Sword and the Script

07/29/2025

AI will certainly change our behavior. People no longer have to learn the language of code; rather, AI is learning our language.

As remarkable as that is, it comes with inherent limitations that ought to be carefully factored into marketing and communication decisions.

I, for one, contend, the only way to get that is to get close to the customers.

There’s no substitute for direct conversations and interactions with real people to better understand that experience.

AI cannot replicate the experience of delight, awe, confusion or frustration in any meaningful way. AI can’t understand human experience

07/22/2025

The post argues that generative AI is fundamentally changing human behavior, and this shift is highly relevant for marketing and communications professionals to monitor -- even if the current investment surge in AI eventually leads to a bubble.

Rather than focusing solely on tactical advantages (like speed, idea generation, and content delivery), the post contends the strategic impact is behavioral: AI is transforming the way people interact with information and make decisions.

Even if there’s a bubble that pops, generative AI is changing behavior, and that’s what strategic marketing and communications people need to observe

07/15/2025

2025 Private B2B SaaS Company Growth Rate Benchmarks by SaaS Capital:

“The difference between higher-growth bootstrapped companies and lower-growth bootstrapped companies is most noticeable in sales and marketing, with higher-growth companies (both bootstrapped and equity-backed) spending approximately 20% more on sales and 40% more on marketing.”

In other words, regardless of funding, startups that spend more on marketing have higher growth rates.

N = 1,000+

https://www.swordandthescript.com/2025/07/saas-marketing-spend/

07/08/2025

Here's a summary of statistics -- with citations -- from studies and surveys about B2B marketing and communications so far this year.

Some of the stats include:

1. CMO titles are cool again. There was a substantial increase in CMO appointments in 2024, with 310 new CMOs announced globally compared to 213 in 2023, representing a 45.5% jump.

8. About 1 in 4 marketers saw “significant” budget increases. Some 67% of respondents said the budget has increased over the last year. This includes about one in four (23%) who indicated their budget grew “significantly.”

12. Educational content wins. “65% of respondents rated educational content as ‘very important’ for audience engagement, highlighting the demand for trust-building and value-driven strategies.”

20. Overpromising delivers churn. “73% of churned customers said they never saw value.”

28. Average investment in PR. About half (49%) of respondents surveyed by BuzzStream invest between $5,000 and $20,000 per month on digital PR.

33. Lacking visibility. 25% of B2B buyers find it difficult to discover products online

41. Paid social. 90% of marketers are using paid social media to engage customers

What’s going well: CMOs, marketing budgets, alignment with sales; What could be improved: Trust, conversions, and customer retention

06/24/2025

When a marketing team turns over a team member, two things happen:

1) the value of the brand falls; and

2) customers hear more negative news about the company.

These adverse effects are more pronounced when senior- and mid-level marketing employees leave.

The impact is also strong for marketing employees who are responsible for digital marketing activities.

While the adverse effects are not as strong for junior employees, the loss of junior employees, however, seems to adversely impact senior leaders.

This conclusion stems from a new academic study published recently.

Details:

Rigorous study shows marketing turnover has a high cost and lasting impact; demonstrates the importance of continuously investing in the marketing team

06/17/2025

Marketing has to be about education.

It has to help prospective customers see the problem your product or service solves.

It has to give them reason to believe that you have the industry expertise to analyze the problem.

Finally, it has to give them the confidence that your solution will solve their problem according to their expectations.

The B2B marketing playbook must shift from tricks to education

06/10/2025

Is gated content part of your marketing motion?

Then these stats - from a data analysis and not an opinion survey - can help inform your approach to registrants:

- downloads peak in October, the first month of Q4

- registrants don't look at the download until, on average, 39 hours later

- demand for AI content spiked in 2024 by 186%

- ebooks are by far the most downloaded content asset

More: https://www.swordandthescript.com/2025/06/gated-content-benchmarks/

06/03/2025

Chatting with the robots inside PR software

PR tech summary no. 62:

1. Meltwaterwater rolls out chatbot interface

2. Public Relay hires Brendon O’Donovan

3. PR software briefs:

- Muck Rack & GlobeNewswire partner

- Unicepta, part of Stagwell / PRophet grows its account with European Commission

- Equiniti completed its acquisition of Notified from West Technology Group

- Cison does Cison things

4. Comms surveys, data and reports

- Cision & Pressat separately query reporters on generative AI

5. PR tech and comms tech reading

- Prowly & Propel PRM compare features and pricing (separately)

More: https://www.swordandthescript.com/2025/06/pr-software-chatbots/

Meltwater rolls out chatbot interface; Public Relay hires Brendon O’Donovan; roundup of PR software briefs; new surveys of journalists

05/29/2025

“Losing just one senior marketing leader can reduce a business’s brand buzz – a measure of short-term brand perception – by approximately 6.1%.”

https://monthlymarcom.substack.com/p/marketing-turnover-adds-a-hidden

05/27/2025

Generative AI seems to be upending search marketing and SEO.

While there's always a lot of chatter from SEOs about changes, this time it looks, feels and by all outward appearances seems to be different.

Here are some of the shifts -- a listicle -- that seem to be happening.

1. Zero-click searches are a new opportunity rather than an end

via Paulina Wisniewska of Hallam - Digital marketing agency

2. Searchers weigh the trustworthiness of a site, not just an answer

via Danny Goodwin & Search Engine Land

3. Generative AI prioritizes relevance over search rankings

via Carolyn Shelby & Yoast

4. Buyers using generative AI, but vendors are optimizing for search

via Lisa (Berkley) Gately & Forrester

5. Traffic from generative AI seems to be less engaged

Also via Danny Goodwin of SE Land.

More: https://www.swordandthescript.com/2025/05/generative-ai-organic-search/

05/20/2025

Marketing teams with more sophisticated technology systems are much more likely to see a bump in budget this year and next.

Whether you’ve got more money in the marketing budget or not, hold onto that scrappy and creative mentality to rebuild momentum

05/06/2025

As a percentage of company revenue, budgets rose to 9.4% – up from 7.7% last fall – across all business types.

hashtag product companies reported budgets of 6.4% as a percentage of revenue – and B2B services put that number at 9%.

B2C product companies, which commonly report higher budgets came in at 15.5% of revenue.

However, the survey noted spending will drop – but so too has retention.

Lastly, according to the report, the marketing headcount grew 5.4% in 2024. Respondents expect that trendline to continue.

https://www.swordandthescript.com/2025/05/marketing-budgets-recovering/

The CMO Survey