U.S. companies are facing a new wave of tariffs that are driving up prices and introducing considerable uncertainty into marketing strategies.

As a result, companies must balance protecting their margins, meeting goals, and adapting to shifting consumer behavior. 

From fluctuating purchasing habits to changing consumer preferences, the challenge is clear: How can brands maintain loyalty while managing costs and staying ahead of the competition? 

Here’s how to navigate these turbulent waters.

The Challenge: Rising Prices and Consumer Uncertainty

With tariffs pushing up costs on various consumer goods, brands are forced to make tough decisions. Do you raise product prices, risking alienating price-sensitive customers? Or do you adjust marketing budgets, cutting back on certain channels to compensate for higher production costs? 

The uncertainty around tariffs and consumer behavior creates a challenging environment for B2C brands to make the right call. As prices climb, some shoppers are purchasing more quickly due to fear of future price increases, leading to a temporary surge in demand (a trend that luxury home goods brands are currently seeing). 

On the other hand, longer consideration phases are emerging, with consumers spending more time researching products to justify their purchases. The key here is understanding these shifts: Should brands lengthen their attribution windows to capture this change in the buying cycle, or adapt their approach to targeting consumers who are more cautious about spending?

Protecting Margins and Hitting Goals

Brands must also keep an eye on their long-term objectives. Even in the face of rising costs, maintaining sales volume and protecting margins is crucial. Expedited purchasing behavior can offer a temporary boost to sales, but it’s important not to sacrifice your long-term profitability by over-discounting or flooding the market with promotions.

The uncertainty around tariffs and consumer sentiment forces brands to reconsider their marketing budgets. Should brands adjust their spending by channel, focusing on higher-performing areas, or take a more aggressive approach to maintain market share? Paid social, in particular, may face cuts, as eMarketer predicts a $10 billion reduction in social spend this year. As customer acquisition costs (CACs) rise, lifetime value (LTV) becomes even more crucial, making organic marketing channels like search and affiliate marketing increasingly important to help keep costs down.

Leveraging “Made in America” Messaging

As tariffs take their toll on imported goods, many brands are turning to “Made in America” messaging as a powerful tool to maintain customer loyalty, as 79% say they would be more likely to buy American if tariffs significantly impacted prices.

“Made in USA” products often carry a strong emotional appeal, especially among consumers increasingly concerned about the impact of global trade tensions. Brands can highlight their commitment to domestic production, supporting jobs and the U.S. economy.

Alternatively, brands may seek to shift sourcing to other countries that aren’t as impacted by tariffs, positioning their products as “tariff-free” or “internationally sourced.” This can be an effective strategy in markets where consumers may value quality and global partnerships over domestic origin.

Adjusting to the Shift in Consumer Behavior

The current environment is seeing more price-sensitive customers, many of whom are actively seeking discounts. As consumers tighten their belts, offering promotions, bundling products, and emphasizing value can help keep these shoppers engaged. Bundling products can provide an added value proposition for customers while also driving up the average order value.

For brands that are positioned as lower-price alternatives, this may be a golden opportunity to capture new customers. As consumers become more value-conscious, they may be willing to explore new brands that offer competitive prices, creating a chance for growth if the right marketing tactics are applied.

The Power of Staying the Course

In uncertain times, it’s easy to pull back from advertising to protect budgets, but history shows this is a risky move. A study conducted between 1980 and 1985 found that during a recession, brands that maintained consistent advertising saw a 256% increase in sales post-recession, compared to just 18% for brands that paused their marketing efforts. Staying the course with advertising can help brands maintain market share, even through challenging periods.

What’s Next: Adapt and Thrive in the Face of Tariff Challenges

Rising tariffs are reshaping the landscape for brands, but with the right marketing strategies, companies like GeistM  can turn these challenges into opportunities. Whether it’s adjusting pricing, adapting budgets, or leaning into value-driven messaging, brands need to stay agile and connected to their customers’ needs. By making smart decisions today, brands can maintain strong relationships with their customers, protect their margins, and continue driving growth in a dynamic market.

Ready to navigate the shifting tariff landscape with a smart marketing strategy? Contact GeistM today to learn how we can help you adapt your approach, protect your margins, and maintain customer loyalty in these challenging times and beyond. Let’s craft a tailored solution for your brand.

Written by: Shannon Purcell

The digital advertising landscape has long been dominated by a few key players who leverage vast amounts of personal data to serve highly targeted ads. While these targeted ads can be effective, they come at a cost, both to consumer privacy and the broader trust between advertisers and their audiences. Now, however, a transformative shift is underway—one that prioritizes individual rights and transparency over unchecked data harvesting. It could change the very foundation of ad tech.

The Data-Driven Dilemma

The current ad tech ecosystem is built on a system of data extraction and exploitation. Advertisers collect personal data from users, often without explicit consent, and use it to make highly detailed profiles for targeting purposes. While this has driven the success of giants like Google and Facebook, it has also sparked widespread concerns about privacy violations, manipulation, and a lack of transparency.

Consumers are increasingly aware that they are the product being sold to advertisers. According to a report, over 70% of people find personalized ads invasive, and many have expressed discomfort with the idea of companies knowing more about them than they’re willing to share. This rising skepticism signals a breaking point. As a result, people seek alternatives to traditional ad models—ones that respect their privacy and put them in control.

Consumer-Centric Ad Tech: A New Era

This growing demand for privacy-respecting alternatives is driving innovation in ad tech. New business models are emerging that place the power back in the hands of consumers, giving them more control over what data is shared and how ads are served. One of the most promising developments in this space is the rise of blockchain-based advertising solutions.

Blockchain technology, with its decentralized nature, offers a transparent and secure way to handle data. It allows consumers to control access to their personal data, enabling them to decide which brands can use it for advertising purposes. This protects user privacy and fosters mutual trust between consumers and brands. By allowing consumers to directly opt-in to data sharing, brands can ensure that their marketing efforts are transparent and ethical, which could lead to stronger relationships with their audience.

The Role of the Consumer in Ad Tech’s Future

In this new paradigm, the consumer is no longer just a passive recipient of ads. Instead, they actively participate in the advertising ecosystem, selecting which brands they wish to engage with and monetizing their own data. This shift could pave the way for a more sustainable and ethical ad tech landscape, where advertisers are held accountable for the data they collect and how they use it.

But the benefits of consumer-centric ad tech go beyond just privacy. When consumers have control over their data, they’re more likely to engage with relevant ads and feel less resentful about being marketed to. The result? Better user experiences, increased engagement, and smarter ad spend. This leads to more positive experiences and more efficient ad spend for brands.

The Future of Ad Tech: Empowering Consumers

Advertisers must adapt to the changes accompanying them as the digital advertising industry shifts toward more transparent and consumer-driven models. Rather than relying on invasive tracking and data manipulation, they’ll need to focus on building authentic relationships with their audience. Success in the next era of ad tech will depend on empathy, ethics, and empowerment. By respecting consumer privacy and empowering them to control their data, the ad tech industry can rebuild the trust it has lost in recent years.

This shift will require rethinking how ads are served, how consumer data is collected, and how ad revenue is distributed. But in the end, it promises a more ethical, transparent, and consumer-friendly ad ecosystem. The future of advertising lies not in exploiting data, but in empowering consumers to control their digital experiences.

GeistM: Leading the Charge in Ethical Ad Innovation

At GeistM, we embrace transparency, consumer empowerment, and ethical data practices as the foundation of our performance marketing approach. We’ve built a reputation for creating meaningful brand-to-consumer connections without relying on intrusive data tactics.

By leveraging third-party content strategies and respecting user privacy, we deliver personalized, performance-driven campaigns that resonate with today’s privacy-conscious digital audiences. GeistM leads by example as the industry evolves—proving that exceptional marketing results can be achieved through trust, integrity, and putting consumers first.

Sponsored content is one of the best ways to combine storytelling with performance marketing. 

Designed to educate and entertain while promoting your product or service, sponsored content has become a staple of modern brand strategy, particularly for marketers navigating the increasingly blurred lines between traditional and digital advertising.

With feeds flooded by influencer marketing, branded content, and ads at every scroll, authenticity is the only way to stand out.

Why Authenticity is Key to Sponsored Content Success

Authenticity isn’t just a buzzword. In a landscape flooded with clickbait and overselling, today’s digital users are more attuned than ever to content that feels off. That’s why brands investing in content marketing campaigns must focus on realness — not just reach.

At GeistM, we believe authenticity starts with truly knowing your audience. We tailor each piece of content to align with specific demographics’ tone, interests, and expectations, using past engagement data to understand what actually resonates.

Whether we’re creating content for Gen Z beauty buyers or B2B tech decision-makers, our approach ensures the message feels organic and relatable, not forced.

The Role of Branding and Storytelling

Brand storytelling is the glue that turns authenticity into an effective marketing strategy. Instead of leading with the product, we lead with a story that mirrors the audience’s challenges, aspirations, or interests. This helps the brand message emerge as a genuine solution, creating a more emotional connection with readers.

When done right, storytelling turns sponsored content from a pitch into a relatable experience. It elevates brand perception and builds trust, two key drivers of long-term customer loyalty and improved content marketing ROI. This process isn’t just about a single campaign — it’s about building long-term relationships with your audience by consistently creating authentic, relatable content.

The Common Pitfalls in Sponsored Content

Here are a few traps we’ve seen brands fall into:

• Overt promotion: If it reads too salesy, users will scroll past it.
• Tone or brand mismatch: Audiences can quickly spot when content doesn’t align with the platform or publisher — it feels off and breaks trust.
• Lack of value: Content that doesn’t inform, entertain, or solve a problem instantly loses value.
• Ignoring data: Failing to use performance insights to improve future campaigns wastes time and budget.
• Inconsistent messaging across the funnel: When the story or tone shifts between touchpoints, it feels inauthentic, and audiences pick up on it fast. Authenticity means a consistent, genuine experience from first touch to final conversion.

Best Practices for Achieving the Right Balance

To strike the right balance between branded messaging and reader value…

• We lead with a relatable story — starting with a moment or challenge the audience connects to, then showing how the product naturally fits in.
• We focus on insights, not product features — speaking to what the audience cares about, not just what the brand wants to say.
• We match the editorial voice of the publisher or platform — so the content feels native, trustworthy, and engaging from the first sentence.
• We prioritize visual storytelling and organic design — ensuring the experience feels seamless, not salesy.
• We embed clear, relevant calls to action — always helpful, never pushy.
• We test and iterate constantly — using real engagement data to optimize performance and drive results.

The GeistM Method

At GeistM, we’ve run thousands of sponsored content campaigns across multiple verticals — from personal finance to fashion & beauty, food & beverage to sports & entertainment. 

Our process is creatively driven and performance-optimized. At the core, it all comes down to data-informed relatability.

Audience Mapping & Insights

Each campaign begins with deep audience mapping and a historical performance review. Having run thousands of campaigns and worked with hundreds of brands, we leverage this wealth of historical data to inform our best practices.

We analyze performance from brands within the same vertical and target demographic to understand which angles, tones, and CTAs have resonated. This ensures that each new piece of content is not just informed by past insights but also uniquely tailored to maintain its relevance and connection with the audience. This approach allows us to create original content that feels relatable and engaging, fostering long-term trust with the audience.

Third-Party Validation

What sets us apart is how we present that content. By publishing through one of our trusted publisher channels and driving traffic via our social handles, we ensure the message feels like it’s coming from a third-party perspective, maintaining authenticity and avoiding the obvious “branded” feel. This builds audience trust, as the content feels more like a recommendation from a trusted source than an overt advertisement.

Transparency in Sponsored Content

In the age of ethical advertising, we ensure that every piece of sponsored content we create is fully disclosed to readers in a manner consistent with platform guidelines. We maintain transparency while ensuring it is woven seamlessly into the user experience, so it never feels like an overt advertisement. This transparency helps preserve trust and allows the content to remain authentic, without compromising the integrity of the audience’s experience.

Testing & Optimization

Our in-house technology, Blackfire, allows us to A/B test front-end creatives in real-time and quickly identify when something isn’t resonating with your audience. Through this testing, we can rapidly adjust messaging to find what works best.

We also continuously optimize mid-funnel content by analyzing user behavior via heat maps, scroll depth, and bounce rates — to pinpoint which parts of the content are resonating and which aren’t. This iterative, intelligent approach ensures that every touchpoint engages authentically with your audience and improves post-campaign insights for future strategy.

We’re hands-on throughout the process, dedicating time and attention to continuously monitor and adjust, so that every dollar spent drives real value.

In Summary

In a digital landscape saturated with content, authenticity is no longer optional — it’s critical. Sponsored content, when done right, is a powerful tool that combines storytelling, strategic branding, and data-driven optimization to create genuine, relatable experiences that build long-term relationships with audiences.

At GeistM, our in-house content and creative team takes a hands-on approach to ensure every campaign feels authentic, leveraging our deep audience insights, third-party validation, and real-time testing to fine-tune every detail. We’re committed to ethical advertising practices, ensuring full transparency while keeping the content seamless and organic. 

By continuously optimizing throughout the funnel, we maximize the impact of each touchpoint, ensuring that your budget drives real value and resonates with your audience.

Ready to elevate your sponsored content strategy with relatable content that converts? GeistM’s method is designed to deliver authentic, high-impact campaigns. Get in touch today to see how we can help your brand connect with its audience.

Written by: Emma McHugh

As artificial intelligence continues to make strides in digital marketing, many believe it will eventually replace the human touch in advertising altogether. But while AI can analyze data, predict behavior, and even automate certain ad placements, it cannot replicate the one thing that remains central to effective marketing: human connection.

The Limitations of AI in Building Trust

Consumers value authenticity. There’s a growing awareness of how AI-driven ads can feel disingenuous. A recommendation from a bot simply lacks the nuance and emotional weight of advice from a trusted friend or fellow human. AI can suggest products based on algorithms, but it cannot tap into the deeper emotional triggers that influence purchasing decisions. Humans understand context, empathy, and the importance of trust in relationships – elements that AI, as sophisticated as it is, cannot replicate.

Take influencers, for example. Their authenticity and relatability are key reasons why they’ve become such powerful figures in digital marketing. When an influencer recommends a product, they’re often seen as a friend or peer offering honest advice. Their audience trusts them because of the genuine human-centered interactions they foster, not because a machine generated a recommendation based on data points.

AI is a Tool, Not a Replacement

Instead of replacing the human element, AI should be viewed as a tool that can support and empower marketers to connect with their audience on a deeper level. AI can streamline the process of identifying target demographics, analyzing consumer behavior, and providing insights that were previously time-consuming to gather. 

But at the end of the day, it’s the emotional resonance and authenticity of the human touch that fosters long-term relationships with customers.

Marketers should focus on using AI to enhance the personalization of their ads while retaining the core of human-driven marketing – the ability to build trust. For example, AI can be used to identify which products are most likely to appeal to a specific audience, but it’s up to the marketer to craft compelling narratives and messages that truly connect on a personal level.

The Future of Advertising: Collaboration Between Humans and AI

Moving forward, the most successful advertising strategies will be those that combine the best of both worlds: AI’s efficiency and data processing power, alongside human creativity and emotional intelligence. 

As AI continues to evolve, the role of the marketer will shift from being a purely analytical decision-maker to a creative leader who knows how to use AI’s insights to craft meaningful and engaging ads.

By blending human intuition with AI-driven insights, advertisers can create campaigns that feel more personalized, authentic, and ultimately, more effective. The future of digital marketing isn’t about replacing humans with machines – it’s about how they can work together to deliver more powerful, personalized, and trustworthy advertising experiences. 

Why GeistM is Built for This New Era

With years of experience driving performance and building brands, we understand that successful marketing is rooted in emotion, storytelling, and connection. Our in-house creative team specializes in crafting personalized, compelling content that resonates with audiences—something AI can’t fully replicate. Built on transparency, authenticity, and trust, we ensure your messaging feels real and connects on a deeply human level.

At GeistM, we’re not trying to replace the human touch with AI—we’re using AI to amplify our human expertise. That’s what sets us apart, and that’s why we’re the right partner for brands looking to thrive in this new marketing landscape.

Alright, alright, alright! Buckle up, ad enthusiasts, we’re back for another session of Conor talks Meta Ads!

So, we’ve already chatted about understanding business manager and picking the perfect goals for your Meta Ads — you know, those Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion buckets from our last blog. Now, let’s dive into another crucial piece of the puzzle. AUDIENCES!

Think of your campaign objective as the destination you’re trying to reach with your ads. Are you aiming for Brand Awareness (getting your name out there), Traffic (driving clicks to your site), or maybe Conversions (making those sweet, sweet sales)? That’s your “where you want to go.” 

Now, your audience. That’s the crew you’re trying to take on this journey with you. Who do you want to see your ads? Who will most likely be interested in what you’re selling or saying? That’s your “Who you want to reach.”

Getting these two lined up correctly is like making sure you’re driving the right car (objective) with the right passengers (audience) on the right road to get you to your destination. Mess it up, and you might end up lost, wasting fuel (your ad budget), and not reaching your goals.

Core Meta Audience Options: Your Toolbox of People.

Meta gives you fantastic tools to pinpoint exactly who you want to show your ads to. Let’s break down the main players:

Core (Detailed) Targeting 

This is where you get super specific. Think of it as using a magnifying glass to find the right people. You can target based on:

• Demographics: Age, gender, locations, education, job titles, relationship status.
• Interests: What people like, the Pages they’ve followed, the topics they engage with—all that kind of stuff.
• Behaviours: What people do on and off Facebook and Instagram. Have they recently purchased something online? Are they frequent travelers? Meta knows all!

Custom Audiences 

Now, things are getting personal! Custom audiences let you connect with people you’ve already interacted with. Think of it as saying, “Hey, remember me?”. You can create these based on:

• Customer Lists: Upload your email list or phone numbers to reach existing customers. Perfect for re-engaging or upselling!
• Website Activity: Target people who have visited your site or taken specific actions. Abandoned Cart campaigns, anyone?
• App Activity: Reach users who have interacted with your mobile app.
• Engagement: Target people who have engaged with your content on Facebook or Instagram, from liking your page to watching your videos.

Lookalike Audiences

This is where the magic happens! Lookalike audiences allow you to find new people similar to your existing customers or engaged users. Think of it like cloning your ideal audience. You can create lookalikes based on your Custom Audiences and tell Meta how similar you want the new audiences to be!

Advantage+ Audience Expansion

This is like giving Meta a little wiggle room. If the sacred algorithm finds better results by reaching people outside your detailed targeting selections, it might do just that. It’s like saying, “Hey, here’s a general idea of who I want to see my ads, but if you see someone even better, go for it!”

Matching the Right Audience with the Right Objective

Now for the crucial part, ensuring the “Who” aligns perfectly with your “What”. Here are a few examples to get the wheels turning:

Objective: Brand Awareness

• Audience: Broad demographic targeting based on location and basic interests related to your industry. Lookalike audiences based on your most engaged followers.
• Why It Works: You want to reach as many relevant eyeballs as possible.

Objective: Traffic

• Audience: People with interests related to your products. Custom audiences of site visitors. Lookalike audiences of people who have previously clicked on your ads.
• Why It Works: You want to reach people interested in learning more on your site.

Objective: Lead Generation

• Audience:People with specific demographics and interests that align with your ideal customer persona. Custom audiences of website visitors who have shown interest in similar products or offers. Lookalike audiences of your existing leads.
• Why It Works: You want to reach people most likely to fill out a lead form or contact us survey.

Objective: Purchase

• Audience:Custom audiences of past purchases. Lookalike audiences based on your best customers. Precise, detailed targeting based on purchase intent, related interests, or demographic information gathered from other sources. (Cough cough, GA4)
• Why It Works: You want to reach people with a proven track record of buying similar products or resembling your best buyers.

How to Test and Optimise Your Audience Targeting: The Search for the Holy Grail

Finding the perfect audience isn’t a one-time thing. It’s an ongoing process of testing, learning, and refining. Here’s how to get your hands dirty:

• A/B Testing Different Segments: This is your secret weapon! Creative multiple ad sets with the same objective and creative but different audience targeting. See which audience performs best based on your key metrics.
• When to Scale and When to Refine: If an audience is performing exceptionally well, consider increasing the budget to reach more people within that segment. If an audience is consistently underperforming, it’s time to tweak your targeting or try a completely different approach. Don’t get sentimental; don’t be afraid to cut your losses on audiences that aren’t delivering.
• Review Audience Performance in Ads Manager: Meta Ads Manager is your best friend. Pay close attention to the audience breakdown in your campaign results. See which demographics, interests, and audience types drive the best results. This data is gold!

How GeistM Can Help

Does juggling objectives and audiences feel like you’re riding a unicycle blindfolded? That’s where GeistM comes in! We’re not just another agency — we’re your Meta Ads Gurus, guiding you through the sometimes treacherous terrain of digital advertising.

Here’s how we can help you nail the objective-audience dance:

• Strategic Alignment: We don’t just set up ads; we craft strategies that perfectly align with your business goals, the right Meta Ads objectives, and the most effective audiences to reach.
• Deep Audience Research: Our team digs deep into understanding your ideal customer, uncovering hidden interests and behaviours you might not even know exist.
• Custom Audience Expertise: We’ll help you build and leverage powerful Custom Audiences to re-engage your existing customers and build stronger relationships.
• Laser Focused Lookalike Creation: We know the secrets to creating high-performing Lookalike Audiences that expand your reach to genuinely interested audiences.
• Rigorous A/B Testing: We’ll set up and manage A/B tests on your audiences using a tried and tested framework that takes the guesswork out of optimisations.
• Data Driven Optimisation: If you haven’t already seen, we’re obsessed with data! We constantly monitor your audience performance and make informed adjustments to maximise your ROI.
• Staying Ahead of the Curve: The ever-evolving landscape of Meta Ads is difficult to truly grasp. We stay on top of the latest features and algorithm changes to ensure your audience targeting remains cutting-edge.
• Saving You Time and Frustration: Let us handle the complexities of audience targeting so you can focus on the important things, like growing your business.

In short, GeistM takes the headache out of Meta Ads. We’ll help you connect with the right people, with the right messaging, to achieve the right objectives. Ready to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and start seeing real results? Let’s chat. Contact GeistM today! 

Written by: Conor Dargle

The perfect ad is when your best friend shares a brand with you. It is decidedly not artificial. Even a hint of artificiality can impact the impression we form, and the last thing we want when considering a purchase is to feel duped. While the amalgamated wisdom of the Internet, packaged into something that interacts like a human, is a breathtaking tool, it’s not your friend.

If a chatbot tells me it likes Duff beer, I instantly know the emotion behind that statement isn’t genuine. It can’t have first-hand experience with beer. Sure, it might be funny to press the question further and ask if Duff is better than Bud. Google might tell me that AI thinks people guess the imaginary brand is modeled after a heavily hyped one. But, I’d think it’s more like PBR, as I project a few layers of depth onto The Simpsons’ humor. But at the core, AI’s emotions are not real; they are simulated.

AI has the prowess to plumb my inferences, but by the very definition of the word, it simply can’t be genuine. We can’t even know what’s truly genuine—it’s an emotion built from layers of trust, and that trust is what makes genuine advice so valuable when it comes to a product pitch.

The Quest for Genuine Advice: A Paradox in Marketing

What’s curious is that, while genuine pitches exist, we obsess over the perfect approximation of genuine pitches. The typical setup for TV ads involves a neighbor sharing sage advice to buy this or that product. It’s what marketers aspire to achieve—the organic recommendation. But here lies the problem, akin to the parable of Schrödinger’s cat: the act of inserting a pitch into a genuine conversation often negates the appearance of genuineness. Usually, this shift from “genuine” to “abhorrent” happens quickly. It’s a tension that’s been around for so long that it’s rarely questioned. AI represents the most extreme attempt at simulating genuineness, and while it has cost nearly as much as devising nuclear energy, it is sweeping through ad tech like a new messiah. But what if, instead of trying to simulate something real, we could actually be genuine?

Influencers: A Step Toward Genuine Transparency in Advertising

The rise of influencers challenges the stigma of pitches being inherently deceptive. We trust the presenter. We know they are being paid; this transparency relieves us from the fear of being duped. The influencer will likely refuse to promote a bad product to their hard-earned audience. This kind of transparency makes the conversation feel real, and in turn, it blesses the brand being promoted. Trust between the influencer and the audience is the key here.

The Creepy Side of Data-Driven Ads

So why do I see ads for things that have nothing to do with me when I read something posted online? Some ads might even be things I would abhor. The ad placement is based on data about the viewer that can be unsettling to think about, and it creates an unwelcome presence in an otherwise genuine exchange between people. Now, consider a different scenario: What if the author of that post had selected the brands that pay for the hosting service? In this case, the marketer would have made a partner out of the customer, and the transparency of that relationship would make the presence of ads feel like a genuine exchange. If it’s free, then I am the product, but that’s okay if I can choose the product I’m promoting.

The Market Dynamic: Reclaiming Control

Moreover, we could take this a step further. If advertisers paid the author directly instead of relying on algorithms to guess what scenario might unfold, we would shift away from data-mining tactics. Perhaps, if no one is willing to promote a product, that’s a good thing for the market. Pricing harmful products out of circulation signifies that the market is truly working for the benefit of the genuine buyers and sellers.

Maybe we shouldn’t underestimate the intelligence of the customer. One genuine ad is worth a thousand unwelcome pop-ups that attempt to guess my desires with data that should never have been gathered in the first place—unless you’re my friend.

GeistM: Where Transparency and Trust Lead the Way

What happens when AI gets a wallet? Selling to bots is not the same as selling to people. There’s a fundamental difference in how AI interacts with products versus humans, and we will need to reckon with the implications of AI-driven purchasing behavior as it becomes more common.

At GeistM, we believe in being genuine and transparent in everything we do. We don’t let AI speak for us, and we always ensure transparency and trust in our ads, campaigns, and content. 

We understand that consumers value authenticity, and we’re committed to providing it, without relying on algorithms or artificial communication. Our approach is rooted in building genuine connections with audiences, creating campaigns that feel human and trustworthy, and ensuring that our clients’ brands are represented with the integrity they deserve.

Imagine scrolling through your feed when you spot your favorite influencer raving about a product. Something feels different about this post — it’s polished and targeted, yet still authentic. What’s going on? Well, you’ve just experienced the marketing power move transforming how brands connect with audiences: whitelisting.

Top brands aren’t just partnering with influencers anymore — they’re running sophisticated ad campaigns through their accounts. The results? Engagement rates that make traditional advertising look primitive, conversion numbers that excite even the most skeptical CMOs, and audiences who actually welcome these ads into their feeds.

In a world where ad blockers and banner blindness have become the norm, whitelisting is the backdoor strategy, giving savvy marketers an unfair advantage. Let’s dive into this game-changing approach that’s rewriting the rules of digital marketing and how you can use it to supercharge your campaigns.

What Does Whitelisting Mean In Marketing?

Whitelisting is the permission granted to a brand to run ads via someone else’s social account — most frequently an influencer’s. You aren’t posting from your brand account but borrowing the influencer’s existing voice and trust with their audience. It’s like having a VIP pass to their followers.

In a sense, you bypass the brand megaphone and instead get a respected friend to introduce you to a party. The audience listens because they trust the host already.

In an oversaturated digital landscape, this is a refreshing twist that cuts right through the noise. You’re not just?an ad — you’re a recommendation from someone your target customer knows and trusts.

How Whitelisting Works

This approach is surprisingly simple to implement:

• You research influencers or creators who fit your brand
• You negotiate a partnership that allows you whitelisting rights
• The influencer allows you to create and publish ads through their account
• You use their profile to run targeted campaigns while retaining leverage over budget, targeting, and optimization

This is beneficial to everyone involved. Revenue for the creator, access to an engaged audience for you, and content delivered to followers from someone they trust. It’s a win-win.

Great Starting Points For Whitelisting

Influencers & Creators

The most popular whitelisting method is partnering with relevant influencers. These people have created communities around interests that would resonate with your products.

A beauty brand might whitelist with makeup artists; a fitness app could team up with personal trainers. The trick is to find creators whose followers fit your ideal customer profile.

Don’t only look at follower counts. A true micro-influencer with 15K niche-focused followers and a highly engaged audience will usually perform much better than big celebrities with millions of general followers.

Founder Account Whitelisting

Company founders are the ultimate brand ambassadors — they have stories and perspectives to share that make them unique. Using their personal accounts can give an instant human hit to your brand.

Founding whitelisting works like this: people connect with people, not logos. When your founder opens up about their journey, struggles, and vision, it creates genuine touchpoints that typical accounts with brand handles can’t even close to.

This is especially effective with startups?and small companies where the founder’s story is a core brand identity component.

Publishers &?Internet Media Companies

Working with a relevant publication gives you access to their readership and brand credibility. 

A partnership with a relevant publication opens the door to their readership and the credibility they carry with their brand. It is especially effective in attracting niche audiences with unique interests.

Benefits of Whitelisting in Marketing

The benefits of whitelisting go beyond simple reach:

• Higher Rates of Engagement: Ads hit through whitelisted accounts usually have 2-5x the engagement as brand-direct ads. Why? Because they seem more genuine and less corporate.
• Better Targeting Accuracy: You can use the creator’s audience data to better target an audience who actually wants your product.
• Clean Social Proof: It carries social proof about your product when a trusted voice recommends it. It’s the digital version of a friend putting in a good word.
• More Creative Horizontals: Whitelisting allows the brand?to explore brand new creative formats, one that feels native to the platform and to the content type of the creator themselves.
• Improved Ad Metrics: These campaigns usually have better ROI, resulting in increased click-through rates and reduced cost-per-acquisition than traditional ads.

Best Practices for Whitelisting

To make the most of?your whitelisting efforts:

• Pick Partners Wisely: Consider not just the follower counts but also the?engagement rates, the audience’s demographics, and the content’s quality. Reach means relatively little — it’s all about the fit.
• Honor Creative Voice: Create space for the creator’s true voice. But if you over-script it, you lose the benefit of using their unique voice.
• Define on What Terms Everything Will Work: Be transparent with your contracts on usage rights, payment, approval of the content, terms of the campaign, etc.
• Diagnose Performance Deeply: Go beyond impressions, tracking how well partners drive engagement, conversion, and customer lifetime value from each partnership.

Potential Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Whitelisting isn’t without its hurdles, though:

• Pushback from Creators: A few influencers are concerned about audience fatigue or whether sponsorships would dilute their brand. To solve these issues, you will want to make sure that the campaign matches their typical content and offers fair compensation.
• Technical implementation: Granting permission varies for platforms and can be tedious. However, there are specialized whitelisting tools to help expedite this process.
• Finding the Balance in Creative Control: It’s one thing to create branded content, but finding the sweet spot in messaging and creator authenticity is a form of art. Make space for collaborative processes that value both priorities.
• Measurement Complexity: You often need complex attribution to follow the performance across multiple accounts. Invest in better analytics to gain a better insight into actual campaign performance.

Why GeistM Succeeds at This…

At GeistM, we have learned whitelisting is more of a science and have made it our thing. Our approach includes:

• Partner Selection Powered by Data: We sift through multiple potential partners to determine the most likely to drive conversions on your offering.
• Creative Optimization: Brought to life by our in-house content and creative team, we combine platform-native content with brand?messaging and the authenticity of the creator.
• Effortless Integration: Our proprietary technology takes the complexity out of whitelisting from all platforms.
Performance Measurement: Operating under our attribution models helps us see exactly which partnerships deliver tangible business results. Customizable Frameworks: We build frameworks that enable brands to scale whitelisting strategies that are already working quickly.

Level-Up Your Marketing with GeistM

Whitelisting is an essential evolution of the way brands engage audiences. Harnessing existing trust instead of interrupting with traditional ads can help make more meaningful connections with customers.

Contact us today and discover how strategic whitelisting can elevate your brand’s presence with GeistM.

Written by: Brent Barnhart

For nearly 30 years, online advertising has shaped the internet — for better and for worse. Since the first banner ads graced the pages of AOL, Yahoo, and Netscape, the industry has been in constant motion: innovating, growing, stumbling, consolidating, and recalibrating.

Early tactics were often crude, invasive, or even deceptive. And while regulation and standardization eventually brought order, the legacy of that messy beginning left behind deep scars — and deep skepticism. Today, the landscape is largely controlled by a few dominant platforms like Google and Meta. These players operate closed ecosystems that leave users disillusioned and marketers overwhelmed.

The Market Is Misaligned — and Everyone Feels It

Users don’t trust ads. They are over-targeted, underwhelming, and interruptive. While publishers and content creators — the people who make the internet worth visiting — see only a sliver of the revenue they generate, marketers are forced to navigate increasingly complex and opaque systems just to reach an audience.

The traditional model is broken. Facebook (Meta), Google, and Amazon collectively account for 60.4% of all digital advertising spend, which flows to tech conglomerates, while publishers scrape by. Entire industries have been built around optimizing for algorithms that change without notice. Black-box AI governs distribution. And marketers are expected to keep up, often without transparency or control.

But the Tide Is Turning

In recent years, we’ve seen cracks in the old foundation — and shoots of something new. As cookies disappear and privacy laws tighten, users are demanding more control. At the same time, their perception of advertising is evolving. Podcast sponsorships and influencer marketing have normalized open, honest brand integration. In fact, many users now prefer it. It’s a signal of authenticity, not intrusion.

Even subscription models — once reserved for giants — are pushing publishers toward more direct relationships with their audiences. While still inaccessible to many smaller players, these models prove that when users value content, they’re willing to support it. This is also where sponsored content proves its value — offering a scalable, authentic way to fund quality content while aligning with user expectations for transparency, relevance, and control.

The old playbook of tracking users across the web and plastering them with display ads is crumbling. Follow-me ads are falling out of favor. And studies show that saturating a page with the same ads actually hurts both user experience and campaign effectiveness.

A More Honest, Effective Ecosystem Is Emerging

We’re witnessing the beginning of a new era for online marketing — one grounded in trust, transparency, and collaboration.

At GeistM, we’ve seen firsthand how content-led strategies outperform the old spray-and-pray models. Instead of chasing clicks, we focus on building performance-driven creative and content that integrates naturally into the user journey. Our approach is grounded in partnerships: between marketers and our publishers, between brands and creators, and most importantly, between content and audience.

We believe the future belongs to those who can balance performance with integrity — and work with the market, not against it. It’s not just about cutting through the noise anymore. It’s about being invited into the conversation.

Collaboration, Not Competition

This shift doesn’t belong to us alone — and that’s the point. The companies driving this change may look like competitors on paper, but collectively, we form the counterweight to platform monopolies. This is not a call for government intervention or trust-busting. Market forces are already doing the work — and doing it better.

What we’re seeing is an unstoppable wave of progress. A freight train of innovation powered by creators, brands, and tech companies who believe the future can work better for everyone.

At GeistM, we’re proud to help lead this evolution. But we know the strength lies in the collective — a network of allies creating a more open, equitable, and effective marketing landscape.

All set to catapult your digital marketing strategy to the next level, but stuck in a dilemma? You’re not alone. With affiliate and performance marketing being two of the most potent revenue streams — each with its unique flavor and finesse — the landscape is more complex than ever.

Both sound like results-based ROI,?yet have radically different operating principles. Knowing the differences between both is key, whether you’re a start-up on a tight budget or an established brand wanting to get your money’s worth out of your marketing budget.

Well-known performance marketing agencies, like GeistM, will tell you there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best approach for you depends on your budget, timeline, and growth objectives. This guide demystifies the marketing jargon to give you a straightforward comparison of both?approaches — their mechanics, strengths, weaknesses, and what scenarios make each approach shine. 

What is Affiliate?Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a form of partnership in which you (the merchant) connect with relevant publishers and content creators to promote your products using unique tracking links. You?pay them a fixed commission when their audience clicks through and converts.

The beauty? You only pay for actual results —?typically sales, leads, or clicks.

Affiliate marketing has come a long way since Amazon started its program in?the 90s. Today’s affiliate ecosystem includes everything from influential bloggers and social media stars to coupon sites and comparison websites: trusted go-betweens between your brand and potential customers.

What Is Performance Marketing?

Performance marketing is an all-encompassing digital strategy in which you only pay once specific?actions or results are achieved. That means a data-driven solution across multiple KPIs and channels — from paid search to social media ads, display ads, native ads, and affiliate marketing.

The common thread? Payment is based on specific performance metrics. Whether it’s cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-action (CPA), or cost-per-impression (CPM), you pay for real stuff.

Never before has performance marketing granted you such control. It’s marketing with performance-based accountability built in — every dollar spent maps back to clear results.

Let’s compare these two:

Channel Focus:

• Affiliate marketing works with publishers and content creators
• Performance marketing covers a great variety of channels: PPC, display, social?ads, and so forth

Payment Structure:

• Affiliate code works on a cost-per-action (CPA) concept—typically sales
• Performance marketing has always had a flexible payment model?(CPC, CPM, CPA, ROAS) according to your objectives

Strategy Control:

• In affiliate marketing, creative control is mostly with affiliates
• Performance marketing allows you to have more control over messaging, targeting, and execution of the campaign

Data Visibility:

• Affiliate marketing metrics are all about results
• Performance marketing?provides a greater level of data insights across the entire customer journey

Affiliate marketing can be seen as a specialized tool in your marketing arsenal; performance marketing, on the?other hand, is your entire toolbox.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Each Approach

Affiliate Marketing Pros:

• Low implementation costs—results are billed based
• Trust on demand through publisher relationships
• Broadened footprints within white-space genres
• Little management once programs are established

Affiliate Marketing Cons:

• Reduced control over the brand messaging
• Direct sales might lead to commission conflicts
• High-quality affiliates are hard to source
• Effects can take a while to show up

Performance Marketing Pros:

• Capability of precise targeting
• On-demand scalability as campaigns become successful
• Comprehensive data for optimization
• Utilizes every platform for the best results

Cons of Performance Marketing:

• Needs more capital upfront
• Requires technical knowledge and continuous optimization
• Can get expensive if you’re in a competitive market
• Potential for ad fatigue and waning results

Which One Should You Go With?

Affiliate marketing is a fantastic, low-risk entry point for those on a shoestring budget.

Are you starting out with only $5,000-$10,000? Then, affiliate marketing is the ideal way to?break in and get your feet wet. You’ll take advantage of the “pay for performance” model that makes upfront risk a thing of the past. Your marketing?dollars don’t leave your pocket until sales happen.

To lump high speed, scalability,?and data-centric growth, performance marketing gives an edge.

Why The Best Brands Use A Hybrid Approach To Maximize Results

The marketing geniuses don’t make a choice; they make a fusion. Big-name brands such as Sephora,?Nike, and HelloFresh harmonize both strategies. They provide sustainable revenue through trusted partnerships with their affiliate programs, while performance campaigns will drive targeted growth initiatives.

This mix breeds a marketing eco-system where various channels supplement rather than compete with one another. Performance marketing insights can help shape your affiliate strategy, and vice versa — affiliate success stories can inspire your next ad campaign.

Why You Need GeistM

At GeistM, we’ve mastered the art and science of each marketing strategy. We also know that the brand journey is different for everyone. We create an ROI-maximizing, risk-minimizing affiliate program for you. Our premium publisher network can instantly get your products to engaged audiences.

We’ve built a proprietary technology platform to provide unbeatable targeting precision and optimization abilities to brands willing to spend?aggressively in performance marketing ($100k+ budgets). We don’t just run campaigns; we build tailored marketing strategies designed to deliver customer acquisition at profitable costs.

Eventually, the most successful brands?we work with adopt our hybrid methodology, addressing the wholly constructive lifetime relationship between the two categories of affiliate relationships and performance campaigns. With this comprehensive approach, you don’t miss any revenue opportunities in the?digital landscape.

Want to revolutionize?your marketing strategy? Contact us today. Whether managing early-stage affiliates or scaling toward market domination in performance marketing, GeistM delivers the smarts to get the best possible ROI from your marketing. Together,?we will create something great!

Written By: Brent Barnhart

A new year brings new opportunities in the advertising landscape, both exciting and challenging for brands on Meta platforms. With fresh trends emerging and others fading into the past, Q1 is a crucial period for businesses to recalibrate, sharpen their targeting, and make strategic, data-driven decisions that will define their road to success for the rest of the year.

At GeistM, we’re always tracking these shifts in ad performance, ensuring our clients have the latest insights to stay ahead of the curve. From the dynamics of key metrics like CTR, CPC, and CPM to the impact of new algorithm updates, our expert team is dedicated to identifying the trends that truly move the needle.

Here’s a look at the key Period-Over-Period (PoP) Meta trends our analysts have been tracking in Q1 of 2025:

• Mid January 2025
• End January 2025
• Mid February 2025
• End February 2025
• Mid March 2025

Mid-January 2025 (1st to 15th)

Meta CPMs

Key Takeaways:

• CPMs decreased by -36% during the first half of January 2025
• The Sports & Supplements vertical noticed the largest decrease of -50%
• None of our accounts noticed a rise in CPMs.

Meta CPCs

Key Takeaways:

• Our analysts noticed a -6% decrease in CPCs during this time
• The Fashion & Beauty vertical saw the most significant drop in CPCs of -18%
• The largest jump of +14% came from the Sports & Supplements vertical.

Meta CTRs

Key Takeaways:

• A -30% decrease in CTRs was noticed during the first half of January
• The Sports & Supplements vertical saw a substantial decrease of -57%
• Unfortunately, none of our accounts saw a rise in CTRs.

Here’s what our Senior Growth Analysts had to say about these changes:

“There were decreases in CPMs, CPCs, and CTRs. In fact, all verticals saw drops for CPMs and CTRs. We also noted that our Health & Wellness vertical needs to closely monitor campaigns as Meta is tightening restrictions, particularly around lower-funnel metrics.

As these changes roll out, brands in this space will need to be more strategic than ever in how they structure campaigns, optimize targeting, and navigate the evolving ad policies to maintain performance and efficiency.”

End January 2025 (16th -31st)

Meta CPMs

Key Takeaways:

• Our analysts noticed a +16% increase in CPMs during this period
• The biggest decrease in CPMs came from the Food & Beverage vertical at -5%
• On the other hand, the Sports & Supplements vertical noticed massive rise in CPMs at +33%.

Meta CPCs 

Key Takeaways:

• There was a +9% increase in CPCs during this period
• The Health & Wellness vertical saw a 3% drop in CPCs.
• A significant jump of +42% was noted in the Sports & Supplements vertical.

Meta CTRs

Key Takeaways:

• Analysts saw a +9% increase in CTRs during the second half of January
• The Health & Wellness vertical experienced an increase of +23%
• The most notable decrease (-7%) was in the Food & Beverage vertical.

Mid-February 2025 (1st -15th) 

Meta CPMs

Key Takeaways:

• Our analysts noticed a +4% increase in CPMs during the first half of February.
• The most significant decrease of -3% came from the Health & Wellness vertical.
• The Sports & Supplements vertical noticed the largest increase of +15%.

Meta CPCs

Key Takeaways:

• A decrease of -5% was noticed during the first half of February.
• The Sports & Supplements vertical saw the largest drop in CPCs of -35%.
• A noticeable increase of +24% came from the Health & Wellness vertical.

Meta CTRs

Key Takeaways:

• During the first half of February, our analysts noticed an +8% increase in CTRs.
• An incredible jump of +78% was seen by the Sports & Supplements vertical.
• A noticeable decrease of -21% was seen by the Health & Wellness vertical.

End February 2025 (16th – 28th)

Meta CPMs

Key Takeaways:

• Our analysts noticed a -3% decrease in CPMs during the second half of February.
• The Sports & Supplements vertical noticed the most significant decrease of -14%.
• The biggest rise of +55% came from the Health & Wellness vertical.

Meta CPCs

Key Takeaways:

• There was a +4% increase in CPCs during this period.
• The Health & Wellness vertical saw the largest drop of -11% in CPCs.
• A substantial jump of +19% came from the Fashion & Beauty vertical.

Meta CTRs

Key Takeaways:

• We noticed a -7% decrease in CTRs during the second half of February.
• An immense increase of +73% came from the Health & Wellness vertical.
• The most notable decrease of -19% came from the Fashion & Beauty vertical.

Here’s what Matthew, our Senior Analyst had to say about these shifts and what we need to look out for in the next few months… 

“There were slight decreases in CPMs and CTRs but a slight increase in CPCs PoP (period-over-period). The first day of Spring (March 20th) marks the beginning of seasonal messaging & content. And Easter Sunday Weekend (April 18-21st) is a time to spend time at home with family for over 30% of Americans, so make sure you manage your promotions and budget accordingly”

Mid March (1st-15th)

Meta CPMs

Key Takeaways:

• We noticed a +6% increase in CPMs during the 1st half of March.
• A large decrease of -15% came from the Health & Wellness vertical.
• A large increase of +21% came from the Sports & Supplements vertical.

Meta CPCs

Key Takeaways:

• Our analysts saw CPCs fall by 5% during this period.
• A notable drop of -17% was seen by the Home & Family vertical.
• A jump of +5% was noticed by the International vertical (clients outside the US).

Meta CTRs

Key Takeaways:

• During this period, our analysts noticed a +10% increase in CTRs.
• The Sports & Supplements vertical saw the largest increase of +21%.
• The most notable decrease of -7% came from the Health & Wellness vertical.

How GeistM Can Help

At GeistM, we don’t just track industry trends—we anticipate them. Our analysts continuously track shifts in Meta’s ad landscape, ensuring your brand’s objectives align with the latest trends. By making real-time adjustments, we keep your campaigns optimized, effective, and ahead of the competition.

What sets us apart is our in-house content and creative team, which is always one step ahead in leveraging the latest 2025 trends. From innovative User-generated content (UGC) ad formats to data-driven storytelling, we craft compelling, high-performing creatives that align with Meta’s evolving best practices. 
With the new year in full swing, now is the time to partner with a performance marketing agency that thrives on agility and innovation. Let’s turn these insights into results—contact us today!

Written by Nitanti Alur with insights from Matthew Whitaker