351. Best of 2022 🤩
My favorite podcasts, articles, tools, stories, and more from 2022
Hi there 👋
Putting together this “best of” newsletter is one of my favorite annual traditions and not just because it gives me a reason to clean out my Chrome bookmarks but also because there is so much cool stuff that gets made, shipped, and celebrated every year. I hope you enjoy my list of 2022 “bests” below. And it’d be awesome to know what your best podcasts, articles, tools, and ideas were this past year.
Programming note: Next week’s newsletter would have landed smack dab on Christmas Day. Expect to see it later in the week. And since I won’t talk to you again before the holidays begin, merry Christmas, happy holidays, and wishing you lots of love and peace this season. 💜
Kevan
(ᵔᴥᵔ)
Thank you for being part of this newsletter. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world and my time at Oyster, Buffer, and more.
Say hi anytime at hello@kevanlee.com. I’d love to hear from you.
If you’d like to see last year’s list of best podcasts, videos, tools, and more, check out the roundup link below.
Best of 2022
Best community
You! (for the sixth year in a row)
Thank you for subscribing.
I have loved getting to meet so many new people through this newsletter over the past year. You have encouraged me, inspired me, and taught me tons. Thank you also to those who are paid subscribers. I donate proceeds from paid subscriptions, and this year we were able to give more than $2,500. If you’d like to start a paid subscription — and get access to my Notion space — you can do so here.
Best podcast
Shameless Acquisition Target (listen here)
This podcast was unlike anything I have ever experienced, in all the best ways.
, who has run amazing podcasts for WNYC, Slate, Stitcher, and more, created a podcast for the sole purpose of getting acquired and making a ton of money. Yes, it is indeed shameless. But moreso, it is a fascinating inside look at what makes something marketable, successful, and resonant.(Speaking of shameless, here is a plug for our Oyster podcast, New World of Work. It’s also on my best-of 2022 list, but I’m very biased.)
Other fave podcasts this year:
A Bit of Optimism from Simon Sinek
Normal Gossip from Kelsey McKinney
Vitalize: Venture Capital from
Best marketing newsletter
I’m a huge fan of Kyle’s breakdowns of PLG strategies, marketing ideas, pricing, monetization, etc, etc. You name it; Kyle knows about it. If you’re not yet reading Growth Unhinged, you’re missing out on one of the absolute best resources for SaaS marketers today.
Best marketing-adjacent newsletter
About once every week, Garbage Day blows my mind with some sharply observed trend or macro shift in the world of social media and technology. I doubt Garbage Day would classify itself as a marketing newsletter, but I sure do gain a ton of insight into how the online world is evolving thanks to the clear and catchy writing of
and team. Here's a favorite issue:
Other fave newsletters this year:
Best article
Non-coercive marketing by Rob Hardy
My team looooved this one when I shared it this year, and the ideas in the blog post around optimizing for customer love, playing the long game, and giving up power have continued to inform and inspire us as we set up our 2023 strategy.
Another article I loved:
Community ≠ Marketing: Why We Need Go-to-Community, Not Just Go-to-Market
Community is one of the hardest marketing strategies to get right, perhaps because we shouldn’t even be thinking of it as marketing??
Best product
(four-way tie, at least)
Pretty much any AI product deserves product of the year accolades because of how dramatically these products have captured the zeitgeist and made marketers rethink everything they knew about content creation. I’ll spare you all my thoughts on AI (for now) and just leave you with this AI-generated photo of a Shiba Inu dog wearing a beret and black turtleneck, courtesy of Dall-E:
And if you’re curious just how much heat is on AI at the moment, check out this newsletter from Kyle Poyar (mentioned above), which tells the growth story of Jasper:
Other fave new products:
Pallet — the home for community-curated job board and hiring collectives, including mine
Tome — the new world of slide decks (and yes, with a little AI)
TLDV — Zoom and Meet recordings made easy and useful
Best SaaS “commercial”
Best Super Bowl commercial
Yes, I am the one person in the world who thought this Coinbase commercial was an inspired idea. You found me! (This commercial has gone on to receive even more flack after it first aired because of how public sentiment has shifted against cryptocurrenty. Spending millions to bounce a QR code around a screen is not a good look.)
Best tweet
Who knows what Twitter will look like next year when I make my year-end list, so I’d better get this in while I can. Sarah’s tweet below perfectly captures one of the things I most love about working in tech:
This week’s post is sponsored by …
Thank you to this week’s newsletter sponsor: Marketing Against the Grain, a podcast from the awesome team at HubSpot. Check out the latest episodes for a look at AI tools, category dominance, and intrapreneurship.
About this newsletter …
Hi, I’m Kevan, a marketing exec based in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I currently lead the marketing team at Oyster. I previously built brands at Buffer, Vox, and Polly. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world. Not yet subscribed? No worries. You can check out the archive, or sign up below:
Thank you for being here! 🙇♂️
I’m lucky to count folks from great brands like these (and many more) as part of this newsletter community.
