Daria R.

🚨 BREAKING: Adobe just dropped $1.9B to acquire Semrush. But this isn't just another tech acquisition. It's a wake-up call for every marketer. 🎯 Here's what you need to know: The New Reality: Traffic from AI sources (ChatGPT, Gemini) to retail sites jumped 1,200% YoY 🚀 GEO is the New SEO: Generative Engine Optimization isn't optional anymore - it's survival Enterprise Validation: Semrush's enterprise revenue grew 33% YoY (clients include Amazon, JPMorgan, TikTok) The Vision: Adobe + Semrush = Complete brand visibility across traditional search, LLMs, and owned channels Timeline: Deal closes H1 2026, pending approvals TL;DR: Your customers are asking ChatGPT for recommendations before they Google. If your brand isn't optimized for AI discovery, you're already behind. The game has changed. CMOs who ignore GEO alongside SEO risk losing relevance and revenue. Are you ready for the agentic AI era of marketing? Will this be another acquisition Adobe mess up? :)

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Agentic commerce is taking first steps. Demo of Stripe MCP in action from Jeff Weinstein. - open claude - connect stripe (via MCP) - prompt to create payment link done! All in <1 minute. Agentic commerce is very early, but you can already feel the demand building. Everyone I know uses LLMs for most of their product research now, just a matter of time before this all comes together. If folks have other demos, love to see below!

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Massive news from us at CertifID: we’ve raised a $47.5M Series C! 🎉 Led by the team at Centana Growth Partners and supported by our partners at Arthur Ventures, this helps us to keep fighting wire fraud where it hits hardest—real estate. I spoke with Axios about what this means for us and the industry, and why I couldn’t be more thrilled for this support. This will help us continue to build the tools and services our customers rely on to move money safely, even as threats keep evolving. You can read my conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gGGpgWNb In 2024, we prevented over $1.3 billion in losses. And this year, we’ve hit two major company milestones: over a million mortgage payoffs protected and over $100 million recovered for victims of fraud. We’ve expanded our insurance coverage and launched new ways to fight seller impersonation fraud and emerging forms of payment fraud. This funding helps us double down on what matters: stopping fraud before it starts and making every real estate transaction safer for buyers, sellers, title agents, and everyone involved. I’m grateful for the team here at CertifID, our customers, and our partners who trust us with these life-changing moments. And I’m thankful to Centana and Arthur Ventures for believing in our mission. We’re just getting started!

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Big news from Aperiam today - we’re expanding our team and platform to enhance how we support our portfolio companies and the adtech/martech ecosystem. First: we could not be more excited to welcome Danilo Tauro, PhD, and Corey Ferengul as managing partners at Aperiam. Both bring decades of experience in adtech, martech, and enterprise technology, and Joe and I have had the privilege of knowing and working with them for years. Danilo’s background in brand marketing at P&G and leadership roles at Amazon Ads and Uber Eats makes him a major asset in helping our portfolio companies navigate enterprise opportunities, and helping brands drive innovation. Corey has a proven track record as former CEO of Undertone and Magnetic, both of which were successfully acquired under his leadership. His deep experience across board roles, M&A, and scaling businesses is invaluable as our portfolio matures. Danilo and Corey will work across Aperiam’s funds and platform, helping our companies grow and win in an evolving market. Second: we’re also officially launching two initiatives we’ve been incubating: - Aperiam Advisory helps Fortune 2000 brands, PE firms, and tech platforms solve complex business challenges - often involving new tech stacks or innovation efforts - bringing the best of Aperiam to the enterprise. - Aperiam Ads is a technology orchestration layer that helps brands maximize every ad dollar on a custom stack built from Aperiam portfolio companies and partners. Congrats to Danilo and Corey… reach out to them if you’d like to work with us! See more from AdExchanger about the news in the comments.

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Performance agencies sometimes think they need to differentiate by building proprietary tech. I’ve seen that story many times — and I disagree. I recently had a check-in with two C-level execs at a performance agency. We’d been delivering exceptional results for their clients, including a $33 CPA using our machine learning optimization engine, compared to $120 manually. But performance wasn’t their focus. They'd decided to build new tech in-house. “If other agencies can use tvScientific,” they said, “we’re not unique.” It brought to mind the New York Times’ decision to build its own ad server — a costly, years-long detour that ended with a move back to DFP. The problem was a lack of clarity about what business they were really in and what they were positioned to excel at. The same applies to performance agencies. They’re not in the business of building ad tech (which is a constantly evolving, capital intensive business and is an entire business in its own right). They’re in the business of delivering outcomes. That means using the best tools available on the market and winning on superior client service. Not rebuilding tools from scratch. The edge comes from execution — knowing how to evaluate, adopt, and apply best-in-class technology to drive better results. Trying to be both a tech company and a service business is a recipe for subpar results on both fronts. Instead, invest in identifying cutting-edge technology, use it better than your competitors, and deliver both superior results and superior client service. That’s the path to agency differentiation. Just my .02. More detailed thoughts on this topic in my weekly newsletter (see comments).

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Most affiliate deals fail because they’re built on speed, not substance. In this episode of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, I sat down with Julia Draghici, Co-founder and CEO of CPV Lab, to talk about what 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 makes partnerships last. It’s not just about performance. It’s about how you show up, what you track, and whether you’re willing to refine what’s not working, together. We unpack why data-led iteration, consistency, and genuine support can turn a short-term campaign into a long-term revenue engine. Listen to the full episode in the comments. Especially if you’re tired of transactional relationships and want to build partnerships that stick.

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Is AI killing affiliate marketing?!? 🤧😰😟😭 No. That’s click bait. I actually think we’re entering a new golden age. LLMs don’t magically know what products to recommend. They depend on high-quality publishers and creators -- the authentic voices people actually trust. If you’re a brand, you still need to show up in those authority reviews, comparisons, and creator feeds. Affiliate is still the best way to make that happen. Over time, as LLMs capture more consumer attention, publishers won’t be able to rely as much on traditional affiliate clicks for monetization. Big media companies are already licensing content to LLMs -- but how does that scale? How do LLMs incentivize a steady flow of new content from both publishers and creators? With OpenAI’s Shopify integration, for example: should they attribute product sales back to the creators whose content drove the recommendation? I think so. But what if ten different sources shaped the answer? Do you split commissions evenly, weight them by influence, or something else entirely? And who actually facilitates those payouts? This is where fast-moving affiliate platforms can play a critical role -- creating the layer between LLMs and content creators to ensure they get compensated for the value they generate around e-commerce. In the meantime, sellers should get their brand featured by trusted publishers and authentic creators. That’s still the best way to make sure they’re being surfaced in LLMs today. What comes next? The affiliate world will know soon enough. And Levanta is locked and loaded.

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Onfolio Holdings Launches Pace Generative to Help Brands Dominate AI-Generated Search Results After some initial success offering “GEO” search services across the portfolio, in particularly at RevenueZen, we decided to create a dedicated Generative Engine Optimization agency, Pace Generative LLC, to be able to focus on capturing the growing demand for these services, while also getting better at fulfillment. Most agencies helping companies increase their visibility in LLMs are SEO agencies that can “also do a bit of AI”, and that’s how we started out too. But by creating a dedicated brand, we’ll learn faster, deliver better, and set the pace. See the full Press Release in the comments

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WPConsent just passed 40,000 installs 🥳 🎉 It's a new cookie consent management and privacy compliance plugin for WordPress that our team built. In our most recent release, we added Smart Geolocation Rules to help with global privacy compliance. This means you can create custom tracking experience based on each region: - For example in EU / GDPR -- you set everything to be opt-in before cookies are set. - For CCPA -- you just need an easy way for users to OPT out. This gives you more granular control over Automatic Script Blocking when displaying cookie banners. If you're looking for a Cookie Consent solution for your WordPress site, try out WPConsent. More details below 👇

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15 years in, and Conductor is betting everything on one truth: traditional search is over. AI is the new arena. Getting buy-in for SEO has always been hard (despite driving 30-50% of your digital business). Yes, some visionary leaders made this a priority…many became our customers. But, the formula for digital success has changed forever. Chasing Google’s ‘10 blue links’ will soon be a thing of the past. And, unfortunately, so will many of those website visitors. What remains is the largest opportunity in the history of digital marketing (IMHO). AI-driven search will become your customers’ most trusted advisor. How your brand shows up in AI results will define your digital future. AI will own more of the customer journey than your website—leaving your marketing tech obsolete and making AEO, GEO, AIO (whatever you call it) mission-critical. Fortunately for our customers, we’ve spent the last 5+ years investing 100% of their $ into one thing: building the most powerful technology for the future of digital. Over 3 years, we rebuilt our data infrastructure from the ground up leveraging our deep enterprise experience. And today, we launch Conductor AI…the next generation of our platform. Serious value includes: • AI Topic Maps: See your content the way AI does, identifying gaps and opportunities for an impactful content strategy–powered by our real-time web crawl, vector databases, and AI (this is over a year in the making leveraging our new data engine). • AI Search Performance: Understand your presence across critical AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity. This isn't rank tracking 2.0—it's an entirely new approach providing insights into your market share, sentiment, and critical perceptions about your brand. • Best-in-Class Content Generation: Exceptional content creation made easy through a powerful combination of LLMs, expert prompt engineering, topic performance data, competitive insights, and your brand guidelines. No training required. • Automated Internal Linking: Leveraging semantic analysis across your content and powered by a vector database, these agents automatically create optimal internal linking strategies. It's incredible. 100% unique. • AI Bot Detection & Alerts: Measure & monitor how AI bots interact with your website. These engagements will become critical signals that influence digital strategy. All of this comes with a completely new interface/navigation, end-to-end universal search, a vibrant customer community, 24/5 expert support, and the most experienced/dedicated/hungry team in the space. We’re watching brand new startups make the same mistakes we made a decade ago—but this moment is too important to gamble on newcomers. Enterprise brands need the best. That’s why you choose Conductor. And that’s exactly what we commit to delivering. Lets go!

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Max's North America generated over $2 million in commission-free online sales by pairing amazing Filipino fried chicken with a marketing strategy that keeps them top of mind. They rank high on Google, offer direct online ordering, and automatically send personalized emails to their nearly 75,000 guest contacts to drive repeat business ($330,000 from automated emails alone). Read our case study to learn how Popmenu helps Max's to grow their fan base and business: https://lnkd.in/eU2bYpcr #Popmenu #restauranttech #restaurantindustry #restaurantmarketing #restaurants

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Today I facilitated a roundtable discussion with Anton Osika , CEO of Lovable , along with several other members of f.ounders club at Web Summit. The biggest takeaway was simple: there is no playbook. Everyone is trying to figure out how to embed AI and agentic workflows into both their products and their internal operations. Not as a “feature,” but as a new way of working. The founders who are moving fastest aren’t waiting for perfect strategy documents or long-term roadmaps. They are: • Experimenting rapidly • Creating internal champions who push change from within • Testing, iterating, and seeing what actually drives impact on a KPI This phase of AI adoption is less about theory and more about execution. It’s about learning in real time and allowing the organization to evolve through doing. Grateful for the conversation and energized by the pace of what’s coming next. #ai #websummit #agentic

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#1 HACK to kill it at Affiliate Management It’s not higher commissions, the #1 affiliate program hack is a mindset shift. Your affiliate program desk isn’t a seat, it’s a startup. Claim the CEO chair or watch profits pass you by. Your desk is a launchpad, not a cubicle. Own every digit or stay grounded. 15 years of creating, running and scaling profitable affiliate programs with bootstrap mentality has taught me this much. Run your Affiliate Program like a startup: Product mastery, profit focus, public wins. 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝘁‐𝗱𝗼 scorecard • 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱. Price, margin, pain‑killer. • 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵. CAC, LTV, payout %, net lift. • 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲. Flight to Vegas? ROI in three lines. • 𝗧𝗮𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵. Source → click → sale—nothing hides. • 𝗚𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀, 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀. Hunch + proof earns budgets. If you need a master tool to run this business within the business, understand that Trackfinity is the result of every lesson we learned over combined decades of Affiliate Management & tracking experience. Results stack up. CMOs stop questioning. CFOs sign the check. And bigger news... this CEO mindset doubles as a career rocket. When you speak in P&Ls, doors to V‑P titles open. Control the numbers, control your path. No one is coming to grab you by the hand and help you take their job 😉 What’s another hack to kill it at affiliate program management? ———————————————————————— Follow Jenny for more affiliate marketing content

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Agencies that only know how to “run accounts” are going extinct. Tech is catching up fast, but the future isn’t agencies vs. tech. It’s agencies with tech. They will converge. The smartest operators I know are already blending strategy, creative, and data. They’re building systems that make human decisions more accurate, not replacing humans. The agency of the future won’t be a service. It’ll be a strategic engine powered by tech.

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💰 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗥𝗥 𝗯𝘆 90% We recently ran a simple monetization test: • 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗔: $19.99 • 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗕: $29.99 The results? 📈 The $29.99 plan increased 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝘆 90% — with a slight drop in trial activation rates, but an increase in 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗼-𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 (53% 𝘁𝗼 60%). This is why 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝗥𝗥 without building a single new feature. And the upside isn’t just theoretical: • A 10% price increase can boost profits by 20–40% (McKinsey) • Many apps underprice because they’re afraid of churn — but 𝘪𝘧 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, higher pricing often works 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. • Price tests can be done in weeks, not months, and usually pay for themselves almost instantly. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: Don’t just A/B test your onboarding, paywall design, or push notifications — 𝗔/𝗕 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲. It could be the highest ROI test you run this quarter. 💡 Have you tested a higher price lately? You might be surprised at what your customers are willing to pay. See more monetization case studies from my MAU Vegas presentation (video in comments).

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