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”
Digital asset management (DAM) is no longer a dusty repository tucked away on a server. What used to be a static library of “approved” assets is evolving into a dynamic command center for modern marketing and digital operations. Today’s leading organizations are turning to DAM not just to store files, but to power productivity, streamline …
Read more “The future of DAM is intelligent, integrated and essential”
The B2B software review and comparison landscape changed dramatically this week when G2 announced it acquired Software Advice, Capterra and GetApp from tech industry analyst firm Gartner. Gartner acquired Software Advice in 2014 as part of its efforts to build out what it called its Digital Markets business. At the time, it seemed like a …
Read more “B2B software marketing takes a turn with consolidation of review sites”
I spent years believing that being reasonable was a virtue. I thought that if someone I cared about — a partner, a colleague, a close friend — kept pushing after I said no, the burden was on me to be clearer. I believed that if I could find the right metaphor, stay calm enough or …
Read more “No means no, even when the system refuses to listen”
Customer expectations are rising fast. AI acceleration has reset what fast, personal and relevant mean. Economic pressure has made customers more selective about where they spend their time and money. The sheer volume of channels has made poor experiences easier to notice — and harder to forgive. Customer experience (CX) is one of the most …
Read more “Why customer experience is the ultimate growth strategy in 2026”
Imagine a world where the day when executives review marketing dashboards isn’t fraught with tension. Where deviations from planned results don’t mean failure — either failure to predict correctly or failure to adequately control marketing people, processes and technology. Where the model for marketing management is something other than a mechanistic factory, with objectives of …
Read more “How smart leaders use marketing metrics to navigate uncertainty”