Most marketing predictions are safe.
They hedge.
They generalize.
They age poorly.
So I’m doing the opposite.
Here are 3 marketing trends I’m willing to bet my reputation on — not because they’re popular, but because I’m already seeing them work in real businesses with real money on the line.
If I’m wrong, you can quote this email back to me.
Let’s go.
1. Distribution Will Matter More Than Creativity (And That Will Upset People)
Creativity isn’t dead.
But it’s no longer the bottleneck.
The uncomfortable truth:
Average creative + elite distribution beats elite creative + average distribution. Every time.
Why?
Platforms are saturated.
Attention is fragmented.
Algorithms reward velocity, iteration, and signal strength — not perfection.
The winners aren’t asking “Is this our best idea?”
They’re asking “Can we ship this 10 times, test it across 5 channels, and compound the data?”
What this means for marketers:
Creative ops > creative genius
Systems > one-off ideas
Speed > polish
If your team can’t produce, test, and iterate fast — you’re already behind.
2. The Best Brands Will Feel More Like Media Companies Than Companies
Brands that only show up when they want to sell will lose.
The next generation of winners will:
Teach before they pitch
Entertain before they convert
Build trust before they need it
We’re moving from:
“How do we run better ads?”
to “How do we earn attention every day?”
This is why:
Founder-led content is exploding
Newsletters are becoming growth engines
Long-term audience > short-term ROAS
The brands that win will own an audience, not rent one.
If you disappear the moment someone stops seeing your ads, you don’t have a brand — you have a dependency.
3. Marketing Will Become Less About Channels — And More About Leverage
The smartest marketers I know aren’t obsessed with:
TikTok vs Instagram
SEO vs Ads
Email vs SMS
They’re obsessed with leverage.
Leverage looks like:
One idea → 20 assets
One insight → weeks of content
One system → compounding results
The question is no longer:
“What channel should we be on?”
It’s:
“How do we turn insight into an unfair advantage?”
The future belongs to marketers who think in systems, not tactics.
Trends don’t matter unless you act on them.
If you’re:
Still chasing hacks
Still optimizing in silos
Still treating marketing as execution instead of strategy
You’re playing yesterday’s game.
I’ll stand by these predictions — because I’m already building around them.
