Atlanta Live 2027: Marketing

As consumers increasingly turn to AI tools and chatbots to research products and make purchasing decisions, getting them to visit a brand’s website is becoming more difficult. Marketers are learning to work with fewer visitors while finding ways to deepen engagement with the ones who do arrive. How should brands rethink their websites and online content to give visitors a reason to stay? What kinds of content, tools, and experiences help turn a brief visit into a meaningful interaction? How can teams measure success when traffic is down but engagement is up?

Influencer marketing has evolved far beyond paying creators to publish a sponsored post. Increasingly, brands are turning to creators for cultural insight, content development, product ideas, and long-term partnerships, while social platforms are becoming places where discovery, entertainment, and commerce happen together. How should marketers decide which creators are right for their brand? What makes a creator partnership feel credible rather than transactional? How can brands measure the business impact of creator campaigns beyond impressions and engagement? What does a successful long-term relationship between a brand and a creator actually look like?

In the age of information overload, compelling storytelling can set a brand apart from the barrage of mediocre content. How can marketing teams craft content that truly engages when audience attention is scattered and fickle? What strategies ensure that brand storytelling is consistent across channels yet tailored to each platform and audience? How can marketers balance creative storytelling with data-driven insight to pinpoint which narratives really resonate? What feedback or metrics can help refine the content strategy and prove its impact on engagement and sales?

As new platforms and formats emerge, marketers are under pressure to decide where to invest their time and budget while making sure their channels work together. How can brands get value from proven channels like email while adapting to changes in how consumers discover and engage with content? Where are the opportunities in audio, social, video, and emerging platforms to reach audiences in more personal ways? How can marketers connect these channels into a cohesive strategy rather than treating each one as a separate campaign?

The race to optimize SEO is becoming old hat, and the new puzzle to solve is how you can rise to the top in answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO). How can you evolve your content to appeal to multiple AI platforms with differing algorithms? What are the best tools for providing feedback about what's connecting? How can you make sure your content appeals to AI, but doesn't look like it was generated by AI? What are some techniques for building longer-term brand visibility, rather than going for quick hits?

The best endorsements often come from people who already know and love your brand. But there is inherent risk in handing the microphone to customers to speak on your behalf, and turning customer experiences into effective marketing requires more than collecting a few glowing testimonials. How do you identify the stories that will resonate with prospective customers? How do you give customers the freedom to express themselves while ensuring their stories support your brand? And when should customer stories be used in brand marketing versus product marketing? What role should content creators play in elevating brand voice? How can brands mitigate the risk in creator collaborations for maximum impact?

Not every trend is worth chasing. For marketers, the challenge is knowing which emerging formats, platforms, and cultural moments align with the brand’s values. Which brands should weigh in on last night’s Love Island episode or the latest Instagram challenge? Which brands are better served by hanging back? What analytical tools and techniques can teams use to evaluate audience relevance, measure potential impact, and distinguish a passing fad from a meaningful opportunity to connect with audiences in a fresh way? Where is there room for B2B marketers to join in on consumer marketing trends?

As marketers face shorter timelines and more pressure to understand customers, traditional research methods can struggle to keep pace. How are marketing teams rethinking customer research, from using AI to gather and analyze qualitative insights to finding better ways to understand what customers actually want, believe, and struggle with? Where can new research approaches add value, where does human judgment still matter, and how can marketers turn customer conversations into insights that lead to better decisions?

Marketers today have unprecedented data on their customers—along with heightened responsibilities to use it wisely. How can teams leverage rich customer data for deeper insights and personalization while staying on the right side of privacy laws and consumer trust? What practices ensure data quality and break down data silos, so decisions are based on solid information rather than flawed assumptions? What governance policies or ethical guidelines can prevent the misuse of data, ensuring that a data-driven approach bolsters the brand’s reputation rather than jeopardizing it?

Brands have more opportunities than ever to reach customers across borders, but global marketing is becoming more complicated as consumer preferences, cultural expectations, regulations, and economic conditions vary from market to market. How can marketing teams build global campaigns that maintain a consistent brand while still feeling relevant and authentic locally? When should companies standardize their messaging, and when should they adapt it for specific markets? How can marketers use local insights, creators, and technology to understand audiences they may not know firsthand? 

AI is changing what entry-level work looks like, and creative teams are having to rethink how they develop their next generation of talent. How do you give early-career creatives the experience they need to grow when traditional paths are disappearing? What does Gen Z bring to creative teams as experts in emerging platforms and tech? How can they most effectively serve as educators to their senior colleagues? What projects and opportunities help young creatives do their best work–and how can managers  keep promising talent engaged and growing once they’re on the team?