Throwing more money at PPC won’t necessarily fix a lead-generation problem.

When brands put too much of their budget into capturing existing demand through search, they can end up starving the channels that create awareness and trust in the first place. Prospects may encounter a brand through social, video, events, Reddit, LinkedIn, or other content long before they search for it — so the search ad is often just one part of a much longer decision process.

Before moving more budget into search, look at:

• Whether you’re capturing existing demand or actually creating new demand.
• How much of your audience already knows and trusts your brand.
• Whether awareness channels are feeding branded and high-intent search later.
• Where prospects are researching you before they ever search for your product.
• Whether your PPC strategy covers the full customer journey instead of only the final click.
• Which channels are building the familiarity that makes a search ad more likely to convert.

More spend can amplify a strategy that works. It can also amplify a strategy that’s missing half the customer journey.

Head to Search Engine Land for more.

Searching for the perfect stock photo can turn into a surprisingly large part of the job.

O-DAN makes it easier by searching across multiple free stock photo sites at once, so you can browse results from different sources without opening a dozen tabs. It’s built for those moments when you know the image exists somewhere.

Less tab-hopping, more finding the photo you actually wanted.

Don’t miss the latest episode of The Daily Carnage Show to explore AI’s impact on entry-level marketing jobs—and the potential talent pipeline crisis that could follow.

Companies are already hiring fewer junior employees as AI takes over foundational tasks. But those “boring” tasks are also where marketers develop judgment, critical thinking, strategic instincts, and creative voice.

So what does an entry-level marketing job look like when AI can handle much of the routine work? And how do we make sure we aren’t optimizing ourselves into a future shortage of experienced marketers?

Shannon breaks down the entry-level talent crisis, the rise of AI-native marketers, the importance of mentorship and apprenticeship, and what young marketers can do to build real expertise in an AI-first world.

🎙️ Plus, catch up on Season 2:

• Microdramas Are Taking Over Marketing (10:43)
• Meta Muse Will Change How We Use the Internet (11:53)
• AI CEOs Want to Slow Down. The AI Race Won’t. (11:39)
• Reddit Is Changing SEO & AI Search (10:55)
• The Creator Economy Rules Gaming (43:53)
• Dark Patterns Are Becoming a Legal Problem for Meta (12:06)
• Dissecting the Brand Apology (11:35)
• Instagram’s Controversial New Logo (10:34)
• Google Image Search is… Pinterest? (9:26)
• Sony & The Death of Physical Media (8:57)

🎙️ Now streaming on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music.

The Daily Carnage reaches decision-makers at brands, agencies, SaaS companies, and startups who are actively researching solutions, evaluating vendors, and making purchasing decisions every day.

Now, we’re opening up a limited number of Friends of The Daily Carnage partnerships for brands that want to build a consistent presence with our audience, not just run a one-off ad.

Friends get discounted sponsorship inventory, priority booking, first access to unsold placements, bonus opportunities, and performance reviews throughout the year.

Partnership levels include dedicated newsletter features, premium placements, podcast pre-rolls, classified ads, social promotion, and more.

Past sponsors include Canva, HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Marketing Brew, and dozens of other leading brands.

Interested in reaching marketers who actually click? Reach out to get started!

Got a marketing problem you’re trying to solve? Need a second opinion? Wondering whether a new platform, AI tool, campaign idea, or strategy is worth pursuing?

Every Friday, we’re clocking in for Agency Office Hours sessions: 30-minute sessions for Daily Carnage readers to chat with the Carney team.

Bring your questions. We’ll bring our experience.

Whether you’re trying to improve performance, navigate industry changes, troubleshoot a campaign, or simply sanity-check an idea, we wanna hear what you’ve got going on.

No pitches. No obligations. No sales deck. Seriously.

Just a free 30-minute conversation with the team behind The Daily Carnage.

👉 Reserve your Office Hours session now.

Let’s take this party outside of the inbox, Carnies!

Connect and network with over 20,000 marketers to get (and give) advice, feedback, support, and LOLs.

• 💬 Join r/TheDailyCarnage on Reddit
• 👍 Join The Daily Carnage Facebook Group

😎 See ya there.

Formula E just gave its identity a need for speed.

The new visual system changes with the pace of the race, with a flexible logo, typography with different “velocity” settings, and motion graphics built for the sport’s broadcast environment.

Even the typeface gets in on it: “Turbo Mode” is condensed and italicized for speed, while “Micro Mono” handles technical details like timestamps and codes.

Basically, Formula E made a brand identity that doesn’t just sit there looking pretty. It moves.

Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic, 1899