Hey Pulsers 👋 I’ve had an interesting couple of days lurking on Reddit. A particular post caught my attention about disappointing campaign conversions.
This hit on something we marketers don’t always want to admit: we won’t always get it right. Sometimes our market or audience analysis gets skewed by countless variables, including some we don’t even realise are in play. The biggest variable of all? Humans. The ever-evolving, deeply unpredictable ultimate audience.
What works today may fall flat tomorrow. One moment you’re behind the trend, the next you accidentally land so perfectly you look ahead of the curve. The pendulum of marketing swings both ways. All we can do is our due diligence and execute based on the demand we’ve analysed.
With that little intro out of the way, today we’ll be talking about every marketer’s nightmare😱 And no, I’m not referring to an insufficient ad budget. Although, that’s a close second.
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What we'll cover
Theme of The Week
When Strategy Betrays You
Around 90% of organizations fail to execute their strategies successfully. But, this failure usually isn’t about a bad idea, it’s about how execution meets reality.
Common reasons strategies fail include:
When assumptions about your target audience are outdated or incomplete.
When what worked previously no longer resonates.
Competitors, regulations, or economic shifts disrupting your plan.
Gaps in research leaving blind spots in execution.
Building a strategy on what should work instead of testing in real time.
The good news is recognizing these pitfalls early lets you course-correct fast. This framework will help you spot misalignment, adjust quickly, and keep your strategy from derailing completely.
Brand Campaign: McDonald’s #McDStories📝
In 2012, McDonald’s launched #McDStories, inviting people to tweet their favorite McDonald’s memories.
The idea was perfect on paper: engagement, storytelling, and user-generated content. In practice, it quickly became a cautionary tale about execution.
Why It Failed
Open Invitation | Viral Negativity | Timing and Oversight | Brand vs Audience Gap |
The hashtag was too broad. Instead of positive stories, people shared sarcasm and criticism | Tweets joked about health, service, and even rats, dominating the conversation | No moderation or contingency plan meant negative posts spread unchecked | McDonald’s assumed memories would be happy. Social media amplified extremes instead |
The idea wasn’t bad, the execution was. Curated submissions or clear guidelines could have made it a win. Even a brilliant strategy needs careful execution. Nostalgia and storytelling only work if you guide your audience.
For more resources to help you level up as a marketer, check out the Resource Hub at the bottom of the page.
🌱 The Growth Lab
Lessons from My First SaaS Article
I recently ventured into the world of SaaS. Along the way, I noticed something missing in a lot of SaaS product-building processes: leading with conversation.
Many products miss product-market fit because founders never actually speak to their target audience. They assume they understand the problem, build a solution, and then get surprised when reality doesn’t match their assumptions. The same mistake behind 42% of startup failures.
I published the article on November 27th, and announced it on LinkedIn the next day. I expected a few reads since it was just a test article I wrote for myself, but I didn’t anticipate the wave that followed. The lessons were eye-opening.
My site gained:
191 Page Views
132 Active Users
90% mobile device users
<1 minute Engagement
The low engagement I noticed usually means one thing: people were landing on the page, but the content, channel, and audience were not fully aligned.
Here’s what that misalignment looked like:
Audience Fit | Channel Quality | Intent Level |
The content was for people who cared about deeper SaaS ideas. | The channels sending traffic were cold sources. People were stumbling onto my link with zero context | The visitors weren’t the same as my LinkedIn audience, so their intent was naturally lower |
So the content was strong, but it was going to people who were not in the right mindset and were not primed to care.
Then came the day of the LinkedIn announcement:
Traffic | Engagement | Visits |
90% of the week’s views | 1:23 minutes | 20 high-intent sessions |
I finally achieved alignment. Right topic, right channel, right people. When those three click, engagement follows.
But that high-intent spike lasted one day. After that, the site went back to accidental visitors. Warm audiences, like my LinkedIn community, arrive curious and ready to read. Cold audiences show up like someone opening the fridge out of boredom.
So the decline was not failure. It was simply the traffic mix shifting.
Warm Traffic Impact | Cold Traffic Impact |
A short burst of deep engagement | A natural slide back to lower engagement |
Going Forward
This week made something clear: If I want engagement to stabilize (not spike and fall), I need to intentionally design for the channels and behaviors I’m actually seeing. Now, here’s what I’m changing:
Improved mobile experience | Diversifying distribution | Strengthening content–audience fit |
Most visitors are on mobile, so I’m improving the flow with shorter paragraphs and moving the TL;DR to the middle | I’ll branch out to X/Twitter, communities, and SaaS groups | The SaaS article proved what resonates, so I’ll focus more on that lane for now |
Adding context before the click | Smoothening the cold-traffic experience |
I’ll share more snippets and mini-threads so readers arrive already primed | Cold visitors need value fast, so I’ll sharpen intros, hooks, and early “why this matters” cues |
As far as first articles go, this one taught me a lot. I hope these insights do the same for you. You can also read the full piece that sparked all this.
Marketing Hits & Misses
Image credit: American Eagle
MISS: American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” Ad
American Eagle’s 2025 campaign with Sydney Sweeney tried to lean into a playful “jeans” versus “genes” pun. On paper, it sounded clever, but in reality, it sparked more side-eyes than smiles.
Why the strategy failed
Tone-deaf messaging | Shallow narrative | Misalignment with brand values |
The pun on “jeans” vs. “genes” drew attention but also sparked criticism for feeling shallow and insensitive | The ad leaned heavily on Sweeney’s popularity and physical appeal without connecting to a meaningful brand story | American Eagle’s identity focuses on inclusivity and authentic self-expression and this campaign felt like it missed that mark |
Public sentiment
4,000% increase in negative sentiment around the ad within a week Source: Cyabra | ~2.7 million engagements and an estimated 881 million potential views on social media Source: Cyabra |
How it could have worked
Audience Connection | Cultural Sensitivity | Brand Alignment |
Built a story that ties the product to the audience’s lifestyle or aspirations, not just a celebrity pun | Ensured clever wordplay didn’t trivialize personal or cultural issues | Aligned creative execution with core brand values, reinforcing identity rather than chasing trends |
Takeaway: Gaining attention is easy, but strategy fails when it isn’t aligned with what people need.
Check out the ad here.
Image credit: Levi
HIT: Levi’s x Beyoncé “Denim on Denim”
It’s impossible to discuss American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney collaboration without mentioning Levi’s partnership with Beyoncé, both highlights of the year. The campaign during her "Cowboy Carter" era was a masterclass in strategy done right, earning positive public perception, boosting sales, and showing how alignment with brand values and culture can amplify impact.
Why the strategy worked
Authentic brand alignment | Cultural relevance | Empowerment storytelling | Strategic partnership |
Levi’s heritage, authenticity, and self-expression were front and center | Tapping into Beyoncé’s era made the campaign timely and resonant | Visuals and messaging celebrated individuality and confidence | Beyoncé amplified reach while staying true to Levi’s voice and values |
Public sentiment
Generated about $5 million in media impact value (MIV) in just 48 hours after its launch Source: Black Enterprise | In the quarter following the launch, sales of Levi’s iconic 501 jeans grew ~ 11%, while the women’s business posted double-digit growth Source: Fortune |
Takeaway: When strategy is aligned with values, culture, and audience, campaigns don’t just grab attention, they sustain engagement and trust beyond the launch.
Check out the ad here.
Spotlight Sessions
The focus of this week’s Spotlight is Catlog, an online website builder that enables Instagram and Whatsapp sellers to create online stores with ease.
Though their landing page strategy is admirable in its visuals and in addressing audience pain points, it had a few gaps. I reimagined their landing page to:
Put their value proposition upfront
Position user stories early
Structure copy for quick scanning
Help sellers easily see the end-to-end process being offered
This video is the second installment in my Reimagined series, where I take existing messaging and strategy and reimagine them for stronger audience connection and higher conversion.
Guess what? You can catch future instalments on LinkedIn as soon as they drop.
🎙 Community Corner
Now that we’ve covered the analysis of my SaaS article, let’s look at the positive side. I received some wonderful reviews from my target audience, showing that it truly resonated.
Review 1
Review 2
Review 3
I have also added a resource hub section to the end of the newsletter. It’s packed with FREE resources to help you level up as a marketer.
You can also reach out to me with your marketing questions or challenges by replying to this email. I LOVE getting to know my readers.
Key Highlights
✅ Do’s
Validate Audience & Intent: Make sure your content and channels match the people you want to reach. Test assumptions and segment for high intent.
Design for Engagement: Lead with value, structure copy for scanning, and highlight outcomes upfront so users see the full offering quickly.
Course-Correct Fast: Spot misalignment early and iterate on content, channels, and messaging before small issues become big failures.
❌ Dont’s
Don’t Rely on One Channel: Trends, behavior, and attention shift constantly. One warm source isn’t enough.
Don’t Ignore Context: Sending cold audiences into long-form content without priming them kills engagement.
Don’t Skip Alignment Checks: Even strong ideas fail if messaging, brand values, or audience fit aren’t verified before launch.
Micro mastery
Sharpen your marketer’s instincts in just 5 minutes! Dive into this strategy post-mortem challenge, discover what went wrong, course-correct fast, and earn a badge to show off your skills.
Take the challenge here ⬇️
🎬 That’s a Wrap
A strategy can look great on paper, but execution tells the real story. Alignment, audience fit, and fast course correction decide whether it fails or wins.
Every misstep, from low engagement to a failed post, is just data showing what actually moves your audience. Learn, adjust, iterate, and your next success gets closer.
Mantra of the week
Not every step lands perfectly; the path teaches more than the stumble.
One more thing: Why did the marketer bring a life jacket to the strategy meeting? Because they knew their plan was about to sink without execution! 😂
Till next time,
Faridah
📚Resource Hub📚
For Complete Beginners
HubSpot – Digital Marketing Course
Covers core digital skills (SEO, social, email, analytics) so you can run real campaigns confidently.HubSpot – Content Marketing Course
Teaches how to plan and write content that attracts, engages, and converts.Google Digital Garage – Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
Builds solid SEO, ads, and analytics basics with an industry-recognized certificate.OpenStax – Principles of Marketing
Covers strategy and consumer-behavior fundamentals every marketer needs.
For Intermediates Who’ve Run a Campaign or Two
SEMrush Academy
Deepens SEO, PPC, and content skills so your campaigns don’t just run, they scale and perform better.Google Skillshop
Builds real data and paid-ads fluency, helping you use analytics and ad spend smarter, not harder.Buffer & Free Guides
Improves content rhythm, social engagement, and consistency. Perfect for once you’re beyond just launching.
