Why 2026 Is Marketing's Biggest Opportunity Ever

For episode 100, Dan and Phil reflect on marketing's unique position to drive business growth beyond traditional communications. They explore why marketing has been pigeonholed into just the 'comms' function, when it should influence product, sales, customer success, and the entire buying cycle.They discuss how accessible AI and orchestration tools now let marketers extract insights from sales calls, customer feedback, and cross-functional data in ways that were previously cost-prohibitive. This creates an opportunity for marketing to operate as growth engineers, not just communicating with the market, but shaping product development, accelerating sales, reducing churn, and ultimately driving revenue across every business function.Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

In this episode, Dan and Josh sit down with Woody Klemetson, CEO of AskElephant, to explore how the tool is transforming business operations through AI-powered orchestration. Woody shares his journey from sales to creating a solution that breaks down silos between departments by turning unstructured data from calls and emails into actionable workflows. We discuss practical use cases that span marketing, sales, and customer success, from automatically capturing customer quotes and pain points to updating CRMs without manual input. Woody explains how AskElephant differs from typical AI tools by creating real-time orchestration rather than just analysis, and why the future of revenue operations lies in growth engineering. Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

In this episode, Dan and Phil tackle one of marketing's most frustrating challenges: measuring ROI. As year-end budget planning approaches, many marketers find themselves stuck trying to calculate channel-by-channel returns that simply don't reflect reality.The problem? Buyers don't purchase based on a single channel, yet most marketers default to last-touch attribution and isolated channel metrics. Dan and Phil explain why this approach is fundamentally flawed and what to do instead. They advocate for blended ROI across all marketing activity, using efficiency signals rather than impossible-to-calculate channel returns, and combining quantitative data with qualitative buyer insights.Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

In this episode, Dan sits down with Kevin White, Head of Marketing at Scrunch, to unpack how AEO measurement actually works and why it's now essential for B2B brands. They explore what Scrunch does, how it tracks AI visibility at the topic level rather than individual prompts, and why features like AXP (Agent Experience Platform) matter for technical optimisation. Kevin explains the critical difference between measuring SEO and AEO, why large language models favour certain content structures, and how brands can systematically improve their performance in AI search results before the space becomes saturated. Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

Most marketers are investing in answer engine optimisation, but few know how to measure if their efforts are working. In this solo episode, Dan breaks down why traditional SEO measurement doesn't work for AEO and introduces a four-layer framework for tracking AI visibility. You'll learn why prompt behaviour differs from keyword searches, how to create meaningful prompt variations based on your ICP, and what tools can help you track directional improvement across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. Dan also shares real examples from Blend's own AEO measurement approach using Scrunch. Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

In this episode, Dan and Amanda explore why your marketing and sales budgets shouldn't be separate conversations, they should be part of one unified growth budget. They discuss how to work backwards from business goals, make the case to stakeholders, and avoid common pitfalls like over-investing in saturated channels. You'll learn how to align your budget with strategic priorities, whether that's expanding into new markets or increasing customer lifetime value, and why staying flexible throughout the year is just as important as the initial plan. Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

Dan and Phil reveal their top three marketing channel picks for 2026, explaining where the biggest opportunities exist compared to effort and cost. They discuss why in-person events are experiencing a resurgence as AI makes authentic human connection more valuable, how YouTube remains an untapped channel for B2B with lower saturation than other platforms, and why Answer Engine Optimisation is the number one priority as buyers increasingly turn to ChatGPT and large language models for research. Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

In this episode, we explore how to shift from internally-facing, feature-driven messaging to outward-facing, benefit-led communication that resonates with buyers. We break down the distinction between positioning, value propositions, and messaging, explain how category entry points connect to your messaging framework, and tackle the most visible application of all, homepage messaging. Whether you're starting from scratch or refining existing messaging, this episode provides practical guidance on creating a messaging house framework that drives consistent communication and better conversion. Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

In this episode, we sit down with Aja Frost, Senior Director of Global Growth and Paid at HubSpot, to explore how one of the world's leading marketing companies is adapting to fundamental shifts in buyer behaviour.We discuss HubSpot's Loop framework, a four-phase marketing playbook designed for the AI era that builds on inbound fundamentals. Aja shares practical examples of what they're implementing at HubSpot, from AI-powered email personalisation that improved conversion rates by 82% to their approach to Answer Engine Optimisation.Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.

The tension between marketing and sales has existed forever, but we're entering a new era where marketing can genuinely become the hero, not just for sales, but for the entire organisation.In this episode, Dan and Josh explore growth engineering. We discuss why traditional marketing and sales silos create friction, how unified systems and buyer intelligence transform this dynamic, and why marketing is uniquely positioned to orchestrate growth across the business. From Ask Elephant to the four-phase transformation process, we break down practical steps to shift from lead volume metrics to becoming the growth architect your company needs.Click here to subscribe to the new Demand Decoded YouTube channel. Click here to see how we can help you drive demand for your business.