Month: September 2025

How to Present Marketing Wins to Your Leadership Team

Every marketer knows that presenting marketing wins to their leadership team can be a complex task. You’ve been busy. You’ve launched campaigns, created amazing content, and boosted engagement. You know the work you’re doing is moving the needle, but not every win is easy to quantify.

Still, presenting marketing outcomes (and lessons learned) to your leadership team is essential. It’s how you secure buy-in, prove the value of your work, and strengthen collaboration between marketing and other departments.

At Green Apple Strategy, we’ve spent decades helping businesses translate marketing results into stories that matter to executives. And while every company has its own priorities, there are some universal principles for reporting wins in a way that resonates with leadership.

What Leaders Are Really Looking For

Let’s be honest. Your CEO isn’t typically diving into the nitty-gritty details of your Instagram engagement rate. They aren’t usually asking about your average email open rates. Instead, they’re focused on high-level organizational metrics.

When it comes down to it, executives care about three things:

Revenue – Is marketing helping bring in more business?
Reputation – Is our brand stronger and more credible?
Retention – Are we keeping the customers and employees we already have?

If your report connects marketing activity to one (or all) of those pillars, you’ll have their attention. If it doesn’t, you’ll lose them.

Beyond the Numbers: How to Tell a Story with Your Marketing Wins

Here’s a step-by-step framework you can use to organize and present your marketing wins in a way leadership will actually care about:

1. Know the Big Picture

It’s critical for marketing teams to know the company’s major focuses. This helps you connect your marketing plans to the big picture. It also guides how you present your marketing wins by giving you a clear framework for reporting.

2. Measure What Matters

Don’t drown your report in vanity metrics. Track the marketing KPIs that tie back to the company’s goals. For example, instead of saying “Our email open rate increased,” frame it as: “Our email campaigns drove 200 demo requests this quarter, contributing to $X in pipeline.”

Even if results fell short, you can highlight what you learned and showcase how you plan to pivot your marketing strategy. This shows you are strategic and adaptable.

3. Format it for Leaders

Executives don’t need (or want) a 30-slide deck of charts. Boil it down to the highlights:

What you set out to do
What happened
Why it matters to the business

When possible, use metrics that allow data to be the diplomat for making strategic decisions. If you don’t have specific data, highlight specific examples of how your marketing supported larger business objectives. Maybe a new content series helped close a big client. Or a specific campaign reduced customer churn. Focus on the impact, not just the activity.

4. Spotlight One Big Win

If you only had five minutes with your CEO, what’s the one win you’d highlight? Every quarter, find a headline result to put front and center. Maybe it’s a successful campaign, a milestone in pipeline contribution, or a PR placement that elevated your brand.

Framing your report around one “big win” gives your leadership team something memorable to latch onto.

5. Share Key Learnings

Marketing is experimentation. Some things work. Some don’t. Leaders know this. What they want to hear is how you’re learning and evolving. Highlight 1–2 takeaways per report. For example:

“Our paid ads worked better on LinkedIn than Facebook, so we’re reallocating budget.”
“Long-form blog posts outperformed short ones, so we’re focusing on quality over quantity.”

This shows you’re paying attention and making smart decisions with marketing resources.

6. Share What’s Next

Leaders want to know you’re always looking forward. Briefly outline your upcoming plans. How will you build on current successes? What new initiatives are you planning? How will your new marketing tactics tie back to growth? This shows you have a clear vision. It proves you are proactively contributing to the company’s future.

7. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Feedback

Your presentation is a two-way street. Use it as a chance to gather insights. Ask questions like:

“Are there new priorities we should know about?”
“Is this the kind of reporting most useful for you?”
“What should we be keeping an eye on as we plan next quarter?”

This ensures your marketing efforts stay aligned with the company’s evolving direction. It also positions you as a strategic partner.

Presentation Protocol: Your Marketing Report Checklist

Ready to nail that next leadership meeting? Use this quick checklist to gather, organize, and present your marketing wins with confidence.

Define Your Report’s Goal: What’s the main message you want leadership to take away?
Connect to the “3 Rs”: Are my metrics tied to revenue, reputation, or retention?
Focus on Key Metrics: Are you highlighting what truly matters to leadership?
Craft a High-Level Overview: Did I cut the fluff and keep it high-level?
Include Your One Big Win. What’s one thing you can spotlight as a win?
Use Clear Visuals: Are there ways to visually highlight your success?
Highlight Specific Success Stories: Do I have 1–2 stories or examples that bring the data to life?
Share Learnings & Future Plans: What did you discover, and what’s next?
Prepare Questions for Feedback: Am I ready with a few questions for leadership?
Practice Your Delivery: Confidence is key!

Connect Your Marketing to the Big Picture

Presenting marketing wins doesn’t have to be stressful. It’s an opportunity. It’s your chance to shine and show the real value of your work. If you’re a CMO looking for help communicating those wins, our team at Green Apple Strategy is here for you. We specialize in connecting marketing activity to big-picture business results.

Contact the Green Apple Strategy team today. We’re here to help you turn your marketing activities into impactful business conversations.

What is AEO and Why Should It Be Part of Your SEO Strategy?

Remember when search was all about keywords? You’d type a phrase into Google, and it would give you a list of links. You had to click on a few to find the right answer. That model is changing. AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming how we find information. Search engines are now becoming “answer engines.” They give you a direct, summarized answer at the top of the search page. While this may seem overwhelming at first, the reality is that it can be a game-changer for small and mid-sized businesses.

At Green Apple, we’ve been keeping a close eye on these changes. Our team has already started adjusting strategies for clients to make sure they show up in this new kind of search. In this post, we’ll explain what Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is, why it matters, and how you can prepare your content for the future. We’ve asked SEO specialist and Orchard Member Kelsey Malkowski to offer some insights for this article.

What is AEO and Why Does It Matter?

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization. It’s the process of making your content more visible and more useful to AI-powered search tools. Instead of just optimizing for Google’s traditional search results, you’re now optimizing for AI models that generate direct answers to user questions.

Why does this matter? Because the way people consume content has shifted. LLMs like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot summarize, cite, and prioritize content from sources they see as credible. To win in this new era, you have to show up where these tools are pulling their data.

It also means search has moved beyond keywords. AI is looking for context, relationships, and signals of authority. That’s where AEO comes in. It helps your brand become part of the answers your audience is looking for.

The AEO Toolkit: 5 Tactics to Get Found in AI Search

Shifting to AEO doesn’t mean throwing away your old SEO playbook. It means expanding it and focusing on strategies that align with how AI tools evaluate and present content. While most businesses are seeing less than 1% of traffic originate from LLMs, that’s likely to increase in the future. Here are a few of the approaches we’re helping clients implement to keep their AEO-ready:

1. Create Larger, More Helpful Resources

Short, repetitive blogs won’t cut it anymore. It’s not about the quantity of posts you write, but how well they answer user questions. AI tools want content that is comprehensive and genuinely helpful. That means building guides, how-tos, and detailed resources that answer real questions in depth. Instead of ten surface-level posts, you may be better off creating one strong content piece that fully covers a topic. This makes your content more likely to be cited by AI as the definitive answer.

Action to try: Look at your most common customer questions. Can you create a resource that answers one of them better than anyone else in your industry?

2. Format Content for AI Crawlers

AI engines don’t just read your words; they scan your structure. Using entity recognition, structured author bios, linked references, and clear formatting makes it easier for AI to understand and trust your content. For example, using a very clear question and answer structure is one way to make it easy for AI to use your answers as a source for those topics. Think of it as giving the AI a roadmap so it knows who you are, why you’re credible, and what your content is about.

Action to try: Format your blog posts to stand out by adding author bios that highlight experience and expertise. Link to reputable sources to back up your claims.

3. Refresh Old Content

AI doesn’t just look at new posts. It also evaluates existing content. If your blogs or web pages are outdated, they lose credibility. By refreshing old content with new data, updated insights, and current references, you keep your resources relevant and useful. While this supports traditional SEO, it can also signal to AI engines that your site is trustworthy and up-to-date.

Action to try: Choose three of your most visited blog posts and update them this quarter with new stats or examples.

4. Invest in Data-Driven Digital PR

Getting featured in the right publications matters more than ever. High-authority mentions help LLMs recognize your brand as credible. That’s why we focus on digital PR strategies that land content in relevant, respected outlets.

Action to try: Identify one trade publication or industry blog your customers trust. Pitch them a guest article or expert insight.

5. Keep the Human Element

AI is powerful, but people still connect with people. Content that feels robotic or generic won’t inspire trust. That’s why we emphasize keeping a human voice, brand personality, and expert perspective in the content we create for clients. AEO may be about optimizing for AI, but credibility still comes from the human element.

Action to try: Add personal stories, team insights, or customer perspectives to your next blog or social post.

Ready to Get Found by LLMs?

How users search is changing. They will come to expect faster and more in-depth responses to their queries as LLMs become more robust. It’s important that businesses shift their SEO strategy to consider not only traditional search engine tactics, but AEO ones as well. It’s a great opportunity to reset and reestablish your content strategy for the current era. By focusing on quality content, strategic authority building, and a human-centered approach, you can ensure your brand shows up where it matters most.

Green Apple Strategy can help you map your content to AI search engines. Contact our team to get started.

Stop Guessing. Start Planning: 5 Questions for Your 2026 Marketing Strategy

If you lead marketing for a small or mid-size business, you know how easy it is to jump straight into tactics when planning for a new year. But without a disciplined approach, you risk creating a marketing plan that looks busy on paper but doesn’t actually move the needle.

If you want to build a great marketing plan, you have to look back before you can look forward. You need to learn from past successes and failures and assess the changing market landscape. This approach will help you align your marketing strategies with your overall business objectives.

Build Your Marketing Plan With Five Simple Questions

We use five core questions to guide marketing conversations with our clients. These aren’t theoretical questions. Each one has helped our clients uncover opportunities, solve challenges, and build stronger marketing strategies. As you start planning for 2026, you can use them as a checklist to guide your own process.

1. What lessons were learned from this year’s marketing efforts?

Every marketing team has wins and misses. The key is taking time to dig into both. What campaigns drove the most engagement? What channels fell flat? Which experiments are worth repeating? Looking at your successes and failures side by side gives you clarity on what to carry forward and what to leave behind.

Client Example: As a long-time marketing partner of The Gardner School during their nationwide expansion, we hosted annual collaborative brainstorms to review wins and challenges. These sessions help us identify what worked and build on that momentum in the next year’s plan.

2. What are the overall business goals and objectives for the upcoming year?

Marketing goals only matter if they’re connected to company-wide objectives. If leadership is prioritizing growth in one division, entering a new market, or even focusing on employee retention, your marketing should be designed to support those goals. This is where collaboration with stakeholders across the business is crucial.

Client Example: When working with First Acceptance Auto Insurance, we learned that one of their key objectives was boosting employee engagement and recruitment. That insight helped us create an innovative internal engagement campaign that strengthened company culture while supporting long-term growth.

3. What are the main challenges and opportunities in the market?

Markets shift quickly. New technologies emerge, competitors pivot, and customer expectations evolve. Before you set your 2026 plan, take stock of what’s changing in your industry. Understanding both the threats and opportunities in your space helps you position your marketing efforts more strategically.

Client Example: During Urban Sweat’s merger and acquisition process, this question helped us identify the unique challenges of onboarding new franchisee owners. By addressing those needs with targeted marketing support materials, we created a smoother transition and stronger growth trajectory.

4. How can you improve and ensure alignment between marketing and other departments?

Even the smartest marketing plan will stall if it’s out of sync with sales, operations, or customer service. Use the planning season to check in. Are your sales teams equipped with updated materials? Do operations have the capacity to deliver on what you’re promoting? Is everyone clear on your target audience, messaging, and priorities? Alignment drives efficiency and impact.

Client Example: With Maxwell Roofing, this question led to a complete overhaul of their sales playbook. The new playbook streamlined proposal processes and ensured consistent messaging across teams.

5. How will you evaluate your efforts and pivot if needed?

No plan survives the year untouched. That’s why building in evaluation points—and knowing how you’ll pivot if needed—is essential. Set milestones to review results quarterly. If a campaign underperforms, plan in advance what you’ll try instead. If a new opportunity arises, decide how you’ll shift resources. Planning for flexibility gives you confidence to adapt without scrambling.

Client Example: During the pandemic, ATECH needed a new path forward. By asking this question, we quickly shifted from a brand awareness campaign to helping them launch a new service model, a switch that kept them resilient in a time of uncertainty.

Let Green Apple Strategy Help You Plan

The best marketing plans are built on a foundation of honest evaluation and strategic foresight. If you need help getting started on next year’s marketing plan, our team is here.

We can help you build an effective strategy to help your brand achieve its business goals. Get a behind-the-scenes look at our process or connect with our team to start a conversation.

Smarter Marketing Goals for 2026: A Step-by-Step Guide

Setting marketing goals for the new year can feel a lot like mapping out a big road trip. You’re excited about the destination, but which roads do you take? How much gas do you need? What if you run into a detour? It’s easy to get lost before you even leave the driveway.

Identifying and defining the right marketing goals isn’t always easy. Where do you start? How do you know which goals will actually move the needle? How do you set goals that are ambitious but still realistic?

At Green Apple Strategy, we’ve walked through this process with dozens of businesses, including many small and mid-sized companies that want to be more intentional about marketing but don’t always have the luxury of big teams or budgets. What we’ve learned is that goal setting is part reflection, part strategy, and part ruthless prioritization.

As you look ahead to 2026, here’s a practical framework you can use to uncover your hidden strengths, identify blind spots, and set goals that align marketing with your business growth.

Step 1: Know Your Starting Point

The best place to begin is by looking at where you are right now. A thorough analysis of the past year is crucial. What were your goals at the start of the year? Did you hit them? Were there certain obstacles that kept you from succeeding? Maybe you were too ambitious in some areas or not ambitious enough in others.

This is your chance to dive deep into your current efforts. We encourage our clients to undergo a comprehensive marketing audit. An independent assessment can help you uncover hidden strengths, identify potential blind spots, and address challenges head-on. It’s important to be honest with yourself and your team. You can’t improve what you don’t acknowledge. By understanding your current reality, you’ll be in a much better position to set smarter goals for the year ahead.

Step 2: Host a Strategy Session

It’s one thing to have marketing goals; it’s another for them to seamlessly align with your overall business goals. That’s why we work with our clients to host a strategy session with key stakeholders from across the company.

Often, this requires collaboration between the C-suite, marketing, business development, and even customer service and operations. The point is to understand what your company is trying to achieve. Ask questions like:

What are the company’s top priorities for 2026?
Where is leadership planning to invest most heavily?
Are there new markets, products, or audiences we need to support?

This collaboration ensures your marketing plan is aligned with the goals leadership cares about most.

Step 3: Align Goals with Your Business Strategy

Once you have insights from key stakeholders and an understanding of your company’s overall objectives for the year, you’ll know where to invest your marketing budget for maximum impact. By being intentional with your marketing dollars, you can directly support the company’s strategic direction.

Step 4: Narrow Down Your Priorities

Here’s a reality check: you can’t do everything. In fact, trying to do too much is one of the fastest ways to burn out your team and dilute your impact.

If you could only focus on three or four marketing goals for the year, what would those be? If you could only focus on one, what would it be? These questions encourage you to identify the activities with the highest potential impact. Then, you can rank them so you know what to protect if resources or priorities shift mid-year.

Step 5: Write Clear, Measurable Objectives

Once you know your priorities, write them down. According to research from CoSchedule, marketers who write down their goals are 376% more likely to report success than those who don’t.

Remember to make your marketing goals specific, measurable, and achievable.

Goal: Grow our customer base.
Objective: Increase new customer acquisition by 15% by December 2026.

Goals that aren’t written and measurable are simply wishful thinking.

Step 6: Break Goals into Milestones

Big goals are exciting, but they can feel overwhelming if you don’t break them down into actionable tactics. It can be helpful to map out quarterly or even monthly milestones to make progress.

For example, if you want to increase website conversions by 20% this year, you might set quarterly checkpoints:

Q1: Audit conversion points and launch A/B testing.
Q2: Optimize landing pages and implement lead scoring.
Q3: Launch new lead nurture workflows.
Q4: Evaluate results and refine.

Milestones keep you focused on progress, and they make it easier to celebrate marketing wins along the way.

Step 7: Translate Metrics Into Insights

It’s not enough to track the numbers—you need to turn data into decisions. This shift in how you approach your metrics can make a huge difference. By building a process for learning from your results, you’ll ensure that you’re always improving and making smarter decisions.

For example, how will you analyze your email strategy to make sure your content is relevant? If your email open rate is low, what do you do about it? Do you adjust your subject lines? Change your send time? Knowing what metrics matter—and how you will translate them into actionable insights—is essential. The metrics you use to evaluate your marketing goals are only useful if they give you clarity on what to do next.

Your 2026 Marketing Goal-Setting Checklist

Evaluate Last Year: Take an honest look at your current marketing efforts and past goals to uncover what worked and what didn’t.
Host a Strategy Session: Sit down with key leaders from your business to ensure your marketing goals align with company objectives.
Define Your Priorities: Focus on three to four goals that are most critical to your success.
Write it Down: Make your goals clear and specific. Write them down in a single document that everyone can access.
Build an Action Plan: Break down your annual goals into smaller monthly and quarterly milestones.
Plan Your Check-Ins: Determine how you’ll measure your progress and use the data to make adjustments throughout the year.

Get the Right Goals. Get the Right Results.

If you’re struggling to identify the right marketing goals for your business, you’re not alone. We’ve worked with businesses across every industry, and each has its own unique set of challenges when it comes to setting goals that matter.

At Green Apple, our approach is built on a simple idea: a great marketing plan starts with a great conversation. We’re here to help you set the right goals and design a marketing strategy to help you achieve them. Contact us today to learn more.

Crisis Communication Dos and Don’ts: How to Protect Your Brand in a PR Crisis

Almost every business leader recognizes the danger of the unforeseeable PR firestorm. But the truth is, it can happen to anyone. Whether it’s a construction accident that makes the news, a data breach that compromises customer trust, or a social media mishap that goes viral, small and mid-size businesses aren’t immune to the public scrutiny that follows. In the heat of the moment, with phones ringing and comments piling up online, knowing what to do and what to avoid can feel like a monumental challenge.

The good news is that a PR crisis doesn’t have to destroy your reputation. In fact, how you respond can actually strengthen your credibility and deepen trust with your stakeholders. At Green Apple, we’ve helped businesses of all sizes navigate tricky PR situations. Based on what we’ve seen, here are a few of the biggest dos and don’ts of crisis communication. We want to offer practical advice to help you avoid common pitfalls and protect your brand’s reputation when it matters most.

The Don’ts: Common Mistakes That Can Worsen a Crisis

When a crisis strikes, the pressure to act can lead to panic. Here are some of the most common mistakes we see companies make:

1. Don’t Delay. Your Silence is Loud.

One of the most dangerous things a company can do in a crisis is to say nothing at all. The moment an issue becomes public, an information vacuum is created. If you don’t fill it with your own narrative, others will do it for you. This often leads to speculation, misinformation, and the loss of precious credibility. A delayed response suggests you are unaware, unprepared, or hiding something.

2. Don’t Lie or Minimize the Issue.

In a well-intentioned effort to control the narrative, some companies try to deflect blame or downplay the severity of the problem. This is a critical error. The truth has a way of coming out. When it does, it will shatter any trust you had left. Your audience can tolerate a mistake, but they will not forgive deception. Minimizing the issue can make you appear self-serving and tone-deaf to the very real concerns of your clients and partners.

3. Don’t Blame Others.

In the heat of the moment, the temptation to point fingers is strong. Blaming an employee, a supplier, or a third party might seem like a quick way to shift responsibility, but it almost always backfires. It undermines your authority, shows a lack of leadership, and prevents you from taking the necessary steps to fix the problem. Taking a defensive posture positions you as an adversary to the public rather than a cooperative force in confronting a common challenge.

4. Don’t Wait for the “Perfect” Statement.

You may want to have all the answers and a perfectly crafted message before you speak, but a crisis doesn’t wait. The need for a swift response often outweighs the need for a perfectly polished one. The goal is to acknowledge the situation and assure your stakeholders that you are actively investigating and will communicate further as soon as possible. Perfection can be the enemy of progress.

The Do’s: Your Protocol for a Swift and Strategic Response

Now that we’ve covered what not to do, let’s focus on the proactive steps you should take to protect your brand when a crisis strikes.

1. Do Acknowledge the Issue Immediately.

The very first thing you should do is acknowledge what has happened. This doesn’t mean you need to have all the answers right away. It means you must confirm that you know what your stakeholders know. A brief statement on your social channels or website can be as simple as: “We are aware of the situation and are actively investigating. We will provide an update as soon as we have more information.” This simple step demonstrates transparency and a sense of urgency, and it can buy you precious time to gather facts and plan your next move.

2. Do Take Ownership.

The fastest way to regain control and build trust is to take ownership of the situation. This means accepting responsibility for your role in the crisis, openly acknowledging any mistakes, and avoiding the urge to deflect. When you say, “We made a mistake,” you signal to your audience that you are a responsible and credible organization. This single action can dramatically shift the public’s perception of a crisis from an adversarial one to a shared effort in confronting a common challenge.

3. Do Prioritize Your Stakeholders.

Every action you take should be guided by a single question: “What do people expect us to do now?” By understanding the expectations of your audience—your clients, your employees, your partners—the path forward becomes clear. A crisis isn’t about protecting your company’s image; it’s about protecting your relationships. A client who feels cared for and informed during a difficult time will be a client for life.

4. Do Have a Plan in Place.

The best time to prepare for a crisis is before it happens. Having a designated crisis communications team, pre-approved messaging templates, and a clear chain of command can be the difference between a minor setback and a full-blown disaster. This preparation empowers you to execute steps in the moment with confidence and speed.

Be Ready Before You Need to Be

Here’s the bottom line: a PR crisis isn’t a matter of if—it’s a matter of when. The businesses that protect their reputation are the ones that take the time to prepare.

To help, we’ve put together a free resource: Three Steps to Successful Crisis Communications. It walks you through a simple, proven framework to respond effectively when the unexpected happens.

Download the guide here to make sure you’re prepared to respond the right way when your business faces its next challenge.

Getting the Most Out of Your Content

Content marketing might be evolving, but it’s not going away anytime soon. According to the latest research, 82% of marketers report actively using content marketing in 2021, up 70% from 2020. Yet, the constant demand for content can be exhausting for businesses. Finding creative ways to get the most out of your content marketing is often one of the biggest challenges companies face in today’s marketing world.

Recently, our senior content strategist, Skylar Wooden, had an opportunity to educate our team on the latest trends in content marketing. She highlighted specific ways our clients can continue to get more out of their content marketing efforts. We wanted to take a few minutes to share her key insights and takeaways in this post.

How Today’s Audiences Are Consuming Content

Businesses need to know the variety of formats that are driving most of today’s content marketing. A decade ago, most marketers focused primarily on written content, whether online or in print. Today’s businesses must consider the way content marketing has evolved. Here are the three primary ways today’s audiences are consuming content based on statistics from a 2021 Hubspot report:

1. Written Content — This includes content like blogs, e-books, and articles. 61% of marketers are paying more attention to writing these. Of the written content formats, the top 3 content types are social media content (95%), blog posts (89%), and email newsletters (81%).

2. Audio Content — Many businesses have turned to podcasts as a way to reach their audience in recent years and for good reason! In under three years, podcast listening in the United States has increased by more than 60%. The podcast market is expected to reach more than 2 billion by 2023, meaning that marketers are preparing to devote significant time and money to the channel.

3. Video Content — Video is now the primary form of media used within any content strategy. According to the report, video was the most commonly used form of content marketing in 2021, overtaking blogs and infographics. So, how do you get more out of your content marketing efforts in 2021 based on these statistics? Here are a few important insights we encourage clients to consider:

Consider Your Audience’s Preferences — Meet your audiences where they are, not where you want them to be. This is the most important principle to keep in mind when developing content. An estimated 68% of Baby Boomers prefer traditional content formats such as news articles, research reports, blogs, e-books, and email content from commercial brands. If you want your content marketing to make the biggest impact, you need to meet your audience in the channels they use (social, email, etc.) with the types of content they prefer (written, audio, video).
Remember that Video Covers All Three Content Types — One unique aspect of video is that it allows you to diversify your content into all three formats. You can start by posting the video, pulling the audio for a podcast or recording, and formatting the transcript to create a blog post or infographic. As video becomes increasingly important, this is an easy way to reach your audience by repurposing and reformatting.
Know that the Future of B2B Marketing is Audio — While video might be the most popular format of content today, businesses should pay attention to the increased interest in audio content. According to statistics shared at the 2021 Inbound Conference, 57% of the American population listened to podcasts last year and weekly listenership doubled from 2020 to 2021. Additionally, more than half of consumers say they consider buying from brands they hear on podcasts.

How to Diversify and Maximize the Content You Create

With these trends in mind, it’s important to consider all three formats of content in 2022. We also recognize that creating a new piece of content from scratch can be time-consuming. So, how do you diversify and maximize your content?

Supplement Blogs with Audio & Visual Content — Is there a way to include a video or audio podcast into the blog posts you create to maximize content? Find ways to integrate audio and visual content into the online content you’re creating.
Maximize the Reach of Podcasts through Show Notes & Additional Resources — If you’re creating podcasts, leveraging the show notes is a great way to maximize your content and drive your audience deeper into your content marketing funnel. Providing a way for your audience to download additional resources can also supplement your podcast efforts and increase engagement with your brand.
Repurpose Resources into Shorter Audio or Social Content — You can easily repurpose, repackage or expand every piece of content that you produce to get the most out of your investment. For example, if you’ve created a piece of long-form content such as a video or e-book, consider how you can repurpose key ideas and concepts for other channels such as social media or email.

As content marketing continues to evolve, brands need to stay nimble. Remember, the most important way you can get the most out of your content marketing efforts is to ensure you’re meeting your audience where they are. Taking these tips into consideration will help you stay ahead of the trends when it comes to creating content that impacts your bottom line.

Need Help With Content Creation?

Our strategic, full-service marketing firm can help you plan and deploy an innovative content marketing approach to court customers and build brand loyalty. Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation. Our team is happy to sit down with you to discuss your marketing goals and how we can help you achieve each and every one of them.

5 Tools to Manage Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

In the B2B world, social media is a powerful tool for building authority, connecting with customers, and driving revenue. But with the ever-evolving landscape of platforms, algorithms, and user behaviors, staying on top of the trends is overwhelming. You also have to balance content that’s helpful with content that’s sales-oriented. The good news? There are dozens of social media marketing tools that can help you organize ideas, strategize, create images, post content, and measure results. The challenge is identifying the right mix of tools without wasting time or resources.

At Green Apple Strategy, we believe part of our responsibility is to equip you with the essential information you should know. We’ve asked a member of the Green Apple Orchard, Kristina Iaccarino, a global social media strategist, to share her insights on the essential tools and trends shaping the industry in 2025 and beyond.

The New Social Media Toolbox: Essential Tools for 2025 and Beyond

I’ve seen firsthand how much the social media landscape has changed in the past couple of years. Now, posting is centered around strategy, data, and efficiency. Today, almost every platform has AI integrations, and our clients should understand that AI is not just a “nice to have” anymore. It’s a standard expectation for efficiency and personalization.

Here are five categories of tools you need to know about in 2025:

1. All-in-One Social Media Management: Build Your Social Command Center

These platforms streamline your workflow by combining scheduling, publishing, community management, and analytics into a single dashboard.

Agorapulse: This is my platform of choice at Green Apple. It’s popular with agencies and mid-sized teams because of its intuitive scheduling and publishing, unified social inbox, and advanced analytics. It lets me plan, create, and schedule content across platforms, saving time and ensuring consistent messaging.
Sprout Social and Sprinklr: For larger organizations, these platforms offer enterprise-level features and global-scale collaboration. I personally love Sprinklr because it allows me to analyze audience behavior by gauging their mood or identifying specific user traits through their emojis, keywords, and other signals.
Airtable: Airtable is another platform for campaign planning. It’s now enhanced with AI-driven automations, content brief generation, and performance summaries.
Later: Later is also one of my favorite social media management tools because of its user-friendly interface and easily accessible analytics. It’s especially popular with B2C brands that utilize influencer marketing.

While Sprout Social is still a great option, many teams, including our own, now rely on tools like Agorapulse and Sprinklr.

2. AI-Powered Content Creation and Design: Simple Tools for Making Stunning Content

Images and visuals have become increasingly important in social media content. Luckily, AI is making it easier than ever to create professional and compelling graphics and videos.

ChatGPT: ChatGPT has become one of the most popular AI tools for marketers. When it comes to social media management, we’ve found it can be particularly helpful for idea generation, tone adjustments, and drafting customer response ideas.
Canva: This remains my go-to for design. Its vast library of templates, graphics, and fonts allows our team to create professional visuals quickly. Now, with AI video templates, instant resizing, and content generation, it’s a powerful tool for maintaining consistent branding without a professional designer on staff.
CapCut: As a leading short-form video editor, CapCut is a great tool for creating engaging videos. It now offers AI captioning, trend-based templates, and automated editing features. The Pro account also includes commercial sounds and music, making it easy to create videos for brands without worrying about copyright issues.

3. SEO and Discovery: Mastering the Art of Social Searching

Social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube also function as discovery engines. Users now find content through searches in addition to algorithms. It is no longer enough to rely solely on hashtags. With that in mind, tools like Semrush and Flick are crucial for maximizing your social content’s organic reach.

Semrush: Originally an SEO tool, Semrush has evolved into a vital resource for social media. It helps me with keyword research, trend analysis, and understanding how audiences discover content. It helps bridge the gap between social strategy and long-term organic visibility.
Flick: Flick is my favorite tool for social media hashtag and keyword strategy. It also provides AI-powered content ideas and caption suggestions, making it a double win for increased reach and faster execution.

4. Influencer Vetting and Partnerships: Choosing Partners That Deliver Real Results

Influencer marketing continues to grow, with authenticity playing an increasingly important role. It’s important to make sure partnerships are both creative and supported by reliable data.

HypeAuditor: This tool provides detailed analysis of influencer accounts, including audience demographics, engagement quality, and potential fraud detection. HypeAuditor’s insights help brands and agencies ensure they’re working with the right influencers and getting the most out of their partnerships.

5. AI Video Generators: Making Videos on Demand

AI video generators enable the conversion of scripts into polished videos within minutes. These tools can save production time and reduce costs.

Synthesia and Runway: These platforms can transform a script into a professional-looking video with an AI-generated avatar. This technology can be a huge time-saver for producing educational content, explainers, or internal videos. But as I always tell our clients, “It’s important to remember that some platforms, like YouTube, prioritize authentic native videos. Heavily relying on AI video generators has a downside.”

How to Choose the Right Social Media Tools for Your Business

The sheer number of available tools can be overwhelming. But at Green Apple Strategy, we believe the right approach is to choose a tool stack that fits your specific business size, budget, and goals. Think of it like planting a garden: you need the right tools for your specific seeds, soil, and climate.

Define Your Needs: Do you need an all-in-one solution or specialized tools? Are you focused on brand awareness or lead generation? Your goals will determine which tools are best for you.

Consider Integration and Ecosystem: Brands are often overwhelmed by having too many tools, but the best tools work together seamlessly. For example, some management platforms integrate with design tools, and reporting dashboards pull data from a variety of sources. Building a streamlined stack instead of using tools in isolation can give you a better picture of your impact.

Prioritize Performance: Tools should not just make your life easier; they should also help you prove a return on investment (ROI). Make sure the tools you choose offer strong analytics and reporting features that help you connect your social media efforts to specific outcomes.

Beyond the Post: A Guide to What’s Next for Your Brand

At Green Apple Strategy, we recognize you don’t have the time (or even the interest) to keep up-to-date on the latest marketing tools. Our responsibility as a marketing agency is to serve as a trusted guide. We can help you select the right tool stack for your business and build a social media strategy that delivers real results.

Ready to get smarter about your social media? Contact us today to learn how we can help.

Is Your Brand Still Working for You? Signs It’s Time for a Brand Refresh

Your brand is more than just a logo or a set of colors. It’s the way people feel when they interact with your business. And let’s be honest: feelings can change.

Maybe you’ve noticed that your brand feels a little dated, or maybe your sales team is getting less traction than they used to. Your leadership team might be using phrases like, “It’s time for a new look.” As a marketing agency, this is one of the most common conversations we have with potential clients. Something feels “off,” but it’s hard to know whether to make a small shift or hit the full refresh button.

Here’s the truth: Not every business needs a brand refresh right this second. In fact, rebranding at the wrong time or without the right strategy can lead to confusion and costly missteps. At Green Apple, we don’t jump straight to design without taking the time to ask the right questions about why your marketing might not be working and think long-term about how branding impacts your business goals.

So how do you know if it’s time for a change?

5 Questions to Ask During a Brand Audit

1. Has your business changed?

If you’ve added new services, expanded into new markets, or shifted your business model, your brand might not reflect who you are today. A brand refresh can help you better align your marketing with your current direction and help customers understand what you do now.

2. Does your brand feel outdated?

Trends change. And while we never suggest chasing every new aesthetic, a brand that feels like it’s stuck in 2013 can quietly affect how customers perceive your relevance or expertise. If your visuals or messaging feel stale, it might be time for a modern upgrade.

3. Are you standing out or blending in?

In crowded industries, a generic brand is easy to overlook. If you’re saying the same things in the same way as your competitors, you’re missing an opportunity to differentiate. A brand refresh can help you clarify your voice and show off what makes you unique.

4. Is your team aligned on your brand story?

If your sales, marketing, and leadership teams each tell a slightly different version of your “why,” your brand might need some tightening up. A strong brand creates clarity internally before it ever reaches your audience.

5. Are you attracting the right customers?

Sometimes the brand you created years ago worked for who you were, not who you want to be. If your leads aren’t the right fit, or if they’re surprised by your pricing, process, or value, your brand might be sending mixed messages. It may be time to step back and define your ideal customer.

Brand Refresh Checklist: How to Navigate the Process with Purpose

Thinking it might be time for a refresh? Before jumping into new fonts or color palettes, here are some key steps to think through first:

Clarify your business goals.

Your brand should support your business objectives. Are you trying to grow into a new market? Launch a new service? Strengthen loyalty? Get clear on why you’re conducting a brand refresh before you decide how to move forward.

Involve the right voices.

A rebrand should never happen in a vacuum. Involve leadership, sales, customer service, and even a few trusted clients if possible. Their insights can reveal blind spots and spark better ideas.

Audit your current brand assets.

What’s working? What’s outdated? What feels inconsistent? Reviewing your website, social content, collateral, and pitch decks side-by-side can help you spot gaps and patterns so that you tell a unified brand story through your work.

Document your brand strategy.

This includes your brand story, messaging, voice and tone, visual ide n tity, and usage guidelines. It doesn’t have to be 50 pages long, but it does need to be clear and consistent.

Create a rollout plan.

Whether you’re making small changes or launching something totally new, your brand refresh should be rolled out intentionally. That includes internal alignment, updating materials, and telling your audience why the brand is evolving.

Resources to Guide Your Brand Refresh

If you’re moving forward with a brand refresh, we’ve got you covered. Here are a few of our favorite guides to help you take your next step:

Each of these blog posts was created to help businesses like yours bring clarity and creativity to your brand from the first brainstorm to the final launch.

Let’s Make Sure Your Brand Works for You

At the end of the day, your brand should be a business tool. It should help you sell, connect, differentiate, and grow. If it’s not doing that anymore, it may be time for a reset.

Whether you’re feeling uncertain or ready to dive in, our team at Green Apple would love to help you explore your options. We want to help you build something that works now and in the long run.

Reach out today to learn more about our process and how we can help.

2026 Marketing Planning Starts Now: How to Build a Q4 Strategy That Sets You Up for Success

marketing planning with november calendar and pumpkin decorations

The final quarter of the year can feel like a marketing paradox. You’re trying to hit year-end goals and wrap up campaigns, while also building out next year’s marketing plan. Add the holidays, travel, and shifting schedules, and Q4 starts to feel like a blur of competing priorities.

But here’s the thing: Q4 is a launchpad for what’s next. The decisions you make now can shape your momentum and mindset heading into 2026.

At Green Apple, we love helping clients think strategically this time of year, whether you’re aiming to grow your business, pivot your marketing efforts in a new direction, or simply optimize your digital marketing channels. We’ve gathered some practical ways to finish strong and build a smarter strategy for what’s ahead before you start feeling the year-end crunch.

What Marketers Should Know (and Do) to Maximize Q4

Here are five strategies to help you think big, maximize the remainder of the year, and get ready for what’s next:

1. Start with an Honest Audit

Before you look ahead, take a good look back. What worked? What flopped? What’s still a big question mark? Auditing your marketing efforts now gives you enough time to identify gaps, find the best angle for your marketing campaigns, and build a stronger foundation for next year.

2. Test Something You Might Scale in 2026

Think of Q4 as your built-in R&D lab to try something new. Consider testing a different type of content format, a fresh email strategy, or even a new ad platform. The stakes are often lower in Q4, which makes it a great time to experiment with new and creative marketing tactics. If it works, you’ve got a head start on something big for next year.

3. Align with 2026 Business Goals

Before you start mapping out your marketing plans for 2026, make sure you know where the business is headed. Are sales goals changing? Is the company exploring new markets or launching a new product or service?

Use Q4 to schedule check-ins with your leadership or sales team. The clearer you are about where the business is headed, the more effective you’ll be at aligning your marketing goals with overall business objectives.

4. Focus on One Big Win

If you’re feeling the pressure of unmet goals, don’t try to fix everything at once. Zoom in. What’s one big win you can focus on between now and the end of the year? Maybe it’s revamping an email nurture sequence, launching a customer survey, or tightening the gap between marketing and sales. A single, meaningful win can generate the energy you need to carry momentum into Q1.

5. Don’t Ignore What’s Already Working

When things get busy, it’s easy to neglect the evergreen tactics that quietly bring in results month after month. Keep nurturing your high-performing channels, whether that’s your email list, top blog posts, or repeat customer campaigns. These steady wins can carry you through the chaos and give you something strong to build on in 2026.

Practical Tips to Wrap the Year with Purpose, Not Panic

Here are a few actionable ideas to make sure you and your team end the year on a high note:

1. Schedule a Marketing Strategy Day (or Half-Day)

Block off dedicated time on your calendar to step out of the day-to-day and think big. Use that time to review data, brainstorm ideas, and sketch out rough goals for the year ahead. Bonus points if you do this with a team member or outside partner who can bring a fresh perspective.

2. Clean Up Your Email Lists and CRM

You don’t want to drag messy data into a new year. Take some time to conduct a digital audit, clean your email lists, organize your CRM, and archive outdated content. A little digital housekeeping now makes planning and executing next year’s campaigns 10x easier.

3. Build a “2026 Ideas” Parking Lot

Keep a running list of the ideas, content themes, or campaign concepts you want to explore in the new year. Don’t worry about polishing them. For now, just focus on capturing the inspiration while it’s fresh. That way, when you sit down to plan in January, you’re not starting from scratch.

Need some help finding fresh sources of inspiration? Here are some ways to get outside your comfort zone, leverage AI for marketing inspiration, and capture creative marketing ideas through mood boards.

4. Review Your Analytics with Intention

Pull your website traffic, email stats, ad reports, and anything else you’re using to analyze your marketing efforts. Instead of just compiling the data, start to look for longitudinal patterns. What channels are bringing in leads? What content is driving engagement? Let the data drive your strategy for next year.

5. Touch Base with Sales (and Other Key Stakeholders)

Marketing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Use Q4 to have a quick sync with your sales team, operations leader, or leadership team to make sure everyone’s rowing in the same direction. This helps you avoid misalignment and builds trust across departments.

6. Refresh Your Evergreen Content

Have a few blog posts or lead magnets that always perform well? Give them a quick content refresh to keep them relevant and ready to support your early 2026 campaigns. It’s a simple win that pays off big in the long run.

7. Celebrate What You’ve Accomplished

Don’t forget to look back and celebrate the progress you’ve made, whether it was growing your email list, launching a new campaign, or just staying consistent through a tough year. That celebration mindset is a powerful motivator heading into a new one.

Gather, Guide, and Grow with Green Apple

Q4 doesn’t have to feel like a frantic sprint to the finish. With a little strategy and a few intentional moves, it can be the most powerful quarter of the year. Whether you’re setting bold goals for 2026 or wrapping up a year of steady growth, our team is here to help.

At Green Apple, we’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves and dig in through marketing strategy sessions, content planning, or full campaign execution. If you need a partner to help you plan smarter and grow better, we’d love to connect.

Learn more about our approach to strategic planning or connect with our team for a quick consultation.