Marketing Dojo #107: 💔 No Trust, No Sale. 🤝
Measuring the impact of AI overviews, celebrating 100 years in style, B2B buyers' trust is evolving and more.
You know who might be better at marketing than half of LinkedIn?
A taxi driver I met earlier this week.
This part-time driver is also a full-time interior designer.
His #1 source of new clients? Driving cabs.
Hundreds of people ride with him every year. A few chats turn into leads. A few leads turn into customers.
Simple. Free. Brilliant.
Technically, he’s getting paid to do business development.
(Imagine your CFO’s face if you suggested that.)
Today’s newsletter doesn’t promise to turn your marketing into a revenue stream (yet). But it might just leave you with a few ideas worth pursuing.
Here’s what we’ll explore today:
🧠 Google’s AI Overviews and the vanishing clicks
🖼️ The New Yorker’s timeless brand lesson
🛒 The dark side of discounts
📊 B2B buying trends you need to know
Marketing Dojo is your weekly dose of curiosity fodder for marketers who like to stay sharp without the noise.
Ok, now let’s drive right into it…
Google's AI Overviews: Where Clicks Go to Die
Google is no longer a brand discovery tool.
To study the impact of AI overviews on click-through rates (CTR) of websites, Amsive analyzed 700,000 keywords across 10 websites in five major industries and focused on 10,000 keywords that triggered AI overviews while ranking.
First, a quick lay of the land:
Today, a Google search can show:
Just plain links (old school)
AI Overviews OR Featured Snippets
Or—if you're really unlucky—both AI Overviews and Snippets stacked together.
Here’s what Amsive found:
Overall impact:
When an AI overview appears, click-through rates (CTR) drop by an average of 15.49%.
Organic visibility shrinks.
The brand advantage:
Branded keywords are much less likely to trigger AI overviews—only 4.79% of them did.
Even when they did, CTR actually improved by 18.69%.
Building a strong brand still protects you.
The worst-case scenario:
When an AI overview overlaps with a featured snippet, CTRs plunge by 37.04%.
AI snippets hog prime real estate, pushing organic results even further down.
As AI walls off casual traffic, only brands with strong pull will find a way in. In a world where algorithms choose what’s seen, brand loyalty becomes your best guarantee of being found.
Creative Excellence: The New Yorker Turns 100, In style.
Nothing sells better than nostalgia. Just ask The New Yorker.
To celebrate its 100th birthday, The New Yorker has released a stunning video showcasing a century of its iconic magazine covers.
It's a walk through history—capturing moments from the Cold War to the rise of Putin, from Black Lives Matter to the fight for women's rights, and everything in between.
There's something timeless about how The New Yorker marked its centenary. Quiet. Elegant. Unmistakably itself.
The Dark Side of Discounts: What Promotions Really Do
Are price promotions building absolute loyalty, or just buying a sugar rush of sales?
A new study suggests it's mostly the latter.
Marketing Architects broke down research by Pauwels and Hanssens that looked at the long-term effects of promotions across two grocery categories: soup and yoghurt.
The findings are a must-know for any marketer who uses discounts as a growth lever.
Here's the quick version:
Promotions drive short-term spikes, not loyalty.
Sales shoot up during a discount, but the effect fades within two weeks.
Promotions grow the category, not your brand.
People stock up or switch brands temporarily, but few stay loyal afterwards.
Private labels win bigger.
Store brands retain more new customers post-promotion than established brands.
Why It Matters:
Discounts are a tool, not a brand strategy.
Promotions can open the door to trial if you're an unknown or private-label brand. If you're an established brand, be ready for customers to walk right back out once the sale ends.
Trust Issues: What Today's B2B Buyers Really Want
The TrustRadius B2B Buying Disconnect Report is always a great resource for understanding how buying behaviours are shifting.
This year’s edition is no exception.
I found the 2025 report packed with useful insights. But if you don't have time to dive into the full report, no worries.
I’ve created a quick infographic summarising the key trends for you.
A simple glance, and you’re all caught up.
Short Stuff:
Meta’s X rival, Threads, now has ad placements available worldwide. (More ad inventory for Meta).
Instagram has introduced two new features, Blend & Storylines,, to drive more social interaction with friends and family on the app.(Bringing social back to social media).
X alternative, Bluesky launches the familiar blue-tick verification of accounts. (The good old part of social media we recognise).
That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for your time and attention. If you made it this far and enjoyed what you read, remember to leave a like. I appreciate your support.
I will see you in your inbox next Wednesday.
Regards,
Garima
So well researched and written and enjoyed the insights as always, thanks, Garima!