What a newsletter founder and 66% of marketers know about scaling without burning out
Tom Orbach didn’t spend a dime on ads. Not one. And yet, in under two years, he built a 40,000-subscriber newsletter that marketers now treat like a blueprint. His secret? Nothing flashy; just a string of smart, low-cost moves that worked because they were rooted in actual human behavior.
He teased the launch of Marketing Ideas at speaking gigs. He ghostwrote for paid newsletters to borrow trust. He found superfans on Reddit and turned them into evangelists. On LinkedIn, he handed out personalized advice like candy, and somehow, it didn’t feel like a sales pitch. Even his use of unsolicited praise—screenshotted and shared—felt more like a wink than a brag. The man understands how to scale without sounding like a robot.
The whole thing reads like a case study in what happens when you prioritize long-tail value over quick hits. Orbach didn’t just grow fast; he grew with depth.
Read the full story on HubSpot
Now, shift gears.
That same kind of scrappy-but-smart thinking is showing up in how marketers are using AI. HubSpot’s latest report says 66% of marketers are now working AI into their daily workflows. Not just dabbling—actually using it. The biggest use cases? Content creation, personalized marketing, and research. Which makes sense; these are the areas where AI can save time without wrecking the creative process.
The point isn’t to replace people. It’s to cut the junk work. Think: fewer hours spent formatting emails, more time spent testing subject lines that actually land. AI’s helping teams move faster, sure, but also cleaner. Less friction. Less noise.
That said, it’s not all smooth sailing. About 43% of marketers have run into factual errors with AI-generated content, and 41% are still uneasy about how data’s being handled. But even with those bumps, 75% say they’re seeing positive ROI; and two-thirds are planning to increase their AI budgets this year.
Here’s where it gets interesting:
The marketers seeing the best results aren’t just automating for the sake of speed. They’re using AI the way Orbach used Reddit and LinkedIn—not to blast more stuff into the void, but to create things people actually want. Faster, yes; but also better.
So what’s the real takeaway here?
It’s not about having a huge budget or a massive team. It’s about leverage. Whether you’re a solo operator with a newsletter or a global brand with a martech stack the size of a small country, the winners are the ones who know where to push and when to pause. The ones who can tell the difference between a growth hack and a growth habit.
And if you’re wondering where to look next, here’s a quick roundup of what else is shaping the week:
- Content Marketing Analytics That Actually Matter in 2025: Ahrefs put together a clear-eyed guide to tracking what really moves the needle. Spoiler: it’s not just pageviews.
- AI Search Traffic Is Skipping Blog Posts: According to new data, users are landing more on homepages and tools than on blog content. Which raises a question: does your brand do anything useful, or is it just publishing?
- 10 Brands That Thrived Through Recession: HubSpot rounded up companies that didn’t just survive economic downturns. They reinvented themselves. Worth a read if you’re planning for Q3 with one eye on the economy.
So yeah, you don’t need to outspend your competitors. Just outthink them.
That’s it for today, folks.
Catch you in the next post.
Until then, keep building.
– Perfect Sites Blog