There’s a difference between doing what works and doing what’s expected.
Much of marketing still runs on habit, posting at the “right” time and following the platform’s best practices. Build the funnel the way everyone says you should, and they will come, right?
It’s not that those things are wrong, but they often go unchallenged.
The environment in which many of those standard practices were built keeps changing. What used to be reliable — organic reach, keyword targeting, polished content — doesn’t carry the same weight it once did. But the playbooks haven’t fully caught up (and some haven’t even started to revise, let’s be honest).
Smart brands adjust before it becomes a best practice. They don’t throw everything out, but they get more honest about what’s actually driving results and what just looks like it should. Because what actually gets results is how those old metrics became the standard in the first place.
Liquid Death lets results, not metrics, drive decisions
Liquid Death has built its brand on spectacle, from coffin-shaped makeup kits to skateboards infused with Tony Hawk’s blood. Their campaigns often feel more like stunts than strategy.
But behind that chaos is a much more disciplined shift, one that runs counter to how most brands still approach marketing. Instead of optimizing for platform-reported performance or broad attribution models, Liquid Death is zeroing in on a simpler question: Did this actually drive a sale that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?
That’s where incrementality comes in.
Using Ibotta’s LiveLift, the brand is measuring real-world purchase behavior in near real time, comparing exposed audiences to control groups and adjusting spend based on actual lift.
If a campaign is generating incremental sales at an acceptable cost, they scale it. If it isn’t, they cut it. That shift is doing more than improving efficiency. It’s changing how the entire marketing funnel is managed.
Instead of treating brand and performance as separate efforts, Liquid Death is using bottom-of-funnel data as a safety net. When they know what’s driving real sales, they can spend more aggressively on awareness without guessing whether it’s working.
It’s also reframing audience strategy. Rather than over-investing in loyal fans, the data is pushing budget toward lapsed or occasional buyers — the people most likely to generate incremental growth.
Most marketing isn’t being judged on whether it works; it’s being judged on whether it looks like it works, and Liquid Death is quietly opting out of that system.
What this means for real estate professionals
Many agents are probably still measuring marketing the way platforms want them to — impressions, clicks, engagement, maybe leads.
But none of those metrics answer the only question that matters: Would this client have worked with you anyway?
Incrementality thinking forces a different approach.
Instead of asking “Did this post perform well?” the better question is “Did this create a conversation, inquiry or relationship that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?”
That might look like:
- Tracking where serious inquiries actually come from, not just form fills
- Paying attention to patterns in repeat touchpoints before a client converts
- Shifting effort away from audiences who already know and trust you and toward those who need a reminder you exist
You don’t need Ibotta-level data to apply this. But you do need to be willing to stop trusting surface-level (often called vanity) metrics.
Because the uncomfortable truth is the same in real estate as it is in other industries: A lot of what looks like marketing performance is just noise.
Canva turns design into a prompt — and a workflow
With Canva’s updated AI assistant, users can now describe what they want, and Canva handles the rest, including planning the task, calling the right tools and generating fully editable designs built in layers. Instead of jumping between features, the assistant orchestrates the process for you.
The assistant doesn’t stop at generating visuals. It can pull context from tools like Slack, Google Drive and Gmail, run background tasks, browse the web for inputs and even draft content on a schedule. The goal is to reduce the number of decisions and steps between idea and execution.
At the same time, Canva is reinforcing its role as the “final mile.” Even as AI tools expand across platforms, including Adobe and Figma, Canva is positioning itself as where content ultimately gets refined, approved and published.
What this means for real estate professionals
Design is becoming less of a barrier and less of a differentiator.
If anyone can generate a polished listing graphic, social post or flyer with a prompt, the advantage doesn’t come from having better tools. It comes from having better inputs.
That means:
- Clear positioning and messaging matter more than ever
- Knowing your audience will outperform knowing the platform
- Consistency becomes easier to execute, but harder to stand out with
If everyone is using the same tools to generate “good enough” content, most of it will start to look and feel the same. The agents who win will be the ones who treat AI as a production layer, not a strategy.
Google replaces legacy search ads with AI Max
Google is phasing out the old way of running search ads.
With AI Max for Search moving out of beta, the company plans to replace Dynamic Search Ads and other legacy tools by September. Advertisers can switch now, but the transition will happen automatically.
The shift reflects how people search today. Queries are longer, more conversational and harder to match with simple keywords. AI Max responds by using real-time intent, pulling from multiple signals to decide targeting and generate creative on the fly.
That means less manual control and more reliance on Google’s system to optimize performance.
The tradeoff is familiar. More automation, less visibility into what’s actually driving results. Search isn’t just about matching queries anymore but about interpreting them.
What this means for real estate professionals
You’ll have less control over how you show up in search, so clarity matters more than optimization. Your messaging, website and positioning need to be strong enough for AI to interpret and deliver you to the right people without as much manual input.
The inbox is becoming the new algorithm
For years, email was treated like a backup plan. Now it’s starting to be recognized as a prized resource and first-line strategy by many.
At Social Media Week, marketers made a clear case for why newsletters are gaining ground: Social platforms still drive discovery, but they’ve become unreliable for consistent reach. Algorithms decide what gets seen, when and by whom, and even large followings don’t guarantee distribution.
Email flips that dynamic.
Instead of competing with an algorithm, brands are building direct relationships with audiences who’ve opted in. The result is more control, more consistency and often a deeper level of engagement.
But the content looks different.
What’s working in newsletters isn’t polished, repurposed social content. It’s more raw, more specific and more human. Behind-the-scenes insights, niche topics and unfiltered perspectives are outperforming highly produced formats.
As platforms become more automated, controlled and unpredictable, the value of channels you own — and the relationships within them — keeps increasing, and email is one of the precious few a brand can truly own.
What this means for real estate professionals
If you’re relying on social media to stay in front of your audience, you’re building on rented ground. An email list gives you consistency and control, but only if you treat it like a relationship, not a sales channel.
TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read)
- Liquid Death is using incrementality, not platform metrics, to decide what marketing actually drives sales.
- Canva is turning design into an AI-driven workflow, reducing execution to a prompt.
- Google is replacing legacy search ads with AI Max, shifting control from advertisers to automation.
- Newsletters are gaining ground as brands look for reliable, owned audience channels.
Instead of defaulting to what platforms recommend or what’s always been done, brands are putting more weight on what they can actually prove is working — or at least getting closer to it. That means questioning familiar metrics, simplifying workflows and investing in channels they can control.
None of this is as flashy as the trends themselves, but it’s a more durable way to operate.
The brands that keep up are the ones willing to rethink what they measure, how they work and where they put their effort before everyone else does.
Each week on Trending, digital marketer Jessi Healey dives into what’s buzzing in social media and why it matters for real estate professionals. From viral trends to platform changes, she’ll break it all down so you know what’s worth your time — and what’s not.
