Marketing Against The Grain
Kipp Bodnar (HubSpot’s CMO) and Kieran Flanagan (Hubspot's SVP of Marketing), lead you down the rabbit hole of marketing trends, growth tactics and innovation. On the way you’ll pick up undiscovered strategies to give you that slight edge for success. These are not your typical twitter thread regurgitated marketing tactics that everyone is doing. These are new methods, with unfiltered examination of successful fresh ideas.
Episodes
September 22, 2026 • 27 mins
Build a taste profile that makes your AI output sound like you: https://clickhubspot.com/iflm
Ep 455
Did you know HubSpot lost 140 million visits in a year but still increased demand generation by 20%?
Kipp and Kieran dive into why the old rules of marketing no longer work—and what new playbooks you need to win in the AI era, at HubSpot’s Unbound. Learn more on building a living taste profile, leveraging AI for relen...
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Mark as Played
September 17, 2026 • 34 mins
Free: 15 prompts to keep your brand visible in search https://clickhubspot.com/ikub
Ep. 454
Did you know that today, 68% of all Google searches end without a single click?
Kipp, Kieran, and guest Amanda Natividad (founder of Zero Click Marketing, and co-author of the forthcoming book, Zero Click Marketing) dive into the era of zero-click marketing, covering how search behavior is changing, what it means for your company&rs...
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Mark as Played
September 15, 2026 • 41 mins
[Free guide] build your second brain with AI: https://clickhubspot.com/efeg
To get started with YouSpot, go to https://youspot.com/pricing/pro?promo=BRAINTHEGRAIN You'll then see the coupon code automatically applied on checkout.
Ep. 453
Did you know that 86% of all new companies started aren’t expected to hire any employees?
Kipp, Kieran, and guest Dharmesh Shah (Founder of HubSpot) dive into the rapidly ...
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Mark as Played
September 10, 2026 • 32 mins
Free Meta Ad Creative Prompt Pack: https://clickhubspot.com/prgl
Ep. 452
Could your company grow to $20M in revenue in just 20 months by focusing 80% of your ad budget on a single channel?
Kipp, Kieran, and guest Danny Yeung (CEO and co-founder of IM8) dive into the marketing strategy behind the explosive growth of IM8 and how Meta became their powerhouse for customer acquisition. Learn more on how to master Meta’s platfor...
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Mark as Played
September 8, 2026 • 34 mins
Build your AI marketing department with this Claude skill: https://clickhubspot.com/rlcb
Ep. 451
Is the CMO role dying?
Kipp and Kieran dive into why marketing’s highest seat is under pressure and what founders and marketers should do about it. Learn more on why the expectations for marketing leaders are higher than ever, how the evolution of marketing skills and AI are shaping the talent pipeline, and what strategies co...
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Mark as Played
September 3, 2026 • 38 mins
Turn social comments into leads with Claude + Blotato: https://clickhubspot.com/rkhv
Ep. 450
How can one Reel drive $120,000 in annual recurring revenue for your business?
Kipp, and guest Sabrina Ramonov of Blotato dive into how high-performing social content and automated DMs can be seamlessly converted into real revenue and loyal customers. Learn more on building viral social funnels, the power of DM automation for lead captur...
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Mark as Played
September 1, 2026 • 33 mins
*Build your AI Research Desk in Codex:* https://clickhubspot.com/inyh
Ep. 449
Is informational content on the internet dead?
Kipp, Kieran, and guest Matt Wolfe (Future Tools) dive into how you can reclaim hours each week by automating newsletter reading, brand mentions, and industry news updates with your own personal AI system. Learn more on building a custom info dashboard with AI agents, the future of media consumption and cr...
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Mark as Played
August 27, 2026 • 22 mins
Build your AI marketing department with this Claude skill: https://clickhubspot.com/uyon
Ep. 448
Can you really fire your entire marketing team and replace them with AI?
Kieran dives into the reality behind agentic marketing systems by putting an AI-powered marketing “team” to the test for a fast-growth AI company. Learn more on how AI audits and rewrites website copy, tackles product positioning, competes in search ...
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Mark as Played
August 25, 2026 • 39 mins
Get our anti-AI slop checklist: https://clickhubspot.com/lhug
Ep. 447
For most people, AI is making your marketing worse. For a select few, it's making it 10 times better.
Kipp and guest David Epstein (author of Range (#1 NYT bestseller) and the new Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better (May 2026)) dive into why AI is creating a wave of “slop marketing” and what marketers can do to protect—and st...
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Mark as Played
August 20, 2026 • 49 mins
Free: build a Claude-powered content engine https://clickhubspot.com/mslb
Ep 446
What does it actually take to 5x your solo marketing business in a year using AI?
Kipp, Kieran, and guest Barbara Jovanovic (Founder of Startup Cookie) dive into how top solo marketers are scaling agencies with agentic AI systems, and why most automated LinkedIn content totally misses the mark. Learn more on how agentic systems drive efficiency and ...
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Mark as Played
August 18, 2026 • 21 mins
Ep. 445
Everybody online is telling you that the only marketers who will survive in the AI era are systems builders. But what does that even mean—and how do you actually build your own AI-powered marketing system?
Kieran dives into the essential starting stack every marketer can implement to become a systems builder and thrive with AI. Learn more on the key layers of a marketing AI system, how to create a personalized intel...
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Mark as Played
August 13, 2026 • 17 mins
Build your AI knowledge base (template + kit): https://clickhubspot.com/fhfs
Ep. 444
Stop outsourcing your intelligence to AI assistants—build your own personal intelligence layer instead!
Kieran dives into how to construct your own marketing intelligence layer that you can plug into any AI assistant for a serious competitive edge. Learn how to capture and structure career learnings, keep your intelligence portable and up-...
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Mark as Played
August 11, 2026 • 14 mins
Influencer-Led Growth Stack (10 prompts): https://clickhubspot.com/gfdr
Ep. 443
What’s the clever, better alternative to pouring more money into Google or Meta ads?
Kipp dives into a step-by-step playbook for launching your first influencer campaign that any marketer can use to break away from rising ad costs and stale channels. Learn more on how to find the right influencers for your brand, calculate smart budgets and ROI...
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Mark as Played
August 6, 2026 • 16 mins
Paid Ads Rebuild: 3 Workflows + 8 Prompts to Fix What AI Broke: https://clickhubspot.com/jgvk
Ep. 442
50% of Google searches now result in zero clicks, how does that affect your 2027 ad budget?
Kipp dives into how AI has completely disrupted the paid ads landscape, changing where you should spend your marketing dollars and what those ads actually cost. Learn more on which ad channels have become more expensive, where you can sti...
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Mark as Played
August 4, 2026 • 36 mins
Map your media spend with our full-funnel audit template: https://clickhubspot.com/ckev
Ep. 441
Distribution is undefeated—and if you’re not building systems to measure real sales impact, you don’t have a business.
Kipp and guest Benoit Vatere (Liquid Death’s Chief Media and Digital Commerce Officer) dive into the untold story of Liquid Death’s explosive growth, and the critical role of full-funnel ...
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Mark as Played
July 30, 2026 • 16 mins
Weekly AI Content Ideation System: https://clickhubspot.com/rtjed
Ep. 440
Are you still stuck regurgitating the same content ideas that everyone else is using?
Kieran dives into the secrets behind building a world-class AI content ideation system that delivers fresh, high-impact ideas every time. Learn more on mapping proven content patterns to your platforms, crafting rich audience profiles (that go beyond basic ICPs), an...
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Mark as Played
July 28, 2026 • 42 mins
Anti-AI Slop Checklist: https://clickhubspot.com/olkw
Ep. 439
Are you just passing AI-generated slop back and forth at work?
Kipp and guest Hilary Gridley (founder of the newsletter Writerbuilder) dive into how teams can escape the AI slop doom loop and leverage artificial intelligence to scale taste, judgment, and high-performance work—not just automate mediocrity. Learn more on the crucial role of clarity and context in ...
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Mark as Played
July 23, 2026 • 26 mins
Free guide + skill: build social carousels in claude cowork: https://clickhubspot.com/dkhc
Ep. 438
How do you differentiate your marketing when everyone else is using the same AI tools?
Kipp and Kieran dive into building next-level marketing systems with AI that actually set you apart, featuring digital growth consultant and educator Grace Leung. Discover why context is king in AI marketing, how to build simple but powerfu...
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Mark as Played
July 21, 2026 • 39 mins
200+ Business Ideas: https://clickhubspot.com/wrdj
Ep. 437
How do you find business ideas before they go viral—and turn them into real income?
Kipp, Kieran, and guest Chris Koerner (entrepreneur and host of The Koerner Office Podcast) dive into the unique mindsets, strategies, and tactics needed to spot opportunities before they explode and build successful businesses from them. Learn more on how to pattern match hidden op...
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Mark as Played
July 16, 2026 • 21 mins
Build Your AI Second Brain: https://clickhubspot.com/ldwc
Ep. 436
The number one trend in AI right now is the rise of AI second brains—personal operating systems designed to accelerate careers and make work smarter, not harder.
Kieran dives into how building your own AI second brain can transform personal productivity, decision-making, and the way you learn. Learn more on how AI second brains store and retrieve knowledge, ...
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Mark as Played
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