We've Been Doing It for 15 Years. The marketing industry loves a rebrand. Give an old idea a new name, write a few white papers, and watch the conference circuit pick it up like it just fell from the sky. Elastic marketing is the latest example. I've been reading the 2025 and 2026 takes on this concept with a mixture of amusement and mild irritation. Not because the idea is wrong. It's not. The model is solid and it works. I know it works because we've been running this way for the better...

What the data says about modern cold outreach and the framework behind campaigns that actually generate replies. If your cold email response rates have cratered in the last two years, you're not imagining it. The average reply rate dropped from 8.5% in 2019 to roughly 5% in 2025. The rules have changed — and most people are still playing by the old playbook. Batch-and-blast is dead. Generic value props get deleted on sight. And the technical requirements for even landing in the inbox have...

I read the CallRail 2026 Agency Marketing Outlook Report last week because I read everything I can get my hands on that relates to how this industry is performing. Part of that is self-interest. I want WSI Utopiads operating in the top percentiles at all times, so I look for data that either confirms we're on the right track or tells me we need to adjust. This report did both. But I'm sharing it here because one of my genuine goals is helping other agency owners do better work. Not out of...