Ads are now being tested in ChatGPT in the U.S., appearing for some users across different account types. For the first time, advertising is entering an AI answer environment – and that changes the rules for marketers. We’ve used AI as part of ad creation or planning for years across Google, LinkedIn and paid social. But …
Read more “For ChatGPT ads, behavior matters more than targeting”
For those of us happy to cocoon at home with our remote jobs, especially marketers who built digital-first strategies post-pandemic, the return of in-person meetings and relationships that require social skills is as welcome as unasked-for pineapple on a pizza delivery. However, like it or not, personal relationships are becoming more valuable precisely because information …
Over the last decade, I’ve watched MOps teams add more and more tools to their stack, yet somehow the work never gets easier. The requests still pile up. Priorities still shift daily. Stakeholders still bypass the process. And the team still feels like it’s drowning. Here’s what I’ve learned: the difference between a struggling MOps …
Read more “5 capabilities that separate high-performing MOps teams from the rest”
Three out of four marketers say their current approaches to measurement — including attribution, incrementality and media mix modeling — aren’t delivering the speed, accuracy or trust they need. That’s the top finding from the “State of Data 2026” report by the IAB and BWG Global. Further proof, if any was needed, that marketing leaders …
Read more “75% of marketers say their measurement systems are falling short”
Are consumers finally cozying up to AI? After years of research showing consumers dislike the technology, 57% now say they trust brands more when AI is part of the experience, according to Optimove’s “2025 AI Marketing Trust and Engagement Report.” This challenges a common concern among marketers — that revealing or emphasizing AI use would …
Read more “57% of consumers trust brands more when they use AI, study finds”
Some brands are seeing direct traffic grow without an obvious cause. A major reason is AI visibility — not because it drives clicks but because it shapes what users remember. When an AI answer mentions a brand, it works more like advertising than search. The user may not visit immediately, but they are far more …
Read more “Why AI visibility can increase direct traffic even when nobody clicks”
Search has expanded. Under pressure, buyers and brands default to the clearest voice they can trust. Buyers didn’t abandon search engines. They added new ones. Today, decisions are shaped across two environments at the same time — search engine optimization (SEO), where buyers research, compare and validate through traditional search results, and generative engine optimization …
Read more “The new buyer decision cycle happens across SEO and GEO”
In MarTech’s “MarTechBot explains it all” feature, we pose a question about marketing to our very own MarTechBot, which is trained on the MarTech website archives and has access to the broader internet. Question: How can marketers use retargeting emails — not just ads — to increase engagement and conversions, particularly for time-sensitive promotions like …
Read more “How to make retargeting emails drive more sales during promotions”
For years, conversations about paid media have revolved around one question: should companies build in-house teams or outsource to agencies? That debate makes sense, but it misses the real issue. The problem isn’t where paid media sits in the org chart. It’s how performance leadership is structured. Many companies run Google Ads and other paid …
Read more “The in-house vs. agency debate misses the real paid media problem by Focus Pocus Media”
For years, enterprises treated DAM as the single source of truth for content, the system that supposedly governed an end‑to‑end content engine. The promise was simple: creative tools produced assets, campaigns activated them and DAM orchestrated the whole system from the centre. That notion no longer matches how work actually happens. In most organisations, content …
Read more “Your DAM is no longer the system of record, and everyone knows it”