Weekly Digital Marketing & Generative AI for Marketing News from Your Digital Marketing Coach
Every Friday I provide a curated newsletter for thousands of marketers, entrepreneurs, business owners and content creators that covers the latest news as well as actionable advice on all things digital, content, influencer, and social media marketing. I try my best to also provide advice on the latest developments of generative AI and how to leverage it for marketing as well as personal branding for your digital presence.
Share
How Autonomous AI Pipelines Will Transform Marketing Campaigns | The Top 34 Topics Discussed On NextDoor | Perplexity Brings Ads To Its Platform + More!
I had an amazing week this week in Las Vegas at the biggest self-publishing conference for authors: Author Nation.
Just like any other conference for entrepreneurs, the conference had many sessions about AI and its role in our businesses, advanced digital marketing strategies, and how to better sell direct to consumer.
I'll be sharing my main takeaways on an upcoming podcast episode, but the one thing that surprised was how many authors were already using AI. When ChatGPT first emerged, many authors shunned it, fearing it would put them out of business.
Today, an overwhelming majority of authors understand that not only is AI here to stay, but they can also use it to their advantage to improve their craft AND do a lot of the work that they "suck" at: marketing.
Needless to say, there is no more time to be on the fence about AI. Use it daily, use it wisely, and grow your brand and business!
In this episode of *Your Digital Marketing Coach*, I spoke with Ben Guttmann, author of *Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win and How to Design Them*. Ben shared why simplicity is vital in marketing, offering strategies to create clear, impactful messages that truly resonate. We discussed using customer avatars, tailoring messages for platforms like LinkedIn, and integrating AI in communication—all focused on making marketing more meaningful and effective.
With Elon Musk's changes to X and Donald Trump's presidential win, brands are reconsidering their relationship with the platform. Musk's easing of content moderation and Trump's history with X have reshaped its appeal to specific advertisers. As companies weigh potential brand risks against the value of reaching engaged audiences, some are cautiously testing the waters, returning to X while exploring ways to control ad placement in a more polarizing environment.
While SOME advertisers might return to X, it doesn't mean that everyone will. The Guardian, for instance, has decided to stop posting on X due to the platform's increase in far-right conspiracy theories and racism. They believe their resources are better used elsewhere. While their official accounts will be inactive, journalists may still use X for news gathering. This move follows similar actions by NPR and PBS in 2023. Businesses will have to make their own decision based on the ROI of time spent.
How will AI search engines impact Paid Search? We're about to find out! Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, is introducing ads into its platform to generate revenue. The company plans to display ads within follow-up questions, allowing brands to sponsor specific queries. Perplexity is in discussions with major brands, including Nike and Marriott, to implement this advertising model. Additionally, Perplexity intends to share ad revenue with publishers whose content is cited in its AI-generated responses, aiming to address concerns about content usage and compensation.
To stay ahead in SEO, you need to tap into the wisdom of SEO experts like Lily Ray. She has found that it’s key to focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) and to keep user experience front and center with fast load times and mobile-friendly design. She also recommends leaning into structured data and voice search optimization while keeping an eye on algorithm updates. For content, she prioritizes quality, originality, and building topical authority with clusters. Strong branding, local SEO, traffic diversity, video content, data analysis, and cross-team collaboration all keep her strategies relevant in this evolving SEO landscape. Read on for some great advice!
Still on the fence about the ROI of email marketing? The article explores key email marketing statistics to help marketers understand its impact, reach, and effectiveness in driving ROI. It provides insights on audience preferences, engagement rates, and the role of personalization and segmentation in optimizing email campaigns. Read, learn, and implement!
Are you a realtor or small business owner looking to directly reach your customer on social media? Enter Nextdoor. Nextdoor is a neighborhood-focused social network where users discuss various local topics. A study analyzing over 1,000 Nextdoor notification emails identified the top 34 discussion topics. These range from unsolicited financial advice to missing persons, local events, items for sale, severe weather alerts, and general life advice. The analysis provides insights into the most common subjects that engage Nextdoor users, some potential entryways for you and your business.
MarTech discusses how autonomous AI pipelines are set to transform marketing by automating campaign creation, execution, and optimization. These pipelines streamline repetitive tasks, adapt to real-time data, and enable faster, more personalized marketing experiences, ultimately reshaping campaign management for greater efficiency and relevance. This is the future of where AI in marketing is going, so read this to keep up with the latest trends!
As you well know, AI is revolutionizing how we search for information online. Unlike traditional search engines, AI-powered search tools offer personalized, immediate, and precise responses by understanding the nuances of human language. They streamline the search process, eliminating the need to sift through multiple websites. These advancements are reshaping the digital landscape, making information retrieval more efficient and user-friendly. I introduce the top 11 AI search engines transforming the future of search in this blog post.
In this piece, I dive into the differences between digital marketing and social media marketing, explaining how each plays a unique role in your overall marketing strategy. Digital marketing covers broader tactics across email, search engines, and websites, aiming for a consistent brand presence. Social media marketing zeroes in on direct engagement through platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Knowing these distinctions helps you align your strategies with your goals. While it's a primer, it covers a lot of important points to serve as a reminder for your 2025 strategy!
Digital First Mastermind Community
Have a question or need some help with your digital or social media marketing? Join my mastermind! Click here or on the image for more details!
P.S. Pressing the unsubscribe button at the bottom will remove you from all communication from me. If you'd like to keep in touch and only receive monthly, instead of weekly, newsletters, please click here. Thank you!
Weekly Digital Marketing & Generative AI for Marketing News from Your Digital Marketing Coach
Neal Schaffer
Every Friday I provide a curated newsletter for thousands of marketers, entrepreneurs, business owners and content creators that covers the latest news as well as actionable advice on all things digital, content, influencer, and social media marketing. I try my best to also provide advice on the latest developments of generative AI and how to leverage it for marketing as well as personal branding for your digital presence.
Read more from Weekly Digital Marketing & Generative AI for Marketing News from Your Digital Marketing Coach
Neal Schaffer January 11, 2025 Hey Reader, Hope you had a great start to the new year! I am actually at the airport on my way to Japan for a quick business trip, but wanted to make sure I get this out before I leave. For those of you who don't know, I live in Southern California, and it is sad sitting at the Los Angeles Airport and seeing all of the smoke billowing into the grey air above the mountains. My home in Orange County is quite removed from the fires, but we had our own experience...
Neal Schaffer January 03, 2025 Hey Reader, Happy New Year! Hope you had a chance to refresh over the holidays and are ready to take on a new year of changes in our constantly evolving world of digital marketing! If there was one phrase I want you to focus on this year it would be the topic of my latest podcast, The Democratization of Discoverability. Related to that phrase, if there was one keyword I want you to remember this year, it is a simple one: Output. With advances in generative AI,...
Neal Schaffer December 28, 2024 Hey Reader, And so another year ends... It's time to take a step back and be grateful for all that we have and accomplished in 2024. With a similar lens, we should also be looking forward on all of our dreams and goals for 2025 and constructing plans to make them happen. Just like going to a gym at the beginning of a year with passion to get back in shape or shed a few pounds (trust me, I'll be back exercising soon as well!), we should be approaching our...