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AI is reshaping how people discover, compare and buy products — and affiliate marketing sits at the center of that evolution. From generative search and conversational shopping to AI-curated recommendations, consumers are being influenced before the click more than ever — and that shift is redefining how performance is measured. Here are five ways AI …

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“How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values?” — Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chair, December 5, 1996 When Greenspan asked that question, the iPhone didn’t exist, and “dot-com” was as overused as AI is today. Four years later, the exuberance gave way to a rational collapse. Today, the same question hangs …

Read more “If the AI bubble bursts, marketing could take the first hit”

Author and professor Brené Brown once said, “Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome.” That quote sums up my journey. On the outside, I may seem like a confident speaker and author — but in truth, it’s all built on vulnerability. Every time …

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A new study found 67 percent of global podcast listeners say they’ve made a purchase directly because of a recommendation from a podcast, which begs the question: Are podcasters influencers? The study, “Podcast Pulse 2025,” (no registration required) from podcast monetization platform Acast, found 75% of podcast listeners don’t consider podcasters to be influencers. But …

Read more “Two-thirds of listeners say podcasts recommendations drive purchase decisions”

What would you call an assistant who invented answers if they didn’t know something? Most people would call them “Fired.” Despite that, we don’t mind when AI does it. We expect it to always have an answer, but we need AI that says, “I don’t know.” That helps you trust the results, use the tool …

Read more “How to get genAI to say it doesn’t know”

As AI-powered browsers Perplexity Comet and ChatGPT Atlas reshape how users discover and interact with content, their influence is beginning to surface in web analytics. Understanding how these emerging traffic sources appear in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is essential for accurate measurement and attribution. The challenge is that these browsers pass referral data in different …

Read more “How GA4 records traffic from Perplexity Comet and ChatGPT Atlas”

Search is no longer defined by clicks. Across the web, a growing share of queries now end without a visit to a website. Analysis from Similarweb shows zero-click behavior continues to rise as search engines display more direct answers and AI summaries. Semrush reports the same trend, connecting the drop in outbound clicks to the …

Read more “AI is rewriting visibility in the zero-click search era”

More than three-quarters of business leaders say they’re under growing pressure to drive business value with data, according to a Salesforce report, but many leaders say their data is often outdated, incomplete or low quality. Salesforce’s “State of Data and Analytics” report (registration required) found that while business leaders are eager to use AI for …

Read more “Poor data quality hampering businesses and their AI plans”

Many organizations still base their targeting on demographics — broad traits like age, job title or marital status — rather than the behavioral factors that actually drive decisions. Whether B2B or B2C, we’re often relying on attributes that are time-sensitive or situational instead of focusing on what truly shapes intent. It’s no wonder personalization programs …

Read more “Why behavioral segmentation beats personas for real personalization”

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. Q: Why do disconnected data and silos persist in marketing organizations? In an era where AI is driving innovation and efficiency, marketing …

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