This week: a masterclass in doing more with less, a marketer who turned $0 into national coverage, and what the latest data says about AI, social, and search.

Plus, POSSIBLE is right around the corner and The StartUp Marketer will be mingling in Miami! Stop by the Innovation Stage, sponsored by SalientMG, and come find us.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍ The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• 📍 SUM Community Events

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Dennis Aronov shares why the best marketers spend less time guessing and more time lurking (using Reddit and TikTok as real-time audience research) and how a $0 idea turned into 800 likes, 200+ shares, and national media coverage. Plus, find out the marketing hill he’d die on.

The Scrappy Marketer’s Advantage

A quick reality check on resourcefulness versus resources from Christine Butler, who has 25+ years across American Express, Weight Watchers, Girl Scouts, and now Blood Cancer United. It’s about getting sharper with what you have, building systems that actually hold under pressure, and not confusing motion with real progress.

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AROUND THE WEB

• One in five ChatGPT clicks go to Google, according to a new Semrush study. Meaning visibility in the LLM doesn’t translate evenly into traffic. [Search Engine Land]

• Cameo now allows U.S. creators to offer personalized Cameo videos directly to their fans through TikTok. [TechCrunch]

• AI-generated content is already competing in search, but it’s not changing how content is judged. A study by Semrush, analyzing 42,000 pages and 20,000 keywords, found that performance still comes down to execution: how well content meets user intent, delivers clarity, and provides real value. [MarTech]

• Instagram now allows creators to schedule Trial Reels. [Social Media Today]

• Fewer people are posting on social media (49% vs. 61% in 2024), with the rise of passive media consumption, according to a UK study. That means brands need to act like creators, optimizing for watch time and relevance (video, entertainment, utility) and moving beyond traditional engagement metrics as signals get quieter. [The Guardian]

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Block off every Thursday at 1 pm ET for SUM events—consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now 👈

Your GTP Has a Gap When product marketing is clear, deals move faster. When it’s scattered, pipelines stall and nobody can explain why. Darren Moore joins us to talk about the GTM gap most startups discover the hard way. RSVP

Training Coming Soon…

Startup marketing is its own discipline and it deserves its own resources. We're changing that. Coming soon: upskilling built specifically for startup marketers, designed around the way you actually work, at the stage you're actually in. Stay tuned.

IN THE MEME TIME

We just dropped a newsletter playbook built for how startup marketers actually operate (not how big teams say you should). It’s the precursor to our benchmark report, dropping April 6.

And if you’ve been anywhere near the job market lately… you already know the old playbook isn’t working there either. We get into what actually does below.

Somehow Q1 wraps up next week, which means time’s almost up for our March giveaway. Join The StartUp Marketer or refer a friend to enter to win a $200 gift card.

Newsletter Playbook Now Available

Most newsletter advice was built for teams with time, budget, and headcount. But you have… none of that. So we built a beehiiv playbook for how startup marketers actually operate (and we just so happen to run this newsletter through beehiiv so we know what we’re talking about!) 

4 parts. 13 pages. Completely free. Join The StartUp Marketer to access the full playbook.

As an integrated marketing manager at Specificity, Delilah Adrian sees the same problem over and over: the people with the best insight are busy.

They’re the ones closest to the product and the customer, and the ones who will naturally make your marketing better. So instead of asking for more time, she makes it easier to contribute: quick prompts, clear direction, something to react to.

Becoming Recruiter Ready We all know the job market is tough. The better question is: what actually works now? Recruiting expert Maigread Eichten shares how to stand out, build a supportive network, and adapt your strategy for a market flooded with AI and applications. READ MORE

How Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads

The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.

Learn more

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Block off every Thursday at 1 pm ET for SUM events—consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now 👈

The Scrappy Marketer’s Advantage Every startup marketer has had the same thought: This would be easier if we had a bigger budget. Chris Butler has spent 25 years proving that waiting for one is a terrible strategy. Join us to talk about the mindset and practical tactics that help scrappy marketers drive results with limited resources. RSVP

Your GTP Has a Gap When product marketing is clear, deals move faster. When it’s scattered, pipelines stall and nobody can explain why. Darren Moore joins us to talk about the GTM gap most startups discover the hard way. RSVP

IN THE MEME TIME

You've been reading SUM News for a while now.

Which means you already know the difference between startup marketing and everything else the industry tries to hand you.

What you might not know is what's happening on the other side of the newsletter, inside the community.

3,000+ startup marketers and founders across 200+ companies. Tea Times and Expert Sessions every week where practitioners share what's actually working (not polished retrospectives, but live conversations about what they're in the middle of right now). 50+ templates and frameworks built for startup realities, not borrowed from enterprise. Book a Marketer — one hour with someone who's solved exactly what you're stuck on.

And in March, we're making it easy to finally come in.

→ Join SUM for free before March 31 and you’ll be entered to win 1 of 2 × $200 gift cards.
→ Already a member? Refer a friend who joins and you’ll be entered to win 1 of 2 × $200 gift cards.

Q1 ends in a few weeks. Q2 is coming fast. What if it started with everything already in place?

Here’s how I use Attio to run my day.

Attio is the AI CRM with conversational AI built directly into your workspace. Every morning, Ask Attio handles my prep:

• Surfaces insights from calls and conversations across my entire CRM

• Update records and create tasks without manual entry

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Startup marketing has a funny way of making every quarter look the same. Plans change. Launches move. Sales needs a deck. Someone asks for “one quick test.” And suddenly Q1 is gone. So this month at SUM we’re asking a simple question: What if Q2 looked completely different?

We’re inviting more startup marketers into the community to trade ideas, share what’s working, and help each other out. And because every good campaign needs an incentive… we added one (see below). 🎁

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🎁 March Giveaway

• ✍ The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• 📝 SUM Poll

• 📍 SUM Community Events

• 😂 In the Meme Time

🎁 March Giveaway

This month we’re inviting more startup marketers into SUM, and we’re giving away 4 x $200 gift cards.

→ 2 winners: new members who join SUM free before March 31
→ 2 winners: current members who refer someone

Already a member and know someone who could use SUM help? Share your referral link or forward this newsletter their way. Q2 is just three weeks away. Let’s make sure the people who need this community find it before then. 🐙

THE INK WELL

Meet Stacy Thal Stacy Thal is a Senior Brand & Creative Strategist who has led in-house brand and creative work at Google, Walmart, and Yahoo. What marketing hill would Stacy die on? “Positioning comes before promotion. You can have the best creative, the smartest AI stack, and a huge media budget, but if you’re not meaningfully different — and you can’t say that difference in a way customers instantly understand — you’re just paying to be ignored.” READ MORE

Slow Is the New Fast: How Startup Marketers Can Do Less and Win More

We’ve all experienced the hamster wheel. You’re executing everything — social, email, events, sales enablement — but you never quite have time to step back, evaluate what’s working, or think about what you should be doing instead. The result? 52 emails and 52 articles in a year and you’re in the same place you started. 

During a recent Expert Session, former solo marketer Alex Stonehouse discussed the urgency epidemic we’re all facing in the startup marketing world and why deep work is an undervalued advantage.

1,000+ Proven ChatGPT Prompts That Help You Work 10X Faster

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These 1,000+ proven ChatGPT prompts fix that and help you work 10X faster.

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• 1,000+ ready-to-use prompts to solve problems in minutes instead of hours—tested & used by 1M+ professionals

• Superhuman AI newsletter (3 min daily) so you keep learning new AI tools & tutorials to stay ahead in your career—the prompts are just the beginning

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AROUND THE WEB

• Nearly half (49%) of US consumers have used TikTok as a search engine, up nearly 20% in 2 years. [Adobe]

• One of the simplest LinkedIn ad tests for 2026: boost posts from employee accounts using Thought Leader Ads, which are driving higher engagement than brand posts. [SearchEngineLand]

• Last year, engagement declined across Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. [Buffer]

• A decade ago one in four searches ended without a click; today it’s over 65%, as AI answers and search features increasingly intercept traffic. Here’s what to do about it.→ [MarTech]

IN THE MEME TIME

This newsletter is presented by Hivekind.AI —the team solving the most overlooked stage of revenue: pre-pipeline. Stop chasing leads and start earning pipeline.

Some seasons in startup marketing are about growth. Others are about tightening the bolts while the plane is still in the air. This week, we’re talking about what that looks like in practice: why being “social” on social still matters, what Gmail’s 50–150% unsubscribe spike means for your lifecycle strategy, and why Stripe is seeing twice as many startups hit $10M ARR in record time.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍ The Ink Well

• 📍 SUM Community Events

• 🌎 Around the Web

• 📝 SUM Poll

• 💼 SUM Job Board

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Anthony Morell This week, we caught up with Anthony Morell, the Senior Digital Marketing Manager at MRC. With more than a decade of experience driving growth through email and social marketing, Anthony breaks down the power of speaking up, showing up, and responding back. Because marketing only works when you’re willing to be part of the conversation. MEET ANTHONY

Startup Marketing Isn’t a Job Function. It’s a Mindset.

Startup marketing has nothing to do with company size. It’s a mindset defined by speed, experimentation, ruthless prioritization, and the willingness to adapt fast, whether you’re at $5M or $500M. The marketers who win aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who still think like startup marketers even when they don't have to anymore.

Time to Formalize Your AI Policy Our recent poll shows just half of startup marketers have an AI policy in place. In a world where new tools drop daily, an AI policy can’t be a dusty doc in a Google Drive. It needs to be a living, breathing guide your team revisits as use cases, risks, and expectations evolve. If you need a place to start, HubSpot has a solid template. And if your team has built a smart, practical policy that works in the real world, share it with the SUM community! SHARE YOUR TEMPLATE

How Marketers Are Scaling With AI in 2026

61% of marketers say this is the biggest marketing shift in decades.

Get the data and trends shaping growth in 2026 with this groundbreaking state of marketing report.

Inside you’ll discover:

• Results from over 1,500 marketers centered around results, goals and priorities in the age of AI

• Stand out content and growth trends in a world full of noise

• How to scale with AI without losing humanity

• Where to invest for the best return in 2026

Download your 2026 state of marketing report today.

Get Your Report

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Block off every Thursday at 1 pm ET for SUM events—consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now 👈

Expert Session Join Alex Stonehouse, founder of Brilliantly Wrong and Longplay, for a Q&A unpacking the cost of constant urgency: burnout, shallow thinking, reactive decision-making. If you've ever felt like you were moving too fast to do your best work, this session will give you language, perspective, and practical ways to rethink how you operate. RSVP

AROUND THE WEB

• Canva acquires startups working on animation (Cavalry) and marketing (MangoAI) to bolster its position as a marketing solution. [TechCrunch]

• Replying to Threads comments boosts engagement by 42%, according to a Buffer analysis of 128,000 posts. That’s the highest lift across any major platform. [Buffer]

• TV and social media ads are the most effective at driving purchase behavior, while they’re also the most disruptive. [eMarketer]

• Reddit has shared the top trends that are boosting engagement for brands: nostalgia-driven storytelling, UGC social proof, niche-inspired campaigns and campaigns that unfold, not just launch. [Social Media Today]

• Six months after Gmail’s “Manage Subscriptions” rollout, unsubscribe rates are still up 50–150%, pushing brands to curb over-sending and double down on smarter segmentation and engagement-based automation. [MarTech]

• According to Stripe, 2025 saw double the number of fledging startups hit $10M in ARR within three months compared to 2024. [TechCrunch]

💼 SUM Job Board Our Job Board is built for how you actually search: filter by seniority level, connect with other job seekers, and apply directly. Updated daily with fresh opportunities from companies that value scrappy, resourceful marketers. BROWSE JOBS

💪 Coming Soon… You don’t have to learn everything the hard way. Next month, we’re launching exclusive training for startup marketers who don’t have time for a 47-slide “framework” that makes you question your life choices.

IN THE MEME TIME

This newsletter is presented by HiveKind.AI

This newsletter is brought to you by Hivekind—the team solving the most overlooked stage of revenue: pre-pipeline. Stop chasing leads and start earning pipeline. Join founder Raj Badarinath at tomorrow's Expert Session to learn how.

This week in startup marketing: Via has words of wisdom on upskilling, Mike Richter reminded us to stop doing boring sh*t, and marketers are bracing for AI agents taking over search in 2026. Let's get into it.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍ The Ink Well

• 🎧 Last Week's Tea Time Recap

• 🌎 Around the Web

• 📍 SUM Community Events

• 🏆 Introducing: SUM Badges 

• 💼 SUM Job Board

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Via Perkins This week's Marketer Spotlight features Via Perkins, who holds two fractional marketing leadership roles at Fave and Feeture. Via shares honest takes on the myth that good marketing means chasing trends, why data-driven decisions matter more than going viral, and how her 15+ years as a musician inform every brand decision she makes for music startups. Her marketing hill to die on? Personal branding doesn't have to be cringe, it can actually be fun and fulfilling. MEET VIA

🎧 LAST WEEK'S TEA TIME RECAP

"Mike's advice: stop doing boring shit!”

On February 5th, Mike Richter dropped truth bombs about B2B marketing. The big takeaway? Playing it safe is actually the riskiest move you can make. We forgot that humans still buy on emotion, even in business contexts, and that's why B2B got so boring.

Mike's advice: Pick one thing, whether that's finding a new voice on social or changing how you approach content, and do it consistently. You won't know unless you try.

Your Entire Business Should Work as One

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SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Block off every Thursday at 1 pm ET for SUM events—consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member?

👉 Join now 👈

Pipeline doesn't start in your CRM. It starts with the decisions you make long before a rep ever sends a message.

In this focused session, Raj Badarinath, Founder & CEO of Hivekind, unpacks one of the most overlooked stages of revenue growth: pre-pipeline. He explores the critical groundwork that needs to happen before opportunities ever enter the funnel — defining who to target, when to initiate sales efforts, and how to strategically engage buying groups for maximum impact. You'll learn why most pipeline problems are created upstream, and what you can do to 'earn pipeline'.

Having been on the other side of the fence as a 4x CMO and CRO, Raj will also talk about how to use AI beyond content creation and small automations—walking through the workflow he wished existed at past companies

🏆 INTRODUCING: SUM BADGES

Help others, share insights, stay active—get recognized and most importantly, have fun

We've just launched our badge system that celebrates the members who make this community valuable. It's not about points, it's about recognizing the contributions that matter: answering questions, sharing your wins and failures, and showing up for your fellow startup marketers.

Check out the full badge system and start unlocking achievements today.

💼 SUM JOB BOARD New startup marketing roles for members seeking new opportunities or just exploring what is out there. Our Job Board is built for how you actually search: filter by seniority level, connect with other job seekers, and apply directly. Updated daily with fresh opportunities from companies that value scrappy, resourceful marketers. Browse The Jobs

AROUND THE WEB

• 91% of marketers now use AI, yet only 41% can confidently prove ROI—down from last year as expectations rise. Governance and legal review have become the primary blockers to scale. Marketing Profs

• Google launched a Discover-specific core update this week, meaning publishers could see Discover traffic shift without the same movement in traditional Search. The focus: more locally relevant content, less sensational clickbait. Marketing News Weekly

• Average comments per post fell 24% on TikTok and 16% on Instagram, suggesting a shift toward more passive engagement as brands post an average of 5 posts per week on both platforms. Social Media Today

• YouTube is expanding auto-dubbing access to all creators in 2026, opening up opportunities to translate content and reach audiences outside primary language markets with improved natural-sounding dubs. Marketing News Weekly

IN THE MEME TIME

This newsletter is presented by HiveKind.AI

What started as a small group has grown to 3,000+ startup marketers across 170+ companies. But as we grew, we realized our platform wasn't keeping up. Navigation was overwhelming. Resources were hard to find. We knew we could do better.

So we built something better.

After months of building, weeks of beta testing with our most active members, and more cups of coffee than we care to admit, the new StartUp Marketer is officially live.

Come check out what we built for you!

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ❓ SUM Poll

• 📍 SUM Community Events

• 📋 SUM New Spaces

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Bhavna Sachar This week’s Marketer Spotlight features Bhavna Sachar, the Founding Head of Marketing at Hivekind AI, who shares her take on building new categories, simplifying complex ideas, and why positioning is the most underrated lever in marketing. Hands-on, people-first, and anti-hustle, Bhavna focuses on results without burning teams out. MEET BHAVNA

Leveraging Thought Leadership The majority of startup marketers understand that thought leadership remains one of the most effective low-cost ways for startups to build credibility and compete with bigger brands. In our recent survey, 80% said they are building thought leadership for their executives on LinkedIn, while another 10% plan to.

Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.

Discover how HubSpot's guide to AI can elevate both your productivity and creativity to get more things done.

Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation with the power of AI.

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AROUND THE WEB

• Spotify is rolling out group chats, so users can now share the podcasts, playlists, and audiobooks they’re listening to with up to 10 people. [TechCrunch]

• Google searches per U.S. user fell nearly 20% year over year, most likely driven by AI-powered answers and instant results, according to a new report. [Search Engine Land]

• LinkedIn now has AI certifications that are generated directly from how you use partner tools like Replit, Lovable, Descript, and Relay—analyzing real usage patterns, outputs, and proficiency over time—so credentials reflect what you can actually do, not just what you list on your profile. [TechCrunch]

• 71% of US marketers say establishing ethical and privacy standards is the top step for preparing for AI agent-led commerce. [eMarketer]

SUM POLL

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Block off every Thursday at 1 pm ET for SUM events—consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now 👈

Fireside Chat What happens when two community-obsessed operators talk about the future of startup marketing? Join Mack McKelvey (SalientMG) and Mike Ritcher (Unplugged Collective) as they explore the marketing trends, tactics, and approaches that startup marketers should be leaning into. RSVP

Stop Chasing Leads In this focused session, Founder of HiveKind.AI, Raj Badarinath breaks down the most overlooked stage of revenue: pre-pipeline. It’s the whole phase of figuring out who to target, when to start sales effort, and how to approach buyer groups. You’ll learn why most pipeline problems are created upstream, and what you can do to ‘earn pipeline’. RSVP

Fireside Chat Join a casual, conversational deep dive with a marketing leader who's actually done the work—not just talked about it. More details dropping soon. RSVP

SUM NEW SPACES

With the launch of our new platform, we introduced three new spaces built for distinct moments in the startup journey: The Hunt, The Founders Room, and New to the Game. Pick your space, jump in, and start connecting.

The Hunt This is your corner of SUM for navigating the startup marketing job market without losing your mind. This is where we share open roles, swap interview war stories, troubleshoot offers, and hype each other up when the search feels like a slog. VISIT THE HUNT

The Founders Room A space for founders to share marketing challenges, swap strategies, and learn from each other's wins and failures. No marketers, no pitches—just founder-to-founder real talk about building, scaling, and doing marketing yourself. VISIT THE FOUNDERS ROOM

New to the Game A space for students and recent grads breaking into startup marketing. Ask beginner questions, learn from each other's early wins, and build your career alongside peers navigating the same journey—no judgment, just support. VISIT NEW TO THE GAME

IN THE MEME TIME

On January 26, The StartUp Marketer is moving to a new platform that puts all the stuff you actually need in one place: a Resource Hub with practical playbooks, a Software Hub with vetted tools and discounts, a startup-focused Job Board, and easy access to experts.

Join now to be there on launch day.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ❓ SUM Poll

• 📋 SUM Training

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Stefanie Beach This week’s Marketer Spotlight features Stefanie Beach, CEO & Founder of The Marketeer Group and host of The Digital Marketeer Podcast. Stefanie gets candid about why she started her podcast, what it really takes to stay consistent when no one’s listening yet, and how bootstrapping, self-doubt, and Zoom recordings shaped her growth as a marketer and host. MEET STEFANIE

SUM POLL RESULTS

Introducing the first AI-native CRM

Connect your email, and you’ll instantly get a CRM with enriched customer insights and a platform that grows with your business.

With AI at the core, Attio lets you:

• Prospect and route leads with research agents

• Get real-time insights during customer calls

• Build powerful automations for your complex workflows

Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.

👉 Try Attio Pro for free

AROUND THE WEB

• Social media tops the priority list for 84% of digital marketers, nearly double that of search. [eMarketer]

• Over 60% of watch time for the top 1,000 brand channels on YouTube comes from content published over 30 days prior, meaning your creative investment builds up over time.c [Google]

• News publishers expect search traffic to drop 43% by 2029. [SearchEngineLand]

• LinkedIn is the second most cited source by AI, in between Reddit and Wikipedia, according to a Semrush study of 230,000 prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI, and Perplexity. [SocialMediaToday]

SUM POLL

IN THE MEME TIME

This is the final SUM newsletter of the year, which feels like the right moment to share a little spoiler: SUM is getting a new home in 2026! A more intuitive space built for real conversation and easier discovery. Think fewer tabs, better threads, and a place you’ll want to obsessively check.

In this issue: AI search vs. SEO (yes, again), the modern consumer’s love-hate relationship with screen time, and roles worth bookmarking before January resets your ambition levels. 

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ❓ SUM Poll

• 📍 SUM Community Events

• 📋 SUM Job Board

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Joanne O’Gorman In this week’s Marketer Spotlight, fractional CMO Joanne O’Gorman talks about trusting non-linear careers, protecting energy like equity, and why caring deeply is still one of marketing’s strongest competitive edges. MEET JOANNE

SUM Job Board

If a fresh start is already on your mind, you don’t have to wait for January. The SUM Job Board has everything from hands-on marketing and content roles to senior brand, growth, product marketing, and GTM leadership positions across a wide range of startups and scale-ups.

ChatGPT Wins by a Landslide Startup marketers overwhelmingly prefer ChatGPT as their copy collaborator, according to our recent poll, with 80% selecting it over other tools. While Claude is widely considered the stronger writer, ChatGPT wins because of it's iterative collaboration, speed, and versatility.

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

AROUND THE WEB

• The Oscars will ditch broadcast TV for YouTube starting in 2029. [CNN]

• Google says optimizing for AI search is ‘the same’ as SEO for traditional search. [Search Engine Land]

• Instagram is bringing Reels to the big screen via Amazon Fire TV in a move to compete with YouTube. That could mean longer watch sessions and more passive consumption. [TechCrunch]

• Meta is considering charging business pages to post links. [Social Media Today]

• Despite over half (53%) of consumers using AI in their daily lives, 50% are trying to minimize screen time, according to Dentsu Creative’s 2026 trends report. [Marketing Dive]

SUM POLL

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Plot twist: your tiny event budget might be your biggest advantage. Tomorrow at 1 pm ET, Mike Richter (Co-Founder & CEO, Unplugged Collective) will break down how startup marketers can turn lean event strategies into experiences that drive real connections and long-term impact. RSVP

IN THE MEME TIME

Welcome to the last lap of the year. That holiday twilight zone where most people are winding down and startup marketers are somehow… ramping up? This week, we’ve got advice from a 15-year PR veteran, OpenAI’s “code red” plan, 20-minute Reels, and some fresh Pew data on the platforms gaining traction.

So let’s dig in.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ❓ SUM Poll

• 📋 SUM Job Board

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Jenna West Jenna joins us with the kind of honesty only a 15-year PR veteran can deliver: nothing in marketing works alone, your budget will try to betray you, and the real skill is learning to track everything before it becomes a very expensive mystery. MEET JENNA

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

AROUND THE WEB

• AI-driven traffic to retail sites jumped 805% year-over-year on Black Friday, and shoppers who clicked through to retail sites from an AI service were 38% more likely to buy something compared to traffic from other sources, Adobe reports. [Adweek]

• Instagram now lets you post 20-minute Reels. [Lindsey Gamble]

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has issued a “code red,” pausing new projects (like ChatGPT ads) to focus on the everyday user experience. [AP]

• LinkedIn’s new B2B guide basically says if you want growth, stop hiding. Show up where buyers actually look, build brand cues they can spot in a crowd, and simplify your product story. [SocialMediaToday]

• Pew’s social media report shows that while YouTube and Facebook still dominate daily use, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Reddit are quietly becoming essential for reaching younger, more diverse, and more digitally fluent audiences. [Pew Research]

SUM POLL

SUM JOB BOARD If a new role is on your 2026 vision board, check out the SUM Job Board. It’s packed with roles that offer autonomy, variety, and real impact (a.k.a. the stuff startup marketers thrive on). JOB BOARD

IN THE MEME TIME

This week in startup marketing: comments replies are now a growth lever, Beehiiv went full Transformer-mode, Gartner told marketers to stop duct-taping AI to broken systems, and stealth founders were gently told to rejoin society. Let’s get into it.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ The Ink Well

• 🎧 SUM Podcast 

• 🌎 Around the Web: Buffer, Beehiiv, Gartner & Stealth Mode

• 🫣 SUM Community Events

• 💪 Introducing: SUM Training

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

Meet Courtney Jane Acuff From enterprise to seed-stage startup, Courtney Jane Acuff chose the path that puts her closer to the work: product, positioning, and the daily systems that make marketing actually run. In this week’s spotlight, Courtney discusses the marketing craft no one talks about, the budgeting traps leaders fall into, and why brand and demand shouldn’t live on separate islands. MEET COURTNEY

Burnout Prevention for Startup Marketers

According to our recent report, 27% of marketing generalists didn’t choose the role of a generalist, they inherited it. Now they’re juggling 4–5 functions at once and context-switching every hour. Sound familiar?

If so, we’ve put together a practical checklist you can use to create better boundaries and (hopefully) avoid burnout.

Leveling the Marketing Playing Field with AI

Most startup marketers aren’t using AI to build the future of marketing, they’re using it to survive their to-do lists. Our new piece digs into the real ways generalists are using AI every day: turning chaos into copy, whipping up social designs on the fly, pulling quotes from transcripts without spending hours combing through conversations, and flagging what changed in dashboards so they don’t have to pretend they saw it all along. It’s a look at what’s actually happening inside small teams and how AI is quietly leveling the playing field.

🎧 StartUp Marketing Uncut

"Is the traditional in-house marketing team model broken for startups?"
"Completely."

In this episode, The Kay Prince talks with Mack McKelvey about why the old model isn’t working—and what founders should do instead. If you’ve ever been the lone generalist expected to do everything (or hired one), this conversation will hit home.

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

AROUND THE WEB

• A Buffer analysis of nearly 2 million posts shows that replying to comments can boost engagement by 5% to 42% across major platforms, with the biggest lift on Threads (+42%) and LinkedIn (+30%). [Buffer]

• New Gartner data shows that while two-thirds of marketers expect AI to transform their role, most organizations aren’t making the structural changes needed for AI agents to actually improve performance. [Marketing Dive]

• Beehiiv is no longer just a newsletter tool. The platform now includes AI website building, podcasts, real-time analytics, digital product sales, segmentation, workflows, and fee-free subscriptions. [Tech Crunch]

• Startup advisors are warning that long-term “stealth mode” has become a trap for founders, leading to isolation, weak networks, and a lack of real customer feedback. [Forbes]

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Friendly reminder to block off Thursdays at 1 pm ET for SUM community events. Consider it your weekly power hour for growth, insights, and community. Note: These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now 👈 (It’s free!)

Think global marketing events are just for enterprise brands? Think again. Meet the team behind POSSIBLE, MMA's global marketing event, and learn why startups should be in the room, too.

RSVP

INTRODUCING: SUM TRAINING

Good news: you no longer have to learn everything the hard way. SUM now has exclusive training for startup marketers who don’t have time for a 47-slide “framework” that makes you question your life choices.

We’re kicking things off with the AIM Leadership Accelerator from Dr. Camille Preston, a business psychologist and executive coach who has spent two decades helping leaders stop spiraling and start leading. You’ll get bite-sized lessons, practical tools, and actionable frameworks you can use right away.

Because in startup land, you’re already doing the job… you might as well have the training to go with it.

IN THE MEME TIME

Ah, November. The month of big plans, small budgets, and marketers running on caffeine and courage. In this issue, we’ve got real talk (and real data) from our State of Startup Marketing Report, a sneak peek at the AIM Leadership Accelerator, and our first Tech Hot Take, where we test all the shiny new tools so you don’t have to.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ The Ink Well

• 🎧 SUM Podcast 

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ❓ SUM Poll

• 🫣 SUM Sneak Peek

• 😂 In the Meme Time

THE INK WELL

The State of Startup Marketing Report If you're a startup marketer wearing multiple hats, working solo, and wondering if everyone else is struggling too... they are. And we have the data to prove it. We surveyed startup marketers to uncover what's really happening behind the scenes. The numbers tell a story about who we are, how we work, and why the generalist path might be your biggest competitive advantage. You must be a member to read the report (don’t worry, it’s free to join!)

DOWNLOAD

New Series: Tech Hot Takes We test the shiny new tools so you don’t have to. Every other week, we’ll take the latest marketing tech for a spin and give you the honest verdict. First up: Nano Banana, an AI image editing tool that mostly did what it promised. Speed and accuracy? Solid. Brand confusion with Google’s tool of the same name? A mess worth knowing about. READ MORE

Marketer Spotlight: Menachem Rephun This week’s spotlight features Menachem Rephun, Communications Manager at Creative Spirit, whose career centers on one core principle: authenticity. His advice to his younger self (and every marketer): Be confident, take risks, and let go of anxiety. It’s a simple idea, but one that shows up in every pitch, campaign, and brainstorm. Because confidence can be a creative advantage. READ MORE

🎧 StartUp Marketing Uncut

In this episode, The Kay Prince sits down with Alex Stonehouse, founder of Brilliantly Wrong and marketing strategist for early-stage startups, to talk about why playing it safe kills growth, how to build trust before traction, and why speed beats perfection every time.

AROUND THE WEB

• Video posts on LinkedIn are shared 20x more than any other content type in the app. [Social Media Today]

• ABM isn’t just for big budgets anymore. AI and automation now let small teams run focused, high-impact campaigns that drive efficiency, close deals faster, and scale smarter. [Martech]

• Organic CTRs on Google queries with AI Overviews have dropped 61% since mid-2024. Even searches without AI Overviews saw a 41% decline, signaling users are clicking less across the board. [Search Engine Land]

• Instagram has added competitor insights for business or creator accounts. You can choose up to 10 accounts to compare your performance against, with side-by-side comparison data on follower growth and posting frequency across Reels, feed posts, and ads. [Social Media Today]

• Marketers deserve a break. Science says taking time to recharge makes you more creative—so go ahead, scroll something that fuels your brain. More Positiv uses advanced AI to curate the most uplifting stories across the internet. Feel good (and think better). [More Positiv]

• Email volumes can double or even triple during peak holiday season, causing stricter spam filters and lower inbox placement. Experts recommend strengthening sender reputation, keeping a consistent send cadence, and closely monitoring bounce and complaint rates to protect deliverability. [Search Engine Journal]

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SUM POLL

SUM SNEAK PEEK

Next week, members will get early access to the new AIM Leadership Accelerator. This hands-on program helps you develop the mindset and communication tools to build real trust, create psychological safety, and inspire collaboration (no awkward team-building required). Led by business psychologist and executive coach Dr. Camille Preston, AIM helps leaders align vision with reality and sustain the energy where both people and performance thrive.

IN THE MEME TIME

This edition is serving up some tough love for marketers: a cure for lazy nurtures, smarter ways to push back on bad pitches, a crash course in paid growth. Plus AI ad tools, Pinterest updates, and a reality check on what “community” really means.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🤝 Join SUM!

• 🎧 SUM Podcast 

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 📅 SUM Community Events

• 😂 In the Meme Time

✈️ Building Mid-Air? Fly With Us! Startup marketing isn’t for the faint of heart, but you don’t have to fly (or juggle) solo. Join StartUp Marketer to swap strategies, get real answers from people navigating the same chaos, and turn that mid-air build into a smoother ride. JOIN FOR FREE

🎧 StartUp Marketing Uncut

Most brands still treat their customers like transactions, and it’s costing them everything. In this episode of Startup Marketing Uncut, we sit down with Christina Garnett, fractional Chief Customer Officer and author of Transforming Customer Brand Relationships, to talk about how empathy, authenticity, and community can transform your bottom line.

AROUND THE WEB

• Google Ads has introduced a new Text Guidelines tool that lets advertisers steer AI-generated ad copy to match their brand tone, style, and legal requirements. [Search Engine Land]

• New research shows that most social media users (63%) prefer short videos (90 seconds or less) from creators. [eMarketer]

• Most nurture programs fail because they confuse automation with connection. True nurture is more dialogue than drip. Moni Oloyede’s R.E.A.L. framework shifts the focus from pushing content to asking better questions, uncovering real barriers, and earning trust. [MarTech]

• Pinterest has introduced new user controls that let you limit how much AI-generated imagery you see in your feeds. [Pinterest]

• What to do when you’re asked to pitch a bad story? Allison Carter gathered insights from 100+ communicators on how to handle those moments without damaging relationships or credibility. The consensus? Don’t just say no. Ask why. [PR Daily]

Find your next winning ad creative in seconds with AI

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Instead of drowning in endless variations, Kojo sends your best idea straight to a real human creator who makes it engaging, authentic, and ready to win on social. The entire process takes less than 20 seconds, giving you certainty before you spend and better performance without the waste.

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SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Good News! Expert Sessions are back, so block off Thursdays at 1 pm ET for your weekly power hour of growth, insights, and actionable takeaways. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now for free 👈

Expert Session with CoEfficient Labs

Learn how to optimize your paid acquisition with Sean Goldfaden, CEO & Founder of CoEfficient Labs. In this expert session, Sean will share how his team uses data-driven creative, agile “pods,” and full-funnel optimization to drive real growth across Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok & Google.

RSVP

IN THE MEME TIME

Waffling between a breakthrough and a breakdown? We’re here to tip the scales in your favor with the latest news, tips, and trends you need to do more with less.

Because coffee can’t solve all your problems.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🎁 Community Perks

• 🎃 Trick or Truth

• 🎧 SUM Podcast 

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 📅 SUM Community Events

• 😂 In the Meme Time

Stop Wasting Hours on Repeat Work 80% of startup marketers spend 5+ hours a month rebuilding docs that already exist. The StartUp Marketer already has 58+ frameworks, templates, and playbooks to save your sanity. Join now for free through December.  JOIN FOR FREE

🎃 Trick or Truth: Marketing Horror Stories Wanted

Every marketer has a story that haunts them. A campaign went sideways, spend got screwed up, viral demands spiraled out of control. Share your funniest, scariest, or most outrageous marketing horror story.

We’ll feature the best ones in October for folks to guess: Trick or Truth? Featured storytellers will also snag exclusive SUM merch.

You’re invited to the world’s largest email marketing conference.

Become an email marketing guru at the GURU conference. It’s two days full of all things email marketing. Learn more about newsletters, deliverability, design trends, AI, and what NOT to do with email.

What you can expect:

• Keynote Speakers: Nicole Kidman, Amy Porterfield & more!

• The latest digital trends in email marketing & how to increase performance.

• Networking opportunities - each day!

• Dj’s, dance contests (judged by Lance Bass, yes for real), breaking world records & MORE!

Spots are limited. It’s VIRTUAL. It’s FREE. It’s time to become an email marketing GURU. Join 25,000+ marketers on November 6th & 7th. Don’t miss out!

YES! I want to register!

SUM PODCAST

🎧 StartUp Marketing Uncut Deadlines are looming. Budgets are tiny. And somehow, you’re expected to do it all. Welcome to StartUp Marketing Uncut, a new podcast featuring unfiltered conversations with marketers who’ve been in the trenches. Real talk, real takeaways, in 30 minutes or less. TUNE INTO EPISODE 1

AROUND THE WEB

• YouTube is rolling out dynamic sponsorship slots for long-form videos, which lets creators swap out brand integrations after upload. This update could turn back catalogs into living ad inventory and push creator partnerships closer to programmatic media buys. [Liam Parkinson]

• Reddit wants a bigger slice of the AI pie. It’s in talks with Google to weave Reddit threads more deeply into AI Overviews and products. If struck, the deal could boost Reddit’s influence in AI answers while changing how brands and SEOs show up in search.[Search Engine Land]

• X is testing a new “Boost” button that lets Premium users pay to expand the reach of their posts in-stream. Pricing ranges from $50 for ~11k impressions to $1,000 for up to ~543k impressions. [Social Media Today]

• If you’ve noticed a spike in bounces from @yahoo.com, @ymail.com, or @rocketmail.com addresses, there's a reason: Yahoo just cut inbox storage by 98%, leaving many users unable to receive new emails. These will most likely result in soft bounces. [EmailOS]

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

Good News! Expert Sessions are back in October, so block off Thursdays at 1 pm ET for your weekly power hour of growth, insights, and actionable takeaways. These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? 👉 Join now for free 👈

IN THE MEME TIME

We’ve barely dipped our toes into September and it already feels like the sprint to year-end has begun. Don’t worry! This week’s newsletter is stacked with time-saving solutions, early holiday shopping insights, and industry updates to help you keep pace without burning out.

Plus, don’t miss our Trick or Truth call for marketing horror stories. It’s like group therapy… but with prizes.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🎃 Trick or Truth

• 🔥 From The Ink Well

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 🌎 Around the Web: Holiday Shopping, AI Discovery, Instagram & CapCut Updates

• 🎧 StartUp Marketing Uncut

• 😂 In the Meme Time

🎃 Trick or Truth: Call for Marketing Horror Stories

We’re asking startup marketers to share their funniest, scariest, and most outrageous marketing horror stories (the kind that make you cringe, wince, or nod in solidarity).

Submit your story this month, and in October we’ll share the best (worst?) ones for folks to guess: Trick or Truth? Featured storytellers will also snag exclusive SUM merch.

FROM THE INK WELL

What could you do with an extra day every week? Even the most experienced marketers waste hours recreating templates that already exist. In this OSSUM reality check, discover the true cost of duplication and how our vault of proven frameworks can free you up to focus on strategy.

SUM POLL

SUM PODCAST

🎧 Introducing StartUp Marketing Uncut Formerly SUM Disruptors, our podcast is back with a new name, a new host (The Kay Prince), and all new unfiltered conversations with marketers in the startup trenches. Episode 1 drops next week! In the meantime, catch up on Season 1.

AROUND THE WEB

• Holiday shopping starts earlier every year: 20% of consumers have already made their first holiday purchase (with Gen Z leading the way). [Martech]

• Learn the key differences between search rankings and AI citations, and how to create content that performs in both worlds. [Search Engine Land]

• Instagram now allows you to pin your own comment on posts, so you can steer the conversation or lock your CTA in place. [Adam Mosseri]

• One-third of US adults use AI agents to discover brands. What’re you doing to show up? [eMarketer]

• You can now export CapCut videos straight to LinkedIn. [Social Media Today]

SUM POLL RESULTS

IN THE MEME TIME

While you try to convince yourself you’ll “totally unplug this weekend,” your September calendar already knows better. That’s why this issue is packed with everything you need to face the fall surge: a free SUM membership, a CMO playbook worth stealing, and a podcast to binge while you still can.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 💰 Budget Season Special

• 🔥 From The Ink Well

• 🎧 SUM Disruptors Podcast

• 🌎 Around the Web: Pinterest, Instagram, ChatGPT

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 📌 ICYMI: Bite-Sized Insights

• 😂 In the Meme Time

Budget Season Special: Free Community Access Planning your 2026 marketing budget? Skip the expensive consultants and courses. Join The StartUp Marketer (SUM) community in the next 90 days and get FREE access for the rest of the year. No credit card required. JOIN FREE

FROM THE INK WELL

SUM DISRUPTORS PODCAST

🎧 Season 2 Coming Soon… New theme. New voices. Fresh energy. We’re serving up a whole host of surprises in the next season of the SUM Disruptors podcast, due out Tuesday, Sept. 9th. Until then, catch up on Season 1, where startup marketers, founders, and disruptors share the unfiltered lessons you won’t find in any playbook.

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AROUND THE WEB

• ChatGPT traffic to websites plunged 52% in a month as OpenAI shifts its retrieval system toward “answer-first” sources like Reddit (+87%) and Wikipedia (+62%) while branded sites that emphasize conversions (“book a demo”) are lose ground. (SearchEngineLand)

• Instagram now lets creators link Reels together into multipart series, making it easier to guide viewers through connected clips with in-stream prompts like “Watch Part 2.” (Social Media Today)

• Gen Z is making secondhand new again, driving spikes in thrift (+550%) and vintage (+1,074%) searches on Pinterest. (Pinterest)

• Instagram has rolled out Reels retention and skip rate metrics that provide insight into when audiences drop off. (Social Media Today)

• ⅓ of consumers now regularly use AI platforms to shop, while nearly brands (47%) have little to no AI agent presence. (Martech)

• Posting 3-5x a week on Instagram is the sweet spot for maximum reach and growth, according to an analysis of 2 million posts. (Buffer)

SUM POLL

SUM POLL RESULTS

ICYMI: BITE-SIZED INSIGHTS

IN THE MEME TIME

Taylor Swift just broke the internet (again) with an album tease, a podcast cameo, and more Easter eggs than a Target aisle in April… and marketers everywhere are in awe of how a simple announcement was strategically spun into such a global frenzy.

Meanwhile, YouTube’s doing a victory lap, Reddit’s scheming its next power grab, and we’ve got your VIP pass to the trends worth stealing.

IN THIS ISSUE

• ✍️ Take The State of Startup Marketing Survey

• 🔥 From The Ink Well: How to Optimize Your Content Distribution

• 🎧 SUM Podcast: The CMO Reality Check

• 🌎 Around the Web: YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, and more

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 📌 ICYMI: Bite-Sized Insights

• 😂 In the Meme Time

FROM THE INK WELL

SUM PODCAST

The CMO Reality Check "Be careful what you wish for."  That’s the advice from 3x startup CMO Miriam Kendall to anyone eyeing the top marketing seat at a startup. With an average tenure of just two years and 52% of B2B leaders planning to replace their marketing heads in 2025, it’s a role where the pressure is relentless and the scope is “literally everything.” Still, Miriam loves the job. In this episode, she shares the turning point that made her leave Under Armour for startup life—and why she hasn’t looked back—plus the no-nonsense playbook she’s used to hit the ground running as a CMO.

LISTEN

AROUND THE WEB

• YouTube has been named the most enjoyable social media platform, with 34% of U.S. adults ranking it No. 1. [Morning Consult]

• Taylor Swift’s latest album drop, The Life of a Showgirl, is a masterclass in marketing. Autumn Hunt, VP at Resi, breaks down the strategies behind the frenzy and the timeless principles any brand can use: know your audience, build anticipation, spark conversation, and keep them coming back for more. [LinkedIn]

• Despite political pushback, 62% of consumers support brands speaking up on social issues. And when a brand scales back its DEI efforts? Two out of five consumers lose trust in them. [Marketing Dive]

• LLM-driven traffic increased 527% in the first five months of 2025, according to an analysis of 19 GA4 properties. ChatGPT still dominates, but Perplexity, Copilot, and Gemini are gaining real traction. [Search Engine Land]

• Pinterest’s male audience is booming and now makes up over a third of the platform’s active user base. As a result, the platform has launched a “Pinterest Man” hub. [Fast Company]

• You probably aren’t using Reddit enough in your comms. Reddit’s daily users have nearly doubled since its 2024 IPO, Google referrals are up 650%, and major AI models have trained on its content, meaning it’s already shaping how brands are seen (whether you're joining the conversation or not). [Substack]

SUM POLL

SUM POLL RESULTS

ICYMI: BITE-SIZED INSIGHTS

IN THE MEME TIME

Proof that Thought Leadership Gives Underdogs the EdgeFrom TikTok’s search play to YouTube’s age-estimating AI, this week’s stories span trends, tactics, and one marketer who literally ran the race of a lifetime. We also tip our hats to the em dash, unpack a legal win that could change how you source data, and track the podcast ad wave.

Let’s make your midweek smarter in four minutes or less.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🔥 From The Ink Well

• 🌎 Around the Web

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 📌 ICYMI: Bite-Sized Insights

• 😂 In the Meme Time

FROM THE INK WELL

Marketer Spotlight This former middle school marketer built a viral podcast, scaled a SaaS YouTube channel to 200K subs, oh, and just won The Amazing Race. Jack Dodge didn’t follow the usual marketing playbook, and that’s exactly what makes his content hit different. In this spotlight, he shares sharp takes on scaling content, staying creative, and why human-made work still stands out. READ MORE

AROUND THE WEB

• TikTok is making a major push into search advertising, with over 120 open roles tied to the effort including a new lead sales role. (Search Engine Land)

• LinkedIn is testing trending video carousels in-feed. (Matt Navarra)

• Instagram said it doesn’t restrict the reach of posts that include the term “link in bio.” (Social Media Today)

• Study: People aged 18-24 are now using generative AI tools nearly as often as Google to search for info. (Marketing Profs)

• LinkedIn won a lawsuit against Proxycurl, forcing the company to delete scraped data and stop unauthorized access—highlighting platforms’ power to restrict even publicly visible info. (Social Media Today)

• YouTube is using AI to estimate users’ ages—regardless of what they enter—to flag teens and apply stricter protections like ad limits, content filters, and bedtime reminders. So, we all better act our age… or YouTube will send us to bed! (TechCrunch)

• 78% of marketers now advertise in podcasts, up from 59% last year.  (The Current)

SUM POLL

SUM POLL RESULTS

ICYMI: BITE-SIZED INSIGHTS

IN THE MEME TIME

This week, we’re talking about the kind of content that actually cuts through, like thought leadership that makes buyers forget how small your brand is, Canva designs you can now generate with a sentence, and YouTube’s crusade against AI slop.

Plus, a new poll, a new spotlight, and a sober take on networking.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🔥 From The Ink Well

• 🎧 SUM Podcast Network

• 🌎 Around the Web: Claude x Canva, AI Use Is Up, 2025 Marketing Trends, YouTube’s AI Crackdown 

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 😂 In the Meme Time

FROM THE INK WELL

Marketer Spotlight She went from real estate finance during the housing market crash to leading global marketing for one of the biggest names in beauty. In this SUM Spotlight, Elizabeth Guerrero Maulhardt of Anastasia Beverly Hills shares her career pivot, advice for rising marketers, and her #1 marketing superpower. READ MORE

Beat Out the Big Brands with Thought Leadership

If you’re at a startup or scaleup trying to stand out from bigger, more established players, a new Edelman-LinkedIn report proves that bold, high-quality thought leadership can be your differentiator.

55% of hidden buyers (those internal folks who shape purchasing decisions behind the scenes) use thought leadership as part of their vetting process. And 53% say high-quality thought leadership trumps brand recognition.

SUM POLL

SUM PODCAST NETWORK

30% of Gen Z adults don’t drink. So why are we still building every networking event around booze? Kay Prince joins Brilliantly Wrong to share how she’s building a sober-friendly, values-driven community in ad tech—and why the industry is ready for it. LISTEN

Executive coach Toni Collis joins Brilliantly Wrong to hash out why saying “no” builds better teams, how people-pleasing holds back careers, and what it means to lead without apology. If your calendar’s full but your soul is tired, this one’s for you. LISTEN

AROUND THE WEB

• Claude x Canva: Claude now integrates with Canva, letting users create, edit, resize, and summarize designs using simple text prompts, all without leaving the chat. (The Verge).

• AI Use Is Up: Nine out of 10 (91%) B2B marketing teams are using AI to streamline content creation, most commonly for drafting copy, generating visuals, and brainstorming. Yet only 38% have formal usage policies, exposing a gap between adoption and responsible implementation (Walnut).

• 2025 Marketing Trends: Digital video and influencer marketing continue to gain traction—59% of marketers plan to increase influencer partnerships, and digital video ad spend is set to hit $72.4B. While 84% of CMOs struggle to execute strategy, most remain optimistic about AI, with 71% planning major investments in the next three years (Marketing Dive).

• YouTube’s AI Crackdown: As of yesterday, YouTube officially stopped monetizing repetitive or AI-generated content, signaling a continued push for original, high-quality videos (Tech Crunch).

IN THE MEME TIME

You don’t need a rosé-soaked panel in Cannes to know what really moves the needle for startup marketing. You’ve got us. This week, we’re serving up scrappy brand-building, mobile musts, growth channels that deliver, and a beer-fueled sprint model worth stealing.

IN THIS ISSUE

• 🔥 From The Ink Well

• 🎧 SUM Podcast Network

• 🌎 Around the Web: Influencer Budgets, AI Prompts & Mobile Tips

• ✍️ SUM Poll

• 📌 SUM Community Events

• 😂 In the Meme Time

FROM THE INK WELL

How a First-Time Founder Bootstrapped a Trusted Brand

SUM PODCAST NETWORK

Brilliantly Wrong What do most startup partnerships get wrong? Tim Condon, CRO at Clutch, joins the show to share a no-BS look at how partnerships scale, where they stall, and what it means to create something truly valuable in B2B. LISTEN

SUM Disruptors Podcast In the latest episode, Dana Hork, founder and CEO of Beers with Friends, shares how her experience at Jet.com, Walmart, and Wonder inspired her to create a new agency model: five-day “beer run” sprints that deliver fast, focused creative without the traditional agency drag. LISTEN

AROUND THE WEB

• US brands are expected to spend $13.B billion on influencer marketing by 2027, up from $10.5 billion this year, eMarketer reports.

• Check out 30 of the best AI prompts for better communications work. Real prompts from real people doing the work every day.

• Instagram is rolling out the ability to upload Reels up to 20 minutes long.

• With 91% of Americans on smartphones and average users spending 4+ hours a day on them, a strong mobile strategy—encompassing apps, SMS, social, and mobile-optimized sites—is essential. This guide shares 8 tips to help marketers define goals, engage users, and optimize for long-term growth.

• Remember BeReal? The once-viral app is plotting a comeback with new features, campus ambassadors, and a fresh push to bring realness (and users) back to social media.

SUM POLL

SUM COMMUNITY EVENTS

These events are exclusively available to SUM members. Not a member? Join now.

How to Lead Through PR & Comms in Chaotic Times

RSVP

Expert Session: Mastering AEO & GEO for Startup Success

RSVP

IN THE MEME TIME