1. What strategies can businesses use to attract high-performing affiliates and maximize conversions? 

Top affiliates reach that level because they’re strategic with their time and choose programs that genuinely invest in them. So, if a business wants to attract those high-performers, it needs to make joining and promoting the program as easy and rewarding as possible. 

That starts with a straightforward commission structure affiliates should instantly understand the value. Providing ready-to-use materials like templates and copy removes friction and helps them start promoting right away. 

But more than that, it’s about building a real relationship. Affiliates want to know there’s someone on the other end who actually cares about their success. The best performers also expect a bit of a VIP experience, so making them feel valued from the beginning and continuing to show up for them is what keeps them engaged and delivering results. 

2. How do higher commission structures impact affiliate engagement and long-term loyalty? 

High commissions are great for grabbing attention, but they’re not enough to keep affiliates around. If it’s just about the payout, it’s easy for them to bounce from one program to the next. 

What really drives long-term loyalty is the relationship making affiliates feel genuinely valued, heard, and supported. If a business wants to build a program that stands the test of time, it has to go beyond commissions. That means offering ongoing incentives and creating an experience that keeps affiliates engaged and excited to stick around. In our updated GetResponse Affiliate Program, we are committed to providing ongoing support to our affiliates. This includes monthly update newsletters, quarterly one-on-one sessions with our team, and exclusive access to the GetResponse Affiliate Slack channel available at the Gold subscription level. 

3. What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring affiliate marketing success? 

At the end of the day, revenue is the ultimate KPI. Metrics like traffic, clicks, and free trials matter they help gauge the quality of the traffic an affiliate is driving. But on their own, they don’t move the needle. They’re leading indicators, not end goals. If those actions aren’t converting into real revenue, they don’t hold much weight in the long run. 

4. How can businesses align their affiliate program with broader digital marketing strategies? 

Your affiliate program should function like an extension of your sales team. That means keeping brand messaging consistent and making sure affiliates are in sync with your broader marketing efforts. Share product updates, upcoming launches, and campaign roadmaps when you can and stay connected through regular newsletters or check-ins. 

Cross-channel alignment is key. If your SEO team knows what keywords are driving traffic, pass that insight to affiliates so they can fine-tune their content. And make sure affiliates play nicely with other channels, like influencers or paid media, so they’re adding value not stepping on toes. 

5. How can brands ensure transparency and trust in their affiliate partnerships? 

Transparency and trust start on day one. Your website should lay it all out - how affiliates earn, the exact commission structure, how and when payments happen, and what kind of support they can expect. Real success stories help too, giving potential partners a glimpse of what’s possible. 

Setting clear expectations from the start builds trust. From there, it’s about consistency - keeping affiliates in the loop with resources, monthly updates, and being available when they need help. When affiliates feel informed and supported, they’re far more likely to stick around and succeed. 

6. What challenges do companies face when scaling an affiliate marketing program, and how can they overcome them? 

The biggest challenge in scaling an affiliate program is doing it without sacrificing efficiency. What works fine with 20 affiliates can quickly break down with 200. That’s why it’s crucial to build with scale in mind from the start.

Automation is key especially when it comes to onboarding and giving affiliates easy, self-serve access to the resources they need. A solid affiliate management platform, like PartnerStack, can make a big difference by streamlining workflows and keeping operations smooth as the program grows.

1. What are the biggest emerging SEO trends that businesses should be preparing for in 2025 and beyond?

I think the biggest trend in search is the possibility that Google may not continue to drive traffic as they have historically over the past two decades. The movement of the search experience over the past few years will continually be influenced by artificial intelligence and machine learning. The ideal way to deal with this is to focus on EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) and Brand marketing. Reaching your audience continues to increase in complexity, whether it be through visual search, voice search, video, interactive content, or whatever is around the corner, figuring out where they are and what they engage with will be valuable to continued success in digital marketing.

2. How can businesses ensure that their SEO strategies align with evolving search engine algorithms?

Focus on your current audience or the audience you are trying to reach. User intent drives what is seen in search results, so understanding what people expect to see in the result for particular queries is what you need to provide to effectively rank and convert them when they reach your content. Contextual relationships with topics and brand relevance for these topics will be the key to continuing to rank, whether it be AI driven or keyword searches in traditional search engines or generative engines. To do this effectively, brands will need to leverage structured data that ties their content to their entity, helping the algorithms and AI to understand why your content is valuable for the person searching.

3. What are the biggest challenges brands face in local vs. global SEO strategies?

Localization will continue to limit traditional global SEO strategies because if it is relevant to a local company, search engines will likely provide them within search results more favorably because they are more relevant or apparent to a person in a particular location. This will make it harder for global brands to rank competitively across markets unless they have a known footprint, relevancy or awareness for a localized result. Local businesses that are leveraging location-based content and signals (e.g., Google Business Profiles, Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Maps) have an advantage over these larger organizations’ higher authority signals that have historically helped them rank highly across the majority of search.

4. How should brands balance organic SEO efforts with paid search strategies for maximum ROI?

Understanding that SEO is not simply an acquisition channel, it provides awareness and can help brands gain traction that then can be converted through paid search can help you improve your return on ad spend. Additionally, leveraging high performing keywords in paid search to inform content strategies for organic search can help you increase your return by widening your funnel; what are the non-brand topics that are driving a lower cost per acquisition in paid that can be targeted in organic to reach them higher up in the funnel and turn to lower cost brand searches in paid. To find a balance, it is necessary to evaluate the blended ROI of all your marketing channels to find the right balance, no single channel is an island and there is value in being in all of the ones that your audience engages with.

5. What are the best practices for businesses to future-proof their SEO strategies against constant algorithm updates?

If you are producing content that is relevant, highlights your topical expertise and experience you will gain trust in your brand. Maintaining the experience on your site (navigation, UX/UI and performance) and making it easier to complete the desired task or find an answer will reinforce the purpose of your site to users and engines. If your brand earns this engagement and you can maintain it, your brand demand will increase, and you will prove to search engines that you should be included in results relevant to your brand. The easiest way to future-proof your strategy is to focus on what the engines are trying to do, deliver the most relevant results for a request based on the intent of the person making the request.

6. What impact will zero-click searches and AI-generated answers have on SEO strategies?

The short answer is less traffic, especially for informational queries. People will continue to search for these, and it will still be important for brands to have content that is relevant to these topics, because it shows
what brands and sites have expertise and authority for them. If you simply want to increase traffic, identifying other areas of the SERP like “no answer” queries, local search, people also asked, image results, product results, etc. that are present for keywords that have high demand will help your brand continue to stand out even if the result isn’t driving traffic to your website.

Key Takeaways – search engines will continue to award traffic to websites that focus on the user, leverage multi-format content that provide value. My recommendation is to ensure that SEO is part of your holistic marketing strategy, build owned assets and increase your engagement with the community where your brand operates. You can invest in tools, such as AI, to do this more efficiently, but effective content, analysis and engagement comes from human oversight and understanding.

1. What impact do changes in third-party cookie deprecation and privacy laws have on attribution models? 

The privacy landscape evolution hasn't just challenged attribution models—it's completely transformed them. Traditional attribution frameworks are fundamentally outdated in today's privacy-first ecosystem.

Rather than attempting to retrofit legacy tracking methodologies, we are encouraging businesses to take a more comprehensive approach that blends robust first-party data strategies with privacy-safe cross-platform attribution. This methodology not only honors user privacy commitments but delivers the precise insights businesses require to identify their most effective channels for customer acquisition, engagement, and retention optimization.

At its core, successful attribution in 2025 is about striking the perfect balance between preserving user trust and fulfilling critical business intelligence needs—a balance our platform uniquely delivers.

2. How can brands ensure accurate cross-channel attribution in a privacy-first digital landscape? 

The stakes for brands are tremendous—losing visibility into ad effectiveness directly impacts bottom lines. When Facebook reported a staggering $10B revenue loss in 2022 following Apple's privacy changes, it underscored the critical nature of this challenge. Without reliable identity resolution, measurement becomes exponentially more complex.

Our approach combines deterministic deep linking with sophisticated probabilistic modeling, maintaining attribution accuracy while prioritizing privacy compliance. The paradigm shift we're spearheading moves beyond individual tracking toward understanding aggregated, anonymized user journeys. This empowers brands to optimize performance while building sustainable trust relationships with their audiences.

We've conclusively demonstrated that retargeting and optimization goals remain achievable through innovative applications of aggregated identifiers and privacy-preserving technologies—proving that privacy and performance aren't mutually exclusive.

3. How is privacy-centric attribution changing the way marketers evaluate campaign performance and customer journeys? 

Privacy-centric attribution represents a fundamental shift from granular individual tracking to sophisticated pattern recognition across user segments. Today's most successful marketers understand that the future lies not in tracking clicks but in capturing meaningful, consent-driven insights that strengthen user trust while enabling smarter decision-making.

While Meta's Aggregate Measurement and Google's gbraid have pioneered new attribution methodologies using aggregated identifiers, they remain limited to their respective ecosystems. This limitation drove our development of Predictive Aggregate Measurement—utilizing the same technical foundations as AEM and gbraid but expanding capabilities across all ad networks to deliver 100% modeled attribution coverage.

The results speak for themselves: we consistently achieve an average 118% lift in iOS installs compared to SKAN installations. We're actively driving the industry-wide adoption of aggregate identifiers for optimization, setting new standards for privacy-compliant measurement. 

4. How can companies leverage privacy-first measurement techniques without sacrificing marketing effectiveness? 

The critical insight is focusing on market-level intelligence rather than individual user information. Brands need attribution clarity—understanding that specific conversions occurred under particular circumstances—without requiring exhaustive personal data. The marketing insights remain equally valuable while the methodology evolves.

Our industry must continue innovating to address marketers' fundamental question—”How effectively are my investments performing?”—while simultaneously advancing measurement practices that respect evolving privacy expectations. Our platform sits at this precise intersection, delivering comprehensive performance insights within privacy-first frameworks.

5. What are the biggest challenges businesses face in balancing ad performance tracking and data privacy regulations?

Businesses today face a three-pronged challenge: keeping pace with rapidly evolving privacy regulations, maintaining targeting and personalization capabilities, and optimizing marketing investments in an increasingly complex landscape.

We're committed to help businesses avoid the scenario where they allocate marketing budgets based on assumptions rather than insights, attributing measurement limitations to privacy changes. This commitment drives our development of solutions that bridge iOS measurement gaps, eliminate cross-platform fragmentation, and unify cost and attribution data—all while maintaining strict privacy compliance.

The persistent challenge of managing multiple networks with distinct attribution models underscores why accurate, privacy-conscious measurement is more critical than ever. Our platform provides that ultimate source of truth, enabling confident allocation of marketing investments based on reliable performance data rather than guesswork.

1. How have shifting business and consumer behaviors changed the way organizations approach events and travel?

In B2B GTM, where I’ve spent the majority of my 20+ year career, the shifts we see are usually in response to external factors. How is our market changing? How do we keep our Events relevant to the audiences we care about? How are economic conditions impacting my attendee’s ability to travel? And more recently, how does the political climate contribute to this uncertainty? All too often Events are among the first things to be cut when the economy softens, and so organizers are in a constant battle to innovate while also maintaining budget (and staff!). Event attendees, whether in a B2B or B2C setting, are still humans first, and would-be attendees are more discerning than ever with their money and their time. No doubt these are challenging times, but it’s certainly no time to wilt under the pressure. We must remind ourselves that Events offer unique value that can’t be replicated in another channel. Recent research on B2B Events budgets shows they are holding firm and tracking to a 10+ year average. So it’s important to acknowledge the power that our attendees hold, and the need to innovate, but also to remain steadfast about the impact that an effective Events program brings to our organizations.

2. What are some common mistakes companies make when designing their meetings and travel programs, and how can they be avoided?

It seems cliche to say that ‘strategy is critical to event success’, but we see it all the time where Event objectives are poorly defined, too generic, or simply not in line with what business stakeholders expect from the program investments. The onus is squarely on event leaders to better align Event objectives for any with core business goals. Most B2B Events have the potential to impact several different objectives simultaneously, sometimes cloudying the picture of what could be the standout objective. To deal with this, I’m an advocate for an ‘Audience first’ approach - starting with a specific Audience segment and building the event experience to optimize around only a handful of essential objectives for that audience. Narrow in focus but deep in impact.

3. How should organizations integrate meetings and events into their broader go-to-market (GTM) strategy? 

The ‘portfolio’ concept has become more mainstream in recent years and I’m an advocate for this approach. A portfolio strategy considers the various types of Events that are possible as a ‘portfolio of experiences’ to cover a spectrum of business objectives - creating brand awareness, launching a new product,  collaborating with partners or suppliers, deepening customer relationships, closing new business, etc. With a range of possibilities, we can be very intentional about how to use each type of experience to do a very specific job with a very concrete objective. As a channel, Events should also be combined with other channels or tactics in the construct of a campaign. So in some ways Events stand alone because of the unique value they deliver, but in most ways they are part of an integrated GTM strategy.

4. How can organizations use data and insights from meetings and events to improve marketing and sales outcomes?

Building on the idea that each type of event experience has a specific job to do with a very concrete objective - every objective should ultimately align with the corresponding metrics and KPIs that best measure each objective (awareness, demand, deal velocity, product adoption, etc.). These are performance measures that are not specific to only Events, but to every channel or tactic in our arsenal. This approach lets us understand the performance of the Events channel relative to other channels, but it also positions Events to contribute to the core outcomes we expect sales and marketing investments to drive. 

5. How can companies leverage events as a demand generation and customer acquisition tool? 

Setting aside the ‘demand gen vs. lead gen’ debate, Events can be an extremely effective means of creating or capturing demand. The notion of ‘Event led growth’ also stems from this - by its very nature, what is so unique about the Events channel, and in particular live Events, is that we create the opportunity for buyer and seller to interact in a very meaningful way, in a very short span of time, and oftentimes at a reasonable scale. In the face of challenging market conditions, economic uncertainty, and political unrest, this should bolster even the faint of heart to trust in the power of events. 

SurveyMonkey, the world’s most popular platform for surveys and forms, recently announced it has updated SurveyMonkey for Salesforce on Salesforce AppExchange, providing customers with new ways to automate beautiful, personalized email surveys with Salesforce. We sat down with Natalie Aghdaey, Manager of Product Marketing, to discuss the key benefits of the enhanced SurveyMonkey for Salesforce integration:

1. What are the key benefits of integrating customer survey data with CRM platforms for personalization and decision-making ?

Integrating survey data with your CRM lets you automatically send personalized surveys at key customer touchpoints, push customer feedback to your CRM in real-time, and better understand customer sentiment at scale.

It’s also a big step toward creating a single source of truth for customer insights. With these Salesforce enhancements in SurveyMonkey, you can combine operational customer data with customer feedback, which paints a more complete picture of their needs and where you can take action. For example, if a customer had to contact your team multiple times to resolve an issue with a recent purchase, you would likely see that experience result in a lower CSAT or NPS score. But, you may not truly understand the drivers of that score without combining feedback data with data from your CRM on factors like where this happened in the customer journey.

2. How can organizations use automation to enhance response rates and extract actionable insights from customer feedback ?

Imagine you receive a survey several weeks after your experience with a brand. You likely don’t remember all the specifics of your interaction and are probably no longer as motivated to engage by providing feedback. Automation allows you to reach out at the right time—when the experience is still at the top of the customer's mind. This helps drive higher response rates.

Automatically bringing survey insights into your source of truth for your business gives your entire company a real-time view of how customers think and feel. It also helps you get more actionable insights by adding context to your survey responses. For example, by marrying data from your CRM with your survey data, you can identify trends in customer segments, like plan type, geography, or tenure.

3. What role does hyper-personalization play in survey engagement, and how can companies implement it effectively ?

Personalization is a main priority for CX professionals, and it’s an area where we see a disconnect between what brands believe they deliver and what consumers actually experience. In recent research from SurveyMonkey, almost 9 out of 10 CX pros say their customers’ experience is personalized, but only about 60% of consumers say they receive personalized services when interacting with companies.

When something is personalized, it becomes more relevant for the customer, which makes them more likely to engage. This extends to survey engagement in a few ways. First, you can personalize a survey by bringing in details about the respondent to streamline the survey-taking experience for them. You can also boost response rates by personalizing your emailed survey invites with information like the customer name and the context of their last interaction with you. Second, you can use data that you’re collecting from your surveys to shape segmented customer experience programs. For example, you might identify your promoters with an NPS survey, and then launch tailored upsell campaigns using that feedback.

4. How can businesses ensure that customer experience metrics like CSAT, NPS, and CES are effectively integrated into their broader customer strategy ?

As you’re setting your CX strategy, it’s important to clearly define the experience that your customers are having today, as well as the experience your brand intends to deliver. To do this, you’ll want to assess the customer experience from a variety of angles, including looking at CX metrics like CSAT, NPS, and CES at key moments. As you’re developing your strategy, get buy-in from leadership early and often. This helps ensure your strategy is aligned with your overall company goals so you’ll have the support to take action based on the feedback you receive.

Another best practice is to start with a customer journey map to understand all the customer touch points and where to ask for feedback. This allows you to holistically assess your survey touchpoints to help minimize survey fatigue by not over-surveying customers. You’ll also want to establish a governance process for measuring progress against your customer strategy, leveraging metrics like CSAT, NPS, and CES.

5. What security and reliability factors should companies consider when selecting third-party survey integrations for their CRM ?

When integrating surveys into your CRM, trust and experience are key. Trust is strengthened with strong encryption, API security, administrator controls, and role-based access. You must ensure that you’re meeting regulations like GDPR or HIPAA to keep your data safe, SOC 2 to stay compliant & following best practices in information security management (e.g., ISO 27001). It’s also critical to comply with location-based regulations and confirm where the survey platform stores data (e.g., EU, US, etc.). The best survey integrations will only enhance your customer insights, without compromising compliance or security.

6. How is the evolution of customer feedback technology shaping business strategies for retention and growth ?

If it’s not already, creating a customer-centric culture should be a major focus area for your business. When that focus is infused across your company strategies, you’ll naturally evaluate new avenues and technologies to improve customer experience.

Because technology is evolving (and improving) at a rapid pace, you need to be flexible in adapting not only to new technology but also to customer needs.

As you consider new feedback technologies, first ask yourself two simple questions:

How would this help us attract new customers?

How would this help us keep existing customers?

Starting with those two questions in mind will help you simplify your approach in deciding whether to spend time and resources on adopting that technology and if it will give you measurable ROI.

1. How is the rise of video-first content reshaping consumer engagement and shopping behaviors in the creator economy ?

Over the past five years, the rise of video-first content has transformed consumer engagement, particularly in social commerce. The inherently engaging nature of video has made it a powerful tool for guiding consumers through the purchasing journey and building trust.

Consumers increasingly place greater trust in video over static images, as it offers a more immersive and authentic representation of products, significantly influencing their buying decisions. Recognizing this shift, creators are doubling down on video content, honing their storytelling skills to meet the growing demand for dynamic, narrative-driven social-commerce experiences.

2. What are the key advantages of integrating video into social commerce platforms for both creators and brands ?

Last year on the LTK platform, we integrated a vertical video feed into the consumer experience and saw a 73% increase in engagement. This for us underscored just how impactful video can be on purchasing decisions.

For brands and marketers, we’ve seen video content become a central pillar to how they connect with their audience, and at this point has become essential for driving revenue and engagement.

For creators, video has become the primary method for how consumers can discover new products, learn how to best use them and see social proof. From our creator marketing trend report that we released earlier this year, we saw that video is the preferred method of content for 76% of Gen Z, 72% of Millennials and 66% of the general population.

3. What factors drive audiences to engage more with video content over static posts when it comes to influencer-led shopping ?

Audiences engage more with video content because there’s more depth and context to them, making it more of an immersive experience. Seeing products in action through storytelling and real-time interaction helps build anticipation to try a product, trust and makes consumers feel overall more confident about their purchases.

4. How are video-first platforms evolving their monetization strategies for creators, and what impact does this have on the industry ?

We can’t speak for other platforms, but at LTK, we are built by a creator, for creators. Our core mission is to empower creators by helping them build businesses around what they love most—storytelling through content, sharing their favorite products, and connecting with their communities.

Over time, we’ve evolved from an app solely focused on creators sharing products they love through pictures to a video-first, central destination for all creator content—both product-driven and lifestyle-focused, a category we call upper-funnel content.

As pioneers in the creator economy, we’ve watched it evolve, and one thing remains clear: the most sustainable way for creators to build a business through content is by consistently delivering value-driven content that resonates with their audience.

5. What are the biggest hurdles brands and creators face when shifting to a video-first social commerce strategy ?

As social platforms have shifted to video first, entertainment based algorithms have proliferated, causing a dip in the social aspect of many platforms. We found in a recent national study 74% of all adults believe social media isn’t social anymore and 50% of Gen Z and Millennials are going elsewhere online to engage with the friends, creators and brands they love.

We have had significant growth in our users because of this and to help our 40M monthly users watch more relevant creator content, we’ve added the ability to find creators near them and around the world, based on their interests.  If you live in Dallas and want to see just Dallas creators you can.  If you are traveling to New York, Miami, London, Paris, or other places in the world, you can find Creators with content there based on the users interests. 

6. How does video-first content foster stronger creator-to-audience connections compared to static content ?

Video-first content builds a stronger connection between creators and their audience because it feels more real, personal, and interactive than static posts. When people can hear a creator’s voice, see their expressions, and watch how they engage with a product or topic, it creates a sense of authenticity and trust that’s hard to achieve with just images or text.

Beyond that, video allows for real-time interaction—whether through live streams, Q&As, or behind-the-scenes moments—making audiences feel like they’re part of the conversation rather than just passive viewers. Instead of simply seeing a product recommendation, they experience it, which helps build stronger relationships and deeper loyalty.

At the end of the day, video isn’t just about content—it’s about connection. It turns passive scrolling into active engagement, making audiences feel more involved, understood, and inspired.

7. What trends will define the next phase of video-first social commerce, and how can creators and brands stay ahead ?

Last year, in partnership with Northwestern University we surveyed over 185 marketing leaders and found that 93% of brands anticipate creators taking a higher percentage of budget or an increased role in marketing strategy in 2025.

Among all brands surveyed, 41% said they are investing at least half of their digital marketing budget on creators this year—a 14% increase from last year’s study.

Our recent survey also found that brands plan to expand how they leverage creator content, taking it beyond social into other mediums, including content marketing (56%), sponsorships (44%), connected TV (43%), display advertising (43%), and affiliate marketing (31%).

This signals a shift toward more integrated, creator-led marketing campaigns, extending beyond social platforms into broader digital and traditional media.

To stay ahead of this trend, brands should focus on diversifying their creator partnerships and repurposing video content across multiple channels to maximize reach and impact. Meanwhile, creators should refine their storytelling skills, experiment with new formats, and position themselves as valuable content partners beyond just social media to capitalize on the growing demand for creator-driven marketing.

1. What surprised you most about the data showing that only 23% of brands leveraged Valentine’s Day marketing ?

I am surprised by just how few brands take advantage of the holiday. It’s a no-brainer to me that brands would lean into the holiday, any holiday, to capture sales. They do it for the Super Bowl and March Madness, even if their business is not sports-related. Why would Valentine’s Day be different? This shows how differently brands think about the holiday versus how consumers do.

2. How much revenue potential are brands leaving on the table by skipping Valentine’s Day campaigns ?

While this will be specific to brands, it’s estimated that up to one-fifth of Q1 sales might be lost by not marketing around the big day. Shoppers feel they “have permission” to splurge on unnecessary purchases around holidays, leaving brands with an opportunity to increase sales and average order values of their customers around this time.  

3. Why do you think many brands still believe Valentine’s Day isn’t relevant to them, and how can they shift that mindset ?

For many marketers, Valentine’s Day is established in their minds as a day for romance. This is how it’s always been. So, when a brand sells car parts or small consumer electronics, the products don’t scream, “I love you.” Hence, they ignore it,  

This has been changing over recent years, and while it’s still a valid romance day, it’s more centered around general love and friendship. That love can now be self-love, friendship love, familial love, and even puppy love. When marketers start thinking along these lines, they’ll find a variety of holidays open up to them.  

4. Omnisend’s data shows that Valentine’s Day spending has expanded beyond traditional romantic gifts. What are some unexpected product categories seeing growth ?

Considering what I said before, it’s no surprise the Pet category sees an increase. People love their furry friends. However, the categories that surprise me most are Autos & Vehicles and Safety & Survival. These two categories are not ones you think about when it comes to romance. To me, they scream self-love. 

Of course, you may get the occasional outdoorsman or gearhead gift, double-digit increases can only be explained by people treating themselves. Other industries that might be a combination of self-gifting and gifts for others are Games, Toys & Hobbies, and Entertainment. One thing remains clear: people shop across all categories, regardless of the season.

5. Your research indicates that brands start marketing too late. What’s the ideal timeline for launching a successful Valentine’s campaign ?

I’d begin teasing roughly three weeks before, with heavy promotions roughly two weeks before. This will put the holiday and products in peoples’ minds and capture early interest. However, we see there is still an opportunity on the day itself. Remember, since people are self-gifting, treating themselves to a little something special on the actual day seems fitting.     

6. How can ecommerce brands that missed out this year prepare early for Valentine’s Day 2026 ?

It’s simple: commit to running a dedicated Valentine’s Day campaign. Having plenty of time to plan in advance allows brands to come up with something creative for their audiences. I wouldn’t worry about starting too early either. If consumers continue to seek value, being early to the game is better than being late — good value is good value. 

7. You suggest brands should market for all holidays, even those seemingly unrelated to their industry. What are some examples of brands successfully doing this ?

Talking about furry friends, the company Rocky Mountain Dog is running a Valentine’s Day campaign. One of their emails mentions, “Valentine’s Day isn’t just for humans.” This is a perfect example of a company taking full advantage of a nontraditional pet holiday. 

8. What last-minute marketing tactics can brands use to engage shoppers and drive sales in the final days before Valentine’s Day ?

In general, use urgency in your email and SMS. You can introduce the day and play into its friendly spirit. Here are a couple of ideas. 

1. Send a “Valentine’s gift” to your customers. A simple “Here’s a gift for you” email with a special discount can help you stand out and generate sales.

2. As I mentioned, think beyond couples. Not everyone is celebrating romance, but many are treating themselves, their pets, and their friends. To widen your audience, promote self-care, Galentine’s Day, or pet-focused gifts.

3. Offer instant gift options. For those who procrastinate, gift cards, e-gifts, and same-day pickup options make last-minute purchases easy. Promoting these alternatives can capture late-stage buyers who might otherwise skip the holiday.

4. Use urgency to generate last-minute sales. Remind customers that time is running out for Valentine’s gifts, whether for partners, friends, or themselves. Limited-time offers and “last chance” messaging are strong purchase incentives.

9. Beyond email, what other marketing channels (e.g., SMS, social media) are most effective for Valentine’s Day campaigns ?

All channels work well when done well. Social media is a nice option for those who have romance-related items to promote. The bold colors and easily identifiable content are easy to spot and stand out as users scroll. 

SMS works well across all product categories and at all times, especially closer to the holiday. However, SMS can easily be used in behavior-based automation, meaning brands can automatically retarget shoppers with text messages at high-intent stages of their journeys. Brands can even combine their email and SMS automations, creating a relevant, multi-channel consumer experience.

10. How do economic factors influence holiday marketing trends, and what strategies should brands adopt to remain competitive ?

We’d be naive to think they don’t, but this can be both a detriment and an advantage. When economic factors are challenging, and I would say now they are, consumers seek value. Value can mean product quality, price, customer service, or anything else that makes them feel confident in a brand and its products. 

Brands that run sales during the holiday period can appeal to consumers’ desire to find value. They can also create product bundles that help increase the average order value while making shoppers feel like they are getting more for less. For instance, think of a brand running a three-product bundle featuring one gift for them, one for you, and one for your pet — it’s a trifecta of love.

1. How can brands ensure their purpose-driven marketing efforts are perceived as authentic rather than performative ?

Authenticity in purpose-led marketing comes down to one simple rule: connect words to real, measurable action.

As we wrote in our article earlier this March, brands are often perceived as opportunistic when their values aren’t backed up by meaningful initiatives. Consumers today are not just listening to what you say; they’re watching what you do.

If your brand stands for sustainability, then back it up. Earn third-party certifications. Offset your carbon impact. Switch to compostable packaging. Don’t just talk the talk—walk the walk and show the receipts.

If you’re about empowering a community—say, runners—organise a free run club. Sponsor local races. Highlight real runners in your campaigns, not just influencers in athleisure.

Here are two brands that walk the talk—and saw both trust and sales grow because of it:

1. Patagonia – Their purpose is protecting the planet. They’ve donated 1% of sales to environmental causes for decades, offer free repairs to extend product life. That level of integrity only deepened customer loyalty—and kept them growing.
   
   
2. Tony’s Chocolonely – On a mission to make chocolate 100% slave-free, Tony’s backs up its promise with traceable supply chains, fair pricing for cocoa farmers, and hard-hitting education campaigns. The result? They’ve become the market leader in the Netherlands—and they’re expanding fast globally.
   

Purpose-led marketing works—but only when purpose drives your business decisions, not just your ads. Say less, do more, and let your impact speak for you.

2. How can brands effectively communicate their values without alienating certain segments of their audience ?

Let’s start with a truth no marketer should forget: no brand can—or should—try to please everyone.

When you’re clear about what you stand for, you naturally become more meaningful to the people who share those values. That’s how you build a strong community. Trying to water down your message to avoid offending anyone usually results in saying nothing at all.

That said, communicating your values doesn’t mean being aggressive or polarising for the sake of it. It means being consistent and true to your brand’s purpose—even if that means not everyone agrees with you. The goal isn’t to divide, it’s to align with the people who care about the same things you do.

Let’s look at a few examples:

1. Veja – The French sneaker brand built its identity around ethical production, transparency, and sustainability. Their materials are sourced responsibly, and they treat workers fairly. Not everyone’s willing to pay a premium for that—but Veja doesn’t try to win everyone over. They speak directly to conscious consumers, and that focus has made them a global success.
   
   
2. Oatly – They’ve taken bold, sometimes quirky stances on dairy, climate change, and food systems. While their tone isn’t for everyone, they’ve created a loyal tribe by speaking clearly, even cheekily, about what they believe in. And they’ve sparked a bigger cultural shift in how we think about plant-based food.

The key is knowing who your message is for. Speak to them clearly. Show up for them consistently. Let the rest opt out. And accept that your brand isn’t for everyone—and that’s exactly how the most iconic brands are built.

3. What are some of the most common mistakes companies make when implementing purpose-driven marketing?

1. Saying it without doing it.
   This is the most obvious and damaging mistake. When brands make big claims without backing them up, it feels shallow. Take Shein, for example. The brand has launched a “Shein Cares” initiative and released sustainability statements, but continues to produce thousands of new items daily under questionable labor and environmental practices. Consumers are quick to spot the disconnect.
   
   
2. Overhyping tiny efforts.
   Switching to paper bags or launching a single "eco" product line doesn’t make a brand sustainable. H&M’s Conscious Collection was a classic example. It was marketed as sustainable, but investigations showed the materials weren’t always traceable or meaningfully better for the environment—and the brand continued to churn out new collections weekly. Small steps are fine, but overstating their impact damages trust.
   
   
3. Being preachy or aggressive.
   Shaming people into caring rarely works. WWF, for instance, often uses fear-based messaging that leans heavily on guilt. While the urgency of climate issues is real, there are more empathetic and inclusive ways to invite people into the cause—especially for younger audiences who respond better to empowerment than blame.

5. Treating purpose like a campaign, not a commitment.
   Purpose-led marketing isn’t something you switch on for Earth Day and forget by June. Think of brands that change their logo to a rainbow for Pride Month but don’t support LGBTQ+ causes the rest of the year, and only in certain geographies. 
6. Trying to stand for everything.
   Some companies try to jump on every trending cause—from mental health to women’s rights to climate to racial justice—all at once. The result? A blurry message that feels opportunistic. Strong brands pick one or two causes that genuinely align with their business, and they go deep. Tony’s Chocolonely, as mentioned above, focuses solely on eradicating slavery from the cocoa industry—and their consistency makes them credible.

4. What role do influencers and brand ambassadors play in amplifying purpose-driven campaigns ?

Influencers and ambassadors can be powerful allies in purpose-driven marketing—but only when they truly believe in the message.

People follow them not just for products, but for who they are. At their best, they bring reach, trust, and relatability.

But here’s the catch: they have to be the right person. Many brands partner with influencers based on follower count or engagement, not values. That’s when things backfire.

The most effective partnerships happen when:

●     The influencer is already talking about the issue (mental health, sustainability, etc.)

●     They use the product in real life (or have at least tested it properly)

●     Their audience sees the brand as a natural fit—not just an ad

A great example is Who Gives A Crap, a toilet paper brand on a mission to provide everyone in the world access to toilets and safe drinking water by 2050, donating 50% of profits to the cause.
They’ve worked with comedians, content creators, and eco-lifestyle influencers who naturally use humour to talk about awkward topics like toilets. The tone is light, honest, and consistent with the brand—pure fun, purpose-led storytelling.

Choose partners who live the values, and your message will go further.

5. How can brands measure the ROI of purpose-driven marketing beyond just financial metrics ?

Let’s be clear: financial return still matters. It’s what allows the business to grow and continue making a positive impact. Purpose and profit aren’t in conflict—when done right, they reinforce each other.

As we mentioned in our article earlier this March, purpose-driven companies can outperform competitors by up to 300%. So this is also a smart long-term strategy.

Beyond direct sales, purpose-led marketing builds trust, loyalty, and emotional connection. That’s where ROI lives in the long run.

You can track that through:

●     Brand perception – Are people associating your brand with the values you stand for?

●     Advocacy – Are customers sharing your story, tagging you, recommending you to others?

●     Talent attraction – Are more people applying to work with you? Purpose doesn’t just drive sales—it attracts better people.

●     Partnerships – Are you being invited into meaningful conversations, collaborations, or campaigns with aligned organisations?

Look at Oddbox, a food-waste-fighting veg box company. Their purpose-led messaging helped them build a highly engaged community, leading to lower churn, more referrals, and high retention—all incredibly valuable.

Purpose-led marketing is what turns customers into advocates—people who don’t just buy, but believe.

6. What industries have seen the biggest impact from purpose-driven marketing initiatives ?

Purpose-led marketing has had a major impact across a wide range of industries.

Fashion and beauty were early movers. Brands like Pangaia have built strong followings by embedding sustainability and innovation into every part of their business—from recycled fabrics to supply chain transparency. They’ve shown that consumers will pay attention when the product and purpose align.

Fenty Beauty didn’t just say it was inclusive—it launched with 40+ shades and changed how the industry approached diversity. Their purpose (beauty for all) was made real through product and casting. The result? Category-defining success.

Food and beverage has also seen big shifts. Consumers are more conscious about what they eat and drink—and where it comes from. Grind turned something as ordinary as coffee pods into a stand against single-use plastic, with home-compostable pods and a refill system at the core of the product. Since launch, they’ve sold over 100 million pods, proving that sustainability, when built into the business model, can scale fast.

Across all these industries, the pattern is clear: when purpose is real, measurable, and tied to the product—it drives not just awareness, but loyalty, advocacy, and growth.