The season of warm coats and holiday sweaters is upon us. The lights are twinkling. The auto-responders are taking effect. And, we have few precious days before the calendar turns over and the new year is here. In between the school parties and the gift shopping and the holiday plans, I try really hard to make time to pause and savor the best parts of the year, both personally and professionally.

This week, I’ve found myself reflecting on the many parts of Doodling Pandas‘s year that made it so rewarding and a theme emerged that I really loved. VARIETY.

Instead of highlighting specific clients (because, seriously, how could I possibly choose? My clients are literally THE BEST.) I want to celebrate the kinds of work that made this year special. Here are some of the themes where strategy and creativity came together in the best ways in 2025.

Businesses trying to market themselves often think of AI as a tool to make writing and researching easier. It can help with idea generation and many of the more tedious tasks of mass communication. But many are not paying close enough attention to what AI means for exposure on a greater scale and how we need to change our tactics to make us visible in an AI-first environment. In this article we explore what’s changing, and what we can do about it.

If you are a small business owner with any social media presence, then we don’t have to tell you that your social marketing efforts aren’t going as far as they used to. This month, we’re talking about the ever-evolving algorithms, how they’re making organic visibility harder than ever, and most importantly, what you can do about it.