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Hello and welcome to the 159th edition of Fresh Salmon.

If you're new here, welcome aboard! And if you’d like to catch up on past issues, click here.

Let’s dive in.

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The Death of the Follower

For years, marketers were told to build an audience - followers, subscribers, email lists - because that was the key to long-term growth.

But today, the internet is making that irrelevant.

🚨 The “For You” feed changed everything. 

TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, even X (Twitter) have all abandoned the follower model. Instead of seeing content from people they follow, users are fed algorithmic content that the platform thinks will keep them engaged the longest.

What does this mean?

• Your "audience" is no longer your audience. You're renting them from platforms.

• Organic reach is no longer guaranteed, even for those who follow you.

• The platforms are incentivized to prioritize discovery over loyalty.

The result?

Even top creators with millions of followers struggle to reach their own audience consistently.

What should B2B brands do?

Optimize for discovery – Create content that the platform wants to push, not just what your audience wants.

Build direct relationships – Invest in owned media: email lists, podcast subscribers, private communities, direct messaging.

Think in terms of “shows,” not posts – Consistency and repeatable formats drive audience retention.

The biggest shift?

Your followers don’t matter anymore - your ability to stay in the discovery feed does.

Takeaway: The follower-based internet is dead. Discovery-based feeds now control audience reach.

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

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The Average is Out – Why Most Marketing Fails

Being original is overrated. Stop making average crap.

Most marketing fails because it's built on a broken assumption: that you need to push your message out into the world. You don’t.

The world doesn’t care about your message, your hustle, or your paid ads.

The real job of marketing?
👉 Create the conditions for people to WANT to talk about you.

That hole-in-the-wall pizza shop with a line around the block?
It’s not because they “crushed it” on TikTok. It’s because they made a pizza WORTH talking about.

Google, Facebook, Airbnb, and even your favorite local brand?
None of them started with paid ads. They started by making something remarkable - something so good that customers couldn’t help but spread the word.

The hard truth:
If your product or service isn’t remarkable, no marketing hack will save you.

“To be remarkable is to be worth making a remark about.”

• Stop fighting the algorithm.

• Stop trying to sell to everyone.

• Stop pushing average stuff to an indifferent audience.

Instead, focus on one thing:

Making something so good that people can’t help but tell others about it. That’s it!

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

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Why Most Businesses Die Before They Even Start

Most businesses don’t fail because they quit too early.

They fail because they started too big.

We’ve all heard the myth:
“Think big, go after everyone, scale fast.”

But the most successful companies didn’t start big.
Airbnb didn’t launch a global hotel empire overnight.
Facebook didn’t try to be for everyone on Day 1.
Amazon started with one thing: books.

The secret?

• Find the smallest viable audience.

• Solve one specific problem for one specific group.

• Get so good that they can’t ignore you.

Too many businesses fail because they’re chasing mass-market dreams before they’ve nailed a niche.

You don’t need 1,000 customers today. You need 10 who will evangelize your brand.

“Be the best in the world for a very small group of people. The rest will follow.”

Interesting Thing That I Posted This Week

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That’s it for this week! If you found this 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.