- The Creatorverse
- Posts
- Traditional Marketing is Dead
Traditional Marketing is Dead
How Creators Hijack your Marketing Funnel
Ryan To
June 29, 2025
Read Time: 1 min 50 secs
Hey — Ryan here.
In today’s edition we’ll be covering:
Why your marketing funnel is broken
How creators control every stage of customer decisions
3 strategies to reclaim your marketing power
Traditional marketing is dead.
The old funnel of Awareness → Consideration → Purchase → Loyalty does not exist.
Facebook ads and Google SEO used to be the only marketing channels to master.
ROI was predictable. Attribution was clear.
But now organic visits and clicks are disappearing entirely.
Instead, we live in an infinite loop of inspiration, exploration, and community:
→ Your customers discover products on TikTok.
→ They research through YouTube reviews.
→ They buy based on creator recommendations.
Your carefully crafted funnel? Completely gone.
Creators have the most important currency of the next decade
And no it’s not just generic ‘attention’ or ‘views’
It’s trust.
And if you don’t believe me, check out this statement by Mark Zuckerberg himself on Joe Rogan Experience #2255 - Mark Zuckerberg
‘They had CBS. They had NBC. They had the New York Times, the Washington Post, they were in control of the narratives.
There's never been a thing like Facebook before. There's never been a thing like X. A thing like Instagram.
There's gonna be this whole new class of creators who basically become the new kind of cultural elites that people look at and are, like, okay. These are the people who give it to me straight. And that's possible because of social media.’
Here’s the brutal truth:
76% of Gen Z discovers products through creators, not ads
92% trust creator recommendations over brand messaging
Only 16% of purchase decisions happen through traditional funnels
Your marketing budget is fighting for scraps while creators own the actual decision-making moments.
The Creator Takeover
Think about your last major purchase:
Did you Google product reviews? (Creator-generated)
Did you watch review videos? (Creator content)
Did you check Reddit recommendations? (Creator communities)
What you thought was "research" was actually creator influence at every step.
The new customer journey looks like this:
Discovery: Creator mentions product in content
Research: Multiple creators provide "honest" reviews
Validation: Community discussions confirm the decision
Purchase: Often through link in bios
Your traditional touchpoints—ads, landing pages—barely register.
The creators aren't just influencing your customers. They've become your competition for attention and trust.
Why Your Current Strategy is Failing
Every dollar you spend on traditional marketing is competing against authentic creator content.
Your polished ads vs. raw creator testimonials.
Your corporate messaging vs. personal storytelling.
Your sales funnels vs. creator-driven discovery loops.
Here's the opportunity:
Smart brands aren't fighting against creators—they're joining them.
They're not trying to ‘control’ the funnel—they're becoming part of the creator ecosystem.
They're not pushing products—they're enabling authentic recommendations.
3 Strategies to Reclaim Your Marketing Power
1️⃣ Turn your founder into a creator: Your founder's authentic voice beats any corporate campaign. Document the journey, share failures, provide value first. Become the ‘creator’ your customers follow. We talk about the best playbooks every week.
2️⃣ Build an in-house marketing team: Every dollar spent on ads is borrowed attention. Start building an in-house media brand for your company that you have complete control over. You'll have direct access to your customers without paying for every click.
3️⃣ Design for the creator-driven funnel: Map every touchpoint where creators influence your customers, then build the right creator marketing strategy at each stage (ie. UGC, Influencer Marketing, Done-for-you Content Agency)
Thanks for showing up this week ❤️
Ryan To
P.S. If you're ready for more, we’ve got you covered:
Join the Consulting Waitlist - For those serious about adopting next-gen content & marketing strategies.
How did you like today's newsletter? |