Riffing…On Things We Hate About Twitter

Summary

Brain Driven Brands: Riffing…On Things We Hate About Twitter

Episode Release Date: May 20, 2025
Host: Sarah Levinger
Guest: Nate Legos

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Introduction

In this concise yet insightful episode of Brain Driven Brands, host Sarah Levinger sits down with marketing expert Nate Legos to dissect prevalent frustrations within the Twitter community, particularly among e-commerce professionals. Despite the episode's brevity, their candid conversation delves deep into the challenges marketers face in maintaining consistency amidst the ever-evolving social media landscape.

Time Management and Episode Constraints

The episode kicks off humorously as Nate admits to being "bad at time management," leading to an exceptionally short podcast session. This candid admission sets the tone for an honest and unfiltered discussion about broader marketing challenges.

Nate Legos [00:09]: "Has a call in 14 minutes. And regretted to tell me that at the beginning of the podcast."

Stagnation in Marketing Strategies

Despite three years of acquaintance, Nate highlights a surprising stagnation in his marketing activities, emphasizing that his strategies have remained unchanged since 2022, yet they've continued to thrive.

Nate Legos [01:16]: "Nothing's changed in my marketing activities since then. And we're killing it, frankly."

This points to the effectiveness of consistent, tried-and-true marketing principles over constantly chasing the latest trends.

The Perception of Constant Change on Twitter

Both Sarah and Nate express frustration with the pervasive narrative on Twitter that the marketing industry is perpetually in flux, causing marketers to feel perpetually behind.

Sarah [01:31]: "One of the main sentiments I feel constantly is you're behind, you're not doing enough. You're not keeping up."

Nate Legos [01:28]: "The industry, like, does a 180 every 90 days."

The Myth of Missing Out

They challenge the fear of missing out (FOMO) on the latest marketing trends, arguing that no one has truly "missed the boat" by adopting new strategies even months later.

Nate Legos [02:01]: "People overestimate the damage of being late. No one has ever missed out because they're three months late on anything like this."

Simplicity and Consistency Over Complexity

Sarah emphasizes that marketing doesn't have to be overly complex. She cites Sriracha as an example of a brand that achieved massive success without extensive advertising or PR, relying instead on word-of-mouth and product excellence.

Sarah [02:21]: "Marketing is not rocket science... Sriracha is a really good example. Grew the brand without any sort of ads."

Core Messaging as the Foundation

The conversation pivots to the importance of a consistent core message. Sarah posits that regardless of the tactics—be it ad formats, creators, or platforms—the fundamental message addressing the product's problem-solving capability is paramount.

Sarah [03:33]: "What really matters is the core message that you're communicating around the product that solves a problem."

Sarah [06:17]: "Psychology is probably the best way that we could do this, because I'm consistently using psychology."

Critique of Marketing Gurus and Overcomplication

Both hosts critique the "guru" mentality prevalent in the marketing world, where individuals preach specific tactics as the sole path to success. They argue that such approaches overlook the importance of consistency and core messaging.

Sarah [05:07]: "This is why I don't exercise, because, yeah, it's dangerous."
(Metaphor illustrating the overselling of rigid tactics)

Nate Legos [06:51]: "Pick one tactic, make sure your product's good and priced right. And then do that tactic every day for a month until you're really good at it."

Successful Brand Examples: Consistency in Action

The discussion highlights successful content creators like Khaby Lame, Mr. Beast, and Jake Paul, who maintain a single, consistent message across all their content. This consistency fosters strong brand recognition and loyalty.

Sarah [09:07]: "Khabi lame... Mr. Beast, really good at this... they understand I have one message that I sell. That's it."

Building Brands vs. Marketing Agencies

Nate and Sarah stress the difference between building a genuine brand and merely assembling a marketing agency around a product. They caution against superficial branding efforts that lack depth and core messaging.

Nate Legos [08:05]: "No one's building a brand. They're building a marketing agency around just a thing."

Practical Takeaways for Marketers

1. Focus on Core Message: Ensure that your brand communicates a clear and consistent message that addresses a specific problem your product solves.
2. Consistency Over Tactics: Rather than jumping from one marketing tactic to another, stick with one approach and execute it well over time.
3. Quality Product and Pricing: Prioritize having a good product priced appropriately as the foundation for any marketing strategy.
4. Avoid Overcomplication: Keep marketing strategies simple to maintain clarity and effectiveness.

Conclusion

Sarah and Nate conclude the episode by reinforcing the importance of consistency and a strong core message in building a successful brand. They urge marketers to resist the allure of constantly changing tactics and instead focus on what truly matters: quality products and clear, unwavering communication.

Sarah [11:03]: "Consistency of message. That's it."

Nate Legos [11:31]: "Pick one tactic... It'll work out."

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Connect with Sarah and Nate:

• Sarah Levinger: [Social Media Handles]
• Nate Legos: Twitter: Nate Legos | Tactical and Practical Podcast

Brain Driven Brands is part of the Learn and Laugh series on the Quickfire podcast network and is presented by Tether Insights. For more information, visit TetherInsights.com.

Transcript

[Nate Legos]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the shortest episode we'll ever do.

[Sarah]

Has a call in 14 minutes. And regretted to tell me that at the beginning of the podcast. So then we chit chatted, and now we're out of time. So welcome to the show.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah. Watch guys. Bad at time management. Sorry about that.

[Sarah]

I was gonna say, don't you have a watch, like, strapped to you at all times?

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

You should always know what time it is.

[Nate Legos]

I never set my watches. It's.

[Sarah]

I.

[Nate Legos]

It's not what that's for.

[Sarah]

I feel good about it. It's totally fine.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

Since this is a short episode, you.

[Nate Legos]

Want to just riff.

[Sarah]

All right, let's do it. We haven't done a riff episode in forever. What's bugging you these days?

[Nate Legos]

What's on your bugging me these days? There's a lot, by the way. I could fill up two hours. We've known each other for, like, a few years now.

[Sarah]

Yes. Since 2023, I think. No, earlier than that. 22.

[Nate Legos]

I think. 22 was when we spoke at Whaley's.

[Sarah]

That's right, 2022.

[Nate Legos]

So we've. We've known each other for three years. Knew each other on Twitter a little bit before that. And what's so crazy to me is, like, nothing's changed in my marketing activities since then.

[Sarah]

Yeah.

[Nate Legos]

And we're killing it, frankly.

[Sarah]

Yeah.

[Nate Legos]

But, like, if you just listen and read what's on Twitter, you would think this industry, like, does a 180 every 90 days.

[Sarah]

Yes.

[Nate Legos]

And that's fascinating to me. Do you know what that is?

[Sarah]

Yeah. Well, to Scotty's point, he literally just posted, like, hey, you guys have known each other for basically 10 years in E Commerce time. Yeah. Because if. If you're on Twitter, one of the main sentiments I feel constantly is you're in behind. You're not doing enough. You're not keeping up. Everything's changing. Everything's awful as well.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

On D2C Twitter, everything is always awful. I noticed.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

That can't be a good thing for our brains. But, yeah, I think it's predominantly because people love shiny quarters in our industry. They just constantly.

[Nate Legos]

I think people, like, overestimate the damage of, like, being late. Of, like, oh, like, I'm gonna miss the boat on, like, AI ads or whatever. And I think that's, like, so. But, like, backwards. No one has ever missed out because they're three months late on anything like this. Yeah.

[Sarah]

Yeah. I don't think we've ever missed out ever, because some of the biggest brands in the world were born with no social media in sight and are still the biggest brands in the world. Like, people. Marketing is not. I hate to say this, it's not hard. Like, marketing is not rocket science, even though we want to make it rocket science, where we have to, like, tactically look at all these teeny, tiny things in here and go over here and tweak this and tweak that and get in the ads and, like, dig deep into our metrics. And I'm like, that's a lot, guys. That's a lot. There's some people on this planet have grown their brand. Sriracha is a really good example of this. Grew the brand without any sort of ads. He had no PR team. He never ran an ad. He just got it in the hands of people who loved it and they did the work for him.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

And then he exploded and became Sriracha. So to your point, I think people need to stop messing with, like, stop touching stuff. Stop it.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah, I think I, I tweeted this week that, like, making good products and selling them at a price people are okay with is a really good strategy.

[Sarah]

Yeah.

[Nate Legos]

But, like, it's.

[Sarah]

That's a great marketing strategy.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah, it's. It's arguably the best marketing strategy.

[Sarah]

Yeah. Well. And I.

[Nate Legos]

But what's your ad account structure? No, no, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, though.

[Sarah]

It doesn't matter. I tell people this all the time. I don't care about your ad strategy. I don't care about your format. I don't care who your creators are. I don't care if you got UGC or if you got gifts, if you got statics. There's tactics that I use because they're a part of the ecosystem. However, at the end of the day, doesn't quite matter what those things are. What really matters is the core message that you're communicating around the product that solves a problem. And that's basically it. And as long as you say. Oh, as long as you say it a lot and never change the core message, you'll grow.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

You're just. You're gonna. It's gonna happen.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

You're gonna grow. I don't, I don't understand where we lost consistency. That consistency message just, like, isn't around. I don't hear a lot of people saying that. We need to make that more of a mantra.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah. Like everything. Everything I've ever talked about on a podcast, that's like a tactic we. That is working for us. I'm like, hey, I did it for 75 days in a row, in a row, without fail. Success. And then it clicked, and now it's working for us.

[Sarah]

Yes.

[Nate Legos]

But, like, that's not. That's not grabby. That's not a fun headline. I know to be like, I worked really hard for three months and business got better.

[Sarah]

Okay. But I think it's similar to, like, losing weight or, like, the fitness industry, because every guru that ever became a guru over there did it by just saying I was consistent for, like, three years, and then now I'm jacked. Like, that's basically it. There's things that I like, sort of used on the outside, but really what it comes down to is just diet and exercise. It's not fun to hear that as somebody who likes donuts.

[Nate Legos]

Right?

[Sarah]

Yeah.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

That's why I don't exercise, because, yeah, it's dangerous.

[Nate Legos]

You have a box of candy bars arriving to your house for me today, by the way.

[Sarah]

I am so, like, so excited. I can't wait.

[Nate Legos]

That's what the biggest voices in our industry are. Like, you got to do keto or nothing. And it's like, well, there are other ways to be healthier. There are other ways to.

[Sarah]

This is hot. Take D2C is just as bad as the fitness industry, man.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah. Nice.

[Sarah]

It's not keto. It's not paleo. It's not. It's consistency. That's it. It's just consistency with something. Anything other than sugar.

[Nate Legos]

Literally anything. And, like, that's the thing that I think is crazy. Like, if you give me the first two things we called out of, like, a good product at the right price. Good product, right price. I can scale that business through any tactic you want.

[Sarah]

Yes.

[Nate Legos]

I can run a account. I can run a max volume account. I can use only influencers. I can use only TikTok. If the product is good, the price is good. Any of these things can work for you if you get good at them and execute them consistently well.

[Sarah]

I think that's why there's gurus out here that are talking about, I only use this tactic, and this is the one that works. You should not use any of this other stuff. And I'm like, it works for you because you're consistent with it.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

Not because that's the right way to do it. And this goes like, this kind of applies to me as well. Like, I think psychology is probably the best way that we could do this, because I'm consistently using psychology. Like. Like, that's the reason why it works so well. This is not the only thing you need to grow a business. It's just psychology. This is one of many good things that you need. At the end of the day, though, it's core message consistent. That's it. I had to teach this to somebody the other day on a sales call where they were like, it's, it's, it's difficult for us to come up with that core message. How do we know what to say to people? What should we say to make someone buy? Right. You tell us, Sarah. And I was like, I don't care.

[Nate Legos]

30 headlines.

[Sarah]

Yeah, I, I don't really care what it is. You pick. That's your thing to say, as long as you never stop saying it. So in fact, I think everybody in a, in a brand sense, pick a core message and then say that core message so many times that you get sick of it. That's what I want you to do. That's how many times you have to say it. For instance, Sarah just says psychology based creative a ton because that's a part of my brand. Now. I have a lot of people in the space that are like, trying to compete with me that can't really compete with me anymore because I, I was the first to say psychology based creative. Now anybody else that comes up and tries to say I'm a psychology based marketer. Psychology based creative, it can't, because Sarah said it first and I say it enough that people know me as such.

[Nate Legos]

And it works for you and it works for your clients because you've been doing it for 10 years.

[Sarah]

Yeah, I've been doing it for such a long time. Like, I never deviated for this. And then I got. Okay. Then I got on Twitter and I said it for five years straight.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

And now again, I'll have to say this for the next 10, 20 years, as long as my business is alive, I will never stop saying psychology based creative. Because that's Sarah's brand. Your brand should do it too. I ask people a lot these days. What does your brand do? What does it solve? And I get like, stares.

[Nate Legos]

Oh, yeah, I know.

[Sarah]

Well, not product, but like, what do you sell?

[Nate Legos]

That's what I think is such a problem in the discourse we're having on Twitter right now. No one's building a brand. They're building a marketing agency around just a thing.

[Sarah]

Yes. Bars clip that, by the way.

[Nate Legos]

They're building just shitty marketing agencies around a product they picked.

[Sarah]

It hurts.

[Nate Legos]

And like all of our conversations internally at OG right now, or like someone else besides me said this of. So, like, I'M not flexing you. Someone else said, I feel like we've, like, marketed the shit out of what we do. And I feel like we've, like, e comd our way out of, like, you know, everything we possibly could do here. Like, yeah, what if we just built sicker watches and did cooler collabs and worked with cooler influencers? Yep, let's do that.

[Sarah]

Yes.

[Nate Legos]

And it's like, it's so simple.

[Sarah]

It's so simple. I feel this in my soul, especially because most of the time when I ask that question of, like, what do you solve as a brand psychologically, nobody has any answer to this. And I. I have to push harder into the. I think Gary Vee. No shame on him. But, like, I think he did us a disservice by telling us, you should become a media company that just sells products. Because then everybody was like, oh, okay, all I gotta do then is just massive amounts of content. And then eventually people will come by. And I'm like, no. I. Even the organic creators will tell you it's very specific content that I had to make. It's content that emotionally resonated with our customers. And then it was one message that I just repeated over and over and over and over. Khabi lame. Really good at this. Mr. Beast, really good at this. Like, Jake Paul, really good at this. The biggest organic creators understand. I have one message that I sell. That's it. And I've never deviated from that. Whether that message is, I'm kind of an asshole and I beat people up for a living.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah.

[Sarah]

And.

[Nate Legos]

Or like, oh, no, sorry, did I have those backwards?

[Sarah]

I hope to God he's not beating people. Or like, Kaby lay is. I need to double check if that's how you say your name. Apologies if I'm butchering your name. Anyways, that guy that basically just like, throws things in the trash can and does this with his face, where he's like, why are you making this so ridiculous? You know that guy? Yeah.

[Nate Legos]

His brand is not saying anything.

[Sarah]

Exactly. He says.

[Nate Legos]

I always say nothing.

[Sarah]

Yeah, he says the same thing and every single piece of content, which is like, why in the hell are we making this so complicated? Please. Yeah, and consistency, guys. Consistency.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah. And I think if we got Gary Vee on the pod, he would say like, hey, don't sell shitty products too.

[Sarah]

Thank you. Yes. Good products. Good.

[Nate Legos]

I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think he'd be like, maybe build something good that people want and are willing to pay a price for. And then build a media company that. Where you talk about that.

[Sarah]

Yes.

[Nate Legos]

Message the whole time. Awesome. But like, got to put the horse before the cart here.

[Sarah]

The media, the organic content, the ads are all secondary to good product, good business practices and just consistency of message. That.

[Nate Legos]

That's it.

[Sarah]

That's it.

[Nate Legos]

So that's the lesson for the podcast today, guys.

[Sarah]

That's a good one. That's a good one.

[Nate Legos]

Is like, just pick like one tactic. Literally one, anyone that we've done on this podcast or my podcast. Tactical and practical. Pick one thing, make sure your product's good and priced right. And then do that tactic every day for a month until you're really good at it for three months or six months. It'll work out.

[Sarah]

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Where can people follow you? You have one minute till you got to go to that call.

[Nate Legos]

So at Nade Legos on Twitter, the tactical and practical podcast is like so good. It's crazy. A lot of. A lot of really smart nine figure marketers are listening to it.

[Sarah]

I might listen to it.

[Nate Legos]

Yeah. Wow.

[Sarah]

Okay, okay, okay. At. Follow me out there. Leverager everywhere you consume content. Thank you for letting us rant today. This is. We need to talk about this more, guys. Like Twitter. Just don't, don't go to Twitter. Really. Just stay off Twitter.

[Nate Legos]

Go build me first.

[Sarah]

Go. Stay good.

[Nate Legos]

Get off it.

[Sarah]

Oh, God. Like, subscribe. Brain Driven Brands is part of the Learn and Laugh series on the Quickfire podcast network and is presented by Tether Insights. For more information, go ToTether insights dot I.