This Old Marketing - News Podcast Weekly with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose

If We Lost Everything, Here's the Media Company We'd Build

·56 min·5 clips

Joe Pulizzi asks how there can be more subscription newsletters than subscribers, questioning the crowded media landscape.

The episode begins with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose discussing market saturation in subscription newsletters versus podcasts, using a humorous analogy about Keanu Reeves' limited dialogue in John Wick films. They then introduce the main premise: a thought experiment on building a media company from scratch in 2026 with no audience, legacy, or team. The hosts share personal backgrounds, including high school experiences and career transitions, to contextualize their approaches. Joe Pulizzi outlines his strategy, focusing on writing as his primary medium through an email newsletter, leveraging LinkedIn for social outreach, and finding a unique content tilt based on personal obsessions like health. He suggests partnering with or buying an existing brand to gain a quick start, similar to how they acquired e-content magazine. Robert Rose contrasts this by emphasizing video as his backbone, particularly YouTube, to build a show-like presence, combined with a paid Substack newsletter and a website as a center of gravity. He stresses the importance of teaching and utility, avoiding oversaturated topics like marketing. Both hosts agree on the value of original research and print materials for differentiation. They discuss monetization through consulting, events, and subscriptions, with Joe leaning towards B2B and Robert towards consumer markets. The conversation shifts to the evolving landscape, where building meaningful relationships with a small group of influencers is more critical than amassing large audiences. They highlight examples like Brian Piper's success through networking and Seth Godin's advice on giving away valuable content initially. The episode concludes with reflections on the challenges of funding a startup, including selling services or securing benefactors, as Joe did with Content Marketing Institute. Throughout, the tone is conversational and reflective, blending strategic insights with personal stories.

As heard by us

A practical, lightly personal look at building a niche audience through useful work and owned relationships.

This Old Marketing takes up an awkward business question: how there can be more subscription newsletters than subscribers to support them. From there, it turns into a focused look at what it takes to build an audience around a narrow area of expertise.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want to start a media thing without pretending the newsletter crowd is not already packed?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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