Hello to existing and welcome to all new Franc Talking subscribers.
If you work in marketing, product, or tech - and want to keep pace with the shifts AI is driving across search, software, and strategy - here’s what you need to know this week. Lets get to it! 🎯
🤔 Will ChatGPT offer ads one day? - In a recent podcast interview, OpenAI’s Nick Turley explores ChatGPT’s future product strategy and the monetisation trade-offs, including whether ads could ever become part of the experience. Read/listen on The Verge.
🎯 Google Gemini goes personal - Gemini is rolling out more personalised features, like automatic memory functions and new privacy controls for better context-aware responses that require less setup. More at The Verge.
🌐 ChatGPT is changing how we discover information — An Adobe Express survey found that 77% of U.S. users now use ChatGPT like a search engine. Nearly one in four say they start searches there, and a third trust its answers more than Google. Notably, 36% discovered new brands there - and two-thirds of marketers plan to boost AI visibility in 2025. Explore the data.
Up next, I’ve got Louise Linehan from Ahrefs joining me to unpack AI search and what it’s like working inside one of the leading SEO SaaS companies.
I’ve also just wrapped up a conversation with Duane Forrester - ex-Yext, ex-Microsoft, and one of the most respected voices in organic growth and AI search. Keep an eye out: both episodes will be dropping in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks! Enjoy the week ahead.
Andy
📖 What I’ve been reading this week in business, marketing & tech
🎥 Dive deeper into the conversation - watch my full discussion with Yuliya on affiliate marketing, Finom’s journey, and where the industry is heading next.
Finom and neobanks
So, who are Finom and what is a Neobank?
Finom
isn’t your average fintech. It’s a B2B neobank serving freelancers, SMEs and corporates across Germany, France, Spain and Italy, with more than 100,000 active customers in under six years.
Neobanks have reshaped the financial landscape by stripping away branches, paperwork and legacy infrastructure. They operate fully online, offering the speed and usability of a tech company with the regulatory backbone of a bank.
Finom fits squarely into this category — but with a business-first focus. Alongside banking services, it integrates invoicing, expense management and cashback cards, giving small businesses a single platform to manage their finances.
The appeal is obvious: quick onboarding in minutes, intuitive digital tools, and an experience that feels closer to SaaS than traditional banking.
📰 Recommended newsletter of the week - Big Desk Energy
Big Desk Energy
startup insights, stories, and vibes sent to your inbox every Tuesday
Affiliate marketing changes
Affiliate marketing in 2025 — what’s changed?
Despite privacy crackdowns and AI hype, the fundamentals are surprisingly constant. Yuliya was clear: “I don’t feel like there’s been a lot of change… the base is still the relationship.”
Affiliate marketing remains a split between numbers and people. One half of the job is CPA benchmarks, LTV analysis and fraud detection. The other half is calls, negotiations and keeping trust alive. Technology can help, but as she said: “At the end of the day… it’s a lot about personal interaction.”
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Measurement
How brands like Finom measure success
At Finom, budget isn’t locked into rigid monthly caps - it shifts to wherever performance justifies it. “The budget goes where we have the best users’ lifetime value, whereas the cost of acquisition is reasonable,” Yuliya explained.
CPA still anchors new partnerships, but long-term success comes from balancing payouts, traffic quality and LTV. “It always has to be the win situation,” she said, highlighting that affiliates must feel fairly rewarded to stay engaged.
Product innovation also plays its part. Finom’s AI accounting agent - positioned as the end of manual bookkeeping - isn’t just a feature, it’s a story affiliates can use.
Differentiators like this help the brand stand out in crowded markets such as Germany and expand into new comparison categories, from banking to accounting tools.
Affiliates and search
Search is shifting - what it means for affiliates
If affiliates once lived and died by SEO, the rise of AI search is shaking things up. Yuliya summed it up neatly: “Everyone is looking into ways to make sure their content is optimised towards getting into LLM results. But no one knows the secret.”
She pointed out how unpredictable AI search can be: “Sometimes I’m really surprised at the very small and niche website that you could never be considering for the affiliate promotion… they will get cited.”
For affiliates, that unpredictability is both a challenge and an opportunity — the landscape is less about chasing fixed rankings and more about staying adaptable to where visibility emerges.
The lesson: affiliates can’t bank on SEO alone. Paid search will hold steady, but diversification is non-negotiable. Expect more hybrid influencer campaigns, new content formats, and experiments in social discovery.
👋 Got 30 seconds?
If you’ve got half a minute spare over your morning espresso, I’d really appreciate you taking 30 seconds to fill in this short survey.
No weird personal questions — just a few quick ones to help me better understand who’s reading this, so I can keep improving and work more efficiently with the right partners.
Bonus: I may run a small prize draw with one respondent chosen at random.
Yuliya’s perspective distilled into five rules for today’s affiliates:
✔
Relationships first. Trust keeps deals alive.
✔
Know your numbers. “No one will trust you unless you have real figures.”
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Stay flexible. Budgets shift with performance - adapt daily.
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Use AI wisely. Fraud detection and budgeting forecasts help; predictive commissioning doesn’t (yet).
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Go beyond SEO. Diversify into influencers, social commerce, and hybrid models.
Closing thoughts
When tech shifts, trust endures
Affiliate marketing in 2025 may look familiar, but it’s under pressure. Finom’s story shows the winning mix: agility in spend, innovation in product, and relationships that endure despite shifting algorithms.
As Yuliya reminded me, “I’m the ambassador of personal relationships - nothing will change that.”
In a landscape of AI disruption and tighter privacy, that human edge may be the most powerful advantage affiliates have left.
