The Marketing Advice You Should Ignore Immediately | Bathroom Break #89

Summary

The Marketing Millennials – Bathroom Break #89: "The Marketing Advice You Should Ignore Immediately"

Host: Daniel Murray
Guest Co-Host: Jay Schwedelson
Date: January 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively and candid Bathroom Break mini-episode, Daniel Murray teams up with Jay Schwedelson (of "Do This, Not That" and subjectline.com) to debunk the most tired, misguided, and outright harmful pieces of marketing advice that refuse to die. With their typical blend of sharp wit and hard-won expertise, the duo riff on industry clichés, stress the value of adaptability and testing, and remind listeners that the best marketers focus on what really works for their audience — not what’s trending on LinkedIn. This episode is a rapid-fire takedown of bad advice, packed with practical truths and personal anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Flaws in New Year Marketing Predictions

• Timestamp: 02:10
  • Jay notes that the start of the year leads to a glut of “Nostradamus” advice. Everyone claims to have predictions about what’s coming, but most of it is “epic toilet paper. Garbage. Trash.”
  • Quote: "Everyone's full of it. Nobody knows what's going on." – Jay Schwedelson (02:10)

2. Myth: “You Need to Be on Every Social Platform”

• Timestamp: 02:46–03:38
  • Daniel calls out the widely-shared but bad advice that marketers must be everywhere online.
  • Key Insight: He argues for focus: “It’s better to be A+ on one platform than C’s on 10 platforms.”
  • Establishing authority and a winning strategy on a single platform makes it easier to replicate that success elsewhere if desired.
  • Quote: "This theory that you need to be on every platform posting every day...is not something you need to do. And I think it's horrible advice." – Daniel Murray (03:38)

3. The Danger of “I Don’t Like It” Culture in Marketing

• Timestamp: 03:38–04:34
  • Jay rails against the pervasive mistake of letting personal taste determine marketing campaigns.
  • Core Message: Marketers and their bosses are not the target audience, and ignoring testing for opinions is detrimental.
  • Quote: "You are not your audience. And if you don't have a testing culture and you're not testing first...you are in a bad marketing environment." – Jay Schwedelson (04:11)

4. Myth: “Just Create Great Content, Don’t Worry About Distribution”

• Timestamp: 04:34–05:38
  • Daniel highlights another falsehood: that making awesome content is enough.
  • Main Advice: Distribution is now more important than creation, due to the volume of content (thanks, AI).
  • Marketers should stop agonizing over perfection and instead share above-average content, focusing efforts on how it’s distributed and formatted for each platform.
  • Quote: "Distribution is going to be way more important than creating, because everybody can create now." – Daniel Murray (05:22)

5. Content Calendars: Helpful but Overrated

• Timestamp: 05:38–06:40
  • Jay questions the worship of rigid content calendars.
  • Key Point: The best-performing content often happens on the fly, in response to what’s happening today.
  • Agility and cultural relevance beat stale, over-planned posts.
  • Memorable Analogy: "It's like when I'm somewhere on a trip and I'm cold, I go to the Gap and I buy a hoodie. That hoodie winds up being my favorite piece of clothing." – Jay Schwedelson (06:23)

6. AI Will Not Replace Marketers — Just Lazy Marketing

• Timestamp: 06:40–08:16
  • Daniel pushes back against the AI panic: “AI is going to replace lazy execution...but it’s going to amplify people with taste, strategy, people who understand marketing.”
  • Marketers should think of AI as a tool, not a threat.
  • Quote: "Stop listening to everybody that says it's going to replace marketers...it's actually going to help you as a marketer." – Daniel Murray (07:02)
  • Jay agrees, saying AI only threatens truly task-based roles, not creative/strategic marketers.
  • Memorable Moment: Joking about the overabundance of AI job-loss predictions and plumbing as a supposed safe career.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You are not your audience. And if you don't have a testing culture and you're not testing first...you are in a bad marketing environment.”
  – Jay Schwedelson (04:11)

• “It's better to be A+ on one platform than C's on ten platforms.”
  – Daniel Murray (02:48)

• “Distribution...matters way more than making this A+ piece of content.”
  – Daniel Murray (05:22)

• “It’s like when I'm somewhere on a trip and I'm cold, I go to the Gap and I buy a hoodie. That hoodie winds up being my favorite piece of clothing...It's not the thing you plan for that's gonna always work.”
  – Jay Schwedelson (06:23)

• “AI is not taking people’s jobs...if your job is a task, yeah, you might be screwed. But that's not the job of a real marketer.”
  – Jay Schwedelson (07:49)

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 02:10 – Jay's rant about New Year marketing predictions and the overwhelming amount of bad advice
• 02:46 – Daniel debunks “be everywhere at once” social strategy
• 03:38 – Jay discusses the dangers of “I don’t like it” decision-making
• 04:34 – Daniel exposes the fallacy of “just great content” without distribution planning
• 05:38 – Jay takes down content calendar dogma with the “Gap hoodie” analogy
• 06:40 – Daniel addresses AI anxiety and why good marketers shouldn’t fear it
• 07:23–08:16 – Jay and Daniel riff on what AI really means for marketers vs. task-doers

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Tone & Style Highlights

• The tone is irreverent, direct, and full of friendly banter.
• Both hosts favor blunt, memorable phrasing and relatable analogies to drive points home.
• There's a shared confidence in practical, results-oriented marketing over trendy, consensus-driven advice.

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Conclusion

This "Bathroom Break" episode delivers fast, actionable truths and much-needed myth-busting for marketers bombarded by recycled advice at the start of the year. Daniel Murray and Jay Schwedelson urge marketers to:

• Focus and dominate a single platform first
• Let data and real testing (not personal opinions) drive decisions
• Prioritize distribution over content perfection
• Stay agile, not chained to a calendar
• View AI as a strategic ally, not a replacement

Whether you’re taking a literal bathroom break or just need a detox from “toilet paper” marketing tips, this episode is a punchy, essential listen for anyone who wants to cut the BS and level up their marketing game.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes you either have to listen to marketing tips or use the bathroom. Or both. But I don't recommend both. But that's your choice.

[A]

This collab is going to be super fun. We have Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials and me, Jay Schwetelson from the do this, not that podcast and subjectline.com each episode in the series, we are going to go over quick tips about different marketing top. And if you want to be in the bathroom, fine, just don't tell us about it. Thanks for checking it out. We are back for the bathroom break. I am Jay Schwedelson from Do this, not that. And I'm here with the guy himself, Daniel Murray from the Marking Millennials. And here we are. It is a new year, Daniel. We're only like a few days in here. Have you broken your resolutions? Are you, are you holding strong? Where are you at?

[B]

Well, I think I took. I took your advice on a previous podcast and I ate a lot over the holidays, so, like net zero. I am like, down weight because I gained like 10 pounds on the holiday. So I, I'm currently crushing my resolution of that. So I'm proud of myself for that. What about you? What are you. Are you crushing yours?

[A]

I. I am trying to crush it. So my wife thinks I'm like, very. I'm always very stressed, so she made me start taking my blood pressure every morning. She's such a doctor. I've been doing that and thankfully it's not been terrible. I was taking it in the middle of the day. I didn't know that your blood pressure is really. You're supposed to take it in the first thing in the morning because in the middle of the day it's like 4 billion. Over 4 billion. And it looks like you're in trouble. So. So I didn't know that.

[B]

I go to the doctor all the time and they like, if I. Sometimes it's perfect and sometimes they say you need to go on blood pressure medication.

[A]

Oh, I've been on blood pressure medication for 25 years.

[B]

Oh, my God, it's so bad. Okay, well, that's a fun fact for everybody here.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Don't do whatever I'm doing. But speaking of, don't doing stuff. This time of year is very unique. Everybody becomes Nostradamus this time of year. Everybody gives advice. They have outlooks. They tell you what's gonna happen. And everyone' full of it. Nobody knows what's going on. And the thing that annoys me the most is everyone's giving advice. And the majority of marketing advice that's given out there, not just about the new year rolling out, but in general, is epic toilet paper. Garbage. Trash. So I want to rip through with you, Daniel, some marketing advice overall that you think is an epic piece of garbage.

[B]

I think the one I'm thinking about because I love social and I think people do this is, I hear this all the time, that you need to be on every social platform without thinking about where your audience is. And I honestly believe that it's better to be a plus on one platform than C's on 10 platform. And I think if you don't focus on being dominant on one platform because once you dominant on one platform, it's easy to recreate the winners on that platform or another platform. But this theory that you need to be on every platform posting every day is not maybe have some sort of presence, just looks like you're alive as a business. But posting every day and being every platform, being great on every platform is not something you need to do. And I think it's horrible advice.

[A]

It is horrible advice. And I think you're better off not being on a platform than being on a platform with barely any exposure because then you look like you're like, you don't even know what you're doing, which is a negative signal. The advice that I think I cannot stand, I don't even know if it's really advice, is you'll. Everybody has probably number one problem in marketing. You'll be in a market, you'll be in a meeting with your higher ups, whatever. And some come with an idea, a marketing idea, and they're like somebody like, well, I don't like that, or I wouldn't open that, or I wouldn't click on that. And then everyone piles on, yeah, I wouldn't either. I wouldn't, I wouldn't interact with that. We shouldn't do it. And the problem is you are not your audience. And if you don't have a testing culture and you're not testing first as opposed to whatever your opinion is, you are in a bad marketing environment. Because this idea of, I don't like it, dictating what you're doing is absolutely the worst thing in the world of marketing.

[B]

I'll piggyback off that and say that a lot of people, which is bad marketing advice, is create this great piece of content and not even think about the distribution of that content. So they just like, just create something great and post it and See what happens. And just because you created something that you think is great, like air quotes, a lot of things that you think is great aren't great to your audience doesn't mean. So stop waiting to create this perfect piece of content, this perfect piece of. And just post above average things that you think your audience might like and let it rip. I think that's a horrible advice because. And also, when you're posting a piece of content, think about the distribution plan because that's honestly, in this day and age, with all the slop out there with AI and stuff like that, distribution is going to be way more important than creating because everybody can create now. Like how you distribute it and how it gets on the platform and how the formatting matters way more than like making this a plus piece of content.

[A]

You know, along those lines, especially this time of year, the thing that I stink at, and I'm telling you right now, is a waste of time. It's great if you have one. But content calendars, everyone sits back and they go, okay, this is our content calendar for the year. And then you put it in like stone. You're like, we have to follow this thing. And don't feel bad. If you don't have a content calendar, it's more than fine. And the reason I say that is sometimes you have to move at the speed of culture, okay? That is how you win. You wake up in the morning, there's something going on, you can participate in that. And whether you're a boring B2B brand, a non profit consumer, doesn't matter. But oh no, it's not on our content calendar this week, so we can't do it. The social posts, the emails that perform the best for my clients and for my organization are usually the ones that we didn't have a plan for. It's like when I'm somewhere on a trip and I'm cold, I go to the Gap and I buy a hoodie. That hoodie winds up being my favorite piece of clothing that I own for the next 20 years. I don't know why that always happens, but it's not the thing that you plan for that's gonna always work.

[B]

On another note, I think because we're in a revolution and it's 2026 is. I don't believe that when people say AI are going to replace marketers, I think it's going to replace lazy execution. I think it's going to replace tasks that suck, but it's going to amplify people with taste, people with strategy, people who Understand marketing. So stop listening to everybody that says it's going to replace markets and replace marketers. It's actually going to help you as a marketer and think of it as a tool. I hate this, like, narrative that it's just going to get rid of people, especially right now, maybe far down the line, but in this moment, AI is not replacing marketers.

[A]

I could not agree with you more. AI is not taking people's jobs. Let me just tell you, I think it's the most annoying. First of all, everything you read, it says the career you have to go into is coming plumber, become an electrician, which is wonderful. Those are great jobs, trade jobs, whatever. But the amount of times people are saying it, to be 4 billion plumbers, there's going to be more plumbers than toilets with. How often people are saying everyone should go get a trade job. It's out of control. And here's the reality of it, okay? The only jobs AI will take is if your job. And now, where did I hear this? I have no idea. Your job is a task. If your job is a singular task, yeah, you might be screwed. But that's not the job of a real marketer. You're not doing a task. So if you're not doing a task, get good at AI and lean into it and stop being a tool and think it's taking your job. Why do I get so worked up? I'm out of control. I probably have high blood pressure right now. That's not good.

[B]

No, you're probably in your 6 Celsius.

[A]

That's.

[B]

Let's be honest. That's really happening right now.

[A]

All right, so wait, before we wrap up, since it is the start of the year, I know you're on your tennis kick now. You're trying to lose weight from this giant number that you're at. And I'm not calling you big. What is the other?

[B]

Luckily, it's not video right now, so.

[A]

Right. What is the other health tactic that you are doing as this new year rolls out?

[B]

Yeah. One, I need to start walking more. Baby just, like, makes me not. So I'm just, like, forcing myself to just take the baby out more. So that's. I feel like walking is the best option. And one thing me and Ari suck at is, like, cooking at home. So we're trying to at least, like, cook at home.

[A]

Yeah. Step it off.

[B]

It's so hard to cook at home when you two of the people have jobs.

[A]

But tonight's salmon night. I'm cooking salmon as soon as I get home. What's wrong with you?

[B]

Oh, yeah, Salmon night. It's the best night of the week.

[A]

There you go. And then I get hungry an hour later and nauseous simultaneously.

[B]

You need your omega 3s for your heart, though.

[A]

Yeah. There you go. I need to do something. Well, another amazing episode. Listen. Go follow the Marking Millennials, the greatest podcast in the universe. The one that's terrible is mine. Do this, not that, and we'll see you at the next one. Daniel, come on, man. I gotta get back to work. Get out of there. All right, while he's still in there. This is Jay. Check out my podcast, do this, not that, for Marketers. Each week we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try. Oh, here's Daniel. He's finally out.

[B]

Back from my bathroom break. This is Daniel. Go follow the Market Millennials podcast, but also tune into the series. It's once a week, the Bathroom Break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out. And it could be anything from email, subject line to any marketing tips in the world. We'll talk about it. Just give us a shout on LinkedIn and tell us what you want to hear.

[A]

Peace out. Later.