Greetings!

Welcome to the September 2026 issue of Key Notes - Marketing Keys' monthly newsletter! With the new school year in full swing, we hope you’re settling into your routines and finding your rhythm as schedules start to fall back into place! Key Notes is an informative, quick-read newsletter to get you caught up on all things media and marketing. Our goal is for you to be informed and entertained with the latest media and marketing happenings quickly and efficiently. 

In 2014, I attended the Inc 5000 conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I did not make the list that year. Instead, I attended as a business owner hoping to make meaningful connections. The keynote speaker that year was Bob Parsons, Founder of Go Daddy and later PXG Golf. As I met many business owners that made the Inc 5000 list, I thought to myself, 'What does Marketing Keys need to do in order to be on this list?' 12 years later, it happened!

On Monday, June 22, 2026 at 11:01a, I received an email that any business owner would only dream of receiving! It started out like this:

Hi Roger, 

We’re truly thrilled to share some exciting news: Marketing Keys has earned a place on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Congratulations from all of us at Inc. on this extraordinary achievement! 

In full transparency, I wasn't completely caught off guard by this email. I knew we had a great year and Inc looks at a company's growth from the 3 years prior to today. Therefore, they compare your revenue numbers from 2022 to 2025. We had a solid year in 2022 but 2025 was exceptional.

What's the secret sauce? It would be easy to pinpoint this on a new software, on ai or a new system in place. However, our secret sauce is simple: we care. We care about our clients' results, we show full transparency and we value our clients' business. It is that simple. And, we have been learning from our mistakes.

If we ever lose a client, it burns me. Over our 19 years in business, I can count on one hand some of the sizable clients that we had lost. I spend many nights thinking about what we could have done differently to prevent this from happening. Failing is the fundamental way of learning. Without failure, you may get too complacent and too stuck in your ways. Failing makes you think outside of the box. It challenges you to do things differently to prevent an experience like that from ever happening again.

Prior to working with Jeff Buys Your House, we worked with another homebuyer in the market for 4 years. That client and I had a great rapport. Everything seemed great. Then, out of the blue, this client decided to make a change. It completely caught me off guard. I thought about what we could have done better. How could we prevent this from ever happening again? The one thing that stuck out to me with this previous homebuyer is we were not as involved in tracking the leads that were coming in from the media buying. The client was tracking all the data himself. Periodically, we would have video meetings to go over the results but there were no set times and it would be sporadic - maybe every couple months. There were no set systems in place. It was like whenever one of us had thought about it, we decided to have a meeting on this subject. That was a big mistake.

So, now we are fully invested in all of the data and we watch over this closely. With each medium, we assign a cost per qualified lead, cost per appointment, cost per conversion etc. We meet with clients every week or - worst case scenario - every 2 weeks - and go over the latest media post logs and all the data. And since we have started doing this, we have seen substantial business growth.

Our clients seem happy that they can actually see a return on their investment and they can see what their marketing budget is getting them. We post weekly their marketing schedules, spot times etc online through a shared drive.

Are we perfect? Probably not. However, each time we fail, we know we will only learn from it and continue to get better at what we do.

How do brands stay in control?

The way people make purchasing decisions has changed dramatically. In the past, businesses had more control over what information consumers saw and when they saw it. Advertising introduced products, sales teams answered questions, and company websites provided additional details. Today, consumers have an entire world of information at their fingertips. Before they ever speak with a salesperson or visit a company’s website, they may already have searched online, watched videos, read customer reviews, asked an AI tool for advice, or turned to social media for recommendations.

Because of this, marketers are often entering the conversation later than they realize. Consumers can research a product or service independently without ever interacting with the brand itself. They might compare competitors, look at pricing, read customer experiences, and seek opinions from people they trust before taking any action. This means a large portion of the buying process can happen behind the scenes. Rather than trying to control every step, marketers need to recognize that consumers are creating their own paths to a purchase.

Trust is at the center of this new journey. A brand can make a strong promise in an advertisement, but consumers may still look for outside confirmation before believing it. They want to know what real customers think, what other sources are saying, and whether the brand delivers on what it promises. That doesn't make advertising less valuable. Advertising remains an important way to introduce a company, create awareness, and get people interested. However, it is now just one piece of a much larger picture.

For marketers, the opportunity is to be present and helpful throughout that journey, even when consumers aren't directly engaging with the brand. That means creating useful content, maintaining a consistent presence across channels, answering questions clearly, and giving customers reasons to believe in the brand. The goal is no longer simply to get someone to notice an advertisement. It's about building enough credibility that when a consumer is ready to make a decision, your brand is one they feel confident choosing.

The way Americans watch television has changed dramatically, but the latest audience data suggests that traditional TV may not be disappearing as quickly as some might think. Nielsen has updated its measurement approach by incorporating findings from DASH, a study developed by the Advertising Research Foundation to better understand how households access television, streaming services and mobile video. The additional data gives Nielsen a broader benchmark for measuring audiences and, perhaps more importantly, offers advertisers a fresh look at how people are actually consuming video across different platforms.

The results challenge some common assumptions about the state of television. For starters, previous Nielsen panel measurements appear to have underestimated broadcast and cable audiences by nearly 10%. Streaming also hasn't completely pushed linear television aside. Only around 30% of U.S. households are considered streaming-only, meaning the majority still watch some form of traditional TV. Even more surprising, free over-the-air television is gaining traction, with antenna usage climbing from 16% of households in 2025 to more than 17% this year. For many consumers, adding streaming to their viewing routine hasn't meant giving up cable, broadcast or antenna TV.

For marketers, this reinforces an important lesson: there isn't one single screen that reaches everyone. Consumers are moving between streaming platforms and traditional television, often using both as part of their everyday viewing habits. A media strategy built around only linear or only streaming could therefore leave valuable audiences behind. The smartest approach may be to meet viewers wherever they are, combining platforms to build broader reach and make the most of every advertising dollar. As viewing habits continue to evolve, better measurement can help advertisers understand where their audiences are and how to reach them effectively.

Podcasting is becoming increasingly visual, and advertisers are taking notice. Video podcasts are gaining serious traction in the U.S., with nearly half of the more than 34,000 video podcasts worldwide estimated to originate here. At the same time, podcast advertising has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, reaching an estimated $3 billion in the U.S. and more than $5 billion globally. Major platforms including YouTube, Netflix, Spotify and Apple are continuing to invest in the format, while the rise of TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts is helping audiences become even more accustomed to consuming video content in bite-sized and long-form formats.

When it comes to attracting an audience, a relatively small group of podcasts is capturing a huge share of the attention. The top 10% of podcasts account for roughly 85% of total listening, and all of the ten biggest shows by combined audiences are available as video podcasts on YouTube. The leading programs draw millions of listeners and viewers, with The Joe Rogan Experience estimated at 14 million, Crime Junkie at 9 million, Call Her Daddy at 5 million and The Daily at 4 million. For marketers, that kind of scale makes video podcasts an increasingly compelling place to reach audiences who are spending significant amounts of time with their favorite hosts and shows.

However, there is still plenty of room for the podcast advertising market to expand. Only about 23% of podcasts are currently estimated to have advertisers, and shows with sponsorships tend to attract substantially larger audiences than those without them. This suggests that brands are generally looking for podcasts that have already built a following rather than using advertising to create an audience from the ground up. Companies such as Rocket Money, Shopify, Aura Frames, Amazon and BetterHelp are among the notable advertisers in the space, while larger traditional brands have been slower to enter. With the typical podcast lasting around 41 minutes, the format gives advertisers an opportunity to become part of longer-form content rather than competing for attention in just a few seconds.

The rules surrounding political advertising could be in for another shake-up as the 2026 midterm elections approach. A federal appeals court has ruled that political parties cannot receive the special discounted advertising rates reserved for candidates, even when the parties coordinate their spending with campaigns. The decision pushes back against recent FCC guidance and could limit how effectively political parties use their funds to purchase television and radio advertising during one of the busiest times of the election cycle.

The difference in pricing can be significant. Under federal broadcasting rules, candidates are eligible for the lowest price a station charges for a particular advertising slot during the applicable period. Political parties and other outside groups generally don't receive that same benefit, meaning they can face much higher costs when competing for popular programming and high-demand time slots. That gap can add up quickly when campaigns are spending millions on media. During the 2024 election, for instance, a 30-second spot on Good Morning America in Atlanta cost Kamala Harris' campaign $3,790, while a super PAC paid $4,500 for a spot in the same program and market.

The ruling arrives at a particularly important moment, with the special candidate-rate window for the midterms beginning in just days. Republicans, who currently have a significant fundraising advantage at the national party level, had hoped the lower rates would allow them to put even more money behind coordinated advertising efforts. Democrats argued that giving parties access to candidate-level pricing could further tilt the advertising playing field. Republicans are expected to challenge the appeals court's decision, so the fight over who gets the best deal on political airtime may not be over yet.

Here is a recent highlight from Marketing Keys' blog page. Please start following our blogs and let us know what you think.



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Whether you've been at your marketing position for 1 year or for 20 years, the pressure to produce and come up with the right strategies to reach your target audience is always there.

You no longer need to go about this on your own with 100% of the pressure. Now, you can collaborate with a media expert to help you with the latest, most effective and most efficient media strategies.

We can help by placing your campaigns in the right places, at the right times with the right frequencies. We'll make sure your campaign succeeds by examining the cost effectiveness, engagement potential and audience suitability of different media channels.

It is also critical to reach your customer on multiple platforms. This is how they are spending their media day. Therefore, it is critical that your messaging gets targeted and delivered in multiple online and offline ways.

As a 12 year former Disney executive with 35+ years in the business, I have discovered the best ways on how brands can cut through the clutter to reach their target.

By teaming up with us, we make the process enjoyable with minimal stress.

Furthermore, we will listen to you and always be committed to you. We strive to run our business with passion and humility all with the utmost integrity.

We look forward to empowering you to do your best work.

Until next month,

Roger Keys

Founder and CEO

Marketing Keys

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