Life’s a Kayak

Hi all,
The Christmas tree is finaly gone, and my dining room feels so empty spacious. Luckily, my week was filled with tons of warm, interesting, and inspiring conversations.
I also ran a LinkedIn poll to ask if you prefer this newsletter in Nederlands or English, and its 34 vs 66 for Nederlands. Noooooo! I’m not ready to change. ( I’d love to hear your opinion, though! You are my first and most important readers. What do YOU think? DM me 🙏)

➡️ Strategy: SEO is changing. Now what?

Note to myself:
Not wanting to change is the worst mindset in this era of transformation.
Everything is constantly evolving.
As someone who helps to build brands and make them visible, I often dive into the question of how to stay relevant in a constantly changing world. Because once your product is clear, and your brand is strong, the next critical step is: being findable.

Big Question: Will SEO as we know it stay the same?
Absolutely not.
The game of being found via search engines will be completely different in a few years months. Google updates, the AI content tsunami, and dramatic changes in SERPs have fundamentally shifted the game.

What comes next? Honestly, I don’t nobody knows for sure.
But these things can certainly help:

1. Focus on valuable, original content that truly addresses the needs of your target audience.

2. Combine AI tools with human creativity. AI can help you work more efficiently, but human authenticity and expertise make the real difference.

3. Think beyond Google. Search optimization goes beyond organic traffic and includes visibility on platforms like YouTube or TikTok.

4. Invest in brand awareness. When people ask AI tools for recommendations, these tools favor established, trusted brands due to signals of trust and authority.

5. Focus on niches. Hyper-relevance for a specific audience works better than generic content. (Shit, I do have to change to Dutch in this newsletter ? Pls help me decide and DM me :-))

6. Brand mentions matter: If your brand is frequently discussed, cited, or linked online, AI tools integrate it as a trusted source.

My 2 cents:
SEO is not dead but changing.
This shift could help smaller brands with good content connect better with their audiences.
That’s why you need to stay flexible, innovate, and focus on building an authentic, strong brand.
That’s what will prepare you for the future.
👋 Call or mail me if you need any help with that!

PS.
SEO isn’t dead.
Email isn’t dead.
Events aren’t dead.
Outbound isn’t dead.
Direct mail isn’t dead.
It's not the channel that's the issue, it's how you're using it.

➡️ BrandLove: Ikea (again 🤷‍♀️)

I know, I’m talking about Ikea again, but last week, they launched a campaign that really caught my attention. So, mission accomplished! Again.

Quick context: Ikea just introduced their loyalty program. But let’s be honest—almost every retailer already has one, so they’re a bit late.

To laugh at themselves for being late, they created a video with an old trend: the Harlem Shake. You remember that?! #internetnostalgia

And to make it even better, they added the bottle flip and mannequin challenge. Brilliant throwbacks. You can read all about their “Better Late than Never” - campaign here

Ikea mastered the art of turning a weakness into a strength by using humor and nostalgia 👏👏👏

➡️ Cheap Marketing: Win while you wait

New category in my newsletter: cheap marketing tactics that can go viral.

Last week, I shared the idea of reversed graffiti.
This time, it's about a little game in a restaurant to make waiting more fun.

The concept: Stop the timer exactly at 10 seconds, and you get your meal for free.

The game (wachtverzachter in Dutch- love the word) went viral and drove customers to the restaurant.
Cheap Powerful publicity!

@kitchengaragelb

watch till the end😂 #kitchengaragelb #gamechallenge #fyp #foryou

➡️ To read: Meditations for Mortals

Paddle through life.

That’s the advice from author Oliver Burkeman, promoting his new book Meditations for Mortals in the Weekend Knack of January 15. He says, we dream of standing on the bridge of a luxury yacht, thinking we’re safe from risks. But in reality, we’re just in a kayak.

Imagine yourself in the kayak.
The river is sometimes calm, sometimes restless, and sometimes stormy.
That can feel vulnerable, but also exciting.
Just try to follow the current and adjust when needed.
You don’t need knowledge, willpower, or routine.
You just have to do it.

I think that’s great advice: just do it. I’m very open about my own journey. Sometimes, it might seem to you, my readers, that I don’t really know what I want. (Like, “Should this newsletter be in English or Dutch?” I really don’t know actually. PM me with your opinion pls!)

But for me, freedom means challenging myself and questioning my choices.

“We all want a manual,” the article says, “but we learn by doing—not by studying or only planning how to do it.” And I think that’s my mantra.

I’m also going to order reading Oliver’s earlier bestseller, 4000 Weeks!
Keep you posted on that one.
Meanwhile, also the book Mainstreet Millionaire has also arrived.

Take care and Happy week!

X Ingrid