This Old Marketing - Content Marketing News with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose

The boys are back with news that OpenAI (led by Sam Altman) is considering a social media platform that may compete with Elon's Twitter/X. Let's face it...we know what this is really about. Joe and Robert bring it home for you. META's big lawsuit with the FTC gets started. Did Zuckerberg grease the skids enough to get this one through? Creator Economy jobs (aka content marketing) are up, up, up. Why is that? And the top Gen AI use cases don't involve marketing. Marketing winners and losers include databases and Twinkies. Rants and raves include Superman and faith-based billboards. This week's links: META's FTC Case Starts [https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-media-trends-e19e6f60-1945-11f0-be15-df49f3986ba6?utm_source=chatgpt.com] OpenAI to Launch Social Platform? [https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-is-working-x-like-social-media-platform-verge-reports-2025-04-15/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Creator Economy Jobs on the Up [https://projectcasting.com/blog/content-creators/creator-economy-jobs-rebound-in-q1-2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Top Gen AI Use Cases [https://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-gen-ai-use-cases-revealed-marketing-tasks-rank-low/544276/] Twinkies Goes 420 [https://www.wsj.com/articles/twinkies-new-owner-courts-a-novel-group-of-snackers-stoners-d3868528?mod=cmo-today_lead_pos1] The Summer of Superman [https://www.polygon.com/comics/559501/superman-summer-special-dc-comics-waid-williamson-slott?utm_source=chatgpt.com] ----- This week's sponsor: You don't become the world’s most valuable women's sports franchise by accident. Angel City Football Club did it with a little help from HubSpot. When they started, data was housed across multiple systems. HubSpot unified their website, email marketing, and fan experience in one platform. This allowed their small team of three to build an entire website in just three days. The results? Nearly 350 new sign-ups a week and 300% database growth in just two years. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/ [https://www.hubspot.com/] to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZCcAoMJEULFZfZu61QRVd], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id760760485?mt=2&ls=1], Google [https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbnJtYXJrZXRpbmcubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=] and more. Catch past episodes and show notes at ThisOldMarketing.com [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/]. Catch and subscribe to our NEW show on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldmarketing]. NOTE: You can get captions there. Subscribe to Joe Pulizzi's Orangeletter [https://www.joepulizzi.com/] and get two free downloads direct from Joe. Subscribe to Robert Rose's newsletter [https://seventhbear.com/] at Seventh Bear.

Has AI finally killed search? Does Google even matter anymore? Must we now build our content on rented land? The boys go through each of these questions and talk about if "do not build your house on rented land" is still a thing. In other news, the TikTok deal is delayed (again). In marketing winners and losers, Joe takes on the Catholic church while Robert gushes over Duolingo. Rants and raves includes London's takedown of Leon, while the Shopify CEO tells employees to do an AI check. This week's links: Trump Delays TikTok (again) [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/technology/trump-tiktok-china-tariffs.html] Big Search Shift (Google) [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-07/google-ai-search-shift-leaves-website-makers-feeling-betrayed?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc0NDAzMzY5NywiZXhwIjoxNzQ0NjM4NDk3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTVFVFQkpEV1gyUFMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEQUZGOTQ2MjMzOTM0NjI5QURDODEzNDRGQ0QwODBBOSJ9.g2Pj57IAuRue1QQiAlaOTEhlYtO4CumxIwre3di6lHA&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&leadSource=uverify%20wall] Push to Rented Land? [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7313853891769430016/] Duolingo for the Win [https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/duolingo-duo-owl-marketing-strategy/] Catholic Church Needs a Change [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/world/europe/pope-francis-surprise-public-appearance.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20250407&instance_id=152034&nl=the-morning®i_id=100723836&segment_id=195467&user_id=f8eba9ee5da4bad2190c441240f5c0cf] Shopify CEO Stokes AI Flames [https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/07/shopify-ceo-tells-teams-to-consider-using-ai-before-growing-headcount/?utm_campaign=mb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew] London Taking Down Telsa with Ads [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/world/europe/anti-elon-musk-tesla-ads.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20250407&instance_id=152034&nl=the-morning®i_id=100723836&segment_id=195467&user_id=f8eba9ee5da4bad2190c441240f5c0cf] ----- This week's sponsor: You don't become the world’s most valuable women's sports franchise by accident. Angel City Football Club did it with a little help from HubSpot. When they started, data was housed across multiple systems. HubSpot unified their website, email marketing, and fan experience in one platform. This allowed their small team of three to build an entire website in just three days. The results? Nearly 350 new sign-ups a week and 300% database growth in just two years. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZCcAoMJEULFZfZu61QRVd], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id760760485?mt=2&ls=1], Google [https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbnJtYXJrZXRpbmcubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=] and more. Catch past episodes and show notes at ThisOldMarketing.com [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/]. Catch and subscribe to our NEW show on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldmarketing]. NOTE: You can get captions there. Subscribe to Joe Pulizzi's Orangeletter [https://www.joepulizzi.com/] and get two free downloads direct from Joe. Subscribe to Robert Rose's newsletter [https://seventhbear.com/] at Seventh Bear.

Possibly our dumbest episode yet. Joe and Robert go deep into the dumbery to try to make sense of an incredibly weird (and dumb) week. TikTok is for sale. No it's not. Maybe it is. Will we know this week? Elon Musk merges his two companies into one, creating the dumbest valuation in the history of corporate mergers. And META's AI steals a bunch of copyrighted books. Heck, they've probably already stolen this podcast. Marketing losers include vibe marketing and Hooters. Raves and commentary include Gartner and Chris Ross and how the tariffs will affect marketing spending. This week's links: Amazon Interested in TikTok [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/business/media/amazon-tiktok-bid.html] TikTok Looming Deadline [https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/01/tech/tiktok-ban-deadline-trump-what-to-expect/index.html] Elon's Merger Is Dumb [https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/elon-musks-megadeal-between-x-and-xai-breaks-wall-streets-rulebook-191b2706] META Steals Copyrighted Books [https://authorsguild.org/news/meta-libgen-ai-training-book-heist-what-authors-need-to-know/] Ghibli Effect Takes Over ChatGPT [https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ghibli-effect-chatgpt-usage-hits-record-after-rollout-viral-feature-2025-04-01/] Hooters Bankruptcy [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/business/hooters-restaurant-bankruptcy.html] Chris Ross from Gartner [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chrisrosscmo_brand-strategy-brandexperience-activity-7089279605236240384-gTGw/] ----- This week's sponsor: Whether you are swimming in content requests, struggling to reach Gen Z, or just need to do more with less - The 2025 Marketing Trend Report delivers real solutions you can use now. Go to http://clickhubspot.com/marketing [http://clickhubspot.com/marketing] to download it for free. ------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZCcAoMJEULFZfZu61QRVd], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id760760485?mt=2&ls=1], Google [https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbnJtYXJrZXRpbmcubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=] and more. Catch past episodes and show notes at ThisOldMarketing.com [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/]. Catch and subscribe to our NEW show on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldmarketing]. NOTE: You can get captions there. Subscribe to Joe Pulizzi's Orangeletter [https://www.joepulizzi.com/] and get two free downloads direct from Joe. Subscribe to Robert Rose's newsletter [https://seventhbear.com/] at Seventh Bear.

A very special episode on what makes a successful content marketer or content creator. Robert and Joe talk about what works today to successfully build and monetize an audience with these five keys. 1. For marketers, setting a clear goal up front - sales, savings or sunshine and then find a measurement tool that aligns with current corporate measurement. From the creator side, what's my goal? You exit at the beginning. 2. What's the show for your particular audience AND is it consistent AND is it (or will it be) indispensable? To the point - do I have a tilt that is unique, interesting AND attracts financial support? 3. Build audience like crazy at the start and try not to sell anything...or sell just one thing. Put 1/3 time into the content and two-thirds into promotion. 4. Considering everything, we'd lean toward a video podcast series, which takes advantage of all the social video and the cost effectiveness of podcasts. Then we'd have some kind of email deliverable, at least to get the data...but ultimately a newsletter. 5. Create THE LIST of good and bad things you do/want to do. Develop a stopping list. ----- This week's sponsor: Whether you are swimming in content requests, struggling to reach Gen Z, or just need to do more with less - The 2025 Marketing Trend Report delivers real solutions you can use now. Go to http://clickhubspot.com/marketing [http://clickhubspot.com/marketing] to download it for free. ------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZCcAoMJEULFZfZu61QRVd], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id760760485?mt=2&ls=1], Google [https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbnJtYXJrZXRpbmcubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=] and more. Catch past episodes and show notes at ThisOldMarketing.com [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/]. Catch and subscribe to our NEW show on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldmarketing]. NOTE: You can get captions there. Subscribe to Joe Pulizzi's Orangeletter [https://www.joepulizzi.com/] and get two free downloads direct from Joe. Subscribe to Robert Rose's newsletter [https://seventhbear.com/] at Seventh Bear.

New data suggests that advertising growth is slowing. Overall marketing is soon to follow. Will the current political environment drive us into a marketing recession? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proclaims that AI will take over all coding in the next year. Robert takes offense and the boys talk about the reasons these types of proclamations are made. And is AI slop a brute force attack on the major platforms? The point? AI content is taking over YouTube, TikTok and Facebook and the platforms simply don't care. Marketing losers are Unilever and the NFL. Rants are the AI-ification of press and the killing of Voice of America. This week's links: Ad Growth Slows [https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-media-trends-dd461820-0354-11f0-be12-372bc8236c04.html] Anthropic CEO Predicts AI Coding Takeover [https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/anthropic-ceo-predicts-ai-will-take-over-coding-in-12-months/488533] AI Slop Is Non-Stop [https://www.404media.co/ai-slop-is-a-brute-force-attack-on-the-algorithms-that-control-reality/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email] Unilever's Big Mistake [https://www.today.com/food/news/ben-and-jerrys-ceo-fired-rcna197076] Adobe and AI Agents [https://www.investors.com/news/technology/adbe-stock-adobe-launches-ai-agents-marketing/] The Death of Voice of America [https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/404897/trump-doge-voa-usagm-voice-america-first-fake-news] ----- This week's sponsor: Whether you are swimming in content requests, struggling to reach Gen Z, or just need to do more with less - The 2025 Marketing Trend Report delivers real solutions you can use now. Go to http://clickhubspot.com/marketing [http://clickhubspot.com/marketing] to download it for free. ------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZCcAoMJEULFZfZu61QRVd], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id760760485?mt=2&ls=1], Google [https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbnJtYXJrZXRpbmcubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M=] and more. Catch past episodes and show notes at ThisOldMarketing.com [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/]. Catch and subscribe to our NEW show on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@thisoldmarketing]. NOTE: You can get captions there. Subscribe to Joe Pulizzi's Orangeletter [https://www.joepulizzi.com/] and get two free downloads direct from Joe. Subscribe to Robert Rose's newsletter [https://seventhbear.com/] at Seventh Bear.