There’s no question that Neil Patel turns marketing metrics into clear strategies and insights into measurable growth.
A world-renowned digital marketing strategist for global companies like Amazon, his blog attracts more than four million monthly visitors, while the Marketing School podcast draws over one million listeners a month.
On Tuesday 14 October, Patel will appear at SXSW Sydney to present his keynote speech, The Marketing Reset: What to Unlearn From 2025.
What can we expect from the session?
At a time when many marketers are questioning tried and and tested ways of working, this is tipped to be a data-driven session designed to show where strategies fell short this year and how marketers can plan smarter for 2026.
AI and LLMs are constantly changing the landscape, so there’s a rise of zero-click searches on Google and other search engines and so SEO needs have changed beyond recognition, according to Patel.
“Search engines and AI platforms are changing the SEO game, requiring content tailored to new formats like voice search and visual search,” Patel said last year. “Marketers need to do more with less, leveraging technology and data to achieve better outcomes with fewer resources.”
Patel’s keynote will pull apart the past year in digital marketing to show where strategies fell short and where measurable results were achieved.
Backed by live data from NP Digital’s own platforms, including Ubersuggest and Ads Grader, and thousands of campaigns across the Asia-Pacific, he promises a new perspective on search, the growing role of AI in media, and the formats capturing audience attention.
In a nutshell, Patel believes in 2026, marketers need to unlearn what they have been taught, and the traditional ways they work now, to take on this new era of AI.
In a Mediaweek interview about the shifts in email marketing last year, Patel warned that marketers must stay on top of every shift across the industry, or risk being left behind as the landscape evolves at speed
“We start honestly looking at what’s working and what’s not working,” he said. “Instead of stopping the stuff that’s not working, we try to understand why, dissect it and then try to improve it.”
Following the keynote, Patel will host a Speaker Connect Session at 3:30pm, open to SXSW Sydney passholders on a first-come, first-served basis.
Dan Kalinski, Managing Director of NP Digital APAC, said Patel’s presence should help give local marketers a rare competitive edge, “With NP Digital’s global presence, Neil brings both a regional APAC lens and a worldwide perspective, offering SXSW Sydney attendees practical strategies they can apply immediately to start boosting their ROI.”
SXSW Sydney 2025 will run from October 13th to19th and you can buy tickets here.
Main image: Neil Patel