A few years ago. I had the famed author Tom Peters on my podcast. He was retiring and had written his last book.

Two years later, he was back on the show with another book!

“What happened?” I asked. “I thought you had retired!”

“I’m still desperate to get my ideas out,” he said. “I don’t think enough people have heard me yet. In fact, I think the best authors and speakers have this quality — they’re desperate to get their ideas out into the world.”

And, I believe this is true and wise. I feel the same way. I am driven to publish because I’m desperate to get ideas into the world that can help people … and not enough people are listening.

The math works like this: A respectable open rate for a newsletter is about 20%. I am fortunate to have eager and loyal readers so my open rate is typically above 40%. But that means that 60% of the people who love me most, my subscribers, may miss what I had to say that week.

So I feel desperate to try again.

This post is different. It’s a reflection on the ideas I’ve repeated often, and yet I think most people haven’t heard me yet.

Like Tom Peters, I will probably keep trying until the end (whatever that might be). Here we go with some primary ideas. I’ve provided links in the posts for more information if you want to read more (please do).

1. Your personal brand is your last line of defense against AI

I’ve been shouting this from the rooftops for years. In a world saturated with AI slop, the only messages that will rise above the noise carry meaning. You have to mean something to your audience.

Look, we’re in a tough world. AI might be nipping at the heels of your skill set or career. But if you’re KNOWN in your industry, more calls will be returned, more doors will open, more opportunities will come your way. Investing in your personal brand is like making deposits in an insurance policy for your career.

In any message, the “from” line is more important than the “subject” line.

Best resource: My book KNOWN, the world’s bestselling book on personal branding.

2. Give in to the bots.

The introduction of AI as our friend / co-worker / companion / enemy heightens the emotion in our marketing discussions, but perhaps nothing has fanned the outrage more than the idea that AI only exists by stealing our content.

Protecting our content from AI has become a global obsession.

But our own businesses and careers face an existential crisis if we are NOT seen by the bots. We have to put our egos aside and recognize that yes, it hurts that Ai is stealing our content, but in the long-term, our businesses are in a better position if we are in the game.

Give it away, give it away, give it away now.

3. Universities need a dramatic and immediate overhaul

I’ve taught at a university for 15 years and have lectured at dozens of colleges that use my books as texts. I care about these institutions, and they are in big, big trouble.

It gets down to this. Colleges are no longer the gatekeepers of knowledge. AI makes intelligence abundant and free. Colleges need to radically overhaul their systems, and in this post, I show how it is possible.

For most career options, it no longer makes sense to fork over so much money for four-year degrees that are becoming obsolete. Instead of the traditional four-year model, I proposed an affordable lifelong learning university subscription.

The university can still have a role in our future careers, but it must start an urgent transformation now.

4. Competence doesn’t cut it

Over the past year or so I’ve had to dig deep to discern how humans will survive and thrive in world of AI content and marketing … if at all.

Many marketers and creators are perilously close to crossing The Milli Vanilli Line. They’re not enabled by AI. They’re using it to fake their presence, their careers, their influence.

I went on a global journey to discover how the best creatives were rising above the noise in a way that was uniquely and sustainably human. The result is my book Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World.

If you’re merely competent, you’re about to be replaced. The key idea is creating ideas that are truly disruptive. This is a book of hope filled with hundreds of ideas, inspiring case studies, and a framework for human effort to survive in the AI Era:

• Disrupt the story
• Disrupt where the story is told
• Disrupt who tells the story

5. It’s time for ethically-sourced marketing

Every digital ad dollar we spend fuels algorithms we know are harming people, chewing up the environment, and stoking hate between neighbors.

It pains me to write about this. I mean, I’m part of the problem, too. But it’s time to start this conversation because the traditional marketing approach is at a breaking point.

• AI-driven amplification of addiction
• Deep fake, misinformation, the decline of trust
• Easy AI content requires more energy consumption
• U.S. Surgeon General’s warnings on youth mental health and social media

We can’t keep burying our heads in the sand. It’s time to consider what it means to lead and sponsor ethically-sourced marketing.

6. The False Hope of Content and SEO

From Content Shock to the creator economy and SEO scams, I’ve tried to communicate realistic expectations for content marketing.

I’ve worked with dozens of diverse companies, and nearly always, they’re producing content because they’re afraid not to. Content marketing and a storytelling industrial complex seem to have taken on a life of their own.

Without a strategy and realistic, achievable goals, these random acts of content suck up time and contribute to an unwinnable content arms race. Breaks my heart to see this massive waste. And it’s getting worse in the AI Era.

There is a place for content and SEO. But marketing does not begin with TikTok videos, podcasts, and LinkedIn posts. It begins with strategy.

7. You’re not in control of the marketing message

The overarching theme of my popular book Marketing Rebellion is that most marketers are asleep and not connected to real consumer realities. The foremost concern is thinking that your marketing team is in charge of your marketing message.

A brand used to be what we said it was. Now, it’s what other people say you are (online, in reviews, in posts from influencers).

This trend is simply accelerating as employees walk off the job when they disagree with commercial contracts, and organized rage farms decide to take down brands at will. 

8. Community is the future of marketing.

In 2018, I began predicting that brand communities would play a bigger role in mainstream marketing efforts. I dedicated an entire chapter to this idea in Marketing Rebellion and believed this was probably the most important chapter in the book.

Then the pandemic happened, and this idea accelerated as online communities became the primary form of human connection. People dropped me notes saying my predictions were coming true before our eyes.

I decided this was important enough to devote an entire book to the subject: Belonging to the Brand: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy.

A bold claim. Look around. I’m right. Dive in.

9. Momentum is a process

A great deal of my consulting practice is devoted to people and companies that are stuck. You can’t count on luck to rise to the next level. You need momentum, and that can be managed.

There is a whole field of sociology dedicated to momentum, but it hasn’t really been applied to marketing before. I did that for the first time in a book called Cumulative Advantage … in hindsight, a terrible title, but a beloved book nevertheless.

Having an idea, career, or business stuck in the mud doesn’t have to be destiny. There is a process behind successful people.

10. Influencer Marketing is just beginning

I suppose I was a pioneering voice in the area of influencer marketing, writing the first book on influencer marketing in 2012 — before anybody was even talking about it.

There has probably been no idea more battered, misunderstood, and left for dead.

But here’s what the pundits miss. An influencer isn’t just some kid hawking an energy drink. They are regarded as a trusted friend — a meaningful parasocial relationship.

And in a time filled with misinformation, polarization, and deep fakes, we will want to buy from trusted friends more than ever. Influencer marketing is jsut beginning.

11. Awe as marketing strategy

Let’s connect a few dots. In the AI Era, we’ll long for human connection. We are already in a period of unprecedented isolation, loneliness, and depression.

Bringing people together for experiences isn’t just good business, it’s great brand-building.

Recently, I gave a speech in New York and people were cheering and laughing out loud. I asked them, “If you were watching this online at home, would you have the same, vocal reaction to my talk? No. They wouldn’t. The most I could hope for would probably be a muted chuckle here and there.

What’s the difference? When we bring people together, it creates an emotional contagion of awe called collective effervescence. These great feelings transfer to the brand.

What would it look like to have a marketing strategy of “add more awe?” You can read more about this in the Audacious book.

12. The Most Human Company Wins ™

Perhaps my most durable argument, a theme that runs through every book, blog post, and speech — The Most Human Company Wins.

This is not a Pollyannaish “Go, Humans!” cheer, and I’m not anti-tech. I’m pro-humanity. I’m a realist. The paradox is that as automation rises, human connection becomes more valuable, not less.

By the way, going forward, the most human company isn’t necessarily all “human.” It will undoubtedly be a combination of AI trained on best practices and human connection.

Add your smile, your face, your personality. Add your story, your passion, your compassion at every customer touchpoint. The most human company wins.

So, those are a few ideas that burn in my heart every day. If you follow me, you’ll probably hear about them again because these ideas help people, and I’m desperate to get them out into the world.

Have you thought about the ideas and stories that you’re desperate to get into the world? Reflecting on that is a useful first step in building your own personal brand.

See? There I go again : )

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Illustrations a combination of prompts from Midjourney and Claude.

The post A dozen huge marketing ideas sitting right in front of you appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

On every post I’ve written for at least two years, I’ve included a badge that states: “100% Human Content.” And this is, too (as you’ll see) but I used AI to compose most of it. I’d like to use this as a teachable moment on a smart way to use AI.

This post is about my annual Uprising Retreat. Nearly everyone there noted that this event is impossible to describe unless you’re there, but I’ll try. It’s a gathering of curious and brilliant people who openly share and teach one another, creating a bond that fosters career relevance. We also have a lot of fun in a breathtakingly beautiful place.

Now, during this event, I am psychologically and emotionally immersed. There is no way I can capture all the great highlights. This is where AI comes in.

Many of the attendees used the Plaud voice recorder to record and transcribe the talks. Dr. Matt Wilkinson uploaded these transcripts to Notebook LM, where we could all slice and dice the commentary. I used this to create a first draft of a highlight post and then used Claude to massage it a bit and put it in my voice.

So … what you are about to read is fully human content, parsed and assembled by AI.

The gift of uncertainty

Before each event, I send out a survey to let attendees prioritize the agenda. This year, one word kept popping up as they wrote about their careers: Uncertainty. So, I set the tone for the event with a brand new talk called “The Gift of Uncertainty.”

We are living in a “poly crisis.” Not just a hard moment. A genuinely disorienting one, where the norms and traditions and even laws that used to orient us feel like they’re shifting in real time. We are in a world of malignant uncertainty.

I opened the Uprising by saying this isn’t a flaw in the system — it’s our fuel, especially if you’re in marketing. I encouraged everyone to explore the “courage dividends” that come from overcoming fear and acting on opportunity,  even when the outcome is uncertain.

We live in chaos. But that sets the stage for hope. And leaders who can genuinely dispense hope — not spin, not optimism theater, but real grounded possibility — are going to matter enormously in the years ahead.

The agentic economy is here, and most people aren’t ready 

Dan Nestle, Dr. Matt Wilkinson, and Brian Piper built the technical foundation for the event with a live demonstration of what an AI-orchestrated workflow actually looks like end-to-end. They showed how they used Gemini, Claude, and other tools in parallel to explore every angle of a new product launch.

They laid out the technical reality clearly: We are moving from B2B and B2C toward an agent-to-agent economy. Your customers will soon have personal AI agents filtering what they see. You will have agents producing content. The question is whether there’s anything human left in the middle.

Brian introduced what he called the “human-in-the-loop sandwich” — and the image stuck with me. Your unique expertise and stories form the foundation. AI synthesizes and organizes. But human judgment sits at the top, as the final filter. Strip that out and you get what everyone is starting to call AI slop.

Dan made a point I think is genuinely underappreciated: keep your intellectual property separate from your tools. Your brand missions, your frameworks, your SOPs — those belong in a tool-agnostic library you can plug into whatever model is performing best this month. Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT. The models change. Your thinking shouldn’t have to change with them.

Matt demonstrated a system that turns static buyer personas into interactive AI simulations. Impressive. But he noted something that grounded the whole presentation: the real reason people show up to an event is still the humans in the room. No simulation replaces that.

The scariest AI risk isn’t replacement. It’s surrender.

Dr. Jasmine Gruia-Gray named something I think we all feel but don’t say out loud. She opened with a line that landed hard: “One day I couldn’t tell which parts of my thinking were mine.”

She cited a Wharton study where roughly 73% of participants followed faulty AI advice — not because they couldn’t tell it was wrong, but because the model was confident, and they stopped checking. That’s cognitive surrender. AI doesn’t replace your thinking. It keeps you from noticing you’ve already stopped thinking.

Her solution is a Socratic framework she calls BRACED — boundary testing, reversal from stakeholder, assumption surfacing, counter-hypothesis, disconfirming evidence, decision with tradeoffs. The specifics matter less than the principle. She ran it as a live game called Prompt Arena, where the goal wasn’t to get a better AI output. It was to build better thinking habits. That distinction is the whole ballgame right now.

The body knows things the brain ignores

Nicole Donnelly, the founder of Hello Moxie, gave what I thought was the most unexpected talk of the event. She’s been studying the intersection of trauma, workaholism, and leadership — and her argument is that most of our professional systems reward us for managing our bodies like machines. We optimize for output. We suppress the signals that slow us down. And we pay for it in creativity, in empathy, in the quality of our decisions.

We don’t need to move faster. We need to stop long enough to think. Embodiment is the last moat.

You can see her TEDx talk here.

Safe marketing compounds irrelevance

Jason Dressel, CEO of The History Factory, pushed back on what he called “confidence porn” — the performance of authority that substitutes for actual expertise. The market is correcting for that. People are hungry for real knowledge delivered through real stories.

His framework is simple: great stories need purposeful characters, a three-act structure built around conflict, and what he calls touchstones — the specific language and images that make a world feel real. Stories are 22 times more memorable than talking points. That’s not a preference. It’s neuroscience.

John Kowalski of BYK-Gardner Instruments said something I want to stitch on a pillow: safe marketing compounds irrelevance. He told the story of a company whose bear-resistant trash can failed spectacularly in a field test — and turned that failure into an unforgettable brand. The gap between what an industry expects and what an audience actually craves is where brand equity gets built. He called it the Awe Gap. I’m going to keep using that term.

Emotion is the experience. Full stop.

Stacy Sherman of Doing CX Right made a case that I think is more important than ever. As AI ingests public sentiment at scale, every micro-moment in the customer journey builds or erodes a ledger. The failed QR code. The boring hold music. The email that was obviously a form letter. These small failures accumulate, and AI systems are now reading that accumulated sentiment to rank brands.

Dana Malstaff, CEO of BOSS MOM, added a critical nuance on vulnerability — the kind that actually builds connection versus the kind that undermines authority. Her distinction: share your scars, not your wounds. Processed experiences with a lesson attached. Not active pain that you’re still in the middle of. Amen to that!

Dana also led a session on the future of brand communities, driving home the point that the best communities emerge from a dissatisfaction with the status quo. What do you want to change in the world?

Trust is the only distribution strategy that scales

Sarah Stahl, VP Marketing for Lake.com, shared how a startup resort hit $2 million in revenue on a $30,000 budget by out-trusting rather than out-spending. The mechanism was micro-creators with real proximity to real audiences. Sixty-eight percent of consumers trust a creator over a brand. That number should reorganize your marketing budget.

Chad Parizman of Ader Communications entertained everyone with a brief analysis of predictive markets and the potential dangers of addictive betting markets.

His argument was that prediction markets — platforms where people bet on real-world outcomes rather than company stocks — represent an underutilized seam for brands. 8.5 million monthly users, 25 trades per day. The conversations already happening around these markets are data-rich, audience-specific, and almost entirely untouched by brand strategy. The brands that figure out how to own those conversations are sitting on something.

It was the right mix of mind-blowing information and entertainment to end the day.

The future of content marketing

What an honor it was to sit side by side with the legendary Joe Pulizzi and hold court on the future of content marketing. Over the years, Joe and I have not always agreed but we have always been friends. As always, this was a spicy, energetic, and insightful 90 minutes.

Joe and I talked about what he calls the Trust Portfolio — and I think it’s one of the most practical ideas to come out of the event. Don’t bet everything on a single brand voice. Build a diversified network of employee creators. Give them room to be specific, to be themselves, to be a little weird. The marketing team becomes a media operations hub. The employees become the signal that cuts through the synthetic noise.

Our main debate centered around the most likely role of humanity in an AI-dominant content world. Joe thinks the window is closing. I think human art will persist. We’ll have to meet again in a few years to see what happens.

The future of your brand

Sarah Neely of Signal Swell has presented several times over the years and always has a fresh and relevant message. This year, she updated her core word-of-mouth marketing wisdom with a spin for the AI Age. She introduced a new framework — the Five C’s of AI Discoverability.

• Clarity
• Conversation
• Current
• Credible
• Composition

Mary Lague of Pilot 44 ran a foresight exercise that’s worth sitting with. If AI agents are mediating $3-5 trillion in commerce by 2036, and culture has fragmented into hyper-niche communities, what signals should we be watching now?

She hosted an interactive exercise that let every attendee create a vision of their own brand emerging from a set of megatrends such as brand communities and virtual humans.

But here’s the best part

These highlights are only the tip of the iceberg. Most attendees will tell you that most of the learning came from questions and answers, small group discussions (led by Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez, Lauren Colbert, Alice Ferris, and Chelsea Rae Stuck), breakout sessions on branding and personal branding, and late-night conversations at the bar.

For example, here are some takeaways from several attendees:

“I learned to not just embrace uncertainty, but to be grounded in it.”

“The biggest shift wasn’t a tactic. It was realizing that staying still long enough to understand what’s happening is often more powerful than reacting quickly to what’s changing.”

“Growth starts to feel heavy when nothing is compounding. That was the moment I realized the issue isn’t effort, it’s what the effort is building toward.”

Sarah Stahl, Founder, Market Movers

“Community creates the space for people to feel safe enough to move toward the future.”

“What do we hold onto and what do we release — that is our wisdom.”

Brian W Piper, Founder of AIreFlow Solutions

Melanie Borden, Author, “Theatre of the Mind” · Founder, The Borden Group

Mike Carr, Cofounder of John13.org &  Autism Labs

“When Mary Lague said 44% of Gen Z workers try to sabotage their company’s AI, it reordered my worldview. Leveraging AI is far more than mastering prompts and learning tools. It also involves helping people understand and work through massive change, many fear or don’t understand, so they seek to control it, apparently often to the detriment of their employer.”

“As Mark Schaefer said, leaders dispense hope. And when he exhorted us to create pockets of hope, order, and meaning, it landed as a clarion call to action for me and my business.”

Dan Christ, Owner and founder of Dan Christ Digital Services

“It’s possible not to be completely freaked out and overwhelmed about AI.”

Lisa Kohn, International Speaker, LisaKohn.com

“When you can’t tell if you’ve become part of the AI hive mind, you realize you’ve done it to yourself. Jasmine Gruia-Gray’s session on cognitive surrender was a moment that turned the conversation inward. While every other session was about forces changing the world around us and how to respond, she asked what we might be doing to our own thinking in the process.”

“Mark opened by making the case that uncertainty is the entry point for original thinking, and John Kowalski’s awe gap session reinforced it from a different angle. Safe marketing compounds irrelevance. The seam, the real opportunity, is in the unexpected.”

Elizabeth Humphries, Marketing Strategist, Market Your Marketing

“I was in awe of the people in the room at Uprising! Inspiring and engaging. It reminded me of the importance of presence and being fully present at an event like this will allow you to get the most out of your experience. If you’re distracted and disengaged, you could miss something that could change your life.”

Sid Meadows, President of The Collaborative Network and Host of The Trend Report Podcast

“The jaw-dropping moment for me was when I was encouraged to break through a self-limiting belief about what type of speaking engagements I could get paid for. For the first time in 25 years, I saw a path forward to market myself.”

Mike Garrison, founder of Values Based Mindset and author of Can I Borrow Your Car?

“Leaders dispense hope… giving your team, your customers, and your industry permission to believe something better is possible. When you stop selling features and start offering a vision worth following, you stop being a vendor and become the reason people show up.”

“The sheer volume of knowledge, expertise, and insight in this room was mind-blowing.”

John Kowalski, Disruptive Awe Architect, Disruptive Awe

“Our humanity is being stripped from us. Each talk pointed back to specific actions we can take to be more human, including choosing to be hopeful, more discerning, actively cultivating community by creating spaces where people feel valued, and reframing failure as experimentation. The more we lean into these things, the more we will become the trusted leaders and brands of the future.”

“Nanocommunities of 40 or fewer will be the future! This affirmed our company’s strategy. Scale is not always the answer.”

Nicole Donnelly, Founder, Hello Moxie

“Personal consequence is the real work. The breakout conversations are where ideas become valuable because they become personal. The unique element of The Uprising is that we get to intentionally take the time to unpack it and ask: What does it mean for me now?”

“Malignant Uncertainty” looms over livelihoods. The time needed (and spent) to process this feeling, with other smart folks, became the difference-maker.

“The Uprising had a contagion of bravery and a level of openness that elevated everyone.”

Lauren Colbert, Principal—Strategic Facilitator of Strategy, Innovation, & Collective Intelligence at Filament

“The fireside chat between Mark Schaefer and Joe Pulizzi reframed how I think about trust at scale. Mark mentioned that Cisco had trained more than 10,000 employees to speak on behalf of the brand — certified, equipped, and amplified. Joe called this building a Trust Portfolio. Distributed authorship. Distributed trust. Distributed reach. That changes the marketing job.”

Matt Wilkinson, CEO, Strivenn

“In an era of automation, bots, and synthetic content, care becomes premium. People want guidance, reassurance, belonging, support, and human attention. This made me rethink how I show up online and how I position my own services—not just as a consultant, but as someone who helps people navigate change.”

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez, MBA, Bilingual Marketing Consultant and Founder of Beyond Engagement

“I’m energized by Mark’s idea of ‘uncertainty as fuel.’ It’s a powerful reframe in a time of so much chaos. ‘Negative capability’ is another reframing that speaks to intentionally and patiently pausing to connect new dots. I learned so much over the two days, and I know that I will continue to learn from this circle of smart humans.”

Sarah Neely, Vice President of Strategy at Fuzz and Founder of SignalSwell

“Each courageous moment rewires you to believe in yourself. This is the courage dividend.”

“I appreciated Sarah Neely’s new perspective on the future of discoverability — the S.H.A.R.E. framework (surprising, helpful, authentic, relevant, experiences).”

Jasmine Gruia-Gray, Managing Partner at Strivenn and co-host of A Splice of Life Science Marketing podcast, Product Marketing Tips newsletter

“Courageous actions rewire who you believe yourself to be.’ —Mark Schaefer. I found this particularly pertinent because every time I have taken a leap professionally or personally, it has paid off, and helped me douse some of that imposter syndrome or lack of confidence you get when you’re in a room that you’re not quite comfortable in.”

Stacey Miller, Vice President, Communications at Auto Care Association

“I need more community in my life! (inspiration, empowerment, safety).”

“Trust = safety. Nurture messaging creates belonging.”

Knox Keith, Author of Validated

“I’m inspired by how domain experts forge and build AI solutions. Just as my agency is building AI to address concerns related to accuracy and contextualization, I was so impressed by Dr. Jasmine Gruia-Gray’s work focused on critical thinking and cognitive decline. Her Socratic method-based BRACED framework was excellent.”

“Joe and Mark’s discussion has me completely re-imagining our leaders and employees as characters of our story, and how we tell that story through both company-owned and employee-owned platforms. This will likely be the biggest actionable takeaway in my strategic and tactical shift.”

Jason Dressel, CEO, History Factory

“We shouldn’t treat AI LIKE an audience. AI IS an audience—multiple audiences, in fact.”

“Negative Capability is the skill we need to cope with chaos. Marinate in an issue before acting under pressure to respond, and that’s how insights will be revealed.”

Dan Nestle, Founder and CPIO of Lilypath

“Within the first 15 minutes, I had my first ah-ha moment, when Mark said: ‘Every time I feel afraid, I do it!’ I need a poster of this in my office.”

“We are in the eye of the AI storm, but it also presents so many opportunities. I realized that I don’t have all the answers about how businesses will assimilate or adopt AI platforms, but I do know that the most powerful force in business is still human connection. Spending three days with 39 of the most knowledgeable, forward-thinking leaders in AI and new technologies left me feeling inspired and full of hope. The Uprising was an Executive Education course on steroids!”

Anne Deeter Gallaher, Owner/CEO of Deeter Gallaher Group LLC

“In a world that constantly competes for our attention, we need to ‘control the inputs.’ In other words, be deliberate about how much news we consume, which social media we engage with, whose opinions we give weight to, and how much access the outside world gets to our inner peace. Those inputs shape our focus, our fear, our energy, and ultimately, how we show up at work and in life.”

“We’re living in a time of ‘malignant uncertainty,’ where change isn’t only constant, it’s harder to predict. Companies need to let go of overly rigid plans and pay closer attention to what customers and employees are thinking, feeling, and doing in real time. The brands that earn trust will be the ones that build emotional connection when everything else feels uncertain.”

Stacy Sherman, International Keynote Speaker, Influencer & Podcaster: DoingCXRight.com

“AI is evolving and changing how we operate at a personal and work level faster than ever before. There is opportunity in seeing this ‘seam.’ Uncertainty makes room for me for creativity, growth, and progress.”

Debra Feresten, Debra Feresten Homes

I used to believe more content would grow my business, but now I see that trust is the real currency—and content is just the vehicle to earn it. That changes everything: from chasing reach to building a small, intentional audience that actually cares.”

“My AHA moment was realizing we’re not heading toward a world with better ads—we’re heading toward a world without them. When there’s no ‘skip button,’ only brands that create trust, community, and meaning will survive.”

Yevette Lynn, Kingsport Headshot Photographer and Studio Owner, The Journal

“AI tools become personal. They are like the hammer that a carpenter uses every day. They form to his hand and are customized to his needs. There is beauty in the wear of such tools, but if you were to pick one up, it feels foreign. To use them properly, one must interact with these tools and shape them to one’s personal needs.”

“Being raw in our content gives our community permission to share. But that sharing should come from scars, not wounds.”

“The tension between the obligation to react to the world and the value of marinating in uncertainty is the obligation of leadership.”

Atom Freeman, Founder of Prana DM, Host of Comic Industry Insiders podcast

“Building a personal brand is not a project, it’s a LIFESTYLE.”

“The customer journey is the cumulative effect of every interaction, good or bad.” Every micro moment shapes perception, and people are constantly evaluating, even when you are not thinking about it. What they remember is not necessarily the process, it is how it made them feel. “Emotion IS the experience”, and that is ultimately what defines your brand.

Your most powerful, underutilized influencer channel is already on payroll. Employees are a built-in network of credible, motivated nano-influencers, but only if you replace control with trust and give them a clear, supported way to share. If your own people are not advocating for your brand, why would someone else?

Chelsea Rae Stuck, CEO Craeve, and Host of the Curiously Stuck Podcast

And … back to me.

We can’t stay relevant on our own. Everybody who attended The Uprising has a new set of tools and a professional network to help them navigate the future.

The 2026 Uprising was a call to stop trying to be “safe” and instead build a future where our humanity is our most discoverable and durable asset. I hope you will join us May 04-07, 2027. Registration is open.

Some photographs provided by Yevette Lynn Photography

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post Human Renaissance in the Agentic Age: Insights from The Uprising Retreat appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I teach an online class about personal branding and wrote a book about it too, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the impact of AI helping you become “known.”

There are the obvious AI benefits like creating and re-purposing content, topic research, and even strategy. But there is a bigger question: What happens when a person uses AI to fake their way to thought leadership?

While many argue that AI content will never replace human effort, I’m skeptical. AI can create compelling work, perhaps indistinguishable from original human effort. We are definitely in an era where anything seemingly “human” can be faked, including voices, videos, and online intellect. I, for one, am overwhelmed by AI slop.

The AI tsunami raises the bar for what we will consider true thought leadership. Leadership begins with trust, and that will require extraordinary effort:

• Transparency about the use of AI
• A commitment to human authenticity, even when it’s messy. Sharing genuine setbacks, mistakes, and course corrections that AI would never volunteer.
• Elite, non-AI accomplishments and awards that cannot be faked. Social proof displaying that you’ve done the work. “I was in that room” detail that only comes from having actually done the thing.
• We will look for origin stories and flaws as evidence of authenticity.
• Consistency — Demonstrating an alignment of wisdom, values, and helpfulness over time.
• Real-time demonstrations of authority, such as live speaking, unscripted conversation, podcast appearances, and Q&A. Performances that can’t be pre-generated.

The signals of truth become more costly when we compete with others hacking their way through with an AI assist. Remaking a masterpiece isn’t hard. Making a masterpiece is really hard.

As I proposed in my book Audacious, culture will favor originality more than ever before.

Just as the ubiquity of fast food didn’t threaten the business of fine cuisine (and arguably further distinguished it), they will crave more original high-quality storytelling. We see this in our growing hunger for weirdness and unhinged marketing.

To create your authoritative personal brand, show up in a way that is uniquely you, tell a story only you can tell, and don’t give up.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustrations courtesy Mid Journey

The post Faking your way to thought leadership appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

As the Marketing Companion enters its next chapter, I had the privilege of sitting down once again with one of my favorite partners in creativity, Jay Acunzo. It was a special, almost bittersweet episode—not only because we discussed the show’s upcoming transition to new leadership with Sandy Carter, but also because Jay and I have traveled such a meaningful road together. Our conversation became a celebration of all things enduring in marketing, creativity, and personal brand building.

You can hear this special episode here:

Listen to Episode 329 of The Marketing Companion

Here is an AI-generated summary of the show highlights:

The “Why” Behind Consistency

Jay proposed the very topic that guided this conversation: “sustainability” in our public work. We explored what it means to not just chase trends or create content for immediate gratification, but to build something meaningful and lasting.

Jay described the nuances behind being called someone who “grinds”: he doesn’t see himself as a “grinder” but as someone who chases curiosity relentlessly and who has orchestrated shifts in his career from speaking to coaching creators to helping leaders hone their public presence. The idea is clear—sustainability is not just about showing up, but about enjoying the process and being intentional about how we evolve.

Curiosity, Practice, and Embracing Pivots

We both agreed: content is the fuel of any brand, corporate or personal. Jay’s journey exemplified an agile, curiosity-driven approach to content creation. He started as a sports journalist and blogger in the early days, before “blogging” was a buzzword, using free tools to write for himself and a handful of readers. That curiosity kickstarted everything—even his career at Google was influenced more by his blog than by his academic credentials.

For today’s students and young professionals, Jay’s story is vital. Start building your brand now, even if only your mom is reading! Create content, keep at it, and don’t stop. If you do, you’ll cultivate an edge that’s hard to replicate.

Jay’s path took him from sports into business, then into content marketing, before anyone really knew what it was. He saw the creative side of this business firsthand, abandoned his old blog for a new one focused on emerging trends, and even built community meetups with other content professionals. The thread? Consistent side projects, relentlessly pursuing curiosity—not viral “success”—have formed the foundation of Jay’s staying power and growth.

The Engine of Endurance

I’ve long believed that building a brand—whether through blogging, podcasts, or newsletters—can’t be a “project.” It’s a lifestyle. Just like running or going to the gym, it’s about integrating consistency into life’s fabric and keeping the train moving.

I shared the core disciplines I teach for lasting creative presence:

1. Awareness: See your life as a source of stories and ideas.
2. Capture: Always write down your ideas, or you’ll lose them.
3. Schedule: Dedicate time to your craft—don’t leave it to chance.
4. Relax and Enjoy: Create at moments when you can focus, undistracted.

For more than a decade, I blogged over a thousand weeks in a row and never missed a podcast episode. The point: create discipline, not as a temporary effort, but as something that shapes your identity. Make yourself the kind of person who “just does this” rather than someone who’s always chasing a new tactic.

Jay reinforced this. He described how writing and creating are not a means to an end but the end itself. You must love the process—the tactile rhythm of typing, the accomplishment of hitting “publish”—even if no one’s watching. If you’re only aiming for an outcome (followers, dollars, virality), you’ll burn out as soon as the market doesn’t respond. Find intrinsic motivation, and let that be your compass.

The Shift That Happens to All Creators

One fascinating insight from my interviews for my KNOWN book was that almost everyone starts out creating for tactical reasons—a need to grow a business or personal brand. But as you persist and attraction builds, a greater purpose reveals itself. You realize you can inspire, include, and uplift others. The privilege and responsibility deepen. If early on, doing the work might have been about business success, over time, the pie chart of motivations flips—helping others becomes the dominant driver.

Jay echoed this with a powerful mantra: “We create what we wish existed in the world.” The business world often tries to force us to create what the market or the algorithm demands, but inevitably we are driven back to our desire to add something meaningful—something “we” long to see in the world.

The Limits of Tricks (and the Infinite Potential of Resonance)

The lure of tips, tricks, and algorithms is constant, but as Jay and I discussed, they all have an expiration date. Tricks can maybe earn you a click, but not a genuine connection or loyalty. True resonance—when your work means something, when people respond with gratitude or share your story with others—is earned, not engineered.

You can buy reach; you cannot buy resonance. And resonance is what matters. Jay underscored that your impact isn’t measured just by the immediate metrics, but by the people who listen all the way through, who write back passionately, who mention your ideas when you’re not in the room.

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The post Secrets of the Sustainable Personal Brand appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I have been so very blessed to be an author that people trust. Against all odds, people actually buy my books, even years after they are published. They have been translated into 15 languages, used as college textbooks, and are found in more than 700 libraries worldwide.

Except one.

Today, I submit to you one of my biggest disappointments and professional enigmas: The book that bombed. My invisible book. And oh yes, it might have been my best book ever.

My best work?

If you search for the “best marketing books” on Amazon, here are the top five, and the book ratings:

• All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin = 4.5
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout = 4.5
• The One-Page Marketing Plan by Dib = 4.7
• Hook Point by Kane = 4.4
• Building a Story Brand by Miller = 4.6

The average reader rating of any business book on Amazon is 4.2, according to ChatGPT.

And then there is my 2021 book Cumulative Advantage, with a score of 4.7. It stands up to the best in terms of quality, or at least reader appreciation.

Many readers consider Cumulative Advantage to be my best book. And yet it is my lowest-selling book, by far. In the world of business books, you can call a book a bestseller if it reaches 10,000 in sales. My bestselling book, Marketing Rebellion, sold 14,000 copies in its first month. 

And yet Cumulatove Advantage has sold only 1,700 books since its release in 2021. This was the very next book I wrote after the mega-hit Marketing Rebellion. What the heck happened?

I have a theory.

The story of the invisible book

I only write a book when it solves a meaningful problem. A trend I noticed in many of my consulting calls was that people often seem to get stuck mid-career. They might experience some success and plateau in their businesses, professional lives, and personal brands.

How do you build momentum for a life, a career, an idea? What is the strategy to reach new levels of success when the growth curve flattens out?

I came across a concept called cumulative advantage. While this concept is well-researched and documented in the field of social psychology, the theory about how momentum works in the world has never been applied to the practical reality of business.

Making this connection was an elegant and practical idea that could help many people. I concocted a unique and entertaining way to tell the story of momentum. I compared my career to the supremely successful author Tim Ferriss. We had both started as authors at the same time, but he had rocketed to fame. To tell a story of the five steps of cumulative advantage, I traced our paths to answer the question: Why did Ferris know Oprah, and I did not?

It was a fun, fast-paced story packed with insights. I knew this was a great book, and based on the rising success of my previous books, I doubled down on my investment in editing, design, and promotion. For the first time, I hired an outside PR firm and an influencer agency. I created a snazzy “movie trailer:”

I spent a small fortune on the book …

And nothing happened

I published Cumulative Advantage in early 2021, and many early readers declared it my best work. Here are a few reviews … not to puff myself up, but to establish that the quality of the book was not the issue here:

• “This book is so important. Never before has the career path for the entrepreneur, inventor, or other creatives been so clearly defined, laid out, and mapped.”
• “I will state emphatically that HE HAS OUTDONE HIMSELF when he wrote Cumulative Advantage.”
• “This book will have a profound impact on your life and how you view your place in the world. I couldn’t put this book down, because it provided hope in a very difficult time.”
• “Such an extraordinary book! I devoured Cumulative Advantage in a single weekend.”
• “As good as the entire book is, the last chapter alone is worth far more than the price of the book.”

I was an established author. I had written an excellent, helpful, and inspiring book. I spent a ton of money on promotion. And it bombed.

I will never know for sure, but here is my theory of the invisible book …

The issue of timing

I knew this book was launching at a difficult time. We were still in a pandemic. This placed several obstacles in my way:

1. The world was still in a state of panic, and businesses were struggling. Many people were holding on to their money, and buying books was not a priority. ALL book sales in every category were in decline.
2. At the height of the pandemic, other authors like me spent that downtime writing books. Almost every marketing author published books at the same time, so the competition for those scarce book dollars was fierce.
3. All events and conferences had been cancelled. Normally, when I publish a new book, I would embark on a speaking tour. Speaking engagements sell a lot of books.
4. Nonfiction book sales have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. While non-fiction books are growing, overall business book sales have been in decline.

So even though I sensed the timing of the book launch was awful, I went ahead with it. The book was ready. The book was great. And by the way, I had struggled financially during the pandemic, too. I could use the boost!

The challenge of promotion

I had taken a big swing on the promotional budget, and that also bombed:

• The PR pro I hired had come highly recommended, but was so ineffective that she returned my money.
• I experimented with a “micro-influencer” campaign, and that also fell flat. What I learned is that micro-influencers are mostly interested in promoting themselves.
• My other promotional efforts did not take off. The mood of the world was so pandemic-depressed that even a positive book of hope was hard to sell.

I probably could have taken another shot at promoting the book in 2022, but I felt so deflated and shocked by the failure. I had not completely pieced together what went wrong. And I had started working on a new project: Belonging to the Brand.

What’s in a name?

As I dissected my failure to learn from it, I think Cumulative Advantage is probably a terrible name for a book. It’s even hard to say. If I had to do it over again, I would have called the book “Relentless Relevance,” because that offers a more straight-forward idea of what the book is about.

The book had a great subtitle: How to Build Momentum for Your Ideas, Business, and Life Against All Odds. However, most people are unaware of subtitles.

The role of luck

Was my career as an author finished? I put everything I had into that book, but I lost a lot of time and money in the process.

I had another big idea burning inside of me, and I needed to push that idea into the world: The vital role of brand communities in the future of marketing.

I needed to go back to basics. What worked? What went wrong? I never wanted to have a failure like that again.

I conducted a thorough review of book marketing best practices. I even interviewed many authors for best practices that I might have missed. I found something surprising. Almost every successful author said that the most significant boost to their book sales was luck. Ironically, that is also a key idea in the Cumulative Advantage book — dig deep enough and you’ll find that behind every mega-success is some piece of dumb luck.

So bad luck, bad timing, and maybe a bad title had worked against me. I would not be deterred. I keep writing in a bold and brave way, as always.

The impact

Since that book, I’ve written two more, and they’ve both sold well. I love the creative challenge of writing, and I’m gratified when people buy the books and enjoy them.

Still, it stings every time I look at my monthly book sales and see a big fat zero for Cumulative Advantage. It will always hold a special place in my heart, even if it’s not on many bookshelves.

I hope this provides some balance to the Mark Schaefer narrative. Not every project is a success, but you must keep moving forward. That’s an important lesson about momentum.

And if you’d like to learn more about momentum, you can always buy the book. It would make me smile today.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post The sad and mysterious tale of my invisible book appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I’ve been working on an AI-fueled MarkBot that I’ll make available to you one day soon. I’ve been testing it and asked it to dig deep into all the content on the internet about me, providing me with interview questions I’ve never been asked before — questions I would love to answer.

The result was fun and inspiring. The bot provided questions that were surprising and wonderfully thought-provoking. So, today, I am answering my own questions. Why not? If these ten questions from my MarkBot amused me, maybe they will entertain and inform you, too.

This is a first for me, maybe a first for anybody. I suppose I am interviewing myself.

Here we go with the AI questions and my answers:

1. If “brand community” were a person, what kind of personality would it have?

It would be like Mr. Rogers.

Fred Rogers was an iconic American TV personality who hosted a long-running children’s TV program. Fred Rogers always led with love. Didn’t judge. Offered new wisdom every day. Didn’t hide from tough topics. And he never pressured you to buy anything.

2. “You write often about belonging as a marketing force. But what role has belonging played in your own life?”

I do not make friends easily. I wish I had more close friends, and I am working on that.

A great benefit of hosting my online marketing community is that day after day, I have significant conversations with people that turn into real friendships.

So although I have had a lack of belonging in my life, I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time getting to experience the connections through an online community.

You can learn more about the RISE community here and I hope you will join us. Maybe we’ll even become friends!

3. “You’ve warned about ‘content shock’ for over a decade. Is it possible that we’ve now entered an era of insight shock where even wisdom is becoming a commodity?”

To level-set new readers, I coined the term “content shock” in 2014 to explain why, in the long run, most content marketing is not economically sustainable. While considered controversial and even inflammatory at the time, this prediction certainly came true as the cost of competing in an oversaturated marketing world sank in.

Now, we’re in a world where content is a commodity. Not just content, but intelligence. Through AI, the economic value of intelligence is approaching zero.

Perhaps we are becoming numb to the magic of AI, but a few years ago, the idea of a computer coming up with these relevant and provocative questions would have been unthinkable.

I could argue that wisdom (knowing the correct answers) is a commodity. But that’s not the same as insight. Insight is a human revelation. It’s connecting the dots in a new way. And that is something AI will never be able to replace.

4. “You speak of ‘seams’ in Cumulative Advantage — brief openings for momentum. Have you ever overlooked a seam in your own career? What did it teach you about timing or regret?”

I have missed many seams … intentionally. Here is an example.

In 2012, I published the first book on influencer marketing, Return On Influence. This book was years ahead of its time. The term “influence marketing” was not even a mainstream concept. I was forecasting a seam: power was shifting in our world from established media channels to creators building passionate audiences.

With this insight, I could have become the “go-to” guy for influence marketing. I could have created an influencer marketing agency and plowed right through that seam.

But I decided not to because I would have been bored out of my mind. I don’t want to work on the same thing every day. I had no desire to build an influencer agency with a staff of employees.

I have carefully selected my seams, and I don’t have any regrets about missing out on any particular opportunity.

5. What do you admire most about your younger self’s marketing mindset? What do you shake your head at?

To put it mildly, I was a very “heart-centered” young man in high school and college. But when I entered the world of business, numbers and financial performance usually took precedence, and I had to learn that hard lesson. Thankfully, I had an understanding and nurturing boss who helped guide me on a more analytical path.

Eventually, I was part of a program to groom me into one of the top leaders of a Fortune 100 company. But once I had children, I felt that the sacrifices required to keep going up the corporate ladder were too great, and I needed to find my heart again.

I once had a teacher who told me, “there is no weakness, just over-done strengths,” and I believe that is true. It’s good to be heart-centered, but if that is all you have to offer, you might not make the best business decisions. You must have a keen appreciation of business realities to succeed. Today, I think I am pretty balanced between my heart and my head.

So I love the heart of my younger self, and I’m glad I have revitalized it.

6. “In the book KNOWN, you help others build influence. But what’s the one part of being known that no one prepared you for?”

Many years ago, a young man nervously approached me at a conference and said, “It took all my courage to come up and talk to you.”

That just broke my heart. I think I am an accessible person. I never want to send out an elitist celebrity vibe. I cut my own grass and do my own laundry like most people, for goodness’ sake. I never, ever want people to be nervous or intimidated around me. I was unprepared for that kind of reaction and have always felt weird about it.

7. What’s something your non-marketing friends or family understand about your work better than some marketers do?

Nothing. As far as I know, none of my friends or family members understand what I do (other than my wife). I don’t think they read my blog or books. Probably don’t even know I have a podcast. That’s fine with me. What I do seems irrelevant to personal relationships.

8. What’s a moment of unexpected joy you’ve experienced on stage or with a reader that you’ll never forget?

There are so many. It’s hard to pick just one!

There was one moment, though, that put wind beneath my wings.

If you’ve read my book on personal branding, KNOWN (hey, you’re my Bot… of course, you’ve read KNOWN!), in the first chapter, I tell a story about the beginning of my personal branding journey. I was at the lowest point in my life. My darkest years.

At the end of the book, I could report some of the benefits of that long journey to become known. After a speech in Scotland, a young woman approached me with tears in her eyes. “I just wanted to see you and tell you that I am who I am because of you.”

And then, there were tears in my eyes, too. For the first time, it dawned on me the type of impact I was having on my readers.

9. You’ve seen the rise of social media, influencer marketing, and AI—what’s a trend you once believed in that didn’t pan out?

I’ve had a decent track record when it comes to forecasting what’s coming next, but I had one memorable miss.

I thought voice assistants like Alexa would become the future of e-commerce. And, perhaps they should be. Perhaps, they will be one day — with AI assistance.

But it’s been a bomb so far. I thought Alexa would open up a dominant new marketing channel.

10. If all your books were wiped out tomorrow and you could only save one sentence from everything you’ve written, what would it be?

That’s easy.

“The Most Human Company Wins.”

That nails it for me.

What do you think of this interview? Does it give you ideas of how you can use AI for your own content and marketing ideas?

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy Mid Journey

The post My All-time Best Interviewer Was an AI Bot appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

It seems like influence and influencers are in the news a lot these days, and I’d like to interrupt the constant flow of AI news to poke my head in here and bring us back to a crucial marketing reality — the age of influencer marketing is just beginning, and AI will actually make it more important.

Before I get into the logic of this conclusion, I need to call your attention to a piece of news that is profound and breathtaking if you’re in the marketing and advertising business.

A new WPP forecast estimates that in 2025, ad revenue from creator-driven platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram will surpass the combined ad revenue of traditional media (TV, print, audio, and film) for the first time. Creator-led advertising revenue (brand deals, sponsorships, and platform ads) is expected to grow 20% this year and more than double by 2030.

Meanwhile, the broader ad market is weakening. WPP cut its global ad growth forecast for 2025 from 7.7% to 6%, and 54% of marketers plan to reduce traditional ad spending in 2025.

What’s fueling this growth? Why will AI push it upward to incredible new levels? There’s a one-word answer.

The force behind the Age of Influencer Marketing

Steve Jobs famously said, “A brand is trust.”

And trust is sorely lacking in marketing today. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in advertising declined from 50% to an abysmal 30% just 15 years.

No wonder so many CMOs are looking for jobs these days. So, who do we trust? We trust each other. We trust family. We trust neighbors. We trust friends.

And influencers aren’t some new media buy. They are trusted friends.

The overlooked psychology of influence

Social media influencers have become the most trusted voices in the digital landscape, not because they have the slickest production or biggest budgets, but because they build something deeper: a parasocial relationship.

A parasocial relationship is a one-sided psychological connection that an audience forms with a media figure—someone they follow, watch, or listen to regularly. The term was first coined in the 1950s by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl to describe the illusion of friendship people feel toward television personalities.

Decades later, social media has supercharged this dynamic. Unlike traditional celebrities, influencers invite their audiences into their daily lives—sharing their routines, thoughts, vulnerabilities, and real-time responses. The effect is powerful: followers feel like they know them.

This sense of familiarity and intimacy creates a unique bond. Unlike traditional advertising, which speaks at people, influencers speak with them—or at least, it feels that way. Viewers comment, DM, and even get replies. They see the creator’s dog, their bad skin days, their parenting challenges. Over time, this steady exposure builds trust. The influencer becomes a virtual friend—someone you’ve “spent” hours with, someone whose opinion feels authentic, raw, personal, not paid.

Recent industry and academic reports estimate that between 25% and 35% of teens visit social media each day primarily to see content from their favorite influencers. This figure is supported by the high rates of influencer following among teens and the significant influence influencers have on teen purchasing and engagement behaviors.

More important, studies show that people are more likely to act on product recommendations from influencers than from brands or celebrities.

The formula is that simple. Advertising lacks trust. But trust is the everyday currency of influencers. Of course it’s rocketing skyward, and in my view, the Age of Influencer Marketing is just beginning.

AI will drive influencer marketing growth

I wrote the first book on influencer marketing (Return On Influence) in 2011 before anybody was using the term. At the end of the book, I predicted that in two years it would become a mainstream marketing concept. The timing of the book was great:

What drove this growth? Trust in influencers. And in two ways, trust will drive the age of influencer marketing far into the future.

First, we live in a world plagued by AI-generated misinformation and deep fakes. We’ll always need to turn to real humans to help us discern what is real. Influencers are the trusted authorities in the right place at the right time.

Second, influencers are turning their significant power into tangible products. Just a few:

I recently gave a workshop to a large CPG company and told them that their biggest competitive threat isn’t Procter & Gamble or Unilever. It’s some passionate teenager building an audience on TikTok right now. These creator media empires are just beginning and the opportunities for brand-building is overpowering.

And here is the next big opportunity. New research exposed opportunities for smaller businesses. It showed that local celebrities often outperform their global counterparts by tapping into cultural relevance and audience affinity.
True effectiveness comes from authentic alignment between the ambassador and your brand values, not just fame alone. There is overlooked potential to extend the value of influencer marketing to regional and local brands.

I’ll also point out an important and nuanced point. These influencers are AI-proof. What are you doing to work on your own personal brand to build trust and authority?

The Age of Influencer Marketing is just beginning. If you want to know where to focus your marketing efforts in the coming years, don’t just follow the money, follow the trust.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy unsplash.com

The post Why the Age of Influencer Marketing is Just Beginning appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I know this headline is confusing. Maybe counter-intuitive. Let me explain.

Once upon a time, companies controlled their brand message through carefully crafted advertising, PR campaigns, and corporate communications. Today, that control has slipped through their fingers. Consumers now wield immense power, shaping brand perceptions through social media, online reviews, and digital communities. A single viral tweet, an influencer’s critique, or a wave of user-generated content can redefine a company’s image overnight—for better or worse.

This is not just a regrettable evolution. It’s actually great for business. Nobody believes ads any more. But they believe their friends, neighbors, and co-workers. They believe their favorite influencers.

So the ideal marketing strategy is to hand the mic to your customers and fans … with a script if possible!

In this era of consumer-driven narratives, can companies still exert control over their brand message? The answer is yes—but not in the traditional, top-down way. Instead of trying to wrest control from consumers, brands must rethink their approach and strategically guide the conversation.

One brand manager said to me: “I know we need consumers to carry our message. But how do we control it?”

I thought this would be a good thought experiment to explore. Are there options for brand influence when consumers own the megaphone?

Here are five ideas.

1. Build an unmistakable brand message

This is a trick I use when working with a new client on a marketing strategy. I bring the leaders around a table and ask them to finish this sentence: “Only we …”

Nine times out of ten, every person in the room provides a different answer. If the company leadership can’t articulate their brand story, how can they expect consumers to do it?

If your brand’s story is weak, consumers will rewrite it for you. A brand narrative isn’t just a tagline—it’s a deeply ingrained truth about why you exist, what you stand for, and how you deliver value.

• Clarify Your Core Values: What does your brand stand for? If this isn’t clear internally, it will be incoherent externally. Define your values and ensure they are reflected in every touchpoint.
• Create a North Star Message: This is the unshakable core of your brand that remains consistent, no matter how conversations shift.
• Anticipate Challenges: Proactively address potential criticisms before they become crises. If you sell sustainable products, for example, ensure your supply chain is truly ethical and be transparent about it.

A well-defined brand narrative makes it harder for others to misrepresent you.

2. Dominate owned media channels

If you don’t control your own platforms, you’re at the mercy of algorithms and external opinions. Companies must become their own media powerhouses.

• Content as a Shield: Invest in high-quality content that tells your brand’s story across blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and social channels. The more credible and consistent your content, the less influence a negative review or rogue influencer will have.
• SEO and Thought Leadership: Ensure your brand’s narrative is what appears when people search for you. Publish authoritative content that dominates search results.
• Community Building: Own your audience through email newsletters, private communities, and forums. The stronger your direct relationship with consumers, the less reliance you’ll have on third-party platforms where you have little control. And, if something goes wrong, your community is likely to defend you!

3. Cultivate an army of brand advocates

Consumers trust each other more than they trust corporations. Smart brands don’t just rely on corporate messaging; they empower loyal customers and employees to carry the message forward.

• Customer Evangelists: Identify and nurture your most passionate customers (probably in your community?). Provide them with exclusive content, early product access, and recognition so they continue to advocate for you.
• Employee Advocacy: Your employees are some of your most credible voices. I am not a fan of asking them to share corporate content, but I love it when companies train their own influencers (there are lots of examples of this in my book Audacious).
• UGC as a Strategy: Instead of fighting user-generated content, guide it. Create branded hashtags, challenges, and campaigns that encourage positive content creation. An example — e.l.f. Beauty created a music video that was the most-shared video on TikTok in 2023.
• View Influencers as Strategic Advantage: Sure, influencers can activate an audience and grow sales. But they are also a strategic advantage. If they have a positive relationship with you, they don’t have one with your competitors!

4. Engage, don’t just react

Many brands fall into the trap of only responding to negativity when it arises. Instead, brands should be proactive in shaping conversations before a crisis hits.

• Social Listening at Scale: Use AI-driven tools to track online sentiment and spot trends before they escalate.
• Conversational Brand Building: Don’t just broadcast—engage. If people talk about your brand, join the conversation, clarify misconceptions, and amplify positive discussions.
• Influencer Partnerships with Integrity: Vet influencers carefully and build long-term relationships with those who align with your brand values rather than chasing quick impressions. It’s likely the influencer might be the best-known person associated with your company. Hold them to the same standards and expectations as an employee.

5. Turn crises into brand-defining opportunities

Negative publicity is inevitable. Don’t let the panic set in. Brands that handle crises with transparency, authenticity, and swift action can emerge stronger, especially if you have worked hard to build a community of advocates.

• Own Your Mistakes: If you mess up, acknowledge it quickly and genuinely. A defensive or dismissive response only fuels more backlash.
• Turn Critics into Allies: Engage with dissatisfied customers or influencers constructively. Address their concerns and, when possible, turn their experience into a win. The Jay Baer book Hug Your Haters is a great reference.
• Control the Narrative Quickly: When a crisis unfolds, get ahead of the story with direct communication through your owned channels.

Influence, don’t control

In the modern era, the most successful brands aren’t the ones that try to suppress consumer voices. They are the ones who listen, engage, and shape the dialogue while staying true to their core brand message.

Marketing today is much more than spending money on ads. There are massive risks when consumers control the storyline, but even greater opportunities for those companies that adapt to reality and the ideas I’ve presented today.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Five ways to influence your brand message when consumers are in control appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I have a confession to make.

I just hosted the 2025 edition of The Uprising, my annual marketing retreat. During this event, I became so intensely focused on the content and the conversations that I forgot to take notes. Happens every year. So, it’s quite a struggle writing a blog post without notes!

This is a great opportunity to ask for an AI assist, and the combination of resources that went into this write-up is impressive.

First, Daniel Nestle and Brian Piper used a recording technology called Plaud to instantly transcribe the live sessions. Brian then took these transcripts and the session slides to build a Custom GPT based on the event. I could then query the AI to help me fill in the blanks and present a representative sample of what happened at this electric event!

First, let’s set the stage …

What is an Uprising?

I don’t like big marketing events. They’re crowded, overwhelming, and generally boring. They are iterative — how to make slight improvements on our Facebook ads or improve our SEO — while the field of marketing is going through a cataclysmic transition right in front of our eyes.

The Uprising solves four problems in marketing events today:

1. It’s limited to 30 people. You have real conversations and make lifetime friends.
2. The focus is the future. What is coming next, and how do we get ready?
3. It’s safe and honest. My proudest moment was when people said, “I want to push back on that.” When do you see THAT happen at a marketing event?
4. It’s co-created. Everyone has an opportunity to participate at their comfort level. So we use the brains in the room! And … it’s a lot of fun! It is a retreat, after all.

Almost everyone who attends will tell you the same thing: It’s difficult to describe. This combination of a wooded lodge, generous people, great food, big brains, and relaxing fun ignites people and takes them to a new level of competence and confidence.

The Uprising has always been about digging beneath the surface, about meaningful connections and bold ideas. But this year, it felt different. More urgent. More human. More audacious. It was the best one ever.

By the way, The Uprising was inspired by my call-to-action in Marketing Rebellion to bring people together. You can’t have a rebellion without an uprising!

Now … what happened this year? Here are the voices, the visions, and the visceral truths that made this gathering unforgettable.

How AI is changing our customers

I kicked things off with a two-part presentation: 1) data on how AI is changing humanity (our customers!), and 2) how humans fit in this new AI-dominant ecosystem. It became a community-driven revelation of what it means to be a marketer in the age of synthetic intelligence.

This was a rallying cry. As AI seeps into every pore of our professional lives, I challenged the group to zoom out—to don’t obsess over AI’s creepy parts. Look at how we must evolve as marketers and serve these changing customers.

Drawing on my research for Belonging to the Brand and the newer Audacious, I painted a stark picture of the near future. We are stepping into a world where content is infinite, synthetic, and indistinguishable. AI won’t just change how we work. It will change who our customers are. Their expectations. Their behaviors. Even their identities, which I covered in this blog post.

Throughout the event, we discussed eight seismic shifts AI will bring to humanity: cognitive decline, emotional intelligence, a search for truth, moral judgment, human agency, creativity, meaning, and critical thinking.

And yet, there is hope. If we understand what makes us irreplaceable — our ability to form community, to inspire, to provide comfort, safety, and hope — we can thrive.

We live in a world where people may not care if the content is human or AI. My urgent plea was to MAKE THEM CARE. That phrase echoed through every session, becoming the unofficial motto of the event. It’s not about resisting the machines and more about embracing what is going to keep us relevant, including the personal brand, brand communities, and content that transcends this pandemic of dull.

Decoding Authenticity by Generations

Dr. Mara Singer revealed some new, original research on how emotional needs shift by generation. With her six pillars of authenticity—accuracy, connectedness, originality, legitimacy, expertise, and integrity—she deconstructed the most overused word in marketing.

She didn’t just talk about the importance of authenticity; she showed us how different generations construct it. For Gen Z, legitimacy and consistency matter more than you’d expect. For Boomers, expertise and accuracy still rule.

In a time when AI can mimic tone, replicate imagery, and fake just about everything, authenticity becomes your only real differentiator. Mara’s message was clear: authenticity is not a style. It’s a strategy.

One jaw-dropping reality is how children as young as six or seven are becoming TikTok influencers as they swarm Sephora stores to try skin care products. Another counter-intuitive fact is that older people place little value on originality in brands and marketing.

The Joy of Prompt Engineering

The brilliant Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media delivered an exquisitely practical talk. His rapid-fire breakdown of the seven levels of AI proficiency was like a map through the AI jungle. Starting from basic prompt writing to full-on multi-step automations, Andy gave us the tools to turn AI into a creative ally.

One of his themes: “Every prompt is a draft. Iterate. Improve. Reuse.”

He reminded us that AI doesn’t diminish creativity—it redefines it. And with the right mindset, we can all become architects of reusable, scalable, and deeply impactful content systems. Andy’s generosity in sharing his prompt playbook turned his session into an instant classic.

Navigating the Infinite Content Abyss

Brian Piper, with a futurist’s eye and a practitioner’s rigor, pulled back the curtain on what’s coming next in content.

He warned that we’ve moved from a world of content scarcity to Content Shock. And AI is making the goal of visibility even more difficult. In this new landscape, human-made content may soon be just 10% of what exists online.

His advice? Build communities. Focus on content that builds trust and emotional connection. Optimize not just for search engines, but for AI discovery systems, voice platforms, and emerging interfaces.

And most critically, become known. Not viral. Not famous. Known. Because in the chaos of AI, trust will be our last currency.

The AI-influenced customer journey

Dr. Matt Wilkinson brought PhD-level clarity to the AI conversation. Once a skeptic, now a strategic believer, he emphasized that AI is not a savior, but the powerful new influence on the customer’s decision process.

What stood out most was his call to reimagine the customer journey. With 80% of it happening before a human contact, AI is already deciding which brands get seen, which stories get heard.

His warning? Don’t get stuck in the past. The “how-to” blog post era is dying. We need to evolve into trusted guides, thought leaders, and distinctive voices that resonate even when we’re not in the room.

The Invisible Labor of Great Content

Ann Handley’s fireside chat with me was a masterclass in emotional resonance. She reminded us that meaningful work requires emotional fortitude. Every sentence you sweat over, every nuance you consider—it all matters.

She spoke of the importance of creating a body of work that endures. Of using ephemeral platforms to build something lasting. And of showing up with your whole heart, not just your content calendar.

Her insight? The journey is the outcome. And in a world chasing outcomes, that’s a radically beautiful stance. Ann and I talked about Phronesis — the ancient Greek concept of practical wisdom gained through hard work. In a world optimized for speed, maybe our greatest rebellion is thoughtfulness.

Ann gave us a glimpse of her upcoming book and captivated everyone wither her bold and honest answers to questions about her career and writing process.

The Future of Social Media

Kami Huyse took us on a journey from 2005 blogging panels to today’s fractured, frenetic social landscape. Through it all, one truth remains: community is the constant.

Her viral quote summed it up: “The first rule of social media is everything changes. What doesn’t change is the community’s desire to connect.”

Kami reminded us to follow the people, not the platforms. And more importantly, to co-create with them. Whether it’s a tweet, a TikTok, or a town hall, if it doesn’t resonate with your community, it’s noise.

Orchestrating Word-of-Mouth in a Scalable World

Sarah Neely, at her fourth Uprising, delivered a lesson in modern magic: scaling the unscalable. Word-of-mouth may feel spontaneous, but Sarah showed us it can be engineered.

She started with a deeply personal story of hauling plywood at muddy event sites and rose to architect campaigns that helped brands like Red Bull infiltrate Major League Baseball. Her framework? Activities. Goals. Targets. Story.

In that order. If you want people to talk about your brand, you must understand what they do before they buy and then intersect with those behaviors. Her message: Viral isn’t magic. It’s math. It’s emotion. And it’s a story worth sharing.

A Modern View of Metrics

Kyle Akerman led a session on modern marketing metrics. He identified common measurement problems all marketers face, including having too much data, having data in too many places, and focusing on vanity metrics.

Marketers spend very little time on measurement (one hour or week, or sometimes just one hour a month). So the challenge is, how do we make the most of that time?

Kyle said we should create (and document) a simple measurement plan. It should include the questions you want to answer, the data you need to answer the questions, and the actions you will take based on the data.  A good plan also includes the KPIs (with time-based targets), and key user segments (because aggregated data hides the important insights). 

Most companies can effectively measure marketing performance using Google’s “Holy Trinity” of free tools: Google Analytics (where data is stored), Google Tag Manager (the measurement implementation), and Looker Studio (visualization tool). Many marketers also benefit from the free heat mapping and session recordings provided by Microsoft Clarity.

A powerful reframe for measurement – it’s how we “listen” to the conversations happening on our websites.

The Audacious Workshop: Wine, Grit, and Bold Storytelling

The heartbeat of this year’s Uprising was the Audacious Workshop. With a real-world brand (Nicole Hayden’s Indiana Daylily Estates Winery) and a room full of brilliant minds, we put the theories of my book Audacious to the test. With the help of a new Audacious workbook (available here), we twisted her startup brand by having three teams brainstorm ways to disrupt the story, the media, and the storyteller.

From “our wine slept with your beer” to corn mazes ending in wine tastings, this was a ton of fun that resulted in a real marketing framework!

The Human Renaissance

As we wrapped Uprising 2025, one truth emerged above all: we are not just marketers. We are artists, connectors, philosophers, and warriors of relevance in turbulent times.

People described the event as unforgettable, magical, and inspirational. But most of all, I think every person walked away with a new sense that the human connection we all experienced makes all the difference. Even when AI dominates the marketing scene, we can still make them care.

I hope you will join me at the next Uprising event, which will be April 21-24, 2026. Space is extremely limited and registration is open here.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post A Human Renaissance in the Age of AI appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Are you tired of reading about AI? Me too.

There’s a whole world of marketing disruption and opportunity to talk about, so let’s put GPT on pause for a moment and consider the State of the Nation and the 10 biggest marketing challenges.

One of the best parts of my job is interacting with business leaders of all types. I get a broad, global perspective of marketing issues from the very largest companies to solopreneurs and startups. And I certainly hear some common themes when it comes to the biggest marketing challenges.

Surprisingly, they have nothing to do with AI, at least not directly. Here’s what’s going on in the world from my perspective. These are NOT in any particular order.

1) Awareness

OK, I lied. This one IS in order — probably the biggest challenge we face today.

Marketers create customers. And to create customers, we must create awareness for our products. Rising above the noise to earn attention has never been more challenging. Media channels are fragmented and, as we see with TikTok, tentative!

Consumers have become their own streaming media entities. How do we get into those earbuds? And then you have AI swarming the media landscape. Sheesh. Marketing is hard. This is the time for audacity! 

2) From big campaigns to small acts of cultural relevance

A few years ago, Pepsi announced that the big brand “bonfires” were over. Brands had to connect to moments of cultural relevance. At the time, I wondered what that meant. But it became clear as brands became part of music, sports, fashion and leaned into emerging consumer signals.

Certainly, that is the direction of the marketing world right now, as brands try to capitalize on memes and trends instead of planning massive campaigns months in advance. A focus on cultural relevance requires an obsession with …

3) The Need for Speed

At 8:48 p.m. on February 03, 2013, a milestone event occurred that changed the face of marketing forever. The power went out at the Super Bowl. and in 10 minutes, Oreo launched an ad:

I remember being at a Super Bowl party  — there was a gasp in the room when the commercial ended. How did they do that?

The ad transcended all norms of advertising. The brilliance lay not only in the imagery but in the blazing speed of execution. This wasn’t a meticulously planned campaign — it was marketing at the speed of culture. The ad wasn’t just broadcast on TV; it also became a social media viral sensation and the company’s all-time most tweeted content. It was a global showcase of the potential of real-time marketing.

In the TikTok Era, a brand might have an hour to be relevant. There’s no time for planning or measurement. Many brands live in a reaction culture. This has massive implications for creative, resources, and legal approvals!

If the need for speed hasn’t transformed your marketing department, it will soon.

4) The Disconnected Customer

Many people, especially those under the age of 25, experience their entire media world by themselves through earbuds. They binge music, video, movies, and podcasts in an ad-free streaming environment. They play their games and socialize in Discord groups. They’re not visible to brands, and they don’t see the brands either, at least not like they used to.

A few years ago, I wrote a book about one solution to this dilemma: Belonging to the Brand: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy. I was absolutely right about this trend. As I am writing this post, I’m attending the global thought leadership conference SXSW. The sessions on brands and communities are so hot that they had to create extra sessions. In the current marketing environment, this might be a hotter topic than AI.

Community is certainly one of the few options to earn your way past those earbuds!

5) Adjusting the marketing/advertising infrastructure

Quiz time.

You know without a doubt that word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is the purest, most trusted form of marketing, right? It’s been around forever … but how much of your budget is devoted to WOMM? My guess is: ZERO.

How about brand community? How about experiential marketing? Also, probably zero.

There are lots of marketing options beyond Facebook ads and SEO but we’ve stayed in the familiar marketing trenches. If you have a contract with an ad agency they are probably resisting alternative forms of marketing because, well, they’re not ads. There is a legacy infrastructure in place that keeps us less effective and boring.

6) Navigating a world where one person can alter brand strategy

Life used to be so easy. A brand was what we said it was. Today, a brand is what we tell each other. And that can spin out of control.

The problem with our social media world today isn’t a matter of free speech, it’s a matter of amplification. A hundred years ago, if somebody spread a conspiracy theory, it would be unlikely to get any further than the boundaries of a neighborhood. But today, false information and deep fakes can reach millions if it comes from an influencer.

Our favorite brands have spent decades and millions of dollars building consumer connections. And all that can be ruined by somebody who is out to get you. It is certainly a weird world where our hard-earned brand marketing can be tarnished in a single post.

7) Activating influencer marketing

I was sitting at a table of brand managers, and one of them said, “Influencers are everything.” That’s a profound statement. But if you’ve followed this post so far, you can see how influencers fit into this new marketing world.

Influencers have massive, loyal audiences, and their message can cut through the earbud blockade. They can be counted on to react with speed, in the moment. In fact, day-to-day relevance is what makes them great. They are more than trusted — Their biggest fans consider them family.

I’ve been following the influencer marketing trend since its beginning, and I think the momentum will pick up going forward. While this is mainstream media for the biggest brands, most companies are just getting started.

8) Talent Acquisition and Skill Gaps

The rapid evolution of digital/influencer/meme marketing requires new skills in AI, analytics, and content creation. Finding and retaining top talent is increasingly difficult. Something I hear all the time: “There is no shortage of marketing jobs. There is a shortage of the right skills for those jobs.”

9) Proving ROI and Justifying Budgets

Marketing teams face increasing pressure to demonstrate clear ROI on campaigns. With long sales cycles and brand-building efforts, attributing revenue directly to marketing initiatives has always been challenging.

I think this is the greatest source of marketing stress. Your boss expects marketing to be coin-operated. Put coins in, get more coins out. But customers don’t operate that way and they don’t care about your quarterly revenue goals. Marketing takes patience and that is not a popular trait these days.

10) Global de-population

I bet you didn’t see that one coming. But this mega-trend will put a lot of pressure on marketers and their brands.

The global birthrate is nowhere near the replacement average of 2.1 births per family. In the U.S., for example, the rate is about 1.4 births per family. Almost every business depends on population growth for incremental annual sales gains. However, the population will inexorably decline in most developed nations, which has massive implications for sales and marketing.

The latest UN numbers show that 2040 will be the peak population on earth, just 15 years away. So, it’s coming at us quickly.

Well, on that happy note, I’ll conclude this post on non-AI marketing issues. You might be thinking, “Whew … that’s a lot.” But that’s exactly why I love marketing. It’s a field that is endlessly changing and endlessly fascinating.

I love solving hard problems and marketing has no lack of them!

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy Mid Journey

The post The 10 biggest marketing challenges have nothing to do with AI appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.