For the second day in a row, I’m starting your day with a football analogy. I apologize. It’s baseball season. I’ll try harder next time.

If you follow football, you’ve heard the phrase, “Defense wins championships.” You can argue its football merits all you want, but when you play defense in marketing, bad things can happen. Contributor Zac Stucki discusses the danger of resting on your laurels and ignoring acquisition.

Also today, it’s Friday. Let’s have some fun. Play some MarTech MadLibs and share your ridiculous LinkedIn post with the community.

Have a nice weekend.

Mike Pastore
Editorial Director

HubSpot

HubSpot announces deep research connector to ChatGPT

HubSpot is putting doctorate-level research into its CRM with a connector to ChatGPT.

Marketing management

The hidden cost of playing defense in marketing

Google, Skype and a $10B SaaS firm all got comfortable. Learn how to spot when your strategy is stuck — and start moving forward.

Marketing technology

Gen Z is forcing a rebuild of the martech stack in higher ed and beyond

Forget polished brochures — Gen Z wants TikToks and texts. Here’s how to rebuild your martech stack for them.

Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)

State of data report

The State of Data 2025 shows how better data quality, governance, and integration are separating the AI leaders from everyone else.

Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)

The latest AI-powered martech news and releases

Sergey Brin says threatening AI gets the best results. AI is fighting back with threats of blackmail. So, maybe stick with "please" and "thank you."

B2B marketing

Marketing on LinkedIn: What you need to know

Your guide to LinkedIn's tools, strategies and best practices. Updated with new offerings to help marketers grab audience attention.

MarTech webinar

The Ultimate Consent Strategy to Maximize Customer Opt-Ins in 2025

Your opted-in database isn’t just a list—it’s the foundation for understanding your customers and driving revenue. But earning and managing consent is harder than ever.

What is experiential marketing?

Discover what experiential marketing is, how it works, and why it's key to customer engagement. See real examples and tips to boost brand experience.

What else we're reading

• Search may be changing, but people still consume a ton of media
• Name drop your best ever tradeshow giveaways/promotions
• Candid thoughts about marketing jobs (from a CMO & former CRO)
• How is everyone sending their newsletters these days?
• Using AI to help sell? Buyers are using it to disappear.
• How AI is changing market research

MarTech research

• NEW! Get the 2025 State of Your Stack Survey report by downloading the PDF, flipping through a carousel, listening to a discussion of the results or watching the keynote session from the Spring 2025 MarTech Conference — all without registration.

MarTech Intelligence Reports are in-depth, independent and indispensable. They’re designed to help marketers navigate the martech landscape with questions to ask during the buying process, vendor profiles and more.

Download your Intelligence Report today:

• NEW! Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
• Generative AI for Content Creation
• B2B Data Enrichment and Hygiene
• Email Marketing Platforms
• Identity Resolution Platforms
• Marketing Work Management Platforms
• Marketing Automation Platforms
• Customer Data Platforms.
• Call Analytics and Conversational Intelligence

What they're saying

• “If your marketing reads like a car ad — all features, name-drops and shiny specs — you’re not positioning, you’re posturing. You’re not helping customers decide, you’re just tooting your own horn.” – Zac Stucki in The hidden cost of playing defense in marketing
• “They’re digital natives who grew up with smartphones, social media and hyper-personalization. And they bring those expectations to all interactions, including how they research and apply to college.” – Alicia Arnold in Gen Z is forcing a rebuild of the martech stack in higher ed and beyond

From Search Engine Land