There’s a moment Joe Teo describes in this episode that will feel familiar to a lot of agency owners: revenue flattening, a growth channel that stopped working and no plan B.
For Joe, the CEO and co-founder of Hey Orca, that moment forced a question most marketers never think to ask: what if you’d built a growth strategy with no foundation underneath it?
In this episode, Joe breaks down how Hey Orca rebuilt their growth engine through community-led marketing after paid ads hit a wall, and what they learned about the difference between having an audience and building a community.
We get into:
- Why systems alone (newsletters, Slack groups, webinars) don’t create community, and what actually does
- The shift from “what should we publish next?” to a question that changes everything
- How paid ads fit into a community-led strategy without becoming the whole strategy
- The participation signals worth tracking beyond likes and comments
- Why Joe thinks AI fatigue is pushing people toward something most marketers are underestimating
Joe is also the author of Community-Led Marketing, and his take on where trust, attention, and growth intersect right now is one I think you’ll be thinking about long after the episode ends.
Show Notes:
-Website: heyorca.com
-Community-Led Marketing ebook: heyorca.com/ebook/community-led-marketing
-Joe Teo’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/josephteols
-HeyOrca’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/heyorca
Now it’s time to build your Small But Mighty Agency
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