Tuesday, August 11

💸 Are you currently spending on Meta and/or Google ads?

You're probably leaving tons of ROI on the table by not:

1. Making your ads more pain-point driven

2. Structuring your ad campaigns for true scale

3. Optimizing the post-click experience (because people will spend 5X more time consuming your landing page than your ad)

…well, that's exactly what my team and I do at Max's Media Buyers to the tune of $100,000,000+ in attributable ad revenue generated through profitable ad funnels. Let us audit your account and see just how much money your current ad person/team is leaving on the table.

👉 Get a free ad audit (or strategy session) here!

⚡️ Today’s Headlines ⚡️

🧐 Google is investigating a Merchant Center outage. The incident began on August 6 within Merchant Center and Google has still not shared details on the cause or expected resolution.

📧 Sending emails every week but your pipeline stays empty? Bring your tired templates to Vende's free session this afternoon and walk away with fixes you can test today. Reserve your spot here!

📈 LinkedIn’s latest updates aim to drive more post replies and comments. The two new updates include the algorithm using signals like professional interests, connections, and engagement activity to surface more relevant comments, as well as surfacing more timely and relevant discussions in the feed.

📣 Want to get featured in Forbes/WSJ/CNN? Get great placements in top media placements (and niche industry ones) with no up-front investment. Pay on results only! 👉🏼 Get Guaranteed Press Here →

🛒 TikTok Shop’s new sales tool doesn’t support Amazon, Walmart, or other offline stores. The Seller Center’s automated measurement capability currently only supports tracking offsite performance to a seller’s DTC or Shopify standalone site.

💡 Today’s Insight 💡

Gen Z now treats Claude & OpenAI like consumer brands

🗞 TL;DR - According to new analysis from YouGov, Claude and OpenAI are rapidly becoming consumer brands in their own right, particularly among Gen Z. The growing Consideration score of both chatbots shows that a growing share of Gen Z is starting to think of Claude and OpenAI the way they think of a sneaker brand or streaming service.

💡 Insight - In Q2 2026, Claude’s U.S. Gen Z consideration score nearly doubled from 14.2% to 28.1%, while OpenAI’s more than doubled from 10.1% to 22.1%. ChatGPT, tracked separately, rose from 16.3% to 25.4%.

But there’s an important catch: brand consideration and trust aren't the same thing. Separate YouGov research found that only 28% of Americans trust AI assistants for factual answers, a full 42 points behind the trust searchers place in a traditional search engine. That creates a gap between people wanting to use AI products and trusting the information those products provide.

For marketers, the implication is that AI visibility (GEO) shouldn't be measured solely by citations or referral traffic. Brand awareness and consideration can be influenced by advertising, product launches and broader brand-building, while earning citations depends more heavily on credible, accurate, verifiable information.

🙇 How Can I Help You This Week?

😤 Been burned by a marketing agency before? Same story I hear every week. That’s why this month I’m making warm introductions to agencies I’ve personally vetted & trust with my own money. Let me help you find the perfect agency 100% free here →

🤖 Not sure where to use AI in your business? Very few entrepreneurs I speak to have identified exactly where AI actually saves them the most time or money. I had Nathan audit my businesses, identify the highest-ROI AI automations, and build them end-to-end. We now save hours every week across onboarding, reporting, and client comms. See if you qualify for the same free strategy session with him here →

📳 Want more sales calls? My personal growth team builds the trust engine that warms leads up and books calls on autopilot. Get More Quality Leads Here →

📣 Wanna get in front of 200,000 B2B decision makers? We’ve delivered hundreds of thousands of leads, clients, customers, & users. Get in touch here →