Marketing is shifting — and many brands feel it, even if they can’t yet name it.

In this episode, Sonia Thompson speaks with Bennie F. Johnson, CEO of the American Marketing Association, about the AMA 2026 Marketing Trends shaping the future of modern marketing and growth marketing.

They unpack how trust in marketing, AI in marketing, and audience fragmentation are rewriting the rules of growth — driving up customer acquisition costs, raising expectations for relevance, and reshaping how brands build credibility in identity-driven communities.

Drawing on insights from the AMA’s 2026 Future Trends in Marketing research, this conversation explores what’s changing beneath the surface — from responsible artificial intelligence, inclusive leadership, and evolving workforce models to the implications for growth strategy in today’s complex marketing environment.

🎧 A must-listen for CMOs, growth leaders, and brand strategists navigating the next era of modern growth marketing.

Brand growth today depends on evolving your brand strategy and improving the customer journey to meet changing consumer expectations.

In this episode of Frictionless Growth Marketing, Sonia Thompson explores why traditional growth playbooks are breaking down — and what this moment is asking of marketers and business leaders instead.

Drawing on real-world brand examples and cultural shifts, Sonia breaks down how friction shows up across customer acquisition, customer experience, and customer retention — often in ways teams don’t immediately see.

You’ll learn how modern marketing requires removing the friction that slows growth, erodes trust, and pushes customers away — and how to adapt your strategy to grow with clarity and confidence in today’s market.

If you’re rethinking how to grow in a changing landscape, this episode will help you understand what needs to evolve — and where to focus next.

This episode also marks the next chapter of the show — not as a departure from the past, but as a sharper focus on what actually drives growth now.

If you want to understand where friction may be quietly limiting your growth, start with clarity.

Take the free quiz to identify what’s slowing your growth: frictionlessgrowthlab.com/quiz

Because evolution isn’t a loss of identity.

Brand growth today depends on avoiding the marketing mistakes that quietly erode trust, relevance, and customer loyalty.

In this episode of Frictionless Growth Marketing, Sonia Thompson breaks down the biggest marketing mishaps of 2025 and the critical lessons they reveal about brand growth, customer expectations, and modern marketing strategy.

Drawing from real-world brand backlash and high-profile missteps, you’ll learn how friction shows up in messaging, brand decisions, and customer experiences — and why those mistakes matter more than ever in today’s values-driven, identity-rich market.

This episode explores:

If you want to build sustainable brand growth — without repeating the mistakes that cost other brands trust and traction — this episode will help you see what’s really holding growth back, and how to move forward with clarity and confidence.

Not sure where friction is holding your growth back?

Most brands think their messaging is clear.

In this episode of Frictionless Growth Marketing, Sonia Thompson sits down with Dr. J.J. Peterson — marketing and communication expert, former Head of StoryBrand, and former co-host of the globally top-ranked Marketing Made Simple podcast, and current host of the podcast Badass Softie — to unpack how messaging can either remove friction or quietly block business growth at every stage of the customer journey.

Together, they explore why unclear messaging is one of the most overlooked sources of friction in marketing — and how it leads to lost trust, stalled conversion, and missed growth opportunities, especially with today’s identity-rich, values-driven consumers.

This episode will help you spot where your messaging may be slowing customers down — and how to realign it to drive business growth.

You’ll learn:

How unclear messaging creates friction across the customer journey

Why customers need to see themselves in your story to take action

How storytelling increases clarity, trust, and conversion

Where brands unintentionally push customers away with their language and positioning

How to communicate with empathy and authority — without sounding generic or salesy

Why clear, human messaging is essential for sustainable business growth

Dr. Peterson also shares powerful real-world examples, lessons from working with global brands, and insights on how leaders can show up as guides — not heroes — in their customers’ stories.

If you want to improve customer experience, remove messaging friction, and drive business growth through clearer, more human communication, this episode will help you see exactly where to start.

The Super Bowl, the Olympics, and the FIFA World Cup are all happening in 2026 — and they’re not just sporting events. They’re cultural events powered by identity, influence, community, and the underrepresented audiences shaping modern fandom.

The brands that win next year won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets — they’ll be the ones with the deepest cultural understanding and the strongest consumer trust.

In this episode of Frictionless Growth Marketing, Sonia Thompson — inclusive growth and customer experience strategist — sits down with Cesar Martinez, Chief Commercial Officer at Sonoro, the largest multicultural podcast network in the world. Together, they break down:

• Why major 2026 cultural moments (Super Bowl, Olympics, World Cup) require a new marketing playbook
• The identity-led communities driving modern sports fandom — and why they’re essential for brand growth
• How to connect meaningfully with Latino, Gen Z, and multicultural audiences (without pandering or stereotypes)
• Why cultural competency is now a growth strategy, not a “nice to have”
• The risks of getting it wrong — and the long-term benefits of getting it right
• How brands of ANY size can show up in culture (even without a big-game budget)

If your brand wants to grow in 2026 and beyond, this episode will show you exactly how to remove friction, build trust, and create marketing that resonates in moments that matter.

Because the brands that understand and participate in culture will win next year and beyond.

Work with Sonia

Unlock sustainable, frictionless growth in your business:

Friction Finder™ Growth Audit — Identify the friction points pushing customers away and learn exactly how to fix them - https://www.frictionlessgrowthlab.com/frictionfinder/

Links from the episode:

Sonoro - https://sonoromedia.com/

Cesar Martinez on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cesar-martinez-1b34376/

Consumers today aren’t just buying products — they’re buying alignment, transparency, cultural fluency, and trust. And trust has officially become one of the most powerful growth marketing levers a brand can pull.

In this episode, Sonia Thompson — inclusive growth and customer experience strategist — breaks down what three real-world stories from LinkedIn, Disney, and Ralph Lauren reveal about the new rules of brand–consumer trust and how they directly impact growth, loyalty, and long-term revenue.

From algorithmic bias to cultural accuracy to identity-centered storytelling, these case studies show exactly why frictionless, values-led, inclusive marketing isn’t optional anymore — it’s a competitive advantage.

You’ll learn:

Why trust is now a core growth metric and a deciding factor in customer acquisition and loyalty

How Disney’s Moana backlash demonstrates the business impact of cultural accuracy and responsible creative decisions

What Ralph Lauren’s evolution teaches us about identity-driven brand building and long-term growth

Why LinkedIn’s algorithmic bias debate highlights the rising expectations around responsible AI and inclusive design

How representation, transparency, and cultural fluency shape modern customer experience

The specific behaviors today’s consumers reward — and the ones that create friction, backlash, and brand erosion

If you want to build a frictionless growth engine that resonates with today’s identity-led, culturally connected consumers, this episode gives you the clarity and direction you need for 2026 and beyond.

The LinkedIn post and article referenced from LinkedIn staff - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sakshirjain_putting-members-first-testing-and-measuring-activity-7397384012421451776-M7A8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAADoGrYBxCncTQK1uoD5k0MgXOrx3330CMI

In this short reflection episode, Sonia Thompson — inclusive growth and customer experience strategist — shares the 2025 marketing shifts she’s most grateful for… and what they signal for brands heading into 2026.

This year, marketers saw consumers use their voices and their wallets more boldly than ever, brands standing firmer in their values, and more companies finally recognizing the power of growth communities — the underrepresented and underserved groups who are shaping culture, influence, and buying behavior.

Inside the episode, you’ll learn:

Why consumer activism accelerated this year (and what it means for trust and loyalty)

How values-led brands like Costco, GAP, and Levi’s grew by staying true to what they stand for

The rise of growth communities — and why they represent one of the biggest opportunities for modern marketers

Why frictionless marketing isn’t a trend… it’s the future

What these shifts mean for your 2026 growth strategy

If you’re focused on inclusion, customer experience, brand trust, or growth marketing, this episode will help you understand the cultural and strategic forces that will define the year ahead.

Hidden friction on your website may be quietly costing your brand customers — even if your intentions are good, your messaging is strong, and traffic is coming in. After reviewing 50 brand websites across industries, markets, and company sizes, clear friction patterns emerged that consistently limit growth, reduce conversions, and weaken customer trust.

In this episode, Sonia Thompson breaks down the most common friction points she uncovered while reviewing these sites — from gaps in representation and inclusive language to accessibility oversights and customer experience breakdowns that create invisible barriers throughout the customer journey. These issues often go unnoticed because they don’t feel “broken,” yet they steadily push ideal customers away.

You’ll learn:

Where website friction most commonly hides

How customer experience gaps quietly reduce conversions

Why friction-filled experiences slow customer acquisition and brand growth

How issues like representation, language, and accessibility impact trust

Practical ways to identify and remove friction across your customer journey

This episode is essential listening for growth leaders and marketers focused on growth marketing, customer experience, website conversions, and building frictionless experiences that work for today’s diverse, identity-rich customers.

Hidden friction can exist anywhere in your customer journey — even when your brand has good intentions, strong values, and a solid product. These small, often invisible moments quietly frustrate customers, slow conversions, and limit brand growth long before teams realize there’s a problem.

In this episode, Sonia Thompson introduces her Friction Finder Growth Audit framework, a practical approach designed to help brands uncover and remove the friction hiding across their customer experience. You’ll learn how friction shows up at different stages of the customer journey, why it’s so easy for teams to miss, and how even minor experience breakdowns can compound into lost customers and weakened trust.

Sonia walks through how brands can identify friction tied to messaging, experience design, customer touchpoints, and internal assumptions — and how addressing these gaps can unlock stronger growth, loyalty, and long-term performance.

You’ll learn:

What “hidden friction” really looks like across the customer journey

Why friction often goes unnoticed inside well-intentioned brands

How customer experience gaps limit growth and conversions

How to use the Friction Finder Growth Audit to diagnose issues

Where to focus first to remove friction and improve results

This episode is essential for growth leaders and marketers focused on customer experience, growth marketing, customer journey optimization, and building frictionless experiences that convert and retain customers.

Many brands want to grow — but too many are still using outdated growth marketing strategies that fail to connect with today’s most influential and high-growth communities. As consumer expectations shift, brands that rely on surface-level tactics and copy-and-paste campaigns are quietly losing trust, loyalty, and long-term ROI.

In this episode, Sonia Thompson breaks down four common growth marketing mistakes that consistently prevent brands from reaching and resonating with the communities driving today’s marketplace. Drawing on her experience as a growth and customer experience strategist, Sonia explains why these missteps happen, how they show up in real-world marketing strategies, and what brands need to do differently to unlock sustainable growth.

From superficial inclusion to transactional campaign thinking, Sonia reveals what’s really holding brands back — and how to replace ineffective tactics with strategies that build trust, relevance, and meaningful connection.

You’ll learn how to:

Identify the growth marketing mistakes limiting reach and impact

Move beyond representation to build genuine customer connection

Design growth strategies that resonate with influential communities

Replace short-term campaigns with trust and loyalty that last

Build marketing strategies that support sustainable brand growth

Today’s fastest-growing brands don’t just reach people — they resonate with them. This episode is essential for marketers and growth leaders focused on growth marketing, brand growth, customer trust, and building strategies that work with today’s diverse, identity-rich audiences.