In partnership with
⏱️ 7 minute read (I know you’re busy. Save it, skim it, or read it while avoiding one meeting.) Thanks to HubSpot for being this week’s sponsored ad!
Alright, huddle up.
I want to pull the curtain back a bit on why I’m building The Huddle the way I am.
For a long time, LinkedIn was my home base. It’s where people read my ideas, saw my posts, reached out, and connected. And honestly? It worked well. Still does.
But there’s always been this nagging voice in the back of my head.
Because every marketer who’s been around long enough has seen this movie before.
A platform changes the rules.
Accounts get shut down.
Reach disappears overnight.
Most recently, we watched TikTok get temporarily shut down in the U.S., and entire businesses went dark. Not influencers. Not “side hustles.” Real shop owners who relied on that platform to survive.
One switch flipped and they were done. Luckily, Tik Tok wasn't down for very long and the outrage was at a minimum, but there were still real concerns and issues about what happens next!
That’s the moment that always snaps me back to reality.
You don’t own your followers.
The platform does.
And one wrong move, intentional or not, and your audience is gone. Ask MySpace. Ask Facebook Pages. Hell, ask Clubhouse! Ask anyone who built a business on borrowed attention.
That’s why I’m building The Huddle here.
Not because email is sexy.
Not because it’s new.
But because it’s owned.
A great content marketer said this 15+ years ago, and it’s still the truest sentence in marketing:
Don’t build on rented land.
Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.
Discover how HubSpot's guide to AI can elevate both your productivity and creativity to get more things done.
Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation with the power of AI.
The Big Lie We Still Tell Ourselves
Somewhere along the way, marketers convinced themselves that a “marketing list” is just…a list.
A spreadsheet.
A CRM field.
A thing you email when you need leads.
That’s the misnomer.
Your marketing list is not a list. It’s your community!
And if you treat it like an asset instead of an afterthought, it can quietly become the thing that carries your revenue goals across the finish line.
So this week, let’s talk about how this actually works…starting from zero and scaling it the right way.
Step 1: Owning Your Community (Before You Try to Grow It)
Most marketers mess this up because they start with volume instead of value.
Owning your community starts with one simple question:
Why would someone give you access to their inbox?
Not your product. Not your brand. You.
The fastest ways I’m seeing marketers successfully build owned lists right now, both B2B and B2C, aren’t gimmicks. They’re intentional entry points.
Instead of “sign up for our newsletter,” it looks more like:
A weekly POV email that actually has an opinion
A recurring insight tied to a role, not a product
A tool, template, or playbook that solves one annoying problem
A live session or office hours that answers real questions
Social still matters here, but only as the lure, not the destination.
You use LinkedIn, podcasts, webinars, events, SEO, partnerships, whatever works, to attract attention. But every piece of content has a clear job: move people from borrowed attention to owned connection.
And here’s the key mindset shift:
You’re not “collecting emails.”
You’re inviting people into a room you plan to show up in consistently.
No bait-and-switch.
No disappearing act.
No random blasts.
Consistency builds trust faster than cleverness ever will.
Then, the real nurture starts through weekly, monthly, or trigger-based communications!
Step 2: Scaling the Community That’s Working
Once you have momentum, most teams do the worst possible thing.
They treat everyone the same.
This is where lists die…and communities scale.
The marketers winning right now in 2026 understand one thing deeply:
Relevance beats reach. Every time.
Scaling doesn’t mean emailing more.
It means getting smarter.
It looks like:
Segmenting by behavior, not just demographics
Sending different messages to customers vs prospects
Treating your most engaged subscribers like insiders
Letting people self-select what they want more of
The best communities I’m seeing, especially in B2B, are layered:
A core newsletter or update
Lead magnets that help drive conversation or reopen doors
Bottom of the funnel trigger-based case studies, white papers, or reasons why that are used to move a prospect from one deal stage to the next…a la sales enablement
Deeper content for power users
Conversation-based touchpoints (AMAs, Slack, private groups, events)
In B2C, the winners are doing the same thing, just faster and louder:
Early access
Loyalty-based content
What’s next purchasing
Community-driven launches
Feedback loops that actually influence decisions
This is where your list stops being “email” and starts being leverage.
Because when you launch something, test something, or need momentum, you don’t start from scratch.
You already have people listening.
Why This Quietly Becomes a Revenue Engine
Here’s what no one tells junior marketers, but every senior leader knows.
When budgets tighten, resources will dry up. Ads will shut off. CPA will be questioned. And your ability as a marketer will be questioned!!!
The marketer with an owned community wins.
Because you can show:
Demand you didn’t rent
Conversations you didn’t pay for
Momentum that doesn’t disappear when spend stops
That’s not just good marketing.
That’s influence.
That’s credibility.
That’s how you stop being seen as “execution” and start being seen as strategy.
That also becomes your invitation at the leadership table. You’re seeing the list as more of that community, and not just a way of counting people. You’re finding ways to engage and convert…plus you have your eye on referral traffic.
It’s real f-ing power right there!
This Week’s Homework
Keep it simple.
Write down:
One way people currently discover you
One clear reason they would join your community
One repeatable way you could deliver value without burning out
Then ask yourself:
If social went away tomorrow…would your growth go with it?
If that question makes you uncomfortable, good.
That’s where real marketers start building something that lasts.
See you next Sunday!
— Jeff
P.S. If you’re relying on rented platforms for growth and calling it a strategy, that’s probably why your calendar is full but your pipeline isn’t. I help solo marketers and B2B teams turn attention into owned communities, clean up messy systems, and stop mistaking activity for impact. Less chaos. More leverage. Actual pipeline.
If you want to walk through how this could work for your business, grab time here:
https://calendly.com/jeff-forestcitydigital/marketing-coaching-discovery-call