Posts in Marketing
What to Look for in a UGC Agency (With a Checklist for Brands) in 2025

In 2025, user-generated content (UGC) is a game-changer for marketing. 

Companies are keen on UGC agencies that help capture genuine content which really clicks with people. 

Here's a telling stat: 93% of marketers agree that UGC beats the pants off traditional ads.

What’s more, ads with UGC see click-through rates that are four times higher

So, picking a top-notch UGC agency isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s crucial if you want to build trust and keep your audience engaged. 

Choose wrong, and you could be throwing time and money down the drain.

This article is your go-to guide for selecting a UGC agency that meshes with your brand. 

We’ve even thrown in a handy checklist to make sure your partnership hits the mark.

Let’s dive in.

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VP of Marketing: Skills, Salary + How to Hire in 2025

The Vice President (VP) of Marketing is one of the most impactful hires a company can make.

In 2024, 59% of marketing leaders identified revenue generation as a top strategic priority. This illustrates the direct impact of the role on business growth.

To attract the right person, you need clarity, not just on responsibilities, but on the actual cost and required skills. You also need a structured hiring process that filters high-quality candidates without wasting time.

In this article, you’ll get:

  • A breakdown of essential skills that matter at this level

  • A realistic look at current salary expectations

  • Proven strategies to navigate the hiring process

Ready to hire smarter? Let’s get started.

P.S. Want even more insights to sharpen your executive hiring strategy? Check out our list of the Top 30 Executive Search & Recruiting Thought Leaders for expert advice and the latest trends.

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How Attribution Models Impact Your Performance Marketing Results in 2025

Performance marketing is a results-driven advertising strategy. That’s why, in many cases, performance advertisers prefer to pay only when specific actions like clicks or conversions happen. 

They focus more on sales than on awareness.

For them, it's all about the results.

In 2024, 80% of marketers put some of their ad budgets into search, social, display, and remarketing ads. 

But here's the kicker: the success of these efforts really depends on picking the right way to track and credit sales or conversions. 

If you can't measure the impact of each ad or campaign properly, doubling down on what's actually working is pretty tough. 

This article will explore how choosing the right attribution model can make or break your marketing strategy.

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What Sets a Great Media Buying Agency Apart From the Rest? Explained (2025)

Global digital ad spend is expected to surpass $730 billion in 2025

Competition is brutal.

Media buying dictates how far your ad dollars go.

The wrong agency wastes your budget. The right one maximizes every cent.

You need an agency that understands real-time bidding, audience segmentation, and platform-specific nuances.

Many claim expertise, but few deliver results.

This article breaks down what separates top-tier media buying agencies from the rest.

No fluff. No generic advice. Just the key factors that define high-performance media buying.

Let’s get into it.

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What Is a Micro-Influencer? The Complete Beginner’s Guide for 2025

In 2024, 64% of marketers teamed up with micro-influencers – and nearly half of them saw great results. 

This trend shows that businesses are moving toward smarter, more focused marketing. 

In this guide, you'll learn what exactly makes a micro-influencer, why they matter, and the best ways to work with them. 

Whether you're fine-tuning your current strategy or trying something new, you'll find practical tips to boost your marketing.

Let’s dive in.

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Top 12 SaaS Marketing Strategies to Accelerate Growth in 2025

Did you know that over 80% of businesses utilize at least one SaaS application in their operations? But you need effective SaaS marketing strategies to ensure those businesses pick you. The thing is, marketing a SaaS product presents distinct challenges. Unlike traditional software, SaaS solutions demand continuous engagement throughout the entire customer journey. This includes the onboarding process, user experience, and customer retention efforts. You’re on the right page to solve those issues.

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What Is the Digital Marketing Strategy That Tracks Users Across the Web? Explained in 2025

Understanding user behavior is an important part of effective digital marketing. Analyzing online activities helps you understand behaviors and preferences. And then, you can transform more visitors into customers. This approach enhances customer satisfaction, too, because you create content that fits their needs. As such, you can scale conversion rates while decreasing CPAs. In fact, more than one in three marketing leaders cite conversion rates as a top KPI that they prioritize tracking.

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5 WINNING Strategies to Maximize the ROI of International Marketing Events in 2025

Maximizing ROI for international marketing events is more important than ever. The stakes are high, and every decision counts.

Post-pandemic, expectations have shifted. Attendees demand seamless digital integration and more value-driven experiences.

In this article, you'll learn five key strategies to boost your event ROI in 2025:

  • How to plan effectively with a focus on sustainability and tech

  • Engagement tools that drive interaction

  • Smart ways to capture and analyze data

  • Budgeting tips for tighter control

  • Post-event follow-up for lasting impact

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How to Create a Marketing Plan That Works in 2025

Creating a marketing plan feels like an uphill battle. Most articles give you theory and buzzwords but lack actionable steps.

You need a comprehensive marketing plan that works in the real world.

This article is different.

We’ll create a fictional company, build an effective marketing plan from scratch, and even show you how to beat a brand like Oreo.

You’ll see every part of the process — from defining your target market to setting SMART marketing goals.

We’ll map out marketing objectives, explore marketing channels, and assign a marketing budget.

By the end, you’ll have a clear path to hit your marketing goals and grow your customer base.

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How to Build an Omnichannel Marketing Strategy in 2025

Building an omnichannel marketing strategy isn’t easy.

There are too many sources outlining the process theoretically and not enough practical examples.

Let’s fix that.

We’ll walk you through a hands-on approach to create seamless experiences for customers.

And we’ll aim high—let’s say we’re competing with Nike’s omnichannel approach.

Together, we’ll build a system that integrates mobile apps, email marketing, and social media platforms to deliver a consistent experience.

By the end, you’ll know how to create an effective omnichannel strategy that drives customer loyalty and keeps your team focused on results.

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The Future of Programmatic Advertising: 7 Trends Shaping Paid Media in 2025

Programmatic advertising has transformed how brands connect with audiences, evolving from rudimentary automated buying to a sophisticated ecosystem that optimizes ad spending through real-time bidding and machine learning. 

Its significance in the digital context continues to surge, with projections indicating a rise to $2772.7 billion by 2028​. 

As we approach 2025, the market is being shaped by several trends:

  • AI-driven optimization

  • Contextual targeting

  • Cross-channel attribution

  • Emerging formats

  • Privacy-First advertising

  • Blockchain integration

  • Immersive experiences

Keep reading to dive deeper into each trend and leverage the opportunities they bring.

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The Role of AI in Performance Marketing: Key Benefits for 2025

AI's transformative impact on marketing includes:

  • Efficiency: Streamlining operations and enhancing campaign management.

  • Personalization: Creating tailored customer experiences at scale.

  • Performance: Improving campaign outcomes through advanced data analytics.

The importance of AI in staying competitive is clear as it becomes a core element of modern marketing strategies, with widespread usage in everything from customer segmentation to predictive analytics.

Continue reading to discover how AI can skyrocket your performance marketing strategy and drive better results in 2024.

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Paid Media vs. Earned Media: Understanding the Difference and When to Use Each

According to a survey by Cision, marketers allocate approximately 25% of their digital marketing budgets to paid media and 24% to earned media, highlighting the importance of both strategies in a balanced marketing approach.

Knowing when to use paid media versus earned media – or paid media and earned media – can help you orient your marketing efforts toward more ROI. 

You just have to go about things strategically.

Both play important roles in building brand awareness and driving customer engagement, but they serve different purposes and operate in unique ways. 

Paid media can provide immediate visibility and traffic, while earned media builds long-term trust and credibility. 

Understanding how these two approaches differ—and when to use each—can help you make better decisions and optimize your marketing efforts. 

Let’s break down the key distinctions, benefits, and ideal use cases for each.

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TikTok Affiliate Marketing: Top 10 Strategies to Shine in 2025

Did you know that TikTok has over 1.5 billion monthly active users as of 2023, with projections to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2024?

The platform's unique, viral content dynamics foster high engagement rates, with an average of 2.65% by follower count, surpassing other social media platforms.

Affiliate marketers can harness these attributes to significantly enhance sales, tapping into TikTok’s robust ecosystem. 

Here's the TL;DR on how you can start:

  • Capitalize on Engagement: Leverage TikTok’s interactive format to maintain high viewer interest.

  • Maximize Conversions: Utilize the platform's viral nature to increase product visibility.

  • Boost Sales: Employ strategic content and collaborations to drive sales effectively.

Keep reading to discover exactly how you can use these strategies to skyrocket your affiliate marketing efforts on TikTok.

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Top Custom Made Ukulele Builders, Brands, Luthiers, & Companies

Ukuleles are more than just instruments; they are an embodiment of culture, craftsmanship, and creativity. 

From the sunlit shores of Hawaii to concert halls around the world, custom-made ukuleles reflect the unique artistry of their creators and offer a personalized touch to any musician's collection.

In this article we walk you through everything you need to know about ordering a custom ukulele and provide a comprehensive list of brands and companies offering custom made ukulele builds.

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How To Grow Your Audience & Email List on LinkedIn

1,258 new connections in 3 months
1,777 new connections in 4 months
2,852 new connections in 6 months

Those are real numbers from many of the campaigns we have run for our clients at Lead Cookie

Those are thousands of new connections that will now see their content in their newsfeed, and we have set up funnels to drive many of those new connections to email list subscriptions. 

But how do you do it? 
How do you actually grow your audience on Linkedin?
And how do you drive those people to sign up for your email list?

In this post, I will give you the exact frameworks and scripts we use to do this for our clients at Lead Cookie.

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Why Stealing Business Ideas Can Spark Your Success

Since starting up Lead Cookie I have had multiple people tell me “This is such a brilliant idea for a business.”

I always laugh because I have to tell them, “I didn’t think up any of this. I literally stole the concepts from others.”

No joke, almost everything about Lead Cookie is stolen. 

But the truth is, that is why this business has succeeded while almost every business I have had before has failed. 

In this article, I am going to share what I mean by the “stolen ideas” and give you a framework on how you can steal effectively and ethically.

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How to Test & Validate Your Value Proposition Fast for Business Success

When I come across many agencies or consultants, they are stuck in this constant idea of “Do I niche down?” 

If you are asking yourself that question, then chances are the answer is Yes.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy. Finding an offer and value proposition that resonates with the market can be a challenge. 

Yet I have built a framework for building and testing value propositions at a rapid pace that I have used over and over for different clients and situations in the past.

In this article, I am going to share that framework with you and specific examples of value propositions that I have tested with this framework. I have both examples of failures and successes so you can see what worked and what didn’t.

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Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working: An Introduction to the 3 M’s for Effective Strategy & Better Results

It’s extremely common that agencies or consultants come to me sharing how their marketing simply isn’t working. They blame it on the tactics and seem to think that everyone who is teaching them tactics is a scam.

They try cold email… and fail.
They try Facebook ads… and fail.
They try content marketing… and fail.
They keep trying new things… and failing.

When your marketing is not producing results, there are 3 foundational elements that can be wrong with it. These are called the “Three M’s”.

In this article, I am going to share those Three M’s with you and give concrete examples of how to think about each one.

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