#248 – Joshua Counsil: The $0 Event That Saved a Brewery

Joshua Counsil is the co-founder of Good Robot Brewing in Halifax, a multi-award-winning hospitality and beverage company with three venues, national wholesale distribution, and The Beverage Factory, a co-manufacturing facility serving brands all the way to Costco. Good Robot Brewing was weeks away from insolvency. No ad budget. No agency. No playbook. Co-founder JOSHUA COUNSIL posted about a silent reading event on Facebook, and within 72 hours the taproom was at capacity. That single idea didn't just save the business, it became 5% of their website traffic for the next five years and helped fuel a $10M brand built almost entirely on earned media, raw authenticity, and doing the opposite of what every competitor was doing. He explains: ◼️ How one $0 Facebook post pulled a brewery back from the brink of insolvency ◼️ The "zig where they zag" framework that turned a corn beer into an award-winning product and a viral campaign ◼️ Why publicity is the most underrated marketing channel — and how to manufacture it without a PR budget ◼️ The brutal truth about running a business vs. opening one (and why most entrepreneurs get blindsided) ◼️ How Josh uses AI as a strategic thinking partner — not a content machine — to break through writer's block and sharpen product positioning ◼️ Why founder-led content still wins, and what happens to your brand when the founders stop showing up ◼️ The mindset shift that keeps entrepreneurs going when the fire hose of problems never turns off ---------------------------------------- *Timestamps* 02:15 – Why Josh loves conferences more than most people love vacations 05:00 – Raised by murder mystery dinner theatre owners: how that shaped everything 09:30 – From engineering to entrepreneurship — quitting his job in Seattle for a brewery idea 14:00 – Landing in Halifax and the culture shock of a non-hustle market 18:30 – Weeks from insolvency: what the early days of Good Robot really looked like 23:00 – The silent reading event that packed the taproom in 72 hours 27:30 – Zigging where competitors zag: the corn beer campaign that no one expected 32:00 – Publicity over paid ads: why earned media builds brands that ads can't 36:30 – Knowing what you suck at — the most underrated business skill 40:00 – Using AI as a strategic partner, not a shortcut ---------------------------------------- 🔗 Connect with Joshua Counsil on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/joshuacounsil 🍺 Good Robot Brewing: http://goodrobotbrewing.ca 📩 Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe and leave a 5-star review. 🎓 Want the AI tools and strategies we use at Merged Media? Join the Amplify Your Brand community: http://skool.com/ayb Learn more about Jay: https://jayhunt.social

source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsd7ny68lmU

Your LinkedIn DMs are full of AI-generated compliments

Everyone's automating their LinkedIn outreach. And everyone's getting ignored. This week on Drop The Mic, Zivko Dodovski breaks down the manual LinkedIn strategy that's booking 8-10 qualified calls a month with zero ads and zero AI. All from LinkedIn. All organic. All manual Listen to episode 247 of Drop The Mic.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QD51DaM4Luk

Your competitors are using local SEO to get found.

Most local businesses use SEO to get found. The smart ones use it to become the authority in their market. There's a big difference between showing up on Google and being the name everyone in your city trusts. One gets you clicks. The other gets you calls from people who already want to work with you before they even talk to you. Stop thinking about SEO as a directory listing. Start thinking about it as your reputation engine. 🔥

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Cb1r8ySfuY8

I Was Burning Out in Sales. Then One LinkedIn Message Changed Everything

I was exhausted. Long sales cycles. Constant travel. Chasing deals that took months to close. Then life changed, and suddenly the old playbook didn't fit anymore. What actually moved the needle? A single LinkedIn connection that turned into a real conversation. From there, I stopped selling a job title and started selling a process I'd already proven. ▪️ Know when to stop grinding harder and start working differently ▪️ Use LinkedIn to build warm relationships before you ever need them ▪️ Turn what's already working in your own life into a service others will pay for Sometimes the pivot you need is hiding in your network. 🎙️ [Link in bio to the full episode]

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aST06bOJXWc

Your Marketing Reports Look Great, And That's Exactly the Problem

Your marketing metrics are lying to you. Not intentionally, but impressions, clicks, and engagement rates were never designed to tell you whether your business is actually growing. They were designed to be easy to report and hard to challenge. The companies winning right now treat every marketing dollar as an investment with an expected return. If the return isn't there, the strategy gets fixed or killed. No vanity. No fluff. Just revenue tied directly back to spend. Because at the end of the month, impressions don't cover payroll. Revenue does. ◼️ Why vanity metrics still dominate marketing reports, and the real reason they survive ◼️ How to shift from measuring activity to measuring actual business growth ◼️ The investment mindset that separates high-performing marketing teams from the rest ◼️ Why simplifying your metrics makes every marketing decision dramatically easier 🎙️ Full breakdown in the latest episode - link in bio.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DEsTgrEV-lw

I Tracked Down an HR Rep on Twitter to Land My First Agency Job. It Worked

The traditional career advice is simple. Pick a company. Stay loyal. Work your way up. But when it came time to actually break into a Montreal agency, that advice wasn't going to cut it. So instead of submitting a resume and hoping, the speaker tracked down the HR rep on Twitter and made a direct pitch at a live event. No filter. No middleman. Just a real conversation that opened the door. From there, client services became the foundation — sitting at the intersection of strategy, creative, and client relationships all at once. The perfect crash course in how agencies actually work. And running through all of it? A psychology and marketing background that made consumer behavior the most fascinating piece of the puzzle. ◼️ Why direct outreach will always outperform passive job applications ◼️ How client services is the most underrated entry point into agency life ◼️ The psychology of consumer behavior and why it's the most valuable marketing skill ◼️ What working at the center of an agency teaches you that no other role can 🎙️ Full story in the latest episode — link in bio.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yRTYZPAl2Ew

Free tip that could save you thousands

Free tip that could save you thousands: Before hiring any agency for paid ads, do this one thing👇 Go to Meta Ad Library Search their agency name See if they're actually running ads No active campaigns = they're selling you something they don't believe in enough to use themselves. Practice what you preach or don't preach it at all.

source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZxbwU-yRG3E