🛡️Small businesses, protect your neck (self-preservation)

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Busy week, Inbox Hackers. But I couldn’t just abandon y’all. Could. But bills and such.

So, I soldier on with the Feature Story that may honestly be useless to you if you already know what my good friend knows. His mindset is pretty rare though, so I think it will help most of you. Because small businesses are at the mercy of a few giant corporations currently.

After that, nibble on the following sections: 

• The Knowledge Base  

• Self Help (noise)

• Facts & Stats (CTR)

• Get Hacking (gamify engagement)

Ok, let’s pop the top on today’s Feature Story…

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Feature Story

Don’t Get Blindsided By Big Tech

The business world is always chaotic. From the beginning of time.

But even I have to admit it’s a little over the edge right now. 

• Businesses are panicking over SEO changes

• Non-profits are freaking out over lost funding

• Folks who like earning a paycheck are fearful of AI job snatchers

• Social media is a must for marketers but toxic for our brains

I could go on, but I’ll stop there.

So, what are you to do when facing all those challenges? As either a business owner or marketing pro?

Protect your neck! As Wu-Tang said. Gandhi too, I bet.

That means having your own back. Not in a subtle way, either. I mean depending on nobody or nothing else. 

Sadly that’s gonna entail doing what one of my good friends does.

Assume the Worst & Be Hypocritical

My buddy is good at business. And manages money like it’s child’s play, stacking up dollars like LEGOS. 

He is a good guy. Liked by 98% of folks who know him. 

Even though he is always, always, always on his own side.

He only considers his and his family’s best interests.

Very few people can get over on him. Because he assumes that is the other person’s agenda from the get-go!

Plus, he only sees things from his vantage point. 

Present two scenarios - exactly the same. And if he’s on the losing side of one of them, he deems the scenario “not right.” If he’s on the winning side, then that’s fine. Never even considers it’s a problem!

Self-preservation.

Pretty hilarious watching from the outside. 

Again. He’s a good dude. Even though this trait is technically hypocritical.

For him, it’s a superpower.

With great power comes great responsibility, though, right?

Wrong. Not when you’re dealing with modern business and the marketing arena.

Sure, when dealing with your fellow humans, do the right thing. It pays.

But when dealing with Google, Facebook, Amazon, X, Apple, or any giant corporation, you have to assume the worst. 

They’re not your friends. 

You have to seek the advantage for your business 24/7.

If not, those types of corporate giants will trample all over your business. Stomp the crap out of your marketing efforts.

Why? 

Those corporations are built to print money. They don’t want anything to slow the printing process.

No, they don’t have a sinister aim to put small to medium businesses out of business. It just happens. When it does, they couldn’t care less. That’s a fact. 

So. Protect your neck.

The following examples show you what I mean.

7 Examples of Big Tech Smacking Small Businesses Around

1. Google tweaks its search algorithm all the time, and even small changes can send a business's website tumbling down the rankings. Your organic traffic and sales can disappear overnight. Their Helpful Content Update hit sites with “thin or unhelpful” content hard, causing visibility drops for small businesses that counted on Google to attract customers.

2. In 2016, Facebook changed its algorithm. Business posts got sucker-punched as organic reach dropped by 52%. By 2020, the average business page was only reaching a measly 5.2% of its followers organically. So, small businesses had to pay just to reach people who already followed them, spiking marketing costs.

3. When Facebook ramped up AI to fight misinformation, legitimate small businesses got caught in the crossfire. Their ads got blocked or accounts locked with no explanation, costing thousands in lost revenue. Getting help or appealing these decisions is like trying to make Mark Zuckerberg look human.

4. Stephen Howe, who runs a marketing agency, earned his Google Certified Business status after taking exams that would hurt my head. Then Google changed the rules. Businesses now had to spend $10,000 monthly on ads to stay certified. Rug-pull, son! Howe couldn't meet that stipulation. Lost his certification.

5. Amazon pushes small sellers to use its fulfillment and advertising services by giving better search placement to those who comply. Sellers now lose up to 30% of each sale to Amazon's fees (up from 19% just five years ago).

6. The CEO of Palo Alto Software, got hit with a requirement for a security audit through a Google-approved consultant. Low low price of $15,000! Just to keep her business’ Google Mail integration running. For most small businesses, surprise costs like that will have you selling a kidney on Ebay, if you can afford Ebay’s fees.

7.  Businesses regularly lose their Facebook pages or ad accounts without warning or clear reasons. Sometimes it's automated systems flagging "suspicious" activity like logging in from different locations or increasing ad spend. Most small business owners never get an explanation or chance to appeal to a human employee.

Rotten to the Core

At least Apple is our BFF, right? Wrong. Making pretty widgets doesn’t get Apple off the hook.

Apple’s privacy crackdown made Facebook and Instagram ads less effective for small to medium-sized businesses. But Apple is fighting the good fight for all of us peasants’ privacy!

Child please. If the privacy efforts did not benefit Apple, they would not have bothered.

If you believe otherwise, I’ve got a bridge in Frisco to sell you. Or my buddy does… protecting his best interests made him able to buy the Golden Gate in the first place. 

Bottom line is… I’m not mad at Big Tech. Or any large corporation. 

I’m aware big companies offer tools and services that can help small to medium businesses level up. 

I’m also aware goliath companies are required to do what’s in the best interest of their shareholders. Not their customers, necessarily.

Nuff said. On to The Knowledge Base below…

Self-Help

“99% of the world is useless noise.” Quoted from a highly productive artist.

Highly happy too. Ignoring noise is how we get things done. And how we avoid needless stress about crap we can’t control.

Every generation feels like the world is a trainwreck while they’re growing up. 

Older you get, you figure out there are new trainwrecks every week, month, year.

NOISE. To keep our noses in the TV and thumbs on our addiction devices. 

ALT Hack if you have youngins: How ‘digital pacifiers’ are squeezing the sanity out of children.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: How many independent sellers generated over $1 million in sales on Amazon in 2024? Answer at end of email.

Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

Hit play!

If you’re not using games to engage your audience, you’re missing out. 

No matter how “serious” your industry is. Simple games can be the engagement tool you’ve been looking for. 

Example: Fun quizzes are an easy way to pull in leads and learn more about your audience. 

Even if the game you introduce doesn’t have a “function,” giving your followers something enjoyable to do can be a reason they keep opening your emails or watching your YouTube videos.

I’ve created games using Claude AI. Pretty good results so far (not perfect). Also, you can make stupid-simple games like the one below👇 without AI’s help.

Which of the two headlines below were real headlines about AI? Click your choice.

Thanks for reading Inbox Hacking. Please share it with your peeps - it’s sugar-free but stings a bit.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

Bonus answer from Facts & Stats section: More than 55,000 independent sellers generated over $1 million in sales on Amazon in 2024 (Amazon).

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.” ~Bruce Lee.