The quiet shift that will break your 2026 marketing plan
Most teams are still optimizing for a world where:
Search = 10 blue links
Social = distribution, search = intent
Your “funnel” starts with a click
That world is gone.
AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity,...
The real shift: demand is decoupling from your channels
Look past the AI hype cycle and the “how to rank in AI overviews” content. The pattern that actually matters to operators is this:
Demand is decoupling from your traditional discovery and conversion channels....
The real pattern in all the noise
Scan those headlines and you see the same three topics on repeat:
AI everywhere (funnels, tools, personalization, answer engines)
Channel and format churn (short-form video, Reddit SEO, Bluesky, TikTok Shop, Threads vs X)
Incremental performance...
The real pattern in all the noise
Scan those headlines and you see the same things over and over:
AI tools. New ad formats. Short-form video. Reddit SEO. Title tag rewrites.
Phantom noindex errors. Answer Engine Optimization. Superfans. Communities.
The pattern is...
The real pattern in all these headlines: everyone is optimizing in isolation
Scan those headlines and you see the same story on repeat:
“Adapt your entire funnel with AI”
“Social-first ranking strategies”
“Answer Engine Optimization”
“100 most expensive keywords for Google Ads”...
The pattern everyone is missing
Scan those headlines and you see three things happening at once:
AI is creeping into every layer of the funnel – from copy and CRM to “answer engines” and ad platforms.
Platforms are changing how they rank, price, and surface content – social-first...
The real shift: your “funnel” is now search + social + AI, all at once
Look at those headlines and a pattern jumps out: everyone is treating AI, social-first content, search, and CRM as separate topics. Operators don’t live that way. You’re staring at one messy reality:
AI is...
The real shift: discoverability is no longer one problem
Look at those headlines and you see the same word in disguise over and over:
discoverability.
But the game changed. It didn’t just “get harder.” It got unbundled.
What used to be one relatively coherent...
The real shift: your funnel is no longer a line, it’s a loop
Look past the headlines about Bluesky, Reddit SEO, Super Bowl pullouts, and “social-first ranking strategies” and you see one pattern:
the old linear funnel is dead, but most teams are still buying media and reporting as...
The real shift: channels are merging, but your org chart isn’t
Scan those headlines and a pattern jumps out: social-first ranking strategies, the social-to-search halo effect, publishers bracing for a 40% drop in search traffic, AI reshaping funnels, and CLV modeling getting more...