Chasing Algorithms vs. Chasing Locals

Episode Description Join Todd and Tony for another round of “social media therapy” on Day Drinking on Delmarva. This week, the guys dive deep into the changing landscape of digital marketing, the pitfalls of small businesses chasing “viral” trends, and the harsh realities of the modern internet. They explore everything from authenticity to why national marketing strategies fail local businesses. Stick around until the end for a much-needed mini-rant from Todd on why you should at least buy your local marketing expert a drink before “picking their brain”. Key Takeaways & Episode Highlights The Death of Local SEO & The “Liquid Death” Trap * The Brand Discovery Dilemma: Tony points out that we treat the internet like it is built primarily for national and multinational brand discovery. * The “Do What They Do” Fallacy: Todd and Tony discuss how marketing creators love to advise small, local businesses to copy giant brands like Liquid Death. However, applying a massive, edgy brand budget strategy to a single-location restaurant or a local funeral home simply doesn’t fit the same category. Shift to Episodic Video & Content Programming * Titan Caskets & David Dastmalchian: Tony highlights Titan Caskets’ successful YouTube show, where famous people are interviewed inside a casket. Even as a smaller niche brand, treating content like a scheduled television show works. * The Power of Structure: Todd discusses wanting to adopt this episodic, pre-production mindset for Dewey Raw to make post-production faster and build a stronger viewer habit. AI vs. Authenticity: The Rise of “Slop” * The AI Flyer Incident: Todd shares a recent story about a motorcycle club event that posted a flyer made entirely via AI. He argues that even using stock photos or clip art is better because it ensures a creative person gets paid and keeps the content feeling grounded. * The “Underpants Gnomes” AI Strategy: Tony calls out the myth that businesses can just “give a young kid AI” and expect the work of three professionals. He compares it to the South Park joke: Hire someone to use AI $\rightarrow$Question Mark $\rightarrow$Profit. It produces a ton of content fast, but nothing good. The Illusion of “Impressionflation” and Bot Views * Legacy Media vs. Digital Metrics: Tony references the old advertising quote: “I know half my advertising budget is wasted; I just don’t know which half.” * The Bot Bubble: While SEO marketers promise millions of views, last year’s massive ad scandals proved that a vast majority of those numbers are just bots cataloging videos. * Podcast Reality Checks: Podcasts offer genuine download metrics, which can terrify advertisers who are used to inflated Facebook or YouTube “views” where a user only looks for a few seconds. Going “Anti-Viral”: Marketing with an End Game * Local > Viral: If you are a local funeral home or neighborhood restaurant, you don’t need 10 million views or followers from Bangladesh. You need the 20,000 people living closest to you to know, like, and trust you. * Authentic Local Content:Instead of chasing the latest trending TikTok song, local businesses succeed more by showing the chef, a bartender prepping real oranges for original orange crushes, or a funeral director being a real, honest human. Todd’s Two-Minute Rant “If you want advice on social media and you want to ask your friend who’s the expert, realize that their time is valuable … Buy a guy lunch. Don’t cheap out on ‘I’d like to know everything you think about this topic’ but want to just come meet on a porch.” Resources & Links Mentioned * Tony’s Website: ondeathcare.com(All things funeral industry and the death doula movement) * Todd’s Website: goodcleanfunlife.com * Podcast Recommendation: The Rebooting This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit daydrinkingondelmarva.substack.com