whole foods served in a bustling subway station. Take a listen: Folk-Hop.

Today’s the day!

The sun is shining! The digital marketing news is here!

• Microsoft caught onto the SAIO trend and released a blog: “Optimizing Your Content for Inclusion in AI Search Answers.” Their POV for (S)AIO success “starts with content that is fresh, authoritative, structured, and semantically clear.” Their recommendations to achieve success include:
  • Title, descriptions, and H1s
  • Q&A formats, lists and tables, and Schema markup
  • Write for intent (not just keywords), avoid vague language, add context, and use synonyms and related terms.
  • Hopefully, this all sounds familiar to those who have been following this newsletter since we launched SAIO a couple years ago.

• How’s this for a premise: Marketers are learning that without strategy, generative AI can make them less creative — not more productive. It’s worth the read to gain perspective on the potential of AI to make marketers dumber as “outsourcing your thinking [to AI] too often weakens your ability to think in general.” The solution is to leverage AI as a tool, not a crutch, and lead the “machines” with clear strategies in mind. After attending Pam Didner’s Marketing Profs webinar last Wednesday… I am convinced that humans need to create on our own and use AI to refine and inspire.

• Yext provides some interesting data on the fragmented search journey that can include Traditional Search, AI Search, and Social Media:
  • 45% of U.S. consumers still start product research on a traditional search engine.
  • 73% say they’ve used AI-powered search tools more in the past year, and 45% use them daily — 54% use AI for research.
  • 52% say they use social media to find reviews, 48% use it for local recommendations, and 47% for how-to-guidance.
  • It all points to having an overarching search marketing strategy that generates and reinforces visibility for your brand in all these searchable places.

• Are you reading this story on Chrome? Check the top of your screen where the “X” button is. Do you see a little purple star? Some of us have noticed a Gemini button. Is it a test? Will it make people use Gemini more? We’ll have to see in next month’s analytics!

• You probably know the 4Ps of Marketing (Product, Placement, Promotion, and Pricing). Let’s spice it up with the 4Ms of Marketing Plans:
  • Market Intelligence: Whom are you addressing? What does this sliver of audience need to meet their challenges?
  • Modeling: Map out an ongoing customer experience. Make sure other teams (i.e., Sales) get their say here as they may have insights Marketing may miss.
  • Mix: Which platforms will help you reach those goals?
  • Measurement: Make sure you set your KPIs first. Then, ensure you have the tools to assess them before your campaign launches.

Over 90% of teachers pay for supplies for their classrooms from their own pockets. If you know a teacher, think about asking them if they have a list of items needed for their rooms and if they would like help funding those. Every little bit helps!

What expectations do you have for yourself?

Now, I really want you to think…. How many of those expectations are externally motivated?

These expectations slide in through a back door and leave crumbs on the couch of your restless mind. These expectations may not have bad intentions, but they are entitled by the outside forces that put them there. Some of these expectations overshadow their internally motivated cousins who wait patiently for their chance to speak.

Just because society sets rules for you, doesn’t mean those good-hearted internal dreams have to sit by the wayside. Listen to which goals call to your heart. 🩷

Best Wishes 🌠

Natalie

Just in case you didn’t get my reference in the intro…. 😁 

(I cannot hear “Today’s the day” and not think of this.)