Shane Berman

CMO’s and agencies are so enamored with bottom-funnel targeting tactics that they totally lost the ability to move people effectively—their judgement is out of balance with real needs today. The targeting down funnel ‘disease’ gives marketers a feeling that they aren’t being wasteful but so much is showing they aren’t being effective either. “This ….reveals …a fundamental mismatch. Respondents are applying bottom-of-funnel tactics to what they've identified as top-of-funnel brand building objectives.”

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With principle-based buying returning to the forefront, Brian Chap's recipe for agency accountability takes me back to Jon Mandel's explosive rebate disclosures back in March 2015. Jon's kimono-opening moment was undoubtedly the catalyst that woke us all up to the billions leaking from media budgets by way of non-transparent kickbacks and fees. The can of worms has yet to be closed. That's why principle-based buying doesn't sit well with me. It feels like we're rewinding the tape after making so much progress over the last decade. BUT ... if you're a client-side media buyer that chooses to engage with a principle-based agency, there are three of Brian's "BENCH" framework activities that I think should be prioritized to the top. These three are relatively simple to do and can dramatically increase transparency and accountability. 1 - Secure platform access to your ad server, your DSP and the major SSPs through whom you are buying. Ensure you know how to compare media costs at each step in the supply-chain. 2 - Conduct audits. Whether as Brian recommends or simply by contacting a handful of publishers where you buy media, you should be able to reconcile your cost input to your media value output. And while you're at it, you'll be strengthening your direct publisher relationships, which has many longer-term benefits both in terms of media cost and priority. 3 - Most definitely hold your agency accountable. This applies also to every adtech vendor in your media supply-chain. I am not a fan of principle-based media buying. But if you're going to try it out, you need to remember that this is far from a set-it-and-forget-it approach to advertising. https://lnkd.in/eDw-Z3w8

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The easiest way to rank in 2025? Don’t launch a site. Launch a system. 1️⃣ Aged domain w/ backlink profile 2️⃣ Parasite pages for high comp KWs 3️⃣ Programmatic AI site for ultra longtails 4️⃣ CTR & user signal manipulation 5️⃣ High ticket lead monetization where possible You don’t need a blog. You need a f*cking pipeline!

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I’ve been thinking about why so many programmatic campaigns underperform and it often comes down to trade-offs that just aren’t talked about enough. - Want higher quality inventory? You'll pay higher CPMs. - Want massive scale? You'll likely compromise on quality in places. - Want rock-bottom costs? Forget premium placements. Most tools in our industry pretend these trade-offs don't exist. But just because the brief is to maintain quality AND reduce costs AND increase reach - doesn’t mean that’s how it actually works.. The best media strategies aren't about avoiding all trade-offs - they're more about making conscious ones that align with the overall campaign objectives. For example: - A luxury brand might happily trade scale for quality - A performance marketer might accept higher risk for better cost efficiency - A brand awareness campaign might prioritise reach over in-depth engagement The problem isn't that these trade-offs exist (because they always will!). The issue is actually how often we make them blindly, without any real data to help understand what we're actually trading off. That's why transparency in inventory intelligence matters. When you can see the quality, risk and opportunity signals of your inventory, then you can make more deliberate choices rather than hoping for the best.

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Yext just published "A statistical look at regional and industry variation in local SEO ranking factors". Really interesting, especially this graphic. Here are the quickest takeaways: All effects are weak. Every correlation is small (roughly −0.10 to +0.14), so treat these as gentle signals, not causes. Biggest positives, by industry: Hospitality: Has Business Hours (+0.14, strongest overall), Has Merchant Description (+0.11), Profile Completeness (+0.10), Rating (+0.09). Healthcare: Review Count (+0.12) and New Reviews/Month (+0.11) lead; several review/engagement metrics sit around +0.07 to +0.08. Retail: Review Count (+0.08) and New Reviews/Month (+0.07); smaller bumps from Total Attributes and Photo Count (~+0.05). Financial Services (FINS): Review Count (+0.08), New Reviews/Month and Rating (+0.06), plus modest lifts from Attributes/Photos (+0.05). Food & Dining: Very small signals across the board; nothing much above +0.04. Consistent positives across industries More reviews (total and recent) and higher ratings are positive everywhere. Owner review responses (year/month/week) are positive but small. Consistent negatives Slower average review response time is negative in every vertical (worst in Healthcare at about −0.07). Notable outliers In Hospitality, having a local landing page shows the strongest negative (≈−0.10), and photo count is slightly negative (≈−0.04) - unique compared to other industries. Popular Times (presence of that feature) is more helpful for Healthcare and Hospitality (~+0.07–0.08) than elsewhere. Practical gist Focus on review volume, recency, and ratings everywhere. Respond quickly to reviews (slow replies correlate with worse outcomes). Hospitality: make sure hours, descriptions, and profiles are complete; don’t rely on a local landing page to help visibility. Retail/FINS: keep attributes and photos filled out; keep reviews flowing. Food & Dining: expect weaker gains from these particular profile tweaks, other factors likely matter more. ---- What do you think? #localseo #localseotips #localsearchrankings

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🚀 Key Insights from 16,000+ Paid Search Campaigns from WordStream by LocaliQ (Apr ’24 – Mar ’25): CTR: 6.66% on average - but over half of industries saw a drop CPC: $5.26 on average - 87% of industries faced higher costs CVR: 7.52% on average - 65% of industries saw improvements CPL: $70.11- up 5% year-over-year 📊 By industry: Legal continues to be the priciest for leads ($131) Auto Repair remains the most efficient ($28) Takeaway: Costs are climbing, so you need to have smarter, more relevant campaigns paired with stronger landing pages to drive better results. Reach out to the Digital Strike - Targeted Marketing team if you are not getting the results you need! 🔗 Full report: https://lnkd.in/ejvjkGxy #PPC #PaidSearch #DigitalStrike #GoogleAds #CampaignOptimizations

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If you want programmatic M&A to fuel real growth, you can’t wait around for seller-led opportunities. You need a Buyer-Led strategy, and the right tools to execute it at speed. Matthew Person of Quickbase nails it: defining your ideal targets and proactively pursuing them isn’t just smarter, it’s proven to drive faster growth and stronger market positioning. That’s what DealRoom is built for: helping you move faster, close smarter, and scale repeatable acquisitions. See how DealRoom powers Buyer-Led M&A.

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GEO (AI SEO) Is the New Content Stack Forget keyword clusters. The new game is evidence clusters. Backlinko’s Generative Engine Optimization research shows that LLMs favor content ecosystems combining: Community trust (Reddit, Quora) Third-party validation (press, data, docs) Consistent entity markup This isn’t SEO or PR or content — it’s all of them fused. Winning AI visibility requires brand accuracy on branded prompts, topic coverage on category prompts, and verifiable data everywhere else. If you’re still running these functions in silos, you’ve already lost the plot.

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Seismic shifts (part 2): what’s happening in agency world? Tough read for agency land. 15% cuts is punchy - but talking with industry friends, it could be choppier on the creative side. AI creative started at the “bottom”, but quality is improving fast. Forget the “can it win an Emmy?” debate- look at the sea of “OK” creative we all see. If AI can match that at a fraction of the cost and time - and spin up endless personalised versions and social cuts - that’s the direction of travel. Are we far away? Not from what I’m seeing. There are bright spots in the story. Creative agencies taking control of creator marketing is smart. If AI means near‑infinite content, then what’s possible and needed shifts significantly. People are still essential, but in different roles. On the media side – are we going to see a replay programmatic (automation = more people, just different)? Programmatic was a hot mess under the bonnet and needed bodies to sort it. If AI really collapses plan - traffic - optimise - report, this time looks different. And what will clients pay for when AI does a big % of the work? No surprise principal trading is hot. Bright spots? >Humans in the loop, focused on bigger thinking across a broader set of challenges that actually move the brands business forward. >AI generating and adapting content across those challenges in ways we didn’t think possible and driving real outcomes = more investment. Looks like a bumpy ride ahead. If you were placing bets for 2026/27, where are the winners and losers  - and why? https://lnkd.in/eb5s9bAw

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AIO Lawsuit from a big publisher -> Penske Media sues Google, says ~20% of Google search results linking to its sites now include AI Overviews, and affiliate link revenue fell 33%+ since late 2024 “Siphoning and discouraging user traffic to PMC’s and other publishers’ websites in this manner will have profoundly harmful effects on the overall quality and quantity of the information accessible on the internet,” the complaint alleges, using the acronym for Penske Media Corp." https://lnkd.in/emDqVEFs

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Search is shifting fast. AI chatbots/ agents are expected to cut traditional search engine use by 25% by 2026, SEO is becoming GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, or Zero Click or LMFAO (my personal fav). Our experts Bobby Knapp and Alexander Liss break down what this shift means for marketers: - AI search pulls from 6–7 sources (not just the top 3 like old-school search) - Earned media and user-generated content are more influential than ever - Content needs to match user intent AND drive action - New frameworks like llms.txt (think robots.txt, but for large language models) are emerging How ready is your brand for the GEO era? Here's an easy way to get started: Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini what they know about your brand or products. You might be surprised by what shows up (or doesn’t). Full read here: https://lnkd.in/gEZekJQ4 #AI #GEO #ContentStrategy #DigitalMarketing #SEO #ZeroClick

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Data from Similarweb shows that worldwide search traffic fell by 15% year-over-year as of June, but here’s the stat that really hurts: the number of news searches on the web that result in no click-throughs to news websites had grown from 56% in May 2024, when AI Overviews launched, to nearly 69% as of May 2025. In just one year, Google’s AI features have pushed the zero-click rate for news searches from slightly more than half to more than two-thirds. 😳

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In a recent meta-analysis of past #MMMs across category advertisers within the US, Nielsen found that #Reddit ads helped advertisers drive a nearly $2 ROAS, outperforming the aggregate averages achieved by other social platforms, digital partners, and TV.  

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Why is streaming advertising a great fit for local advertisers? 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: Using a 𝟯𝟬-mile radius can reduce CPMs by 𝟵𝟭%. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Local is the next big wave for streaming TV. The market is wide open, and the dollars are real. https://screenwa.rs/1f703f

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The role of DSPs in CTV is changing fast, and opening new revenue opportunities for publishers. 🖥️ Seedtag’s new blog takes a closer look at how programmatic buying is evolving beyond third-party data into a new era of contextual signals, AI-powered insights, and premium PMP partnerships. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dRbHhEH3 #CTV #ContextualAdvertising #SupplyAdTech

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Magnite has introduced pause ads into its SSP, now available to buy programmatically through ClearLine, major DSPs, and streaming partners, including DirecTV, Dish Media, and Fubo. This shift provides advertisers with access to a non-intrusive, obvious moment in the viewer's journey, when audiences are most attentive. With scalable inventory and emerging VAST standardization, pause ads will become a powerful addition to the programmatic toolkit. For brands, the opportunity is clear: diversify CTV campaigns, strengthen engagement, and drive ROI with a format built for today's streaming behaviors. Read on for more: https://heyor.ca/eu20le #CTV #Programmatic #DigitalAdvertising #MediaBuying

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Last-touch attribution is the most widely adopted measurement in commerce media today. Budgets are planned with ROAS. Sales goals are assigned based on it. Algorithms optimization against it. If there is one metric that directs the flow of commerce media more than any other, it’s ROAS. So the $100-billion question: does it actually correlate to sales growth? The answer is still no. I remember reading Comscore, Inc.'s "Moving Beyond the Click" nearly 15 years ago and one line clicked for me (no pun intended) 😉 "Clicks don’t measure all of a campaign’s sales impact nor the cumulative (latent) impact of ads." As commerce media continues to move up the funnel this holds just a true now as it did 15 years ago. One of the first meta-analyses we did when I joined the Incremental team was to look at a broad cross-section of campaigns comparing last touch based attribution to incremental sales. The results were both surprising and not. Across a broad set of campaigns, incremental sales and last touch attribution didn't correlate. For those following over the years, this may not be a shocker as study after study have shown that click-based attribution has no relationship to true business growth. 2009 Nielsen: CTR vs. ROI: r=-0.07 2012 comScore: Clicks vs. Conversions: r=0.01 2015 Nielsen: Clicks vs. Conversions: r=0.01 2019 Dunnhumby: CTR vs. Incremental Sales: r=-0.28 2021 Quantcast: CTR vs. Conversion Rate: r=-0.12 While the reliance on last touch ROAS is a systemic risk, it is also a massive opportunity for those who have made the transition away from it. Especially if their competition is still reliant on it. All of that media is sub-optimally allocated for incremental growth. Every algorithm, every rule adjusting bids and budgets based on ROAS isn't steering towards growth effectively. Want more growth? Ditch the high-fructose corn syrup of last touch ROAS.

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We've all experienced it ... a Google search returns an AI Overview section at the top. More and more, I see Reddit, Quora, and other user/customer sources in that SGE block. And it seems like often those sources are not in what we used to call "page 1" of the search results. Everything is changing in the world of SEO! This interesting piece from PeerSpot highlights what customer reviews bring to SEO that GenAI-generated content can't bring to SEO ... > First-hand experience > Real implementation stories > Specific, problem-solving language from trusted voices Worth reading! https://lnkd.in/gv7tg9eF

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