Digital Marketing Ecosystem

🌎 Designing Cross-Cultural And Multi-Lingual UX. Guidelines on how to stress test our designs, how to define a localization strategy and how to deal with currencies, dates, word order, pluralization, colors and gender pronouns. ⦿ Translation: “We adapt our message to resonate in other markets”. ⦿ Localization: “We adapt user experience to local expectations”. ⦿ Internationalization: “We adapt our codebase to work in other markets”. ✅ English-language users make up about 26% of users. ✅ Top written languages: Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese. ✅ Most users prefer content in their native language(s). ✅ French texts are on average 20% longer than English ones. ✅ Japanese texts are on average 30–60% shorter. 🚫 Flags aren’t languages: avoid them for language selection. 🚫 Language direction ≠ design direction (“F” vs. Zig-Zag pattern). 🚫 Not everybody has first/middle names: “Full name” is better. ✅ Always reserve at least 30% room for longer translations. ✅ Stress test your UI for translation with pseudolocalization. ✅ Plan for line wrap, truncation, very short and very long labels. ✅ Adjust numbers, dates, times, formats, units, addresses. ✅ Adjust currency, spelling, input masks, placeholders. ✅ Always conduct UX research with local users. When localizing an interface, we need to work beyond translation. We need to be respectful of cultural differences. E.g. in Arabic we would often need to increase the spacing between lines. For Chinese market, we need to increase the density of information. German sites require a vast amount of detail to communicate that a topic is well-thought-out. Stress test your design. Avoid assumptions. Work with local content designers. Spend time in the country to better understand the market. Have local help on the ground. And test repeatedly with local users as an ongoing part of the design process. You’ll be surprised by some findings, but you’ll also learn to adapt and scale to be effective — whatever market is going to come up next. Useful resources: UX Design Across Different Cultures, by Jenny Shen https://lnkd.in/eNiyVqiH UX Localization Handbook, by Phrase https://lnkd.in/eKN7usSA A Complete Guide To UX Localization, by Michal Kessel Shitrit 🎗️ https://lnkd.in/eaQJt-bU Designing Multi-Lingual UX, by yours truly https://lnkd.in/eR3GnwXQ Flags Are Not Languages, by James Offer https://lnkd.in/eaySNFGa IBM Globalization Checklists https://lnkd.in/ewNzysqv Books: ⦿ Cross-Cultural Design (https://lnkd.in/e8KswErf) by Senongo Akpem ⦿ The Culture Map (https://lnkd.in/edfyMqhN) by Erin Meyer ⦿ UX Writing & Microcopy (https://lnkd.in/e_ZFu374) by Kinneret Yifrah

If you’re in PR and not paying attention to what AI is doing to search and news, you’re in for a rude awakening. AI-powered search isn’t just “tweaking the game”— it’s in the process of rewriting the rules. From how publishers decide whether to allow AI to crawl their content, to how your clients or company get discovered, this shift will change the way PR pros operate in 2025 and beyond. AI-powered search will reshape how companies and clients get visibility—and PR pros need to adapt quickly. Here’s what’s happening, why it matters, and how you can stay ahead: 1️⃣AI Search Engines Are the New Gatekeepers: Tools like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s SearchGPT prioritize aggregated content from trusted publications over individual websites. Your beautifully optimized website? Irrelevant if AI search decides it’s not worth surfacing. 2️⃣Publishers Deciding If They’re In or Out Big outlets like The New York Times and Wired are currently opting out of AI crawlers to protect their IP, while others allow it for traffic. This means PR pros need to strategically target outlets that feed AI models—because your story only gets told on the likes of SearchGPT if the outlet carrying it is in the AI ecosystem. 3️⃣PR Is Even More Crucial for the ‘New’ SEO: Placement in trusted media is no longer just about audience reach; it’s about ensuring AI search engines authentically and accurately pick up your client or company’s narrative. Strong media relationships will be the difference between AI surfacing your story—or perhaps leaving your brand out of the conversation, or even worse, misconstruing it. 4️⃣Crises Are on a New And Faster Clock: AI prioritizes recency and credibility, so your crisis response needs to be swift, transparent, and authoritative. A slow or ineffective reaction could leave misinformation embedded in AI models, compounding damage to your brand’s reputation. 5️⃣ What PR Pros Need to Do Right Now: Focus more on media outlets that AI trusts: Build deeper and non transactional relationships with publications and reporters already working with AI search to ensure your stories are seen. Closely Monitor AI trends: Stay ahead of updates in tools like Gemini, SearchGPT, and Perplexity so you can adjust strategies as more info emerges. Be proactive with publishers: Understand which outlets are allowing AI crawling and how that impacts your clients’ visibility. This is going to change rapidly in the coming months. The bottom line: AI search isn’t just changing how people find information—it’s going to force PR practitioners to immediately rethink how we interact with media, manage crises, and position brands for discovery. This is an underrated but important trend that will accelerate in 2025 and beyond. Anything I’m missing here? Please put in comments.

Great news. PR budgets are set to double by 2027. Now let me ruin it for you. Gartner published a report this week that sent a quiet ripple of excitement through the communications industry. PR and earned media budgets will increase twofold by 2027. The reason? AI answer engines - ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok are replacing traditional search. And influencing what those engines say about your brand is, fundamentally, a communications discipline. Not a technical one. The industry exhaled. Finally. Validation. Budget. A seat at the table. I’d hold the champagne. Here’s what that prediction actually means if you read past the headline. The reason budgets are doubling is because the rules of reputation have been completely rewritten. The journalist who once mediated your brand’s story to the world has been replaced by an AI that pulls from dozens of sources simultaneously, weighs authority, recency, trust signals, and expert citations and generates an answer that your stakeholder reads and believes without clicking a single link. You don’t pitch that. You can’t wine and dine it. Your fifteen-year media relationship means nothing to it, if at all this is how it is supposed to be doing. The skills required to influence AI-generated answers, building authoritative content ecosystems, establishing narrative weight across trusted sources, understanding how recency and credibility signals work inside large language models, look almost nothing like the skills most PR agencies have spent the last decade developing. So yes. The budgets are coming. The question is who captures them. The agency that still leads with AVEs and press clippings will see those budgets flow straight past them into specialist consultancies, into in-house teams that move faster, into a new breed of communications firm that was built for this moment rather than retrofitted for it. Doubling budgets in a disrupted industry doesn’t lift all boats. It accelerates the gap between the agencies that saw this coming and the ones that didn’t. That gap is opening right now. Quietly. And it won’t announce itself until it’s too late to close. #PublicRelations #AI #AIAnswers #CorporateCommunications #Media #Marketing #PR

When Estée Lauder Companies announced they're moving their entire digital commerce infrastructure to Shopify, I had to read it twice. This is a conglomerate with 20+ prestige brands like La Mer, Tom Ford, and Jo Malone. The kind of brands that historically insisted on custom-built everything because "off-the-shelf can't deliver our brand experience." And they just chose Shopify. Based on their official statement, they're rebuilding their entire digital foundation on Shopify: Online stores, physical retail, all on one platform. This means real-time data and AI-driven personalization, launching the first phase in Q1 2026. (An incredibly aggressive timeline for a company with 80 years of legacy systems 👀) They explicitly cite "speed and efficiencies at scale" in their announcement, with Shopify co-developing features with them. This means every Shopify merchant benefits from innovations built for luxury requirements: Your store runs on the same core infrastructure that powers Estée Lauder. How cool is that? #luxury #luxurybrands #eCommerce #NBS #NoBoringShops Image source: Estée Lauder Companies official website.

𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗷𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗶𝗴! A multi-year digital series that puts Kevin Hart and David Beckham as neighbors. The setting is mundane (household tasks) but the execution is brilliant. We’re watching brands like SharkNinja evolve from storytelling to programming. Episodic formats that act like pure entertainment. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Advertising is crowded. You fast-scroll, skip, ignore. But a series? That’s a reason to check back. It turns brand storytelling into episodic entertainment rather than a one-time push. Brands that learn to earn retention instead of buying attention will win sustainable share of mind. 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 Beckham and Hart are co-leads in a shared world. SharkNinja’s partnership strategy is about character development and narrative depth. 𝗔 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 SharkNinja grew net sales 30% in 2024, with operating income more than doubling. They’ve become a social-first brand by design, launching around 25 new products each year across 37 categories. Their creative model blends in-house speed with cultural awareness, and it shows. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹 → Influencers seeded ahead of launches (Swirl Ice Cream Maker: 500M impressions, 90K waitlist) → 70% of a $700M ad budget goes to digital; 40% of that is social → Agile production keeps the brand moving at cultural pace Brands are now competing on how entertaining they are when they show up. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀: → Structure your content like a story → Create continuity and anticipation → Use humor, surprise, and character as strategic tools → Commit beyond the moment Storytelling that feels like entertainment is the new baseline.

Very, very surprised by Martin Sorrel's view that PR is just an extension of advertising that doesn’t need to exist on a standalone basis! He is consistent though: in December 2025, in a BBC Radio 4 interview, he announced, "There’s no such thing as PR anymore". And that the profession has "morphed into social media", adding that the way to facilitate storytelling in the digital age is to flood platforms such as TikTok and Google with content! Martin Sorrell's framing is essentially about reach (digital spend growing at 15-20%, content flooding platforms). But PR has never been purely about distribution. It's about what you say, to whom, and whether they believe you. Flooding the internet may generate attention, but attention without trust is fragile and often destructive. That's the gap advertising alone cannot close. He's also ignoring the complexity that makes PR irreplaceable. Companies are navigating geopolitical challenges, unprecedented tariffs, regional conflicts, a more polarized political environment, a rising tide of disinformation, and new technologies... all of which elevate the role of corporate affairs and communications specialists. This isn't a press-release world. It's a crisis management, stakeholder trust, narrative control world, all of which are fundamentally PR disciplines. Ironically, his own life is exhibit A against his argument 🤷♂️ Martin Sorrell's own departure from WPP in 2018 under a personal cloud demonstrated that reputation affects even the most powerful executives (Trump is the one person immune to this... but only so far. He cannot fool all the people all the time). And the subsequent creation and positioning of S4 Capital required careful narrative management, stakeholder reassurance and credibility rebuilding, all of which were not achieved by flooding the internet, but through private trust-building with investors, clients, media and employees. He needed PR, of course. He just refused call it that. #publicrelations #PR #martinsorrel

Are you ready to revolutionize the way you connect with customers? 70% of customers recall sensory experiences better. Multisensory ads increase engagement by 40%. Traditional advertising is fading into the background, but sensory advertising in Virtual Reality (VR) is about to change the game. By engaging all five senses – sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell – you can transport customers into an immersive experience that simulates real-life interactions with your product. 💸 The Opportunity: 🥣Food: Savor the aroma of freshly baked bread or taste the sweetness of ripe fruit 👗Fashion: Feel the texture of luxurious fabrics or hear the sound of velvet softness ✈️Travel: Smell the salty ocean air or touch the roughness of ancient stone 🤔 Reflect on this: 1️⃣ What senses do your current ads neglect? 2️⃣ How can you craft experiences that evoke emotions and memories? 3️⃣ What stories can you tell through sensory details? 💡 Tips for marketers: 👉 Collaborate with sensory experts to design multisensory experiences: Partner with neuroscientists, perfumers, sound designers, and texture specialists to craft immersive experiences that harmonize sight, sound, scent, touch, and taste, engaging customers on a deeper level. 👉 Invest in VR technology that simulates real-world sensations: Utilize advanced VR tools like haptic feedback, spatial audio, and scent-emitting devices to recreate authentic sensory experiences, blurring the line between virtual and reality. 👉 Focus on evoking emotions, not just conveying information: Shift from facts-and-figures advertising to experiential storytelling that taps into emotions, memories, and desires, creating lasting connections and brand loyalty through sensory resonance. 🔮The Future of Advertising: Sensory advertising in VR isn't just a novelty – it's a chance to rebuild trust and create lasting connections. By tapping into our primal senses, you'll: ✅ Increase brand recall and loyalty ✅ Drive sales through experiential marketing ✅ Differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace The Question is: Will you lead the sensory revolution or follow the crowd? Share your ideas and experiences in the comments. #futureofmarketing #immersiveexperiences #thoughtleadership #thethoughtleaderway

The Wall Street Journal storytelling piece is making the rounds. Most real estate operators will call it “interesting” and move on. Then they’ll wonder why investors are replying to their cold outreach: Google has a Cloud storytelling team. USAA hired four storytellers in one year. Notion merged comms, social, and influencers into one storytelling function. These aren't one-off trends: they're how businesses are being built. At Thesis Driven, we followed this blueprint: • Share a point of view • Use stories to get attention • Build and own your audience • Listen to the problems they share • Create products that solve those Our most-read content isn't about us. It's profiles of interesting real estate operators: how they underwrite, the bets they're making, why they see opportunities others miss. These build trust before we mention products. Personal founder stories grow audiences. I share what I'm researching: data center underwriting, farm hospitality and surf parks becoming institutional and behind-the-scenes of building Thesis Driven. Not old school thought leadership, just transparency about what I'm learning in real-time. That grew our audience. By telling stories and engaging with that audience, they told us the problems they were running into. That made product ideation easy: identify the most common problem, create a solution. Our products came from listening to the audience we built through storytelling. When we launched our Real Estate Finance course, we didn't lead with curriculum. We shared student outcomes: founders who closed deals after understanding capital structures, operators who decoded what LPs actually want, people who stopped nodding along when someone said "waterfall." Transformation sold the product. Features validated it. If you’re still waiting for the “right” time to do this, this is your signal. If you're selling to real estate owners: developers buy outcomes, not features. If you're raising capital: investors back people and theses they believe in. If you're building in real estate: trust compounds faster through storytelling than any other channel. Content-first built trust before we asked for anything. Operator stories worked because they were useful. Personal transparency grew our audience. Transformation stories sold better than features. LinkedIn doubled storyteller job postings because companies understand that people don’t get excited about products anymore. Instead, they buy the story of who they’ll become if you’re able to articulate it. Real estate is no different.

Campaigns are not one-size-fits-all. Especially when you're talking to customers across different regions. Combining marketing teams into a single unit that looks after multiple geographies bring efficiency. But it also introduces complexity—because what works in New York won’t always land in New Delhi. So, how do you really connect with customers across such diverse markets? You test. Run localized market experiments to uncover: What benefits resonate most in Texas versus Toronto. How value propositions shift between Sydney and Singapore. What creative actually feels culturally relevant (not just translated). Here’s how you get it right: - Test benefits, messaging, and cultural fit on live platforms like Meta or LinkedIn using Heatseeker. - Use behavior-driven insights—CTR, CPA, engagement metrics—to guide decisions. - Stealth test where needed to mitigate risk and gather unbiased feedback. - Optimize campaigns iteratively to scale what works, fast. The result is campaigns that speak the language-beyond just words. Data-backed insights into what drives customers in that specific local. A scalable playbook for delivering localized campaigns that convert. Your streamlined team now has the tools to drive success.

The 5-Step Marketing Audit Framework That Transformed My Campaigns After auditing 150+ marketing campaigns across B2B and B2C sectors, I've refined this systematic approach that consistently uncovers hidden growth opportunities. Here's the exact framework I use: Step 1: Business Environment Analysis Start with the macro view - economic shifts, industry trends, and competitive landscape. This foundation shapes everything that follows. Step 2: Internal & External Assessment Honest SWOT analysis. Your strengths might be your biggest blind spots if you're not leveraging them correctly. Step 3: Market & Customer Analysis Segment beyond demographics. Behavioural patterns and unmet needs reveal your next breakthrough opportunity. Step 4: Marketing Strategy Review Audit your brand positioning, product offering, pricing strategy, and distribution channels. Misalignment here kills conversion rates. Step 5: Financial Metrics & Performance Focus on high-impact activities. I use the 80/20 rule religiously - 20% of your efforts drive 80% of results. The game-changer? Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) analysis. When I integrated CLV into campaign optimization at 411 Locals, we maintained $11 CPL while scaling to 130K leads. What's your biggest marketing audit revelation? Drop it in the comments - I'd love to hear your experience. P.S. Save this framework for your next campaign review. Trust me, your ROI will thank you.