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Four hundred support tickets last month. Twelve variations of the same feature request. Three lost deals because competitors have a capability that isn’t mentioned anywhere relevant. NPS comments mentioning the same pain point repeatedly. The PM knows about these patterns. Engineering does not. Product feedback lives in support tools, sales CRMs, feedback platforms, and survey results. Engineering work lives in Jira. The gap between where feedback arrives and where work gets done means customer voice gets lost in translation. By the time a feature request becomes a Jira ticket, the original context (the frustration, the use case, the competitive pressure) has been stripped away. Syncing product feedback to development is not just about creating tickets from feature requests. It is about maintaining the customer context that helps engineering make better decisions and build better products. This guide covers how to connect feedback sources to development workflows, what information should flow between them, and how to maintain the voice of the customer from initial feedback through shipped feature. Where product feedback lives Customer feedback arrives through multiple channels, each with its own tools and workflows. Support tickets Support tools like Zendesk, Intercom, and Freshdesk capture customer problems daily. Some are bugs. Some are confusion about existing features. Some are requests for capabilities that do not exist. Connecting Zendesk to Jira is one way to bridge support and development. Support feedback is high-signal because it represents real problems customers are experiencing right now. The challenge is volume: distinguishing feature-worthy requests from one-off complaints requires systematic review. Sales conversations Sales CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot capture competitive losses, feature gaps that stall deals, and requests from prospects. Understanding how HubSpot and Salesforce work together is often the first step in consolidating this feedback. Sales feedback is strategic because it connects to revenue, but it can be biased toward high-value prospects rather than overall user needs. Sales feedback often lives in call notes, opportunity fields, or dedicated “lost deal” tracking. Extracting actionable product insight requires someone to review and synthesize. Feedback platforms Dedicated feedback tools like Productboard, Canny, and UserVoice aggregate feature requests and allow customers to vote on priorities. These platforms are designed for product feedback, making them cleaner sources than support or sales tools. The challenge is coverage: not all customers use feedback platforms. Active users who engage with voting tools may not represent your broader user base. Surveys and NPS Survey tools like Delighted, SurveyMonkey, and Typeform capture broader customer sentiment. NPS comments often reveal patterns that individual tickets or requests miss. Survey feedback is useful for identifying themes but is often too abstract for direct action. “Make the product easier to use” is valid feedback but does not translate directly to a Jira ticket. Direct user research User interviews, usability testing, and customer advisory boards generate rich qualitative feedback. This feedback has deep context but low volume. Research insights often live in documents, recordings, or research repositories. Getting these insights into development workflows requires intentional synthesis. Why feedback fails to reach engineering Despite abundant feedback sources, engineering teams often lack customer context. Several patterns explain why. PMs as translators The PM often becomes the sole conduit between feedback and development. Feedback arrives in various tools. The PM reads it, synthesizes it, and writes Jira tickets. Engineering sees the tickets but not the original feedback. This works when feedback volume is low and the PM has time for thorough synthesis. It breaks when feedback exceeds what one person can process or when the PM is unavailable. Context lost in handoff Even when feedback reaches Jira, context is often stripped away. A support ticket with a paragraph of customer frustration becomes a one-line feature request. The original emotion, use case, and business context disappear. Engineers who see “Add export to PDF” without context may implement something that technically meets the requirement but misses the customer need. Feedback stays in silos Support feedback stays in Zendesk. Sales feedback stays in Salesforce. Survey results stay in Delighted. Each team sees their slice of customer voice, but nobody sees the complete picture. When the same request appears in multiple channels, each instance is handled separately. The pattern that would elevate a request to priority is invisible because the data lives in different systems. Delayed or missing feedback loop When a requested feature ships, the original requesters are rarely notified. Support does not know to tell customers that their issue was addressed. Sales does not know to revisit lost deals. The feedback loop is broken. This failure has compound effects: customers think their feedback went into a void, reducing future engagement. Teams lose validation of whether solutions actually solved the problem. Building a feedback-to-development pipeline Connecting feedback to development requires intentional infrastructure. Step one Create a central place where feedback from all sources can be reviewed together. This might be: A dedicated feedback tool: Productboard, Canny, or similar tools are designed for this purpose. Feed data from other sources into the feedback tool. A shared project or database: If you do not use dedicated feedback tooling, a Notion database, Airtable base, or even a well-structured Google Sheet can consolidate feedback. Your PM tool: If you manage product work in Asana, Monday, or similar, create a project or view dedicated to incoming feedback. The goal is visibility into all feedback in one place, regardless of where it originated. Step two Raw feedback often lacks the context that makes it actionable. Enrichment adds: Customer information: Who is this customer? What plan are they on? How long have they been a customer? What is their use case? Business context: What is the revenue impact? Is this related to churn risk or expansion opportunity? How many customers have requested this? Related feedback: Are there other requests for the same thing from different sources? Link related items together. Some enrichment can be automated through tool integrations. Other enrichment requires manual review. Establish a process for who adds context and when. Step three Feedback that has been consolidated and enriched needs to connect to where engineering works. Create links, not copies: When a feedback item becomes development work, link them rather than copying content. The link maintains the connection so context stays accessible. Preserve original context: The Jira ticket should link back to the original feedback, support tickets, or sales notes. Engineers can dig into context when they need it. Sync status bidirectionally: When development work progresses, feedback sources should reflect that progress. When a feature ships, the original feedback item should show completion. Integration platforms with two-way sync can sync feedback tools with Jira, maintaining connections between customer requests and development work. When a Productboard feature links to a Jira epic, status flows between them automatically. Step four When development work ships, notify the original requesters. Automatic notifications: Some feedback tools can notify customers when their requested features ship. Configure these where available. Support team enablement: When feedback originated from support tickets, inform the support team so they can reach out to affected customers. Sales team enablement: When feedback originated from lost deals or stalled opportunities, inform the sales team so they can revisit those conversations. Public changelog: Announce shipped features in a way that customers who submitted feedback can discover. Link to the original feedback themes that drove development. Closing the loop builds customer trust in the feedback process and provides validation that solutions address actual needs. What information should flow between feedback and development Not all feedback details need to reach engineering, and not all development details need to reach feedback sources. From feedback to development Customer problem statement: What is the customer trying to accomplish? What is preventing them? Use case and context: How does this fit into the customer’s broader workflow? What would success look like? Severity and frequency: How painful is this problem? How many customers are affected? Is it blocking or annoying? Business impact: Is this causing churn? Blocking sales? Affecting expansion? Original language: Include direct quotes from customer feedback. The specific words customers use reveal nuance that paraphrasing loses. From development to feedback Status updates: Is work planned? In progress? Complete? Customers and internal teams should see progress. Scope decisions: If the implementation differs from the request, explain why. “We addressed the core use case but deferred the advanced options” is useful context. Timeline information: When is the feature expected to ship? Manage expectations appropriately. Shipped notification: When work is complete, close the loop explicitly. What doesn’t need to be shared Technical implementation details: How engineers build something is not relevant to feedback sources. Internal prioritization debates: The reasoning behind priority decisions can be shared selectively, but internal deliberation does not need to sync automatically. Every comment and update: Status changes matter; routine comments on development tickets do not need to flow back to feedback tools. Maintaining feedback quality over time Feedback-to-development pipelines degrade without ongoing attention. Regular feedback triage Establish a cadence for reviewing incoming feedback. Weekly review sessions work best for most teams. During triage: Review new feedback since last session Add enrichment and context Link related items Identify high-priority patterns Archive or deprioritize low-value feedback Periodic pattern analysis Beyond individual items, look for patterns across feedback sources. Common themes: What requests appear repeatedly across channels? Segment analysis: Do enterprise customers request different things than SMB customers? Trend analysis: What is requested more now than six months ago? What has declined? Pattern analysis informs roadmap priorities and reveals opportunities that individual feedback items miss. Feedback source health checks Periodically audit each feedback source: Is data flowing? If a previously active source has gone quiet, investigate why. Is data quality maintained? If enrichment has become spotty, address the process gap. Are sources balanced? If feedback is dominated by one channel, you may be missing perspectives from others. Integration maintenance As tools evolve, integrations can break or drift from intended behavior. Monitor sync status: Check that data is flowing as expected. Address errors promptly. Review field mappings: When either system adds new fields, evaluate whether mappings should expand. Test periodically: Create test feedback items and verify they flow through the system correctly. Feedback-to-development best practices Make customer voice visible to engineering Engineers build better products when they understand customer problems directly, not just through PM interpretation. Share customer quotes in sprint planning. Include feedback links in Jira tickets. Invite engineers to customer calls occasionally. The more engineering understands who they are building for, the better their decisions. Preserve the “why” through development From initial feedback through shipped feature, the “why” should remain visible. Every story should connect to the customer problem it addresses. When an engineer opens a ticket, they should be able to understand: who requested this, what problem they had, why it matters. This context improves implementation decisions. Measure feedback loop effectiveness Track metrics that indicate whether the feedback loop is working: Time from feedback to development: How long does it take for a valid request to become development work? Feedback-to-ship time: How long from initial request to shipped feature? Notification rate: What percentage of feedback requesters are notified when their request ships? Customer satisfaction with resolution: Do customers feel their feedback was addressed? These metrics reveal whether the feedback pipeline is efficient or bottlenecked. Balance responsiveness with strategy Not every piece of feedback deserves immediate development action. Some feedback conflicts with product strategy. Some requests come from non-representative users. Some problems have better solutions than what customers request. A good feedback system captures everything, prioritizes strategically, and responds thoughtfully, not reactively. Get (and keep) everyone in sync Product development without customer feedback is guessing. Customer feedback without development connection is theater. The pipeline that connects them turns customer voice into shipped features that solve real problems. If you are ready to connect your feedback sources to engineering workflows, see how Unito helps product and engineering teams stay aligned. View the full article

You know that sinking feeling when you look at your organic traffic dashboard and see – nothing exciting. The line’s flat, and you’re dreading the conversation with your boss about why your SEO investment isn’t “working.” Here’s the thing: flat traffic doesn’t mean failure anymore. Some of the most successful SEO campaigns I’ve worked on recently had underwhelming traffic numbers but delivered incredible business results. Let me show you why that’s not necessarily a bad thing and how to communicate it effectively. Why flat traffic isn’t the red flag it used to be Last year, one of our clients in the home services space experienced organic traffic that had not only plateaued but had actually declined over the previous six months. Their CEO was getting antsy. But here’s what the traffic chart wasn’t showing: Conversion rates from organic visitors had jumped 10%. Total leads from our SEO efforts had increased by 8% year over year. This isn’t an isolated case. It’s the new normal, and AI Overviews are the biggest reason why. Google’s AI Overviews now synthesize answers directly in search results, pulling from multiple sources to give users what they need without requiring a click. When someone searches “best project management software for small teams,” Google doesn’t just show a list of links anymore. It generates a comprehensive answer right there on the SERP. Your content might be fueling that answer, but you’ll never see the click in your analytics. This creates a fundamental attribution problem. Organic click-through rates featuring Google AI Overviews dropped by 61% since mid-2024. Meanwhile, zero-click searches rose from 25% of searches five years ago to 58.5% in 2024, and by mid-2025, we had reached 65%. AI Overviews now appear in roughly 16% of all queries. Here’s what we are dealing with. Your SEO might be working beautifully, with your content being cited and synthesized in AI-generated answers, but you have almost no direct way to measure it. Someone reads your insights in an AI Overview, remembers your brand, and converts three weeks later through a direct visit or branded search. That’s not a failure of SEO. It’s a success that you simply can’t attribute back to organic. With almost 65% of all searches now ending without a click to any external website, obsessing over traffic volume in this environment is like judging a restaurant by how many people walk past it, rather than how many become paying customers. Dig deeper: AI search is growing, but SEO fundamentals still drive most traffic Rethinking traffic as your primary KPI The shift that needs to happen: Organic traffic should no longer be your primary KPI. It’s not that traffic doesn’t matter. It’s that it no longer tells the complete story of organic performance. When AI Overviews expose users to your brand without generating clicks, that influence shows up elsewhere. Direct traffic increases? That might be people who discovered you through an AI-generated answer and typed your URL directly. Branded search volume climbing? Same thing. These downstream effects are real SEO wins, but they’ll never appear in your organic traffic report. This means your reporting needs to expand. Track organic traffic, yes, but alongside direct traffic trends, branded search volume, and assisted conversions. The user who first encountered your brand in an AI Overview and converted two weeks later through a direct visit still started their journey with search. Your SEO made that happen. If your organization is still laser-focused on traffic growth as the primary success metric, you have two options: Educate stakeholders on why that’s an incomplete picture. Adjust your strategy to target keywords less impacted by AI Overviews. That means shifting focus toward middle-of-funnel (MOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) terms. Keywords like “[product] or [solution] pricing,” “[product] vs. [competitor],” or “best [solution] for [specific use case]” are less likely to trigger AI Overviews than broad informational queries. They also have lower search volume, but the visitors they attract are far more valuable. Someone searching “what is a CRM” is just learning. Someone searching “Salesforce vs. HubSpot for mid-size companies” is actively evaluating options. There are trade-offs with this approach: MOFU and BOFU keywords typically have less volume than top-of-funnel informational terms. But if traffic is the metric your stakeholders care about most, these terms give you a better shot at delivering clicks while also driving qualified leads. Why fewer clicks can actually be a good sign When your content appears in AI Overviews or featured snippets, you’re getting brand exposure without the corresponding click spike. Users see your expertise; they just don’t need to click through to get their answer. Visibility and traffic are separating in what’s being called “the great decoupling,” impressions are rising while clicks fall. Your content can build significant visibility and authority without driving proportional traffic. Dig deeper: How to better measure LLM visibility and its impact Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. What to look at when traffic stops telling the full story If traffic isn’t the main event anymore, what should you actually watch? Here are the metrics that reveal real SEO performance: Revenue per visitor (RPV) from organic traffic: If your organic traffic generates $2.50 per visitor instead of $1.80 from six months ago, your SEO is crushing it. Traffic might be flat, but profitability is up. Conversion rate by landing page: Segment your organic traffic by entry pages. You might discover traffic is shifting toward higher-converting pages, exactly what you want. Keyword rankings for high-intent terms: Track positions for keywords indicating purchase readiness: “buy,” “pricing,” “vs [competitor],” “best [product category].” Movement here matters more than rankings for broad informational terms. Share of voice in AI Overviews and featured snippets: Tools like Semrush show when your content gets cited in AI-powered results. This visibility drives brand awareness even without clicks. Lead quality scores. If you’re B2B, track not just the number of organic leads but their qualification scores. Ten highly qualified leads beat 50 unqualified ones. Here’s a practical example. I track a client whose organic sessions dropped 12% year-over-year, but their organic-to-SQL conversion improved 28%. Their cost per acquisition from organic search fell significantly, making SEO their most efficient channel. Dig deeper: 12 new KPIs for the generative AI search era How to explain this shift without sounding defensive The tricky part isn’t understanding this shift; it’s communicating it to stakeholders who still think SEO equals traffic growth. Lead with business outcomes first Don’t start with “Well, traffic is flat but…” Instead, open with “Our organic revenue is up 23% this quarter because our SEO strategy is targeting higher-intent users.” Use industry context The majority of all webpages receive no traffic from Google. Maintaining visibility already puts you in successful territory. Frame flat traffic as stability in a competitive landscape. Show the quality shift Present side-by-side data. For instance “Six months ago, organic traffic averaged 2 pages per session and 45% bounce rate. Now it’s 3.2 pages per session and 28% bounce rate. We’re attracting more engaged users.” Here’s a script I use: “Our SEO strategy has evolved to match how search engines operate today. Instead of optimizing for maximum clicks, we’re optimizing for maximum business value. The result is fewer but more qualified visitors who convert at higher rates.” When executives push back, I sometimes ask, “Would you rather have 10,000 visitors who browse and leave, or 5,000 visitors who request demos and become customers?” The answer reframes the entire conversation around business value. When flat traffic is actually a problem Let me be clear: flat or declining traffic isn’t always good news. Here’s how to tell the difference: Declining keyword rankings across the board: If traffic is flat but rankings are dropping, you likely have a problem, possibly due to technical issues, content quality problems, or algorithm penalties. Flat traffic with flat or declining conversions: Traffic staying steady while conversions drop suggests audience quality is declining. Engagement metrics getting worse: Climbing bounce rates and dropping session duration alongside flat traffic mean users aren’t finding value. Losing share of voice to competitors: If competitors are gaining visibility while yours stays flat, you’re falling behind. Flat traffic is positive when accompanied by improved conversions or stronger competitive positioning. It’s problematic when it masks declining relevance. Dig deeper: LLM optimization in 2026: Tracking, visibility, and what’s next for AI discovery Redefining what ‘working SEO’ means Working SEO in 2026 means aligning revenue, not maximizing traffic. Your organic channel should generate qualified leads, drive conversions, and make a measurable contribution to business growth. Here’s my framework for evaluating SEO success: Revenue metrics: Cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value, return on investment from organic traffic. Visibility metrics: Share of voice across all SERP features, not just traditional rankings. Quality metrics: Engagement rates, conversion rates, lead qualification scores. “Future-proofing” metrics: Performance in AI interfaces and emerging search platforms. The SEO industry has been through similar transitions before, and this won’t be the last. The sooner you adjust your expectations and metrics, the better positioned you’ll be to succeed, and to confidently explain why that flat traffic line might actually be a sign of revenue-focused optimization. View the full article

Buc-ee’s, the popular, Texas-based mega gas station chain will be opening its first-ever locations in: Nebraska, Ohio (April 2026), Wisconsin (2027), North Carolina (2027), Arizona (June 2026), Arkansas (June 2026), Louisiana (2027), and Kansas (2027), according to multiple local news reports. When reached by Fast Company for confirmation, the chain had “no comment.” Founded in 1982, Buc-ee’s, which has a cult-like following, is known for its large scale gas stations and convenience stores, which include, as Fast Company previously reported, numerous gas pumps (more than 100 in some locations), award-winning bathrooms, and a fan-favorite BBQ brisket sandwich. (Its merch is even sold at Walmart.) In recent years, the chain has expanded across the southeastern U.S. from its home base in Texas, spanning west to east from Kentucky to South Carolina. Buc-ee’s, which currently lists some 69 locations nationwide, if you include their car washes, are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the company holds the record for the world’s largest convenience store, which is in Luling, Texas, and is a sprawling, 75,593 square feet. The chain plans to open a fourth store in Florida, which, upon opening, will then be the chain’s largest one to date, with 76,245 square feet, including: 120 gas pumps, 18 charging states, and more than 700 parking locations, according to AL.com (Alabama.com). Buc-ee’s, a privately held company, was one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the dining category in 2024. List of Buc-ee’s locations and opening dates in 8 new states Here is a list of Buc-ee’s locations opening in new states, and their opening dates, according to local news reports: Arizona: Goodyear, southeast corner of Bullard Avenue and Interstate 10 (opening June 2026) Arkansas: Benton, just off I-30 (opening September 2026) Kansas: Louisiana: Nebraska: North Carolina: Ohio: Wisconsin: View the full article

When considering the best customer care strategy, it’s crucial to focus on a customer-centric approach that aligns with both service standards and business goals. This involves comprehending customer needs and leveraging technology, such as AI and CRM systems, for personalized interactions. Furthermore, setting measurable objectives can help track performance and make necessary adjustments. What specific steps can you take to improve your customer care strategy and guarantee it effectively meets expectations? Key Takeaways Understand customer needs through surveys and analytics to tailor your service strategy effectively. Set SMART goals to ensure your customer care efforts align with business objectives and track progress. Foster a customer-centric culture that prioritizes personalized interactions, enhancing loyalty and satisfaction. Implement omnichannel communication for seamless support on customers’ preferred platforms. Utilize technology like AI and CRM systems to streamline processes and provide personalized service experiences. Understanding Customer Service Strategy When you think about a customer service strategy, consider it a detailed plan that outlines how your organization will meet customer needs as it aligns with broader business goals. A well-crafted customer care strategy serves as a blueprint, establishing service standards, goals, and performance metrics to guarantee effective support. To develop this strategy, you must understand customer needs and preferences through surveys and analytics, as this insight improves satisfaction and loyalty. Incorporating technology like AI and omnichannel communication can greatly enhance efficiency and personalize interactions, making customers feel valued. Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals is crucial for tracking the effectiveness of your strategy. Regularly gathering and acting on customer feedback allows your business to adapt and respond to evolving expectations and market dynamics, ensuring your customer care strategy remains pertinent and effective over time. The Importance of a Customer-Centric Approach A customer-centric approach is crucial for businesses aiming to thrive in today’s competitive environment. Research shows that 70% of customers make purchase decisions based on service quality, underscoring the need for exceptional customer support services. When you prioritize customer-centricity, you’re more likely to cultivate loyalty; 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions that reflect their preferences. By focusing on customer satisfaction, you can markedly reduce churn rates, as poor service is the leading cause for customers discontinuing purchases. Furthermore, a customer-centric culture amplifies loyalty and drives profitability, with organizations reporting higher long-term growth. Continuous engagement and comprehension of customer needs are imperative; 76% of consumers express frustration when experiences don’t align with their expectations. Steps to Develop an Effective Strategy Developing an effective customer care strategy involves several key steps that can greatly improve your organization’s ability to meet customer expectations. Start by comprehending customer needs and preferences through surveys and analytics; this guarantees your strategy aligns with their expectations. Next, set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that guide your customer service efforts and align with broader business objectives. Defining a consistent brand voice for customer interactions across all channels improves recognition and trust. It’s likewise essential to establish omnichannel communication strategies, allowing you to meet customers on their preferred platforms and provide seamless support. Finally, utilize technology like CRM systems and AI tools to streamline support processes, improve personalization, and boost overall efficiency in delivering customer service meaning. Integrating Technology for Enhanced Service Integrating technology into your customer care strategy can greatly improve service delivery and customer satisfaction. By utilizing AI-powered chatbots, you can offer instant, 24/7 customer support, effectively addressing routine inquiries and boosting response times. Implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems allows you to track customer interactions and preferences, leading to more personalized service experiences. Furthermore, adopting omnichannel communication strategies guarantees customers can reach you through their preferred platforms, creating a seamless service experience. Advanced analytics tools can analyze customer behavior, enabling you to tailor interactions and engage proactively based on individual preferences. In addition, automation technologies streamline processes, increasing productivity and allowing your human agents to concentrate on more complex customer issues. This not only improves service quality but also boosts overall customer satisfaction. Measuring Success and Adapting Strategies Measuring the success of your customer care strategy is essential for ensuring it meets the needs of your clients effectively. You can assess this through various metrics like Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), which gauges satisfaction with specific interactions, and Net Promoter Score (NPS), which evaluates long-term loyalty by measuring the likelihood of customers recommending your brand. Furthermore, the Customer Effort Score (CES) helps you understand how easy it’s for customers to fulfill their needs during interactions, highlighting any friction points. Regularly analyzing customer feedback data allows you to identify trends and areas for improvement, ensuring your strategies evolve with customer expectations. Adapting your approach based on real-time data enables you to proactively address concerns, enhancing service delivery and nurturing loyalty. Continuous evaluation, including staff training and development, remains essential for maintaining a competitive edge and aligning with the customer support definition that emphasizes effective and responsive service. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Best Customer Service Strategy? The best customer service strategy focuses on clear service standards and performance metrics. You should implement omnichannel support to engage customers on their preferred platforms, ensuring accessibility. Personalization is key; aim to tailor interactions based on individual preferences since 71% of consumers prefer this approach. Incorporate AI technologies, like chatbots, for efficient 24/7 support. Finally, continuously track customer feedback and satisfaction metrics to refine your strategies and build long-term loyalty. What Are the 4 C’s of Customer Care? The 4 C’s of Customer Care are Clarity, Consistency, Compassion, and Communication. You need clarity to guarantee customers understand your processes, which minimizes confusion. Consistency builds trust, as reliable service influences purchasing decisions. Compassion involves empathizing with customers, enhancing their loyalty. Finally, effective communication is essential for addressing inquiries quickly and accurately, contributing to a positive experience. Together, these elements create a foundation for exceptional customer service that can drive satisfaction and retention. What Are the 3 P’s of Customer Care? The 3 P’s of customer care are People, Process, and Product. People refers to well-trained representatives who resolve issues with empathy and skill. Process encompasses the systems and protocols that guarantee consistent and efficient customer interactions. Finally, Product highlights the importance of offering quality goods or services that meet customer expectations. What Are the 4 P’s of Service Strategy? The 4 P’s of service strategy are essential for delivering effective services. First, the Product refers to the service itself, which must meet customer needs. Next, Price involves setting a competitive cost that reflects the service’s value. Place focuses on the delivery method, ensuring customers can access the service easily. Finally, Promotion entails communicating the service benefits clearly to attract customers and stand out in a competitive market, enhancing overall customer satisfaction. Conclusion In conclusion, the best customer care strategy centers around comprehending and prioritizing customer needs during aligning with your business goals. By adopting a customer-centric approach, integrating technology, and setting measurable objectives, you can improve service delivery. Continuously measuring success and adapting your strategies based on feedback will help you cultivate loyalty and satisfaction among your customers. In the end, a commitment to exceptional service is crucial for reducing churn and driving long-term growth in your organization. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is the Best Customer Care Strategy?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

A Payroll Management System is a software tool that automates the process of calculating employee wages, taxes, and deductions. It integrates time and attendance data, ensuring accurate payroll processing during compliance with legal regulations. This system not only simplifies administrative tasks but additionally provides transparency and builds trust within the workforce. Comprehending its core functions and benefits can greatly improve your organization’s payroll efficiency. But what should you consider when selecting the right system? Key Takeaways A Payroll Management System automates the calculation of employee wages, deductions, and tax withholdings for compliance with regulations. It integrates with time and attendance systems to ensure accurate wage calculations based on hours worked or salary. The payroll process consists of pre-payroll, calculations, and post-payroll phases for organized and compliant payroll management. Compliance requires timely filing of forms and accurate reporting of federal, state, and local taxes to avoid penalties. Payroll management software enhances efficiency, guarantees accurate deductions, and provides employee self-service options for better engagement. Definition of a Payroll Management System A payroll management system is an vital software solution that automates the complex processes involved in calculating employee wages, deductions, and tax withholdings. This system integrates seamlessly with time and attendance systems, ensuring that the hours worked are accurately reflected in wage calculations, which greatly reduces the risk of errors. In payroll management in HR, maintaining compliance with federal and state payroll regulations is critical. A payroll management system helps organizations meet their legal obligations to employees and government agencies effectively. You can operate these systems manually, use in-house software, or outsource to third-party providers, offering you flexibility based on your business needs and size. Importance of Payroll Management Grasping the importance of payroll management is vital for your organization’s success. It not only improves employee engagement by ensuring timely and accurate compensation, but it furthermore guarantees compliance with regulatory requirements, helping you avoid hefty fines. Moreover, organized financial records from effective payroll management support smooth audits and strategic decision-making, ensuring your business remains on solid ground. Employee Engagement Enhancement Although many factors contribute to employee engagement, an effective payroll management system plays a crucial role in enhancing this aspect of the workplace. By ensuring timely and accurate wage payments, it nurtures trust and loyalty among staff. When employees receive clear pay statements and have access to self-service portals, it increases transparency regarding their compensation, leading to higher satisfaction levels. Accurate payroll management likewise prevents wage claims and disputes, helping maintain a positive workplace environment. Furthermore, streamlined payroll processes reduce administrative burdens on HR, allowing them to focus more on employee relations and engagement initiatives. This ultimately develops a more motivated workforce, as employees feel valued and confident in the company’s commitment to their rights and wellbeing. Regulatory Compliance Assurance Effective payroll management doesn’t just improve employee engagement; it also plays a significant role in ensuring regulatory compliance. A payroll management system helps you stay on track with various regulations by: Automatically calculating and withholding federal, state, and local taxes, minimizing the risk of costly penalties. Maintaining accurate payroll records to support compliance with federal and state payroll recordkeeping laws, essential for audits. Alerting you to changes in payroll regulations and tax laws, preventing potential legal issues. Ensuring accurate payroll processing, which helps avoid wage claims from employees, thereby promoting trust and satisfaction. Financial Record Organization When managing payroll, organizing financial records is vital for maintaining an effective and compliant business operation. A payroll management system accurately tracks employee wages, hours worked, and deductions for each pay period, ensuring timely and precise compensation. It maintains detailed records of these transactions, which are important for complying with federal and state tax regulations, helping you avoid penalties from incorrect filings. Additionally, payroll systems provide transparent pay statements to employees, detailing gross pay, deductions, and net pay, which cultivates trust within your workforce. Core Functions of a Payroll Management System When you think about a payroll management system, it’s crucial to understand its core functions. It efficiently calculates wages based on hours worked or salary agreements, manages tax withholdings to guarantee compliance, and maintains accurate records for all employee payments. Wage Calculation Processes A payroll management system plays a crucial role in accurately calculating employee wages, as it not just tracks the hours worked for hourly employees but also applies salary agreements for those on a fixed salary. This guarantees precise compensation based on the pay period. Key components of wage calculation processes include: Tracking hours worked and overtime to determine total pay. Applying salary agreements for fixed salary employees. Processing various deductions, such as taxes and Social Security. Maintaining compliance with legal requirements through detailed records. Tax Withholding Management Effective wage calculation naturally leads to the need for efficient tax withholding management, a core function of any payroll management system. This system automates the calculation and withholding of federal, state, and local taxes, ensuring compliance with regulations as it minimizes penalties. It accurately tracks employee tax information, such as exemptions from Form W-4, and provides real-time updates on tax law changes for timely adjustments. Furthermore, it generates necessary tax forms like W-2s and files them with government agencies on your behalf, reducing your administrative burden. Here’s a quick overview of key aspects: Function Description Tax Calculation Automates federal, state, and local taxes Exemption Tracking Tracks employee exemptions and requests Compliance Updates Provides real-time tax law changes Form Generation Creates and files W-2s automatically Administrative Relief Reduces manual processes and errors Record Maintenance Compliance Maintaining accurate records is essential for any payroll management system, as it guarantees compliance with labor laws and provides fundamental data for financial reporting. Here are key aspects of record maintenance compliance: Comprehensive Records: The system tracks employee wages, hours worked, deductions, and tax withholdings. Retention Periods: It retains payroll records for at least three years, as mandated by the IRS and regulatory agencies. Detailed Pay Statements: Employees receive pay stubs that include gross pay, deductions, and net pay, ensuring transparency per state laws. Automatic Updates: The software updates with changes in tax regulations, maintaining compliance and preventing penalties. Calculating Employee Wages Calculating employee wages involves several key components that secure accuracy and compliance with labor regulations. For hourly employees, the payroll management system tracks hours worked, whereas for salaried employees, it applies salary agreements to determine compensation. This guarantees you pay employees accurately based on their agreed terms. The system likewise incorporates various deductions, such as federal and state taxes, Social Security, and Medicare, along with any additional benefits or garnishments. Automated wage calculations minimize errors, enhancing payroll accuracy and reducing the risk of costly penalties. Processing Payroll Taxes Processing payroll taxes is an essential part of the payroll management system that requires careful attention to detail. As an employer, you need to guarantee accurate calculations and timely payments to avoid penalties. Here’s what you should keep in mind: Mandatory Contributions: Payroll taxes include federal, state, and local income taxes, plus Social Security and Medicare taxes. Accurate Calculations: Always use current tax rates to calculate the correct amount to withhold from employees’ wages. Timely Payments: Submit payroll taxes to the appropriate government agencies on time to prevent costly penalties. Required Returns: File necessary forms, such as Form 941, which reports withheld income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes, typically on a quarterly basis. Utilizing a payroll management system can automate these processes, reducing human error and guaranteeing compliance with changing tax regulations, ultimately saving you time and avoiding hefty fines. Ensuring Compliance With Regulations When managing payroll, ensuring compliance with regulations is essential to protect your business from costly penalties. A robust payroll management system automatically calculates and withholds taxes, whereas maintaining detailed records that meet documentation standards for audits. Staying informed about changes in local laws helps you adapt quickly, avoiding legal issues and ensuring smooth operations. Regulatory Compliance Importance Regulatory compliance is crucial in payroll management, as failing to adhere to established laws can lead to significant financial penalties and reputational damage for your organization. In 2023, the IRS assessed $8.5 billion in civil penalties for non-compliance, emphasizing the importance of maintaining accurate payroll practices. Here are key aspects of compliance you should consider: Guarantee accurate withholding and reporting of federal, state, and local taxes. Keep up with evolving labor laws, such as wage and hour regulations. Use payroll systems to maintain organized records for audits and retention timelines. Leverage regular updates and alerts in payroll software to adapt to tax regulation changes. These steps will help you protect your organization from legal risks and nurture employee trust. Documentation and Recordkeeping Standards Accurate documentation and recordkeeping standards form the backbone of effective payroll management and help guarantee compliance with regulations. To meet federal and state payroll recordkeeping laws, you must maintain organized records of employee wages, hours worked, and tax withholdings. It’s vital to keep payroll records for at least three years, which should include time cards, pay rates, and deductions from paychecks. Proper documentation helps prevent wage claims and guarantees timely tax deposits and filings, as poor recordkeeping can lead to penalties. Implement secure electronic recordkeeping methods to protect sensitive information while guaranteeing easy access for audits. Finally, regularly update and audit payroll records to adapt to changing regulations and avoid potential legal issues. Methods of Payroll Management Selecting the right method for payroll management is vital for any business, as it directly impacts efficiency and compliance. There are several methods to evaluate: Manual Processing: This method is time-consuming and prone to errors, especially for larger teams. Payroll Management Software: Automating calculations and integrating with time and attendance systems, this option reduces administrative burdens and guarantees compliance with tax laws. Outsourcing Payroll: By leveraging third-party expertise, you can minimize administrative responsibilities, though this may come with higher costs. Hybrid Approach: Combining in-house software for routine payroll with outsourced services for specialized tasks, like international payroll, offers flexibility and scalability. Each method has unique benefits and drawbacks. It’s important to assess your business size, budget, and specific needs to select the most suitable payroll management option. Phases of the Payroll Management Process Comprehending the phases of the payroll management process is vital for guaranteeing that employee compensation is handled efficiently and accurately. The process consists of three main phases: pre-payroll, calculations, and post-payroll. In the pre-payroll phase, you gather and verify employee data, including hours worked and any necessary adjustments, to prepare for payroll processing. This step sets the foundation for an accurate payroll cycle. During the calculations phase, you compute gross pay, apply deductions such as taxes and benefits, and determine net pay before disbursement. This guarantees that all financial obligations are met correctly. The post-payroll phase involves reconciling payroll records, depositing withheld taxes with government agencies, processing payments, and providing employees with pay statements for transparency. Adhering to defined policies and local regulations throughout each phase is vital to maintain accurate recordkeeping and prevent penalties associated with payroll errors. Benefits of Using Payroll Management Software Have you ever wondered how payroll management software can transform your business operations? This technology offers several key benefits that can improve efficiency and accuracy in payroll processing: Time Savings: Automating wage calculations can speed up processing by up to 80%, reducing manual errors considerably. Tax Compliance: The software guarantees accurate deductions for federal, state, and local taxes, helping you avoid costly penalties. Employee Self-Service: With self-service portals, employees can access their payslips, tax documents, and leave balances, enhancing transparency and satisfaction. Data Analytics: Payroll systems generate detailed reports and analytics on payroll trends, aiding informed financial decision-making. Additionally, cloud-based solutions offer scalability and support remote access without incurring extra infrastructure costs. Choosing the Right Payroll Management System Choosing the right payroll management system is vital for optimizing your business’s payroll processes. Start by evaluating the provider’s reputation through customer reviews, case studies, and support availability. This research helps guarantee reliability and quality service. Next, consider security features like data encryption and multi-factor authentication to protect sensitive employee information and comply with data protection regulations. It’s also important that the payroll system can integrate seamlessly with your existing software solutions, such as HR and accounting systems, to avoid data duplication and improve efficiency. Assess the scalability of the system to accommodate future business growth and changes in employment contracts or labor regulations. Finally, examine the reporting capabilities, including compliance reports and payroll trends, which facilitate informed decision-making and strategic planning within your organization. Taking these factors into account will help you choose a payroll management system that meets your specific needs. Integrating Payroll Management With Other Systems Integrating payroll management with other systems is essential for streamlining your business operations and improving overall efficiency. By doing so, you can boost accuracy and reduce manual entry. Here are some key benefits: Seamless Data Sharing: Connect your payroll system with ADP to maintain accurate employee records effortlessly. Automated Time Tracking: Sync payroll software with time and attendance systems to guarantee precise wage calculations and compliance with labor regulations. Financial Integration: Link with Intuit for automatic posting of payroll expenses, simplifying financial reporting and record-keeping. Custom Workflows: Utilize APIs to integrate with other business software, allowing you to create customized workflows that improve operational efficiency. The Evolution of Payroll Management As businesses evolve, so too does the payroll management environment, shifting from manual, paper-based processes to sophisticated automated software solutions. Historically, payroll was often seen as a back-office function, but it’s now recognized as a strategic driver of trust and employee engagement. This transformation highlights the significance of efficient payroll operations. Today, payroll systems incorporate artificial intelligence, enabling personalized pay statements and enhancing fraud detection. Companies like SAP have developed intelligent payroll systems, such as SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, which streamline processes and guarantee compliance with local regulations. As your business grows and globalizes, adopting payroll systems that adapt to diverse employment laws becomes essential. These systems additionally provide real-time insights into compensation trends, making them indispensable tools for modern organizations. This evolution reflects a broader trend of integrating technology into core business functions, eventually improving operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. How ADP Supports Payroll Management When businesses seek effective payroll management solutions, ADP stands out by offering an extensive suite of tools designed to simplify the payroll process. Here are key features that improve payroll management: Automated Wage and Tax Calculations: This streamlines payroll processing, greatly reducing administrative burdens. User-Friendly Self-Service Applications: Employees can access their payroll information easily, improving transparency and engagement. Diverse Payment Options: ADP supports paycheck, direct deposit, and pay card options, catering to various employee preferences. Tax Compliance Management: The platform handles tax withholding and payments, guaranteeing compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. Additionally, ADP’s robust reporting capabilities help businesses maintain compliance and manage payroll-related documentation effectively. Frequently Asked Questions How Does a Payroll Management System Work? A payroll management system works by collecting employee data, such as hours worked and salary information. It calculates gross pay for each pay period, ensuring accuracy. The system automatically deducts taxes and other withholdings according to applicable regulations, minimizing errors. It generates pay statements for employees, offering transparency about their earnings and deductions. Furthermore, it maintains detailed records, crucial for audits and compliance, and may integrate with time and attendance software for efficiency. What Are the 4 Control Objectives of a Payroll System? The four control objectives of a payroll system are fundamental for effective management. First, you need accurate wage calculations to guarantee employees are paid correctly. Second, compliance with tax regulations is critical to avoid potential penalties. Third, protecting sensitive employee data, such as Social Security numbers, is necessary through robust security measures. Finally, timely payment processing keeps employees satisfied, making sure they receive their wages on schedule without delays. What Are the Two Goals of a Payroll System? A payroll system has two main goals: first, it guarantees accurate calculation and distribution of employee wages, factoring in hours worked, salary agreements, and necessary deductions. Second, it maintains compliance with tax laws by correctly withholding taxes and making timely payments to government agencies. What Are the Three Types of Payroll? There are three main types of payroll: manual payroll management, payroll software, and outsourced payroll services. In manual payroll, you use spreadsheets to track payments, which works well for smaller businesses. Payroll software automates calculations and record-keeping, making it more efficient for medium to large companies. Outsourced payroll services involve third-party providers managing payroll tasks, ensuring compliance as you focus on your core operations. Each option caters to different business needs. Conclusion In conclusion, a Payroll Management System is crucial for automating wage calculations and ensuring compliance with tax regulations. By streamlining processes, it minimizes administrative tasks during maintaining accurate records, which helps build trust within the workforce. Choosing the right system and integrating it with existing software can further improve efficiency. As payroll management continues to evolve, comprehending these systems allows organizations to adapt and enhance their payroll processes, eventually leading to timely and accurate employee compensation. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is a Payroll Management System and How Does It Function?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

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2026 is already shaping up to be a brutal year for GameStop (NYSE: GME) stores. This month, nearly 500 locations have been marked for closure. The shutterings come as GameStop’s CEO Ryan Cohen doubled down on the company and bought another half a million shares in GME stock. Here’s what you need to know. GameStop is closing hundreds more stores Over the past year, it seems that GameStop has had one primary focus: reducing costs by shuttering stores. At the beginning of 2025, the video game chain had around 2,325 locations in the United States. But by December, it had shuttered 590 of them. The same month, the company announced plans to close a “significant number of additional stores” during its 2025 fiscal year. GameStop’s financial 2025 ends on January 31. As Fast Company previously reported, at the beginning of this month, customers and social media users reported that their local GameStop stores were showing signs of imminent closure, but at the time, it was not known how many locations were shutting down. Now, Ohio’s WKYC Studios has assembled a list of the stores it says are closing. That list, which you can see below, is based on GameStop’s store location tool, which marks hundreds of locations as closed. The list includes more than 470 locations across 43 states. Fast Company has reached out to GameStop to confirm the closures. Why is GameStop closing stores? GameStop isn’t unique in its decision to close stores. Over the past several years, brick-and-mortar retailers of all stripes have shuttered locations. Many of these chains are dealing with the same problems that have led to GameStop’s store closures. Those problems include declining store foot traffic as customers shift their buying habits online, rising operating costs for physical stores, and weakening consumer spending. But as a video game-focused retailer, GameStop faces a unique challenge, too. Over the past decade, video games have gone from physical items you need to buy on disk to being distributed digitally for download or streaming over the internet. This shift to digital delivery of video games has cut out the video game retailer as a middleman. With customers now able to buy video games directly on their consoles and have them downloaded in minutes, there is no longer a need to trek to a video game store to buy a physical copy. How is GameStop stock performing? It’s impossible to talk about GameStop without talking about its stock (NYSE: GME). That’s because GME was one of the original meme-stock poster boys. Back in 2021, during the height of the meme stock craze, retail investors poured their money into GME, sending the stock soaring. At one point, GME was trading over $120 per share. But in the years since, the stock has declined as meme stock frenzy subsided. Over the past twelve months, the stock has fallen by around 21%. GME stock closed at $21.69 per share on Wednesday. However, this week the stock received a bit of a boost. As Investing.com reported, GME stock rose by about 4% after market close on Tuesday after it was revealed that GameStop’s CEO Ryan Cohen bought an additional 500,000 shares in the company. This share purchase increases Cohen’s ownership of the company’s outstanding stock to about 9.2% and suggests that GameStop’s CEO is optimistic about the share price’s future potential. List of GameStop stores closing According to WKYC Studios, the following GameStop locations are closing: Alabama Birmingham – River Ridge, 4507 Riverview Pkwy. Hartselle – Hartselle Plaza, 1199 Highway 31 NW Mobile – Airport Boulevard Center, 3691 Airport Blvd. Opelika – Gateway Commons, 3000 Pepperell Pkwy. Troy – Troy Plaza, 1410 Highway 231 S. Arkansas Batesville – Eagle Mountain Center, 17 Eagle Mountain Blvd. Little Rock – Mabelvale Plaza, 10215 Mabelvale Plaza Drive West Memphis – Service Road West Memphis, 65 S. Service Road Arizona Bullhead City – Bullhead City Shopping Center, 2840 Highway 95 Flagstaff – Woodlands Village, 2700 S. Woodlands Village Lake Havasu – Shops at Lake Havasu, 5601 Highway 95 N Mesa – Superstition Springs Mall, 6555 E. Southern Ave. Phoenix – Desert Sky Esplanade, 7515 W. Encanto Blvd. Phoenix – Happy Valley Towne Center, 2501 W. Happy Valley Road Phoenix – Maryvale Plaza, 5215 W. Indian School Road Phoenix – Village Plaza, 12611 N. Tatum Blvd. Tucson – Campbell Plaza, 2910 N. Campbell Ave. Tucson – Eastpointe Marketplace, 6970 E. 22nd St. California Auburn – Willow Creek S/C, 2799 Grass Valley Highway Bakersfield – Panama Ln Bakersfield, 2200 Panama Lane Bell – Bell Gardens Marketplace, 6939 Eastern Ave. Canoga Park – Topanga Plaza Mall, 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd. Capitola – Brown Ranch Market, 2555 Clares St. Coachella – Coachella Gateway, 49255 Grapefruit Blvd. Compton – Gateway Towne Center, 200 Towne Center Drive Corona – Corona Crossing, 2620 Tuscany St. Culver City – Venice and Overland, 3855 Overland Ave. Davis – 4625 2nd St. Emeryville – BridgeCourt Emeryville, 3980 Hollis St. Escondido – Escondido Promenade, 1250 Auto Park Way Fresno – First and Shields, 3235 N. 1st St. Gardena – Manhattan and Crenshaw, 15900 Crenshaw Blvd. Gilroy – Pacheco Pass, 890 Renz Lane Hayward – Skywest Commons, 1159 W. A St. Inglewood – 3550 W. Century Blvd. Inglewood – Marketplace at Hollywood Park, 3351 W. Century Blvd. Lancaster – Eastside Town Center, 44421 20th St E. Lemon Grove – Lemon Grove Shopping Center, 7048 Broadway Livermore – Vintner Square, 1418 First St. Madera – Madera Commons, 2180 W. Cleveland Ave. Mission Viejo – Mission Viejo Mall, 236 The Shops At Mission Viejo Oroville – Las Plumas Plaza, 1124 Oro Dam Blvd. Palm Springs – South Sunrise Way, 425 S. Sunrise Way Palmdale – The Marketplace Palmdale, 39450 10th St. W Petaluma – Washington Square, 365 S. McDowell Blvd. Pleasant Hill – Pleasant Hill Shopping Center, 2360 Monument Blvd. Pleasanton – Stoneridge Mall, 1384 Stoneridge Mall Road Porterville – Porterville Marketplace, 1276 W. Henderson Ave. Redwood City – Woodside Central, 2527 El Camino Real Rohnert Park – Rohnert Plaza, 4645 Redwood Drive Sacramento – Folsom Boulevard, 1420 65th St. Sacramento – Meadowview and Freeport, 1441 Meadowview Road San Bruno – Tanforan, 1150 El Camino Real San Diego – Loma Square, 3357 Rosecrans St. San Fernando – Workman Street, 801 S. Workman St. San Jose – Westgate Mall, 1546 Saratoga Ave. San Leandro – Fashion Faire Place, 15100 Hesperian Blvd. San Pedro – Park Plaza, 980 N. Western Ave. Santa Fe Springs – Gateway Plaza, 10635 Carmenita Road Santa Rosa – Santa Rosa Plaza Mall, 1029 Santa Rosa Plaza Selma – Garden Vineyard, 3352 Floral Ave. Spring Valley – Spring Valley Shopping Center, 8626 Jamacha Blvd. Stockton – Lower Sacramento Center, 7910 Lower Sacramento Road Van Nuys – Patomac Plaza, 6800 Balboa Blvd. Ventura – Pacific View Ventura Mall, 3301 E. Main St. Watsonville – Main St. Watsonville, 1441 Main St. Woodland – Yolo Polo Plaza, 1780 E. Main St. Yuba City – Yuba City Marketplace, 1070 Harter Pkwy. Colorado Aurora – Hoffman Heights, 757 Peoria St. Aurora – Quincy Place Shops, 16891 E. Quincy Ave. Broomfield – Flatiron Crossing Mall, 1 W. Flatiron Crossing Drive Colorado Springs – The Citadel Mall, 750 Citadel Drive Fort Collins – Front Range Village, 2842 Council Tree Ave. Fort Collins – Magnolia St Fort Collins, 1275 E. Magnolia St. Loveland – Denver Ave Loveland, 1389 Denver Ave., Loveland Connecticut Enfield – Enfield Square Mall, 90 Elm St. Lisbon – Crossroads at Lisbon, 193 River Road Newington – Newington Shopping Center, 2997 Berlin Turnpike Stratford – Stratford Square, 411 Barnum Ave. Waterbury – Brass Mills Mall, 495 Union St. Delaware Bear – Governors Square, 1015 Governors Place Dover – Dover Mall Food Court, 3084 Dover Mall Wilmington – Kirkwood Plaza, 4345 Kirkwood Highway Florida Clearwater – Clearwater Mall, 2723 Gulf to Bay Blvd. Coral Springs – Maplewood Plaza, 1158 N. University Drive Deland – Gibbs Plaza, 1697 N. Woodland Blvd. Deltona – Shoppes of East Deltona, 121 Howland Blvd. Destin – Island Palm Shoppes, 16055 Emerald Coast Pkwy. Fort Myers – Cypress Woods, 9390 6 Mile Cypress Pkwy. Fort Myers – Gulf Coast Town Center, 10021 Gulf Center Drive Jacksonville – Lem Turner Road Jacksonville, 12001 Lem Turner Road Lake Worth – Lantana Plaza, 5780 S. Jog Road Leesburg – US Highway 441 Leesburg, 10300 US Highway 441 Margate – Lakewood Shopping Center, 5499 W. Atlantic Blvd. Miami – Aventura Mall EB Games, 19575 Biscayne Blvd. Middleburg – Plantation Crossing, 1545 Branan Field Road Mulberry – Church Ave Mulberry, 6751 N. Church Ave. Naples – Market Center, 9960 Business Circle Ocoee – Ocoee Commons, 10576 W. Colonial Drive Orlando – Lake Fredrica Shopping Center, 3916 S. Semoran Blvd. Palatka – Palatka Center, 850 S. Moody Road Pensacola – Creighton Commons, 2620 Creighton Road Port Richey – US Highway 19 N Port Richey, 8605 US Highway 19 N. Sanford – Seminole Center, 3715 S. Orlando Drive Sebring – Lakeshore Mall, 901 US 27 North Summerfield – 178th Place Summerfield, 11275 SE 178th Place Sunrise – Sawgrass Mills Mall, 12801 W. Sunrise Blvd. Tampa – Citrus Park Shopping Center, 8502 Citrus Park Drive Georgia Alpharetta – North Point Mall, 1198 North Point Circle Atlanta – Chamblee Village, 1841 Chamblee Tucker Road Atlanta – Howell Mill, 1801 Howell Mill Road NW Atlanta – Lenox Square Mall, 3393 Peachtree Road NE Augusta – Southpointe Plaza, 3209 Deans Bridge Road Cartersville – Shops at Main Street, 455 Cherokee Place Columbus – Peachtree Mall, 3131 Manchester Expressway Cumming – Cumming Marketplace, 1060 Market Place Blvd. Dublin – Dublin Commons, 2421 Highway 80 West Hartwell – Hartwell Station, 115 Walmart Drive Locust Grove – Bill Gardner Pkwy Locust Grove, 4959 Bill Gardner Way McDonough – McDonough Square, 1144 Highway 20 W. Snellville – Pharrs Village, 1830 Scenic Highway N Stone Mountain – Stone Mountain Festival, 1925 Rockbridge Road Tucker – Cofer Crossing, 4363 Lawrenceville Highway Idaho Nampa – East Franklin Road Nampa, 5681 E. Franklin Road Post Falls – Plaza at Post Falls, 710 N. Cecil Road Illinois Addison – Rohlwing Road Addison, 1074 N. Rohlwing Road Alton – Alton Corners, 317 Homer Adams Pkwy. Chicago – Cermak and Western, 2336 W. Cermak Road Chicago – Gateway Center, 1751 W. Howard St. Cicero – Cicero Marketplace, 3017 S. Cicero Ave. Decatur – Decatur Marketplace, 4641 E. Maryland St. Dekalb – Northland Plaza, 2564 Sycamore Road Geneva – Randall Square, 1492 S. Randall Road Hodgkins – Quarry Outlot, 9404 Joliet Road Homewood – Park Palace Plaza, 17925 Halsted St. Joliet – Jefferson St. Joliet, 2410 W. Jefferson St. McHenry – McHenry Town Center West, N. 2445 Richmond Road New Lenox – New Lenox Retail Center, 2344 E. Lincoln Highway Orland Park – Lakeview Plaza, 15864 S. LaGrange Road Round Lake Beach – Mallard Creek Shopping Center, 716 E. Rollins Road Shorewood – Joliet Commons, 1530 IL Route 59 South Elgin – South Elgin Commons, 478 Randall Road Tinley Park – Tinley Park Plaza, 16205 Harlem Ave. Indiana Carmel – Clay Terrace, 14405 Clay Terrace Blvd. Evansville – Evansville Pavilion, 6401 E. Lloyd Expressway Greenfield – Greenfield Crossing, 1905 Melody Lane Indianapolis – College Park, 3269 W. 86th St. Kendallville – North Street Kendallville, 2517 E. North St. Merrillville – 80th Ave Merrillville, 2623 E. 80th Ave. Munster – Calumet Center, 7971 Calumet Ave. New Castle – South State Road 3 New Castle, 3187 S. State Road 3 Newburgh – High Pointe Drive Newburgh, 8680 High Pointe Drive Noblesville – Town and Country, 16763 Clover Road Saint John – St. Johns Square, 9939 Wicker Ave. South Bend – Erskine Village, 1290 E. Ireland Road Terre Haute – Honey Creek Mall, 3401 S. U.S. Highway 41 Iowa Des Moines – Southdale Des Moines, 5126 SE 14th St. Iowa City – Highway 1W Iowa City, 1011 Highway 1W Waterloo – Crossroads Mini, 1515 Flammang Drive Kansas Shawnee Mission – Shawnee Station, 16310 W. 65th St. Topeka – Wanamaker Shopping Center, 1725 SW Wanamaker Road Wichita – 29th and Rock, 3000 N. Rock Road Kentucky Alexandria – Village Green Center, 6807 Alexandria Pike Berea – Shops at Berea, 222 Brenwood St. Campbellsville – Campbellsville Bypass, 726 Campbellsville Bypass Danville – Danville Manor, 1560 Hustonville Road Florence – Florence Mall, 2028 Florence Mall Harlan – Woodland Plaza, 2370 S. U.S. Highway 421 Hazard – Daniel Boone Plaza, 82 Daniel Boone Plaza Hopkinsville – Fort Campbell Boulevarde, 4156 Fort Campbell Blvd. Lawrenceburg – 1004 Bypass N. Lawrenceburg, 1004 Bypass N. Louisville – Southland Terrace, 3925 7th Street Road Morehead – Kroger Center Morehead, 252 Kroger Circle Nicholasville – Main Street Nicholasville, 1020 N. Main St. Paducah – Kentucky Oaks Mall, 5101 Hinkleville Road Paintsville – Mayo Plaza, 431 N. Mayo Trail Louisiana Baton Rouge – O’Neal Lane Shopping Center, 2060 O’Neal Lane Broussard – Sugarcrest Center, 219 Saint Nazaire Road Covington – River Chase, 69240 Highway 21 Crowley – Odd Fellow Road Crowley, 725 Odd Fellows Road Houma – Southland Mall Houma, 5953 W. Park Ave. La Place – Belle Terre Plaza, 150 Belle Terre Blvd. Leesville – Leesville Plaza, 2414 S. 5th St. Monroe – Pecanland Mall, 4700 Milhaven Road Morgan City – Bayou Vista Plaza, 1079 Highway 90 E New Iberia – New Iberia Shopping Center, 1002 Jefferson Terrace Blvd. New Orleans – St. Andrew St. New Orleans, 520 Saint Andrew St. Ruston – Eagle Plaza, 1407 Eagle Drive Sulphur – Sulphur Plaza, 541 N. Cities Service Highway Maine Topsham – Topsham Crossing, 127 Topsham Fair Mall Road Maryland Baltimore – Parkside Shopping Center, 5114 Sinclair Lane Baltimore – Perring Plaza, 1991 E. Joppa Road Ellicott City – St. Johns Plaza, 9159 Baltimore National Pike Essex – Middlesex Center, 1228 Eastern Blvd. Gambrills – Village at Waugh Chapel, 2626 Chapel Lake Drive Salisbury – The Commons, 2717 N. Salisbury Blvd. Severna Park – Severna Park Marketplace, 543 Ritchie Highway Westminster – Town Mall, 400 N. Center St. Massachusetts Brookline – Coolidge Corners, 271 Harvard St. Chestnut Hill – Shops at Chestnut Hill, 199 Boylston St. East Longmeadow – Heritage Park Plaza, 428 N. Main St. Hadley – Mountain Farms, 325 Russell St. Holyoke – Holyoke At Ingleside, 50 Holyoke St. Lunenburg – Lunenburg Crossing, 317 Massachusetts Ave. Malden – Broadway Plaza, 44 Broadway Methuen – Merrimac Plaza, 184 Haverhill St. North Dartmouth – Dartmouth Town Center, 400 State Road Raynham – Shaws Plaza, 300 New State Highway Stoughton – R.K. Plaza, 1334 Park St. Waltham – Waltham Gateway, 1019 Trapelo Road Westfield – Westfield Shops, 431 E. Main St. Michigan Ann Arbor – Cranbrook Village, 878 W. Eisenhower Pkwy. Caledonia – Gaines Marketplace, 1825 Marketplace Drive SE Canton – Crossroads Village, 47160 Michigan Ave. Chesterfield – Chesterfield Commons, 34830 23 Mile Road Clinton Township – Clinton Pointe, 33822 S. Gratiot Ave. Commerce Township – Commerce Marketplace, 1721 Haggerty Highway Grand Blanc – Grand Blanc Town Center, 6309 Dort Highway Kentwood – Woodland Mall, 3169 28th St. SE, Kentwood Lansing – Delta Plaza, 5451 W. Saginaw Highway Lansing – Eastwood Town Center, 2908 Town Center Blvd. Lansing – Marketplace at Delta, 619 N. Marketplace Blvd. Northville – Northville Village Center, 17945 Haggerty Road Owosso – Riverwood Crossing, 1565 E. Main St. Rochester Hills – Hampton Village Center, 2781 S. Rochester Road Shelby Township – Shelby Creek, 12185 23 Mile Road, Shelby Township Sturgis – Centerville Road Sturgis, 69823 S. Centerville Road Troy – Midtown Square, 1333 Coolidge Highway Minnesota Brooklyn Park – Jolly Lane Shopping Center, 7655 Jolly Lane Owatonna – Owatonna Commons, 1100 W. Frontage Road Rochester – Rochester Crossing, 3780 Marketplace Drive NW Mississippi Biloxi – Shoppes at Poppes Ferry, 2404 Pass Road Clinton – Hammett Crossing, 1011 Hampstead Blvd. Corinth – Corinth Commons, 2201 Virginia Lane Greenville – South Rivers Market, 1831 Highway 1 S. Grenada – Grenada Plaza, 1550 Jameson Drive Picayune – Pearl River Plaza, 230 Frontage Road Vicksburg – Vicksburg Plaza, 2301 Iowa Ave. Missouri Creve Coeur – Heritage Place, 12589 Olive Blvd. Independence – Independence Commons, 19130 E. 39th St. S. Independence – Market Place Shopping Center, 4201 S. Noland Road Jennings – Plaza on the Boulevard, 8025 W. Florissant Ave. Kansas City – West Port Landing, 906 Westport Road Lebanon – Lebanon Marketplace, 1810 S. Jefferson Ave. Maplewood – Maplewood Commons, 1821 Maplewood Commons Drive Raytown – Raytown Gregory Square, 9203 E. State Route 350 St. Joseph – St. Joseph Plaza, 3302 S. Belt Highway St. Joseph – Shoppes at North Plaza, 5301 N. Belt Highway St. Louis – South County Center, 134 S. County Center Way Sikeston – South Pointe Center, 1213 S. Main St. Nebraska Papillion – Market Pointe Shopping Center, 8540 S. 71st Plaza Nevada Fallon – Fallon Plaza, 2163 W. Williams Ave. Las Vegas – Rainbow Plaza, 947 S. Rainbow Road Las Vegas – Tropicana and I-25, 5130 S. Fort Apache Road New Hampshire Claremont – Claremont Market, 367 Washington St. Concord – Fort Eddy Plaza, 44 Fort Eddy Road Epping – Epping Crossing, 25 Fresh River Road Gilford – Lake Shore Road Gilford, 1458 Lake Shore Road Plaistow – Stateline Plaza, 4 Plaistow Road Salem – Rockingham Mall, 92 Cluff Crossing Road Somersworth – Tri City Plaza, 176 Tri City Plaza West Lebanon – Upper Valley Shopping Center, 250 Plainfield Road New Jersey Bayonne – South Cove commons, 205 Lefante Way Deptford – Deptford Landing, 2000 Clements Bridge Road Newark – Newark Shopping Center, 786 Broad St. North Bergen – Tonelle Avenue, 2100 88th St. Rockaway – Rockaway TownSquare, 301 Mount Hope Ave. Somerdale – Evesham Ave Somerdale, 711 Evesham Ave. Somers Point – Ocean Heights, 15 Bethel Road South Plainfield – Hadley Shopping Center, 4959 Stelton Road Succasunna – Roxbury Mall, 275 State Route 101 E New York Amsterdam – Amsterdam Commons, 4930 State Highway 30 Bronx – Westchester Shopping Center, 1030 Westchester Ave. Brooklyn – Bensonhurst Shopping Center, 6713 18th Ave. Brooklyn – Bensonhurst, 2141 86th St. Brooklyn – Fulton Street and Flatbush, 465 Fulton St. Brooklyn – Gateway Center Brooklyn, 470 Gateway Drive Brooklyn – Pitkin Avenue, 1622 Pitkin Ave. Buffalo – University Plaza, 3500 Main St. Depew – Transit Losson Wegmans Center, 4960 Transit Road Evan Mills – Johnson Road Evans Mills, 26445 Johnson Road Herkimer – EFK Plaza, 320 E. State St. Hudson – 424 Fairview Ave. Ithaca – Meadows Square, 324 Elmira Road Jamaica – Jamaica Avenue, 163-08 Jamaica Ave. Johnstown – Johnstown Mall, 222 N. Camrie Ave. Lockport – Transit Road Lockport, 5716 S. Transit Road Middletown – Galleria At Crystal Run, 1 N. Galleria Drive Monticello – Monticello Mall, 36 Thompson Square Mall Plattsburgh – Champlain Centre Mall, 60 Smithfield Blvd. Poughkeepsie – 44 Plaza Shopping Center, 47 Burnett Blvd. Poughkeepsie – Poughkeepsie, 2001 South Road. Ridgewood – Myrtle Avenue, 5720 Myrtle Ave. Rochester – Eastridge Plaza, 705 E. Ridge Road Rosedale – Five Towns Shopping Center, 25301 Rockaway Blvd. Valley Stream – Green Acres Mall, 1120 Green Acres Mall Victor – Victor Crossing, 400 Commerce Drive Webster – Webster Square, 950 Ridge Road West Nyack – Palisades Center Mall, 4322 Palisades Center Drive White Plains – The Westchester, 125 Westchester Ave. Yonkers – Cross County Center, 3 Xavier Drive North Carolina Albermarle – Albermarle Shopping Center, 723 Leonard Ave. Burlington – Holly Hills Mall, 309 Huffman Mill Road Charlotte – The Galleria, 1824 Galleria Blvd. Charlotte – Village at Whitehall, 8951 S. Tryon St. Charlotte – Wilkinson Crossing, 3220 Wilkinson Blvd. Durham – New Hope Commons, 5408 New Hope Commons Drive Durham – South Square, 3415 Westgate Drive Gastonia – Samarth Plaza, 117 N. Myrtle School Road Greensboro – Four Seasons Town Center, 311 Four Seasons Town Center Greensboro – Shoppes at Wendover Village, 4203 W. Wendover Ave. Mocksville – Cooper Creek Drive Mocksville, 191 Cooper Creek Drive Monroe – Monroe Mall, 2115 W. Roosevelt Blvd. Murphy – US 19 Murphy, 2320 US 19 Raleigh – New Burns Commons, 4531 New Bern Ave. Raleigh – Triangle Town Center Mall, 5959 Triangle Town Blvd. Wilmington – Mayfaire Town Center, 6858 Main St. Wilmington – Pamlico Plaza, 560 Pamlico Plaza North Dakota Fargo – Central Marketplace, 1801 45th St. S Ohio Bellefontaine – Bellefontaine Square, 2228 S. Main St. Bryan – Main Street Bryan, 1243 S. Main St. Cambridge – Cambridge Shopping Center, 61267 Southgate Road Canton – Canton Centre Mall, 4328 Tuscarawas St. W Canton – Carousel Plaza, 3016 Atlantic Blvd. NE Chardon – Meadowlands Town Center, 255 Meadowlands Drive Chillicothe – North Bridge Street, 950 N. Bridge St. Cleveland Heights – Severence Town Center, 3582 Mayfield Road Columbus – Graceland Shopping Center, 5057 N. High St. Dublin – Sawmill Square, 7646 Sawmill Road Fairfield Township – Bridgewater Falls, 3417 Princeton Road Fairview Park – Westgate Shopping Center, 3101 Westgate Huber Heights – Sulphur Grove, 7746 Brandt Pike Lakewood – Lakewood Marketplace, 14869 Detroit Ave. Marietta – Rivers Edge Marietta, 227 Captain D. Seeley Mia Drive Marysville – Colemans Crossing, 653 Colemans Crossing Sidney – Michigan Street Sidney, 2260 Michigan St. Toledo – Monroe Street Market, 5333 Monroe St. Troy – Troy Towne Center, 1847 W. Main St. Wauseon – Airport Highway Wauseon, 482 Airport Highway Oklahoma Glenpool – Waco Ave Sapulpa, 12154 S. Waco Ave. Oklahoma City – Belle Isle Station, 1841 Belle Isle Blvd. Oklahoma City – Silver Springs Point, 7640 NW Expressway Sand Springs – Cimmeron Plaza, 430 W. Wekiwa Road Oregon Corvallis – Corvallis Market Center, 1580 NW 9th St. Hermiston – Hermiston Plaza, 892 S. Highway 395 Pennsylvania Beaver Falls – Chippewa Town Center, 200 Chippewa Town Center Collingdale – Creekside Plaza, 1207 MacDade Blvd. Easton – William Penn Plaza, 3087 William Penn Highway Gilbertsville – Douglass Town Center, 173 Holly Road Harrisburg – Paxton Town Center, 5125 Jonestown Road Harrisburg – Union Square, 3875 Union Deposit Road Hazle Township – Hazel Marketplace, 741 Airport Road Indiana – Southtowne Plaza, 3100 Oakland Ave. Lehighton – Carbon Plaza, 1241 Blakeslee Blvd. Drive E Mechanicsburg – Silver Springs Commons, 6520 Carlisle Pike Monaca – Brodhead Road Monaca, 3942 Brodhead Road New Castle – Union Square, 2519 W. State St. Philadelphia – Mayfair Shopping Center, 6420 Frankford Ave. Pittsburgh – Montour Church Plaza, 312 McHolme Drive Quakertown – Trainers Corner, 210 N. West End Blvd. Reading – Exeter Commons, 4611 Perkiomen Ave. Richboro – Crossroads Plaza, 800 Bustleton Pike Selinsgrove – Susquehanna Valley, 1 Susquehanna Valley Mall Drive Shippenburg – Shippen Towne Center, 210 S. Conestoga Drive Springfield – Marple Cross Roads, 400 S. State Road Warminster – Center Point Place, 892 W. Street Road West Chester – West Goshen Town Center, 1115 W. Chester Pike Willow Grove – Willow Grove Park Mall, 2500 W. Moreland Road Wyomissing – Berkshire Mall, 1665 State Hill Road South Carolina Columbia – Killian Road Supercenter, 327 Killian Road Columbia – Shoppes at Woodhill, 6080 Garners Ferry Road Greenville – White Horse Commons, 6134 White Horse Road Hartsville – Retail Row Hartsville, 1211 Retail Row Lancaster – University Shops, 933 Lancaster Bypass W Moncks Corner – Moncks Corner, 505 Highway 52 North Augusta – Knox Avenue North Augusta, 1229 Knox Ave. North Charleston – North Rivers Town Center, 7250 Rivers Ave. North Charleston – Shoppes at Centre Pointe, 4950 Centre Pointe Drive Orangeburg – North Road Plaza, 2843 North Road Rock Hill – Rock Hill Galleria, 2391 Dave Lyle Blvd. Seneca – Applewood Shopping Center, 290 Applewood Center Place Spartanburg – Spartanburg Corners, 200 Dawn Redwood Drive Tennessee Clarksville – Riverpoint Shopping Center, 2351 Madison St. Cordova – Germantown Parkway Cordova, 465 N. Germantown Pkwy. Franklin – Cool Springs Mall, 1800 Galleria Blvd. Greeneville – Shops in Greeneville, 3793 E. Andrew Johnson Highway Hermitage – H.G. Hill Center, 4469 Lebanon Pike Jackson – South Highland Avenue Jackson, 2103 S. Highland Ave. Johnson City – Shoppes on West Mark, 3101 W. Market St. Lawrenceburg – Lawrenceburg Shopping Center, 2136 N. Locust Ave. Lenoir City – Franklin Center, 875 Highway 321 N. Memphis – Park Cosmorama, 5043 Park Ave. Murfreesboro – College Central, 2866 S. Rutherford Road Nashville – Jackson Downs Shopping Center, 3133 Lebanon Pike Savannah – Riverboat Plaza, 1800 Wayne Road Shelbyville – Main St. Shelbyville, 1854 N. Main St. West Memphis – Service Road West Memphis, 650 S. Service Road Texas Allen – The Village at Allen, 170 E. Stacy Road Arlington – Little School Road Shops, 1245 N. Little School Road Austin – Ben White Payload Center, 500 E. Ben White Blvd. Balch Springs – Lake June Plaza, 12209 Lake June Road Boerne – Menger Crossing, 1375 S. Main St. Cedar Park – Lakeline Plaza, 11066 Pecan Park Blvd. Conroe – Conroe Center, 1231 N. Loop 336 W Corpus Christi – Padre Island Drive, 1805 S. Padre Island Drive Corsicana – Corsicana Marketplace, 3811 W. Highway 31 Dallas – Glen Oaks Crossing, 4787 Vista Wood Blvd. El Paso – Alameda Town Center, 9411 Alameda Ave. El Paso – Fountains at Farah, 8889 Gateway West Blvd. Fort Worth – Clifford Retail, 301 Clifford Center Drive Garland – Ridgewood Village, 2930 S. 1st St. Houston – Beechnut Street Houston, 10100 Beechnut St. Houston – Bellaire Gessner Center, 8880 Bellaire Blvd. Houston – Market at Uvalde, 13706 East Freeway Houston – Market Square, 13341 Westheimer Road Houston – Oxford Plaza, 10407 North Freeway Houston – Royal Oaks, 11807 Westheimer Road Houston – Wayside Shopping Center, 900 S. Wayside Drive Huntsville – Ravenwood Village, 245 Interstate 45 N Irving – MacArthur Park, 7601 N. MacArthur Blvd. Lake Jackson – Lake Jackson Shopping Center, 121 Highway 332 W La Marque – LaMarque Crossing, 6408 Interstate 45 Laredo – Laredo Crossing Shopping Center, 4415 S. Zapata Highway Leon Valley – 5601 Bandera Road Lubbock – 7th St Lubbock, 1803 7th St. Magnolia – Westwood Village, 33020 FM 2978 Road Mansfield – Mansfield Crossing, 1301 E. Debbie Lane Marble Falls – Highland Lakes, 2400 US Highway 281 McKinney – Lake Forest Crossing, 4100 S. Lake Forest Drive Mesquite – Town East Mall, 2050 Town East Mall Mission – Shary Plaza, 808 S. Shary Road Palmhurst – Palmhurst Shopping Center, 4416 N. Conway Ave. Paris – Paris Corners, 3842 Lamar Ave. Saginaw – Cross Pointe Shopping Center, 1453 N. Saginaw Blvd. San Antonio – Alamo Quarry Market, E. 255 Basse Road San Antonio – Blanco Road, 7117 Blanco Road San Antonio – Huebner Oaks Center, 11745 W. Interstate 10 San Antonio – Northwoods Phase III, 1742 N. Loop 1604 E San Antonio – Walzem Plaza, 5366 Walzem Road Sephenville – Stephenville Shopping Center, 2811 W. Washington St. Sulphur Springs – Sulphur Springs Corners, 1707 S. Broadway St. Terrell – Terrell Corner, 1888 W. Moore Ave. Tyler – State Highway 64 Tyler, 3842 State Highway 64 W Watauga – Watauga Town Crossing, 8004 Denton Highway Utah Centerville – Centerville Marketplace, 621 W. Marketplace Drive Vermont Rutland – Rutland Plaza, 144 Shopping Plaza Road Williston – Maple Tree Place, 31 Hawthorne St. Virginia Alexandria – Kingstowne Towne Center, 5965 Kingstowne Towne Center Chantilly – South Riding Market Square, 25050 Riding Plaza, Dulles – Dulles Town Center, 21100 Dulles Town Circle Henrico – Staple Mill Road Henrico, 9085 Staple Mill Road King George – Consumer Row King George, 16418 Consumer Row Richmond – Broad and Bowe Center, 1500 W. Broad St. Richmond – Northpark Shopping Center, 8131 Brook Road Richmond – Shops at Stratford Hill, 7017 Forest Hill Ave. South Boston – Shops at Tri Rivers, 3459 Old Halifax Road Sterling – Dulles 28 Centre, 22000 Dulles Retail Plaza, Virginia Beach – Parkway Plaza, 869 Lynnhaven Pkwy. Williamsburg – Cedar Valley Shopping Center, 810 E. Rochambeau Drive Woodbridge – Smoketown Station, 13277 Worth Ave. Washington Bothell – Downtown Bothell, 18827 Bothell Way NE College Place – Meadowbrook Plaza, 1605 SE Meadowbrook Blvd. Federal Way – Federal Way Marketplace, 34512 16th Ave. S Kennewick – Canyon Lakes Center, 4008 W. 27th Ave. Kirkland – Totem Lake, 12525 Totem Lake Blvd. NE Lakewood – Lakewood Town Center, 5605 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd. SW Lynnwood – 165th Street Crossing, 1402 164th St. SW Redmond – Bear Creek Village, 17128 Redmond Way Tacoma – Westgate South, 2315 N. Pearl St. West Virginia Bridgeport – Meadowbrook, 2399 Meadowbrook Mall Hurricane – Hurricane Marketplace, 270 Progress Way Logan – Fountain Place, 131 Prosperity Lane Morgantown – Shoppers World, 250 Retail Circle Wisconsin Beloit – Milwaukee Road Shopping Center, 2787 Milwaukee Road La Crosse – Valley View Mall, 3800 State Road 16 Milwaukee – Midtown Center, 4131 N. 56th St. View the full article

Every year brings a fresh wave of headlines and bold predictions about what social media is about to become. A new platform. A new format. A new rulebook we’re all meant to learn overnight. But when you zoom out, the underlying dynamics don’t actually change all that much. ✅ Creators want more ownership. ✅ Audiences are more precious about what they give their trust and attention. ✅ Platforms are making updates and changes. I’ve been working in and around the creator economy long enough to recognize these patterns when they keep showing up. I see them as a consumer, through my work at Buffer, and as a creator who’s increasingly embedded in the space myself. That’s why this piece isn’t another set of one-off predictions about what social media might look like next year. Instead, it focuses on the forces already in motion — the pressures shaping creator behavior right now — and how they’re likely to keep compounding into 2026, based on insights from people building and experimenting in real time. Let’s dig in. Jump to a section: Force 1: The trust scarcity dynamic Force 2: Creators design for stability, not just growth Force 3: Attention is split into two extremes Force 4: Creator work is becoming a long-term practice Where this leaves creators in 2026 Force 1: The trust scarcity dynamicAI has dramatically lowered how much time and money it takes to create. High-quality content is right at your fingertips, and you can generate it with some cleverly worded text — no need to learn Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Final Cut Pro. At the same time, tools for generating synthetic and manipulated media are advancing just as quickly. When anyone can make (almost) anything, the bottleneck shifts from creation to credibility. Audiences can no longer rely on the polish, production value, or even realism to decide what’s real or worth believing. I get that — mere months ago, you could reliably spot AI-generated content (remember those dodgy fingers and glitchy videos?) Now, even the most media-savvy users can't tell AI from all-human. In a 2025 Gartner survey, 53% of consumers said they distrust AI-powered search results. Deepfake incidents increased 257% between 2023 and 2024, and studies show people struggle to reliably tell real and fake media apart. As that uncertainty grows, audiences don’t disengage entirely — they become more selective. When content is abundant, and credibility is harder to assess at a glance, people start filtering differently. Belief isn’t automatic anymore. It has to be earned. But that’s not bad news at all. When polished, high-quality content becomes abundant, the things that are hardest to automate start to matter more: taste, lived experience, and a consistent point of view built over time. In a feed where so much content looks technically “perfect,” being recognizably human becomes a differentiator. The way you frame ideas, what you choose to share, and what you leave out all become trust signals. As AI lowers the barrier to creation, creators who lean into their perspective, not just their output, have a real opportunity to stand out. Trust starts showing up as an explicit signalThis scarcity of trust is already changing how audiences evaluate content. Sarahi Castro, Content Marketer at Ericsson, spots a growing desire for clarity around authorship. As AI-assisted creation becomes the default, she’s seeing audiences actively look for signals that help them understand how something was made. “I think the rise of ‘zero-AI’ or ‘human-made’ signals will become more common,” she says. “Not because people reject AI outright, but because they want context. When everything looks polished, people need cues to decide what deserves their trust.” The demand for transparency is reflected in data. Adobe found that 93% of consumers think it’s important to understand how digital content is created or edited, and 89% of creative professionals believe AI-generated content should always be labeled. ⚡ This pushes creators to make their process more visible. How something was made becomes part of the content itself, not a footnote. Brands lean on people when logos carry less trustAs trust becomes harder to earn, brands feel a similar push towards maintaining their credibility. The move from trusting brands to trusting people isn’t new — influencer marketing has been pointing in that direction for years. What’s changed is why it matters. In feeds saturated with already-great content, messaging that feels too branded is easier to scroll past. Logos don’t carry the same automatic authority they once did. So many companies are shifting the source of their credibility to their teammates and leadership. As Tara Knight, COO at Creator Match, puts it plainly: “2026 we will see the rise of the employee influencer.” She’s seeing companies invest directly in employees building personal brands — not as a nice-to-have, but as a deliberate distribution strategy rooted in trust and human context. Instead of relying solely on brand channels, companies like Buffer (hi!), Beehiiv, and Fiverr are amplifying employee voices to show how work actually happens. 📖 How We’re Empowering the Entire Buffer Team to Become Creators When audiences are more skeptical by default, people with proximity to the work become a brand’s most credible storytellers. From a community lens, Louise Glover, Social Media Manager at Maze, sees this evolving into a broader shift toward employee-generated content. As she notes, “We’re seeing the move online shifting from ‘what customers say about us’ to ‘what our people show about us.’” That distinction matters. Employee content isn’t just promotional — it carries lived experience. It offers continuity, context, and proof over time, not just a single polished message. I’ve also noticed a shift in brand content towards: episodic shows that feature real people. Bilt has its Roomies show, and Alexis Bittar has its mockumentary series, The Bittarverse.fashion editorials where photographers and creative directors are just as much stars as the models, or fun animations with full credit towards the creator.This works for a simple reason: people trust people more than they trust brands. ⚡ Brands can lean on the credibility of employees and creators with context, continuity, and skin in the game. Partnerships get more flexible — and less “sales-y”As audiences get better at spotting what feels real (and what doesn’t), brand partnerships are being renegotiated in public. Akshita Jaiswal, Growth Marketing Manager at Halon, has noticed how quickly people now clock paid promotions that feel off. As she put it in her prediction, “Audiences are much more aware of sponsored content now. If something feels forced or out of character, they notice immediately — and they don’t hesitate to disengage.” The result is a subtle but important change in creator behavior. Promotions that might have flown a few years ago now come with a higher trust cost, and creators are more cautious about spending that trust for short-term gain. From the brand side, Amanda Napitu, Head of Partnerships at AffiliateFinder.ai, sees the same recalibration happening behind the scenes. “Creators are pushing back on rigid briefs and scripted messaging," she says, "They want partnerships that fit naturally into their voice, because anything else risks damaging the relationship they’ve built with their audience.” ⚡ The collaborations that work best now are the ones that feel like a natural extension of a creator’s perspective — and respect the audience on the other side. Creators become more selective about how and where they show upThat same instinct — to protect trust — is shaping more than just brand work. Showing up online now comes with more weight than it used to. Posting isn’t neutral, visibility isn’t free, and creators are thinking more carefully about what they share, how often they share it, and which platforms actually feel worth the trade-off. And, like Binjo Adeniran, a Product and Growth Marketing Consultant, points out, tools make it easier to manipulate likeness, voice, and context without consent have raised the stakes. The data backs this concern as deepfake incidents increased 257% from 2023 to 2024, according to Surfshark and Resemble AI. And detection is nearly impossible: an iProov study found only 0.1% of participants could correctly identify all fake and real media shown to them. ⚡ In response, creators are narrowing their surface area by choosing formats with more control and posting with more intention. Trust grows in smaller, more intentional spacesWhen trust gets harder to come by, people start caring a lot more about where they spend their attention. It’s not just about whether a post is interesting or useful. It’s about whether you know who it’s coming from, why it exists, and what usually shows up there. One-off posts in fast-moving feeds are harder to read in isolation. Trust builds more naturally in spaces where there’s continuity and shared context. Chad Woolard of B5K Digital sees this playing out in two directions at once. Public feeds keep optimizing for reach and discovery. At the same time, creators and audiences are gravitating toward smaller, owned spaces where interactions feel more grounded and intentional. These spaces work because people don’t have to start from zero every time. You know who’s speaking. You understand the tone. You have a sense of what the space is for. That makes it easier to believe what you’re seeing and decide whether to stick around. You can already see this shift in the numbers. Newsletter platforms like Beehiiv continue to grow rapidly, and community tools such as Discord now serve hundreds of millions of people well beyond gaming. Creators are increasingly using social feeds as the front door, while deeper relationships (and often revenue) live somewhere more controlled. This shift doesn’t mean real-time platforms lose relevance — it just changes what they’re best used for. Hailley Griffis, Head of Communications and Content at Buffer, expects Threads to become an increasingly important place for real-time conversation about culture, news, and “what’s happening right now.” As feeds mature and tools like Trending and customizable algorithms improve, Threads becomes a space for sense-making — reacting, interpreting, and talking things through in public. So, of course, social platforms still matter and discovery still happens on them. But as credibility becomes harder to earn at scale, trust tends to grow in places designed for connection, not constant performance. ⚡ Creators use fast-moving platforms to get noticed, then move relationships to slower spaces where trust can actually take root. Force 2: Creators design for stability, not just growthThe creator economy keeps getting bigger. Goldman Sachs projects it will approach $480 billion by 2027. Brands are spending more. Platforms are investing more. And more people than ever are getting paid to create. What’s changed is how that growth shows up for individual creators. In Kajabi’s 2025 State of Creator Commerce report, many creators reported declines in traditional streams year over year — for example, platform payouts were down around 33%, affiliate income declined about 36%, and brand deal revenue dropped roughly 52%. The obvious question is: if the creator economy is expanding, where’s the money going? Lucky for creators, that’s not the whole story. Creator-led revenue streams that aren’t tied solely to algorithms are growing. In that same report, podcast revenue was up about 47%, digital download sales grew around 20%, educational content roughly 14%, and membership-based revenue climbed about 10%. So the money isn’t disappearing from the ecosystem — it’s just being distributed across more creators, more formats, and more ways of working. A bigger creator economy doesn’t mean a single “winner takes all.” It means more paths to making it work. When growth becomes less predictable, creators start optimizing for something else: control. Not just “How do I grow faster?” but “How do I make this sustainable?” That mindset is the thread running through the rest of this section: creators building steadier income, leaning into owned spaces, and choosing models that can actually last. Creators build businesses to improve their stabilityWhen income is unpredictable, relying on a single platform or payout stream starts to feel risky. So many creators are responding by doing something surprisingly practical: they’re designing their work like a business they actually want to run. For Sabreen Haziq, Senior Brand and Community Manager at Buffer, this shift is already well underway. She sees the creator economy in 2026 looking “less like a collection of personalities and more like an ecosystem of micro-businesses.” In practice, that means creators building repeatable offers they control: memberships, digital products, retainers, courses, and communities. It means investing in reliable, tried-and-tested tools that look familiar to any small business owner — think email, analytics, and customer management. When reach dips or algorithms change (as they tend to do), creators with diversified income don’t have to start from scratch. They have options. They have buffers (pun intended). And they can make decisions based on what serves their work long-term, not just what performs this week. ⚡ Creators get more say in how they work, what they prioritize, and what “success” actually looks like for them. Growth creates more room for smaller creators to thriveOne upside of a bigger, more fragmented creator economy is that opportunity isn’t concentrated in the same way it used to be. As brands spread budgets across more platforms, formats, and communities, they’re also widening who they work with. Instead of chasing only massive reach, many teams are prioritizing relevance, trust, and alignment — which opens the door for micro and nano creators to play a bigger role. This is something I’ve felt firsthand. As a creator who started taking on LinkedIn brand partnerships last year, all my inbound came from brands looking for a clear point of view, a defined audience, and real context — not just big numbers. The ask is often less “How many people can you reach?” and more “Who actually listens to you?” Patreon’s State of Create report highlights that audiences increasingly value creators who feel specific, consistent, and invested in their communities — qualities that don’t require massive scale to deliver. For creators, this changes the calculus. You don’t need to be everywhere or appeal to everyone. You can build something meaningful (and monetizable) by serving a smaller group really well. ⚡ A growing creator economy means more lanes — especially for creators who lean into clarity over virality. Owned spaces become the foundation, not bonus contentAs platform income becomes less reliable, ownership starts to matter more than reach, and creators are getting realistic about what social platforms are best at. Feeds are great for discovery. They’re less great as the place your entire business lives. For Juan Colmenares, Head of Growth at Doist and founder of Coffeeist, this shows up in the rise of smaller, niche, owned communities. “Creators are realizing that reach without retention doesn’t build much of anything," he says, "Owning the relationship, even with a smaller audience, gives you leverage you just don’t get from feeds alone.” Instead of chasing the widest possible audience, more creators are choosing spaces they can shape — where trust compounds, conversations carry context, and relationships aren’t reset every time the algorithm refreshes. This explains why newsletters, paid communities, and direct-to-audience products keep growing. Patreon has paid out over $3.5 billion to creators to date, and Kajabi creators earned over $10 billion in 2025 alone. Ownership doesn’t eliminate risk entirely, but it definitely makes income more reliable. ⚡Social platforms still drive discovery, but they’re no longer where the entire business lives. Force 3: Attention is split into two extremesAs feeds get more crowded and more automated, attention becomes harder to earn and easier to lose. This doesn’t necessarily mean people have shorter attention spans, they’re just more selective about where they spend their highly sought-after attention. That pressure is pulling content in two directions at once. On one end: ultra-short posts that earn attention immediately and let people move on. On the other: long-form work that asks for more time invested, but gives something meaningful back. What’s getting squeezed is the middle, the content that’s thoughtful and well-made, but doesn’t clearly earn the time it asks for. Twice as many respondents to a recent Patreon report said they see more short-form than long-form work on social media. But when asked which format provides more value, long-form still comes out ahead. So this isn’t about short beating long, or long beating short. Both ends are working. What’s getting harder to sustain is everything in between. “The content barbell” takes shapeOne way this attention split shows up is what Chad Woolard calls a “content barbell.” As he puts it, creators are increasingly pulled toward two ends of the spectrum: “You either earn attention fast, or you earn it deeply. Everything in the middle is harder to justify.” On one end of the barbell, content keeps getting shorter and sharper — posts designed to hook quickly, deliver a moment of value, and let people move on. On the other end, creators are investing in work that earns its keep: long-running podcasts, deep-dive videos, essays, and series that reward sustained attention. What struggles is the middle ground. Content that’s thoughtful and well-produced, but doesn’t clearly answer the question audiences are subconsciously asking: Why should I stop for this? or Why should I stay? ⚡ The pressure here isn’t to do more — it’s to be more intentional about which kind of attention you’re trying to earn. Clarity of intent beats aesthetic perfectionIn crowded feeds, clarity matters more than perfection. From a day-to-day platform perspective, organic content strategist Kate Starr sees this play out across LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram. As she puts it, “The posts that perform best aren’t always the most polished,” she notes. “They’re the ones where it’s immediately clear why you should care.” That specificity can take a lot of forms: a concrete outcomea personal mistakea moment of frictionor a lesson learned the hard wayThat doesn’t mean the best content answers every question. Sometimes, leaving someone with questions is the hook. But even then, the audience needs a signal that the payoff will be worth the pause. Audiences are becoming more intentional with their attentionThis shift isn’t happening because people suddenly care less about content. It’s happening because they’re surrounded by more of it than ever. From a media perspective, Alexa Phillips, media strategist and educator, connects the attention split to fatigue — not boredom, but overload. She explains, “When everything is optimized to grab attention, audiences get much more deliberate about what they give their time to.” Instead of passively consuming whatever shows up next, people are making faster judgment calls: Is this going to give me something right away?Or is it worth settling in for?That’s why attention is gravitating toward two ends of the spectrum. Content either delivers an immediate payoff — humor, emotion, surprise — or offers depth that justifies slowing down. What’s harder to sustain is content that sits in the middle: good, thoughtful, but not clearly rewarding. When attention is stretched thin, people look for signals that their time will be respected. Force 4: Creator work is becoming a long-term practiceSocial media no longer feels like a side project or a quick experiment. For many creators, it’s a real career — one they expect to sustain over years, not just ride until the next burnout cycle. For a long time, platforms rewarded speed, volume, and constant visibility. Advice like “post every day,” “stay top of mind,” and “don’t slow down” worked when growth was the primary goal and expectations were lower. But as the creator economy matures, those norms are starting to clash with reality. Long-term work needs a different rhythm. Creators are adapting by designing ways of working that can actually last. Constant output has real costsWhen the default expectation is daily posting, “consistency” can quietly turn into pressure. It’s not just about workload. It’s the mental weight of feeling like you can’t step away without losing momentum, relevance, or income. Visibility stops feeling like a choice and starts feeling like a requirement. Over time, that kind of pace adds up — especially as platforms multiply and audiences fragment. High-profile moments like Kai Cenat’s “I Quit” video at the start of 2026 brought this tension into the open. His message wasn’t about abandoning creativity, but about acknowledging the cost of always being on — and encouraging other creators to take their well-being seriously, too. Patreon’s State of Create report echoes this at scale: 78% of creators say “the algorithm” directly impacts what they make. When external systems exert that much influence, sustainability becomes a design problem, not a personal failing. Creators design systems that support longevityIn response, creators aren’t just slowing down — they’re restructuring. Instead of optimizing purely for output, many are building workflows that support depth, rest, and repeatability. That might look like working in seasons, publishing fewer but more intentional pieces, or creating formats that can be revisited and built on over time. This is where pacing connects directly to ownership. Creators with newsletters, communities, memberships, or other owned spaces have more freedom to set expectations with their audience. They don’t need to earn attention from scratch every day. Relationships compound, context carries over, and a missed post doesn’t reset progress. The goal isn’t to do less work. It’s to do work that doesn’t require constant urgency to stay viable. Friction shows up here as intention: choosing what not to publish, allowing ideas to develop, and accepting that not everything needs to happen immediately to matter. Audiences value content that respects their timeAudiences are making similar adjustments. After years of increasing screen time and endless feeds, many people are actively trying to be more selective about how they spend their attention. ExpressVPN’s global survey found that 46% of Gen Z are taking steps to limit their time online — not because they’re disengaged, but because attention feels more valuable than it used to. This creates an interesting dynamic: creators are under pressure to publish more, while audiences are looking for content that feels calmer, clearer, and easier to engage with. In that environment, work that respects people’s time stands out. Fewer posts, clearer purpose, and formats that don’t demand constant checking can feel like a relief — not a risk. Slower, offline experiences regain appealOne of the more trend-forward signals supporting this shift is the renewed interest in offline and “slow” experiences. Print books, board games, in-person events, and analog hobbies aren’t replacing digital media but are acting as a counterbalance to always-on culture. For creators, this matters because it changes what signals value. Work that takes time to make — and time to consume — can feel more meaningful when everything else is optimized for speed. In that context, friction isn’t a flaw. It’s part of what makes the work feel human. Where this leaves creators in 2026⚡ Longevity is becoming a legitimate strategy. More creators are treating their work like something meant to last. Instead of chasing spikes, they’re building systems. Instead of optimizing for constant output, they’re choosing formats and workflows they can sustain. The goal isn’t to slow down ambition — it’s to make creative work viable over the long term. Across the forces in this piece, the same pattern shows up: Trust is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a business requirement. Platform dependence is increasingly understood as a structural risk. Content strategy has split into clearer lanes, each with real trade-offs. And the pace that once defined success is being recalibrated. What feels truly different about 2026 is the response of the different people involved in the creator economy to these forces. There’s more intention in how people show up. More thought put into what’s worth building — and where. Less defaulting to whatever the algorithm rewards in the moment. The creator economy is becoming more deliberate. Final verdict: Optimism! View the full article

Bags of ice-thwarting salt aren’t usually a hot item at Bates Ace Hardware in Atlanta, but store manager Lewis Pane sold all 275 he had in stock in one morning as residents braced for a major storm to deliver heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain on a broad section of the U.S. in coming days. Payne said he had 30 online orders for “ice melt” before 8 a.m. People sprinkle the salts on the ground before a storm to disrupt the formation of ice. “It’s impossible to get right now,” Payne said. “We have had to make special trips to our warehouse to pick up extra items because people need them.” The storm was expected to hit starting Friday, stretching from New Mexico to New England and across the Deep South. The damage could rival that of a major hurricane. Meteorologists say ice may linger on roads and sidewalks because temperatures will be slow to warm in many areas. Ice could also weigh down trees and power lines, triggering widespread outages. The city of Carmel, Indiana, canceled its Winter Games out of fear residents could get frostbite and hypothermia competing in ice trike relay and “human curling” in which people slide down a skating rink on inner tubes. College sports teams moved up or postponed games, and the Texas Rangers canceled their annual Fan Fest event. The coldest windchills may fall below -50 F (-46 C) across the Northern Plains with subzero wind chills reaching as far southeast as the Mid-Atlantic states and Southern Plains, the National Weather Service said. At the Atlanta hardware store, Wendy Chambers stopped by to pick up batteries and flashlights in case there is a power outage. “We’re gonna be prepared, aren’t we? We’re going to be able to read, do things, play games,” she said before heading to church choir with her granddaughter. Oklahoma truck driver Charles Daniel planned to load up as much freight as possible before the storm arrives in his area on Friday. “You’ve got to be very weather aware, and real smart about what you’re doing,” said Daniel, who delivers goods across western Oklahoma in an 18-wheel tractor-trailer. “You can’t back down into decline docks, you can’t go into neighborhoods or parking lots,” Daniel said. “I’m 40,000 pounds unloaded. One mistake can literally kill somebody, so you have to use your head.” He said truck drivers need to have a change of clothes, plenty of water and a couple of jackets on hand in case they get stuck because it would be a while before a tow truck could help them. In Arkansas, the Department of Transportation started treating some roads with brine on Tuesday. The salt helps prevent ice from forming. Over 10 inches of snow were expected in parts of the state. Rain was complicating efforts to pretreat roads with salt in Alabama on Wednesday because precipitation washes away the brine. The Alabama Department of Transportation encouraged people to stay off the roads if ice forms. “Any amount of ice is pretty dangerous, and certainly a quarter-inch could be very hazardous,” said Seth Burkett, a department spokesperson. Snow and icy conditions were forecast for Maryland beginning Saturday afternoon or evening, with peak effects Saturday night and into Sunday morning. The governor declared a state of preparedness to help authorities respond quickly. Governors in North Carolina and South Carolina declared states of emergency, making it easier for state and local agencies to coordinate and get help from groups like the National Guard. Associated Press writers Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland; Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky; Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report. —Emilie Megnien and Sean Murphy, Associated Press View the full article

This week's Ask a PPC reframes the AI conversation around responsibility, showing why strategy, data integrity, and human judgment now define PPC success. The post Ask A PPC: What Is The PPC Manager’s Role In The AI Era? appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

When Google launched Demand Gen campaigns in 2023, they were positioned as a way to build deeper engagement across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. At the time, they felt experimental, sitting between awareness and performance. Since then, Demand Gen has improved significantly. The creative flexibility and audience control now make it a campaign type I use regularly for ecommerce clients. It has helped us scale revenue in a controlled way, maintaining brand consistency and enabling creative testing while still driving conversions. In practice, Demand Gen converts best when it is set up strategically alongside Performance Max and Search. Choosing control over automation Demand Gen campaigns are best suited to advertisers who need more control. One of the main challenges and criticisms of Performance Max is its lack of transparency and manual input. When control over targeting, placements, or creative is a necessity, Demand Gen is the better option. In Performance Max, ads are automatically built from the assets you upload, with Google’s AI testing and combining them to find what performs best. This makes supplying strong creative assets nonnegotiable. For instance, a fitness brand could set up multiple asset groups divided by product category – one for leggings, another for shorts, and another for vests. This structure helps direct content toward relevant audiences, although true control remains limited. By contrast, Demand Gen provides far greater flexibility. You can upload, preview, and edit ad combinations before launch, tailoring each creative for its placement. For example, separate YouTube ads can be uploaded for in-feed, in-stream, and Shorts. This level of control is ideal for ecommerce brands that value creative precision, message testing, and maintaining a strong visual identity. Dig deeper: The Google Ads Demand Gen playbook How Demand Gen and Performance Max work together Running Demand Gen alongside PMax can be extremely effective when you understand how each fits within the customer journey. They complement each other rather than compete. Demand Gen builds awareness and interest by engaging audiences higher in the funnel, often before they start actively searching for products. Whereas, PMax focuses on converting lower-funnel users who are ready to buy. For example, a fitness retailer might use Demand Gen to reach potential customers with lifestyle videos and discovery ads that showcase their latest activewear ranges. Once that user begins researching or showing purchase intent, PMax steps in with tailored Shopping and Search placements to drive the sale. You can also set up feed-only PMax campaigns, where you supply only a product feed within the asset group. This restricts PMax activity to Shopping placements, keeping it focused on direct conversion opportunities. Meanwhile, Demand Gen runs across YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Shorts, covering the upper and mid-funnel with more visual, awareness-based creative. This setup helps minimise overlap between campaign types while ensuring you reach users throughout the funnel, from brand discovery to final purchase. For larger accounts with budget flexibility, this dual structure drives full-funnel performance and clearer attribution. For smaller accounts, where efficiency is key, it’s usually best to master high-intent campaigns first and layer in Demand Gen once core conversions are stable. This mix of campaign types means advertisers now have more flexibility than ever, but it also requires understanding how Google is reshaping its video and discovery products. Dig deeper: Why Demand Gen is the most underrated campaign type in Google Ads How Google reshaped visual campaigns Since July 2025, Video Action Campaigns (VACs) have been replaced by Demand Gen. The update brings Google’s visual placements together in one campaign type, including YouTube in-stream, Shorts, in-feed, Gmail, and Discover. It’s a big shift. VAC performed well for ecommerce, particularly for conversion-focused video, so removing it clearly nudges advertisers toward Demand Gen. The upside is that Demand Gen offers stronger creative control and more testing options across YouTube placements. If you were running VAC, those campaigns now sit under Demand Gen. Check that your top-performing assets and audiences migrated correctly, then use the new controls to refine performance. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. Where advertisers gain control with Demand Gen Audience targeting Audience control is one of the biggest advantages of Demand Gen and a key reason I use it for ecommerce. With Demand Gen, you can build and manage audiences directly, choosing exactly who sees your ads. You can select placements, combine audience types, and decide where your budget goes. It’s also the only Google Ads campaign type that supports lookalike audiences, helping you reach new customers similar to your best converters. For brands focused on acquisition quality, that is a major win. Performance Max uses audience signals rather than fixed targeting, which is fine for scale but limits precision. If you value control, testing, and segmentation, Demand Gen is the clear winner for audience strategy. Channel control In June 2025, Google launched an open beta allowing advertisers to manually opt out of specific Demand Gen channels. This means you can choose where your ads appear, for example, excluding Discover or YouTube Shorts if they do not align with your goals or creative format. It is a small but meaningful update that gives advertisers more control, something that has been missing from many of Google’s automated campaign types. Dig deeper: Google Ads rolls out channel control for Demand Gen campaigns Product feeds In early 2025, Google introduced product feed integration for Demand Gen campaigns, allowing advertisers to link their Google Merchant Center feed and pull live product data directly into visual ads. For ecommerce, this bridges the gap between performance and branding. You can tell your story through lifestyle-focused creative while still showcasing real products. For example, a fashion retailer might promote a new collection in a video ad while displaying shoppable product cards underneath. This update makes Demand Gen feel like a true hybrid between Shopping and Display, something ecommerce advertisers have been waiting for. Budgeting for Demand Gen Demand Gen typically requires more investment than other campaign types. Google recommends starting at around £100 per day per campaign, or 20 times your target CPA/tROAS, whichever is higher. In practice, the £100-per-day baseline is a sensible starting point for meaningful learning. Anything lower often limits data flow and slows optimization. Demand Gen should be treated as part of your broader Google Ads mix, not a replacement for Search or PMax. It is a more premium, visually led campaign type best for driving awareness that converts, especially when you already have reliable measurement, a clean product feed, and defined audiences. Comparing Demand Gen and Performance Max The table below compares Demand Gen and Performance Max across the areas advertisers care about most. CategoryWinnerDetailsAudiencesDemand GenManual audience building and placement control.PlacementsDrawPMax includes Search and Shopping (conversion-driven), while Demand Gen covers visual placements.ReportingDemand GenGreater transparency and creative-level insight.Creative ControlDemand GenFull previewing and editing of ads before launch.ControlDemand GenIdeal for advertisers who want to test and optimise manually.GoalsDrawEach has a distinct role in the funnel; both are valuable when aligned. Dig deeper: Google pushes Demand Gen deeper into performance marketing Using Demand Gen to create demand and PMax to capture it PMax does the heavy lifting for scale, but it can feel like a black box. Demand Gen gives advertisers the control we have been asking for, genuine creative testing, audience precision, and placement visibility. If you want to grow ecommerce sales in a more measured, brand-led way, start running both. PMax captures demand. Demand Gen creates it. Used together, they form a complete framework for scalable, sustainable growth. View the full article

A new neighborhood under construction near Sacramento, California, in the rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, looks like a typical subdivision. But it’s one of the first developments designed at a neighborhood scale to withstand wildfires. Each house goes farther than California’s latest building requirements for high-fire-risk zones, from enclosed, ember-resistant eaves to dual-paned, tempered glass windows that can better withstand extreme heat in a fire. The design considers not just each house, but how homes interact, spacing buildings at least 10 feet apart and removing combustible features to prevent fire from spreading between them. Called Stone Canyon, it’s one of the state’s first “Wildfire Prepared Neighborhoods,” a standard developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), a research nonprofit funded by the insurance industry. Designing homes that withstand wildfires At a unique facility in North Carolina, the nonprofit recreates wildfires—from embers to wind speed—and then uses controlled tests to see how houses perform. We build full-size structures and we can control the wind speed and direction,” says Roy Wright, president and CEO at IBHS. “We can control the ember flow and the cast that is coming in that direction. We put out and publish really interesting, wonky things about wildfire. But [with the new standards] we said, let’s just take the most important pieces of the science and make them really plain and usable for developers and homeowners.” KB Home, the national developer behind the project, decided to tackle a new level of fire safety after learning about IBHS’s research. At a building conference in 2024, the team watched one of the nonprofit’s demonstrations, which featured a house built to the standard building code next to one built to IBHS’s standards. “They simulated a wildfire event where embers were blowing against the two structures,” says Steve Ruffner, president and regional general manager for KB Homes in Southern California. “The home that was built to the old standards burned fairly quickly, within about half an hour. And the other home didn’t burn at all.” At the time, KB Home had another development underway in a fire risk zone in Escondido, near San Diego. “On the fly, we changed the design guidelines of our homes to accommodate the IBHS standards,” says Ruffner. (The homes, which start at around $1,000,000 and around 2,000 square feet, are aimed at “step-up” buyers looking for an upgrade; in the development near Sacramento, they start in the high $700,000s.) IBHS had already put out a new building standard for “wildfire prepared” homes in 2022. In 2024, after meeting with KB Homes, it sped up the development of a related standard at the scale of a neighborhood. To get the designation, homes need to include features like noncombustible gutters, a Class A fire-rated concrete tile roof, ember-resistant vents, six inches of vertical clearance at the base of exterior walls, noncombustible fence and gate materials, and a five to 30-foot “defensible zone” around the home where any vegetation is carefully spaced to avoid the spread of fire. Plants have to be drought-resistant California natives. The standard overlaps with California’s newest building code, but requires better, more resilient building materials for certain components. California’s code also doesn’t require at least 10 feet of space between buildings or the elimination of “connective fuel pathways” between buildings. “Structure separation is the biggest indicator of wildfire progress that will take place—that density,” says Wright. “That’s why when you’re building new developments, you can incorporate this in. Because you want to make sure that within the adjacent home, if it is fully engulfed, that you’re giving the next structure a chance to survive.” Fires often spread through embers that can be blown long distances on windy days. In both the development near Sacramento and the one in Escondido, the homes are near open wild land that could easily burn; embers wouldn’t have to travel far. “We want to make sure that those homes can withstand those embers showers,” Wright says. “If embers are going to land on the property, it may ignite some bush or something that is away from the home on the parcel. But what’s closest to the structure is going to be able to withstand those embers showers. And if one of the structures has a really bad day and ignites, we slow the spread so that we’re not going to lose the whole neighborhood. We’re going to actually give the firefighters a chance to get in there and actually beat it down.” It also protects older homes nearby. “There are adjacent subdivisions or neighborhoods that were built 40 years ago,” he says. “And the kind of actions that these neighborhoods have put in place are actually going to have a protective effect for their neighbors, because when they can withstand the impact of wildfire, that means the fire doesn’t spread.” From lab tests to proof of concept In the first project in Escondido, KB Home worked with the city to change some design guidelines (instead of Craftsman-style homes made from wood, they pivoted to ranch homes with cement-based siding or stucco). The city also required timber fencing that was treated for fire, but when IBHS explained that the coating quickly wears off in the sun—making this type of fence flammable—they were able to switch to a metal fence that looks like wood. The switch actually helped save costs, Ruffner says. In total, all of the changes didn’t add significantly change the development’s bottom line, and there were some unexpected benefits. “We found out that tempered windows are much tougher, so we didn’t break as many windows during [construction], and we ended up saving a lot of money that way,” says Ruffner. The first neighborhood in Escondido includes 64 homes, and an HOA agreement that requires homeowners to maintain gardens over time so fire can’t spread between plants or trees. The first homeowners have been carefully adhering to the plan. “They want to make sure they don’t break the rules because honestly, insurability in California is a big, big deal,” says Ruffner. “If you’re not insurable, you have to go into the public programs that are very, very expensive. And so at least they have a good chance here to negotiate with insurance companies.” The newest neighborhood near Sacramento will follow the same path. So far, only model homes are in place; KB Home builds each house to order as each home is sold. Each house will be evaluated by IBHS before the neighborhood gets the “Wildfire Prepared” designation, though it’s getting a provisional designation now. Now that KB Home has shown that meeting the standard is financially viable, other developers also have projects underway. Around a dozen other projects are being designed to the standard now, Wright says, some with several hundred homes in a single development. Of course, the work can’t completely eliminate risk. It’s not possible to make a house completely fireproof, Wright says. But in a worst-case scenario, even if 20% of losses in a neighborhood could be avoided in a fire, that’s “absolutely phenomenal,” he says. “Every time one more structure doesn’t burn, that means that structure is not sending off its flame. It’s not sending off its embers,” he adds. “Every time we save a structure and it survives, we really narrow the path of how that fire will propagate into a neighborhood.” View the full article

Most sales pitches fail for one simple reason: they try to say too much. It’s natural to be passionate about your product or service. Of course you want to showcase the features and benefits. But if you want your audience leaning in and listening, less is always more. We live in what I call an AHA world. AI-focused, hyper-connected, and always-on. Distractions abound. If you can’t capture your prospect and customers’ imagination immediately, you’ll lose them to their emails, Slack messages, and TikTok feeds. The good news is there’s a 90-second fix that will help you craft a pitch or presentation that keeps your audience on the edge of their seats. The structure is so simple, it’s almost too good to be true. It’s the same framework the world’s best journalists use to keep their readers coming back for more and the same approach I teach leaders, sales teams, and founders who want their message to cut through. Let’s dive in. Find Your Headline Most people start creating a pitch or presentation by opening a slide deck and dumping content into it. Or worse, opening an existing slide deck and trying to rearrange it. Don’t. Before you write a single word or think about your visuals, you need to strip your pitch down to a single sentence. Imagine it appearing on the front of a newspaper or at the top of a social feed. What words would you choose? Keep them short, punchy, and memorable. Ten words or fewer is a good rule of thumb. This single line of text becomes the anchor for your entire pitch. It forces you to stay disciplined. If something doesn’t support your headline it doesn’t make the cut. When you look at the newspaper industry, the best headlines have an emotional element too. They don’t just present information, they engage the target audience. A weak pitch headline is forgettable: “SaaS Product Seed Round” is accurate but bland. “$10 million Opportunity To Revolutionize Fintech” is much more compelling. A strong headline creates energy. It signals to your audience why they should care. But its most important function is as a yardstick for your content. Test every slide, story, and statistic against it. If it’s aligned with the headline, it stays. If it doesn’t, it goes. Distill It Into Three Key Messages When you look at the text of a newspaper article on the page, you’ll see the headline and a number of subheadings. If all you do is skim those, you’ll have the gist of what is being said. You don’t need to read the whole thing. That structure is a great shorthand for pitches and presentations. Your audience can’t absorb unlimited information. Most people walk into meetings already holding a handful of important thoughts in their heads: deadlines, dinner plans, unfinished tasks. If you give people 17 reasons why your product or service is a good fit, there’s no hope they’ll remember all of them. I’d like to suggest that three is the magic number. Not seven. Not five. Three. Three ideas feel complete and satisfying. Three creates a sense of structure. Three gives your audience a map they can follow without working too hard. When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone back in 2007 his headline was “Apple reinvents the phone.” His three key messages were as follows: “An iPod. A phone. An internet communicator.” Eight words, three ideas, total clarity. His whole presentation was built around those unifying messages. He covered a lot of ground in his 1 hour, 42 minute presentation but those were the things he kept coming back to. Your three key messages are the organizing ideas that sit beneath your headline. They are what your audience will remember long after the details fade. Ask yourself: If they only kept three things from this pitch, what must they be? This is where you need to be ruthless. Speakers often flood their audience with data points, product features, or historical context. But doing so only creates overwhelm. It is not your audience’s job to decide what matters. It’s yours. Decide How You Want Them To Feel With a headline and three key messages, you now have a pitch structure that is simple, repeatable, and memorable. The final step is to think about how you want people to feel. This is the part most people skip entirely. But it’s the one that separates forgettable communicators from compelling ones. Decisions are rarely made on logic alone. Even the most analytical audiences are influenced by the emotional resonance of the message. Before I became a communication coach, I trained and worked as a professional actor. One of the first things actors learn is the power of emotional intention. Before stepping on stage, or in front of the camera, you decide the feeling you’re trying to generate in the audience or the other character. That choice influences your breath, your voice, your posture, and your energy. It changes how your words land. The same principle applies in a sales conversation. Ask yourself: What emotion do I want to leave them feeling? Should they feel excited? Reassured? Educated? There are thousands of options. Choose one. That emotion becomes the current that runs through your delivery. A pitch with emotional intention not only sounds and feels different but is far more memorable too. Here’s the whole technique condensed: • 20 seconds – write your headline • 60 seconds – choose your three key messages • 10 seconds – set your emotional intention That’s it. In 90 seconds, you’ve clarified your message, sharpened your structure, and supercharged your delivery. It’s focused, clear, and engaging. And if you’d like to see this technique in action, just look at the structure of this article. It’s built exactly the way I encourage people to build their pitches: one headline, three key messages and a single emotional intention guiding the tone. In an AHA world, simplicity isn’t a compromise. It’s a superpower. View the full article

Google Ads has posted new call and messaging ads terms that advertisers need to agree to in order to use those ad products. Anthony Higman posted about it on X and said, "There are some important new updates here."View the full article

Shopify's Harvey Finkelstein said agentic shopping surfaces products because they fit the user, not because brands can buy visibility. The post Shopify Shares More Details On Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Apple will reportedly release two new Siri versions, one this year with iOS 26.4 and one next year with iOS 27. Plus, Apple may release an AI pin wearable device in 2027.View the full article

As you know, OpenAI will soon show ads on ChatGPT, but now we are hearing that those ads will be charged on a pay-per-view, impression-based model, not a click-based, cost-per-click model.View the full article

The metallic fringe hanging down from the edge of Anishnawbe Health Toronto’s community health center near downtown Toronto is the biggest indication that something different is happening here. Created to provide centralized health care and traditional healing to the 90,000-strong Indigenous population of Toronto, the clinic is the centerpiece of a unique city block of development that was intentionally led by the Indigenous community and designed to reflect its culture. The wraparound fringe of more than 12,000 strands of stainless steel chain—the kind of aesthetic flourish easily targeted for elimination by the value engineers of a typical development—is just one of many elements of the project that put its Indigenous roots on full display on this block. From its services and its building forms to the orientation of its landscaping, the development embodies Indigenous traditions, practices, and principles in a way that’s wholly uncommon in most urban environments. Named the Indigenous Hub, this city block of development includes the aforementioned health center, along with an Indigenous job training center, two mid-rise residential towers, and public and private plazas. Indigenous iconography and material references can be seen across the site, from building facades that reference sacred blanket designs and healing rituals to wall treatments that evoke the bark of trees that once stood as forests on this site. It’s a project that goes to unusual lengths to put these elements on display. And it also required everyone involved in the project, from the developer to the architects and the landscape designers, to rethink their approach to urban development. ‘A place of indigeneity’ Located in a part of the city that was once the floodplain of the Don River, and before that the ancestral lands and hunting grounds for Indigenous people for thousands of years, the site holds deep resonance for the community. The designers of the project, including an Indigenous architecture firm headquartered in a nearby First Nation, put great effort into drawing those connections in the look and feel of the project. “The intent was all about how do we ensure that when people are in this block, they understand that it is a place of indigeneity, and also understand where they are within the city,” says Matthew Hickey, a partner at Two Row Architect, an Indigenous architecture firm that advised on the design of every part of the project. Working closely with Stantec Architecture, Two Row helped create the plan for the block, and then worked alongside Stantec and the architecture firm BDP Quadrangle to guide the design of the buildings and outdoor spaces within the block, including building facades inspired by traditional dress, traditional healing spaces that connect directly to the earth, and a central Indigenous Peoples Garden plaza where medicinal plants are grown. This ambitious, Indigenous-led development has been decades in the making. The charity health care organization Anishnawbe Health Toronto (AHT) had been searching for a place to consolidate and improve services it had been providing to Toronto’s Indigenous population since the 1980s. Then in the late 2000s, when officials in Toronto put in a bid to host the 2015 Pan Am Games, this former floodplain was targeted as a potential site for redevelopment. As part of the plan, and in line with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, a two-and-a-half acre section of the redevelopment area was set aside for Indigenous uses. AHT was chosen to use this land as a centralized location for its services, with funding from the Ministry of Health. After some complex negotiations at the provincial level, the project was expanded to build an entire city block of development. The project soon took on the name Indigenous Hub. Joe Hester, the longtime executive director at AHT who died in early 2025, stressed to the design teams that the land wasn’t being granted to the Indigenous community but returned to them. Rather than designing a development that would simply blend into the urban surroundings, the project represented an opportunity to make a mark. “It’s the first time a health center has been built across Canada specifically to house and to care for Indigenous people, which is shocking on one hand, but also amazing on the other,” says Hickey. At the prodding of Hester and AHT, the project’s designers were called on to design a piece of the city that called attention to its Indigenous character, and prodded people to think about Indigenous people and practices. “We were all very conscious that we were working in a different place with different terms of reference and we needed to be sensitive to those things at all times,” says Les Klein, BDP Quadrangle cofounder. The designers considered the project as a landscape first, the oriented the buildings around what became the Indigenous Peoples Garden. “It forms a central amenity and organizing element for the whole block,” says Michael Moxam, project design principal and design culture practice leader for Stantec. The buildings make visual connections to this central space from the street and from within the health center. “In our work in healthcare, we’re always so focused on the health impact of a connection to landscape and the health impact of a connection to natural light and views. That gets right back to the idea of thinking about the whole block as a landscape first,” says Moxam. “There’s indigenous cultural value to that, but there’s also just a health and wellness value to that.” People over parking Some compromises had to be made. The placement of the health center within the block meant that its entrance was in an undesirable location, according to Indigenous principles. “The building entry is on the west side, which we never enter buildings on. It’s the side of death, basically, with the east side being the side of birth,” Hickey says. As a workaround the design team added a three-story atrium to the east side of the health center, facing the central garden. “Orienting the atrium to the rising sun was one of the teachings that’s embedded in there,” Hickey says. The designers even tweaked the building facades surrounding the central garden to reflect more light into that east-facing atrium. “We would not have done that if we hadn’t been talking about it and understanding how important those elements are,” Klein says. This level of intention helped make the health center building so striking. In addition to its metal fringe, the facade is clad in perforated aluminum that’s patterned after a star blanket, which symbolizes connections with ancestors and the cosmos. Inside, conventional clinical spaces are situated alongside traditional healing spaces on each of the clinic’s four floors, with curving rusted steel appearing at the street level to indicate where these spaces are located. In line with an Indigenous principle that healing spaces be in direct contact with the earth, the block’s plan was altered to move all underground parking and basement space outside the footprint of the health center to sit beneath the two housing towers on the block’s edge. “We went to [Hester] and said, you know, it’s going to lose a few parking spaces. And he said, ‘this is what we’re going to do,'” Klein says. “Things that I would normally at least be nervous about going to a developer to talk about just became part of the natural conversation.” Building materials make other references across the development, including multi-colored bricks that mimic the form of a woven basket, and precast concrete panels patterned after the bark of native birch trees. The fringe around the health center is perhaps the most meaningful design choice, and most representative of what makes this development so unique. It’s inspired by the shawls used by fancy dancers at Indigenous powwows, and also by the sound made by the jingle dresses traditionally used during healing rituals. “For a jingle dress dancer, it’s about healing. They dance for people to heal, and that sound is a part of it,” says Hickey. “For us, dancing is not just for dancing or showing off. Like architecture is not about showing off. It’s about what it’s doing.” View the full article

A few weeks ago, we covered how damaging the Google Search results were for recipe publishers and bloggers. It was nicknamed Frankenstein recipes because it would take pieces of these recipes from bloggers, mash them together and ruin them, all while also mentioning the brand name - hurting the brand. View the full article

Google added a new crawler, robot, to its list of user-triggered fetchers in the Google crawlers documentation. This specific bot is named Google Messages and it is a fetcher "used to generate link previews for URLs sent in chat messages," Google wrote.View the full article

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. This bonus newsletter from Davos explores the strategic relationship between CEOs and chief technology officers. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. In my previous life as a technology journalist, I wrote and edited countless stories about corporate chief technology officers (CTOs) emerging as key partners to their counterparts in the C-suite. When marketing functions became more data-driven, chief marketing officers clamored for attention from product and engineering. Today, chief financial officers (CFOs) push tech leaders to drive companies’ productivity gains from software and automation even as they scrutinize tech buying decisions. Now, as artificial intelligence (AI) and agents become pervasive at companies, CTOs have another executive to collaborate with: their bosses. In an interview with Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Cloudflare cofounder and CEO Matthew Prince and CTO Dane Knecht made the case for technology chiefs as strategic partners to CEOs. The C-suite syncs up Prince says Knecht has been instrumental in pushing him to adopt AI beyond fun use cases, such as creating amusing images for company slide presentations or invitations for his kid’s birthday party. “The best CTOs in the world are going to be the ones that are saying to even the 51-year-old or 61-year-old or 71-year-old CEOs, ‘You can do this too,’” says Prince, whose company provides customers with tools to protect and improve the performance of their websites. “And if you can do that, it’s going to actually help you build better companies.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Nacho De Marco, CEO of global software development company BairesDev. (BairesDev partnered with Fast Company on the event featuring Prince and Knecht.) He says his clients, who turn to the company to help scale their engineering teams, see AI as essential to their future. “When the CEO and CTO are aligned, that transition usually goes really well,” he says. Knecht, who started out as Cloudflare’s first product manager, eventually took a role building and leading the company’s emerging technologies and innovation (ETI) unit. Prince carved out 10% of the product and engineering budget for innovations that aren’t on any customer’s road map—and might even challenge Cloudflare’s existing business model. Prince credits the division with propelling the company’s growth, saying: “If Dane and the ETI team hadn’t existed, Cloudflare would be yet another CDN [content delivery network].” Knecht, in turn, says Prince always nudges him to be more ambitious. “You really don’t ever bring Matthew an idea where he says, ‘That’s a good idea,’” Knecht says. “He’ll say, ‘Eh, think bigger.’ It’s always, ‘Think bigger.’” Two roles, one strategy Prince says he was somewhat reluctant to promote Knecht to CTO because Knecht was doing such a good job running the innovation skunkworks. However, Prince was impressed with how well he interacted with customers. Knecht has, for now, retained the ETI team as part of his responsibilities. Indeed, the ability to build relationships with customers is essential for CTOs intent on proving their strategic value to their CEOs. Tal Cohen, president of Nasdaq, says CTOs need to be able to understand how clients use the products their tech teams are building. He also encourages CTOs to become tech translators for their CEOs, helping their bosses understand major technology shifts, whether it’s the latest announcement from Nvidia or a breakthrough in their own industry. “You need to demonstrate that you’re three-dimensional,” adds Cohen, who leads Nasdaq’s Market Services and Financial Technology divisions. Working with your tech leads CEOs, how do you engage your CTO on strategy? And CTOs, how do you make sure that you are included in strategic conversations with your CEO? Send your examples and anecdotes to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. We’ll share helpful examples in a future edition of the newsletter. Read more: the evolving C-suite What’s behind the surge in CFOs becoming CEOs Why so few human resources leaders become CEOs I’m a CMO who’s friends with my CFO View the full article

Reform leader cites ‘debanking’ episode in comments at DavosView the full article

People know when a brand genuinely cares about well-being—for employees, customers, and humanity at large. In many cases, it’s an intangible truth they can simply feel—in how they’re treated, how decisions get made, and whether a company’s stated values actually show up in practice. Plenty of brands talk about purpose and people. Fewer live it. And the difference is increasingly obvious. That gap is why “brand well-being” is emerging as a meaningful framework for companies that want to build durable growth—not just short-term performance. At its core, brand well-being recognizes that a brand isn’t a logo or a campaign. It’s a living ecosystem made up of people, culture, purpose, and consumer relationships. When one part breaks down, the entire system weakens. When all three are healthy, the brand becomes more resilient, trusted, and relevant over time. Importantly, this isn’t abstract. It’s a leadership choice—and one companies can control. What Is Brand Well-Being? Brand well-being is a holistic concept that encourages companies to prioritize wellness across three critical dimensions. Employee well-being asks a basic question: is work designed in a way that supports people’s physical, mental, and emotional health, or does it quietly drain them? Culture well-being examines whether a company operates with meaning and humanity—and whether employees feel genuinely connected to each other and the work itself. Consumer well-being focuses on how brands show up in people’s lives: are they improving them in tangible ways, or simply competing for attention? If well-being is the equivalent of organizational health, the logic is straightforward. Healthier employees perform better. Purpose-driven cultures retain talent. Trust-based consumer relationships last longer. No business would argue against those outcomes. What company wouldn’t want its workforce to be healthier, its culture more purposeful, and its consumer relationships more authentic? Yet many still treat well-being as a side initiative rather than a core strategy. The Business Case: Wellness Drives Work For years, wellness initiatives were framed as “perks”—a nice box to check and a headline to score PR points. Too often, a company’s wellness strategy is a daily app reminder that feels more like an annoying interruption or chore. The data tells a different story when well-being is approached consistently and strategically. A Cigna-commissioned study found that employer well-being programs delivered an average ROI of 47%, returning $1.47 for every dollar invested. According to Wellhub, 99% of HR leaders say wellness programs improve employee productivity. Meta-analyses show reductions in absenteeism and healthcare costs with ROI approaching 148%, saving hundreds of dollars per employee annually. Companies investing in well-being also see meaningful drops in turnover—sometimes by as much as 25%. Well-being is no longer a bonus. It’s a business strategy—one that drives loyalty, retention, and performance at scale. One of the strongest validations comes from Indeed’s Work Wellbeing 100, a data-driven ranking developed with Oxford University that evaluates publicly traded companies based on extensive employee survey data. Many of the companies that score highest on employee well-being also outperform the market and regularly appear on the Fortune 500. The correlation is hard to ignore: organizations that invest in well-being tend to outperform those that don’t. Well-being isn’t a cost—it’s a competitive advantage. Bringing Brand Well-Being to Life The challenge, of course, is moving from intent to impact. Brand well-being doesn’t come from a single program or campaign. It requires expertise, lived experiences, and real feedback loops—inside and outside the organization. Done correctly, it can play a transformative role not only in deepening consumer relationships, but also in boosting cultural energy within the company itself—and yes, ultimately, productivity. Forward-thinking companies are starting to treat well-being as an integrated ecosystem. They bring credible experts into leadership and employee learning, focusing on sustainable performance, stress management, communication, and burnout prevention. They engage consumers through real-world experiences that foster connection rather than spectacle. And they create safe, personal environments—events, retreats, and small-group forums—where people not only learn about mental and physical health, stress management, personal sustainability and nutrition, they feel comfortable sharing honest insights about their lives, needs, and expectations. Those insights, when fed back into product design, workplace culture, and brand strategy, become far more valuable than traditional surveys or focus groups. They allow brands to understand not just what people say, but how they actually feel. Importantly, the most effective brands integrate well-being naturally. Products and services show up as part of the experience, not as forced marketing moments. The goal isn’t to sell wellness. It’s to support it authentically. I’ve seen brands like L’Oréal, the NBA, BlackRock, Bayer, Morgan Stanley, Volvo, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Wells Fargo experiment with this model through internal offsites, community experiences, and retreats hosted in well-being-focused environments. The result isn’t just better morale—it’s stronger relationships, higher trust, and clearer insight into both employees and consumers. Over time, the impact drives increased happiness long after the event ends. The Leadership Question Every company says it wants to evolve. But evolution requires trade-offs. It means leading with care, connection, and long-term thinking in a system still optimized for speed and short-term returns. Some leaders already understand that investing in well-being is inseparable from investing in brand performance. Others still treat it as an optional expense—something to revisit when margins allow. The market is increasingly clear about which group is winning. Brand well-being isn’t about being nice. It’s about building organizations that people want to work for, buy from, and believe in—again and again. The question facing today’s leaders isn’t whether well-being matters. It’s whether they’re willing to lead knowing it does. View the full article

A century ago, work was unsafe and openly adversarial. Strikes were common. Turnover was extreme. Productivity suffered. HR—then called personnel—was created to manage this instability. Its job wasn’t to make work fulfilling. It was to reduce friction between employees and the company, keep people on the job, and protect output. As companies matured, so did HR. The function expanded to include hiring, pay, benefits, training, grievance handling, and legal compliance. On paper, this evolution gave HR a broad view of how people experienced work—and the potential authority to shape it. But that authority was never fully claimed. Instead, HR generally settled into administering systems and policies designed by others—especially the C-Suite. In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, University of Virginia business school professor Allison Elias explains how this history is experienced today. Employees don’t see HR as a driver of better leadership or a healthier workplace. They see a function that listens but rarely acts, collects feedback but seldom follows through, and lacks the authority—or the courage—to intervene when leadership behavior is the root of the problem. Employees today doubt whether HR has the power and standing to influence how individual leaders actually lead—especially when leadership behavior openly undermines trust, clarity, dignity, or psychological/emotional safety. Over time, that gap between listening and acting has become the narrative. The good news: HR now has the opportunity to reinvent its role in organizations—but it must step fully into it. Well-being drives performance Over the past year, remarkable research has shown that employee well-being has a direct and profoundly positive impact on organizational performance. The newest study comes from Irrational Capital: drawing on more than a decade of public and private data, they found companies ranking highest in employee well-being significantly outperform their peers in long-term stock appreciation. Over an 11-year period, firms in the top tier of employee well-being outperformed those in the bottom tier by nearly six percentage points. By contrast, companies that excelled primarily on pay and benefits outperformed by just over two points. What’s now empirically clear is that how people feel about their day-to-day work experience—and their direct managers—matters far more than what they are paid to tolerate it. And, if well-being drives performance, then feedback must be continuous, actionable, and tied directly to leadership accountability. A real voice What employees are craving is a real voice. They want to be routinely asked for honest feedback—not once a year or even semi-annually via traditional engagement surveys proven to have little if any impact—but through focused pulse surveys that capture how they are experiencing work week-to-week. They want to know that their input is heard, considered, and has real influence. That feedback should flow not just to individual managers and senior leadership, but also to HR itself—so the function can monitor patterns, hold leaders accountable, and ensure employee well-being is protected at every level of the organization. When survey results show managers are consistently uncaring, unsupportive, or otherwise undermining employee well-being, HR must willingly intervene—coaching leaders to improve or, when necessary, removing them. This is where HR can finally claim the role it has long been empowered to play: shaping how leaders lead, embedding well-being into daily work, and ensuring organizations operate for people, not just for goal achievement. The ‘How’ The tools for this already exist. Pulse surveys can be deployed one day and summarized the next, delivering real-time insights to managers, senior leaders, and HR. This immediacy creates a rare opportunity: HR doesn’t need to wait months for engagement reports to act. Every piece of feedback becomes a lever to correct course, reinforce positive leadership, and make tangible improvements in how people experience work. What’s critical is that HR can—and must—be the true guardian of this ecosystem. That means more than administering surveys or running reports. It means owning the operation—owning well-being. It means creating a culture where employees know their voice carries weight—and consequences. It means ensuring that workplace leaders understand the practices that contribute to well-being and that there are real teeth—accountability—in its oversight. It must celebrate managers who excel, coach managers who fall short, weed out those who don’t improve, and embed well-being metrics into how leaders are evaluated and rewarded. It must be clearly understood that this is not merely a moral imperative; it’s a business imperative. When people have their needs consistently met for belonging, safety, growth, appreciation, and respect (the key drivers of well-being), organizations see measurable gains in retention, commitment, collaboration, creativity, and profitability. Claiming power The truth is workplace leadership practices are in dire need of transformation. Evidence abounds that traditional methods deplete people rather than energize them—and HR has both the access and authority to lead the needed change throughout their organizations. For HR leaders, the question is simple: will you fully claim the power your role affords? Will you leverage real-time feedback, hold leaders accountable, and transform the employee experience? Doing so will not only improve performance and profitability—it will permanently elevate HR from a back-office function to the strategic force every modern organization needs. The moment is now. Employees are speaking. The data is clear. The tools exist. HR, step into your power! Shape how leaders lead. Protect well-being. Drive performance. Make your mark: ensure work is safe, meaningful, humane—and create organizations that truly flourish. View the full article

Andrew Gwynne’s decision to stand down will mean by-election opening for rival to Keir StarmerView the full article