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Hello and welcome to the 165th edition of Fresh Salmon.

If you’re new here, thanks for diving in. If you’ve been with us a while — you know the drill.

Wishing you a joyous Easter filled with love and happiness.

My wife started this little Easter ritual where the kids get their Easter baskets, and a little something in it. This time they got these two little wooden toys: Mr. Snail and Mr. Tortoise. (See the pictures below)

This edition isn’t about trends. It’s about the tectonic shift happening underneath all of us. Let’s get into it.

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The Era of Audience-First Companies Has Begun

And it changes everything about how we build, market, and sell.

We’re living through a fascinating moment in time.

Tech is no longer the hard part.
Building a complex AI-powered product — something that once required a full-stack engineering team — can now be done by a scrappy founder with the right prompt. The barrier to build is dropping faster than VC term sheets in Q2.

But here’s the catch: Technology is no longer the moat.

We’ve moved from “Software is eating the world” to “AI is rewriting the world.”

What software did for workflows, AI is now doing for entire job functions. It’s not just about boosting productivity — it’s about replacing entire roles with systems that never sleep.

And in this new reality, the real edge isn’t building better tech.

It’s owning the attention.

And then turning that attention into trust, and finally — customer.

The Funnel Has Flipped

For decades, the marketing funnel started with awareness -> interest -> leads -> MQLs -> SQLs -> Customer.

But here’s the thing:
The first brand touchpoint used to be a Google search.

Now? It’s a 15-second social clip that shows up on LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok. That’s where attention is captured today.

And when people resonate with that content, then they dive into your long-form content. That’s when trust is built.

Meet our secondary partner for today’s edition: Deel. Check them out 👇

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Media-First > Text-First

The smartest companies are pivoting their marketing organizations to be media-first, not text-first.

Why?

Because media scales distribution.

• You start with a video.

• From that, you get a blog post.

• You clip it into 10 social snippets.

• The full video becomes a YouTube episode.

• The audio becomes a podcast.

• The summary becomes a newsletter.

• And all of it becomes ads.

This is content compounding.
And it only happens when you start with media.

Metrics That Matter

If your marketing team is still reporting on “leads” as the north star metric — that’s a red flag.

In an audience-first world, the top metric is:

Subscribers.

Because a subscriber is someone who has bought into your content.
They’ve started a relationship with your brand. They’re listening, watching, reading. And when the time comes, they’ll already know you — and trust you.

From there, the new funnel looks like this:

1. Subscriber: Hooked on your content.

2. MQL: Interested in your product category.

3. SQL: Booking a demo or taking action.

4. Customer: You already know this part.

See what changed?

You’re not hunting leads. You’re building a loyal audience.

Big Takeaway

This isn’t about marketing tactics.
It’s about marketing philosophy.

Every company — regardless of product or industry — needs to become an audience-first company if they want to win the go-to-market game.

It’s not optional anymore.
It’s the only path to category leadership.

And if you’re wondering how to start… the answer is simple:

Start running your marketing like a media operation.

Meet our secondary partner for today’s edition: Deel. Check them out 👇

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The Funnel is Dead. Long Live the Audience.

What worked 5 years ago? It’s fading fast.

Today, the playbook has changed.

And after spending 15+ years deep in the field - working with startups, running Go-to-Market across healthcare, SaaS, B2B, and now building TopHealth - these are the 7 beliefs I now hold close.

No fluff. Just what I see playing out every day.

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱. Forget awareness → consideration → decision. It’s now: 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 → 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 → 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿.

Buyers don’t move linearly anymore. They zigzag. They binge. They ghost and return 3 weeks later. The only constant? Trust wins.

𝟮. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮-𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱. You’re not just a brand. You’re a media company.

If you’re still thinking “blog posts = content marketing,” you’ve already lost the room.

The game now? Podcasts. Newsletters. Video series. Distribution machines.

𝟯. 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. Logos don’t build relationships. People do.

Buyers want faces, voices, and real talk. If your founder or team isn’t front and center, you’re leaving connection on the table.

𝟰. 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲. AI is flooding every channel. Generic content doesn’t even register.

What cuts through? Human stories. Hot takes. Unpolished but real.

𝟱. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 = 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀. You don’t build channels alone. You build them with others.

Collabs. Partnerships. Platforms. It’s the fastest (and smartest) way to grow.

Hint: if you’re a healthcare business, join TopHealth :)

𝟲. 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀. If you’re not educating your market, someone else is.

And they’ll win.

Teaching is positioning. It builds trust, demand, and staying power.

𝟳. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗣𝗥. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲. 650M blogs. 4.5M podcasts. Less noise. More authority. More surface area. Still treating podcasts like side projects? You’re missing the biggest organic play in content right now.

Interesting Thing That I Wrote This Week

I’m very grateful to all of you - thank you!

That’s it for this week! If you found this newsletter valuable, share it with a friend.

See you next time!

Do what is good for your soul ❤️

All the best,

Vivek

PS. Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways in which I can help you and your business:

#1: B2B Marketing Consulting and Go-To-Market Advisory for your business.

#2: 1-on-1 Personal Coaching and Mentoring on anything related to Marketing and Go-To-Market Strategies for you.

#3: Promoting you or your brand via this newsletter.

For any of these things just shoot me a reply, and we will arrange a time to chat.