The Most Powerful Marketing You’re Not Using

This weekend in LA, something clicked for me. I hadn’t really sat down and intentionally listened to music in a long time. Not because I didn’t want to—but because life is noisy. The world is full of stimulus. Content everywhere. Ads everywhere. Too much of everything.

But something interesting happened.
I left that weekend with 10 new songs saved.

None of them came from a Spotify playlist.
None from TikTok.
None from a music blog.

Every single one was playing passively.
— At the Kith store.
— In the background of that new Netflix show Forever (gem btw, Wood Harris is GOATED).
— In an Instagram vlog I was watching waiting for my flight.

That’s when it hit me.
Straight promotion is broken.
We’re so obsessed with cutting through the noise that we’ve forgotten the type of marketing that makes people lean in.

We're over-leveraged on social media visibility.
We're overspending on content people scroll past.
And we’re undervaluing a simple principle:

Let your product live in moments, not just in media.

The Marketing You’re Not Using Enough

Right now, everyone wants attention.
Artists want people to stream their song.
Brands want people to buy their product.
Founders want users.

So they shout. Loudly.
Paid ads. Big productions. Clickbait.
But ask yourself: How often does that actually work on you?

Think about the last time you found a product or a song and thought:
“Damn, what is that? I need to look this up.”

That moment is what we should be chasing.
Not the view count.
Not the viral chart.
But that split-second where the audience is curious enough to act.
To Shazam.
To Google.
To DM and say, “yo where’s that from?”

That’s why I believe:

Instead of spending $3,000 on a music video no one sees,
Artists should pay $300 to have their track featured in a YouTuber’s cinematic travel vlog that gets 100k views a month.

Instead of building a campaign that converts zero sales,
Brands should find the right podcaster whose audience overlaps perfectly and gift them a hoodie and pay them to wear it. No campaign—just presence.

Presence in the right moment > promotion in the wrong one.

The Strategy Only Works If…

1. The Product is Actually Good

This only works if your song is fire.
If your hoodie makes people pause.
If your product solves a real problem.

Because no one is forcing it anymore. You’re relying on pull, not push.

That’s scary for some—but freeing for those who are building something real.

2. You Know Who You’re Selling To

I don’t care how many people saw your product.
If they weren’t the right people, those views were just pixels.

This is why niche platforms charge higher CPMs.
They offer brands access to the right ears, eyes, and hearts.
Not more—but better.

Watch Hyphen8. Look at the strategy Lily Singh is going to leverage for her creators.
Brown creators are finally realizing that quality of reach is more important than quantity.

So here’s your play:
Instead of trying to “go viral,”
Try to “go intentional.”

Give your song to a podcaster whose episodes reach the audience you care about.
Put your product into spaces that people trust—when they’re not looking to be sold to.

And if you’re a brown brand still paying influencers based on IG followers instead of conversion?
You’re not marketing.
You’re donating.