Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

It's Q4, so Eric and Neil run through their business and marketing highlights and lowlights for the year. Eric's win was hiring AI-native people after learning he couldn't train everyone, and Neil's was the lowest churn in a long time. Neil explains bankruptcy clawbacks, where the lawyers always win, with FTX legal fees near $700M, and how tariffs and war cut client budgets. Eric's team now makes and manages bots, including one that shortlists recruits every day. On marketing, YouTube is bringing enterprise leads, Neil found out he did 12.7M views in 30 days, and Gavin Baker reports 80% of token spend has flipped to open-weight models. Eric covers outbound, wedges and Higgsfield's weekly launches, and Neil explains why he wants the chill life. A candid look back at the year.

Key takeaways

◾Hire adaptable, AI-native people instead of trying to train everyone

◾Let bots handle evaluation work like recruiting shortlists

◾Test lots of ideas cheaply, then back the ones with traction

Chapters

00:00 Q4 business highlights

00:44 Eric's lowlight: thinking he could train people

01:28 Neil's lowest churn in years

02:32 Bankruptcy clawbacks and legal drama

03:29 Lawyers always win: FTX's $700M in fees

04:43 Tariffs, war and budgets

06:20 Optimistic about 2027?

07:05 Payment plans for groceries

08:31 We make and manage bots

09:13 Recruiters who say they can't build it

10:00 Marketing highlights

10:47 Enterprise leads who found us on YouTube

11:32 Ad Age's performance marketing agency of the year

13:33 Neil's 12.7M views in 30 days

14:38 A slow speaking summer, two months at home

15:37 Neil only buys companies at a good deal

16:21 Best returns with the least stress

17:14 Outbound, wedges and 15-minute standups

18:39 Skillsdojo: pair engineers with marketers

19:43 Crank out 100 ideas, double down on winners

20:48 Gavin Baker: 80% of token spend flipped

21:46 Higgsfield ships a new feature every week

22:28 Neil does better in services than tech

23:42 Think like a capital allocator

25:08 Neil just wants the chill life

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How to grow a YouTube channel with AI, win clients with the wine and dining game, and use ChatGPT plugins for growth. Eric's AI skills for thumbnails, editing and posting took his long-form views from about 500 to 15,000 to 25,000, and the people who wouldn't use them had to go. Neil says AI optimizes for average, and they cover hiring and why AI rewards whoever raises billions. Then the wine and dining game: Formula One boxes, Bank of America and Wells Fargo tickets, and a financial advisor's pitch after a friend's $25M house sale. Next, ChatGPT plugins adding $500K in ARR, clients arriving with leads down 32%, and service stories from Grokbot, On and Marriott. They finish with Q4 highlights and lowlights, from recruiting bots to Neil's 12.7M views in 30 days. The whole conversation in one place.

Key takeaways

◾Skills only work when someone spends real time tuning them

◾Thank-you tickets with no pitch keep clients around

◾Pitch the fix for the client's business problem, whatever the channel

Chapters

00:00 We got more views by firing

00:51 Skills took Eric's videos from 500 views to 25K

02:13 Cover the trend first, fix thumbnails and retention

02:56 Neil: AI optimizes for average

04:01 You still need humans in the loop

04:46 Bain's 94% and the coming job displacement

05:30 How we hire marketers now

06:17 A senior SEO candidate read off a Claude template

08:19 Lazy before the contract means worse after

09:27 The agency hire who said they're too slow

10:11 Hire people who never stop learning

10:53 Small touches build brands

12:19 Fundamentals move metrics more than campaigns

13:29 Uber won by subsidizing more than Lyft

14:48 Why a cheap Waymo rival can't win

15:51 AI rewards whoever raises billions

16:52 Muse is taking the market

17:38 Neil's Muse outreach lands a UK call

18:31 Red flags in the deals bankers pitch

19:25 The wine and dining game

20:12 Competitors win clients with Formula One boxes

20:55 Bank of America sent our CFO to the World Cup

21:56 Wells Fargo offers tickets after the deal

23:03 Tickets with no sales pitch keep clients

24:06 The bank that came too late

25:09 Too little, too late, like a bad hire

25:55 Steve Jobs to Tim Cook: do the right thing

26:39 Group texts gone wrong

28:10 Selling while pretending not to sell

29:12 The worst sales pitch

30:14 One client account next to Buffett and Ackman

31:26 70% leverage and 'it barely moves down'

32:20 AI showed the stock drops far more often

33:06 Big investors get deals you don't

33:53 Plugins add $500K in ARR

35:06 Neil: plugins help retention more than revenue

35:58 Clients bring problems now

37:03 Revenue down 6%, leads down 32%

38:09 Solving the whole problem set grows the TAM

38:51 Customer service is marketing

39:59 On.com's surprise refund and split order

41:40 Neil's Marriott check-in

42:59 Charged for the night before, told to wait

43:48 A room appeared once it was their fault

44:35 Grokbot support hid behind policy

45:32 Ritz-Carlton and Airbnb's 9-star experience

46:16 Four Seasons prices, Disney cruise experience

47:32 Room service, laundry and one carry-on

48:25 Compression bags and Sterling Pacific luggage

50:17 Q4 business highlights

51:01 Eric's lowlight: thinking he could train people

52:04 Neil's lowest churn in years

53:08 Bankruptcy clawbacks and legal drama

54:05 Lawyers always win: FTX's $700M in fees

55:19 Tariffs, war and budgets

56:56 Optimistic about 2027?

57:41 Payment plans for groceries

59:07 We make and manage bots

59:49 Recruiters who say they can't build it

1:00:37 Marketing highlights

1:01:24 Enterprise leads who found us on YouTube

1:02:08 Ad Age's performance marketing agency of the year

1:03:54 Neil's 12.7M views in 30 days

1:04:58 A slow speaking summer, two months at home

1:05:57 Neil only buys companies at a good deal

1:06:41 Best returns with the least stress

1:07:35 Outbound, wedges and 15-minute standups

1:09:00 Skillsdojo: pair engineers with marketers

1:10:03 Crank out 100 ideas, double down on winners

1:11:08 Gavin Baker: 80% of token spend flipped

1:12:06 Higgsfield ships a new feature every week

1:12:48 Neil does better in services than tech

1:14:02 Think like a capital allocator

1:15:28 Neil just wants the chill life

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Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Why versus pages are your secret SEO weapon. Noah Kagan shipped 19 SEO pages from a $20 Mac app and got six sales in three days, and Eric breaks down the two page types every product needs: versus pages and best-for guides. Neil adds two fixes, getting other sites to publish them and comparing the brands ChatGPT and Claude already recommend, and says comparison pages drive more revenue than listicles. Then Instinct: 10% daily growth, 40% of users adding a card, and why Neil would sell it to Apple. Sam Lessin says there is no moat in AI agents, Neil's Muse test turns hundreds of drafts into three sent emails, and Outrank's data shows sites with 400+ links got 115% more Google clicks. A practical episode on SEO and AI agents.

Key takeaways

◾Build versus and alternative pages for the competitors AI already cites

◾AI agents have little loyalty, so the product has to keep earning it

◾Linkable assets still move Google clicks

Chapters

00:00 Noah Kagan's 19 SEO pages and 6 sales

01:16 Neil: get other sites to publish your pages

02:38 Listicles are the new links

03:39 Comparison pages drive more revenue than listicles

04:02 Instinct: 10% a day, 40% add a card

05:21 Neil: Instinct should sell to Apple

06:37 Eric bets the founder sells

07:39 Apple could build this itself

08:24 Sam Lessin: there is no moat in AI agents

10:02 Neil's Muse test: hundreds of drafts, 3 sent

13:47 Every's personal agent comparison

14:24 Jev as a classifier for a fraction of a penny

16:36 Nobody is loyal to an AI product

17:37 Outrank: 400+ links, 115% more Google clicks

19:48 Neil: building something good? Ignore the hate

20:58 Linkable assets beat bought links

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire

Neil's team won a $6M, three-year SEO contract without talking about SEO: they pitched the business problem, the board's numbers and the ROI. Eric reads the September jobs report, 29,000 jobs against a 90,000 forecast, and they agree that without AI growth the economy would be in recession. Neil shares a grocery bill and a moment at Target, and his plan to stop taxing people under $100K. Then agents: Latin America's biggest retailer, optimizing for LLMs to choose you, and Eric's Meta agent haggling 40% off an order from On. Eric covers OpenAI's Dots and its new distribution channels to 1 billion monthly users, and they close on X Money's 6% offer. A grounded episode on selling in hard times.

Key takeaways◾Pitch the business outcome, not rankings or links◾Optimize for AI agents to choose you, not just list you◾A great offer still beats a clever pitch

Chapters00:00 Neil's team won a $6M SEO deal without talking SEO01:28 Sell the business case, not features03:23 September jobs report: no AI, recession04:26 Neil's grocery bill and the grandma at Target06:47 Bridging the gap to abundance07:26 Neil's tax plan for people under $100K08:49 How to win any deal: solve their problem09:35 Latin America's biggest retailer and AI agents10:35 Optimize for LLMs to choose you12:28 Eric's Meta agent haggles 40% off at On14:01 Neil won't let AI near his travel14:47 OpenAI's Dots spots errors in your email15:36 Dot.com is owned by SpaceX16:08 OpenAI's 1B MAU distribution channels17:21 Microsoft and Google will undercut the labs18:23 X Money: 6% on cash, 3% back20:36 Neil wants his cash back in SpaceX stock

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire

AI labs are paying millions of dollars for company data through third parties, so should you sell yours? Neil says it depends on the business model, and Eric warns the labs will use that data to compete with you. Then a Bain study: only 6% of marketers say AI has had a significant impact on performance. Eric explains why that matches the top slice of any company, Neil shares the three places AI is actually winning for clients, and an a16z chart shows just 2.2% of households pay for AI. They explain why they stopped hiring clippers after YouTube's originality update, why niche videos bring qualified leads, and how Neil now picks topics from his sales pipeline. An honest episode on data and content.

Key takeaways◾Do not sell data that lets the labs compete with you◾AI only pays when it is aimed at work that moves revenue◾Original, niche content beats clipped reach

Chapters00:00 Should you sell your data to the AI labs?02:06 Data is the moat as models converge02:51 Eric's YouTube videos are driving leads03:45 Bain: only 6% of marketers see AI impact05:13 Neil asks: how many of you are growing?06:10 Neil's top 3 AI wins in marketing07:29 AI amplifies effort, and only 2.2% of homes pay08:59 Why we stopped hiring clippers09:58 YouTube's originality update for Shorts11:54 Neil's team wanted 10 clip channels12:58 Eric no longer needs an editor or a poster13:32 Niche content brings qualified leads15:27 Neil's channel: topics from the sales pipeline16:52 Long form once a month, shorts twice