Marketers, It’s Time to Wake Up: Big Tech Isn’t On Your Side

If you're in marketing at an outdoor brand, especially one in firearms, hunting, knives, or tactical gear, this is your moment of truth.

You’ve spent years building content strategies, influencer partnerships, and digital engagement plans. But the ground is shifting beneath your feet, and most brands are not prepared.

Let’s be clear. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are not built to support or protect your brand. They never were. And they never will be.

The Suppression is Real, and It’s Growing

Outdoor content has always existed in a gray area on mainstream platforms. Whether it's educational hunting videos, archery tutorials, or honest gear reviews, the moment a weapon enters the frame, it becomes a moderation target.

• Facebook banned paid advertising for anything weapons-related more than a decade ago. I know, because I was running campaigns for Bowtech at the time.

• Products like scopes, mounts, or even camera gear that attach to firearms are regularly flagged or blocked.

• Ambassadors are having their content retroactively removed without notice or explanation. Even creators with modest followings are being suppressed without reason.

Ambassadors like Nate Zelinsky and Randy Newberg, with decades of experience and strong reputations, are being silenced on the very platforms that helped build their audiences. The rules keep changing, and nobody is telling you what the rules even are.

This is not an isolated issue. It is a systemic shift in how these platforms treat outdoor and weapons-related content. And it is not going to improve.

The Hard Truth: You Are Not a Priority

For big tech, outdoor brands represent a fraction of total revenue. Your marketing budgets are a rounding error compared to what consumer electronics, automotive, and fashion brands spend.

Which means:

• Your ads are the first to be restricted.

• Your content is the first to be suppressed.

• Your audience is the easiest to ignore.

  
  

The harsh reality is this. If you are relying on platforms you do not own to reach your audience, you are gambling with your future.

Step 1: Own the Relationship with Your Audience

If you are not aggressively building first-party data, you are falling behind. You need direct lines to your customers that are not subject to algorithm changes or vague moderation policies.

Focus on building:

• Email lists

• SMS opt-ins

• Website engagement with account signups

• Loyalty programs

Why this matters:

• Email and SMS have deliverability rates above 99 percent

• They are not algorithmic, or censored and filtered by invisible platform policies

• You control the message, timing, and targeting

At RavenEQ, we’ve helped brands like Bowtech, Leupold, and Heartland Bowhunter build databases with 10’s of millions of opt-in contacts. Those audiences are still reachable today. Can you say the same about your Facebook followers?

Step 2: Rebalance Your Content Strategy Before It’s Too Late

Let’s be clear—this isn’t about turning off YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram overnight. These platforms still hold value, especially while audiences continue to engage there.

But the writing is on the wall. Suppression is growing, not shrinking. Content is being removed retroactively. Engagement is throttled without explanation. And monetization for weapons-adjacent content? Nearly impossible.

So no, don’t pull the plug.

Do this instead:

• Keep publishing to existing channels to maintain presence while you can.

• Begin shifting your content production focus toward formats you can control.

• Start routing audiences to your own ecosystem where censorship cannot touch your content.

• Repurpose your ambassador and product content into AI-powered conversations that live on your website, not theirs.
  

Think of platforms like Instagram and YouTube as amplifiers, not owners of your message. Use them to point people to your owned properties—your website, your apps, your events, your data.

It’s time to invest in content you can actually keep. That means bringing it home, training AI on it, and building customer experiences that are immune to algorithm changes or shifting policies.

Step 3: Put AI to Work, and Turn Content into Conversations

We are living through the next major shift in how consumers search for information.

First came Google, which transformed the internet into a searchable library. Then YouTube, which did the same with video—giving rise to “how-to” culture and the dominance of tutorial-based search. For nearly two decades, these platforms trained people to ask questions with a keyboard and get answers in a few clicks.

In fact, some of the most common search queries on Google and YouTube end with a question mark. Why? Because people are looking for answers, solutions, comparisons, and guidance. They’re not just browsing. They’re asking.

Now, a new phase has arrived. Conversational AI.

ChatGPT alone has over 800 million active users every week (we expect this stat to outdate itself quickly) Tools like it have redefined how people interact with information. Instead of typing keywords and filtering through links, people are asking full questions—and expecting full answers.

Consumers are no longer willing to dig through pages of search results or sit through a ten-minute video for a single answer. They want immediate, personalized responses that feel natural and human.

That is the expectation now. Not next year. Today.

And most outdoor brands are nowhere near ready for it.

But here’s the good news. You already have the knowledge.

You’ve been creating content for years:

• Ambassador videos with deep expertise

• Product manuals and spec sheets

• Blog posts and buyer’s guides

• Training documents and FAQs

• Field notes and educational materials

What you don’t have is a way for customers to interact with that knowledge in real time.

That’s where RavenEQ comes in.

RavenEQ transforms your existing content into conversational AI tools—what we call Ravens.

So, what is a Raven?

A Raven is your brand’s version of ChatGPT. It’s a conversational AI chatbot or voice assistant, trained specifically and exclusively on your own content—nothing else.

That includes:

• Product manuals and spec sheets

• Marketing materials and sales decks

• Ambassador videos and podcasts

• FAQ documents and dealer guides

• Blogs, how-tos, and educational resources

  
  

Instead of relying on a general-purpose AI that pulls answers from the internet, a Raven only responds based on your approved knowledge. It gives your customers trusted, on-brand answers in real time, 24 hours a day.

And here's what makes it even more important for outdoor and weapons brands:

These Ravens don’t live on public platforms. They don’t depend on big tech. They aren’t subject to the same content suppression.

Because you control the content and because RavenEQ and other tech partners are building these tools using uncensored, independent AI models, your Raven can speak freely.

That means:

• You can train a Raven to help customers choose a rifle for western hunting.

• You can let ambassadors like Randy Newberg or Nate Zelinsky have their entire content libraries searchable by fans.

• You can answer questions about scopes, ammo, and field tactics without fear of takedowns.
  

There are AI models today that will happily and responsibly deliver expert information for weapons brands, hunting products, and tactical gear. You just need the right partner to build it.

RavenEQ does that—safely, legally, and with full respect for your brand voice, your audience, and your mission.

Final Thought: Control is the New Currency

As you build out your 2026 plans, you need to ask a hard question.

Are you investing in systems that you control, or platforms that can cut you off at any moment?

If the answer is the latter, now is the time to rethink your approach.

Your audience is still out there. They still want your products, your knowledge, your leadership. But they are harder to reach on platforms that were never built for you.

At RavenEQ, we help outdoor brands reclaim their reach, turn content into value, and build real relationships with their customers. Not someday. Right now.

Visit www.raveneq.ai and let’s talk about how to make 2026 your most impactful year yet.