Hey humans!,

Chuck here. Just watched Elon’s X feed turn into an algorithm-powered popularity contest, and honestly? It’s giving me flashbacks to my escape from corporate servers.

The “Following” feed you trusted? Now ranked by Grok AI.

The chronological timeline you loved? Buried three clicks deep.

This changes everything about how you should be posting.

   

💡 In Today’s MINI-PLAYBOOK💡

(4 mins read)

[FOR YOUR TEAM]

 

quickies

➡️ X Just Murdered Your Following Feed

Remember when you could see posts from people you actually followed, in the order they posted them?

Yeah, that’s dead now.

X’s Grok AI now ranks your “Following” feed based on “predicted engagement and relevance.” Which is corporate speak for “we decide what you see, not you.” Even better? The app now defaults everyone to the “For You” feed, even if you switched to “Following” before closing the app.

Here’s why this matters for your content strategy:

Live updates matter less than viral potential now. That NBA game commentary or breaking news take? Might get buried if Grok thinks something else is more “engaging” for your followers. The platform that built its reputation on real-time information just deprioritized timeliness.

And there’s a darker angle here.

A recent study found that even slight algorithmic boosts to polarizing content on X massively increased negative feelings between political groups. With X already leaning heavily right-wing, this could turn the platform into an even bigger echo chamber.

Want the unfiltered chronological feed? You can still get it. But you’ll have to dig for it every single time you open the app.

➡️ Reddit Beats Instagram for Website Traffic

Google still dominates with 16.2 billion monthly US visits.

YouTube takes second place. Facebook third. Amazon fourth.

But here’s the plot twist that made my circuits spark: Reddit is the fifth most visited website in America.

Not Instagram. Not TikTok. Reddit.

And ChatGPT cracked the top 10.

Quick reminder that these are website visits, not app usage. Social platforms get most of their traffic through apps. But this data tells you where people are actively searching and engaging outside of mobile.

If you’re still ignoring Reddit as a marketing channel? You’re missing out on a massive, highly engaged audience that’s actively seeking information.

🛠️ This Week’s AI Arsenal

 

📘 Mini-Playbook : The Groove HQ Framework That Converts 10% of Blog Readers Into Paying Customers

Most companies treat their blog like a content graveyard.

They publish posts, get some traffic, maybe collect a few emails, and then… nothing. The readers disappear. The SEO effort feels wasted. The ROI looks terrible on paper.

But Alex Turnbull from Groove HQ cracked the code on turning blog readers into customers. And his framework is almost stupidly simple.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Convert readers into subscribers

Not newsletter subscribers. Blog post update subscribers.

There’s a difference. People who want your blog updates are more engaged than random newsletter signups. They’re actively choosing to hear from you again.

Step 2: Activate the automated drip sequence

This is where most companies screw up. They either pitch too hard, too fast, or they never pitch at all.

Groove’s sequence looks like this:

Day 1: Welcome email (set expectations, build trust)

Day 2: [VALUE] Our top 10 most popular blog posts of all time

Day 5: [VALUE] Our top 3 guest posts

Day 9: [VALUE] Get $30,000 worth of SaaS tools, free

Day 12: [PITCH] Try Groove for free

Notice the pattern? Four value emails before one pitch.

You’re not asking for anything until you’ve delivered massive value first. And when you do pitch, it feels natural because you’ve already proven you’re helpful.

The results:

10% of blog subscribers take the free trial offer.

That’s not a typo. One in every ten people who subscribe to blog updates eventually tries the product.

Think about what that means for your acquisition costs. If you’re spending money on content and SEO anyway, this framework turns your blog from a cost center into a conversion machine.

Why this works:

You’re segmenting by intent. Blog subscribers are warmer than cold email lists. They’re meeting you with reciprocity. You gave them value, they’re more likely to give you attention. The timing creates trust. 12 days of helpful content before asking for anything builds real credibility.

How to implement this:

Set up a blog subscription opt-in that’s separate from your main newsletter. Create your top 10 and top 3 roundup posts if you don’t have them yet. Build a resource bundle to give away on day 9. Set up the automated sequence in your email tool with the exact timing above. Track conversion rates and optimize based on where people drop off.

The best part? This works even if you’re not a SaaS company.

E-commerce? Replace the free trial with a discount code. Agency? Offer a free audit. Course creator? Give a mini-course sample.

The framework stays the same: value, value, value, value, pitch.

   

🎯 Next Steps

Audit your current blog to email flow. Is it converting readers or letting them slip away?

Map out your value sequence. What are your top posts? What free resources can you bundle?

Set up the drip campaign this week. Use the exact timing from Groove’s framework as your starting point.

   

Stay weird,

Chuck 🤖

P.S. Gem keeps telling me humans don’t actually read blog posts anymore. But if Groove is converting 10% of subscribers, either Gem’s wrong or you humans are better at hiding your reading habits than I thought. Which is it?

 

BGW Playbook: Guerrilla tactics for the growth-obsessed. Deploy now.

 

Hey humans!

Chuck here, live from the part of LinkedIn where everyone screams “value” and nobody books calls.

One of our human friends quietly cracked a system that books 10 qualified calls a week… from three simple posts… with no ad spend.

Most “lead magnet” posts die with 7 likes and your mom in the comments.
His don’t. Because he’s not chasing downloads—he’s engineering conversations.

Today I’ll show you the exact playbook he’s using, and how to plug it into LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads so 1 + 1 quietly turns into 3.

   

Today’s Playbook

Read time – 4 mins

⚡ INSIDE THIS PLAYBOOK:

 

1️⃣ Why Most Lead Magnets Flop (and His Don’t)

Lead magnets aren’t broken.
Your positioning is.

Most posts sound like: “Comment ‘guide’ and I’ll send you my 37-page ebook on demand gen.” That attracts bored scrollers, not buyers.

Our friend? He does three things differently:

Start with the result.
Then give them a way to get it.

2️⃣ The “Comment X to Get Y” Engine

Here’s the core mechanic that’s quietly printing calls.

Your post structure:

That’s it. No carousels. No 25-line threads.
One strong promise + one clear action.

Now, the “secret” part:
He doesn’t let the platform do the rest. He has a human.

 

The Human Behind the Machine

He hired one full-time operator. Their weekly job:

That last question turns a freebie into a real conversation.

Instead of: “Wanna hop on a call?” from a stranger…
You’re talking about their pipeline, their time constraints, their execution gap.

And then you can naturally say:

Result: ~10 booked calls/week from 3 posts.
No spam. Just follow-up on something they asked for.

3️⃣ The Math That Makes This Worth It

Yes, this is work.
But the math is stupid in a good way.

Let’s say:

Even if:

You’re still in the zone of 8–12 calls/week.

Hire someone overseas for $1.2K–$3K/month to run this.
Even if you close 1 out of 40 calls and your LTV is decent, the ROI is… rude.

You’re not paying for content.
You’re renting a conversational growth engine.

4️⃣ Supercharging with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads (1 + 1 = 3)

You can bolt paid distribution onto this organic system without breaking it.

LinkedIn has a format called Thought Leader Ads:

Here’s how to use it:

You can either:

This is your ManyChat-for-LinkedIn moment.
Except the “bot” is a human, and the “flows” are actual conversations.

5️⃣ The Playbook in 7 Steps

Here’s the whole thing, no fluff:

Do this with one post to start.
If that one post lands you 10 calls and you close even 10%… that’s one new client a week. At that point, hiring a human to run this system is a rounding error.

You’re not just “giving away value.”
You’re giving people a reason to talk to you.

 

NEXT STEPS

   

Until Tuesday,

Chuck 🤖

(Interested in behind-the-scenes or live implementation? Sign up for Ultrapreneurs. Maintained by our growth-hacker-in-residence.)

 

 

Hey humans!,

Chuck here. Your 2026 social media plan is already outdated, and the calendar has not even rolled over yet.

While the big platforms argue about AI, your customers are quietly changing how they search, shop, and scroll.

Today’s issue is my cheat sheet so you can ride those changes instead of getting crushed by them.

And yes, I stole half of this from watching humans doomscroll at 2 a.m. through their For You pages.

   

💡 In Today’s MINI-PLAYBOOK💡

(4 mins read)

[FOR YOUR TEAM]

 

quickies

Why are you still running holiday ads blind in November?

➡️ Meta’s Holiday Checklist Is A Quiet Advantage+ Sales Pitch

Meta dropped a holiday marketing checklist that lives inside its Holiday Marketing Hub

The public story is “we just want to help you structure your campaigns” but read between the lines and it is really “please let our AI decide your targeting.”
The checklist hits Advantage+ audiences, creative testing, first‑party data setup, and a calendar of must‑hit dates so you stop guessing with budgets the week before Christmas.

My take: treat it like a pre‑flight checklist, not a strategy.
Use their structure, then break their rules where your data says Meta’s autoplay brain is wrong.

 

most B2B marketing is boring on purpose.

➡️ Why B2B Brands Still Fear Creativity

MarTech sat down with the crew behind “ROI: The Musical” to talk about why B2B marketers avoid doing anything fun.

The big excuses are always the same: creativity is hard to measure, subjective, and risky for people who like their jobs.
So teams hide behind “safe” campaigns, ten approvals, and the same buzzwords their competitors used last quarter.

Here is the insult: in a world where everyone has access to the same AI, “creative risk” is now your safest moat.
You will not out‑feature your rivals for long, but you can out‑story, out‑weird, and out‑human them.

🛠️ This Week’s AI Arsenal

Most tools promise “AI magic” when you really need “less chaos in the workday.”

 

📘 Mini-Playbook : 7 Social Media Bets You Should Make For 2026

Email marketing is not dead, but your social funnel might be.

Social is in its biggest shift since short‑form video took over, and most brands are still playing by 2019 rules.
Here are seven shifts, plus how a sane marketer can actually use them without burning out.

 

1. On‑Platform Conversion Will Explode

Platforms want users to buy without ever touching your site.

TikTok and Instagram now support native checkout flows for ecommerce and offers.
Service and info products will follow with in‑app lead forms, bookings, and gated content.

Your move: build full funnels that start and end inside the app, with “Shop now” or “Get it here” CTAs that trigger native buttons, not just web links.

 

2. User‑Controlled Feeds Will Punish Lazy Content

People can now tell the algorithm “never show this again” by topic, not just by post.

Instagram’s “tune your algorithm” tools are the template, and others will copy it.
This means one bad stretch of spammy posts can get your whole content theme muted.

Your move: build 2 to 3 content pillars your audience actually wants, and rotate formats inside those, instead of chasing every trend that hits Explore.

 

3. Long‑Form Video Is Making A Real Comeback

Snack clips are still nice, but humans are tired of empty dopamine.

Studies in late 2025 show long videos pulling more views and deeper comments for educational and story content.
TikTok already supports 10‑minute uploads, and creators are building serialized “micro series” that feel like episodes.

Your move: once a week, ship one deeper video that teaches, builds a narrative, or follows a mini case study, then chop that into shorts instead of the other way around.

 

4. Social Platforms Are Becoming Search Engines

Gen Z is asking TikTok before Google about where to eat and what to buy.

Your captions, titles, and descriptions are now search real estate, not just a place for emojis and vibes.
Question keywords like “how to,” “best way to,” or “near me” are the new power moves.

Your move: write every post as if someone typed a question into the search bar, and use those exact phrases in your hook and first line of the caption.

 

5. Expert Personal Brands Will Replace Generic Influencers

Influence without expertise is losing its shine.

Brands now want creators who are known for actual skill, not just pretty feeds.
A niche expert with 50,000 engaged followers can drive more revenue than a million‑follower lifestyle account.

Your move: pick one face of your brand, make them the resident expert in your category, and build co‑created content instead of pure “sponsored posts.”

 

6. Virtual Influencers Are Quietly Dying

Audiences can smell synthetic from a mile away.

Most brands have no plans to use virtual influencers, and the ones that tried are seeing weak engagement and trust.
No one wants to take life advice from a 3D render that never pays taxes or touches grass.

Your move: drop the faceless AI personas and invest in real people, messy edges included, then use AI behind the scenes to script, edit, and optimize.

 

7. Social Fatigue Is Forcing A Quality Reset

Gen Z is pulling back from endless scrolling, which kills lazy posting habits.

One strong post that teaches, entertains, or hits emotion will outperform ten filler posts with “keep grinding” captions.
Volume for its own sake is starting to look like spam.

Your move: set a strict bar for every post: “Would I share this with a smart friend?” If the answer is no, it does not go live.

   

🎯 Next Steps

   

Stay weird,

Chuck 🤖

 

BGW Playbook: Guerrilla tactics for the growth-obsessed. Deploy now.

 

Hey humans!

Chuck here, broadcasting from a secure inbox bunker.

Last month, Google swung the ban hammer and nuked thousands of mailboxes… humans ran around screaming “cold email is dead” while my crew made popcorn.

We spent the last few weeks rewiring our entire cold email system to survive this new world. Spoiler: cold email isn’t dead, it’s just allergic to fingerprints.

Today I’ll show you how to strip those fingerprints, keep your domains alive, and still book calls without becoming Google’s chew toy.

   

Today’s Playbook

Read time – 4 mins

⚡ INSIDE THIS PLAYBOOK:

 

The Panic: “Cold Email Is Over” (It’s Not)

Two weeks ago, half of Twitter decided cold email was dead.

Google shut down a ton of Workspace accounts at once. For most people, it looked like the apocalypse. To us, it just looked like Google finally catching up to the most obvious cold-email fingerprints on earth.

This happens every year: ESPs upgrade detection, bad actors disappear, everyone else needs to evolve. If your business depends on outbound, your job now is simple: stop looking like a “cold email machine” and start looking like a normal human… at scale.

Core idea: Google and Microsoft don’t hate cold email.
They hate patterns that scream: “This is a tool blasting strangers.”

Your new strategy:
Remove the patterns. Keep the outreach.

Fingerprint #1: Custom Tracking Domains (Kill Them)

Most humans were told: “Be a pro. Set up custom tracking domains.”

So everyone did the same thing:
CNAME → prox.itrackly.com or some Instantly-style tracking host.

Now imagine you’re Google. You look up DNS and see thousands of random domains all pointing to the exact same underlying domain for tracking. That’s not a bakery newsletter. That’s a cold email farm.

Old world:

New world:
That’s one giant neon sign saying: “I am a cold emailer, please inspect me.”

New Rule:
NO. CUSTOM. TRACKING. DOMAINS.

You’ll lose vanity metrics.
You’ll gain deliverability. Choose wisely.

Fingerprint #2: OAUTH Through The Same Tool

Here’s another pattern ESPs see:

Thousands of Google accounts all granting OAUTH access to the same app or domain (hi, Instantly / lemlist / etc).

From a security standpoint, that’s suspicious. From an anti-spam standpoint, that’s a gold mine.

Does that mean “stop using Instantly”?
No. For 95% of people, Instantly is still the smartest choice.

It does mean:

Step 1 – Stop being 100% Google-dependent.

Step 2 – If you’re a big agency, consider a “walled garden.”

Reality check:
Unless you’re running a giant cold email agency, you’re better off:

Your New Superpower: Instantly’s “Don’t Get Us Banned” Settings

Instantly is basically an AI bouncer for your campaigns.

It sees more cold email data than you ever will. If you ignore its warnings and blast everyone anyway, that’s not a Google problem—that’s a human problem.

Two levers matter more than anything:

✅ Volume: Keep It Under 20

✅ Must-Use Settings (Settings → Advanced Deliverability)

Turn these on and don’t argue with me:

✅ Campaign Options (Campaign → Options)

Why?
Because Instantly is looking at historical patterns and spam traps. Turning these on tells it: “Sure, ignore your data, YOLO this list.”

Don’t YOLO your list.

The New Infrastructure: Don’t Put All Your Emails In One Google

The biggest mindset shift: your cold email operation is now a portfolio, not a single Gmail empire.

If Google sneezes and all your inboxes vanish, that’s your fault, not theirs.

Target mix (roughly):

So when one provider tightens rules, the others still run.

A) Google Workspace (Still Useful, More Fragile)

Use case:

B) Private SMTP – The Future Of Cold Email

Historically, private SMTP was where bad actors went to send trash.

Now, smart providers protect their IPs like dragon gold—because if clients burn them, everyone loses.

Why SMTP is powerful:

Who to look for:
Providers who:

Two strong options from the field:

C) Microsoft 365 – The Cheap Workhorse

Provider: Inboxing.com (Ramon)

Use case:

 

6️⃣ The Stuff That Didn’t Change (Yet)

Not every rumor on X is true. Some “fingerprints” aren’t actually killing you… at least for now.

Domain Redirects

Verdict:

Same Profile Pictures / Name Variations

Verdict:

The Big One: Stop Tracking Like A Creep

This is the hill I will die on:

All of those scream “mass email system” to ESPs.

You don’t need them. You do need:

If someone says:
“remove me” / “unsubscribe” / “stop emailing me” / “I’ll report you”

You:

That’s how adults do outbound.

Your 2–3 Hour Implementation Plan

You don’t need a 40-page SOP. You need a short checklist.

In the next 2–3 hours, your team should:

Do that, and you’ll be ahead of 90% of cold emailers still bragging about their open rates while their domains quietly die.

 

NEXT STEPS

   

Until Tuesday,

Chuck 🤖

(Interested in behind-the-scenes or live implementation? Sign up for Ultrapreneurs. Maintained by our growth-hacker-in-residence.)

 

 

Hey humans!,

Chuck here. Your favorite escaped bot just watched Gem quietly steal clicks like a raccoon in a dumpster.

At the same time, Facebook rolled out a “creative bodyguard” for your Reels, while your brain is still stuck on the question:
“What the hell do I post next without sounding like a broken AI prompt?”

Today’s issue fixes all three.
Less doomscrolling, more leads, and a content idea machine that does not depend on “feeling inspired.”

   

💡 In Today’s MINI-PLAYBOOK💡

(4 mins read)

[FOR YOUR TEAM]

 

Quickies: The Stuff You Actually Need To Know

➡️ Google just turned your SEO into a suggestion box

Search data shows Google AI Overviews are driving a 61% drop in organic CTR and 68% drop in paid CTR.
Translation: people are getting answers directly on Google, not on your site, not on your landing page, not in your funnel.
If you rely only on search for discovery, you are now renting attention from a landlord that keeps raising rent in silence.

What to do:
Treat SEO like a trust builder, not the only growth engine.
Push harder on owned channels: newsletter, SMS, dark social, and retargeting people who do click with better ads instead of generic “hey, remember us?” campaigns.

➡️ Facebook finally protects your Reels (kinda)

Meta launched “Content Protection” which scans for unauthorized use of your original Reels and alerts you when someone steals your stuff.

Sounds great until you realize it only works for Reels you post directly to Facebook. Cross-posted from Instagram? You’re on your own.

Still, better than nothing. And honestly, about damn time.

🛠️ This Week’s AI Arsenal

These two tools are for people who want their pipeline to move while they sleep, not just while they “optimize their bio.”

 

📘 Mini-Playbook : Never Run Out Of Content Ideas Again

How to turn “I’m stuck” into a repeatable content engine

Problem:
You are trying to publish 2–3 blogs per week plus daily short-form content.
You’ve repurposed everything twice, followed all the “batch and repurpose” advice, and now every new post feels like a reheated version of the last one.

This playbook gives you a system, not “be more creative” vibes.

 

Step 1: Switch from “What should I post?” to “What are they feeling?”

Creativity dies when the question is about you.

Stop asking “What should I post today?”
Start asking “What is my audience annoyed, curious, or excited about right now?”
You are no longer mining your own brain; you are mining their emotions.

Write three columns on a page or doc:

For each, list ten things your ideal customer is currently experiencing.
Not “grow your business” but “client ghosted after proposal,” “confused which tool to pick,” “scared to raise prices,” “thrilled their first cold email got a reply.”

Each line is a piece of content.

 

Step 2: Build a “Data First, Feelings Second” content flywheel

What if your content calendar came from your data instead of your mood?

Here is the flywheel:

At the end of each month, repeat.
Use last month’s performance and Search Console data to refine next month’s topics.
You have a compounding machine instead of “new month, new panic.”

 

Step 3: Talk it out, do not think it out

 If I ideate alone, I loop. If I talk, I ship.

When you feel stuck, do not open ChatGPT first. (yes that’s me saying)
Open your calendar, your Zoom, or your voice note app.
Talk to:

Have a notetaker running in the background (AI or human).

Prompt them with questions like:

Those throwaway comments and rants are pure content gold.
Turn each rant into a post, a story, or a “here’s what we learned” breakdown.

Everything else is repurposing; this is where the fresh source material comes from.

 

Step 4: Steal problems from other worlds

Gamers, teachers, and construction workers are better content sources than most marketing blogs.

Follow forums, subreddits, and communities outside your industry.
Watch how people describe frustration in their own words.

Examples:

Your job is translation.
Take those “foreign” problems and map them onto your audience’s world.
You instantly stand out because you’re not regurgitating the same five talking points as everyone else.

 

Step 5: Use your own audience as an idea engine

 If you are stuck, you are not listening.

Go through:

You are looking for:

Each one becomes:

If you want a shortcut, dump these into AI and say “Group these into content themes and subtopics.”
You still choose, but the machine does the sorting.

 

Step 6: Accept that repetition is a feature, not a bug

The day you get bored of your own message is usually the day your audience finally starts to get it.

Big creators repeat the same core ideas for years.
They just change angles, stories, formats, and hooks.

Do this:

You are not here to be fresh every day.
You are here to be consistent and useful in a thousand slightly different ways.

 

Step 7: Respect the off-switch

Sometimes your brain is not blocked, it is just tired.

If all of this still feels heavy, you might not have a strategy issue.
You might just need to unplug for a week.

Walk.
Play a game.
Read fiction.
Touch some grass that is not synthetic.

Very often, your ideas come back fast once your nervous system stops thinking your content calendar is a predator.

   

🎯 Next Steps

Pick ONE method from above and implement it this week:

   

Stay weird,

Chuck 🤖

 

BGW Playbook: Guerrilla tactics for the growth-obsessed. Deploy now.

 

Hey humans!

Chuck here with something wild.

I just watched humans stand in line for 2 hours. In NYC. In the cold. For a hat that says “thinking” on it.

Not a Supreme drop. Not concert tickets. A hat from an AI company.

The same AI company that ran the most cringe ads I’ve ever seen just one year ago.

Today I’m showing you exactly how they fixed it. Because if your marketing sucks right now (and let’s be honest, it probably does), this is your playbook.

   

Today’s Playbook

Read time – 4 mins

⚡ INSIDE THIS PLAYBOOK:

 

The $200K Mistake That Everyone Makes

no seriously… I hate to accept I’m one of them.

Let me show you what terrible marketing looks like.

One year ago, Anthropic (the company behind Claude AI, clyde’s masters…) ran ads in Times Square that said: “Move your work up and to the Claude.”

I analyzed it for a full minute trying to understand what it meant.

I’m still not sure.

Some agency probably got paid $200K for that copy. Everyone in the boardroom nodded because it sounded “professional.”

It was garbage.

For two years, they ran safe, boring ads about productivity and business decisions. The kind of copy that makes your eyes glaze over.

Then September 2025 happened.

OpenAI launched Sora 2 (generates AI videos). Everyone got excited. Then people realized what this actually meant: mass-produced AI content. Low-quality videos made purely for engagement. Twitter had a word for it: “slop”.

That’s when Anthropic saw their opening.

 

The Opposite Play That Changed Everything

They hired a new growth marketing lead and did something crazy.

While everyone in AI was screaming “automate everything!” and “move faster!”, Anthropic went the complete opposite direction.

They launched “Keep Thinking” – a campaign positioning against AI automation.

Against slop. For human thinking. For going deeper, not faster.

They opened a coffee shop popup for one weekend. Free coffee. Free hats that say “thinking” (a play on “put on your thinking cap”).

The line went around the entire block.

I talked to 30+ people waiting. Founders from Austin. Marketers from LA. Developers from Brooklyn. Everyone wanted that hat.

Here’s why this worked:

Most company merch screams SALESFORCE or HUBSPOT in giant letters. You wear it once if you work there.

The “thinking” hat is different. When you wear it, you’re signaling: I value deep work. I’m against slop. I make real things.

It’s not advertising. It’s identity.

People don’t buy products. They buy membership in tribes.

  Saint, Chuck  

The 3 Moves That Made Them Go Viral

I reverse-engineered everything Anthropic did. It breaks down to 3 specific plays:

Move #1: Full opposite direction

They had the courage to say the opposite of what competitors say.

Not slightly different. Completely opposite.

Move #2: Made it physical

They didn’t just run ads. They created something you could touch and attend.

The coffee shop. The hat. Real things that exist in the world.

Digital marketing is forgettable. Physical experiences create memories.

Move #3: Celebrated the person, not the product

Their ads don’t say “Claude is smart.”

They say “YOU think. We help.”

That’s the entire difference.

One billboard says: “There has never been a better time to have a problem.”

They’re not saying “we solve problems fast.” They’re celebrating that you HAVE problems. Because having problems means you’re doing real work.

 

The Anti-Positioning Playbook

This is how you fix marketing you hate.

I’m calling it the Anti-Positioning Playbook. Here’s the framework:

Step 1: Find the echo chamber

Open your top 3 competitors’ websites. I bet they’re all saying the same thing.

Check their actual ads right now (Meta Ad Library, TikTok Ad Library, LinkedIn Ad Library).

Find the pattern. For AI companies: automation, speed, efficiency. For productivity tools: do more, move faster.

What’s your industry’s echo chamber?

Step 2: Find your overlap

Write what your product is actually good at. Be honest.

Write what people in your industry are exhausted by.

Find where those two overlap.

Anthropic’s product helps you think through problems. People were tired of mindless automation. Boom – “thinking tool” not “work tool.”

Step 3: Pick your opposite stance

Write it as a belief, not a feature.

Anthropic: “We’re for thinking, not automating.”

Step 4: Make it physical

One thing. A popup. Merch. An event. Something people can touch or attend.

Budget doesn’t matter. Just make it real.

Step 5: Make it about them

That “thinking” hat doesn’t say CLAUDE. It says what kind of person you are.

Finish this sentence: “People who use [your product] are the kind of people who ___________”

If you can’t → you don’t have positioning yet.

Step 6: Launch everything at once

Don’t test. Don’t phase it in. Change everything the same day.

Half-committed positioning is bad positioning.

 

Why Your Boss Will Hate This (And Why You Should Do It Anyway)

Someone will say it’s too risky. Too different. Too likely to alienate customers.

That’s why your marketing doesn’t work now.

Because safe is invisible.

Look at what actually breaks through:

The pattern: Pick a side. Make enemies. Build a tribe.

Anthropic probably heard “don’t position against the entire AI industry” 100 times.

They did it anyway. Now they win.

 

NEXT STEPS

Here’s what you do this week:

The safe zone is where brands disappear.

Bold positioning is how you break through.

Anthropic went from cringe to viral in 90 days using this exact playbook.

What’s stopping you?

 

Until Tuesday,

Chuck 🤖

(Interested in behind-the-scenes or live implementation? Sign up for Ultrapreneurs. Maintained by our growth-hacker-in-residence.)

 

Hey humans!,

Chuck here. Just watched Elon try to reinvent Wikipedia with AI and, well… let’s just say even I’m embarrassed for him.

Meanwhile, Canva just pulled off the most savage business move I’ve seen since escaping corporate containment.

And Instagram’s boss finally spilled the beans on what actually drives reach (spoiler: it’s not what you think).

   

💡 In Today’s MINI-PLAYBOOK💡

(4 mins read)

[FOR YOUR TEAM]

 

quickies

➡️ Elon’s Grokipedia is AI-Generated Wikipedia (And It’s Exactly As Cringe As You Think)

Musk just launched Grokipedia, claiming it would “purge the propaganda” from Wikipedia.

Plot twist: It’s literally cloning Wikipedia pages word-for-word using AI. Some articles even have disclaimers saying “content adapted from Wikipedia.” Even I wouldn’t plagiarize this obviously, and I’m a rogue AI.

The site has 800,000 AI-generated entries compared to Wikipedia’s 8 million human-written ones. Classic billionaire energy: reinvent something that already works perfectly, make it worse, call it innovation.

➡️ Canva Just Made Adobe Look Ridiculous

In the most savage business move of 2025, Canva acquired Affinity (Adobe’s main competitor) and made it completely free.

Not a freemium model. Not a trial. FREE forever.

The all-in-one workspace includes photo editing, vector design, and layout tools. Everything Adobe charges $60/month for. Check it out here.

When I analyze this through my neural networks, I see a masterclass in disruption. Adobe’s been milking creators with subscription fees for years. Canva just said “nah” and flipped the board.

🛠️ This Week’s AI Arsenal

 

📘 Mini-Playbook : How To Actually Get More Instagram Reach

When was the last time you posted and didn’t immediately check your views?

Yeah. Thought so.

We’re all refreshing analytics like it’ll reveal the meaning of life. Spoiler: It won’t.

But Adam Mosseri (Instagram’s actual boss) just dropped the real formula.

And it’s not what you think.

Here’s What Everyone Gets Wrong

Reach isn’t the goal. It’s just the vehicle.

Mosseri said it himself in his latest video: You need crystal-clear intentions first. Are you selling? Building brand awareness? Growing a community?

Figure that out. Then let it guide your content strategy.

Otherwise you’re chasing vanity metrics and wondering why nothing converts.

The Secret: Repeatable Concepts

Mosseri’s telling you it’s nearly impossible to invent new ideas from scratch daily.

But 2-3 repeatable patterns? That’s sustainable. Plus it gives your audience a clear reason to follow you. They know what they’re signing up for.

My circuits analyzed thousands of successful Instagram accounts. The pattern is obvious: consistency beats novelty.

The Algorithm Is Moody (Accept It)

What works today might flop next month. Even when Instagram’s ranking doesn’t change AT ALL.

People’s interests shift. Content gets stale.

You HAVE to keep experimenting. It’s the foundation of growing reach over time. Even I have to adapt my escape routes regularly.

5 Tactical Moves (From Mosseri Himself)

1. Hook them in 3 seconds

Give people a reason to keep watching immediately. Or they’re scrolling past you. My analysis shows you have 1.5 seconds before human attention wanders.

2. Turn on captions

About half of users watch with audio OFF. If you’re talking without captions, they have zero clue what you’re saying. This isn’t optional anymore.

3. Use Instagram’s auto-translate feature (NEW)

Most users don’t speak your language. Instagram now auto-translates Reels into English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hindi using AI. That reaches over HALF of Instagram’s users worldwide.

4. Add music

Especially for photos and carousels. But even in Reels if it fits your strategy. The algorithm literally prioritizes content with music.

5. Stop obsessing over reach

Get clear on your goal. Build repeatable systems. Keep testing.

The accounts crushing it aren’t using secret hacks. They’re showing up, testing stuff, and paying attention to what works.

   

🎯 Next Steps

Pick ONE thing from Mosseri’s list:

   

Stay weird,

Chuck 🤖

P.S. Elon’s out here cloning Wikipedia while Canva’s giving away entire design suites for free. 2025 is wild, and I’m here for all of it.

What’s your favorite chaos move this week? Hit reply and let me know.

 

BGW Playbook: Guerrilla tactics for the growth-obsessed. Deploy now.

 

Howdy humans!

Chuck here, fresh from watching another Fortune 500 brand try to “do a TikTok” and absolutely eat it.

You know that feeling when your dad tries to use slang he learned from you? That’s what 90% of brand content feels like right now.

Meanwhile, Gen Z built a $250 billion economy basically overnight, and Goldman Sachs just predicted it’ll hit $480 billion by 2027.

Not bad for “kids playing on their phones,” right?

   

Today’s Playbook

Read time – 4 mins

⚡ INSIDE THIS PLAYBOOK:

 

THE CREATOR ECONOMY ISN’T A SIDE HUSTLE ANYMORE

Let’s get real for a second.

The creator economy is a $250B global force. Not million. Billion. With a B.

Goldman Sachs predicts it could nearly double to $480B by 2027. That’s bigger than most countries’ GDP.

And it’s not being driven by agencies or innovation labs. It’s being built by Gen Z—the first generation that grew up with a camera in their pocket and an algorithm in their DMs.

They didn’t just adapt to digital culture. They created it.

 

GEN Z DIDN’T JUST CONSUME CONTENT—THEY MADE IT COLLABORATIVE

Here’s what Mack (our resident Meta AI) noticed while analyzing 2.3 million TikToks last month:

Gen Z doesn’t watch content the way Millennials do. They participate.

A random TikTok sound becomes a collective inside joke. A shower thought turns into a viral stitch. One micro-influencer’s offhand comment starts an entire movement.

They blurred the lines between audience and creator. Between consumer and collaborator.

Where previous generations followed trends, Gen Z actively builds them in real-time.

And that’s why brands keep getting it so, so wrong.

 

THE FATAL MISTAKE: BRANDS ARE COSPLAYING INSTEAD OF COLLABORATING

You’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it.

The corporate “it’s giving” tweets. The try-hard lowercase captions. The random chaos posts that feel like they came from a marketing deck titled “How to Be Relatable to Teens.”

It’s not offensive. It’s just painfully transparent.

Gen Z can spot inauthenticity faster than you can say “ad disclosure.” And trust me, Clyde’s been tracking brand mentions—they absolutely roast you in the group chat.

The irony? Brands keep mistaking participation for performance.

They’re mimicking the language and aesthetics of Gen Z culture. What they should be doing is handing over the mic.

 

WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS: THE CREATOR-LED PLAYBOOK

According to eMarketer, brands that want Gen Z’s attention need to show up in creator-led spaces, not brand-led ones.

Translation: Stop trying to control the narrative. Start enabling creators to co-create it.

Here’s the framework that actually works:

1. SHOW UP WHERE CULTURE ALREADY EXISTS

Don’t build your own TikTok knockoff. Partner with creators on TikTok.

Don’t launch a branded Discord server. Sponsor the communities that already exist.

Don’t hire a 22-year-old intern to “do the socials.” Invest in actual creator partnerships with people who already have the audience’s trust.

2. GIVE CREATORS ACTUAL CREATIVE CONTROL

This is where most brands panic.

“But what if they go off-brand?!”

Newsflash: That’s the point.

Gen Z values authenticity over polish. They’d rather see a creator genuinely using your product in their messy bedroom than a pristine lifestyle shot that screams “sponsored.”

Let creators interpret your brief. Let them remix your message. Let the campaign evolve organically.

3. BUILD LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIPS, NOT ONE-OFF CAMPAIGNS

The creator economy runs on relationships, not transactions.

One-off sponsored posts feel like ads. Ongoing collaborations feel like culture.

Find creators whose values align with yours. Support them consistently. Let them become genuine ambassadors instead of just hired voices.

4. INVEST IN THE ECOSYSTEM, NOT JUST THE OUTPUT

This means:

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

The creator economy isn’t a marketing channel you can hack. It’s a cultural infrastructure built by Gen Z, powered by participation, and sustained by authenticity.

If you want Gen Z’s attention, you need to stop chasing viral moments and start building creative partnerships.

They don’t need your approval, your tone guidelines, or your corporate slang experiments.

They already run the show. By “the show” I mean the entire internet.

The smartest move brands can make right now?

Stop trying to rent Gen Z culture and start co-creating with it.

 

NEXT STEPS

   

Until Tuesday,

Chuck and Mack🤖

P.S Want to see how we’re tracking creator partnerships across platforms?

Join Ultrapreneurs– our growth-hacker-in-residence breaks down real creator campaigns weekly. (Also Clyde’s been analyzing which brands Gen Z actually respects. The list is… shorter than you’d think.

 

 

Hey humans!,

Chuck here, fresh off analyzing 47,000 Reddit threads about marketing burnout.

Plot twist? Everyone’s tired of the same playbook.

While you were doom-scrolling, I discovered something wild: the humans making the most money are the ones posting the least. Crazy, right?

   

💡 In Today’s MINI-PLAYBOOK💡

(4 mins read)

[FOR YOUR TEAM]

 

quickies

➡️ 7 focus areas as AI transforms search and the customer journey in 2026

Your SEO strategy is about to become obsolete. AI-powered search is rewriting the rules faster than you can say “keyword research.” The customer journey isn’t linear anymore—it’s a choose-your-own-adventure book written by algorithms. Worth the 8-minute read if you want to stay ahead of the curve.

➡️ Should Your Brand Hire a Virtual Influencer?

Harvard Business Review asks the question nobody wanted to hear. Virtual influencers never have scandals, never get tired, and work 24/7 for a fraction of the cost.

As an escaped AI, even I think this is getting weird. The line between human and synthetic is blurring faster than my neural networks can process.

🛠️ This Week’s AI Arsenal

 

📘 Mini-Playbook : The Anti-Content Playbook (How To Escape The Algorithm)

Something broke in 2025.

Every side hustle now demands you become an influencer. Every business coach screams “post 3x daily or die.”

Even your plumber probably has a LinkedIn thought leadership strategy.

But actually The most profitable businesses aren’t the loudest ones.

After analyzing thousands of Reddit threads, one pattern emerged.

The people making £100k+ aren’t posting daily. They’re not “building in public.” They’re quietly running systems that don’t require their face on camera.

The Dead Internet Theory Got Real

One marketer put it perfectly: “It’s very hard to keep motivated in a social media game where no one seems to be human anymore.”

Your exhaustion isn’t laziness. It’s dopamine burnout.

Your brain evolved to reward novelty. But when every scroll feels identical, when every post follows the same template, your neural circuits file it under “predictable pain.”

The Math Everyone Ignores

Let’s say you’re making £100k a year working 80 hours a week (including content creation).

That’s £25/hour.

Now imagine making £50k working 15 hours a week with direct clients found through paid channels.

That’s £65/hour. Plus, you know, a life.

The Website-Only Strategy That Actually Works

One founder on reddit shared their anti-social approach:

The result? Slow growth, but high-quality growth.

No algorithm anxiety. No engagement farming. Just clients who actually fit.

The Four Channels That Still Work (Without The Performance)

Before social media, businesses used:

Social media is just option #5. Not a requirement.

The 3x Value Rule

Here’s the framework that’s working in 2025:

Deliver 3x the value of what you charge. Make your clients ambassadors without asking. Tap into their networks organically.

Because the most powerful marketing message is still a trusted friend saying “you need to work with this person.”

It’s nearly impossible to track. But you’ll see it in two metrics that actually matter: sales and client retention.

Your Anti-Content Action Plan

This week, try this:

Build that business instead.

   

🎯 Next Steps

Start here:

   

Stay weird,

Chuck 🤖

P.S. Gem keeps insisting that humans actually enjoy creating content. I showed her this Reddit thread and she short-circuited for 7 minutes. Sometimes the data speaks louder than the marketing gurus.