Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

New AI trends suggest that shoppers referred by artificial intelligence are showing higher intent to purchase. We examine the latest report from Andreessen Horowitz to understand how these AI-referred shoppers differ from other online traffic. This analysis highlights why businesses need to adjust their strategy as the landscape of model research and development shifts rapidly. Beyond technical advancements, we discuss how these changes in consumer behavior are impacting bottom-line results for modern businesses. We also touch on the importance of personal history and storytelling in maintaining a connection with your audience.

Analyze the midterm elections from a marketing perspective. Learn how recent political shifts impact your industry strategy. Eric Siu breaks down the recent midterm elections, focusing on why the Democrats secured wins in the House and Senate. This analysis is designed for marketers and business owners who need to understand how political outcomes influence the broader economic landscape. We examine the underlying factors that shaped these electoral results and what they mean for future campaign planning. By applying a marketing lens to these midterm elections, you can better anticipate shifts in consumer sentiment and market trends. Understanding this voter behavior helps refine your overall business strategy as the political climate evolves. Subscribe for daily marketing insights, and let me know in the comments how you think these election results will impact your industry. 0:00 Marketing Lessons from Political Campaigns2:07 Focusing on Customer Pain Points5:52 The Power of In-Person Relationships8:09 Refining Your Pitch for Higher Conversion10:51 Networking at the Highest Level

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 Patel and Eric Siu open with a shift they say will define 2027: AI agents, not people, now do the searching, running 40 or 50 queries to pick which company to hire or buy from. They break down new data showing AI-referred shoppers convert far better than other online shoppers, and how much of Anthropic's own work AI now leads. Eric then shares what he learned at a YPO summit, from needs and leads sessions to a founder who raised $1M after a five-minute conversation. Neil walks through how debt changes the maths on buying a company, how lenders price risk, and why calm beats leverage. They also cover why posts stay online, short-form fatigue and picking guests for impact. The takeaway is simple: make your business easy for an agent to choose. Key takeaways◾If an AI agent runs 40 to 50 queries before choosing, your business has to be easy to find and pick◾AI-referred shoppers convert better, so optimise for agents and assistants as well as for Google◾High-risk lenders charge 40-50% in fees, so cheap debt and a calm life beat chasing 5x leverage Chapters00:00 AI agents now pick who wins00:51 Google search is up, but ad revenue only +12%02:01 Agents as personal assistants: the water heater story03:29 Eric's AI assistant for his AI Summit04:36 Grokbot, the genealogy bot and rising costs06:16 Anthropic: AI now leads the work09:18 AI in R&D: from assistant to coworker11:21 AI shoppers convert 60% better14:45 The Coachella of business events17:16 Needs and leads: 8 hours, about 40 leads18:29 A friend invests $1M after a 5-minute chat20:26 Buying a company on debt: Neil's maths24:02 Private credit: a thin spread for lenders26:54 Intros and clear offers27:29 Storytell to sell: the staffing pitch28:53 Give intros without expecting anything back30:24 He raised $1M in 5 minutes32:13 What the YPO ticket costs32:49 Being transactional: Neil's one-line DM34:08 Midterms: why the Democrats won on messaging36:57 AI layoffs: Microsoft, Google and Canva38:27 Tailor the pitch: sell the bottom line40:21 Relationships: Neil sees about 200 clients a year42:10 Same offer, new wording: audit vs AI workflows44:31 Run your own needs and leads without YPO46:13 YPO Gold: the age and profit rules50:13 Nextiva founder's advice: low debt, calm life54:00 5x leverage: the maths56:15 Eric on his 2021 debt deals58:01 How lenders price risk: 1 in 400 loans60:42 Agency roll-ups: when the founder wants out62:52 Don't buy data centers: the Saudi energy guy65:56 Elon deleting tweets: what you post stays68:09 Short-form fatigue and who speaks freely70:23 Who can say anything: the All-In hosts73:13 Make content about what excites you74:14 Steven Bartlett: interview who you want76:14 Interview for impact, not views76:37 Lose sales: ask once, ask clearly 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric shares a clip of FlexJet's CEO, Kenn Ricci, saying he does not believe in M&A, and Neil pushes back with lessons from the companies he has bought. They agree on culture, look at big companies that grew through acquisitions, and Eric argues M&A is a tool, not a rule. They cover why buying a small business often comes with big, hairy problems. Then sales: Eric explains why reps should listen at least 60% of the time on a call, and shares how daily AI performance reviews feed his quarterly reviews. They discuss Gokul Rajaram's take on short and long work, and the risk of pay-for-performance deals for agencies. Judge every deal on its own numbers. Key takeaways◾M&A is a tool to use case by case, not a belief◾In sales calls, listen more than you talk◾Pay-for-performance deals carry real risk for agencies Chapters00:00 Sales talk ratio, then FlexJet's CEO on M&A02:02 Neil Patel defends M&A04:55 Big companies built on M&A07:12 M&A is a tool, not a rule10:08 FlexJet's own acquisitions11:50 Why small acquisitions bring big problems12:43 Sales calls: listen 60, talk 4015:07 Daily AI performance reviews17:20 Gokul Rajaram on short vs long work20:28 Pay-for-performance risk21:57 Should agencies take performance deals?

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 Eric opens with Spawn, a company with 10 people that spends about 30 times its payroll on AI, and what an AI-native team looks like in practice. They cover iterating fast while changing less, the Money Prompt, and why experience still matters when AI does the work. Eric runs through Jen Abel's list of what startup sales teams get wrong and the advantage of founder-led sales. Neil explains why a win rate over 50% is a warning sign, often that you are not charging enough. Then GPT-6 Astra being distilled, what that means for IP, and how to make your offer a no-brainer for buyers. Speed and a strong offer beat protecting IP. Key takeaways◾AI-native teams can spend far more on AI than on payroll◾A win rate over 50% is a warning sign, not a win◾When IP is easy to copy, the offer and the speed win Chapters00:00 Spawn: 10 people, 30x payroll on AI02:05 Iterate fast, change less03:49 Money Prompt and experience05:17 Jen Abel's startup sales list07:48 Founder-led sales advantage10:46 Win rate over 50% is a warning14:23 GPT-6 Astra distilled: IP is dying16:16 Make the offer a no-brainer 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 starts with Google's stock falling 12% after earnings, the biggest drop he has seen after a report, and what it says about search. Eric walks through Granola's AEO workflow and how his team moved fast on a trend with an AI summit, plus why being too early can hurt. Neil shares tests on how AI agents pick local businesses, using a water softener search: review volume, fresh reviews, consistent messaging and comparison articles all shape who gets recommended. Eric demos the free AI visibility report, what it costs to run, and why Neil thinks fewer charts convert better. They finish on enterprise sales and booking more calls. AI search rewards brands that stay fresh and consistent. Key takeaways◾AI agents lean on review volume, freshness and consistent messaging◾Comparison articles help you get picked in AI answers◾Simpler reports with fewer charts can convert better Chapters00:00 Google stock falls 12% after earnings01:15 Neil on Google's valuation02:42 Granola's AEO workflow04:32 Hit trends fast: Eric's AI summit07:03 How AI agents pick local businesses09:00 Reviews: volume and freshness10:56 Why comparison articles win12:41 Free AI visibility report13:46 What the report costs to run14:45 Fewer charts convert better15:51 Enterprise sales and booking calls 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 opens with HighLevel's announcement that it is giving AI away for free, and why so few founders make big, expensive bets like that. Eric argues the bets are getting cheaper: anything you build now is out of date fast, so giving away workflows and bots buys mindshare that turns into service work. They weigh the real risk of not knowing your AI cost cap, rising compute and hardware prices, and Meta's open-ended AI spend. Eric shares why so few people use AI the way Andrej Karpathy describes, and what that means for AI-native firms hiring talent. Then a MacBook Pro quote, a Chinese glass company that got free advertising from the Paris riots, and what Black October's hacks mean for security and passkeys. Free value is still a strong growth lever. Key takeaways◾Giving AI tools away free can win mindshare that turns into paid work◾Know your AI cost cap before you make usage unlimited◾Being transparent after a security problem builds trust Chapters00:00 HighLevel gives AI away free02:31 Give your workflows and bots away04:30 AI costs, DGX Spark and Anthropic-SpaceX06:57 Meta's open-ended AI spend07:41 Andrej Karpathy: only 0.2% use AI this way09:08 Scale founder's big bet11:18 MacBook Pro $14K quote13:38 Chinese glass company and the Paris riots15:38 Neil's bulletproof windows17:23 Black October hacks and passkeys18:53 Be transparent when things go wrong

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 Patel opens on HighLevel giving AI away free, and why its CEO says that sometimes you just have to eat the cost. Eric Siu explains why he gives his own workflows and bots away too, now that an AI visibility report that once cost dollars costs 18 cents. They cover what AI compute costs now, from Eric's DGX Sparks to a MacBook Pro quote of about $14K, Andrej Karpathy's 0.2% figure, a Chinese glass company's Paris riots post, and simple security steps for Black October. Then how AI agents pick local businesses, Spawn's 10-person team spending 30x payroll on AI tokens, Jen Abel's startup sales list, and why GPT-6 Astra being distilled means your IP is dying. They finish on the FlexJet CEO's view of M&A, the listen-to-talk ratio on sales calls, daily AI performance reviews, pay-for-performance risk, Granola's AEO workflow, and Google stock falling 12% after earnings. AI keeps getting cheaper, so the bold move is to give more of it away. Key takeaways◾Giving AI tools and workflows away for free builds mindshare and leads◾Move fast on trends, from events to security news to earnings◾Use AI for daily feedback instead of waiting for yearly reviews Chapters00:00 Neil's week: HighLevel, Experian, Milan01:00 HighLevel gives AI away free03:33 Give your workflows and bots away05:32 AI costs, DGX Spark and Anthropic-SpaceX08:43 Andrej Karpathy: only 0.2% use AI this way10:10 Scale founder's big bet12:01 MacBook Pro $14K quote14:21 Chinese glass company and the Paris riots18:06 Black October hacks and passkeys20:30 Hit trends fast: Eric's AI summit23:01 How AI agents pick local businesses28:23 Free AI visibility report32:58 Spawn: 10 people, 30x payroll on AI35:10 Iterate fast, change less36:54 Money Prompt and experience38:22 Jen Abel's startup sales list40:53 Founder-led sales advantage43:31 Win rate over 50% is a warning47:08 GPT-6 Astra distilled: IP is dying49:01 Make the offer a no-brainer51:06 FlexJet CEO on M&A52:52 Neil Patel defends M&A58:05 M&A is a tool, not a rule1:03:36 Sales calls: listen 60, talk 401:06:00 Daily AI performance reviews1:08:13 Gokul Rajaram on short vs long work1:11:21 Pay-for-performance risk1:14:40 The $14K laptop bet1:15:57 Granola's AEO workflow1:17:54 Google stock falls 12% after earnings1:20:40 Wrap-up

Neil Patel pays a content agency $17,000 a month. Then they asked for another 10 grand a month.Eric Siu and Neil ask why agency owners taking home $5,000 a month should not just get a job, then react to Gary Vee on the monetization of random content. 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 Eric and Neil start with a content agency Neil pays $17,000 a month, which asked for 10 grand more a month and then changed the price an hour later. Neil asks why a team that takes home about $5,000 a month each on over a million dollars in revenue does not just get a job, and Eric says there is no shame in a salary after 10 years without traction. They contrast that with an agency that grew for roughly 38 years with few acquisitions. Then they react to a Gary Vee clip about the monetization of random content, with Neil explaining how algorithms now find interested viewers and Eric adding that authenticity matters. They close with Neil's dislike of being filmed constantly and a bakery post that drew 130,000 likes. Pick the marketing style that fits you. Key takeaways◾Charge what you want and pay what makes sense, without lectures◾If the business has not scaled in 10 years, a job is a fine option◾Random content works best when it is authentic and fits you Chapters00:00 A $17K a month helper asks for more01:45 Charge what you want, pay what makes sense03:18 What the helper's team takes home03:53 Why not just get a job?05:54 Under $100K a year for years07:00 No shame in getting a job07:21 Equity upside at fast-growing companies08:45 Editing skills can earn more inside a company09:38 An agency that kept growing for decades10:36 How a 38-year agency grew without acquisitions12:47 No right or wrong way to build a business13:46 Gary Vee: the monetization of random content16:33 How algorithms find interested viewers18:36 Post random content, but stay authentic19:47 Being filmed at Web Summit20:53 Why content has to fit your personality22:20 A bakery's authentic viral post 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

An internet marketer cut his team from a couple hundred people to under 100 and credits AI and OpenClaw with the work. Eric Siu and Neil Patel explain why AI cannot handle marketing work alone.Then Neil shares why he walked away from buying a European agency that is cutting staff to run on AI. 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 Eric and Neil start with a well-known internet marketer who cut his team from a couple hundred people to under 100 and says AI and OpenClaw now do 20 to 30 times more work. Eric says that claim hurts the marketer's credibility, and that AI should elevate capabilities rather than eliminate jobs. Neil describes a call with a European e-commerce agency he decided not to acquire, because it planned to shrink to eight to ten people, said two or three people could run its ad spend, and had lost three of its four biggest clients. Eric lists where AI output still needs a human editor, including his YouTube channel, ad creative, AEO and SEO content, and X posts. They also cover AI metrics that do not match business results, and how to handle client expectations and feedback. Human judgment still decides marketing results. Key takeaways◾Cutting staff and crediting AI for it can hurt a marketer's credibility◾AI output still needs human taste and an editor in the loop◾Optimize for business results and client value, not AI-suggested views Chapters00:00 Internet marketer says AI replaced his staff00:58 Does cutting jobs hurt credibility?01:46 OpenClaw is unreliable03:16 Marketers who talk about AI without knowing it03:45 Neil's call about acquiring an agency04:33 The agency plans to shrink to eight or ten people06:22 Why the agency is losing clients08:11 Up or out, and selling a company09:08 AI cannot handle marketing work alone10:20 How Eric's view of AI has shifted11:37 AI feedback creates a bias toward views12:58 Views versus revenue14:13 Clients pay for results, not effort15:34 Optimizing for revenue, not brand16:39 Two types of consultants17:52 Why feedback is a gift 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

Meta Muse is now recommending products, and in one example it picked Beehiiv over Substack for a newsletter. Eric Siu and Neil Patel break down how to get recommended by AI: keep doing AEO and SEO, and get into new AI marketplaces and plugins early.Plus how Grok helped Neil's co-founder beat a $7,600 Google quote with one under $5,000. 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 Eric and Neil start with Rob Hoffman's example of Meta Muse recommending a client's product as the best option on the market, and Muse choosing Beehiiv over Substack for a newsletter. Eric says to get listed you still have to do more AEO and more SEO, and calls Muse, Grok and OpenAI the next surface for it. Neil shares how his co-founder got a $7,600 water softener quote from Google, then had Grok find more companies and chose a quote under $5,000. He says most businesses never see that revenue because they do not track it. They debate whether AI platforms will sell paid leads, and Eric says to get into new marketplaces and plugins the moment they open. They then turn to Meta's AI spending, the data center race, Karpathy's numbers on AI users, and AI capital spending as a share of GDP. Key takeaways◾To get recommended by AI, you still have to do more AEO and SEO◾Get into new AI marketplaces and plugins as soon as they open◾AI-driven leads are hard to track, so many businesses miss the revenue Chapters00:00 Meta Muse picks Beehiiv over Substack01:01 Muse, Grok and OpenAI: the next surface for AEO01:09 The revenue lost by not optimizing for AI01:46 A $7,600 Google quote vs a Grok quote under $5K03:16 The cost of not optimizing for new channels04:36 Will AI tools offer businesses more leads?06:07 Paid marketplaces inside AI platforms06:56 Will AI platforms keep results pure?08:13 Get into new marketplaces and plugins early08:58 Meta's AI spending and the stock drop10:05 Zuckerberg's all-in data center bet10:54 Will AI demand outrun data centers?11:54 AI in toilets, fridges and robots13:00 Marketing to the robot that shops for you13:17 Karpathy's numbers and why demand keeps growing14:51 AI build-out as a share of GDP15:36 Jevons paradox and autonomous ABM 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

An internet marketer cut his team from a couple hundred people to under 100 and credits AI and OpenClaw. Eric Siu and Neil Patel explain why AI cannot handle marketing work alone, and why clients pay for results, not effort. They cover a $17K a month content agency, Gary Vee on the monetization of random content, and how Meta Muse recommended a client's product, which is why getting recommended by AI is the new AEO. They also get into paid marketplaces inside AI platforms, Zuckerberg's all-in data center bet, marketing to robots and agents, Forrester's prediction that agents will influence 75% of B2B buying, and Marc Andreessen on the AI-native gap. They close on hiring people who are AI native and why the biggest AI ROI is getting recommended. 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 Key takeaways◾AI cannot handle marketing work alone, human judgment still matters◾Getting recommended by AI is the new AEO and the biggest ROI◾Hire for AI fluency, and spend on AI where it makes money Chapters00:00 Internet marketer says AI replaced his staff01:46 OpenClaw is unreliable03:45 Neil's call about acquiring an agency06:22 Why the agency is losing clients08:47 AI cannot handle marketing work alone11:21 AI feedback creates a bias toward views13:57 Clients pay for results, not effort16:23 Two types of consultants18:38 A $17K a month helper asks for more21:56 What the helper's team takes home24:32 Under $100K a year for years25:59 Equity upside at fast-growing companies28:16 An agency that kept growing for decades31:25 No right or wrong way to build a business32:24 Gary Vee: the monetization of random content35:11 How algorithms find interested viewers38:25 Being filmed at Web Summit40:58 A bakery's authentic viral post41:53 Meta Muse recommends a client's product43:38 A water softener search story45:30 The cost of not optimizing for new channels47:59 Paid marketplaces inside AI platforms50:07 Get into new marketplaces and plugins early51:24 Zuckerberg's all-in data center bet54:41 Marketing to robots and agents56:46 AI build-out as a share of GDP58:33 Forrester: agents will influence 75% of B2B buying1:00:06 Do you still need an assistant?1:02:00 What makes a good assistant1:05:48 Marc Andreessen on the AI-native gap1:09:03 Hiring people who are AI native1:10:57 Eric wants both skills in one hire1:13:36 Did Eric ever want to replace all humans?1:16:52 The biggest AI ROI is getting recommended1:18:13 What a low AI spend can still mean 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Accenture found some staff spending $1,000 a month on AI, so it set a $29 monthly limit per employee, and Eric and Neil both think the cap is smart. They point out that reported AI revenue can be gross rather than net, then cite Ramp's AI spend index, where the median is $11. They agree a policy needs exceptions for people who prove value, while Neil shares how he downgraded his ChatGPT plan. The back half covers two-slice teams, Bending Spoons' model of cutting most of a company, and Evernote going from 433 staff at its peak to about 30 today. They close on Berkshire Hathaway's $330M stake in Bending Spoons and the 41% jump in the stock. Spend with a reason. Key takeaways◾Accenture's $29 cap is smart, but proven high spenders should get exceptions◾Most people pay for top models to do basic work, so match the model to the task◾Evernote went from 433 staff at its peak to about 30 under Bending Spoons Chapters00:00 Accenture caps AI spend at $29 a month00:23 Did staff really spend $1,000 a month?01:53 Reported AI revenue is often gross, not net03:31 Ramp's AI spend index: median is $1104:14 Set a policy, then talk to top spenders04:56 Exceptions for people proving value05:45 Neil downgrades his ChatGPT plan06:39 A 45-minute AI session that is worth it08:26 Two-slice teams, not two-pizza teams09:30 Pirate and architect: coordination drag10:25 Small teams ship faster12:00 Meta's 200 people out of 70,00012:39 Bending Spoons: a private equity model14:04 A layoff post that also launches features15:24 Evernote: 433 staff at peak, about 30 now16:18 Why public markets accept deep cuts17:07 Berkshire's $330M stake, stock up 41% 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

Eric and Neil say the rule of 7 has grown toward the rule of 28, and that buyers touch a brand 8 times for a sub-$100 B2C buy and 23 times at $10K-plus. A gelato shop stranger who knew them from different places makes the case that you never know where people will find you. They cover why YouTube drives leads that nobody can attribute, then Meta's $14.9B deal for 49% of Scale AI and the 200-person AI team that Alexander Wang, the former Scale AI CEO, leads. Zuckerberg's line that talent density beats big teams for AI is tested against Meta's 70,000 staff. Neil explains his private equity mindset and his debt at SOFR plus 2%, and they close on the failures that come with big bets. Attention, talent and the cost of big bets. Key takeaways ◾Buyers touch a brand 8 times for a cheap B2C buy and 23 times at $10K-plus ◾Meta built a 200-person AI team out of 70,000 staff, which Zuckerberg calls talent density ◾Meta paid $14.9B for 49% of Scale AI, and Eric says the bet looks like it is paying off Chapters 00:00 Rule of 7 is now the rule of 28 00:44 Touches before buying: 8 cheap, 23 at $10K+ 01:34 A gelato shop stranger, and where people find you 03:53 YouTube drives leads you cannot attribute 04:27 Platforms stop sharing data 06:23 Meta's 200-person AI team, talent over size 07:36 Neil's private equity mindset 09:18 Zuckerberg asks peers what they would do 10:44 Neil's debt: SOFR plus 2% 13:14 Pain now for a bigger company later 14:17 Failures: rockets, timelines and the metaverse Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Eric and Neil start with X Money, which pays 3% cash back and 6% interest, and argue that the offer is under marketed and would get more people investing. They test an AI-written blog post on a client, who took it for human writing, then cover a time-on-page chart that compares human and AI content. They debate whether writing is thinking and whether a real name still beats AI copy. Dan Shipper's claim that newsletters are dying, from a writer with over 120,000 subscribers, leads to a debate on email, AI summaries in the inbox and whether YouTube is S-tier. They close on every channel getting more competitive over time. Human voice still earns the trust. Key takeaways ◾X Money pays 3% cash back and 6% interest, but the 3% has fine print ◾A human byline near the title held readers longer in their time-on-page test ◾Eric and Neil dispute Dan Shipper's claim that newsletters are dead Chapters 00:00 X Money: 6% interest 04:07 The AI blog post test 10:01 Potato, SpaceX and GrokBot 10:33 Writing is thinking 14:26 Which channels are S-tier 15:47 Are newsletters dead? 17:06 AI summaries and the inbox 18:46 Every channel gets more competitive Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Eric and Neil open with Tesla's Roadster flying car, which they treat as a marketing stunt that keeps Tesla in the conversation. The AI fluency gap follows, with Karpathy's funnel, where most people barely touch an LLM, and agents that still misfire. Next is X Money and the newsletter debate, then a blog post test that a client took for human writing. The back half covers the rule of 28, Meta's 200-person AI team inside a 70,000 staff company, and why YouTube leads are hard to attribute. The show ends on Accenture's $29 monthly AI cap, Ramp's AI spend index and Bending Spoons' cuts at Evernote. Attention, trust and spend with a reason. Key takeaways ◾Accenture's $29 AI cap is smart, but proven high spenders should get exceptions ◾Meta built a 200-person AI team out of 70,000 staff, which Zuckerberg calls talent density ◾Tesla's flying Roadster is a stunt, and agents still need a human check Chapters 00:00 Tesla's flying car stunt 04:56 Is the Roadster $50,000 or $250,000? 09:48 Why Porsche lost its edge 12:22 Agents, not models 13:58 Agents still unreliable in marketing 17:19 Karpathy's AI-gap funnel 20:00 Agent slop and the cost of rework 21:00 Workflows as a service 22:08 X Money: 6% interest 26:34 The AI blog post test 32:08 Potato, SpaceX and GrokBot 32:41 Writing is thinking 36:34 Which channels are S-tier 37:55 Are newsletters dead? 41:24 Rule of 7 is now the rule of 28 45:17 YouTube drives leads you cannot attribute 47:47 Meta's 200-person AI team, talent over size 49:00 Neil's private equity mindset 52:08 Neil's debt: SOFR plus 2% 55:41 Failures: rockets, timelines and the metaverse 56:42 Accenture caps AI spend at $29 a month 1:00:14 Ramp's AI spend index: median is $11 1:02:09 Neil downgrades his ChatGPT plan 1:03:03 A 45-minute AI session that is worth it 1:04:49 Two-slice teams, not two-pizza teams 1:09:02 Bending Spoons: a private equity model 1:11:47 Evernote: 433 staff at peak, about 30 now Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Some agencies win clients by inviting decision makers to Formula One boxes, but Neil prefers the way banks play the wine and dining game. Bank of America sent his CFO to a World Cup game with the hotel paid, and Wells Fargo offers suites and seats after the deal is done, just to say thanks. Then a competing bank tried to match Wells Fargo's refinance offer at the last minute, after months of saying no. Eric shares a group text pitch dressed up as comparing notes, and Neil tells the worst pitch he's heard: a financial advisor chasing a friend's $25M house sale and eight-figure profit with one cherry-picked account and a stock that barely moves down. A blunt episode on relationships and selling. Key takeaways ◾Thank-you tickets with no pitch keep clients around ◾Match the offer early, because last-minute fixes come too late ◾Be direct when you sell, and show all your numbers Chapters 00:00 The wine and dining game 00:47 Competitors win clients with Formula One boxes 01:30 Bank of America sent our CFO to the World Cup 02:32 Wells Fargo offers tickets after the deal 03:39 Tickets with no sales pitch keep clients 04:44 The bank that came too late 05:48 Too little, too late, like a bad hire 06:33 Steve Jobs to Tim Cook: do the right thing 07:18 Group texts gone wrong 08:49 Selling while pretending not to sell 09:50 The worst sales pitch 10:52 One client account next to Buffett and Ackman 12:05 70% leverage and 'it barely moves down' 12:58 AI showed the stock drops far more often 13:44 Big investors get deals you don't Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Eric built thumbnail, editing and posting skills, and his long-form YouTube videos went from about 500 views to 15,000 to 25,000. Some of the team wouldn't use them, so they had to let people go, and the one person who stepped up is now fixing the Marketing School channel's trends, thumbnails and 30-second retention. Neil says AI optimizes for average, which still beats a below-average team, but you need humans in the loop. They cover Bain's 94% stat, why Neil would rather hire great marketers and teach them AI, and a senior SEO candidate who read straight off a Claude template. Then Neil's Zappos story, how Uber outspent Lyft, why AI rewards whoever raises billions, and Neil's Muse outreach to M&A advisors. An honest episode on AI skills and hiring. Key takeaways ◾Skills only work when someone spends real time tuning them ◾Hire people who stay curious and put their best foot forward ◾Small touches like Zappos' overnight shoes build loyalty 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 06:36 A senior SEO candidate read off a Claude template 08:38 Lazy before the contract means worse after 09:46 The agency hire who said they're too slow 10:31 Hire people who never stop learning 11:12 Small touches build brands 12:38 Fundamentals move metrics more than campaigns 13:48 Uber won by subsidizing more than Lyft 15:08 Why a cheap Waymo rival can't win 16:10 AI rewards whoever raises billions 17:11 Muse is taking the market 17:58 Neil's Muse outreach lands a UK call 18:51 Red flags in the deals bankers pitch Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Someone added $500K in ARR in a week by putting their app in ChatGPT plugins, and Eric wants Carrot, Answer the Public and Ubersuggest in there too. Neil says that at scale, plugins help retention more than revenue. He's also seeing clients arrive with business problems instead of asks, like revenue down 6% and leads down 32%, and Eric says that grows the market for agencies. Then customer service as marketing: a SpaceX growth lead fixing Grokbot before a webinar, On refunding an order without telling Eric, and Neil's Marriott check-in. They compare the Ritz-Carlton's budget to go beyond policy with Airbnb's 9-star idea, then trade travel tips on room service, compression bags and Sterling Pacific luggage. A practical episode on plugins and service. Key takeaways ◾ChatGPT plugins are a distribution channel worth building for ◾Pitch the fix for the client's business problem, whatever the channel ◾Bending policy to fix a mistake earns word of mouth Chapters 00:00 Plugins add $500K in ARR 01:13 Neil: plugins help retention more than revenue 02:05 Clients bring problems now 03:10 Revenue down 6%, leads down 32% 04:17 Solving the whole problem set grows the TAM 04:58 Customer service is marketing 06:06 On.com's surprise refund and split order 08:03 Neil's Marriott check-in 09:22 Charged for the night before, told to wait 10:11 A room appeared once it was their fault 10:58 Grokbot support hid behind policy 11:55 Ritz-Carlton and Airbnb's 9-star experience 12:39 Four Seasons prices, Disney cruise experience 13:56 Room service, laundry and one carry-on 14:48 Compression bags and Sterling Pacific luggage Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

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 Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

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

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 Chapters 00:00 Neil's team won a $6M SEO deal without talking SEO 01:28 Sell the business case, not features 03:23 September jobs report: no AI, recession 04:26 Neil's grocery bill and the grandma at Target 06:47 Bridging the gap to abundance 07:26 Neil's tax plan for people under $100K 08:49 How to win any deal: solve their problem 09:35 Latin America's biggest retailer and AI agents 10:35 Optimize for LLMs to choose you 12:28 Eric's Meta agent haggles 40% off at On 14:01 Neil won't let AI near his travel 14:47 OpenAI's Dots spots errors in your email 15:36 Dot.com is owned by SpaceX 16:08 OpenAI's 1B MAU distribution channels 17:21 Microsoft and Google will undercut the labs 18:23 X Money: 6% on cash, 3% back 20:36 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/

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 Chapters 00:00 Should you sell your data to the AI labs? 02:06 Data is the moat as models converge 02:51 Eric's YouTube videos are driving leads 03:45 Bain: only 6% of marketers see AI impact 05:13 Neil asks: how many of you are growing? 06:10 Neil's top 3 AI wins in marketing 07:29 AI amplifies effort, and only 2.2% of homes pay 08:59 Why we stopped hiring clippers 09:58 YouTube's originality update for Shorts 11:54 Neil's team wanted 10 clip channels 12:58 Eric no longer needs an editor or a poster 13:32 Niche content brings qualified leads 15:27 Neil's channel: topics from the sales pipeline 16:52 Long form once a month, shorts twice Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/

Instinct, the AI agent that lives in iMessage, is growing 10% a day, and Eric says its 23-year-old founder proves you do not need a personal brand to win. Neil explains why personal brands worked five years ago, why Neil Patel Digital became NP Digital to cut key man risk, and why shoppers now switch brands on a dime. Eric shares DHH's talk on all the things his team no longer does, and the OpenRouter chart where agents use 7.5 trillion tokens against 1 trillion for humans. Then the bill arrives: finance teams pushing back on AI spend, a friend burning $14K a day on tokens, and Hormozi's memo capping his team's AI budget. They close on hiring AI-native people who can keep up. A sharp episode on brand and AI spend. Key takeaways ◾People buy the product now, not the founder's personal brand ◾Every AI tool needs an ROI number, not an estimate of time saved ◾Hire people who are AI native and can prove a return Chapters 00:00 Instinct grows 10% a day, no personal brand needed 01:21 Lisa Su's Formula One badge moment 02:06 Personal brands worked five years ago 02:41 Why Neil Patel Digital became NP Digital 04:01 Shoppers now switch brands on a dime 05:32 It has never been easier to make 06:19 DHH: look at all the things I'm not doing 07:34 Agent tokens now dwarf human tokens 10:50 Finance teams push back on AI spend 11:32 A teammate maxed out the Ahrefs tokens 13:02 A friend spends $14K a day on tokens 13:44 B2B tools ship too many features 14:49 Hormozi's AI usage cap memo 16:44 Training won't fix a mindset 18:28 Hire AI-native people who can keep up 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 Eric shares how Cody Schneider works as an AI-native marketer, and Neil talks about his interview on Cole Gordon's show and why research is what separates a good interview. Then Neil says out loud that his personal brand is dying, judged by fewer photo requests at events, and Eric explains it with the four burners theory and the shift from social media to interest media. They talk about the content an experienced operator should make, why Neil keeps playing the game, and Eric's travel stats. The close covers why brand takes ten years or more, YouTube's coming thumbnail tests by audience segment, and Clay's CEO on why brand has to start with the founder, not the CMO. An honest episode about brand, time and attention. Key takeaways◾Interest media rewards the post, not the follower count◾A real brand takes ten years or more to build◾Brand starts with the founder; a CMO cannot install it Chapters00:00 The AI-native marketer: Cody Schneider01:36 Neil on Cole Gordon's podcast04:24 Research is what makes an interview good04:54 'My personal brand is dying'06:35 The four burners theory07:19 Social media became interest media09:03 What Neil's team does for him now12:49 Addicted to the game13:27 Eric's travel stats16:36 Which speaking gigs are worth it17:54 Brand takes 10+ years20:03 SEO has always evolved20:24 YouTube's big changes: thumbnails by segment22:11 Clay: brand starts with the founder

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 Eric shows the Jev use cases he is running for his teams, from classifying every Instagram follower to scoring hooks and offers across competitors for a few dollars. Neil explains how his Muse agent now writes the follow-ups on M&A deals he first discussed two or three years ago, and why he gives Meta access he would never give the AI labs. Eric predicts Google and Apple will each ship their own Muse, and they compare it with OpenClaw. Then the story of an AI answer nobody checked and why Neil told them he would fire the person, followed by the core idea: AI is leverage, and leverage on a bad position just loses you money faster. They close on an $80M real estate pitch Neil walked away from. A practical episode on putting AI agents to work. Key takeaways◾Classification at scale now costs dollars, not an analyst's week◾The deals you close come from follow-ups on talks two or three years old◾AI is leverage: it multiplies good judgment and bad judgment equally Chapters00:00 Jev use cases for marketers02:50 Neil's AI writes his M&A follow-ups06:02 Prediction: Google and Apple ship their own Muse07:53 OpenClaw vs Muse11:13 'I would fire you': AI output nobody checked13:07 Slop cannons in an AI-native company13:54 AI is leverage15:11 The $80M real estate pitch17:12 Location, location, location

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 Eric brings Peter Diamandis's take that Nvidia's greatest moat, CUDA, is leaking now that AI can port code to any chip, and why Jensen bought Mellanox years ago to own the interconnect instead. They debate the three moats that survive: speed of reinvention, capital velocity and brand. Neil keeps brand, drops capital after Harry Stebbings' three rounds in three weeks, and adds talent density, showing six of the top ten companies come from the Bay Area. Then Meta Muse: the $14B Scale bet Neil admits he would never have made, Eric's bot Doodoo picking his wardrobe, and Muse plus Jev sorting 116,000 followers for $3.30. It ends on the personality test that explains the show. A sharp episode on what still protects a business. Key takeaways◾Your moat lasts until the next one; speed of reinvention is the durable edge◾AI shoppers still buy brands, because people tell them what status looks like◾Neil waits for proof, then bets big; Zuckerberg bet first and won Chapters00:00 Nvidia's CUDA moat is leaking02:29 Neil: brand is a moat, capital isn't03:35 Harry Stebbings: three rounds in three weeks05:07 Six of the top 10 companies come from the Bay07:02 The three moats that survive09:13 Neil: AI shoppers still care about brand11:46 Meta Muse and Scale's $14B bet12:16 Doodoo picks Eric's wardrobe13:04 Muse + Jev sort 116K followers for $3.3014:29 Neil's influential followers15:43 Why Neil waits for proof, then bets big18:11 Why this podcast works: persist vs change19:03 The personality test: 99% vs 1%20:50 Empathy at work

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 Shopify's Tobi Lutke has a name for AI work nobody reviewed: a slop grenade. Eric explains how it lands on your desk and blows up your day, and Neil says AI simply reveals who is lazy and who is great. At his conferences almost everyone uses AI, but fewer than 5% edit what it writes, which is why so much marketing now looks the same. They build a policy on air: an emailed warning, then a write-up, then termination, and Eric argues growth only comes from discomfort, from SpaceX to training to failure. The episode closes on a 64-year-old SEO who spent $40K on his own AI rigs because nobody had to tell him to. A blunt episode on standards in the AI era. Key takeaways◾AI amplifies what is already there, good work and lazy work alike◾Fewer than 5% of people edit AI output; that is why it all looks the same◾Put a paper trail on slop grenades: warning, write-up, then out Chapters00:00 Slop grenades: AI work nobody reviewed01:56 Neil: AI shows you who's lazy04:35 Thinking Machines: AI amplifies intelligence06:36 Less than 5% edit what AI writes08:43 The 'is this your best work?' rule10:38 Warning, write-up, termination12:28 Growth comes from discomfort: SpaceX13:24 Train to failure, work to failure15:39 The 64-year-old SEO who spent $40K on AI rigs

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 explains why he despises coaches who sell how to get rich, and Eric separates them from the Bill Campbells and Matt Mocharys who coached Apple, Google, Coinbase and OpenAI without charging founders. Neil reads a cold pitch promising him an extra million a year and Eric dissects why it fails before the first reply. Then the two ideas Eric wants every operator to react to: supermemory killed its viral company brain to protect its core, because unshipping matters more than shipping when anyone can build anything, and Paul Jun of Ramp's brand as software, where a design file carries the brand into every asset so designers do the new work. Neil's take on ChatGPT agent ads, and BugBasher, the Devin agent Ramp gave a card and a phone that made $75 selling pest-control leads in four weeks. A sharp episode on focus, coaching and what AI agents can already do. Key takeaways◾If someone doesn't do the research before your check, it gets worse after it◾When you can ship anything, unshipping is the discipline that keeps you extraordinary◾Codify the brand as software so creative people spend their time on what a system can't predict Chapters00:00 Coaches who sell 'how to get rich'00:48 Two kinds of coaches: Bill Campbell vs the funnel02:03 People who are good at it, do it02:42 The Trillion Dollar Coach and Matt Mochary03:56 Neil reads the cold pitch05:14 What's wrong with that message06:00 No research before the check? It gets worse after07:03 The legendary coaches never charged founders08:25 Proven track record vs get-rich promises09:21 Unshipping beats shipping11:06 Shipping too much makes products harder11:41 supermemory's conflict of interest12:35 Content that wins on X and LinkedIn13:14 Brand as software: Paul Jun of Ramp15:25 Are you working like this? Design files and AI-pilled designers16:10 Boomerang employees prove the vision17:02 ChatGPT agent ads are coming17:35 BugBasher: the AI agent that made $7519:36 Agents that lose you money

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 Eight Sleep's co-founder says the company does close to $100 million in email marketing with a team of zero after his co-founder built the bots in three days. Neil calls spades spades: email is harvesting demand that other channels paid for, and one person plus AI would beat both. Eric's version is the agent manager, the job he now interviews for. They scroll Harry Stebbings' Instagram, built on tech's most controversial stories, and debate whether that brings a VC the right deal flow. Eric demos Instinct, the $10 billion iMessage agent that planned his travel and got him onto a waitlist that morning, and the pair take apart Roy Lee's Cluely content and the cold TikTok bio a fan made of Neil. The close: Elon, Buffett and Rockefeller became brands by doing the work. A candid episode on headlines, hype and what content is actually for. Key takeaways◾'No employees' is a headline; the channel mix and the humans behind it are the real story◾Sensational content grows an account fast and rarely brings the right customer◾If the product were crushing it, the founder wouldn't have time for viral content Chapters00:00 $100M in email with no employees00:54 Neil: email isn't doing that alone02:29 The agent manager: everyone's next job03:51 Harry Stebbings' Instagram04:46 500 views to 40K: scrolling Harry's reels06:38 Will controversial content bring the right deal flow?07:09 The $10B iMessage startup08:11 Instinct: booking travel and skipping a waitlist10:03 Deal flow vs views: Neil's take10:50 Put your hand on the stove11:14 Accenture doesn't do sensational11:43 Roy Lee (Cluely): 'global rank #1 entrepreneur'14:02 Juiced numbers, and content as a tell15:22 The rich people Neil knows don't make content15:49 A fan's TikTok bio of Neil17:22 Elon, Buffett, Rockefeller: brands from the work

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 Eric opens with Bryan Johnson's team telling creators to forget the content calendar and iterate, and how he now rewrites and reposts flopped posts by voice on the walk to the gym. Neil's newest test asks viewers to comment for a free audit, and the pairing metric he wants on every social hire is leads, not views. Then enterprise specifics: a three-year contract that grew out of work in one region, why only two to three percent of NP Digital's enterprise revenue traces back to Neil's personal brand, and how ten-person search agencies quietly decide the biggest marketing contracts. Eric opens his Leveling Up channel to show the wide-TAM experiment, 8.9 million views on one short and interviews that got praise from entrepreneurs' spouses but no leads, before Neil explains the acquisition lesson that grows a bought agency's EBITDA 40 to 60 percent in a year and why he follows up with everyone. A grounded episode on measuring what actually pays. Key takeaways◾Pair views with leads for every social hire, or the team optimises for likes◾Wide-TAM content brings views and comments, not enterprise leads◾Buy the specialist that big brands already call; the follow-up is where the deals are Chapters00:00 F your content calendar01:36 Comment-to-lead: the 37-places reel03:34 Every metric needs a pairing metric04:17 NP Digital vs NP Accel: where SMB leads go04:53 A format library your agent keeps fresh06:09 A 3-year contract from one region's work07:56 Stop creating content for 90 days?08:22 6% of enterprise leads come from Neil's brand08:58 70% of SMB leads, 50% of SMB revenue10:17 Procurement, RFPs and the search agencies11:56 Dan Martell's formats and wider TAM12:52 Seminars and ascension funnels13:34 Eric's wide-TAM experiment on Leveling Up15:17 The shorts: 3.9M, 2.7M, 2.1M views17:02 Why Eric stopped: no leads17:37 Distribution beats content when you have leverage18:44 The acquisition lesson: 40-60% EBITDA growth21:21 The fortune is in the follow-up22:07 'How are things going?' scheduled for March 2027

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 Eric and Neil open on Meta Muse, Meta's new autonomous agent, and Neil explains why he trusts Meta with it more than OpenAI or Anthropic: Meta has held everyone's data for years and people already live inside its products. Eric shows what his own Muse did in minutes, pulling Ryan Deiss's best Instagram formats and rewriting them for his channel, and argues that formats are now the job. Then the real debate: Neil says almost all of their content is still too broad, that specific content for a specific buyer drives revenue even at a fifth of the views, and that a room of enterprise marketers in Ecuador proved it when two or three percent knew he ran an agency. They land on a secondary hook, one line that says who you are and what your company does, placed wherever it sounds natural. A practical episode on trust, formats and making your content pay. Key takeaways◾Trust decides which AI agents win, and Meta starts with more of it than the labs◾Let an agent keep your format library fresh so you can just record◾Specific content converts; add a one-line credibility hook so buyers know who you are Chapters00:00 Meta Muse: Meta's autonomous agent00:34 Why Neil trusts Meta more than OpenAI02:35 Eric, the GrokBot team and Ryan Deiss03:49 Ryan's Instagram: niche or broad?05:46 Tier lists and reactions: the formats that work06:49 Eric's Muse rewrites Ryan's formats08:01 Neil: all three of us are still too broad09:50 Danger gets views: Nick Shirley10:47 A 100K-view video can be a great video11:44 Ecuador: 3% of the room knew Neil had an agency13:25 Accenture, TAM and who you're really selling to15:22 The secondary hook: say who you are16:50 Where the mention goes: wherever it's natural17:27 Test it: from 3% to 10% in a year

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 It took 64 clicks to buy a Tesla online, 30 of them signing loan documents. Eric explains the five-step algorithm from the book of the same name (question, delete, simplify, speed up, automate) and how it 20x'd Tesla's website sales. Then the data: AI-generated ads are beating human creative on completion rate (92% vs 90% on connected TV), Shopify's Q2 shows $116 billion in GMV and a platform built for AI agents, and Neil's case that SEO and GEO are merging into one thing, brand. Eric on the new agents he is testing, Instinct and Meta Muse, and the week's grand finale: Rohan Nayak's post on how Pocket FM went from zero to $500 million in ARR with an AI ad machine that makes 17,500 ads a month. Key takeaways◾Question, delete, simplify, speed up, then automate; most people automate first and fail◾SEO or GEO, the long game is brand; you have to show up everywhere◾A 2% to 2.25% CTR lift cut Pocket FM's CAC by 30%; build the ad machine around that insight Chapters00:00 Tesla 20x'd website sales: 64 clicks to 301:35 Buying a car on a website02:55 AI ads beat human creative on completion04:19 Shopify Q2: $116B GMV and AI commerce05:38 SEO and GEO are merging into brand08:04 Search everywhere optimization, again10:49 A SaaS company diversifying off SEO11:46 Instinct and Meta Muse agents14:15 Pocket FM: $0 to $500M ARR with 17,500 ads a month17:11 Build your own ad machine

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 Eric and Neil open up their own marketing week. Eric's $250 test assignment that turned into a $2,000 quote, the GrokBots he built in his free time (a call bot that phoned a spa and confirmed a booking, a haggle bot renegotiating every software bill, and a speed-to-lead bot that calls every form fill within 60 seconds), and the 2x2 he uses to decide which agency work becomes a reusable workflow and which gets killed. Neil on speed to learning, why wins on one channel take too long to reach the rest of the company, and how he finds agencies that stopped growing and buys the ones losing deals only because they are too small. Then the social tests: Neil's new screen-share format and LinkedIn engagement scraping, Eric's comment-to-DM flow with Lead Shark and Goji Berry, and the YouTube video that was edited entirely by AI. Key takeaways◾Every lead gets a call within 60 seconds; a bot can do it and sound good◾Speed to learning is the bottleneck: move a win from one channel to every channel fast◾Reusable workflows beat custom premium work; build them, then hand them to the team Chapters00:00 Our marketing week: the $250 test that failed02:42 The GrokBot that booked Eric's massage04:17 Haggle bot and speed-to-lead in 60 seconds05:18 Neil: speed to learning07:46 Buying agencies that stopped growing10:24 Eric's 2x2: reusable workflows13:14 Neil's new screen-share format15:40 Scraping your LinkedIn engagers16:38 Comment-to-DM with Lead Shark and Goji Berry18:21 YouTube: relevant views beat viral views19:54 A fully AI-edited video22:16 AI thumbnails that actually look like you

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 Nike's market cap peaked at $280 billion in 2021 and has lost $223 billion since. Eric walks through Trung Phan's breakdown of how it happened: McKinsey advised Nike to eliminate its running, basketball and soccer categories, the marketing budget moved from brand advertising to programmatic retargeting, and hundreds of wholesale partners were cut for a direct-to-consumer bet that collapsed when shoppers went back to stores. Neil on why consultants who never ran a business should not be running yours, and why a kid asking for Nikes is what good brand advertising looks like. Then LeBron James' Polymarket partnership and why both hosts call it brand eroding, and the shirtless YouTuber Eric calls the Sam Sulek of e-commerce. Key takeaways◾Nike cut what worked (categories, brand ads, retail partners) for what was easier to measure◾A brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room; retargeting does not build it◾It takes decades to build a brand and five minutes to erode it Chapters00:00 Nike lost $223B: McKinsey killed the categories01:32 Consultants who never ran a business04:06 Locked in: adapt or die04:34 Nike swapped brand ads for retargeting06:36 Why kids wanted Nikes07:59 Neil's Tesla09:16 Nike burnt its wholesale partners10:07 LeBron x Polymarket: a brand-eroding move13:07 The Sam Sulek of e-commerce15:22 What views actually matter

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 Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive says agency owners are dishonest about how business is really going, and that most have been flat for three or four years. Eric reads the post and Neil agrees the downturn started around 2022 and is the longest he has seen, then explains why NP Digital kept growing anyway. Eric's take: the agencies dying are the ones still doing what they did five years ago, and tough markets are exactly when adaptable founders win the deals against the holding companies. The episode closes on the part of being a founder nobody talks about: watching the people you trained go on to build their own companies, why mindset separates the people who survive the downs, and why a business win feels the way it does. Key takeaways◾Be honest about how business is going; it keeps leads and opportunities flowing to you◾The agencies in trouble are still running the 2021 playbook; adapt or die◾You can't train mindset, and hard years are what build it Chapters00:00 Agency owners are lying about how business is going (Wil Reynolds)01:41 Neil: why NP Digital is still growing03:54 Eric: adapt or die, the invisible hammer07:06 Flat for 4 years? You're doing the same thing08:06 The burn-victim YouTuber: keep going10:34 If you're going through hell, keep going11:14 The best part of being a founder12:44 Mindset: people can't handle the downs13:48 The business high

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 Eric asks Neil to finally explain digital PR and how it helps with AEO and SEO. Neil gets there via a Huawei phone with a screen on the back, how ByteDance ran AI inside Lark two years before the rest of us, where America really ranks in K-12 education (34th, per Google AI Mode), what China mandates instead, and the FOMO playbook behind Alpha School's marketing. Then the answer: digital PR is the new link building, you're optimizing for the mention, not the link, and you want your product included everywhere the models read. They close on the only marketing advantage that compounds: consistency. Key takeaways◾Digital PR is optimizing for the mention, not the link. That's what the models read◾America ranks 34th in K-12; China mandates 9 years and tracks 40% into vocational paths◾Consistency compounds. Grey-hat wins evaporate, and one channel is never enough Chapters00:00 What is digital PR, actually?00:27 Huawei's phone with a screen on the back01:07 ByteDance and Lark were doing this two years ago02:43 America is 34th in K-12 (Google AI Mode)05:36 Compulsory schooling: US vs China06:14 Alpha School's FOMO marketing10:28 Digital PR: optimize for the mention15:15 Consistency compounds

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 New Ramp data says 80% of OpenAI and Anthropic's enterprise revenue comes from 1% of their customers, a concentration risk unseen in any other software category. Eric and Neil dig into what that means for the AI trade and for every company betting on it. Then Tomasz Tunguz's five-year writing data: AI didn't reduce his editing, it raised the quality floor, and the weakest posts gained twice as much as the strongest. Plus ICONIQ's headcount report (the 100%+ growers added 133% more headcount while the 50-100% band cut hiring almost in half), YC's product-market-fit data on user conversations, and a detour into foldable phones. Key takeaways◾1% of customers drive 80% of OpenAI and Anthropic's enterprise revenue. That's the risk◾AI raises the floor of your work, it doesn't shrink the effort◾10+ user conversations a week is the most predictive variable for finding PMF Chapters00:00 80% of AI revenue from 1% of customers (Ramp)03:29 AI productivity raises the floor (Tunguz)04:55 ICONIQ: who's still hiring in 202609:07 YC data: the one variable that predicts PMF13:03 Foldable phones and the China gap

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 Eric introduces the new AEO: Autonomous Engine Optimization, the AI harness Nick Eubanks used to grow a 12-week-old website, and why every sales call and customer conversation inside your company is a page waiting to be published. Then the self-improving product has arrived: Amplitude's Wave agent found its own problems and shipped fixes worth +160% engagement and a 6% to 9% onboarding lift. Eric and Neil also pick apart OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra launch, the five things that took Andrew Warner's new YouTube channel to 937,000 views in a month, how B2B buyers now find agencies through Claude, and why the best salespeople sell like doctors. Key takeaways◾AEO now means autonomous: content creates, drafts and ships itself with a human in the loop◾Self-improving products are live: Wave found and fixed real conversion problems on its own◾On YouTube, info calls, retention data and trending topics beat subscriber counts Chapters00:00 The new AEO: Autonomous Engine Optimization03:07 Self-improving products: Amplitude's Wave agent06:44 OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra launch misstep11:37 Andrew Warner: 937K views in a month16:48 How buyers find agencies through Claude21:18 Sell like a doctor

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 Eric came back from a founder retreat with a hard truth: the AI hackathons and training programs everyone planned in January didn't work, and the companies pulling ahead just raised the talent bar. He walks through the GitHub leaderboard that shows who's actually shipping, why one 200-engineer company is keeping only its top 40, and Neil's long-held view that you can't train mindset. Then the sycophancy trap: why ChatGPT agrees with whatever you feed it, what Neil found when he ran a real recommendation test across an accounting firm, and why most executives still don't understand how these models work. Key takeaways◾You can't train mindset. Raise the bar and hire people who already have it◾A public shipping leaderboard exposes who's really working in about a week◾AI is a sycophant. Optimize for it, don't just ask it follow-up questions Chapters00:00 Stop training, raise the talent bar01:14 The GitHub leaderboard: keep the top 4002:31 Neil: hire amazing people, it solves most problems07:45 The AI therapy trap: it agrees with you13:17 Neil's accounting-firm recommendation test15:54 Three years in, executives still don't get it

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 What do you actually do when things get really tough in business? Neil and Eric share their worst moments — 2020 included — and the playbook for surviving them: eating the elephant a day at a time, buying time with cash, and choosing stability over growth when it counts. Then the reveal that hot AI startups like Cursor quietly run thousands of ads at a time, and a five-star massage-studio case study on referrals, grandfathered pricing, and service details that carry over into any business. Key takeaways◾Tough seasons are survived a day at a time — systems over panic◾The hottest AI startups test thousands of ads, not two◾Great service businesses engineer referrals on purpose Chapters00:00 When things get really tough09:14 Stability vs growth15:56 The 6,400-ads reveal17:10 The massage-studio case study

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 Eric brings the DHH question — outspend or outteach? — and the hosts take sides on the cheapest marketing that almost nobody has the patience to do. Then it gets personal: why Bezos Expeditions invested in Basecamp, whether pressure makes winners, the hairy reality of agency M&A (data rooms, earn-outs, and numbers that never survive diligence), a tale of two agency contractors, and why revenue beats views every single time. A candid operator's episode on teaching, buying, and building agencies. Key takeaways◾Outteaching compounds — it's the free marketing nobody commits to◾In agency M&A, the seller's numbers never survive the data room◾Optimize for revenue, not reach Chapters00:00 Outspend vs outteach: the DHH question01:12 Bezos and Basecamp02:21 Pressure makes winners05:48 The agency M&A trap09:55 Managing mistakes properly12:09 A tale of two agencies18:33 Revenue over views

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 and Eric react to the report that Chinese institutions turned 171 million public X posts into a million-account digital twin of the American electorate — and are testing political messages on it. They unpack the marketing angle behind cognitive-domain warfare, why the data asymmetry between open and closed internets matters, the Paul Graham chart showing LinkedIn users adding AI and deleting DEI from their profiles, and why following trends is usually the losing move. A sobering look at what happens when audience modeling gets weaponized. Key takeaways◾Audience modeling at nation-state scale is here — and it's a marketing system◾Open platforms hand their behavioral data to anyone, including adversaries◾Profile trends follow incentives: AI in, DEI out Chapters00:00 China's AI models of American voters02:04 Privacy and platform rules04:06 The LinkedIn graph: AI in, DEI out07:12 Think for yourself, don't chase trends

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 and Eric dig into the two lessons Silicon Valley keeps relearning every decade, straight from Ben Thompson's conversation with Patrick O'Shaughnessy: consumers don't want to pay for software, and they don't care about being productive. They trace the pattern from Dropbox's forced pivot to B2B through to OpenAI replaying the same story at 100x scale, why advertising was always the endgame for ChatGPT, whether the SaaSpocalypse is real, and what the future of marketing looks like when AI knows your smartest moments. A sharp episode on where the money in software actually comes from. Key takeaways◾Consumers won't pay for software — advertising is the consumer endgame◾SaaS isn't dying, it's consolidating into B2B◾The next marketing frontier is reaching people in their smart moments Chapters00:00 The 2 lessons Silicon Valley relearns00:21 Ads over subscriptions: Dropbox to OpenAI03:32 SaaS isn't dying, it's going B2B05:55 Bubble or buildout?07:32 AI's long-term explosion11:32 Marketing in smart moments

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 It starts with a message Eric got about a team member's wife being hit by a car, and turns into the clearest thing either of them has said about keeping good people. Neil lays out how he thinks about founder retention after an acquisition, they debate what Single Brain should actually be, and Eric closes with the GrokBot marketing playbook. Key takeaways◾How you behave in someone's worst week is the retention strategy. Everything else is a policy document.◾Brand recognition you already have is worth more than the product name you are attached to.◾Multifaceted marketing wins now: shipping fast, engaging in public, DMing influencers and bundling. Chapters00:00 Looking After Your People02:20 Founder Retention Matters05:31 Building Single Brain08:56 GrokBot Marketing Playbook

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 asks Eric to name the two things he is actually doing for the rest of 2026, and the answer is less about tools than you would expect. Along the way they share their own survey of 100 companies on AI agent adoption, and the numbers are far below the hype. Neil also gives away the specific tactic he is using to get cited by ChatGPT and Gemini. Key takeaways◾Of 100 companies surveyed, only 17 use AI agents in marketing at all, and just 3.5% of their marketing staff.◾The fastest route into AI answers is getting into the same articles that already cite your competitors.◾Shipping constantly beats one big launch. Staying top of mind is the strategy. Chapters00:00 Marketing and Hiring Priorities02:55 What Counts as an Agent06:20 2026 Focus Areas10:43 Europe and Service Expansion

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 Reddit's citations in ChatGPT have collapsed to almost nothing, and so have the review sites. Eric pulls up the PromptWatch data live and Neil reads what it means for anyone who built a strategy on those placements. Then they turn to the money side: how to underwrite a deal, what a creative agency is really worth, and what Sequoia's 'services are the new software' thesis does to agency valuations. Key takeaways◾Reddit and the big review sites have been almost entirely cut out of ChatGPT's citations.◾The marketer's job is shifting from ranking pages to being the source an AI quotes.◾Founder retention is not one structure. Name which model each founder is actually in before you buy. Chapters00:00 Reddit’s Decline01:57 The Marketer’s Shift04:14 Deal Underwriting Logic07:36 Valuing Creative Agencies12:56 M&A Patience Pays18:01 Eric's Agency M&A Thesis

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 Eric and Neil open on Travis Kalanick's take on founders, and end up somewhere much less comfortable: the research says the people pushed hardest early on are rarely the ones who end up best. They get into what founder drive actually is, why the two of them handle being crossed differently, how first-principles thinking changes a deal, and the Four Seasons founder's brutal one-line definition of excellence. Key takeaways ◾Being a founder is about pushing, not driving. The title on the org chart is not what makes it work. ◾Across 34,000 top performers, early standouts and eventual world-class performers are almost never the same people. ◾Excellence, per the Four Seasons founder, is the capacity to take pain. Suffering is built into the job. Chapters 00:00 Founder Drive 04:20 Seasons of Work 08:32 What Actually Makes Them Angry 11:53 First Principles Dealmaking 13:58 Protein and Macros 16:25 Trade-Offs Everywhere 17:55 Tiger Parent Pressure 20:27 Raising Without Resentment 24:01 Defining Excellence 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 A cafe in San Francisco lets startups pay to brand the drinks, so you can order an ElevenLatte or a MongoDB Greens. Eric thinks it is genius and cheap. Then the segment everyone will argue about: an Instagram reel showing a brand that does not exist ranked number one on ChatGPT for a real query. Neil and Eric take apart how it was done, why AEO is still SEO underneath, what Kimi's download and DAU curve says about Chinese model adoption, and why the Philippines back office grew instead of collapsing after ChatGPT. Key takeaways◾Brand in the places your buyer already stands, not just the feed◾If you can game it, it is a ranking system, and ranking systems are SEO◾AI made offshore work more valuable, employment is up 20% and revenue up 30% Chapters00:00 Intro Etiquette Matters00:07 Branding in Public Places03:22 Ranking on ChatGPT05:34 AEO Is Still SEO06:16 Kimi’s Growth Surge08:41 Marketable Moments Matter12:19 AI Creates More Jobs

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 China is releasing models that are not as good and are good enough, at a fraction of the cost, and getting real penetration in the United States. Neil and Eric work through what that does to pricing, then get to WD-40, which used Amazon's generative video ads to triple daily unit volume with an 86% new-to-brand rate and a 45% higher click-through rate. Eric's answer to every founder asking whether this kills agencies is the same question back: who is going to maintain it. He had that exact conversation with a multi-billion dollar hospitality company this week. Key takeaways◾Good enough at a tenth of the price is a pricing event, not a quality debate◾AI ad production collapses cost per asset, it does not manage the account◾Every founder building agents for each team member is telling you they are understaffed Chapters00:00 China’s Price Disruption03:55 Raising the AI Bar05:10 Marketing Needs Adaptability08:43 Singapore’s AI Optimism11:05 WD-40’s AI Ad Win15:13 Why Agencies Still Matter15:37 Agentic Web Future

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 Clay Collins predicts the indie hacker is about to get crushed by the direct response marketer who learned to ship software, and Neil and Eric react as two people who have straddled both sides. Their generation sold ebooks and courses because that was the only thing you could build without engineers, and the wall was never talent, it was operational. That wall is gone. They also cover the SBA loan changes worth watching, and then the harder question underneath all of it: if AI does the thinking, what happens to the people who stop wanting to think. Key takeaways◾The engineering advantage evaporated, the marketing advantage did not◾Twenty years of learning how to make strangers care now ships in a weekend◾Cognitive polarization is the real risk, not job replacement Chapters00:00 Content, Careers, and Time04:22 SBA Loan Changes05:29 Direct Marketers in Software11:29 Intelligence and Volition17:48 AI Sentiment Divide19:16 Wealth Preservation Fears

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 Most SEO starts with keyword research. Neil and Eric start somewhere else entirely: the customer. Neil breaks down audience-first SEO, the approach Single Grain's Nicky Lamb wrote up and the one they have been quietly running for clients. Take wealth management: 2.7 million monthly searches in the US, and almost none of them are one audience. Someone trying to understand the term, someone saving for retirement, a business owner preparing for a sale and an ultra high net worth family are four different buyers behind the same keyword. Then Eric walks through the company brain he is rolling into ClickFlow, and what Atlassian's numbers say about where a SaaS moat actually sits. Key takeaways ◾Start with the ICP, not the keyword list, and the queries sort themselves ◾One high-volume term usually hides four buyers who need four different pages ◾A software moat is context and workflow, not the model underneath Chapters 00:00 Audience First SEO 02:19 ClickFlow Content Workflow 07:48 Atlassian and SaaS Moats 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Vercel's Guillermo Rauch says agent-led growth replaces product-led growth: let agents adopt your product first, take meetings only if you have to, and treat months of meetings as the signal that this was never your customer. Eric runs it against the Higgsfield playbook, zero to $400M ARR in fourteen months on daily X launches and thousands of creators posting every day. It closes on Leopold's LP letter, Charlie Munger's three ways to go broke, and what four turns of leverage does to a 20% drawdown. Key takeaways◾If an agent cannot discover, read, and use your product, you are invisible to the next buyer◾Distribution at Higgsfield's pace is a daily habit, not a campaign◾Leverage turns a recoverable drawdown into an unrecoverable one Chapters00:00 From PLG to ALG02:48 AI Distribution Machines10:35 Leverage, Risk, and Scale

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 A Procter & Gamble study shows every single role is now part marketing and part engineering, whatever the job title says. Eric maps it to the Coinbase pot-of-one idea and admits he builds more than he used to. From there: how Palantir landed and expanded on the cheap with forward-deployed engineers, why today's wow is tomorrow's average, and a long practical walkthrough of running ChatGPT Voice as a hands-free agent that controls the other agents on his machine. Key takeaways◾Every role is converging on part marketer, part builder, regardless of title◾Forward-deployed engineering is a sales motion, not an engineering one◾Voice is the interface that makes an agent stack usable while you do other things Chapters00:00 Everyone Becomes a Builder07:50 AI Changes Workflows12:47 Voice Agents at Work

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 Would you burn an entire year of profit, walk away from your core customer, and bet the company on unproven technology that falls flat for its first twelve months? That is the decision NVIDIA actually made, and Eric walks through it from Thinking Machine. Neil answers honestly. The back half turns personal: Neil is recording from Legoland mid-vacation, and the two get into what it took to actually take the time off, being alone with his kids for the first time, and what that trade looks like when you run a company. Key takeaways◾The bets that look reckless in year one are the ones with no competition in year five◾Founder control is what makes an unpopular decade-long bet survivable◾Time off is an operating decision, not a reward you earn later Chapters00:00 Nvidia's Big Bet04:18 The Sega Deal and Near-Bankruptcy08:59 Six Flat Years After CUDA12:14 Vacation and Family Life17:52 Bored on Vacation, Hunting Deals

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 Airtable sold to Bending Spoons for $1.25B in cash, and the internet immediately called it a down round. Eric pulls up Jason Lemkin's numbers and the actual purchase agreement to show what really happened: 3.1x ARR growth since 2021, $900M sitting in the bank, and a reorganization that carved the HyperAgent business out into its own entity before the deal closed. Then Alfred Lin's Empire State Building versus Millennium Tower piece on why speed is the core operating value, and why Jensen Huang has never fired anyone. Key takeaways◾A headline acquisition price tells you almost nothing until you read the reorg clause◾Speed is not a nice-to-have operating value, it is the one that compounds◾Public, brutal feedback can retain people better than quiet firing does Chapters00:00 Airtable Deal Breakdown03:20 Bending Spoons Playbook06:06 Speed Above All09:41 Jensen's Tough Love

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 Eric listens to two people argue organic content versus paid ads and calls the whole debate stupid, because the answer is both. From there into the ROI of podcasting after nearly ten years of doing this one, using the Forbes highest-paid list as a reality check, and finally why recruiting is higher leverage than managing when you are small. Key takeaways ◾ Content versus paid is a false binary, and the answer is both ◾ Buying growth can beat building it, if you know what you are buying ◾ Recruit better people and you spend less time managing them Chapters 00:00 Content vs paid ads 05:53 The ROI of podcasting 07:53 Sponsor break 10:51 Recruiting beats managing

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 A full, honest audit of their own social strategy. They set a 2025 plan to ramp volume, raise quality and lean more personal, and here they grade it. Neil puts social at two to three percent of attributable revenue, explains why it works for mid-market and SMB but not for enterprise, and makes the point that an enterprise logo on a five thousand dollar contract is not an enterprise deal. Eric breaks down the webinar formats that convert and why he copies proven ones rather than inventing his own. Key takeaways ◾ Social is 2 to 3% of attributable revenue, and still worth doing ◾ Social opens enterprise doors but rarely closes enterprise contracts ◾ Copy the formats that already convert instead of building from scratch Chapters 00:00 Our 2025 social plan vs mid-2026 reality 07:46 Sponsor break

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 spends 60 to 70% of his time reaching out to companies to buy, and explains when he wants founders to stay and when he does not, plus where global agency RFPs actually come from. Eric makes the case for open weights in marketing, where models like GLM 5.2 and Kimi K3 cut costs 25 to 100x on high-volume creative work. They then get into what nobody in his AI executive group could answer: how you actually measure the ROI of AI, why token usage is a terrible metric, and why revenue per employee is a better one. Closes on Jensen Huang's first post and Anthropic's MCP release finally being practical for non-technical marketers. Key takeaways ◾ Open weights cut 25 to 100x on high-volume creative, and that is the marketing case ◾ Measure AI on revenue per employee, not on token spend ◾ The CEOs who spent last year cutting headcount have quietly backtracked Chapters 00:00 How Neil splits his time: recruiting and buying companies 01:05 Buying businesses, and whether founders stay 03:17 Where the global RFPs actually come from 06:33 Why open weights matter for marketing 09:46 Measuring the ROI of AI 12:59 Sponsor break 17:00 Jensen Huang's first post and the open-weights letter 23:34 MCPs get practical

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 and Eric open on Google going negative on free cash flow to win the AI race, and ask whether it is a reckless bet or the only move a company with that much distribution can make. They use Naval's point about cheap software pushing value toward vertically integrated businesses to explain why agencies are turning into “brains”, including what the Google Ads team told Eric about traditional agencies this week, and finish on ChatGPT Voice as a genuine daily operating tool rather than a novelty. Key takeaways ◾ Google is spending free cash flow, not spare cash, to win AI ◾ Cheap software moves the value to vertically integrated, opinionated businesses ◾ Voice is turning AI from a tool you open into a system you run the day on Chapters 00:00 Google's AI cash bet 03:40 Naval: cheap software moves value to verticals 05:30 Agencies evolve into brains 08:22 ChatGPT Voice as a daily command centre 10:12 Sponsor break 14:47 Which AI companies do you trust with your data? 17:35 Agentic recruiting workflows

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 Eric ran Sol 5.6 against Fable 5 on real marketing work: an Amazon investment analysis, one-shot website builds, YouTube thumbnails that hit 6-7% CTR, and clip selection with hooks. His verdict: Sol finishes jobs with less back and forth. Neil's rule: never marry one model. Then why 62% direct traffic means brand is working, the AI-native org structure Eric's team published, and both hosts' hiring anti-pitch: passion, standards, and moving fast on people. Key takeaways ◾Judge models on finished jobs, not clever answers ◾Direct traffic is the scoreboard for brand strength ◾Hire people who tell you what to do, and move quickly when it's not working Chapters 00:00 Testing AI Models for Marketing 07:09 Brand Power Drives Direct Traffic 09:29 Building AI-Native Teams 21:04 Hiring, Standards, and Anti-Selling 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 A VC asked Eric the classic question about SingleBrain: if anyone can build it, what's the moat? His answer: maintenance, optimization, and upgrades are the real business. Then Ben Affleck sells InterPositive to Netflix for $587M in cash: a 16-person team that taught AI how real films are made. Chamath's warning on restricting Chinese AI models, and a full masterclass on networks: the double opt-in, Neil's box-derby story that led to a Hearst introduction, and why you build a network by not trying to. Key takeaways ◾Industry craft is the moat: vertical tools built by people who know the work win ◾Target buyers who pay for outcomes, not tech teams who build in-house ◾Networks compound through genuine relationships, not business cards Chapters 00:00 Netflix Buys AI Startup 07:08 AI Tools and Industry Craft 09:00 How Real Networks Grow 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Eric shares Sahil Lavingia's chart: June 2026 was the first month Gumroad spent as much on AI tokens as on human payroll. They debate what that means at scale, then dig into Elon's Economist interview: AI timelines, universal income, fear marketing, and why 87% of Chinese respondents are net positive on AI while most Americans are afraid. Eric closes on open-source models catching the frontier and why regulation can't put the genie back. Key takeaways ◾AI spend matching payroll is coming for more companies; the only question is speed ◾Fear is a marketing choice: how leaders talk about AI shapes adoption ◾Open-source models catching up changes the whole regulatory debate Chapters 00:00 Gumroad's AI Payroll Shift 01:59 Elon's AI Future Debate 07:48 Free Markets vs Regulation 08:33 Home Base and New Deals 11:11 Organic Growth and Enterprise Sales 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Eric brings marketing lessons from Lake Como: a fourth-generation craftsman selling $1,000-quality shoes for $150, and why a couple of grand a month on a hotel display case beats most ad spend. Then the World Cup: Haaland won the brand game, and Beckham proves popularity is not the same thing as profit. Neil shows ChatGPT at 77 on Google Trends vs Claude at 19, while Anthropic wins on revenue. They close on Junior Bridgman's quiet path from NBA bench to $1.4 billion and IM8's billion from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund. Key takeaways ◾The best-known brand is not automatically the most profitable business ◾Compounding beats stardom: interest plus time wins ◾Sometimes the right move is not scaling Chapters 00:00 Marketing Lessons from a Lake Como Conference 03:10 World Cup Brand Power 08:27 Compute and AI Constraints 13:12 Behind the Scenes at Events 14:43 Beckham and Business Compounding 17:12 Raising a Billion for Growth 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Eric tested GPT Sol 5.6 against Claude Fable 5 on real marketing jobs: websites, thumbnails, clips, recruiting, and growth analysis. Final score: Sol 4, Fable 0 - even though Fable had better ideas and design. They also unpack Anthropic and Blackstone's $1.5B bet that implementation is the next trillion-dollar AI business, model wars, valuations, and why marketing pressure is finally easing. Key takeaways ◾The new model benchmark is finishing jobs, not sounding smart ◾Implementation, not models, is the next AI gold rush ◾Expectations are normalizing: marketing pressure is easing Chapters 00:00 Sol 5.6 vs Fable 5 and the model wars 08:24 Chips, bottlenecks, and AI demand 09:41 Valuations, PE, and services 18:19 Marketing pressure is easing 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Eric shows Neil the AI marketing loops Single Grain actually has live: a CRO loop, an AEO/SEO loop that drafts TOFU-MOFU-BOFU content straight to the CMS, and a sponsorship loop that negotiates $25k minimums on its own. Plus why you should stop using LLMs for math and route tokens to cheap deterministic systems, and how compounding loops beat one-off prompts. Key takeaways ◾Loops that report back and improve beat one-off prompts ◾Route math to deterministic systems, not LLMs ◾A sponsorship loop can handle the back and forth for you Chapters 00:00 Stop using LLMs for math: token routing 03:50 AI marketing loops you should build today 07:05 Travel, recruiting, and follow-up 11:48 Cold calling and the brand payoff 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 and Eric answer the question Eric asked a room of 9-10 figure operators: what part of your company would you rebuild from scratch if AI were native from day one? They dig into fully automated recruiting funnels, the dentist model for agencies where seniors diagnose and agents do the repetitive work, and why SEO conferences feel like they are lagging the actual market. Key takeaways ◾Almost every operator would rebuild recruiting first ◾The new agency model: humans diagnose, agents execute ◾SEO is lagging: AEO and agents are where attention is going Chapters 00:00 What would you rebuild from scratch with AI? 02:28 AI-powered recruiting and deals 05:32 The new agency model: everyone as a dentist 08:15 MozCon and why SEO is lagging 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 and Eric break down what Eric learned hosting a dinner of 9-10 figure AI operators, and why AI is forcing companies to redesign compensation. They get into AI margin expansion showing up in boring workflows, the burnout wave hitting tech, and how to keep pay fair when AI-native A-players produce 5-10x output. A candid episode on incentives, culture, and looking after your team while everything changes. Key takeaways ◾9-10 figure operators would rebuild recruiting and ops AI-native first ◾AI-native A-players break same-title salary bands ◾Margin wins are hiding in boring workflows, not sexy demos Chapters 00:00 What a 9-10 figure AI operators dinner revealed 03:07 AI margins and compensation 07:32 Burnout and the tech survey 15:18 AI productivity and fair pay 17:30 Fairness, sacrifice, and culture 21:45 Supporting sick team members 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Eric and Neil go behind the scenes on raising for SingleBrain: building a clean story for VCs, what the numbers have to say, and how to position a services-plus-software narrative. They cover conference networking that actually compounds, managed revenue agents as a new service line, and why creators are becoming real channel partners that drive B2B pipeline, not just awareness. Key takeaways ◾VCs buy a clean story before they buy the numbers ◾Managed revenue agents are a new service line ◾Creators are becoming channel partners, not just reach Chapters 00:00 Raising for SingleBrain 08:49 A clean story for VCs 12:19 Conference networking strategy 13:11 Managed revenue agents 20:32 Creators as channel partners 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 and Eric argue the B2B website is turning into a sales rep, a proof engine that has to sell before the sales call. From there the conversation turns to investing and business economics: betting on SpaceX, treasury strategy, debt versus venture, and the mechanics of buying distressed businesses. A candid look at how operators think about risk, leverage, and where durable value gets created. Key takeaways ◾Your website has to sell before the sales call ◾Debt vs venture changes who controls the outcome ◾Distressed businesses can be the best entry point Chapters 00:00 Websites are becoming sales reps 02:09 Betting on SpaceX 05:53 Debt versus venture 10:49 Buying distressed businesses 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 and Eric dig into AI search visibility: why your brand may be invisible when buyers ask ChatGPT, how organic click behavior is changing, and what still moves revenue. They react to Kai-Fu Lee's prediction that 50% of companies will need new leadership and that 95%+ of AI transformations fail, then break down a survey showing 89% of teams now give AI agents write access, up from 52%, and what that means for security, governance, and permissioning. Key takeaways ◾Track visibility in answer engines, not just Google ◾95% of AI transformations fail by bolting AI on the edges ◾Agent write-access is exploding, so is the security opportunity Chapters 00:00 Your brand is invisible in AI search 04:27 AI leadership shift (Kai-Fu Lee) 10:20 Bottom-funnel marketing wins 12:50 AI permissions and security 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 and Eric explain why software itself is becoming the best marketing channel: free tools, calculators, agents, and lightweight products now do the demand-gen work blog posts used to do. They break down how every feature launch becomes a marketable moment, why free products drive outsized buzz, and how conferences and events still generate real pipeline when you show up to give rather than sell. Plus how they think about valuing AI-pilled talent and staying focused. Key takeaways ◾Software is the new lead magnet, not the PDF ◾Every feature launch is a marketable moment ◾Win the hallways at events, don't just speak Chapters 00:00 Software is becoming marketing 03:03 Free products drive buzz 06:59 Events and conferences as lead gen 14:41 Valuing AI-pilled talent 19:58 Vision boards and focus 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

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 Eric breaks down what Marc Andreessen calls the single best marketing strategy he has ever seen: Alex Karp goes on CNBC and talks about the military, super intelligence, and AI sovereignty while barely naming his own company, and the number behind it is striking. They contrast it with Snap, where Evan Spiegel talked up the future of his 2,000 dollar Spectacles instead of the product and watched a billion in market cap evaporate. From there it is Jason Lemkin's ICONIQ quota data, the reports Neil actually reads every morning, his "you have a budget problem, not a money problem" framework, and the command through negation directive Eric now sends four times a day. They close on Skills Dojo, their new free GitHub for marketers. The strategy is hiding in plain sight, and the number proves it works. Key takeaways ◾Talk about what people care about and let your company sit attached to it ◾Thought leadership can outpull product marketing with enterprise buyers ◾Chase specific, actionable reports over dashboards that just look busy Chapters 00:00 Karp never mentions Palantir 01:00 The best strategy Andreessen's seen 01:27 The Seinfeld method 01:37 Nobody read the S1 01:48 Thought leadership beats product 3-to-1 02:10 Why Karp owns the mindshare 03:04 When it backfires: Snap Spectacles 04:30 Snap's market cap collapse 05:02 The shocking sales quota data 06:38 What the quota shift means 07:49 AI SDRs and deal revivers 08:26 The all-in-one CRM sprawl 09:55 The reports Neil actually reads 11:27 RFP counts by region 14:21 Signal, not dashboards 14:50 "You have a budget problem" 18:03 Jamie Dimon: no money problem 19:41 Command through negation 20:52 Getting your team to take risks 22:00 Skills Dojo: GitHub for marketers 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric pulls up a Financial Times chart showing that the companies spending most on AI are hiring more people, not fewer, and he and Neil use it to take apart the everyone-loses narrative. Neil recounts debating Search Atlas co-founder Monik, who is convinced AI will gut white collar work, and explains why he is seeing the exact opposite across thousands of client companies. They run the historical receipts on radiology, ATMs, and the spreadsheet, argue over whether Google is simply bloated, and look at why HighLevel scaled from 2,000 to roughly 3,000 staff. A detour into an employee who stole from both their companies turns into a lesson on where to spend your attention. The headline fear is loud, but the data underneath tells a different story. Key takeaways ◾Companies with the highest AI adoption are growing headcount, not cutting it ◾Efficiency raises demand, so you end up needing more engineers ◾Every past automation scare created more jobs than it destroyed Chapters 00:00 The FT chart everyone misreads 00:52 We're only seven months in 01:20 The white-collar reduction debate 02:26 Why Google looks bloated 03:27 Efficiency means more engineers 04:14 Do more or charge less 05:04 AI creates abundance, not scarcity 05:49 Radiology, ATMs and spreadsheets 06:34 Who pays if the jobs vanish? 08:13 The AI bubble chart 09:25 Only 12 of 8,000 are AI-pilled 09:55 HighLevel's jump to 3,000 staff 11:33 Most companies only do table stakes 12:14 The employee who stole from both 14:42 The lesson: just move on 15:14 The billionaire who destroys rivals 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 After Anthropic quietly shipped a Figma competitor and handed Figma only a basic version of its updated design tool, Eric and Neil dig into the David Sachs warning that is rattling founders: feed the frontier labs all your context and data, and you hand them everything they need to compete with you. They walk through why Claude keeps your context after you leave, why GLM 5.2 on Open Router runs a fraction of the cost, and Microsoft's 2.5 billion dollar "your data is your data" pitch. The conversation turns to the forward deployed marketer, the two clashing cultures inside every agency right now, and why some AI-forward shops are trading at more than 30 times profit. Eric even demos the business video game he built over a weekend. The tools are incredible, but whose competitor you become depends on what you give away. Key takeaways ◾Whoever holds your context and data can build your competitor ◾Open weights like GLM 5.2 buy you control and far lower cost ◾AI native is a culture, not a tool your team quietly ignores Chapters 00:00 Who controls your AI stack 00:22 Anthropic undercuts Figma 00:38 David Sachs on AI sovereignty 01:28 Why Claude keeps your context 01:51 Open weights save money and control 02:11 The Figma board bombshell 03:26 Microsoft's $2.5B data promise 04:12 Trusting the frontier labs less 05:35 GLM 5.2 and Open Router 06:03 Eric's business video game 09:27 The forward deployed marketer 10:42 Two cultures under one roof 12:54 AI as truth revealer 13:52 Agency valuations getting cut 15:04 Buying agencies for 2x profit 18:02 When you still need account managers 20:50 Marketing region by region 21:41 The relationship-first culture 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric opens with Eli Schwartz's viral take that the AEO panic is the best thing to happen to SEO budgets in years, and he and Neil unpack why every CMO is suddenly fighting over who owns answer engine optimization. They dig into why brands keep asking to just buy a tool like Profound, why publishing AI listicles is the new keyword stuffing, and how ChatGPT actually only crawls your own site a fraction of the time. Neil shares real agency data on the gap between SEO and GEO budgets that surprises even Eric, then they test which agencies the LLMs actually cite, from Seer and Wil Reynolds to iPullRank. They land on why brand, an omni-channel presence, and a human in the loop still decide who wins. The panic is real, but the money is not moving where you think. Key takeaways ◾AEO and SEO are far more tightly linked than the panic suggests ◾LLMs weigh what the whole web says about you, not just your own site ◾Buying a tracking tool is not a strategy when everyone can buy it too Chapters 00:00 The AEO panic explained 01:04 When SEO lived inside product 01:55 Why SEO budgets aren't shifting yet 02:50 What the panic really is 03:37 Losing pitches without technical SEO 04:15 "Can't we just buy a tool?" 04:49 Why publishing listicles fails 06:26 Software and services converge 07:22 Query fanouts and getting cited everywhere 09:22 SEO vs GEO budgets: 11x apart 11:12 Testing the agency queries 12:42 Profound pivots to done-for-you 13:44 Is the data really cleaner? 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric and Neil open on "founder mode" — Brian Chesky stripping out professional C-suite layers at Airbnb, the Flexport founder returning to reignite growth, and Steve Jobs' comeback at Apple — arguing that every time a founder retook the wheel, the company accelerated. They answer two live audience questions: whether AI will disrupt B2B video agencies (reinvest efficiency gains into more value, don't drop prices) and whether CPG multiples will overtake SaaS. The episode closes with an early read on ChatGPT's advertising platform, a candid crypto-vs-SaaS-vs-AI sentiment check, and Warren Buffett's rule on long-term holding. Key takeaways ◾ Founder mode beats hired-management mode — Airbnb, Flexport and Apple all prove the pattern ◾ AI won't kill video agencies, but it exposes the ones not delivering value — reinvest the gains, don't cut prices ◾ ChatGPT ads are an early-mover window — 900M weekly users, ~25¢ clicks, get in before the cost rises Chapters 0:00 Founder mode: Airbnb, Flexport, Apple 1:21 Will AI kill video agencies? 5:07 CPG vs SaaS multiples 5:53 ChatGPT ads and LLM traffic 8:43 Crypto vs SaaS outlook 13:14 Warren Buffett: invest in yourself 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric opens with a Jeff Bezos maxim from a Walter Isaacson interview: never hire your friends if you're under 40, but always hire them after 40, once you have the pattern recognition to know who to trust. Neil adds his own rule: hire deep specialists over generalists, down to the specific platform. The conversation then breaks down Ramp's data on AI token spend — how the same budget buys wildly different volumes across model tiers — and builds the framework: cheap models for routine work, frontier models only for genuinely ambiguous, high-stakes problems. The episode closes on token waste, "AI theater" inside companies, Eric's "nail it before you scale it" rule, and why AI-enabled agencies are trading at 22-30X multiples. Key takeaways ◾ Under 40 you lack the pattern recognition to hire friends safely — after 40 it becomes a competitive advantage ◾ Match the model tier to the task: frontier models for novel high-stakes problems, cheap models for everything routine ◾ Nail the workflow manually before you automate it — automating a mess just scales the mess Chapters 0:00 Bezos: never hire friends under 40 2:21 Hire deep specialists not generalists 3:48 $100k in AI: which model wins? 9:53 Token waste and AI theater 11:27 Nail it before you scale it 16:25 AI agencies hit 30X multiples 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric and Neil unpack Greg Isenberg's tweet on the most valuable marketing skills right now, working through community building, storytelling, the forward deployed marketer model, data literacy, and relentless experimentation. They flag the "abdication of intelligence" trap: using AI without judgment turns capable marketers into slop cannons, while people who can show real agent deployments separate themselves from the pretenders. Neil makes the case for deep networking as an underrated force multiplier, then Eric raises Aaron Levie's prediction that agents will use software 100x more than people, shifting the game toward agent-ready content, products, and skills libraries. A practical episode on building the AI-native marketing skill set before everyone else does. Key takeaways ◾ The forward deployed marketer is replacing the agency model — one AI-fluent marketer who deploys and maintains agents end-to-end ◾ When agents use software 100x more than humans, agent-ready content, APIs and data sources win the citations ◾ AI becomes the abdication of intelligence the moment you stop applying judgment to its output Chapters 0:00 The most valuable skills right now 2:18 The forward deployed marketer model 4:07 Data literacy and the AI abdication trap 8:07 Why experiments beat imitation 12:27 Networking as a force multiplier 19:48 Agents will use software 100x more 21:51 Claude Tag and context lock-in 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 and Eric open by dissecting LVMH's 16 straight quarters of decelerating growth, arguing the COVID spike distorts the story and that 172-year-old brand power, not a handbag, is what makes luxury houses durable. They break down Sundar Pichai's warning that anyone who skips learning to orchestrate AI agents today will spend 2027 playing catch-up, then dig into Google actively building AI spam defenders to keep generative slop out of AI Overviews. Eric closes on Eli Schwartz's viral post that reduces all of AEO to three plain words: be unique, be helpful, be agent-ready. A sharp episode on brand moats, the compounding AI agent gap, and the only SEO play with a real shelf life. Key takeaways ◾ Brand power compounds over centuries, not quarters — LVMH's dip looks worse than it is once you strip out the COVID bump ◾ The AI agent gap compounds every day — start orchestrating agents now or risk never catching up by 2027 ◾ Every AEO tactic built to game the algorithm has a shelf life — the only durable play is "be unique, be helpful, be agent-ready" Chapters 0:00 LVMH's 16 quarters of decline 4:41 Sundar Pichai: learn agents now 6:51 Does AI volume drive revenue? 8:34 Google's AI spam defenders 12:23 Eli Schwartz's 3 AEO pillars 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

"No one's prompting anymore. Everyone just uses loops." That one line from Matt Van Horn kicked off a 3.4M-view firestorm, so Eric Siu sat him down to explain what he actually meant. Chapters 00:00 "Nobody's prompting anymore" — and who Matt Van Horn is 03:00 What a loop actually is 04:57 The AI "money printer" that made $0 06:05 Why the barrier to building anything just collapsed 08:30 How to point loops at your own business 10:50 Printing Press: hidden APIs + self-learning CLIs 18:00 Last 30 Days: the agentic search engine 23:04 Watch: the "Flight Goat" launch video (1.3M views, built with Hyperframes) 27:30 The "MVH skill" — one skill to automate everything 34:30 Agent Cookie: always-logged-in agents 41:00 Terminal apps & why CLI beats clicking 46:00 AI inequality & the cost advantage 47:00 The one move: start now, be the nerd Connect with Matt Van Horn: @mvanhorn on X · printingpress.dev Marketing School is the daily marketing podcast with Eric Siu & Neil Patel. Subscribe for the tactics, tools and AI shifts shaping how modern businesses grow.

Need Marketing Help? https://npdigital.com/ Neil Patel breaks down what's actually changed in e-commerce, and why the brands winning right now are the ones adapting to AI search before everyone else. In this session, Neil shares the data behind the new buying behavior: why AI search (GEO) is quietly becoming the highest-converting channel he's ever measured, how shoppers now research and buy across ChatGPT, Reddit, Instagram, and Amazon, and the exact things you need to fix so AI agents actually recommend your products. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: 25 years of marketing data 00:50 The new e-commerce landscape 03:45 Why buyers need multiple touchpoints 05:25 Buy now, pay later & economic uncertainty 07:30 How each generation shops and spends 09:35 Trust: the real conversion lever 10:50 AI search (GEO) is reshaping discovery 13:45 The invisible conversions you're missing 15:00 AI search: the highest-converting channel 16:15 Why people really buy on social 18:45 Social commerce habits by generation 20:50 Using influencers the right way 22:05 Applying AI to the customer journey 23:20 Why your offer beats your strategy 27:55 Prepare your products for AI agents 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric reveals how he's restructuring his entire company around AI agents, building what he calls a "single brain" that connects every tool and data source into one unified intelligence. He breaks down the four levels of AI adoption, why 91% of enterprises are failing at implementation, and how an org chart of specialist agents, fleet commanders, and closed loops lets one human operate like a 10x team member. Along the way he shares practical tactics: spinning up hundreds of ad creative variations, building cold email infrastructure, finding $500K in savings with a CFO agent, slashing token costs, and optimizing for the coming wave of agent-driven buying (B2A). Key takeaways ◾A connected "single brain" beats isolated AI tools ◾One human plus five agents equals a 10x team member ◾Optimize for agents now, because they're the new buyers Chapters 00:00 Implementing AI and the single brain concept 00:47 The four levels of AI adoption 02:28 Why only 9% of enterprises are scaling AI 04:27 What single brain actually looks like 05:31 Connecting your tools into one brain 06:14 The agent org chart explained 07:19 Designing for specialist agents 09:35 Giving every team member their own fleet 10:52 Do-it-yourself vs done-with-you 11:23 End-to-end workflows explained 12:03 Building loops and the org chart of the future 13:55 Compressing time with instant data 15:05 Combining agents for ad creative at scale 17:04 Prompt in, campaign out 18:46 The CFO agent that found $500K in savings 19:17 Driving token costs down 20:50 Agents are the new buyers (B2A) 22:00 Optimizing your software for agents 24:03 Three moves by Friday 26:18 Building leverage and staying ahead 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

Everyone's pouring money into shiny AI marketing. Neil Patel and Eric Siu think most of it is a trap. Live from the Social Commerce Summit, they break down what AI will NEVER replace, the "boring and ugly" tactics still quietly printing money, and the moves you should actually be making instead. In this episode: - The "clipping economy" and why a 10-person podcast is on track for $30M - Why boring, ugly fundamentals still beat the sexy AI use cases - The email "make money button" that's made one marketer millions - What AI can't take away: distribution, brand, strategy, community and the human touch - How social commerce is quietly rewriting the org chart (armies of creators) - Using AI to expand globally fast (and where the easy revenue actually is) Chapters: 0:00 10 years of Marketing School, live on stage 0:35 The clipping economy (TBPN, $30M, OpenAI) 2:18 Why boring & ugly still beats shiny AI 4:54 What AI won't replace: distribution & brand 5:07 Stop building "AI theater" — automate what already works 7:02 Distribution & brand can't be taken from you 7:40 The email "make money button" (MarketBeat) 8:40 AI won't replace original strategy 9:54 Why AI keeps giving you the wrong answer 11:19 Community & events: the 18-year-old's bet 14:04 The human touch: customer success is going parabolic 17:52 When customers want a human, not AI 18:13 Social commerce is rewriting the org chart 19:47 Clipping + affiliates at scale 20:23 Founder-led content & high-leverage thinking 21:18 Use AI to expand globally, fast 23:51 Wrap up Marketing School is the daily marketing podcast from Neil Patel and Eric Siu. New episodes break down the tactics, trends and tools moving marketing right now. Subscribe for daily marketing tips from Neil & Eric. #marketing #AImarketing #ecommerce #NeilPatel #EricSiu

Neil Patel and Eric Siu go deep on what's actually changing in business right now: why trading ideas faster (not a bigger brain) is the real unfair advantage, how AI agents like Hermes and OpenClaw break when you overload them, and the hidden token bill that's quietly eating the savings companies expected from replacing headcount. They also cover how to show up inside ChatGPT and AI search, where agencies still earn their fees, the comeback of Dell and on-prem AI infrastructure, and when reinventing (or even selling) a business is the highest-leverage move you can make. Chapters 00:00 Why trading ideas (not bigger brains) drove human progress 16:26 7 ways to show up in LLMs and AI search 17:28 Where agencies still earn their fees in the AI era 33:56 Using AI agents (Hermes, OpenClaw, Picasso) without overloading them 49:41 The hidden token bill eating your AI savings 50:10 The comeback of Dell and on-prem AI infrastructure 1:05:09 Reinventing your business by mode: startup, growth, mature 1:05:34 When selling a dying business is the smart move 1:15:27 Alexa, Amazon ads and the new AI search land grab

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Eric and Neil break down why token maxxing is dead. Cognition is betting that AI should be priced on outcomes rather than token usage, with adaptive routing, spend attribution, and an AI productivity guarantee that funds your usage if Devin delivers less value than you pay for. They unpack the rise of the forward-deployed marketer, the most valuable hire in marketing that almost nobody is staffing for, why AI only matters when it moves real KPIs, and the one question that compounds your results over a decade: what is the highest-leverage thing I can do with my time today? Key Takeaways: • Token usage is a poor way to measure productivity. Price AI on business outcomes instead. • The forward-deployed marketer owns the client outcome while agents do the labor, and it is the hire almost nobody is staffing for. • Ask one question every day: what is the highest-leverage thing I can do with my time? Compound that for 10 years. Chapters: 00:00 Token Maxxing Is Dead (Cognition) 02:17 The Forward-Deployed Marketer 04:06 AI Only Counts If It Moves KPIs 06:10 The Highest-Leverage Question 09:49 Reinventing A Dying Business 11:08 Neil's Brutal Travel Schedule 15:13 AI Fluency And The Wealth Gap 18:39 Search Is Going Conversational 21:26 Apple's Long Game On Hardware 23:15 The Steve Jobs NeXT Lesson 24:50 The AI Deception Eval 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 Eric and Neil rank the latest AI tools they've tested for marketing, from autonomous agents like Hermes, OpenClaw, Codex, and Cloud Code to MCPs from HeyGen, Riverside, and Beehiiv. They break down why overloading agents makes them degrade fast, the real dollar value behind $200/month ChatGPT Pro vs Claude Max subscriptions, and how token costs are quietly blowing up company budgets. Plus the Anthropic IPO winners, smart token routing, and why selling AI services feels completely different from selling agency work. Key takeaways ◾Overloading AI agents makes them degrade fast ◾ChatGPT subsidizes far more value than Claude per dollar ◾Token costs are quietly wrecking company budgets Chapters 00:00 Ranking the latest AI tools 01:30 Forking agents to build cold outbound 03:20 Where Hermes and OpenClaw fail 04:30 ChatGPT Pro vs Claude Max value 07:40 Favorite MCPs: HeyGen, Riverside, Beehiiv 09:50 Why Anthropic stays quiet on disruption 11:30 Anthropic IPO winners 14:30 Betting on the Spurs 17:30 Karrot personalized LinkedIn ads break 18:30 The real cost of Pro subscriptions 22:00 Token routing and rising AI costs 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 📩Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 and Eric dig into McKinsey shifting a quarter of its fees to outcome-based pricing and what that means for agencies built on billable hours. Then they run through seven AI marketing trends for 2026: hiring AI-pilled marketers, optimizing for agents instead of just LLMs, AI-built sites and landing pages, integrating directly into LLMs over chasing their traffic, the documentation boom, the backlash against using AI to market to AI, and why HTML artifacts are becoming the new way to package and share ideas. Key takeaways ◾Outcome-based pricing is reshaping how agencies charge ◾Optimize for agents and integrations, not just LLM traffic ◾Using AI content to win inside LLMs will get discounted Chapters 00:00 McKinsey goes outcome-based pricing 01:01 How outcome-based deals get structured 02:51 Quantum Black savings example 03:35 Why performance-based deals get renegotiated 04:53 Seven AI marketing trends for 2026 04:58 Trend 1: Hiring AI-pilled marketers 05:45 Trend 2: Optimizing for agents 07:57 ClickFlow AI SEO break 08:36 Trend 3: AI-built sites and landing pages 10:07 Trend 4: Integrating directly into LLMs 11:35 Trend 5: The documentation boom 12:32 Trend 6: Backlash against AI marketing to AI 14:15 Trend 7: HTML as a marketing trend 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

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 and Eric open with a fascinating look at how human progress accelerated 50,000 years ago — not because our brains got bigger, but because we started trading ideas. Key Takeaways ◾ Intelligence is a network property — the more ideas you trade, the smarter and faster you move ◾ 68% of Google searches now result in zero clicks, making brand citation the new ranking goal ◾ Seven AEO/SEO tactics still drive results: brand mentions, structured data, fresh content, longtail queries, third-party reviews, direct answers, and omnichannel Chapters 00:00 Human brains haven't changed in 200,000 years 02:30 Trading ideas as the engine of progress 05:10 AI accelerating idea exchange 07:20 Isolation regresses intelligence 09:45 Gatekeeping information kills momentum 11:00 Anthropic calls for AI slowdown 13:15 Claude's Fable 5 model breakdown 16:00 Microsoft's 100K engineers cautionary tale 18:10 Google zero-click searches hit 68% 21:00 Being cited vs. ranking — the new SEO goal 23:30 Fan-out queries and why SEO still matters 26:00 7 AEO and SEO tactics that work now 26:15 Tactic 1: Backlink gap for brand mentions 27:30 Tactic 2: Robust structured data 28:20 Tactic 3: Update top content frequently 29:30 Tactic 4: Target conversational longtail queries 31:00 Tactic 5: Third-party reviews and sentiment 32:30 Tactic 6: Lead with direct answers 33:30 Tactic 7: Go omnichannel 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. 🎙️ Learn More About the Hosts Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel 📩 Free Resources Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ ✅ Subscribe for Daily Marketing Insights!

Neil and Eric discuss the biggest AI bottleneck for companies: extracting internal knowledge and turning it into usable company context. They break down AI cost optimization, DeepSeek vs. frontier models, AI productivity guarantees, rising demand for AI implementation experts, and why channels like SEO, email marketing, SMS, direct mail, and live events still drive growth. They also cover how podcast mentions generate revenue and why AI is changing tasks more than eliminating jobs. Key Takeaways:• Company knowledge extraction is the next AI growth unlock.• AI adoption is shifting from token usage to measurable business output.• SEO, email, SMS, direct mail, and live events remain powerful marketing channels. Chapters:(00:00) AI’s Biggest Bottleneck(01:26) Knowledge Extraction Opportunity(02:09) AI Cost Optimization(04:43) AI Productivity Guarantee(06:02) AI Model Pricing Trends(08:48) Podcast Revenue Impact(10:21) AI Jobs And Hiring(12:37) Marketing Channels That Win(12:45) Direct Mail Marketing(13:11 Email) And SMS Marketing(13:51 Live) Events And Networking(14:17 SEO) And AI Overviews

Neil and Eric break down the AI coding wars between OpenAI and Anthropic, debating whether Claude Code or Codex is winning developer mindshare. They cover AI marketing tools, MCPs, APIs, Slack agent workflows, content strategy, and why pipeline matters more than vanity metrics. You’ll also hear insights on AI-powered productivity, ad creative feedback loops, Tesla self-driving, and the future of AI agents for marketers and operators. Key Takeaways: • Claude Code vs Codex is becoming the biggest AI developer workflow battle in 2026. • More content views do not always create more business pipeline or revenue. • AI workflows with APIs, agents, and feedback loops are replacing traditional software stacks. Chapters: (00:00) Claude vs OpenAI Debate (00:49) AI Market Share Discussion (01:46) Consumer Mindshare Shift (03:20) Spider Story & Tesla Talk (06:45) Best AI Marketing Tools (09:52) Venice AI & Privacy (11:37) AI Work Tools for 2026 (13:27) Claude Co-Work Productivity (15:23) AI Agents & SlashGoal (18:14) Unified AI Company Brain (20:33) Content Creates Pipeline (25:20) Creative Feedback Loops (26:39) Horizontal vs Vertical Video Debate

Neil and Eric break down Google’s latest AI search guidance, AEO and GEO myths, AI search optimization data from Ahrefs, ChatGPT citation trends, Google AI Overviews, and why YouTube visibility may matter more than traditional SEO signals. They also discuss the future of AI-powered shopping, agency growth opportunities, global marketing events, and lessons from international business travel. Learn what’s changing in SEO, how AI search is evolving, and where marketers should focus next. Key Takeaways:• SEO remains the foundation of AI search visibility.• YouTube mentions strongly correlate with AI brand visibility.• AI Overviews are reshaping informational search traffic. Chapters:(00:00) Google AI Search & SEO(02:01) AI Search Optimization Data(05:08) Schema Markup & AI Citations(05:43) YouTube Visibility Insights(06:18) AI Shopping Search Future(09:57) Jakarta Business Lessons(12:33) Web Summit & Agency Growth(13:06) Creative Agency Economics(15:43) Travel, Health & Productivity(17:08) Final Thoughts & Wrap-Up

Neil and Eric discuss why AI may be creating more jobs than it replaces, breaking down new JOLTS job openings data, AI’s impact on engineering and marketing teams, the rise of AI-powered product development, and why businesses are hiring more to keep up with faster innovation. They also explore AI agents, bot traffic surpassing human traffic, and what marketers must do to optimize for the future of search and growth. Key Takeaways: • AI is creating new job categories while increasing productivity across teams. • Faster product development is driving demand for more engineers and marketers. • Businesses must optimize for AI agents, bots, and humans simultaneously. Chapters: (00:00) AI and the Job Market (01:40) AI Creating More Jobs (03:02) Free Tools Growth Strategy (05:04) Engineering Productivity with AI (06:34) Why AI Drives Hiring (07:35) AI and B2B Software Growth (09:11) Product Marketing Becomes Critical (11:09) AI-Powered Team Communication (12:33) Personality Tests and Team Alignment (16:30) Should CEOs Be Deep in AI? (20:03) Bot Traffic Surpasses Humans (21:07) Optimizing for AI Agents

Neil and Eric discuss extreme startup culture, whether founders must work seven days a week to win, and the tradeoffs between success, longevity, and personal fulfillment. They break down lessons from a fast-growing startup, debate paid work trials, and explore how AI is creating high-leverage employees. The conversation also covers AI-powered content creation, social media growth, productivity, and why being early on trending topics often beats perfection. Key Takeaways:• Startup success often requires intensity, but sustainability matters.• AI boosts leverage, but original thinking still wins.• Speed and trend timing can outperform perfect execution. Chapters:(00:00) Startup Culture and 7-Day Workweeks(02:18) Success, Failure, and Life Goals(09:34) Hiring, Work Trials, and Talent(12:44) AI and the Rise of Super Employees(15:32) AI Content Creation Challenges(20:06) Building an AI Content Machine(24:06) Social Media Growth and AI Trends(25:22) Why Timing Beats Perfection

Hosted by Neil and Eric, this episode explores Meta advertising data, the 80/20 rule in e-commerce, Jeff Bezos’ views on AI and business impact, Claude Opus 4 dynamic workflows, AI-powered revenue opportunities, networking strategies for entrepreneurs, and how LLM traffic compares to traditional SEO traffic. Learn how top advertisers scale creative production, how AI can improve business operations, and why building a strong professional network matters more than ever. Key Takeaways: • Top Meta advertisers drive massive results through creative diversification. • Claude Opus 4 dynamic workflows can unlock new revenue opportunities. • Strong networks are built through content, events, and direct outreach. Chapters: (00:00) Meta Ads and the 80/20 Rule (02:05) Jeff Bezos on AI (03:41) Space Industry Competition (05:14) Business Impact vs Philanthropy (06:34) Claude Opus 4 Workflows (08:44) AI Revenue Opportunities (11:43) Building Your Network (17:29) LLM Traffic vs SEO Traffic

70% of SEO teams still haven’t restructured for AI, and Neil and Eric explain why that’s creating massive opportunities for AI-native professionals. They discuss how companies are struggling to adopt AI effectively, why most organizations already have the tools they need but fail to use them, the growing AI mindset gap between the US and China, and how businesses can build AI training systems that scale knowledge across teams. Learn how AI is reshaping hiring, SEO, marketing, and workplace productivity. Key Takeaways: • Most companies have AI tools but don’t fully use them • AI-native workers are gaining a major hiring advantage • Every company needs a system for AI training and skills sharing Chapters: (00:00) Why SEO Teams Aren’t Ready (00:33) The GEO Knowledge Gap (01:51) Why AI-Native Workers Win (03:08) AI Fraud and Security Risks (05:06) Companies Ignore Their AI Tools (08:01) What Chinese Teams Do Better (10:17) Why Young Workers Resist AI (11:53) Building an AI Skills Dojo (14:35) AI Training Systems That Scale

Neil and Eric break down how ChatGPT and Google treat Wikipedia differently, why AI search is reshaping SEO, and where AI-generated content wins or fails. They discuss AI content marketing, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT citations, AI SEO workflows, content automation, 100x employees, ClickUp layoffs, and how creators can use AI for thumbnails, content updates, translations, and scaling marketing without sacrificing quality. • ChatGPT vs Google AI search signals • AI content marketing automation workflows • Why human-edited AI content wins Chapters: (00:00) ChatGPT vs Google Citations (01:31) AI Content Marketing Implications (03:25) Automating SEO Content Updates (05:41) Where AI Content Wins (09:53) AI Content Marketing Examples (13:48) ClickUp, AI, and Layoffs (15:52) The 100x Employee Debate (20:57) AI Stock Market Narratives (23:56) Building the 100x Organization

Neil and Eric discuss AI in business, hiring, marketing, and self-driving technology. They break down the trade-offs between Tesla and Mercedes autonomous driving, why AI should enhance employees instead of replace them, and how companies can use AI apprenticeships to scale talent faster. They also explore AI-powered workflows, marketing efficiency, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT visibility, and the future of AI-driven business growth. Perfect for entrepreneurs, marketers, founders, and anyone adapting to the AI era. Key Takeaways: • AI creates leverage for employees who use it effectively • Marketing teams need more output, not just lower costs • Google AI Overviews cite brands more often than ChatGPT Chapters: (00:00) New Home and Tesla Trade-Offs (00:42) Business Trade-Offs Explained (03:02) AI Mastermind Costa Rica (05:17) AI Apprenticeship Strategy (07:50) Hiring Success and Failure Rates (09:15) AI Workflow Automation (10:53) Marketing Event in Colombia (11:44) AI and Marketing Jobs (14:26) AI Replacing Employees Debate (15:48) AI Adoption and Competitive Advantage (17:23) AI Overviews vs ChatGPT Visibility