If you’ve spent any time managing social media accounts, you’ve probably wrestled with the hashtag debate. Should you use three hashtags or thirty? Does more equal better reach? Is there a magic list that guarantees virality? And, most important, does any of this actually move the needle for your brand?
If you have ever pitched or invested in top-of-funnel (TOF) marketing such as brand awareness, content exposure, or audience-building tactics, you have probably heard the same question:
“But how do we know it is working?”
Why the Future of Growth Is Evolving from a Funnel to a Loop
For years, the marketing funnel has guided how businesses attract, nurture, and convert customers. It’s been the framework behind everything from inbound content to performance ads. And it still works—just differently than it used to.
Every marketer knows the adrenaline rush of Q4. The mad dash to hit revenue goals, the surge in CPMs, the constant tweaking of campaigns to squeeze every drop out of the holiday rush. It’s a blur of urgency and opportunity—a sprint that often ends with exhausted teams and inflated ad costs.
You’ve trusted your AI with your passwords, your calendar, and your personality—but if you’re letting it browse the web, you might be giving it a little too much freedom. The moment your AI gets access to websites, buttons, and forms, it’s basically out there wandering the digital streets alone. And just like an intern with too much initiative, it can get talked into some bad ideas fast.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a Silicon Valley buzzword—it’s the most important tool shaping how small businesses and local media companies work, sell, and grow. But here’s the problem: keeping up with AI often feels like you need a PhD in computer science or eight spare hours to watch a course.
Most people think using AI is as simple as typing a question and waiting for an answer. That’s true—AI will give you something back. But if you really want to squeeze the highest quality respones out of AI, the difference really comes down to one thing: prompting.
If your Q4 plan is “blast discounts, pray for revenue,” you’re playing checkers in a chess match. Real growth comes from mastering customer commitment—moving people from inertia to habit, from habit to dedication, and letting true fandom emerge as the byproduct of everything else you do.
If you’re feeling whiplash from how fast marketing is changing, you’re not alone. The takeaway from this week’s keynote and wrap-up at Marketing Success Season was clear: growth won’t come from doing the old playbook faster—it’ll come from doing it differently. That means approaching Q4 with a beginner’s mind, building journeys that feel seamless across channels, and letting AI give you time back while your team doubles down on the human moments that actually move revenue.
Let’s be honest with ourselves – the old playbook of blasting a “50% OFF Black Friday” email and calling it holiday strategy is dead. Consumers are overwhelmed, fatigued, and increasingly tuning out the noise. Globally, 39% of shoppers say there are simply too many deals, and 25% have stopped paying attention to big sales events altogether.
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