A Practical Guide to Influencer Partnerships
2021 rewired how brands work with creators: swipe-up links disappeared, Apple's privacy change made trust harder to fake and the FTC got much less patient.
The Archive
2021
How Personalization Changed Digital Marketing in 2021
The year Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt went live and personalization had to rebuild itself around data customers gave willingly.
A Practical Guide to Community Building
Most branded communities are just audiences with a Discord server attached. What separates a real community from a broadcast channel, and how to build one.
Why the Privacy Sandbox Matters for Your Bottom Line
What Google's Privacy Sandbox replaces, why its timeline keeps shifting and how to build a strategy that doesn't depend on its outcome.
9 Marketing Automation Strategies That Work
Nine concrete marketing automation tactics that held up in 2021, from cart abandonment flows to CRM-triggered sales handoffs, without the generic filler.
Case Study: Winning With Customer Data Platforms
An illustrative 2021 scenario showing how a mid-sized retailer used a customer data platform to recover ad performance lost to iOS 14.5 and cookie restrictions.
The Creator Economy Trends Shaping 2021
A snapshot of the specific developments that turned 'creator economy' from a niche phrase into a mainstream business story in 2021.
Building a Social Commerce Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step guide to setting up native shopping on Instagram and Facebook in 2021, from account setup to your first sale.
Short-Form Video Strategy From Scratch: 2021's Early Days
A step-by-step guide to building a short-form video strategy in 2021, when Reels was new, Shorts was in beta and TikTok's algorithm was rewriting the rules.
A Practical Guide to the Cookieless Future
What's disappearing as third-party cookies go away, what breaks without them and the privacy-safe methods replacing cross-site tracking.
The Rise of First-Party Data Amid the Cookie Phaseout
How first-party data went from a back-office concern to a core strategy, traced through GDPR, Apple's tracking limits and Google's 2020 cookie announcement.
The State of Conversion Optimization in 2021
A 2021 snapshot of conversion optimization: how server-side tagging, Core Web Vitals and shrinking pixel accuracy reshaped what CRO teams worked on.
Email Marketing Trends Shaping 2021
The developments that mattered for email marketers in 2021, led by Apple's Mail Privacy Protection announcement and what it meant for open-rate tracking.
How Omnichannel CX Changed Digital Marketing in 2021
How 2021 forced marketers to rebuild customer experience around first-party data and cross-channel service, as Apple's tracking changes hit all at once.
The Rise of Influencer Partnerships
From mommy bloggers to Fyre Festival to the ambassador programs brands run today: the real history of how influencer marketing became influencer partnerships.
The Rise of Personalization
The real history of personalization, from Amazon's 1998 recommendation engine and the Netflix Prize through to today's real-time, data-driven systems.
How Community Building Changed Digital Marketing in 2021
2021 was the year Clubhouse, Discord and paid newsletters pulled brand audiences out of public feeds and into private spaces.
Privacy Sandbox: What Every Business Needs to Know
A 2021 decision framework for Google's Privacy Sandbox: what FLoC was, why browsers blocked it and what a business owner should realistically do about it.
The State of Marketing Automation in 2021
A snapshot of the marketing automation landscape in 2021, as e-commerce-driven platforms grew fast and visual, no-code workflow builders became the default.
Customer Data Platforms Trends Shaping 2021
Five real developments that defined the customer data platform market in 2021, from the Segment-Twilio deal to the early rise of warehouse-native CDPs.
The Creator Economy: A Playbook for Independent Creators
How brands built real partnerships with independent creators in 2021, the year Substack, Patreon and OnlyFans made creator monetization mainstream news.
Common Social Commerce Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
The mistakes that quietly sank in-app shopping setups on Instagram and Facebook in 2021, and how to fix each one.
Common Short-Form Video Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
The mistakes that tripped up brands jumping into TikTok and Reels in 2021, from treating short-form video like a shrunk ad to ignoring discovery mechanics.
How The Cookieless Future Changed Digital Marketing in 2021
A year-in-review look at how Google's Privacy Sandbox trial, Apple's App Tracking Transparency launch and the cookie-deadline delay reshaped marketing in 2021.
Building a First-Party Data Strategy as Cookies Disappear
A step-by-step 2021 guide for first-party data, written for the scramble after Apple's App Tracking Transparency rollout and Google's cookie phase-out plan.