The Dilate Blog: Digital Marketing

Most businesses still talk about branding like it’s a channel decision. Should we try TV? Should we add billboards? Should we “do brand” this quarter? As if brand were a media placement. Something you toggle on once you’ve wrung every last drop out of your performance campaigns. Basically, if it doesn’t generate leads by Friday, […]

Let’s be clear from the outset: brand vs performance isn’t a debate. It’s not even a proper question. It’s a false “choice” created by people who don’t understand how marketing works and repeated endlessly by platforms that profit from keeping you addicted to short-term metrics. Every few weeks, someone inevitably asks me, “Isn’t brand marketing […]

“Drive for show, putt for dough.” It’s one of those old golf sayings that gets passed down like gospel - my dad taught it to me, and his dad before him. The idea behind it? You might look good smashing a drive off the tee, but it’s the final putt that wins you the money. […]

Still upping your marketing spend but wondering why results keep dipping? It’s not bad luck — the rules have changed. Ten years ago, I could throw up a few ads and watch the leads roll in. It sounds ridiculous to say that now, but that was the reality. The competition was lighter, the algorithms were […]

We’ve got some exciting news to share. Mentor Marketing, one of WA’s most respected media and programmatic agencies, is officially part of Dilate. If you haven’t come across Mentor before, they’re a boutique media agency led by Amanda Reid. Mentor Marketing is known for their deep expertise in traditional and programmatic media buying, strategic campaign […]

Late last month, I headed to Google Marketing Live in Sydney. Why? Because it's an event where we can get the drop on what’s happening, coming and changing in search. Google didn’t just share their product roadmap, but the intentions and research behind it - which is a huge deal! I heard their take on […]

In Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi stands in the Jedi Archives baffled by a mystery. He’s searching for the planet Kamino, but it’s nowhere to be found on the star maps. The archives show nothing-prompting the Jedi librarian to insist, ‘If an item does not appear in our records, it does […]

Search is changing. Not in a “robots have taken over” kind of way. But quietly, steadily, and in ways that are starting to mess with your rankings. And no, it’s not just because Google hit the big red update button again. It’s because artificial intelligence, particularly large language models like GPT and Gemini, are now […]

AI isn’t here to take over marketing. But it is changing it—fast. Too many businesses still see AI as either a gimmick or a threat. Some think it’s a shortcut to instant results. Others fear it’ll make human marketers redundant. Both are wrong. The reality? AI isn’t replacing marketers. It’s making them more effective. It’s […]

Look, we all use ChatGPT. It's practically part of the team at this point—brainstorming ideas, cranking out content, and making us feel smarter than we are. But if ChatGPT is the only AI tool in your stack, you're coasting while everyone else is lapping you. AI in 2025 isn't just about automating the boring stuff—it's […]