TLDR Marketing 2026-10-12

Brands are told Reddit is key to AI search, and plenty of agencies promise to "game" it with volume. (Spoiler: that ends badly.)

Get the inside story from Evan Hamilton, who led community at Reddit for five years before building HubSpot's presence, and Rob Fawkes of Standing on Giants. They'll cover replying before posting, earning trust with moderators, and why AI search shortcuts backfire.

→ Join live on October 20th at 12pm ET / 9am PT / 5pm BST (or RSVP to watch on-demand)

68% of major US brands have no AI-specific crawling rules. Newsrooms are more likely to block AI bots, with 75% restricting at least one compared with 6% of other brands. None of the 52 accessible robots.txt files fully blocked OpenAI's or Anthropic's AI search bots by name, though some blocked training crawlers. Forbes blocks training bots while allowing AI search, while GEICO explicitly allows all 12 AI crawlers it names.

92% of US households plan to celebrate Halloween in 2026, with average spending expected to reach $285 per household. 56% of retail shoppers plan to start shopping by September, while early shoppers expect to spend 1.7X more than others. Price and value drive purchase decisions, and 32% of Halloween shoppers expect to use generative AI for product recommendations and comparisons.

SaaS churn is heavily front-loaded, with the biggest drop-off often happening during signup and initial product use before retention stabilizes. Track retention by signup cohort rather than total user churn to identify where new users leave and prioritize fixes with the greatest downstream impact. In one example, reducing signup-to-first-project churn could generate 164 additional paywall views compared with 59 from fixing the paywall step itself. Improve early experiences by helping users reach value milestones quickly, since every user lost early reduces the pool available for later conversions and referrals.

A South American gift company increased orders by 9% by adding 2 free services to its checkout summary without offering a discount. Research showed customers hesitated at the final price and wanted better value. The test highlighted existing benefits, including premium gift wrapping and a satisfaction guarantee, with both listed as free beside the total. This reframed the purchase around what customers received rather than just what they paid.

Substack is expanding its sponsorship program with 3 formats that let brands fund free paid subscriptions, unlock paywalled posts, or curate themed collections from established writers. These partnerships help publishers reach new readers while generating revenue and creating opportunities to convert free readers into paying subscribers. Substack is also partnering with Kantar to measure campaign impact on brand awareness and consideration beyond impressions and clicks.

Claude's citations closely match query format. Best-X questions pulled listicles 90% of the time. A-vs-B questions pulled comparison pages 87% of the time, while how-to questions pulled guides 85% of the time. Create content for each buyer query type and publish competitor comparison pages to avoid losing visibility to competitors. Sonnet and Haiku often cited different URLs for the same questions, so check both models to assess Claude visibility.

Conduct a brand audit before rebranding to identify the real problem. Compare internal strategy with customer feedback to determine whether the issue requires clearer messaging or a new identity. Review public touchpoints to find gaps between the intended brand and customer perception. Match each finding to the right fix rather than defaulting to a full redesign. Preserve existing brand equity and ensure the customer experience supports the brand promise.

Study how customers use existing products to uncover winning product ideas rather than chasing trends or competitor launches. Zouk created its bestselling office bag after noticing working women needed one bag for laptops and personal items. Observe customers in real-world settings and identify workarounds that reveal unmet needs. Turn recurring complaints into product briefs and call customers to understand their frustrations. Solve functional problems first, then layer in design and cultural relevance.

Use the HUMAN framework to decide which tasks belong to AI versus people.

12 tips for generating B2B leads through buyer-focused content, tailored lead magnets, and email nurturing.