2021’s most cutting-edge new marketing strategy

Spoiler alert: it’s always an email newsletter and a podcast.

In September of 2015, I drew this comic for Mark Schaefer’s awesome marketing blog, {grow}:

While the popularity of the “Man Bun” might have waned, newsletters and podcasts have only grown.

Podcasts have some of the highest ROIs of any influencer marketing — you’re probably better off with a nerdy podcaster in love with your product than one of the lesser Kardashians on Instagram.

And Substack? Substack is attempting to onboard every person in tech with something to say — through their easy monetization of email newsletters.

At some point in mid-2020, the joke switched from a man in a suit paddling up to the desert island you’ve been trapped on for 3 years to ask “want to connect on LinkedIn?”

…to getting shady DMs from friends-of-friends that say “check out my Substack” in a socially-distant mirror of whispering “Hail, Hydra” in your ear.

So what is my shocking prediction for 2021’s best marketing strategy?

Why, an email newsletter and a podcast!

And overall, not much has changed. A Quarantine Coiffure isn’t even that different from a Man Bun.

Thanks for tuning into this Tech Doodle. I’m thinking of starting a fictional comic strip soon… my email is in my bio if you want me to notify you when it launches. Send me an email and I’ll save it to tell you when it’s launched.

…how very 2005 of me.