248: Love Me or Hate Me, There's No Money in the Middle
Marketing Your Business - Marketing Strategies for Business Owners
Stu McLaren
4.9 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
My wife posts something she believed in on Instagram. Within minutes, a woman comments, "I'm unfollowing you." Ouch. But then the post starts climbing. Comments, shares, new followers, people messaging her saying, "Thank you for saying this."
One person left. Dozens leaned in closer. And that's not a coincidence. That's how this game actually works.
Most creators are stuck in the middle. They're not loved, they're not hated. They're just ignored. And the middle is where businesses go to quietly die.
In this episode, I break down the three layers of content that pull your people toward you (and push the wrong ones away). I share the Nicole Burke story from our summit, the Gary Vaynerchuk moment that made me define my values, and a framework you can use this week to stop blending in.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why vanilla content gets zero engagement (nobody drives across town for vanilla ice cream)
• The three layers of standing out: opinions, values, and controversial takes
• How Nicole Burke grew Gardinary Co. to 1.5 million followers using "conspiracy theories"
• Why unfollows aren't losses, they're the filter working exactly the way it should
• A simple framework: "Most people think X, but I believe Y"
RESOURCE: Grab the resources from this episode at https://podcast.stu.me
CONNECT WITH STU:
• Website: https://stu.me
• Book "Predictable Profits": https://a.co/d/4GIi1uz
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/stumclaren
• Podcast: https://podcast.stu.me
• Membership.io: https://membership.io
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So picture this. My wife posts something that she believed in on Instagram. |
| 0:05.0 | And within minutes, a woman comments, I'm on following you. |
| 0:09.0 | Is that a sting? |
| 0:11.0 | Yeah, but then something else happens. |
| 0:14.0 | The post starts to get traction. |
| 0:17.0 | Now, if your content feels invisible, if your posts get polite likes, but no real reaction, |
| 0:22.8 | or if your audience is growing slow or not at all, then this episode is for you. |
| 0:28.0 | Because by the end of this episode, you and I are going to walk through exactly why being polite is costing you followers, sales, and momentum. |
| 0:36.3 | And what to do instead so that your post |
| 0:39.1 | actually pulls your people towards you. Welcome to marketing your business. I'm Stu McLaren, |
| 0:45.5 | co-founder of membership.io, and author of predictable profits. Now here's the truth. You are one |
| 0:51.5 | great marketing idea away from transforming your business. One strategy can be |
| 0:56.8 | the difference between struggling and thriving, between a business that drains you and one that fuels |
| 1:01.9 | your life. Every episode, you're going to get specific tactics you need to build your audience, |
| 1:07.0 | attract more customers, and scale your business all without the burnout. These are real strategies, |
| 1:12.8 | real numbers, real behind the scenes. Buckle your seatbelts, my friend. Let's go. |
| 1:19.4 | Hey, my friend, welcome back to the marketing your business podcast. So we have been wrapping up |
| 1:25.9 | our summit and it has been amazing. |
| 1:29.1 | Like the feedback on the interviews and the discussions has been exceptional. |
| 1:34.9 | I've been texting all of our speakers, screenshots of all of the feedback that people have |
| 1:40.3 | been leaving in the community. |
| 1:41.6 | And it's just been amazing. |
... |
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