Four Ad Styles Worth Testing

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In Partnership with AirOps

The Growth Targets Changed. What About Your Budget? 

Targets are climbing faster than budgets can keep up, and you’re expected to make the numbers work. Before you commit to more pipeline, see how other marketing leaders are handling the same pressure.

AirOps surveyed 300+ CMOs and VPs to uncover how leaders are reallocating budget and closing capability gaps while being asked to deliver more pipeline with less support. 

Here’s what’s inside:

• 75.4% of leaders face higher targets this year. Discover how they’re responding and where your plan stands against theirs.
• Only 43.0% received more budget to match. If you’re asking for more resources, use these benchmarks to strengthen your case.
• 86.6% are betting on AI search, but only 23% trust their measurement. Use that gap to question what you can actually measure before spending more.

Pull the benchmark most relevant to your team into your next budget request, alongside the target you’re expected to hit.

📝 Four Text Only Ad Styles to Test Before Q4

Q4 is approaching, and text only ads are one of the fastest formats to have ready in advance. They do not have to be boring either. Playing with fonts, color, and layout can create something bold enough to stop a scroll, and the format works well when product visuals are not ready or a cleaner promo look is needed.

Here are four approaches worth testing:

1️⃣ Date Specific Text Only
Every key detail needs to be visible, the date, the discount, and the call to action. Adding a date creates urgency, and choosing a bright background color helps the ad stand out during high competition moments like Black Friday.

2️⃣ Flash Sale Aura Background
Here the color palette carries the ad rather than the text hierarchy. Leaning into trending color combinations makes the creative feel current, and limited edition or short sale windows are a lower risk way to test bolder design choices.

3️⃣ Brand Focused General Sale
An always on sale ad works well for brands with a dedicated discount section. Giving shoppers a reason to act now, whether through new styles or a floor discount, keeps the ad relevant, and sometimes a single word like sale is enough.

4️⃣ Repetitive Text Sale
When an offer is strong, repeating the discount or the word sale across the entire frame makes the message impossible to miss. The format is simple, which makes it easy to test different colors and copy quickly.

The Takeaway
Text only ads remain one of the most flexible formats going into Q4. Whether the goal is urgency, aesthetic appeal, or pure repetition, testing a few of these approaches now means having proven creative ready before sale season ramps up.

📝 Find Out Where Your Brand Appears in AI Search 

Search is no longer just about ranking on Google. More customers now get answers directly from AI tools, which means a brand can be invisible in AI results even while ranking well in traditional search. The Rundown put together a step by step way to audit exactly where a site currently shows up across both.

Steps to Run an AI Search Visibility Audit

1️⃣ Check Google and ChatGPT Directly
Look up the brand in both Google Search and ChatGPT, then note which sources are actually being cited in the results. This shows whether the brand is being pulled into AI generated answers at all.

2️⃣ Run Free AI Search Audits
Use free tools like Peekaboo, HubSpot AI Search Grader, and Semrush SEO Checker to get a broader read on AI search visibility beyond a single manual lookup.

3️⃣ Check Google Search Console
Inside Search Console, go to Search results, then Performance, then Generative AI, to see actual impression data for how often the site appears inside Google's AI results.

4️⃣ Think in Real Customer Questions
Consider the specific questions potential customers are likely asking, such as where can I buy fertilizer in Houston for a local garden store, rather than generic industry keywords.

The Takeaway
AI search visibility is becoming its own discipline, separate from traditional SEO. Running this audit surfaces exactly where a brand is missing from AI generated answers and where the opportunity sits. Using Codex to compile the findings into a one page PDF with priorities, target queries, and a quick checklist turns a scattered audit into a clear action plan.

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