Likely Marketing

In a world obsessed with publishing more content, brands are learning a hard truth: AI doesn’t trust what brands say about themselves as much as what others say about them. In this episode of Likely **Marketing, we explore why AI visibility is no longer built on content alone, but on citations, credibility, and repeated validation across the web. From Reddit discussions and podcasts to digital PR,...

In the age of AI search, brands are no longer competing only for rankings. They’re competing to be understood. When someone asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, or Perplexity about a company, the machine first asks: “Who exactly is this brand?” In this episode, Shivendra explores Entity SEO — the invisible layer shaping visibility in AI search. From vague positioning and confusing brand names to sch...

The first version of the web gave us clicks. This one quietly takes them away. In this episode, we explore how AI browsers like Dia Browser, Comet Browser, Opera Neon, Atlas Browser, and Google Chrome are turning the internet into an intent-driven system where decisions happen before clicks. What starts as a search becomes a conversation, then an action—summaries replace scrolling, agents compare...

It starts as a pattern you almost ignore—until it repeats. A clothing brand releases a music video. Then a fintech app. Then an airline. Not ads or placements, but full-scale productions with original songs, choreography, and stories. This episode explores the rise of brands using music videos to become culture, not just commercials. As audiences skip ads, brands are shifting from buying attention...

AI didn’t kill websites, it made them invisible. There was a time when platforms like Google defined discovery, and ranking meant relevance. Websites were the internet’s home. But today, AI search, social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and voice assistants intercept intent before a click ever happens. Answers are delivered instantly, journeys are compressed, and clicks are disappea...

A quiet trade show aisle changes in seconds: one ordinary booth becomes a portal, and curious passersby step into branded worlds they can see, touch, and remember. In this episode, “From booth traffic to brand immersion: The new power of VR in events marketing,” we explore how VR for events marketing is transforming static booths into immersive experiences that attract crowds, deepen engagement, a...

It began with a small shift inside Instagram, a simple “Add link” button that marketers had waited years for. But this wasn’t just a feature update. It was a signal. For a decade, “link in bio” shaped how traffic flowed, powering tools like Linktree and defining what organic growth looked like. Now, with caption links available only through Meta Verified, the journey from discovery to conversion c...

A flicker. A shadow. A heartbeat that isn’t yours. Millions press play not just to watch horror, but to feel something deeper. Horror fans aren’t passive viewers—they seek intensity, remember what moves them, and reward what earns their attention. In this episode, we explore the psychology behind this behavior—from sensation-seeking to emotional memory—and why it makes horror audiences more open,...

You open your analytics dashboard, searching for the next big content bet—sports, food, drama but nothing sticks. Then you notice a pattern: horror. Not jump scares or gore, but something deeper. Since 2015, horror movies have evolved into a global attention engine with low budgets, massive ROI, and strong retention across theaters and streaming. But the real story lies in the audience—young, dive...

AI search is quietly rewriting the rules of discovery. With Google AI Overviews, users increasingly get answers directly on the search page without clicking a website. Convenient for users—but disruptive for publishers, creators, and brands whose content powers those answers. Now Google is exploring something unprecedented: letting websites opt out of AI-generated search summaries while staying vi...

We are living in an age of information overload where AI can generate content faster than ever. Feeds are full of polished posts, perfect visuals, and algorithm-friendly messages—yet most of it disappears from memory within seconds. This episode explores the growing tension in AI for branding and marketing. As generative AI floods the internet with “AI slop”—content that looks impressive but feels...

The room goes silent. The CFO asks: “If we move budget, what happens to revenue?” In today’s privacy-first, AI-driven chaos, guesswork fails. This episode explores how Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is becoming a strategic edge through Google Meridian and Google Scenario Planner. Meridian analyzes aggregated, multi-channel data to uncover true incremental impact. Scenario Planner turns that model in...

For years, digital advertising chased cheap scale. Programmatic buying promised low CPMs and limitless reach, but brands lost control of context. Ads appeared beside misinformation, low-value content, and misaligned audiences. Privacy laws tightened, cookies faded, CAC rose, and trust declined. This episode explores the rise of curated advertising — premium, handpicked environments like Private Ma...

The deal closes. Headlines celebrate synergy. Valuations look strong. From the $5T M&A peak of 2021 to regulator-blocked moves like Adobe’s attempted acquisition of Figma, boards focus on balance sheets. But between signing and rebranding, a quieter loss unfolds. A high-ranking domain is redirected, thousands of indexed pages collapse into generic URLs, backlinks break, and AI answers stop cit...

At the start of the year, you open your marketing plan and wonder: is Threads worth the effort, or just another platform to maintain? When Meta launched it in 2023, 100 million users signed up in a week. Today, it sits at nearly 400 million monthly active users with strong engagement and Gen Z attention. So why aren’t marketers prioritizing Threads for marketing? This episode explores the tension...

I clear a puzzle level on my phone. Fireworks flash. A choice appears: watch 30 seconds, earn extra coins. I tap yes. That’s in-game advertising — opt-in, rewarded, seamless. In this episode, we explore why in-game advertising is becoming a core growth engine. Gaming is a $124B+ industry with 3B players across mobile, PC, console, AR, VR, and cloud. Gen Z attention lives here. Free-to-play models,...

Two brands meet. Not on a billboard. Not in an ad break. But quietly—where trust already lives. Over the last five years, brand collaboration marketing has stopped being a flashy stunt and started behaving like a system. A new operating model for growth. One where brands borrow credibility, share culture, reduce risk, and expand meaning—together. In this episode, How brand collaborations quietly b...

Late one weekend, a marketer falls down a quiet rabbit hole called Google Labs—and realizes something important is happening in plain sight. This episode explores how Google Labs tools for marketing aren’t random AI experiments, but early signals of how Google is rebuilding its entire advertising ecosystem. From AI-generated images, video, music, and copy to conversational assistants and 3D produc...

What if OpenAI’s biggest missing piece isn’t better models—but better intent? This episode begins with a rumor: OpenAI might acquire Pinterest. But quickly, it becomes a story about where AI, search, and marketing are actually headed. Pinterest isn’t just a visual platform. It’s where humans plan, dream, decide, and shop—leaving behind rare, intent-rich visual signals at scale. We unpack why OpenA...

On a quiet January morning, over coffee, a single sentence captured the mood of modern marketing:  “It feels like the rules keep changing, but no one tells us what the new rules are.” This episode is about those rules. As GDPR tightens enforcement and the EU AI Act comes into force, marketing enters a new phase—where data, AI, and personalization are no longer shortcuts to growth, but regulated re...

Standing at the edge of 2025, this episode begins like a quiet realization rather than a breaking news alert. Marketing didn’t collapse under AI. It was clarified. In  What I Hope for Marketing in 2026 When AI Meets Trust and Community , this story walks through a year where AI-powered search rewrote visibility, algorithms exposed empty tactics, and content abundance stripped marketing down to its...

Boy, did 2025 fly by. As the year winds down, marketing finds itself at a strange, electric crossroads. Visibility broke. Conversion changed. Creation exploded. And in the quiet before 2026, everything suddenly makes sense. This episode is a short story about that convergence moment—when search slipped into conversations, when AI answers, creators, communities, CTV screens, and AR quietly replaced...

In 2025, the social web is quietly shifting. Feeds are fading, and “inner circles” are rising. When TikTok launched Bulletin Boards, it seemed like just another feature—until creators realized it unlocked something the algorithm never could: direct, intimate community. Suddenly, platforms everywhere began rebuilding smaller, quieter digital rooms where real connection lives again. This episode div...

When Adobe bought SEMRush for $1.9bn, it wasn’t just another tech acquisition—it was a signal. A signal that traditional SEO, Google-first thinking, and old visibility playbooks are collapsing faster than marketers expected. In this episode, we break down why Adobe made this move, what SEMRush brings to the table, and how AI-powered search is rewriting the rules of online discovery. From Generativ...

Social media isn’t just for posts anymore — it’s a binge-worthy streaming platform, and brands are turning into mini studios. In this episode, we dive into the rise of scripted social media series: entertaining, episodic content created by brands like Bilt, Alexis Bittar, Nike, and RedBull. From unbranded mockumentaries to AI-generated stories, discover how these series hook Gen Z and millennials,...