The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: The Mid-Funnel is the Biggest Opportunity in Marketing

Date: March 3, 2026
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
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Overview

This episode centers around a fireside Q&A with Gary Vaynerchuk on the changing landscape of marketing, with special focus on why the mid-funnel, defined as organic social creative, represents the largest unclaimed opportunity in marketing today. Gary advocates for using real-time, validated creative from social organic performance before investing media dollars, challenging traditional corporate marketing cultures and measurement frameworks. The conversation spans content creation, podcast advertising, live social shopping, US vs UK marketing mindsets, talent & hiring philosophies, and what marketers must do to future-proof their careers.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Hasn’t Changed in Marketing (01:13–03:43)

• Relevance → Consideration → Purchase: The fundamental path to purchase remains the same.
  • “The thing that has not changed is that relevance leads to consideration leads to purchase. I think that is just so uncomfortably classic and so true.” (Gary Vee, 01:46)
• Media Landscape Shift: While channels change, the goal is always securing attention—at appropriate price—not nostalgia for specific mediums.
  • “I would buy TVC and television… if the price was appropriate. I don’t really have feelings other than I want to buy attention at a proper price, not overpay for it.”* (Gary Vee, 02:39)
• Challenge with Marketing Industry: Marketing remains stuck in old evaluation habits, such as focus groups and internal politics, instead of business outcomes.

2. Content Creation as Competitive Advantage (04:10–09:59)

• Intentional Content Production: Gary attributes his edge to daily intention and scale in content creation.
  • “For about 12 years now, I’ve had the intent to think of every single day as a production day. And now much of what I do for a living ... understanding that creative and content was the variable of success.” (Gary Vee, 04:28)
• Organic First, Paid After Validation:
  • Record everything (as possible)
  • Use organic performance to validate creative
  • Only then invest working media dollars to amplify
  • Repeat for clients at VaynerMedia as “practitioner” rather than “professor” - “It is my strategy to use technology and people to post produce that content... Once that creative has been validated by gaining organic reach, which is only achievable if the creative is relevant, then I will use working media dollars to amplify it.” (Gary Vee, 04:46)
• Lessons in ROI: His approach, built from family business constraints, required marketing to register sales, not just win awards or lift studies.

3. Podcasts & Audio Are Often Underappreciated (09:59–11:24)

• Podcasts as Sales Vehicles: Podcasts’ potential is unlocked when hosts sell authentically to their audience, not with generic ad reads.
  • “People buy from people and podcast hosts ... have tremendous opportunities to convert their audience if they build something meaningful." (Gary Vee, 10:47)
• Channels are Only as Good as Execution: Any platform can be under- or overpriced — results depend on context and creative integration.

4. Next Big Trends: Live Social Shopping (11:24–12:26)

• Live Social Shopping Is Coming: A massive, proven online shopping phenomenon in China, now emerging in the West.
  • “I think live social shopping is the most important conversation for anybody that sells any single product on Earth." (Gary Vee, 11:34)
  • “Anyone here that sells a bar of soap or really cool pants ... needs to really focus on what's going on with live shopping.” (Gary Vee, 11:55)
• Competitive Differentiation: Early adopters will outflank the market, as with early social media.

5. US vs UK Marketing Mindset (12:26–15:56)

• Overrated Difference: Gary downplays structural or cultural differences; focuses on actionable opportunities.
  • “I spend 0 seconds on it, 0.0 seconds thinking about it.” (Gary Vee, 12:45)
• Easier to Win in UK/Europe: US is crowded with digital natives/VC-funded disruptors; UK is behind in leveraging mid-funnel marketing.
  • “The opportunity in Europe, specifically in the UK is extraordinary... It’s easier to win here than it is in America." (Gary Vee, 13:34)
• Call Out: Industry obsession with traditional “headlines and reports” leads to wasted money and missed opportunities.
  • “We just continue to validate, reward, fake reports and headlines and magazines as good work. And we're wasting an extraordinary amount of money... in a world that does not exist." (Gary Vee, 14:58)

6. Why the Mid-Funnel is the Biggest Opportunity (16:10–18:16)

• Definition: The mid-funnel = organic social media creative, where interest and consideration are earned, not just reach or clicks.
• Gary’s Commandments:
  • “I think it is insane to spend $1 of working media on creative that has not been validated in social.” (Gary Vee, 16:23)
  • Algorithmic platforms surface what’s relevant; audience reaction provides the only validation worth acting on.
  • “There is literally no reason to waste marketing dollars anymore... Every single Brand in here’s biggest issue is not awareness, it’s relevance.” (Gary Vee, 17:38)

7. Traits of Top Marketers (18:42–21:42)

• Courage Over Job Security: The best marketers are unafraid to challenge broken systems, even at risk to their own positions.
  • “The lack of fear of losing their job is the number one thing that I see in someone who's doing a good job.” (Gary Vee, 18:42)
• Marketers’ Loss of Credibility: Many marketers prioritize data manipulation over real business impact, undermining their position.
  • “We are losing credibility as marketers by showing up to these meetings with fake data. We must destroy fake data in our industry. And our industry is, if anything, great at creating fake data.” (Gary Vee, 21:18)
• CFOs Get It More Than CMOs:
  • “By far, the people that believe in what we're doing over in Vaynerland are CFOs more than CMOs by far. It's not even close.” (Gary Vee, 20:14)

8. Talent, Hiring, & ‘Kind Candor’ (21:42–28:04)

• Hiring Fast, Firing Fast—But Promote Fastest: Build relationships with top hires and move them up quickly.
  • “A lot of people hear my content around hire fast, fire fast, but they always skip... I also say promote fastest." (Gary Vee, 22:10)
• Be Honest, Be Kind: Firing/feedback should be delivered with candor and humanity, not avoidance or favoritism.
  • “Later in my life... I realized that candor along the way was far more valuable than the charity I thought I was giving them, which was creating nepotism and entitlement and also hurting the A players around me.” (Gary Vee, 22:47)
• Practitioner Mindset: Obsessive, detail-level understanding of platform trends and creative performance is non-negotiable.
  • “Either you're a practitioner of the craft or you're not... The level of practitionership needs to be profoundly deep.” (Gary Vee, 23:36)
• Moving Budget to Mid-Funnel: Some Vayner clients went from $800K organic social spend to $40M in two years—only possible with total boardroom buy-in.
  • “For some clients to get a brand to go from $800,000 to 40 million in 24 months can only be done by being incredibly T's and I's in every conversation in the boardroom and then the action has to be true.” (Gary Vee, 25:20)

9. How to Change C-Suite Minds (28:04–32:42)

• Expose Existing Waste: Hold up declining sales as evidence old (TV, bus ads) aren’t working; counter myths via clear outcomes.
  • “Your business has been declining for seven years in a row. Why don’t you prove to me that television and bus ads work?” (Gary Vee, 28:39)
• Breakdown of Traditional Metrics: Illustrates industry aphasia with jargon and hollow reporting (“80 trillion impressions” etc.).
  • “Maybe the reports are wrong. In the first meeting I ever had starting this company, maybe the reports are wrong. And you would have thought like, I killed Santa Claus.” (Gary Vee, 31:59)
• Rise of Human-Scale Brands: New giants (Mr. Beast, Stephen Bartlett, etc.) are mid-funnel power users, growing fast because of commitment to organic social.

10. Reporting, Measurement, and Scaling Mid-Funnel Success (32:42–end)

• Challenge: Clients Want Impressions, Not Real Impact:
  • Advocates for taking winning organic/mid-funnel creative and using it (with minor tweaks) in lower-funnel paid performance.
    • “What we know is that when you put media dollars in performance against over-indexing mid funnel creative, that it outperforms the best AB testing that performance people do.” (Gary Vee, 33:11)
• Fight for Proper Budgets: Under-investment in social versus TV leads to faulty conclusions.
  • “Social’s not working, TV is. I’m like, you’re spending 44 million on TV, you’re spending 500,000 on social. Give me 44 million and let’s have it out.” (Gary Vee, 33:55)
• Career Advice:
  • Speak your truth, even if it’s at odds with status quo.
  • Being honest in the boardroom pays when the market shifts.
    • “It is much more fun to die on your own sword than someone else... Because what I can tell you from my seat is marketing is about to go through a transition and there’s a lot coming and there's a lot of angst in the system and you want to be on the right side of history in your boardrooms over the next 12 to 18 months.” (Gary Vee, 34:29)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If the creative isn’t right, we lost.” (Gary Vee, 00:30)
• “There is literally no reason to waste marketing dollars anymore. We don’t have to guess…” (Gary Vee, 00:47)
• “It is insane to spend $1 of working media on creative that has not been validated in social.” (Gary Vee, 16:23)
• “The lack of fear of losing their job is the number one thing that I see in someone who's doing a great job.” (Gary Vee, 18:42)
• “We must destroy fake data in our industry.” (Gary Vee, 21:27)
• “Either you’re a practitioner of the craft or you’re not… The level of practitionership needs to be profoundly deep.” (Gary Vee, 23:37)
• "Social’s not working, TV is. I’m like, you’re spending 44 million on TV, you’re spending 500,000 on social. Give me 44 million and let’s have it out.” (Gary Vee, 33:55)
• “It is much more fun to die on your own sword than someone else's.” (Gary Vee, 34:21)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–03:43: Introduction & What Hasn’t Changed in Marketing
• 04:10–09:59: Content creation strategies and practitioner philosophy
• 09:59–11:24: Value & pitfalls in podcasting as a marketing platform
• 11:24–12:26: The rise & opportunity of live social shopping
• 12:26–15:56: US vs UK: Marketing differences & opportunity delta
• 16:10–18:16: The mid-funnel as the core opportunity (core thesis)
• 18:42–21:42: Traits of successful marketers; courage and credibility
• 21:42–28:04: Hiring, firing, promoting & the value of candor
• 28:04–32:42: Challenging the C-suite; measurement, proof, and breakthrough examples
• 32:42–end: Reporting, shifting budgets, and advice for marketers' future careers

Takeaways & Action Items

• Start with Organic: Validate creative with organic reach and action before paid support.
• Challenge Fake Metrics: Expose the gaps in traditional reporting; make business impact the priority.
• Champion the Mid-Funnel: Prioritize ongoing investment in organic social—where performance validates ideas.
• Be Courageous, Be Honest: Speak your truth in boardrooms—even if it's unpopular.
• Invest in Practitionership: Deep, hands-on knowledge of platforms and creative performance is now non-negotiable for top marketers.
• Ready for the Shift: The next 12–18 months will see legacy marketing cultures upended by organizations and individuals who master and reallocate to the mid-funnel.