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Rethinking the Sales Pipeline: From Seller Stages to Buyer Journeys

By in Sales

BY BOB APOLLO For decades, sales pipelines have been built around the seller’s activities. Familiar stages like discover, qualify, demo, propose, negotiate, close  are deeply embedded in most CRM systems, forecasts, and reviews. But in today’s complex B2B environments, this approach tells us more about what the seller has done (or claims to have done) than what the buyer is actually thinking or deciding. It creates the illusion of progress but often masks uncertainty about whether the customer is truly ready to buy. Today’s buying decisions are longer, riskier, and more complex than ever. They involve multiple stakeholders, shifting priorities, and…

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37% of consumers start searches with AI instead of Google: Study

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Marketing Tag ,

Written by Danny Goodwin Traditional search frustrations are pushing users toward AI first, forcing brands to stay visible and credible in both places. Consumers are increasingly using AI tools — not Google — as their first source of information. This is driven by frustration with traditional search and rising expectations that AI will play a much larger role this year, according to a new report from Eight Oh Two, an SEO and PPC marketing agency. Why we care. AI isn’t replacing search, but it’s reshaping where search begins, how people discover brands, and which options they consider. A hybrid journey is…

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Human skills will matter more than ever in the age of AI

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

By Alexis Krivkovich and Anu Madgavkar Even as AI automates many tasks, companies that invest in human skills will gain a competitive edge, write Alexis Krivkovich and Anu Madgavkar in The Wall Street Journal. The rise of AI is understandably unsettling for workers. But new research from the McKinsey Global Institute shows its impact is far more complicated—and far less alarming—than the headlines imply. According to the study, existing technologies could automate tasks that make up more than half of U.S. work hours today. It’s a big number, but it does not translate into a wholesale disappearance of jobs. Instead, most of the change…

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The Marketing God Complex: How to Use Narrative Responsibly in B2B Marketing

By in Marketing

by Pragati Sharma In October 2025, American Eagle CMO Craig Brommers remarked in an interview, "I can't believe that anything in our advertising marketing world is still commanding this amount of attention 10 weeks later." He was talking about a jeans campaign that received backlash for its perceived meaning. The remark shocked me. Of course the campaign commanded attention. Because as marketers, our words and campaigns are not simply published taglines or images—we're laying down stories that compete for mindshare and shape how people see themselves. Our marketing world does command attention. And that's not a bad thing. Exercising narrative agency, the…

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Your ads are dying: How to spot and stop creative fatigue before it tanks performance

By in Marketing

Written by Ann Robison Falling CTRs, rising CPCs, and shrinking reach signal creative fatigue. Learn how to spot it early and use data to extend your ads’ lifespan. The death of an ad, like the end of the world, doesn’t happen with a bang but with a whimper.  If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice the warning signs: click-through rate (CTR) slips, engagement falls, and cost-per-click (CPC) creeps up.  If you’re not, one day your former top performer is suddenly costing you money. Creative fatigue – the decline in ad performance caused by overexposure or audience saturation – is often the culprit.  It’s…

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Where Marketers Can Find Shelter From Distorted Email Metrics and AI Algorithm Interference

By in Email Marketing

by Mike Donoghue AI powered inbox filtering from Google and Apple impact more than 70% of emails received. Although AI in our everyday vernacular is a relatively recent phenomenon, that level of inbox infiltration didn't happen overnight. Dragged into the spotlight with recent antitrust and monopoly lawsuits, these tech giants have been testing various forms of inbox puppetry for over a decade. Gmail's tabbed inbox was introduced in 2013 as an optional feature that automatically sorts emails into categories, such as Primary, Social, and Promotions. That was swiftly followed with suggested responses from Smart Reply in 2014, which has morphed into what…

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Forecasting in Demand Generation

By in Marketing Tag ,

by KAMIL REXTIN AND  ALEJANDRA CÉSPEDES The Forecast That Looked Perfect Every B2B marketer has seen it. The neat little spreadsheet where every dollar of paid media scales in a straight line: Thanks for reading Slash by 42Agency! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Subscribe 💰 $100K in → 📈 $800K pipeline out. So $200K in → $1.6M pipeline. Easy. I’ve been in those meetings. The models look airtight. Finance loves them. The board nods along. And then the campaign runs. Spend doubles. Pipeline doesn’t. By month three, the curve flatlines completely. Not because the media team…

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The tactical shift that led to 35,000% higher visibility on LinkedIn

By in Marketing Tag

Written by: Curt del Principe Sam Meller is the Head of Social for The Hustle, but we briefly got to borrow her for Masters in Marketing, because she makes everything she touches better. That’s how I got a chance to hear about a tactical content shift that led to a startling 35,000% increase in visibility on LinkedIn. When I heard this story, y’all, I threw an Asana card on our editorial calendar so fast I nearly broke my clickin’ finger. In short, it’s the cautionary tale of how even good content may not be the right content for your audience. And how, even in this data-soaked paradigm,…

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AI Is Reshaping ABM: How B2B Marketers Can Unleash Their Fullest Potential

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Tag

by Patrick Shea Constant advances in tech and data can speed targeting, personalization, and campaign execution. But it's not as overwhelming as it sounds. B2B marketers have always been plagued by the paradox of too much choice—too many tools, too much data, too many "next big things" to chase. Artificial intelligence's rapid advances have only raised the volume, adding a mix of challenges and promise. For the moment, AI doesn't do much that humans can't. But it can do much of it faster. When used well, it can recreate and synthesize good-quality work at speeds and scales that were previously impossible…

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How to build authority when no one knows you yet

By in Business Management

Written by Claire Taylor You don’t need fame to earn trust. Build authority from zero with clarity, proof, and consistency that earn audience and algorithm confidence. Building authority when no one’s heard of you can feel like trying to join a conversation that’s already halfway done.  You’ve got something worth saying, but no one’s listening yet. In SEO terms, that’s tough – you need visibility to earn trust, but you need trust to gain visibility. The good news: you don’t need fame or a huge LinkedIn following to be credible. You just need to be clear, consistent, and trustworthy.  Authority today isn’t about…

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