Episode Summary: SPECIAL SERIES: The Power of Building in Public | Bathroom Break #53 🚽

Release Date: April 28, 2025
Podcast: The Marketing Millennials
Hosts: Daniel Murray & Jay Schwedelson

In this special episode of The Marketing Millennials, host Daniel Murray teams up with Jay Schwedelson from the Do This, Not That podcast to delve into the transformative concept of building in public. Titled "The Power of Building in Public," this episode is part of their collaborative series, Bathroom Break #53, which offers quick yet insightful marketing tips tailored for professionals on the go.

Introduction to Building in Public

Jay Schwedelson opens the discussion by defining building in public as the practice of transparently sharing the entire journey of creating a product, brand, or business. This includes showcasing successes, failures, and the challenges encountered along the way. He emphasizes its universal applicability, stating:

“Building in public is for everybody. You know, people think building in public might be for like a small startup and it’s not for them. There may be a big brand or whatever, but it’s for everybody.”
[04:48]

Daniel Murray concurs, highlighting the growing trend on platforms like TikTok where creators share both their final content and the behind-the-scenes process. He notes that these behind-the-scenes videos often garner significantly more views:

“They’ll see TikTokers post two videos now and one video is the video that they made and then the behind the scenes of how they made the video...the behind the scenes of how they made the video is 5x views of what the original video.”
[03:25]

Why Building in Public Works

The hosts explore the reasons behind the effectiveness of building in public:

1. Desire to Understand the 'Why': Audiences crave the rationale behind decisions. Sharing the "why" fosters a deeper connection and understanding.

2. Insider Access: People enjoy feeling like they’re part of an exclusive journey, gaining insider knowledge about the brand’s evolution.

3. Humanizing the Brand: Showcasing struggles, debates, and failures makes the brand appear more relatable and authentic.

4. Diverse Perspectives: Featuring various team members, such as founders and product managers, provides a multifaceted view of the brand’s development.

5. Interactive Feedback Loop: Engaging the audience through polls and questions allows for real-time feedback and community-driven improvements.

Daniel Murray emphasizes the importance of presenting the "messy" aspects to enhance relatability:

“They also want to see the messy stuff. Because the messy stuff shows like the struggles, the debates, the failed tests, the tough roadmap makes your brand feel like more human.”
[07:48]

Jay Schwedelson supports this by sharing an example from the Amy Porterfield podcast, where technical difficulties were aired, leading to increased relatability and connection with the audience:

“Leave in the messy parts. Because that’s the stuff that we all feel how we get connected to a brand.”
[07:48]

Practical Tips for Building in Public

The hosts offer actionable strategies for implementing building in public:

1. Consistent Sharing: Regularly update your audience with progress reports, challenges, and milestones.

2. Incorporate Hooks: Ensure every piece of content has an engaging hook to capture and retain attention.

3. Highlight Founders: Involve the founders to provide a personal touch and build trust. Daniel mentions:

   “You need like the founder has the story has the pain point is a face that will probably be there for a long time.”
   [08:38]

4. Showcase Diverse Roles: Feature different team members to present various viewpoints and contributions to the project.

5. Engage the Community: Use interactive tools like polls and Q&A sessions to involve the audience in decision-making processes.

6. Be Transparent About Failures: Don’t shy away from sharing setbacks. Transparency fosters authenticity and trust.

Daniel Murray adds a crucial reminder:

“It’s a great way to get a feedback loop because as you’re going through this process, you can ask polls, questions to your audience.”
[07:48]

Examples of Successful Building in Public

The hosts cite several companies effectively employing the building in public strategy:

• Oats Overnight: Utilizes ads that narrate their brand story, product testing, customer feedback, and challenges, creating an engaging and transparent narrative.

• Crumble Cookie & Notion: Both have leveraged building in public to involve their communities in product development and iterate based on real-time feedback.

• HubSpot & Dharmesh Shah: Dharmesh regularly shares his spontaneous ideas and product launches on social media, fostering a dynamic and interactive community.

Jay Schwedelson praises Dharmesh from HubSpot for his developer-centric approach:

“He’ll come up with an idea in the middle of the night. The next day he’ll go on social...he’s like, you know what? I think agentic AI is going to be a big deal.”
[05:58]

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Building in public is a versatile and powerful marketing strategy that fosters transparency, authenticity, and community engagement. By sharing the complete journey—including successes and failures—brands can create deeper connections with their audience, receive invaluable feedback, and humanize their business operations.

Final Thoughts from Daniel Murray:

“People want the insider scoop. So I think this is a great way to make people actually have a fandom of your brand.”
[08:38]

Jay Schwedelson encourages listeners to embrace the messy parts of their journey to enhance relatability and build a loyal community.

Notable Quotes

• Jay Schwedelson:
  “Building in public is for everybody... it’s for everybody.”
  [04:48]

• Daniel Murray:
  “They also want to see the messy stuff...makes your brand feel like more human.”
  [07:48]

• Daniel Murray:
  “It’s a great way to get a feedback loop because...you can ask polls, questions to your audience.”
  [07:48]

• Jay Schwedelson:
  “Leave in the messy parts. Because that’s the stuff that we all feel how we get connected to a brand.”
  [07:48]

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