Here’s a startling reality every blogger must come to terms with: Even your biggest fans miss much of your content. It’s simple math. The average email open rate is about 30%. Mine is about 45% but that means that week in and week out, 55% of my subscribers miss out on my content.
So each year I re-cap my most popular posts of the year with a little “behind-the-scenes” story behind the post. Here we go.
1. When There’s No More “Up.” Lessons from the Top of the Mountain
I typically write about marketing ideas and trends, but the response to this post showed that people appreciate personal stories. I received so many comments on this post, which captured a very strange and unexpected reaction after I had achieved a great career milestone.
2. I Just Met My AI Clone. It Was 90% Me and 10% Existential Crisis
We are in the early days of using AI to create synthetic entities, and this was a wake-up call when a friend uploaded my content to mimic me. It led to an introspective period for me — what is my role in the world when AI can act like me? It led to the creation of MarkBot, an expert-trained model I’ve published to help people for free.
3. Is it time to embrace ethically-sourced marketing?
The idea that marketing is the root cause of many societal problems swirled around in my head for years and it was time to bring it into the world. The reaction to this post was huge as I discovered many people had the same concerns. Hopefully this is the beginning of a larger conversation.
4. The LinkedIn growth secrets nobody talks about
Most people get so very little traction on LinkedIn. But it’s not that hard. A big success with a tiny post was all the excuse I needed to teach a few tips and tricks to boost LinkedIn success.
5. Rage Farms: The Hidden Industry Weaponizing Outrage Against Brands
I was captivated by the politicization of the Cracker Barrel drama. Are we in a world where marketers can’t do their jobs (even a bad one) without becoming a national news story?
But there was a bigger question — Why did this happen and who was behind it? This became investigative journalism and the answers I found should shock and dismay every business leader.
6. The sad and mysterious tale of my invisible book
This was probably the weirdest post of the year. I peeled back the curtain on one of my biggest career disappointments — Cumulative Advantage. This might be my most beloved and best-reviewed book and it never took off. I’ve been haunted by this failure and told my story.
7. Please. Let’s stop the B.S. about personal brands
Just seeing this headline gets my emotions up again. I am so tired of people disparaging personal brands, especially those with strong personal brands! A post by Adam Grant was the tipping point …
8. Protecting Your Content From AI: Not So Fast!
I was concerned that my friends were missing an obvious factor in AI success. We might want to protect our content from AI bots, but aren’t we better served by integrating with the system? A non-obvious idea!
9. My All-time Best Interviewer Was an AI Bot
In 2025, I did more than 250 interviews, but this one might be the most memorable. The “person” who asked the best questions was my AI friend ChatGPT.
10. The 10 biggest marketing challenges have nothing to do with AI
My readers loved this post, perhaps because it was a break from AI and a return to some reminders that the fundamentals of marketing are still important.
Thanks everyone for reading my blog in 2025!
Need an inspiring keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.
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Illustration courtesy MidJourney
