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SPARKNOTES FROM THE POD

TIPS 5-8 FROM OUR MOST LISTENED TO PODCASTS

We're counting down the TOP 8 most downloaded episodes of the year.

Next week? We'll drop tips 1-4 (the absolute BANGERS that broke the download counter).

But first, here are insights from episodes 5-8.

These are the episodes our community kept sharing. The tactics they're actually implementing. The guests who changed how they think about marketing.

Let's go

8️⃣. Build Personality First. Brand Second.

Avi Shenkar’s Take: "I always believe that people follow personalities, not brands. So I chose to do it on his channel... Roman's channel went from 30,000 subscribers to 475,000."

Here's the brutal truth about content in 2025.

Nobody follows brands anymore.

They follow PEOPLE.

Avi runs Luxury Bazaar, a gray market watch dealer that got banned from Meta for four years. Couldn't run retargeting ads. Couldn't use traditional marketing.

So they went all-in on YouTube.

But not on the company channel.

On the FOUNDER'S personal channel.

Roman Sharf's channel: 477K subscribers. Luxury Bazaar's company channel: 77K subscribers.

Same content strategy. Wildly different results.

Why?

Because when you're scrolling Instagram or YouTube, you're not following "brands that entertain you."

You're following CREATORS who happen to work at brands.

Think about it: You don't follow Nike's corporate account for inspiration. You follow athletes.

The move? Create a behind-the-scenes reality show about your business.

Show the drama. The losses. The wins. The REAL stuff.

When Luxury Bazaar loses a $300K FedEx package or a customer ghosts them—THAT'S the content that gets millions of views.

Not polished corporate messaging.

Takeaway: Stop investing in your brand's social presence as the PRIMARY channel.

Find the most charismatic person at your company. Build THEIR channel first.

Behind-the-scenes > polished corporate content. Every. Single. Time.

7️⃣. Original Research Is Your Moat In The AI Era.

Jillian Hoefer's Take: "As a content marketer right now, it's really the biggest way that we can continue to create really impactful proprietary content that's gonna stand out while a lot of lesser content marketers are going, I'm just gonna crank out AI fluff pieces all day long."

AI is flooding the internet with garbage content.

Every brand can now pump out 100 blog posts a week.

Which means NONE of it matters anymore.

Except original research.

Jillian runs content at User Evidence. They survey 600+ B2B marketers and buyers to create data-backed reports.

And it takes SIX MONTHS to do it right.

Survey design. Data analysis. Storytelling. Distribution.

But here's why it's worth it:

Original research becomes content IP that no AI can replicate.

ChatGPT can't survey YOUR customers. It can't uncover insights about YOUR market. It can't tell YOUR story backed by data nobody else has.

When User Evidence published their "Evidence Gap" report, it didn't just generate content.

It changed their entire GTM strategy.

The data revealed their ICP was WRONG. They were targeting the wrong personas. The research forced them to pivot—and that pivot unlocked growth.

Plus, original research gives you a seat at the executive table.

You're not just "the content person." You're the person with proprietary data that informs product, sales, and strategy.

Takeaway: Pick 1 research question you want to answer about your market.

Survey 100-200 people in your ICP. Partner with a data analyst to find patterns.

Turn it into a state-of-the-industry report.

Then milk that data for 6-12 months of content across every channel.

6️⃣. SEO Isn't Dead. It's Just Shifting To AI Citations.

Mike Witham's Take: "It's not turning the lights off on Google. It's more of a tilt in the earth where the sunlight is just shifting to a different place, and there's still going to be opportunity. We just have to find it and take advantage of it."

Everyone's freaking out about AI killing SEO.

ChatGPT is answering questions. Google's AI Overviews are giving direct answers. Traffic is declining.

But Mike's not worried.

Because the game hasn't changed THAT much.

It's just moved.

Old SEO: Optimize to rank in Google's top 10 results.

New SEO: Optimize to be CITED by AI chatbots.

The difference?

You're not trying to get clicked anymore. You're trying to get MENTIONED.

Mike's strategy: Find out which sources ChatGPT and Gemini are using to generate answers in your space.

How? Ask the LLM directly.

"If you were looking for the best sources on [your topic], what would you use?"

Then do 20-30 searches across your topic cluster. Record every citation. Find the patterns.

THOSE sources are where you need to get mentioned.

The other move? Stop creating glossary content.

AI is eating up definitions and one-sentence answers.

Instead, create MIDDLE and BOTTOM of funnel content with unique human perspectives.

Robots can't give you human experience. That's your edge.

Takeaway: Run 20 searches in ChatGPT around your core topic.

Track every source it cites. Find the 5-10 that appear most often.

Then figure out how to get mentioned, quoted, or featured on those sources through PR, guest posts, or partnerships.

5️⃣. Your Homepage Fails The Caveman Test

Sam Dunning's Take: "Could a caveman sitting in his cave... see your homepage in a couple seconds and grunt exactly what you do, how your offer helps him, and how he could book a call? If it can't do those three things for a caveman, then how the heck's it gonna do that to your target prospect."

Your homepage is awful.

Don't take it personally. 80% of B2B homepages are awful.

Here's the problem:

You're designing for YOUR ego. Not for your customer.

You land on a SaaS homepage. The headline says: "Cutting-edge, all-in-one revenue acceleration platform."

Cool. What does that MEAN?

You scroll down. Features. Awards. Testimonials.

You're STILL not sure what they do.

That's because most companies build websites based on what THEY think looks good.

Not what customers care about.

Sam's solution: Interview 10-12 customers.

Ask them:

What problem brought you to us?
What was the tipping point where you HAD to solve it?
How do we stack up against competitors?
What made you choose us?

Then use THEIR language on your homepage.

Not buzzwords. Not jargon. Not "synergy" and "cutting-edge."

Real words. Real problems. Real outcomes.

The Grunt Test: If a caveman can't look at your homepage for 3 seconds and understand (1) what you do, (2) how it helps, and (3) how to take the next step...

Your homepage sucks.

Takeaway: Schedule 10 customer interviews THIS MONTH.

Record them. Pull out the exact phrases they use to describe their problem and your solution.

Rewrite your homepage using THEIR words. Not yours.

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IN A MEME