Digital Marketing in Motion: A Quarter of Change, Challenge, and AI Everywhere

Digital Intelligence
Written By megan hammons

Every quarter, I take a step back from my biweekly newsletters and look at the big picture. What were the dominant forces shaping digital marketing over the past three months? What ideas deserve a second look? And, most importantly, how do we move from “just accepting” the quirks of digital to making purposeful choices that push our strategies forward?

This summer has been one of the most dynamic in recent memory. Between the breakneck evolution of AI, shifts in social platforms, and the stubborn realities of analytics and content, we’re witnessing a marketing landscape that’s equal parts thrilling and exhausting. Here are the key takeaways.

The AI Wave Isn’t Slowing — It’s Accelerating

AI continues to be the dominant storyline, but what’s striking now is the sheer diversity of applications and the growing tension between hype and reality.

  • AI in marketing execution: From fully automated ad campaigns slated for Meta in 2026 to Salesforce launching agentic offerings that could redefine CRM, AI isn’t just tinkering at the edges — it’s becoming the infrastructure.

  • AI in search and SEO: “Search Everywhere Optimization” has emerged as the new reality. It’s not just about Google anymore; TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and even AI-driven answer engines are reshaping how and where people find information.

  • AI in content and creative: Tools like Grok Imagine can create short-form videos from prompts, while others are building voice cloning, copywriting, and personalization features into everyday workflows.

But here’s the nuance: AI isn’t a magic revenue-driver yet. It’s enhancing productivity, surfacing insights, and giving us speed, but the marketers who win will be those who use it with strategy and context, not blind faith.

Social Media Keeps Reinventing Itself (and Making It Harder for Brands)

The platforms remain in constant motion, and marketers must be nimble to keep up:

  • Instagram and TikTok rolled out updates — reposts, trial reels, maps, hashtag limits — all designed to deepen engagement and keep creators hooked.

  • Meta’s organic reach continues to decline, forcing brands to lean harder on paid media.

  • Threads is growing fast, now with hundreds of millions of users, and is approaching X (Twitter) in usage.

  • Influencers (and even faux-AI influencers) continue to outpace traditional media in cultural impact.

In short, the platforms want to own the experience, and that means it’s harder than ever for brands to get seen organically. The winners are doubling down on being where their audience actually is rather than trying to be everywhere at once.

Search Is No Longer Just Search

If there’s one area that has undergone a fundamental identity shift, it’s search.

  • AI Overviews and generative search are shaking up how results are presented, with measurable impacts on traffic.

  • SEO remains critical but has expanded into “search everywhere” — meaning your brand must be optimized for discoverability across Google, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and beyond.

  • Paid search (PPC) is feeling pressure with lower CTRs and the need for smarter, data-powered strategies.

Search used to be a box on a Google page. Now, it’s the connective tissue across every digital experience.

Content Marketing Is at a Crossroads

Content has always been the backbone of digital, but now it faces new pressures:

  • AI as creator: Publishers are wrestling with whether AI-generated content should be labeled, how it impacts SEO, and what it means for originality.

  • Budgets vs. output: B2B content production is exploding, but budgets are flat, creating a race to do more with less.

  • Quality over shortcuts: The basics haven’t changed — authoritative, unique, trustworthy content still wins. But now it must work across more surfaces, from traditional search to AI answer engines.

If you’ve been tempted by “plug in prompts, get a strategy” AI pitches,  remember that deep understanding of your industry is still what separates the best content from the noise.

Analytics, Data, and Attribution: Still a Headache

Despite AI’s promises, measurement remains one of marketing’s thorniest issues.

  • Attribution models like last-touch are misleading and leading teams astray.

  • GA4 continues to frustrate, but features like custom journey reports show promise.

  • Cross-platform and predictive analytics are in demand, but still not delivering fully.

Data is increasingly moving out of silos and into the hands of creatives. That might finally bridge the long-standing gap between art and science in marketing.

Programmatic, Video, and Emerging Tech

  • Programmatic is shifting — more dollars flowing to Amazon, Netflix expanding programmatic availability, and attention-based deals starting to gain traction.

  • Video continues to dominate: YouTube’s revenue climbs, CTV is maturing, and authenticity is beating polish.

From Acceptance to Purpose

One theme cut across all six newsletters this quarter: too often, we accept digital marketing quirks as “just the way it is.” Buried ads, broken analytics, weak content, declining organic reach … we roll with it instead of challenging it.

But this is the moment to stop accepting and start acting with purpose. AI is rewriting the rules, social is constantly shifting, and analytics are messy. That doesn’t mean we throw up our hands. It means we double down on strategy, creativity, and purposeful choices.

Digital marketing isn’t going to get easier. But that’s what makes it exciting.

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