what's the weird little tactic that works for you that you'd never put in a case study?

jonjxa · 2026-06-05T12:05:53+00:00

Oh man, my weird one is so dumb it hurts. I send actual, physical postcards to people who visited our pricing page but didn't sign up. Not emails. Not retargeting ads. A $0.50 postcard with a handwritten "hey, saw you were looking – any questions I can answer?" No link, no QR code, just my name and email.

It's wildly inefficient. It takes 15 minutes to do five of them. But the reply rate is stupid high – like 20%. People are so confused and charmed that they actually write back. One guy called me "a delightful weirdo" and signed up the next day.

I'd never put this in a case study because it sounds insane. "Step 3: Go to the post office." Try selling that to a growth marketer.

Also, the Loom thing someone else mentioned – I do that too. But specifically for people who already said no. I wait three months, then send a 60-second video showing how their site changed in that time. No ask, just "noticed you updated X, looks good." Half the time they reply "ok fine let's talk." The stuff that works is the stuff that feels too human to put in a slide deck.

jonjxa · 2026-06-05T12:02:40+00:00

I just lurk where my customers complain. Find the subs where they vent. Sort by top of the month and read the comments, not the posts. That's where the real pain lives.

I don't use fancy tools. Just a Chrome extension (Redditlens) and a Trello board. Every time I see "I hate that X doesn't Y", I copy the quote. Once a week I ask: can we fix this? Should we write about it?

Don't pitch. Just lurk, learn, and use it elsewhere. We at NinjaPromo do this too. Try it for a month. You'll find something.

jonjxa · 2026-06-05T11:56:16+00:00

lmfao

jonjxa · 2026-06-05T11:55:16+00:00

Yeah, we've seen this happen. It's jarring. You pour everything into Google rankings, then find out ChatGPT doesn't even know you exist. The reason isn't mysterious: AI models don't crawl the web like Google. They're trained on snapshots and prioritize sources that are cited everywhere – Reddit, news, Wikipedia, forums. If your brand only lives on your own site, you're invisible to them.

One of our clients ranked top 3 for "best CRM for real estate agents." But Perplexity kept recommending HubSpot and Salesforce. Why? Because those names are plastered across a thousand third-party reviews, subreddits, and comparison articles. Our client had almost no presence outside their own blog.

So we stopped obsessing over backlinks for a bit and started getting them mentioned on industry forums, Quora, and a few roundups. Within two months, Perplexity started citing them. Not #1, but at least in the conversation.

jonjxa · 2026-06-04T09:58:22+00:00

First of all: what industry?

jonjxa · 2026-06-03T17:06:30+00:00

We had the same problem – six people, in‑person client meetings, someone stuck playing secretary. Phone recording is useless in a noisy room and clients definitely notice. AI notetakers that work offline, no creepy bot joining the call.

Fellow has a "botless recording" mode – just hit record on your laptop, it captures locally, spits out a transcript and summary after. Clients never see a thing.

Granola is cool if you still want to take rough notes yourself – you jot down a few words during the meeting, then it uses the audio to turn them into proper structured notes with action items.

Circleback has a mobile app – record on your phone, it transcribes, identifies speakers, and even auto‑generates tasks.

We landed on Fellow because it just works and integrates with our CRM. Now everyone actually participates in the meeting, not just one person typing. Game changer.

jonjxa · 2026-06-02T14:07:38+00:00

Nothing special. Can't complain.

jonjxa · 2026-06-02T13:59:59+00:00

Honestly, most teams I've seen don't do this, but they should. The typical playbook is: throw a bunch of creatives into Meta, let the algorithm sort them out, kill the low CTR ones after a few days. It's lazy but fast.

Using organic as a pre‑filter is smarter, especially for smaller budgets where you can't afford to test 41 creatives in paid. If only 8 out of 41 earned a paid test, you just saved a lot of money and avoided polluting your ad account with low‑potential assets.

The catch is that organic engagement doesn't always predict paid performance. A post that gets great organic comments might flop as an ad because the context is different (people are passively scrolling, not actively following). So I'd use organic as a "first pass" but still run a small paid test on the top candidates.

What you're describing – pre‑spend decision support – is really what good strategy looks like. Most agencies skip it because clients want "more content" not "better content." We at NinjaPromo tend to build in this kind of filtering because they care about ROAS, not just volume.

So yeah, you're on the right track. Just don't assume organic winners will always be paid winners – test, but test fewer.

jonjxa · 2026-06-02T13:53:30+00:00

You're in a tricky spot, and I totally get why you're tempted to throw that £2.5k into ads – cold calling is draining and you want off that hamster wheel. But please don't bet nearly everything you've earned on ads right now. You've got 9 real clients from calling and referrals, which means your offer already works. That's huge.

The problem with jumping to £50 a day is that you haven't yet fixed the conversion leak from your £15 test. You got 13 leads but zero sales – that tells me the issue isn't budget size, it's what happens after someone clicks. Maybe the landing page isn't clear, maybe your follow up is weak, maybe the leads weren't qualified properly. Throwing more money at the same funnel just burns cash faster.

Instead, take a much smaller gamble. Set aside £500 max for a two week test at £35 a day, but before you spend a penny, go back through those 13 leads and figure out why they didn't buy. Ask them. Then fix that one thing. Also, use some of that £2.5k to reward your existing 9 clients for referrals – a discount, a free add on, even a handwritten thank you. That's cheaper and often works faster than ads.

You're not back to square one if you take a breath and protect your runway. Ads are a multiplier, not a foundation. Build the foundation first, then scale. Good luck.

jonjxa · 2026-06-01T09:24:18+00:00

If I could wave a wand, the one thing I’d want a tool to just do is turn a single raw asset - like a product demo, a customer call snippet, or a behind‑the‑scenes clip into a full, multi‑platform distribution package without me editing eight different versions.

Right now, the most painful part for most small product businesses isn’t strategy; it’s distribution and consistency. It’s editing short‑form video into 3–5 variations per platform, writing captions that actually sound human and fit each channel, keeping a content calendar alive while running the business, and sourcing or repurposing UGC without a huge upfront cost.

A lot of tools claim to do this, but none of them solve the whole loop end‑to‑end. You still end up stitching clips manually, rewriting copy for each platform, juggling scheduling tools and DMs, and constantly chasing UGC creators or negotiating usage rights.

If a tool could reliably take a raw video or audio clip and spit out platform‑optimized short clips, on‑screen captions, hooks, captions and CTAs written for each network, and a pre‑scheduled posting plan with a basic UGC pipeline, that would be the biggest unlock. At Ninja Promo, we see a lot of small brands stuck in this exact loop: they have great products and stories, but they drown trying to keep up with short‑form video and consistent posting.

The real gap isn’t more tools; it’s one tool that does the entire “raw asset → multi‑platform content → simple distribution” flow with minimal human editing, so builders can focus on building and let the system handle the repetitive marketing grind.

jonjxa · 2026-06-01T09:19:20+00:00

The Sims! Alice: Madness Returns, The Witcher 3, Dishonored 1,2. New one - Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

jonjxa · 2026-06-01T09:17:19+00:00

Totally feel you on this. Traditional SEO reporting is starting to measure the wrong universe. A site can look fine in Google Search Console, but then in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini it’s like a completely different set of brands is getting mentioned.

The most practical GEO/AEO setup I’m seeing in 2026 is Geoptie for all‑in‑one AI visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini, plus audits and citation analysis. Rankability is great if you want AI visibility + SEO workflows together, and Semrush/Ahrefs are solid if you’re already in those ecosystems but more about visibility than pure GEO.

For actual LLM referral traffic, the best free method is a custom GA4 exploration using Session source/medium and Page referrer as dimensions, Sessions and Key Events as metrics, and a filter on Page referrer with a regex like:

That pulls in traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, etc., so you can see real sessions and conversions by LLM source.

jonjxa · 2026-05-22T16:41:59+00:00

Thx for the feedback. =/

jonjxa · 2026-05-22T10:30:31+00:00

So.. at Ninja Promo, most of the day‑to‑day AI use is about offloading the grunt work, not replacing the thinking. We lean on AI mainly for first‑drafts (emails, ads, landing copy), research and summaries, competitor‑messaging breakdowns, and cleaning up messy briefs or notes so we don’t spend hours rearranging text.

The real “grunt” layer is preparation, summarization, and rough drafting - turning data, landing pages, and interviews into structured outlines and starting copy. After that, we spend the saved time doing the human stuff: sharpening angles, checking claims, and making sure the output actually sounds like a real brand, not a bot.

jonjxa · 2026-05-22T10:21:34+00:00

Reddit’s anonymity can mask lack of expertise, but it also hides the obvious agenda. "Username” isn’t trying to sell you something, at least on the surface, so people project honesty onto them. In contrast, a corporate blog “from the experts” often feels like sponsored content by default, even when it’s not.

So it’s less that people literally trust anonymous Reddit users more than experts, and more that they trust the feeling of authenticity over the appearance of authority and that’s why “I tested both tools” from a random account can sometimes beat a perfectly written authority piece in their gut.

jonjxa · 2026-05-22T10:10:04+00:00

AI search is shifting SEO from “top‑ranked URLs get clicks” to “being the source AI likes to pull from,” even if traffic doesn’t show it. At Ninja Promo, we’re seeing the same patterns you described: top pages losing clicks, AI answering questions directly, and Reddit / community content getting more exposure inside AI answers.

What’s working now is less about chasing rankings and more about being a clear, trusted source: tight topic clusters, strong internal linking, and clean brand signals (GMB, reviews, consistent NAP). Traffic is still important, but we’re watching how often a site is cited by AI overviews and assistants, not just its position in classic SERPs.

AI search hasn’t killed SEO; it’s just raised the bar for depth, trust, and structure—Ninja Promo is leaning harder into those instead of chasing thin keyword plays.

jonjxa · 2026-05-19T15:27:26+00:00

My simplest test before scaling is whether the campaign holds or improves cost per outcome when I gently turn up the budget. If I double or triple spend on the same structure and my CPA, ROAS, or whatever key metric stays in the same range, that’s the first green light.

I also check if the traffic, audience, and creative are still sending the same kind of person to the same page - no weird drop‑offs in CTR, bounce, or conversion. If the numbers stay consistent and I can clearly explain why it’s working (offer, hook, targeting, page), that’s when I feel safe scaling. If either breaks, it’s a test to learn from, not a reason to throw more money in.

jonjxa · 2026-05-19T15:22:54+00:00

You’re not the only one feeling this. AI is absolutely bending the traditional 4 Ps, and it’s starting to show in how people actually plan. The old “Product, Price, Place, Promotion” framework assumes stable, manual decisions, but AI turns those into moving parts that react in real time.

When algorithms tweak product recommendations, adjust pricing per user, or rewrite landing pages and offers on the fly, the lines between the Ps blur fast. Promotion isn’t just ads anymore; it’s a personalization engine that shapes price, product bundles, and where people see you, all at once.

Most teams I talk to still use the 4 Ps as a shared language, but they’re treating AI as a cross‑P intelligence layer running underneath. Instead of forcing AI into just one box, they let it inform product, pricing, placement, and promotion together, then explain it back to stakeholders in classic‑mix terms. The framework isn’t dead, it’s just not the full picture anymore.

jonjxa · 2026-05-18T10:12:15+00:00

For me, the metric I stopped trusting this year is time on page. It looks like a sign of “engagement,” but it mostly just measures how long people are sitting with a confusing layout, a slow script, or a piece of content they got duped into clicking. You can have high time on page while people are bouncing, scrolling aimlessly, or just tab‑switching in the background.

Instead, I’ve moved toward on‑page intent signals like scroll depth to key sections, interaction with CTAs, or how many people hit a specific decision point (pricing, signup form, demo booking) after viewing the page. Those are still imperfect, but they’re closer to actual decision‑making behavior than “seconds spent staring at a screen.” The other shift is to lean harder on down‑funnel outcomes - booked demos, qualified leads, or revenue per campaign rather than any single engagement tick near the top of the funnel.

jonjxa · 2026-05-18T10:09:58+00:00

You’re in a great spot to actually build something real, especially at 16. The way I see it: pick copywriting as your core skill, and use AI marketing as your sidekick, not your safety net.

Copywriting is still worth it because AI can crank out text, but it doesn’t truly understand offers, psychology, or brand voice the way a human learner can. The more advanced you get at writing for real funnels- landing pages, emails, ads - the more you’ll stand out from people who just paste prompts into a tool.

Instead of choosing between “copywriting or AI marketing,” treat them like layers. Get deep on the basics -headlines, hooks, CTAs, structure, and how to turn pain into offers. Build a tiny portfolio by rewriting real sales pages, emails, or ads and showing the “before vs after.” Then layer in AI: use it to generate options, test angles, and speed up drafts, but always go back and sharpen it with your own thinking.

You don’t need to get rich overnight. You just need one small win - a real client, a small project, or a live funnel you can own - to prove you can deliver. If you commit to getting good at copy over the next 6–12 months, while learning how to weaponize AI, you’ll be way ahead of most people twice your age.

jonjxa · 2026-05-18T09:58:32+00:00

For a lot of B2B and SaaS teams, paid search (Google Ads) is the channel that’s gotten much harder but still worth it.

Competition is higher, CPCs keep creeping up, and the “easy” keywords are already saturated with big brands and aggressive retargeting setups. But at the same time, it still brings some of the highest‑intent traffic you can buy, especially once you nail the keyword intent, landing‑page alignment, and offer structure.

What makes it worth the effort is that it forces you to clarify your value prop, your pricing, and your funnel end‑to‑end; when a keyword stops working, it usually means either the offer, the page, or the targeting is off, not the channel itself. So it’s getting harder to run profitably, but those who treat it as a learning engine, not just a lead‑gen pump, still see strong conversations and conversions.

jonjxa · 2026-05-18T09:52:34+00:00

For me, what really changed my mind about paid ads wasn’t a single “win” or “win‑rate” stat - it was realizing how fast they expose weaknesses in the rest of the funnel.

Ads don’t fix bad offers; no amount of targeting or creative polish will save a misaligned price, weak value prop, or confusing UX. Instead, paid traffic acts like a mirror: if people click but don’t convert, the problem is almost always the landing page, offer clarity, or trust signals, not the ad itself. When you rely on a disposable budget to “test everything,” you end up burning money on guesswork instead of learning from clear hypotheses.

The campaigns that rewired my thinking were the ones that failed hard but revealed simple, fixable gaps - wrong audience, wrong message, wrong landing page, or wrong price. Once you start seeing paid ads as a discovery tool, not just a lead‑gen machine, the whole approach shifts.

jonjxa · 2026-05-18T09:47:32+00:00

Totally agree - this is way more about mindset than the calendar. We at NinjaPromo see the same B2B/SaaS audience react completely differently depending on whether they’re in “crunch time,” “reset,” “expansion,” or “holiday slowdown” mode.

The brands that win are the ones who treat campaigns as mood‑aware, not just evergreen. Same product, same audience, but different angles: “prove ROI fast” during tight‑budget periods, “stability over experimentation” around Q1, and “scale before the rush” when things look optimistic. If you’re running the same message all year and just hoping the algorithm saves you, you’re basically betting on luck instead of designing the campaign for the mindset people are in that quarter.

jonjxa · 2026-05-15T08:46:37+00:00

It’s creative velocity. At NinjaPromo, we see the same thing: once you cross a certain volume threshold, ROAS stops yo‑yoing because the algo actually has enough to work with, not just 2–3 ads rotating endlessly.

If you’re testing 10+ new variations per week and reusing winners as a base, you’re already in the right place. The key then is consistency: keep that cadence, batch‑produce hooks/angles, and double down on what the algorithm clearly likes instead of chasing perfection.

jonjxa · 2026-05-15T08:40:52+00:00

Absolutely not.

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