The wins we are seeing for clients...
- Content & Authority Link Strategies. Our clients are consistently seeing high growth from link authority strategies from high-reputation content sites and good internal linking/content.
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Short-form video on Reels, TikTok, and Shorts is driving real engagement and reach. We're pushing our customers to make more content like this with us - even 1-2 a week will significantly improve your audience size by tens of thousands.
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Email campaigns with simple, clear subject lines are holding strong and outperforming the industry average. Email is not dead, and you can make a killing on it. Yes, even in B2B or B2G - want to challenge us? Call me.
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Paid ads that call out customer problems directly are beating generic awareness campaigns. We are also retesting an aged strategy of going back to product-specific ads. These tanked for a while there for B2B service groups, but we're starting to see an increase there in performance. E-commerce is left out of this comment as product-specific ads have continued to be needed.
- Ads seem... down? We're working with customers to check the quantity/quality performance on their ads. We're noting across the board higher than usual ticket value in all verticals - and lower than YTD quantities.
These results are tied to the strategy we put in place late last year: authentic content, direct messaging, and leaning into the formats customers are actually consuming.
Stuff we noticed in the news...
Below are a few articles we thought you and your business should know about. Check these out and let us know your thoughts.
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Amazon rolls out a “creative partner” AI assistant inside Creative Studio — helps with research, storyboarding, display & video ads. LINK
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IAB lowers 2025 U.S. ad growth forecast — from ~7.3% to ~5.7%, citing economic and trade pressures. - LINK
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Reddit rolls out new AI-powered ad tools — “Reddit Insights” for trends + “Conversation Summary Add-ons” to show positive comments beneath ads. - LINK
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Small business goes viral using quick AI-assisted video — The Original Tamale Company created a 46-second video in ~10 minutes that got 22M+ views. LINK
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Meta to personalize ads from AI chats starting Dec 2025 — user interactions with generative AI tools will influence ad targeting. - LINK
Helpful takeaways if you are managing marketing yourself...
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Write for people, and be clear about what you want to solve. Clarity and usefulness always beat filler.
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Share your real expertise and process. Customers want to know how you work.
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Keep it short and valuable. Long blogs and overproduced videos are getting skipped.
- Use mixed media - video, writing, audio, etc...
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Test small and learn fast. One video, one ad, one email tweak can tell you more than a drawn-out campaign.
- Be willing to put money behind exposure and utilize ads to share your content.
What comes next?
We will keep tracking shifts in platforms, algorithms, and ad strategies. The goal is always the same... help our customers & viewers find real businesses and build digital reputation that lasts.
If you want us to review your campaigns or talk about what is working right now, reply, and we will set up a check in. These are odd times, and we're both excited and speculative about all that AI has the potential to bring.
Talk soon,
Jon
Founder + Principal, Animus Digital
office@animusdigital.co
(918) 480-5911
