This Week in Marketing: ChatGPT Ads Go Live, Zero-Click Search Hits 68%

Grab your coffee. It's the last day of July, and a handful of things landed this week that actually touch how you get found and how you sell. Here's the plain-English version, and more importantly, why each one matters for a small business like yours.

ChatGPT ads are now live, and that's a new front door for customers

The big one this week: OpenAI's self-serve ad platform inside ChatGPT went live. In simple terms, you can now create, run, and adjust ads right inside the tool that millions of people use to ask questions all day. It works a lot like the ad managers you already know, with the option to pay per view or per click, and OpenAI says the ads won't change the actual answers ChatGPT gives people.

Why should you care? Because a growing chunk of your customers aren't typing questions into Google anymore. They're asking a chatbot. When someone types "best bookkeeping help for a small cafe" into ChatGPT, that's a person with real intent, ready to act. Being able to show up there without a giant agency budget is a genuine opening for small businesses. My advice: don't rush in and blow your budget on day one. Start tiny, test one clear offer, and watch what a click actually costs you before you scale anything.

Klaviyo is folding social media into your customer data

If you already use Klaviyo for email, this one's handy. Klaviyo rolled out new social marketing tools that pull your organic social profiles into the same customer database you use for email. It uses machine learning to look at how your audience behaves, then helps schedule your posts and even drafts the copy for you.

Here's the real benefit. Most small business owners are running email in one tab, Instagram in another, and a sticky note somewhere with post ideas. Pulling social and email into one place means you stop guessing about who your customer is. The same person who opens your emails and likes your posts finally looks like one person, not two. That makes your messages more relevant and saves you the daily scramble of "what do I post today." Just remember the drafted copy is a starting point, not the final word. Read it out loud and make it sound like you.

Zero-click search hit 68 percent, so being seen on the page matters more than ever

A new study put zero-click searches at around 68 percent. That means most Google searches now end without anyone clicking through to a website. People get their answer right on the results page, often from an AI summary at the top, and they move on.

This is the SEO story that should shape your whole year. Ranking number one isn't the finish line if nobody clicks. So the game shifts to making sure your business shows up inside those answers and summaries, with clear, useful information a search engine can pull and trust. Practical stuff wins here: accurate hours, honest reviews, real answers to the questions your customers actually ask, and content that sounds like a helpful human wrote it. There was also a nice bit of news for local shops. Google Business Profile now connects to GA4, so you can finally see how people find and act on your profile alongside the rest of your website numbers. If you run a local business, go link those two this weekend. It's free insight you were missing.

LinkedIn opened a Creator Marketplace

LinkedIn launched a Creator Marketplace that connects brands with creators on the platform. In everyday terms, it's a matchmaking spot for finding people who already have the trust of an audience you want to reach.

For B2B and service businesses, this is worth a look. You don't need a celebrity. A respected voice in your niche, someone your ideal client already follows, can do more for you than a dozen cold posts. Start by browsing for creators who genuinely serve your kind of customer, and think small partnership first. One honest collaboration beats a splashy one that doesn't fit.

One more to keep on your radar

Meta widened its AI labels so ads on Facebook and Instagram now get flagged when they were made or heavily edited with generative AI. It won't change your day tomorrow, but the direction is clear. If you use AI to whip up ad images or video, expect more of it to be labeled, and lean toward being upfront with your audience. Honesty tends to age well.

The takeaway for this week

You don't need to chase all of this at once. Pick one. Maybe you test a small ChatGPT ad, or you finally connect Google Business Profile to GA4, or you clean up the info that shows in search answers. Small, steady moves beat big overwhelmed ones every time. Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you back here next Friday.