Marketing

Major Airlines are now charging solo flyers up to 70% more; here are some tips on how you can avoid paying extra American Airlines, Delta, and United are reportedly charging more when you book by yourself as opposed to with a group or as a couple. The reason? Revenue managers believe you are more likely to be a business traveler when flying by yourself, as opposed to a group more probably leisure customers. There is nothing new about airlines targeting routes and timing that are lower in price elasticity. I have noted for decades that you pay a big premium for a same day round trip on European business routes for example. In the USA, the "Saturday night Stayover" rule has unlocked significantly lower fares under the assumption that a business flyer will not want to give up their weekend away from home. Now what about this "solo flyer pays more" new "enhancement?" The frequent flyer blog site "View from the Wing" provides examples on AA routes out of Charlotte, where identical timings return the following fare quote: $511 per person if booked for two people $765 for one person Continuing to look at AA and flights out of Charlotte, 2 passengers flying together in August to Fort Meyers pay $210 each, while a solo flyer pays $422. In other words, "1 for the price of 2," ++! The Economist noted this week that "American is deploying the technique the most enthusiastically, sparking outrage in the travel blogosphere." USA Today in their business travel column expanded: "We stumbled upon a new pricing strategy that was not very widespread but no less troubling at the nation’s three largest airlines." As businesses watch their T&E budgets more carefully than ever before, and managers are hesitant to spend on flights, here are a few suggestions that the creative frequent flyers have come up with: 1) Book for two passengers 2) Call the airline and split the PNR (Passenger Record) in two 3) Cancel the second passenger and refund the ticket Note that this could lead to an audit however and you being required to pay the fare difference, which is far from an optimal outcome. A better approach: 1. Use flight search engines in the "incognito" mode (Google Flights I find to be especially good for this.) 2. Avoid airlines that are applying the surcharge (so especially AA at the moment it seems.) 3. Understand if you can arrange to fly with a colleague (if possible.) If you are planning overseas trips, note it is thought to be more expensive if you reserve your ticket on a Sunday (regardless of day of travel,) and/or if you use an iOS device. Why? Handheld device (especially Apple) customers are thought to be less price sensitive it seems. Lastly, consider alternatives: for example, in Europe and much of Asia, High Speed Rail is far lower impact environmentally. If you are organizing a conference, select locations where fares are lower. What are your approaches to saving on business travel? Photo: Shot on my iPhone. Strategy is Mastery.

I have always believed if you nail one acquisition channel well, it is enough to scale in the first 1-2 years. And that will most often always be Meta as true incremental demand gen happens here Our entire growth in mixer grinders in the last 7-8 months ( from 0 to about 4 crs/month) have come only executing Meta ads ruthlessly The broad goal for us has been to pass on enough signals back to Meta so that Meta can continuously reach out to new relevant in-market audiences. And then have extremely strong creatives that ensures hook rate, hold rate and video views are high so that the in market audience also gets to understand the product USPs Two things that helped here which you can also implement today itself in your campaigns 1. Smart Exclusions from prospecting campaigns- brings highest incremental sales and relevant reach While custom audiences (e.g. video viewers, website visitors, past purchasers etc) are typically used for retargeting, you use them as exclusions in your prospecting campaigns. This ensures your budget isn’t wasted on people already in your funnel and forces Meta’s algorithm to seek fresh, in-market prospects. For example: Exclude recent website visitors (e.g., last 30 days) and past buyers to focus solely on new users who resemble your converters but haven’t yet engaged. This sharpens Meta’s machine learning to prioritize users showing intent without prior brand exposure, increasing the likelihood of reaching active seekers. Significantly helps in increasing new relevant reach 2. First Party Data for Algorithmic Training Wheels Instead of optimizing solely for purchases on the website ( the number of conversions on the website can be limited), pair the website conversions with the Conversions API to feed precise, first-party data back to Meta, enhancing audience modeling even with limited pixel signals due to privacy changes. This data can come from your CRM data, Amazon data etc. In our case, we get most of the first party data as buyers register their warranty for 1 year additional warranty With additional buyer data, the campaigns come out of learning way faster Try doing both of the above things. Your campaigns will scale profitably as well as bring incremental sales and reach

I just had one of those calls again yesterday. A prospective client told me their fee structure was 15%. I had to stop them right there. A new prospect walked me through their horror stories with previous recruiting firms. No communication.  Poor candidates. Searches that dragged on for months with zero results. Then they mentioned their fee structure: 15%. I had to pause and ask them a simple question: "If a firm is willing to work for those rates, what does that tell you about their priorities?" Here's the reality most companies miss. When you pay bottom-dollar fees, you're not just getting budget service. You're getting firms that can't afford to focus on your search because they must spread themselves thin across dozens of low-margin deals just to keep the lights on. We start at 25% minimum. Not because we're greedy, but because quality work requires focused attention.  When we commit to a search, we don't give up until it's done. That level of service isn’t sustainable at discount rates. The math is simple: Pay for cheap recruiting, get cheap results, and high attrition. Pay for quality, get candidates who actually move the needle. In the long run, the "expensive" option is often the one that saves you money.

Your LinkedIn post doesn’t start when you hit publish. It starts 30 minutes before. Most people post and pray. (And hey—prayer is great. Just maybe not about LinkedIn 😅) Here’s the engagement strategy I teach clients who want visibility, leads, and real traction: 1️⃣ The 30-Minute Pre-Engagement Rule (a.k.a. Content Seeding) Don’t just drop your post cold. Warm up the feed. Before you publish, comment on 5–10 posts from people you want your content to reach. When you engage with them, you trigger LinkedIn to surface your upcoming post in their feed once it goes live. 📌 Pro Tip: Prioritize → Your ideal audience → Past engagers → Active accounts with good reach (they help amplify you if they engage) This is how you train the algorithm to pay attention. 2️⃣ The 15-Minute Post-Boost Once you publish, your post enters a test phase. It’s tracking: → How fast you get engagement → Whether people stick around (dwell time) → If the comments spark back-and-forth conversation So when the comments start coming in, don’t ghost. Reply quickly. Ask questions. Keep the thread alive. Every interaction signals to LinkedIn: “This post has value.” 3️⃣ The First 3-Hour Window Is Critical Your post gets a short trial run. If it performs, it gets pushed to a wider audience. If not, it gets buried. Remember: LinkedIn is in the business of keeping people on the platform. It rewards content that does the same. Your job in this window:  → Keep the engagement active  → Drop a thoughtful comment on your own post to extend the conversation.  → Send it to a few trusted peers and say, “Would love your POV on this.” (Don't spam though. Make it relevant.) Bonus: Save outbound DMs for people who actually care about the topic.  You’ll get better feedback and avoid annoying your network. Most people treat LinkedIn like a billboard. Top performers treat it like a system. Which of these tactics do you already use? Which one will you try next? 👇

I ran an experiment. On Saturday, I wrote 100 comments (took about 2.5 hours). It generated 284,070 views. I saw a noticeable spike in great ICP connection requests, profile views, newsletter subscribers, and two demos that noted they checked out DoWhatWorks after I engaged on their post. Here is what makes commenting interesting… 1) No frequency cap. Comment as much as you want, and there’s no diminishing returns on impressions. 2) Nuanced comments build name recognition. People appreciate it when you add genuine value. A thoughtful comment that expands on the post, shares your experience, or surfaces a new facet of the discussion positions you perfectly for an ABM play. 3) You can include links. While links in posts often hurt reach, I haven’t seen that penalty on comment reach. 4) Quality drives views. Commenting on high-reach profiles boosts potential impressions, but only if your comment earns engagements and stays at the top. I’ve left cursory comments on viral posts that gathered fewer than 500 views because they added little value and got buried. 5) Avoid AI-generated comments. AI comments erode trust, and they come off as vapid. We all know when people are doing them. They probably get minimal reach. 6) Start back-and-forth conversations. LinkedIn rewards genuine conversations around the post in the comments. In the thread featured in this picture, I had 3 comments that collectively drove over 8,000 impressions. And not to have people getting crazy with being the "last word" but the last comment in a thread is the one visible by default to scrollers and does seem to get 30-40% more views on average. Has anyone else tried something similar? What were your results?

Retail Brands Spending $10M+ on Google Ads: Here’s Where to Look First Big budgets hide big leaks. Most large retail brands running Google Search and Shopping think they have spend under control. Smart Bidding is on. PMAX is live. Dashboards look healthy. ROAS checks the box. But under the hood, margin slips away. Not in flashy places, but in the quiet details that get ignored while teams chase new campaigns. When I audit a large retail ad account, I don’t start with pretty charts or last month’s CPA slides. I go straight to the five basics that quietly decide if you’re scaling profit or wasting budget you’ll never claw back. 1. Feed Health Your Merchant Center feed is your real storefront. If your product titles are sloppy, GTINs missing, stock data outdated or categories messy, Smart Bidding cannot fix it. A weak feed means your best products stay buried. It is not glamorous work, but it is always the first place I find hidden margin. 2. Branded Overlap Many big retailers pay for the same branded clicks twice. PMAX scoops up branded terms while exact match Search campaigns bid on them too. Broad match expansions grab brand queries on top. Looks fine on a volume chart, but you are paying extra for what you would likely win organically or with a fraction of the spend. Fixing this is simple. Fence brand terms in PMAX, tighten negatives, monitor overlap weekly. I have seen this one change claw back six figures overnight. 3. Geo and Device Leaks Are you paying for clicks in zip codes you do not even deliver to? Is mobile CPA drifting up while the blended CPA hides the bleed? Small geo and device gaps do not matter at small scale, but at $10M+ yearly spend, they add up fast. 4. Bad or Duplicate Signals Smart Bidding works when the data is real. One duplicate conversion tag doubles your CPA overnight. Tracking weak leads as real conversions tells the algorithm to chase junk. The more you automate, the more critical clean signal hygiene becomes. 5. Offline Conversion Gaps Most retailers do not push in-store or phone sales back to Google Ads. That means Smart Bidding only learns half the profit story. Connecting offline conversions is one of the easiest ROAS lifts at scale. Why It Matters More brands trust Smart Bidding and PMAX to just work, but AI is only as smart as what you feed it. Google will not tell you that you are overspending on overlap or tracking duplicate sales. Your margin lives in the boring checks that slides never show. If you are managing a big retail budget, I've put together a short video showing exactly where to look and what to fix. Additionally, you can gain access to Guide/ Report (Latest in Ads Post Google Marketing Live Event 2025) and get complimentary ad account audit. If you want these, or a quick check of your feed, signals and overlaps, comment 'Interested' or DM me. I will share it with you, no sales pitch. Better spend beats bigger spend every time.

These 5 mistakes are so common in paid media scaling, yet avoiding them can save your entire marketing budget. For consumer brands, 80-90% of marketing budgets are now dedicated to paid media, but most CMOs scale too aggressively without the right foundation. 1. Skipping Measurement Infrastructure - They scale before attribution, tracking, and analytics are in place. That means they can’t optimize or defend spend when results get questioned. 2. Ignoring Incrementality - They rely solely on platform ROAS, missing the bigger picture. Without proper holdout testing or MMM, it’s impossible to know what’s truly driving sales. 3. Scaling All Channels Equally - This is a tricky one. While you do want to diversify, you want to make sure your brand is ready to tackle additional channels. Double down on what's working, before you move onto what's trending. 4. Blind to Rising Acquisition Costs - Customer acquisition costs have surged between 25% to 40% depending on the channel across Meta, YouTube, and podcast advertising. Yet most CMOs keep scaling spend without adjusting their channel mix or bid strategies to account for this big shift. 5. Underestimating Creative Fatigue - They don’t refresh ads fast enough, assuming more spend = more results. But stale creative leads to rising CPAs and shrinking returns. The bottom line: Scale smart, not fast. Build the foundation first, then accelerate with confidence.

The Google Ads playbook from 2020 is outdated in 2025. The game has fundamentally changed. After auditing 1,000+ accounts and managing millions in ad spend, we're seeing advertisers desperately trying to fix their campaigns when the problem is much bigger. CPCs have increased 133% year-over-year. You have more competition out spending you than ever. And Google's "optimization" is actually pushing advertisers toward their inventory, not your goals. The solution isn't more campaign tweaks. It's a complete shift in approach: 1. Broaden your campaign testing - Standard shopping might outperform Performance Max for your business. Manual CPC might work better than smart bidding for your situation. Test everything. 2. Rethink your metrics - The ROAS or CPA that worked last year might be impossible now. Analyze your full business model to determine what's actually profitable today. 3. Optimize post-click experiences - Your website speed, checkout process, customer service, and review management are now critical differentiators when ad costs are higher. This is separating the professionals from the amateurs. While everyone complains about Google, the real winners are building more resilient business models. Comment "GUIDE" below to receive our latest framework for adapting to the new Google Ads reality. (Please connect with me so I can send it directly) #GoogleAds #PPC #SEA #SEM

I’ve run 7 SEO businesses, partnered in 6, and exited 5… Here are 4 lessons I learned too late: 👇 1. Product-Market Fit Comes Before SEO SEO can't fix a bad offer. Period. Before you write a single line of content: - Validate demand by running small ad campaigns  - Talk to real customers and identify what pain they’re paying to solve - Ensure your LTV exceeds your CAC Traffic means nothing without conversions. 2. Build a Data Machine Most SEO decisions are made based on gut feelings, random blog posts, or what worked 5 years ago. - Run single-variable tests  - Build a trusted network to share findings - Make decisions off real test data Even when a Google update hits, you won't panic. Just go back to the data and pivot. 3. Diversify Sooner Than Feels Comfortable If 100% of your income relies on a single client, site, or strategy, you're always one update away from disaster. - Build multiple traffic sources (SEO + email + social) - Launch a second site or offer   - Acquire and build assets that you own 4. Think like an entrepreneur, not an SEO My biggest growth happened when I stopped thinking like an SEO technician and started thinking like a business owner. - Build systems and processes for everything - Document what works so you can delegate - Free yourself from daily tasks to focus on strategy - Hire specialists rather than generalists - Focus on profit, not vanity metrics like DA or traffic By focusing on the needle-moving activities, I was able to scale from a one-man operation to 100+ employees across multiple businesses.

My fourth trip to China left me with a renewed sense of awe and insight. Each visit brings new learnings, but this time, the changes in how Chinese sellers are approaching Amazon really stood out. Here are the key takeaways: 1️⃣ From Product Sellers to Brand Builders Chinese sellers are evolving. I now see a clear divide between “product sellers” and “brand sellers”. The old-school approach of managing based on ACOS and TACOS is giving way to a new generation of sellers who prioritize growth and ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). These brand-focused sellers are building lasting businesses, not just chasing volume. 2️⃣ AI is Leveling the Playing Field Many of the challenges Chinese sellers have historically faced are now being solved through AI tools. Sellers are using AI to refine listings, enhance images, and craft product pages that truly resonate with customers. The result? A better customer experience and more polished brand presence. 3️⃣ Temu is Still a Thing, But... Temu may be popular, but the smart Chinese brands are recognizing that cheap products don’t build profitable businesses in the long run. Many sellers are realizing that the real value lies in building quality brands, not simply flooding the market with low-cost goods. It’s a big shift, and those who are making it are now focused on premium products. I met one brand that made a dramatic shift—from low-margin electronics to selling heavy, premium outdoor furniture. Talk about a 180-degree pivot! 4️⃣ Brand Building Meets Performance Marketing It’s no longer just about ACOS—brands are finally recognizing the importance of balancing brand-building with performance marketing. The best sellers understand that long-term growth comes from a combination of brand recognition and smart, data-driven performance tactics. 5️⃣ AMC is Still Underutilized—But Not for Long I’m excited to see that AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) is still flying under the radar for many sellers, both in China and the U.S. But that’s about to change. With recent updates, AMC for Sponsored Ads is poised to explode in 2025. Sellers who tap into this tool will have a major advantage in expanding their reach and fine-tuning their advertising strategies. Expect to see more wins from Chinese brands leveraging AMC. 6️⃣ The Next Wave of Generative AI I got a sneak peek at what I would call the next wave of tech: generative AI and chat-based systems built from the ground up. Early tests are encouraging, with brands able to scale ad spend while maintaining solid ROAS. As these systems improve, we’ll see Chinese brands using Generative AI to gain an edge in both marketing and operations. The future is smart, and it’s here. A huge thank you to Lin (Susan) Zhai, Diana Lai, and the entire team for your incredible hospitality during this trip. Thanks also to my fellow travelers Jason Cohen, Jem McIlveen, Andrew Roth, and Yong Sohn for making this trip even more memorable.