How Inbound Marketing Is Changing in the Age of AI written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Catch the Full Episode:   Overview HubSpot spent over a decade teaching small businesses how to build inbound marketing funnels. Then AI-driven search cost the company 140 million visits in under a year, an 80% drop in traffic. Revenue kept climbing anyway. John Jantsch talks with Kipp Bodnar about what replaced that lost traffic. They […]

How Inbound Marketing Is Changing in the Age of AI written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Catch the Full Episode:

Overview

HubSpot spent over a decade teaching small businesses how to build inbound marketing funnels. Then AI-driven search cost the company 140 million visits in under a year, an 80% drop in traffic. Revenue kept climbing anyway.

John Jantsch talks with Kipp Bodnar about what replaced that lost traffic. They cover building a “taste profile” so AI tools produce work that sounds like you, the upside and risk of simulating customer reactions before spending a dollar, and why answer engine optimization means writing for machines that now read like humans.

This episode is for marketers, agency owners, and solopreneurs who’ve watched their own traffic slide and want a concrete next step versus another AI framework to file away.

Guest Bio

Kipp Bodnar is CMO at HubSpot, where he’s worked for over 15 years, joining when the company had under $10 million in revenue. He co-hosts the podcast Marketing Against the Grain and sits on the boards of Gusto and Similarweb. His new book, co-written with Kieran Flanagan, is Loop: Outlearn. Outmarket. Outgrow., releasing September 22, 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Build a taste profile (a few hours clarifying what you believe about your customers and your brand) before using AI for content. If writing it out is hard, have someone interview you and feed the recording to AI instead.
• AI buyer simulations get more predictable, but the trade-off is average results. Save your riskiest ideas for real-world tests instead of running everything through a simulation first.
• The 3 most-cited sources on tools like ChatGPT and Claude are currently YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit. If you’re not active there, you’re less likely to get mentioned.
• If you don’t publish your pricing, AI answer engines will guess it, and often get it wrong. Being transparent earlier in the buyer journey works in your favor.
• What separates strong content from AI sameness is what’s unique to you: your own data, your customers’ stories, your specific history.

Great Moments

• [01:36] – Bodnar explains HubSpot’s 140-million-visit traffic drop and the decision to diversify beyond the blog.
• [03:45] – The 4 steps of the Loop framework: express, personalize, amplify, evolve.
• [08:56] – The risk of over-relying on AI buyer simulations for predictable results.
• [12:37] – Answer engine optimization and the shift to writing for machines that now read like humans.
• [18:05] – The big question: is inbound marketing dead.

Memorable Quotes

Resources

• Loop Marketing – HubSpot’s playbook for growth in the AI era
• Marketing Against the Grain – podcast
• Loop: Outlearn. Outmarket. Outgrow. – Amazon
• Loop – HubSpot preorder page
• Kipp Bodnar – HubSpot management bio

Alien director Ridley Scott is still keen to move forward with a third prequel film in the beloved sci-fi franchise. He began making the prequels in 2012 with Prometheus, which fans felt left many questions unresolved. Another movie that tried to answer some of them, Alien: Covenant, followed in 2017, but it underperformed for Fox, […]

The post Ridley Scott’s Third Alien Prequel Will Focus On David and the Dangers of AI appeared first on Den of Geek.

Sometimes the best way to sell a movie is apparently to lie about it a little. Trailers have hidden main characters, made comedies look like horror movies, convinced audiences an actor would survive much longer than they did, and occasionally avoided showing what the movie was actually about. Usually, finding out you’ve been misled would be annoying. With movies, it can make the first viewing even better. The audience walks in expecting one thing, the lights go down, and suddenly the story heads somewhere the posters and trailers carefully avoided mentioning. Looking back, some of these campaigns were almost as clever as the movies themselves.

Here are 15 times Hollywood tricked audiences before they even bought a ticket.

Psycho (1960)

Janet Leigh was the biggest star in the cast and featured prominently in the movie’s promotion, encouraging audiences to assume Marion Crane was the protagonist. Then Alfred Hitchcock did the unthinkable and killed her before the movie was even halfway over.

Scream (1996)

Drew Barrymore was all over the marketing for Scream, making it easy to assume the biggest name in the cast would have a major role. Instead, Casey Becker became the victim of the now-famous opening sequence.

Godzilla (2014)

Bryan Cranston appeared heavily in the trailers just as Breaking Bad had made him one of television’s biggest stars. Anyone expecting him to lead the monster movie discovered fairly quickly that his role was much smaller than the marketing suggested.

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

The trailers leaned heavily into the fantasy world of Terabithia, making the movie look like a kid-friendly adventure in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia. Anyone who saw it knows that’s not the emotional experience audiences actually got.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

The trailers made a talking, rapping kangaroo look like the star of the entire movie. In reality, the kangaroo only talks during a dream sequence, while the actual story is a crime comedy about two friends trying to recover money.

Snow Dogs (2002)

Another early-2000s offender. The marketing featured talking dogs prominently enough to suggest audiences were getting a movie about wisecracking animals. The dogs only speak during a dream sequence.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The trailers understandably sold Brad Pitt and his group of Nazi-hunting Basterds as the center of the story. They’re important, but the finished movie spends much more time with characters like Shosanna and Hans Landa than the marketing might have suggested.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Trailers pushed Guillermo del Toro’s movie as a traditional haunted-house horror story. Del Toro himself described it differently: a gothic romance with ghosts in it. Viewers expecting nonstop scares got something much moodier and more romantic.

The Village (2004)

Coming from M. Night Shyamalan, the campaign emphasized the creatures lurking beyond the village and sold the movie heavily on fear. The actual story is much more interested in isolation, grief, love, and the secret behind the community itself.

It Comes at Night (2017)

The title, poster, and ominous trailers suggested that some terrifying creature might literally arrive after dark. The movie turned out to be a slow psychological horror story about paranoia and mistrust, leaving some audiences wondering when “it” was going to show up.

The Grey (2011)

Marketing famously emphasized Liam Neeson preparing to battle wolves, including imagery from a confrontation that comes at the very end. The actual movie is a bleak survival drama concerned much more with mortality and grief than wolf fighting.

Catfish (2010)

The trailer deliberately presented the documentary almost like a suspense movie, refusing to reveal what Nev Schulman would discover about the woman he’d met online. What followed wasn’t the thriller audiences might have expected, but it did give the internet a whole new word.

Mother! (2017)

Posters and trailers positioned Darren Aronofsky’s film as a mysterious home-invasion-style psychological horror movie. That description barely prepares anyone for the increasingly surreal biblical allegory the film eventually becomes.

Magic Mike (2012)

The posters certainly weren’t shy about selling Channing Tatum and male strippers, and audiences understandably expected a light comedy. Steven Soderbergh’s actual movie spends a surprising amount of time on money, ambition, work, and the less glamorous side of the lifestyle.

The post 14 Movies That Tricked Us All With Their Marketing appeared first on Den of Geek.

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 episode 6. The countdown to the weekend turns disastrous on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in a tension-filled hour that threatens the crew with certain death, slowly begins to shift the pieces into place for the show’s conclusion, and reminds us all why […]

The post Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 6 Review — Off Hour appeared first on Den of Geek.

Sometimes the best way to sell a movie is apparently to lie about it a little. Trailers have hidden main characters, made comedies look like horror movies, convinced audiences an actor would survive much longer than they did, and occasionally avoided showing what the movie was actually about. Usually, finding out you’ve been misled would be annoying. With movies, it can make the first viewing even better. The audience walks in expecting one thing, the lights go down, and suddenly the story heads somewhere the posters and trailers carefully avoided mentioning. Looking back, some of these campaigns were almost as clever as the movies themselves.

Here are 15 times Hollywood tricked audiences before they even bought a ticket.

Psycho (1960)

Janet Leigh was the biggest star in the cast and featured prominently in the movie’s promotion, encouraging audiences to assume Marion Crane was the protagonist. Then Alfred Hitchcock did the unthinkable and killed her before the movie was even halfway over.

Scream (1996)

Drew Barrymore was all over the marketing for Scream, making it easy to assume the biggest name in the cast would have a major role. Instead, Casey Becker became the victim of the now-famous opening sequence.

Godzilla (2014)

Bryan Cranston appeared heavily in the trailers just as Breaking Bad had made him one of television’s biggest stars. Anyone expecting him to lead the monster movie discovered fairly quickly that his role was much smaller than the marketing suggested.

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

The trailers leaned heavily into the fantasy world of Terabithia, making the movie look like a kid-friendly adventure in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia. Anyone who saw it knows that’s not the emotional experience audiences actually got.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

The trailers made a talking, rapping kangaroo look like the star of the entire movie. In reality, the kangaroo only talks during a dream sequence, while the actual story is a crime comedy about two friends trying to recover money.

Snow Dogs (2002)

Another early-2000s offender. The marketing featured talking dogs prominently enough to suggest audiences were getting a movie about wisecracking animals. The dogs only speak during a dream sequence.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The trailers understandably sold Brad Pitt and his group of Nazi-hunting Basterds as the center of the story. They’re important, but the finished movie spends much more time with characters like Shosanna and Hans Landa than the marketing might have suggested.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Trailers pushed Guillermo del Toro’s movie as a traditional haunted-house horror story. Del Toro himself described it differently: a gothic romance with ghosts in it. Viewers expecting nonstop scares got something much moodier and more romantic.

The Village (2004)

Coming from M. Night Shyamalan, the campaign emphasized the creatures lurking beyond the village and sold the movie heavily on fear. The actual story is much more interested in isolation, grief, love, and the secret behind the community itself.

It Comes at Night (2017)

The title, poster, and ominous trailers suggested that some terrifying creature might literally arrive after dark. The movie turned out to be a slow psychological horror story about paranoia and mistrust, leaving some audiences wondering when “it” was going to show up.

The Grey (2011)

Marketing famously emphasized Liam Neeson preparing to battle wolves, including imagery from a confrontation that comes at the very end. The actual movie is a bleak survival drama concerned much more with mortality and grief than wolf fighting.

Catfish (2010)

The trailer deliberately presented the documentary almost like a suspense movie, refusing to reveal what Nev Schulman would discover about the woman he’d met online. What followed wasn’t the thriller audiences might have expected, but it did give the internet a whole new word.

Mother! (2017)

Posters and trailers positioned Darren Aronofsky’s film as a mysterious home-invasion-style psychological horror movie. That description barely prepares anyone for the increasingly surreal biblical allegory the film eventually becomes.

Magic Mike (2012)

The posters certainly weren’t shy about selling Channing Tatum and male strippers, and audiences understandably expected a light comedy. Steven Soderbergh’s actual movie spends a surprising amount of time on money, ambition, work, and the less glamorous side of the lifestyle.

The post 14 Movies That Tricked Us All With Their Marketing appeared first on Den of Geek.

Old television shows can be fascinating time capsules, especially when they casually treat something as normal that would make audiences stop and stare today. Some of these things involve technology, workplace behavior, advertising, family life, or the way characters interacted with each other, while others reveal just how different television itself used to be. What feels particularly strange is how rarely these moments were presented as unusual at the time. They were simply part of the world the characters inhabited. Looking back now, these fifteen details can make even familiar shows feel like they came from a completely different television culture, and some are genuinely hard to imagine making it onto a screen today.

The post 15 Things From Old TV Shows That Would Be Completely Unthinkable Today appeared first on Den of Geek.

Sometimes the best way to sell a movie is apparently to lie about it a little. Trailers have hidden main characters, made comedies look like horror movies, convinced audiences an actor would survive much longer than they did, and occasionally avoided showing what the movie was actually about. Usually, finding out you’ve been misled would be annoying. With movies, it can make the first viewing even better. The audience walks in expecting one thing, the lights go down, and suddenly the story heads somewhere the posters and trailers carefully avoided mentioning. Looking back, some of these campaigns were almost as clever as the movies themselves.

Here are 15 times Hollywood tricked audiences before they even bought a ticket.

Psycho (1960)

Janet Leigh was the biggest star in the cast and featured prominently in the movie’s promotion, encouraging audiences to assume Marion Crane was the protagonist. Then Alfred Hitchcock did the unthinkable and killed her before the movie was even halfway over.

Scream (1996)

Drew Barrymore was all over the marketing for Scream, making it easy to assume the biggest name in the cast would have a major role. Instead, Casey Becker became the victim of the now-famous opening sequence.

Godzilla (2014)

Bryan Cranston appeared heavily in the trailers just as Breaking Bad had made him one of television’s biggest stars. Anyone expecting him to lead the monster movie discovered fairly quickly that his role was much smaller than the marketing suggested.

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

The trailers leaned heavily into the fantasy world of Terabithia, making the movie look like a kid-friendly adventure in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia. Anyone who saw it knows that’s not the emotional experience audiences actually got.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

The trailers made a talking, rapping kangaroo look like the star of the entire movie. In reality, the kangaroo only talks during a dream sequence, while the actual story is a crime comedy about two friends trying to recover money.

Snow Dogs (2002)

Another early-2000s offender. The marketing featured talking dogs prominently enough to suggest audiences were getting a movie about wisecracking animals. The dogs only speak during a dream sequence.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The trailers understandably sold Brad Pitt and his group of Nazi-hunting Basterds as the center of the story. They’re important, but the finished movie spends much more time with characters like Shosanna and Hans Landa than the marketing might have suggested.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Trailers pushed Guillermo del Toro’s movie as a traditional haunted-house horror story. Del Toro himself described it differently: a gothic romance with ghosts in it. Viewers expecting nonstop scares got something much moodier and more romantic.

The Village (2004)

Coming from M. Night Shyamalan, the campaign emphasized the creatures lurking beyond the village and sold the movie heavily on fear. The actual story is much more interested in isolation, grief, love, and the secret behind the community itself.

It Comes at Night (2017)

The title, poster, and ominous trailers suggested that some terrifying creature might literally arrive after dark. The movie turned out to be a slow psychological horror story about paranoia and mistrust, leaving some audiences wondering when “it” was going to show up.

The Grey (2011)

Marketing famously emphasized Liam Neeson preparing to battle wolves, including imagery from a confrontation that comes at the very end. The actual movie is a bleak survival drama concerned much more with mortality and grief than wolf fighting.

Catfish (2010)

The trailer deliberately presented the documentary almost like a suspense movie, refusing to reveal what Nev Schulman would discover about the woman he’d met online. What followed wasn’t the thriller audiences might have expected, but it did give the internet a whole new word.

Mother! (2017)

Posters and trailers positioned Darren Aronofsky’s film as a mysterious home-invasion-style psychological horror movie. That description barely prepares anyone for the increasingly surreal biblical allegory the film eventually becomes.

Magic Mike (2012)

The posters certainly weren’t shy about selling Channing Tatum and male strippers, and audiences understandably expected a light comedy. Steven Soderbergh’s actual movie spends a surprising amount of time on money, ambition, work, and the less glamorous side of the lifestyle.

The post 14 Movies That Tricked Us All With Their Marketing appeared first on Den of Geek.

The 1990s produced plenty of unforgettable celebrities, but it also produced a remarkable number of headlines we still remember about them today. Before social media could turn every rumor into a worldwide conversation within minutes, celebrity scandals spread through tabloids, television interviews, entertainment shows, and front pages at an astonishing speed. Some involved relationships, some ended careers, and others became cultural moments that people still bring up decades later. The decade had no shortage of famous faces finding themselves at the center of controversy, often with cameras following every development. These fifteen scandals became part of ’90s pop culture and remain surprisingly familiar even today.

The post The Biggest ’90s Celeb Scandals We Still Remember Today appeared first on Den of Geek.

Sometimes the best way to sell a movie is apparently to lie about it a little. Trailers have hidden main characters, made comedies look like horror movies, convinced audiences an actor would survive much longer than they did, and occasionally avoided showing what the movie was actually about. Usually, finding out you’ve been misled would be annoying. With movies, it can make the first viewing even better. The audience walks in expecting one thing, the lights go down, and suddenly the story heads somewhere the posters and trailers carefully avoided mentioning. Looking back, some of these campaigns were almost as clever as the movies themselves.

Here are 15 times Hollywood tricked audiences before they even bought a ticket.

Psycho (1960)

Janet Leigh was the biggest star in the cast and featured prominently in the movie’s promotion, encouraging audiences to assume Marion Crane was the protagonist. Then Alfred Hitchcock did the unthinkable and killed her before the movie was even halfway over.

Scream (1996)

Drew Barrymore was all over the marketing for Scream, making it easy to assume the biggest name in the cast would have a major role. Instead, Casey Becker became the victim of the now-famous opening sequence.

Godzilla (2014)

Bryan Cranston appeared heavily in the trailers just as Breaking Bad had made him one of television’s biggest stars. Anyone expecting him to lead the monster movie discovered fairly quickly that his role was much smaller than the marketing suggested.

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

The trailers leaned heavily into the fantasy world of Terabithia, making the movie look like a kid-friendly adventure in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia. Anyone who saw it knows that’s not the emotional experience audiences actually got.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

The trailers made a talking, rapping kangaroo look like the star of the entire movie. In reality, the kangaroo only talks during a dream sequence, while the actual story is a crime comedy about two friends trying to recover money.

Snow Dogs (2002)

Another early-2000s offender. The marketing featured talking dogs prominently enough to suggest audiences were getting a movie about wisecracking animals. The dogs only speak during a dream sequence.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The trailers understandably sold Brad Pitt and his group of Nazi-hunting Basterds as the center of the story. They’re important, but the finished movie spends much more time with characters like Shosanna and Hans Landa than the marketing might have suggested.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Trailers pushed Guillermo del Toro’s movie as a traditional haunted-house horror story. Del Toro himself described it differently: a gothic romance with ghosts in it. Viewers expecting nonstop scares got something much moodier and more romantic.

The Village (2004)

Coming from M. Night Shyamalan, the campaign emphasized the creatures lurking beyond the village and sold the movie heavily on fear. The actual story is much more interested in isolation, grief, love, and the secret behind the community itself.

It Comes at Night (2017)

The title, poster, and ominous trailers suggested that some terrifying creature might literally arrive after dark. The movie turned out to be a slow psychological horror story about paranoia and mistrust, leaving some audiences wondering when “it” was going to show up.

The Grey (2011)

Marketing famously emphasized Liam Neeson preparing to battle wolves, including imagery from a confrontation that comes at the very end. The actual movie is a bleak survival drama concerned much more with mortality and grief than wolf fighting.

Catfish (2010)

The trailer deliberately presented the documentary almost like a suspense movie, refusing to reveal what Nev Schulman would discover about the woman he’d met online. What followed wasn’t the thriller audiences might have expected, but it did give the internet a whole new word.

Mother! (2017)

Posters and trailers positioned Darren Aronofsky’s film as a mysterious home-invasion-style psychological horror movie. That description barely prepares anyone for the increasingly surreal biblical allegory the film eventually becomes.

Magic Mike (2012)

The posters certainly weren’t shy about selling Channing Tatum and male strippers, and audiences understandably expected a light comedy. Steven Soderbergh’s actual movie spends a surprising amount of time on money, ambition, work, and the less glamorous side of the lifestyle.

The post 14 Movies That Tricked Us All With Their Marketing appeared first on Den of Geek.

Getting fired is usually pretty straightforward. Maybe someone keeps showing up late, misses too many deadlines, or simply isn’t a good fit for the job. Then there are the employees who make HR departments earn every penny of their salaries. In a recent AskReddit thread, managers and workers shared some of the strangest firings they had ever witnessed, and several sound more like sitcom plots than workplace incidents. We’re talking about a salesperson throwing a customer’s keys onto a roof, an employee getting caught by his own mouse jiggler, and someone losing a job over three pieces of chocolate. Others prove that getting caught is sometimes less embarrassing than the explanation that follows. Here are 15 of the wildest employee firing stories Reddit had to offer.

The post 15 HR Managers Share Their Wildest Ever Employee Firing appeared first on Den of Geek.

Sometimes the best way to sell a movie is apparently to lie about it a little. Trailers have hidden main characters, made comedies look like horror movies, convinced audiences an actor would survive much longer than they did, and occasionally avoided showing what the movie was actually about. Usually, finding out you’ve been misled would be annoying. With movies, it can make the first viewing even better. The audience walks in expecting one thing, the lights go down, and suddenly the story heads somewhere the posters and trailers carefully avoided mentioning. Looking back, some of these campaigns were almost as clever as the movies themselves.

Here are 15 times Hollywood tricked audiences before they even bought a ticket.

Psycho (1960)

Janet Leigh was the biggest star in the cast and featured prominently in the movie’s promotion, encouraging audiences to assume Marion Crane was the protagonist. Then Alfred Hitchcock did the unthinkable and killed her before the movie was even halfway over.

Scream (1996)

Drew Barrymore was all over the marketing for Scream, making it easy to assume the biggest name in the cast would have a major role. Instead, Casey Becker became the victim of the now-famous opening sequence.

Godzilla (2014)

Bryan Cranston appeared heavily in the trailers just as Breaking Bad had made him one of television’s biggest stars. Anyone expecting him to lead the monster movie discovered fairly quickly that his role was much smaller than the marketing suggested.

Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

The trailers leaned heavily into the fantasy world of Terabithia, making the movie look like a kid-friendly adventure in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia. Anyone who saw it knows that’s not the emotional experience audiences actually got.

Kangaroo Jack (2003)

The trailers made a talking, rapping kangaroo look like the star of the entire movie. In reality, the kangaroo only talks during a dream sequence, while the actual story is a crime comedy about two friends trying to recover money.

Snow Dogs (2002)

Another early-2000s offender. The marketing featured talking dogs prominently enough to suggest audiences were getting a movie about wisecracking animals. The dogs only speak during a dream sequence.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The trailers understandably sold Brad Pitt and his group of Nazi-hunting Basterds as the center of the story. They’re important, but the finished movie spends much more time with characters like Shosanna and Hans Landa than the marketing might have suggested.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Trailers pushed Guillermo del Toro’s movie as a traditional haunted-house horror story. Del Toro himself described it differently: a gothic romance with ghosts in it. Viewers expecting nonstop scares got something much moodier and more romantic.

The Village (2004)

Coming from M. Night Shyamalan, the campaign emphasized the creatures lurking beyond the village and sold the movie heavily on fear. The actual story is much more interested in isolation, grief, love, and the secret behind the community itself.

It Comes at Night (2017)

The title, poster, and ominous trailers suggested that some terrifying creature might literally arrive after dark. The movie turned out to be a slow psychological horror story about paranoia and mistrust, leaving some audiences wondering when “it” was going to show up.

The Grey (2011)

Marketing famously emphasized Liam Neeson preparing to battle wolves, including imagery from a confrontation that comes at the very end. The actual movie is a bleak survival drama concerned much more with mortality and grief than wolf fighting.

Catfish (2010)

The trailer deliberately presented the documentary almost like a suspense movie, refusing to reveal what Nev Schulman would discover about the woman he’d met online. What followed wasn’t the thriller audiences might have expected, but it did give the internet a whole new word.

Mother! (2017)

Posters and trailers positioned Darren Aronofsky’s film as a mysterious home-invasion-style psychological horror movie. That description barely prepares anyone for the increasingly surreal biblical allegory the film eventually becomes.

Magic Mike (2012)

The posters certainly weren’t shy about selling Channing Tatum and male strippers, and audiences understandably expected a light comedy. Steven Soderbergh’s actual movie spends a surprising amount of time on money, ambition, work, and the less glamorous side of the lifestyle.

The post 14 Movies That Tricked Us All With Their Marketing appeared first on Den of Geek.