The hottest Marketing Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Bad first experiences

Kenny’s Sub • 139 implied HN points • 11 Jul 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Many people's first attempts at something new often go poorly, and that’s a common experience. Expecting failure can help you handle it better.
  2. Most businesses face a high chance of not succeeding, especially in their early years, so it's important to stay realistic about challenges.
  3. After a bad experience, it’s crucial to not give up on your dreams. Keep trying new things, as you might discover you enjoy or succeed at them later.

We hate brands. We love marketing.

The Social Juice • 127 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Marketing
  1. People mostly passively scroll feeds and don’t come with intent, so every view forces creators and brands to re-earn permission through creative hooks and purposeful content, making social platforms exhausting but hard to leave.
  2. Old media is losing influence while creator-driven new media wins distribution but borrows traditional aesthetics to claim authority, which fuels layoffs, acquisitions, diluted standards, and more competition.
  3. Brands are widely mistrusted even as marketing becomes culturally loved; big agencies are consolidating and selling security with CRMs and AI, driving job churn, and brands often step into public roles without fixing the underlying problems.

Lizard love, immune system biomimickry and, yes, perfume strategies

The Strategy Toolkit • 17 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Marketing
  1. Diverse signalling strategies (like the lizards' coloured throats) can create rock–paper–scissors dynamics where some types beat others, showing how signal variety shapes outcomes.
  2. AI has made content cheap to produce, flooding the internet with AI-generated pieces and letting content farms profit by pumping out fake, outrage-driven material.
  3. People often rely on costly signals to tell real sources from fakes, but those signals weaken as noise rises, creating a trade-off between abundant content and the effort needed to verify it.

Sometimes, marketing comes down to a personal decision

{grow} by Mark Schaefer • 19 implied HN points • 02 Oct 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Marketing works better when you follow your own unique path instead of just copying others. Making personal choices can help your strategy stand out.
  2. There’s too much focus on marketing 'best practices,' which can make everything look the same. Doing something different can become your competitive edge.
  3. Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing, focus on being authentic and sharing your true story. People connect better with real emotions and experiences.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Yassified Walmart?

Snaxshot • 459 implied HN points • 03 May 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Foxtrot Market details and liquidation discussed in this post.
  2. Bettergoods described as Yassified Walmart, with comparisons to Erewhon and hypebeast grocers.
  3. Coverage of Crunchy teens crusade against BigFood and curation of new products.

From his brother's couch to $300/hour on Upwork

Kenny’s Sub • 179 implied HN points • 24 Jun 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Starting as a freelancer on platforms like Upwork can lead to great success, as experienced by those who raised their rates significantly while building a solid reputation.
  2. Building a strong profile on Upwork is important because positive reviews and job history can make you more visible to clients, even if it costs you some fees.
  3. Handling difficult clients is part of freelancing; offering refunds quickly can help maintain your reputation when problems arise.

I wouldn't market to Gen-Z in 2026 without knowing these stats and insights

The Social Juice • 88 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Marketing
  1. Gen Z builds trust through access and shareability. Brands earn that trust by being transparent, giving real access to spaces or experiences, and making things easy to share with friends.
  2. Gen Z lives on social platforms where clips and "platformers" rule, so creators who package people and moments drive attention. Brands should post ritual content (mornings, bedtime, seasonal) and focus on platforming/clipping strategies while watching the news cycle for brand safety.
  3. Many young people feel a sense of doom and treat spending like gambling, choosing small "little treats" over long-term savings. Marketers need to account for mental‑health and financial anxiety by designing offers, pricing, and loyalty that match short‑term joy and cautious trust.

Platforms Redux

Agents and Books • 1533 implied HN points • 05 Sep 23
💼 Business Marketing
  1. A platform connects you to readers and can lead to sales.
  2. Platforms are not just limited to social media; spread your presence to reach readers better.
  3. Different authors need different platforms based on their genre and audience.

Pssst! Medium Will Soon Have 1 Million Paying Members and More Insights You Need to Know

Kristina God's Online Writing Club • 819 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Medium is gaining popularity with over 100 million readers and is about to hit 1 million paying members. This shows it has a strong audience for writers.
  2. The main age group using Medium is 25 to 34 years old, with more male users than female users. Understanding the audience can help writers connect better.
  3. Technology is the most popular topic on Medium, with lots of articles written about it. Writers should consider focusing on trending subjects to engage with readers.

Mistakes I’ve Made

Spilled Coffee • 80 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
💼 Business Marketing
  1. You learn by doing, not by waiting for perfection; mistakes are part of progress, so act, reflect, and iterate.
  2. In business and investing, focus on what actually moves the needle: find a clear niche, stop pouring money into ineffective ads, delegate to people who are stronger than you, let winners run but cut losers, and don't wait forever for a dip to buy.
  3. Live intentionally—stop worrying about what others think, avoid postponing the things that matter (costs rise and time disappears), build routines that bring joy, and use work to fund the life you want, not the other way around.

Something's Happening at Foxtrot

Snaxshot • 459 implied HN points • 22 Apr 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. There's something happening at Foxtrot, related to Dom's Market and Outfox Hospitality.
  2. The post discusses insider messages and signals about potential changes.
  3. To access more details, readers may need to subscribe to Snaxshot for a 7-day free trial.

How to Create a Strong Online Reputation for Your Business

Nail It and Scale It • 79 implied HN points • 29 Jul 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Having a strong Google My Business page is crucial. It helps people find your business and leaves a good first impression.
  2. Make sure to gather positive reviews on key sites like Glassdoor and Trustpilot. These reviews can really influence potential customers and new employees.
  3. Regularly check your online reputation and respond to any negative comments. Keeping an eye on your brand helps you maintain a good image and shows you care.

The Best of Category Pirates 2023

Category Pirates • 845 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Category Pirates focuses on creating and dominating new markets through radical ideas in mini-books.
  2. In 2023, they covered topics like category strategy, marketing, and personal category design.
  3. They plan to launch more educational content and courses, including a book on leveraging Creator Capital.

Announcing GreatGamesNetwork

Let's talk games & AI. • 6 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
💼 Business Marketing
  1. A new games company is focusing on evergreen casual puzzle games aimed at older women, betting these titles drive long-term engagement without a constant content treadmill.
  2. The business uses a syndication model: build one game library and publish the same games across many destinations (daily challenges, SEO-optimized sites, saga-style apps), so small revenue streams aggregate at low marginal cost.
  3. The flagship product is an ad-free daily puzzle subscription with a few games live now, and growth will rely on paid user acquisition, iterative product improvement, repeatable tooling, and public metrics to guide progress.

Paid subscriber tool: Claude Code & Cowork plugin for MTK1 frameworks

MKT1 Newsletter • 5 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
💼 Business Marketing
  1. MKT1 offers a set of Claude-powered skills that run marketing frameworks so you can build strategy and materials faster.
  2. The included skills help with channel strategy, homepage positioning reviews, identifying marketing advantages, generating GACCS briefs, searching the MKT1 newsletter archive, and finding templates.
  3. The skills come as a plugin for Claude Code and Cowork — use slash commands or natural prompts, the plugin auto-updates, and installation details are available to paid subscribers.

Why BroBible's staff bought the website back from the media company that had acquired it

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 124 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
💼 Business Marketing
  1. BroBible's team bought the site back from a media company because they felt it was being neglected and they wanted to regain their creative freedom. They believed they could adapt better to the media landscape as an independent business.
  2. Since becoming independent, BroBible has grown in staff and diversified its revenue through programmatic advertising, events, and social media content. This has allowed them to reconnect with their audience and produce engaging content.
  3. The focus now is on fast and impactful cultural reporting, with plans for more on-the-ground coverage. BroBible aims to capture immediate moments and trends, keeping their brand relevant and connected to their readers.

The Brand Savior Complex and the New Age of Self Censorship

The Social Juice • 31 implied HN points • 07 Feb 26
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Brands are trying to become media and 'save' communities by farming attention with events and content, but that’s a short-term patch that won’t build durable value and often replaces real public solutions.
  2. People are self-censoring and changing how they speak to avoid sounding like AI or performative, driven by algorithms and social policing, which undermines honest feedback and makes social listening less reliable.
  3. Real brand growth needs distribution, product experience, and meaningful actions rather than celebrity stunts, irony, or nostalgia — the flood of gambling ads shows how careless marketing can normalize harm.

💡7 Pricing Insights

First 1000 • 1316 implied HN points • 23 May 23
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Forever plans are usually priced at 2.8 times higher than the next tier.
  2. Yearly plans are often marked as equivalent to 6 weeks or 10 months.
  3. Common price points are $4.99 weekly, $9.99 monthly, and $59.99 yearly.

From 0 SEO experience to an agency

Kenny’s Sub • 179 implied HN points • 11 Jun 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. To succeed, it's important to go all out and fully engage in your work. Learning from past experiences and caring about people can make business more enjoyable and rewarding.
  2. Staying committed to your daily routines helps maintain momentum. Missing a day is okay, but try not to miss two in a row to keep moving forward.
  3. Effective communication is key, especially in sales. By planning questions and being genuinely curious, you can connect better with people and help them achieve their goals.

Top Gear's Original Stig & Ex Formula One racer shares his tips for showing up like a champion – 'whatever it takes'

The Green Techpreneur • 28 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Be prepared to do whatever it takes — make big sacrifices, work relentlessly, and find ways over, under, or through the barriers in front of you.
  2. Get noticed and build reputation — actively promote your results, seek opportunities, and make small wins visible so others will support you.
  3. Stay resilient and adaptable — learn from setbacks, temper raw talent into consistent performance, and keep tweaking your approach instead of giving up.

Are Super Bowl Commercials Actually Worth The Price?

Huddle Up • 28 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
💼 Business Marketing
  1. A single Super Bowl spot can transform a brand overnight, driving massive sales and wide cultural attention even from just one airing.
  2. Ad rates and total campaign costs have exploded — a 30‑second spot costs millions and, with required network buys, production, talent, and digital amplification, top campaigns can reach $20–30M or more; because ad inventory is limited and demand is huge, networks earn hundreds of millions each year.
  3. Those price tags make Super Bowl ads practical mainly for very large marketers, and measuring success is complex, requiring companies to weigh immediate sales against brand lift, earned media, and long‑term ROI.

LinkedIn isn't over. You're just bad at it.

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 757 implied HN points • 25 Jun 25
💼 Business Marketing
  1. LinkedIn is a powerful tool for growing B2B brands as it has the largest group of business buyers. Engaging with relevant content can help increase your visibility and grow your audience.
  2. Using original graphics in your posts makes them more engaging and can draw more attention. Visual content often performs better because it captures people's interest.
  3. Don't stress about links in your posts; focus on creating valuable content. If your post is good, people will naturally want to click on your links, and you can always add them after your post is up.

[Launch] I wrote a book on Growth Marketing

Channels of Growth • 687 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. The book 'Channels of Growth' focuses on a Growth Marketing Framework for dominating channels and building better products.
  2. All users come from channels when it comes to growth, emphasizing the importance of understanding and optimizing these channels.
  3. The book aims to provide a personal Growth Marketing framework based on lessons from over $100M+ spent on growing products.

Strange Ways AI Disrupts Business Models, What’s Next For Creativity & Marketing, Some Provocative Data

Implications, by Scott Belsky • 1159 implied HN points • 21 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Marketing
  1. AI will cause major disruptions to traditional business models by optimizing processes in real-time.
  2. Time-based billing for services like lawyers and designers may become outdated as AI improves workflow efficiencies.
  3. AI will reduce the influence of brand and marketing on purchase decisions by providing more personalized guidance to consumers.

Poppi slapped with lawsuit

Snaxshot • 259 implied HN points • 31 May 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Curation as salvation: It's important to curate content in a world filled with overwhelming choices.
  2. Discovery is strength: Curating content can help brands connect with desired audiences and opportunities.
  3. Excess is death: Avoiding information overload through curated, ephemeral content can be beneficial.

In PR or Marketing? Join me this week in SF

Startup Strategies • 128 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
💼 Business Marketing
  1. There's a panel at the PR Summit in San Francisco on December 3–4 focused on capital, communications, and AI.
  2. You can get a free ticket using the promo code VKG9HE.
  3. Founders, investors, communications leaders, and PR professionals will attend to discuss the future of influence, making it a useful networking and learning opportunity.

Are we ready for AI sales reps?

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 528 implied HN points • 06 Aug 25
💼 Business Marketing
  1. AI can now take on tasks typically done by human sales reps, like answering common questions and helping with pricing. This means businesses can be available to customers 24/7 without delays.
  2. Good support documentation is crucial for AI success. If the AI has clear and structured information to work from, it can provide better answers and have fewer mistakes.
  3. While AI isn't ready to replace all sales jobs yet, it can definitely help support the sales process by filling in gaps and increasing efficiency for small teams.

Is Substack exaggerating its network effects?

escape the algorithm • 579 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Substack's network effects might be exaggerated: Data shows that most new subscribers come from sources other than Substack.
  2. Subscriber growth on Substack may not solely be due to Substack's technology: Many readers find newsletters due to recommendations from other writers or external sources.
  3. The power of a newsletter audience lies more in the people than the platform: Leaving Substack might not drastically impact growth as much as anticipated.

On Wise Agency, Part 3 | #317

Boundless by Paul Millerd • 112 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Figure out what to work on by running lots of small experiments: ship quickly, design an easy off-ramp to quit, and learn what each experiment tells you.
  2. Don't just copy a niche — find a mode you can sustain for years that fits how you like to work. That lets you evolve your own style and choose projects you actually enjoy.
  3. Be deliberate about how much and when you work by mixing small bets, sprints, and long-game projects, and accept the trade-offs between autonomy, methods, and income by rotating priorities across gigs and seasons.

Do You Need to Hire a Marketing Person?

Agents and Books • 1159 implied HN points • 27 Sep 23
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Authors may need help from outside marketing teams if they lack time or marketing expertise.
  2. Search-optimizing author platforms and book pages can help boost book promotion.
  3. Authors should not solely rely on social media for book marketing; there are other effective strategies.

💡Explain benefits on sign up page

First 1000 • 1159 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
💼 Business Marketing
  1. Boost registrations by clearly articulating product benefits on the sign-up page.
  2. Experiment different approaches like highlighting product benefits or adding free basic account benefits to improve conversion rates.
  3. Engage in A/B tests to find the most effective way to explain benefits on your sign-up page.