Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

Hey, it’s Anna, and today I want to talk about something I’ve been quietly refining over the last five years, working with founders and marketing teams. It’s called Whole-Person Customer Research and it’s the foundation for how I help startups get clarity on their positioning, messaging, GTM and content strategy.

For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.

Music by my talented daughter.

It was really fun recording this episode with my longtime friend! We go waaaay back. Anna Baskin is Co-Founder and CEO at Hightail. Hightail is a low-dose THC infused beverage for when you want to sip in some fun.

Here’s what we cover:

What you're building;

Christopher Lochhead is 3X Silicon Valley public company CMO, the father of category design, and makes content for entrepreneurs and marketers with a different mind.

I invite Christopher on the show to talk about certain topics but I always know we will be twisting and turning to other topics which is why it's so fun to hang with him.

Listen to these other episodes if you want more with Christopher:

Ep. 44 - Why 98% Of Startups And Marketers Waste Their Time

Ep. 108 - Why Most Content Is 100% Content Free And How Non Obvious Ideas Help

Ep. 136 - Why Treating Your Creative Marketing Like It’s Not Tied To Revenue Will Get You More Revenue

Here’s what we cover:

Politics;

Israel war;

Terrorism;

Disagreements are healthy;

What does customer obsession mean, really;

Why customers are the most important part of GTM;

How can Marketing build respect from Sales and Engineering;

Examples of how customers help startups build to their next level of growth;

Which customers are most important for customer research;

What you should look for when analyzing customer research (HINT: it’s not what you think);

Why it’s important to learn about how customers use your product as part of their products ecosystem, desires and preferences.

Always fun when folks refer me to founders building cool products, and that's exactly how I met Melissa. Melissa Rosenthal is Co-Founder at Outlever. Outlever helps companies become the #1 news source in their industry. They're self-funded and $5M in revenue.

Here’s what we cover:

What you're building;

How many customers;

Sales cycle length;

What’s hard right now;

How do you incorporate customers as part of your marketing and sales efforts;

How do you incorporate customer research;

Tell me about your superfan customers;

Where are you placing big bets in 2025.

Every so often I like to set the record straight on some terms that people like to toss around. Erin Balsa (Founder of Bland To Bold) and I were emailing back and forth about Positioning, Messaging, Category Design, and Strategic Narrative. And then I realized, hey, I really just want to talk this through.

Erin was on the show before, you can listen to Ep. 203 "Hashing Out The Perfect Content Strategy Visual Framework"

Here’s what we cover:

Define each of these terms;

Which path to take? Or do all 4;

Of the 4, which is the hardest to do and why;

How can startups make sure their messaging is unique, valuable, and consistent.

Georgiana (Gia) Laudi is co-founder and chief strategist at Forget The Funnel. She's author of the book "Forget The Funnel" that's about Customer-Led Growth and a customer-led approach for driving predictable, recurring revenue.

Here’s what we cover:

I have to ask why did Gia and April Dunford bash Voice of Customer (VoC) on April's podcast because I'm honestly curious;

How to pick the right insights and turn those into positioning and messaging;

How to create your messaging guide;

How often should you conduct customer research.

I'm answering Udi Ledergor's questions in this BONUS pod episode:

1. How is AI changing the work that we do on customer research?

2. How should we as consultants and advisors prepare for this change?

For more content, subscribe to Building With Buyers on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show.

Music by my talented daughter.

Udi Ledergor is Chief Evangelist and former CMO at Gong. You can centralize all your revenue workflows in Gong’s Revenue AI Platform. Gong is a Unicorn (last valuation was $7.25B). Total funding $583M. Also check out Ep. 156 “Gong’s Marketing Evolution From Early Stage To Unicorn”.

Here’s what we cover:

In what ways have customers helped Gong build to the next round;

How to create raving fans;

Where is Gong placing big bets in 2025 (e.g. redefining category boundaries);

How do you sell to large strategic customers;

Where is Udi placing big bets in 2025 (new book!);

Why courage in marketing is so important and oftentimes missing;

What’s your favorite use case for using AI.

Natalie Marcotullio is Head of Growth & Product Marketing at Navattic. Navattic makes buying easier with interactive demos. Seed funded. Also check out Ep. 139 (be the company that seems to be everywhere), Ep. 180 (podcast, ads, positioning, what’s the ROI) and Ep. 218 (launching the free forever plan).

Here’s what we cover:

The Navattic Fanatic Customer Event in NYC, what was your goal for the event and did you achieve it;

What do you think made the customer event so successful;

Anything that surprised you;

What will you change for next time;

After the event is often the most important - how did you make the event last beyond the two days;

Other ways you’re incorporating customers into your business and marketing strategy;

Your new role heading up product marketing, what are you planning to tackle first;

Natalie asks Anna her burning question;

30 days of customer obsession;

Thoughts on being audacious to differentiate;

What are the top drivers of WOM for Navattic.

Taylor Jennings is lead UX Researcher at Chili Piper. Chili Piper is your all-in-one Demand Conversion Platform. The only solution that consolidates Chat, Routing, and Scheduling all in one platform. They've raised $54.4M.

Here’s what we cover:

How do you incorporate customer research at Chili Piper;

Product research and goals with this research;

Pricing research, goals with this research, how you actually did this in the weeds;

How have you actually used the research insights;

What are your challenges with customer research.

Elaine Zelby is Co-Founder and CRO at Tofu. Tofu puts top-of-funnel on autopilot for B2B marketing teams, so you can ship integrated marketing campaigns 8X faster. Series A funded (recent).

Also check out Ep. 96 “First Time Founders Think Product Wins, Second Time Founders Know GTM Wins”.

Here’s what we cover:

Your recent funding round, what did it take to get there (HINT: 4 main things);

How do you use tofu at tofu;

How do you structure your nurture sequences;

How do you incorporate customer research at tofu (HINT: product roadmap, website, GTM plan);

Both companies and people are building agents and bots, how do you break away and ahead of everyone else;

Where are you placing big bets in 2025;

How do you know your content is good.

Megan Bowen is CEO at Refine Labs. Refine Labs is a demand gen agency for growth stage and enterprise B2B SaaS companies. Also check out Ep. 78 "Hire For Customer Success, Not Customer Support."

Here’s what we cover:

Brand, Demand, and ABM. What's your approach to client work;

I’m exploring the role that customers play in helping startups build to the next round - how have you seen this play out with companies you work with;

What’s changed about how buyers buy today, and what’s still the same;

Customer research is core to the work I do with my clients - how do you handle customer research at Refine Labs;

How are you using AI, and what’s your take on where it’s going;

Early stage startups testing paid ads, what’s your advice (HINT: it's an expensive experiment, you need at least $3M-5M ARR);

What’s the biggest challenge for companies you’re working with right now;

Megan asks me her burning question.

Ivan Barajas Vargas is Co-Founder and CEO at Muuktest, world-class QA 100% done-for-you. Seed funded.

Here’s what we cover:

• What is Service-as-a-Software;

• How do you incorporate customer research at Muuktest;

• What are some of your goals with customer research;

• What questions are you asking;

• How are you using research insights;

• Do you ask customers where do they learn and hang out;

• Why understanding “whole-person” with your research is important and goes beyond just your product;

• Why is customer research important;

• What are your challenges with customer research;

• There are so many voices, who should you listen to when you do this research.

Emily Steele is Co-Founder and CEO at Hummingbirds. Mari Tippman is Head of Sales at Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds helps brands drive awareness and sales with hyper-local content creators. The platform connects brands with “hummingbirds” who are trusted friends and neighbors with buying power and local influence.

Hummingbirds recently raised Seed funding ($10M total!).

Emily has been on the show before, check out Ep. 198 Impressions vs. Engagement: Why Partnering With Smaller Creators Can Actually Be More Effective.

Here’s what we cover:

Your recent funding round - what did it take to get there;

How do you incorporate customer research at Hummingbirds and what have been the results;

How do you incorporate customers in your marketing;

Why is customer research important;

What are your challenges with customer research;

Emily shared that they have a podcast and what they use it for.

Peter Mollins is VP of Marketing at Nooks.

Nooks just raised Series B funding in October. Woop!

With Nooks you can boost pipeline with AI assistants that automate the busywork of dialing, coaching, and prospecting, so sales reps can focus on the human side of selling.

Here’s what we cover:

Your recent funding round - what did it take to get there;

How do you incorporate customer research at Nooks and what have been the results;

How do you incorporate customers in your marketing;

I was asked to join a panel for Riverside's event "Content Repurposing: Turn 1 Conversation Into a Full Content Calendar" along with Emily Kramer (MKT1) and Ross Simmonds (Foundation Marketing). 1900 people registered! Really fun conversation and great group.

We discuss:

• What to consider before creating content with repurposing in mind

• Step-by-step how to recycle and repurpose your content
• Which posts and methods have worked best
• The tools and automations to use for repurposing
• How to decide when, where and what to publish
• and more

A ton of people I speak to in B2B talk about the JTBD approach. So I had to bring on Bob because I have many questions.

Bob Moesta is an entrepreneur and innovator known for his Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) theory. He started 10 companies and is currently the Co-Founder of the Re-Wired Group.

Here’s what we cover:

Define Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) for someone unfamiliar with it;

How sales and buying aren't the same and why that matters;

Where did JTBD Theory come from;

People don't buy things, they hire to help them make progress;

Deconstructing the parts of JTBD: push, pull, friction, habit, frame the solution;

Should we trust what our customers say;

How many customers do you need to talk to for good insights;

Which customer insights to ignore;

Bob walks me through an example for a company using the JTBD Theory;

What's the most important question to ask in customer interviews;

How to dig for energy in customer interviews;

Mistakes people make when implementing the JTBD framework;

The Jobs To Be Done Handbook is from 2014, what has changed about the way you think about and apply JTBD;

How do you see JTBD fitting into the context of AI and automation.

Here’s what we cover:

• How do you incorporate customer research at Syncly? What are your goals;

Here’s what we cover:

• Why’d you decide to go product-led;

• Why’d you decide to go freemium vs. free trial (HINT: buyer-focused);

• What were the main steps to get there;

• What were some stumbles and how did you fix;

• What was your launch plan;

• How many demos built on the free plan, and what % have converted to paid;

• What have you learned since launch.

Pranav Piyush is Co-Founder and CEO at Paramark.

Paramark (Pre-Seed) helps CMOs and CFOs invest in marketing with confidence and predictability.

Here’s what we cover:

I see the book Alchemy on Pranav's bookshelf and it's about "chasing the magic" so have to ask what got him into it;

How do you incorporate customer research at Paramark? What are some of your goals with this research;

What have been the results;

Why is customer research important;

Challenges with customer research;

Pranav asks me his burning question.

Hi! I'm back! I missed you. Did you miss me? Well it's a completely different show now, and I can't wait to share more with you.

Tiffany McNeil is the coolest brand, innovation, and insights exec you’ll ever meet. Tiffany and I worked together at Del Monte Foods way back in 2010 (!) on the consumer insights and strategy team, specifically consumer food innovation for baby boomers. This was the perfect conversation to kick things off.

Here’s what we cover:

Let’s first define consumer insights and strategy in B2C;

When I came over to B2B from B2C, there was no customer research, insights, or strategy that came from that work. It was super strange. So naturally, I just did the work. What is the work;

Why is consumer insights important? How does this carry over to B2B;

What’s new in consumer insights that’s shaping the industry;

What do you still find challenging with consumer research;

Tiffany asks me her burning question.

Hey MSM listener! Anna here, host of the show. I hope you enjoyed Season 4 of Modern Startup Marketing.

I'm officially wrapped with this season, but will be back for more in the future. 

Ryan Staley is Founder and CEO of Whale Boss where he does sales consulting and AI consulting. I heard Ryan present for an AI session earlier this year and thought “I gotta have him on my show.” So here we are.

Here’s what we cover:

What AI tools are you mostly into right now;

Biggest value use cases from AI for sales and marketing teams;

What are you still weary about when it comes to using AI;

Sam Dunning is the Founder at Breaking B2B and host of the Breaking B2B podcast (Top 2.5%, 377 episodes). Sam came onto my podcast to talk more about the company he's building, plus:

The Breaking B2B podcast is 377 episodes and Top 2.5%. How do you decide what to talk about and who to talk to? Do you have Seasons? How has the show changed over time? What’s been the impact on your business;

Sam has been testing outbound cold calling and got surprised by the results;

AMA: Sam asks me his burning question which I actually do answer in this episode! Wait for it...

Hope you're having a meaningful Memorial Day if you're in the US.

Sam Dunning (Founder at Breaking B2B) asked me to come onto his podcast "Breaking B2B" via a live session where we talk about the top deadly B2B startup marketing sins, how to avoid them, practical advice you can use right away, and we answer an audience question.

For this BONUS episode I brought on a friend. Friend episodes are great because you've talked to this person so many times and they just hit different. Come hang out with us.

Meredith Hein is the Founder of Unicorn Content & Growth Marketing where she works with growth stage companies, she also went to Kellogg.

Here’s what we cover:

On writing books for her clients and what books accomplish;

Udi Ledergor (Gong) once said "marketing’s goal is to make sales easier” and that still makes me cringe. What is the goal of marketing, and why;

Content creation when you’re creating a new category - what’s your biggest advice;

AMA: Meredith asks me her burning question which I answer in this episode.

Ian Faison is CEO and Founder of Caspian Studios where they create shorts, shows and moonshots (with podcasts and videos) for B2B companies. Ian wrote to me and said “I have an idea for your show…” and when Ian writes with an idea, I will of course say yes.  

Here’s what we cover:

The old and dusty content marketing strategy;

The new content marketing strategy and why companies are adopting an Owned Media Portfolio;

Examples of shorts, shows and moonshots;

How do you create a podcast that breaks through the noise;

What goes into a Moonshot like Murder in HR;

How does an Owned Media Portfolio create ROI and how do you measure it;

How can early stage startups best leverage this new way of creating content;

AMA: Ian asks me his burning question which I answer at the end of our episode.

Drew Brucker is the Founder and Creative Director at brainchild, a solo agency that helps brands with their creative and marketing execution. He's also master of Midjourney (genAI that generates beautiful images).

Here’s what we cover:

Why are you going big on Midjourney;

What are some of your best prompts;

How will Midjourney impact photography in the future;

Why images are so important for standing out and how to leverage that;

How can early stage startups incorporate Midjourney into their workflows;

AMA: Drew asks me his burning question which I will answer next week.

There are so many skills you need in a rockstar marketing hire, plus so many marketing channels. It's really challenging for a company to spend $120k+ and hire one single marketer and be happy with the result. It also takes time to find just the right (full-time) person.

Traditionally, companies had to choose between hiring an in-house marketing person or an agency. With the rise of remote work and solopreneurs, many of the best marketers are now working for themselves.

How can startups best leverage this growing trend? I asked Ryan Bettencourt (Co-Founder of Growth Collective) to join me on the show to discuss.

Growth Collective connects high-growth startups, agencies, and VC firms with vetted and highly experienced fractional marketing experts.

We also cover:

Why "Workforce" is changing into more of a "Work Web" and what that means for the future of the workplace;

Companies that use Growth Collective's network of fractional marketers, what are they loving the most about the experience;

What are companies still skeptical about when it comes to hiring fractional;

AMA: Ryan asks me his burning questions.

Quick note: I mention at the end of the episode that working for myself is amazing and yes it is but it's also challenging! Don't want to give the impression that it's always rainbows and roses :)

I was on Marketerhire's podcast (The Marketer Show) where Blake Emal asked me to talk about MaaS Method, the 10-step systematic approach I built and use after working with dozens of early stage startups.

Here’s what you’ll learn: - Why you should start with the customer in your marketing research

- How to think about positioning and messaging at your early stage B2B startup

- How to build a content strategy "wedge"

- Creating your custom GTM strategy

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Erin Balsa (Founder of Haus of Bold) asked me this question in our last episode:

“What is the #1 improvement area when you work with new startup clients?”

So I'm going to answer it now.

Happy Friday!

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Happy Passover!

In my work with early stage startups, I've seen some of the ways that they approach their content strategies. Sometimes there's structure, but usually it's all over the place. It's not their fault, though. I haven't really seen any visual diagrams that would help startup founders and marketing teams build this out. Nothing too fancy, but at least some kind of easy to use, systematic approach that brings it all together. 

So I brought on Erin Balsa to help hash this out. Erin Balsa is Founder of Haus of Bold where she builds and executes content marketing strategies for B2B SaaS startups that sell complex, enterprise-ready solutions.

Shane Murphy-Reuter (CMO at Webflow) asked me a question in our last episode: "If you were the CMO at Webflow, what would you do differently?" Well that is a loaded question, isn't it. First, let me just say Shane you’re doing an amazing job. Leading a team of 70 people! I just have a couple of things to suggest. Well, I have 13 things. I hope we can still be friends.

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

I've been talking about websites quite a bit on the show, on LinkedIn, and I just came off a project where I looked at close to 200 B2B websites (!) and realized that being a B2B buyer in 2024 is kind of still awful. I wanted to explore why that is with Shane Murphy-Reuter, CMO at Webflow.

We also cover:

Who's on the marketing team at Webflow;

Why do B2B websites still suck in 2024;

Going beyond your website copy, how else can companies think about improving their websites today? (HINT: make it a memorable experience);

What marketing big bets are you taking in 2024 and why;

AMA: Shane asks me his burning question which I will answer in the next BONUS episode.

About Webflow:

• Founded: 2012
• Funding: Series C (($334.9M total)
• Description: Webflow is the way to design, build, and launch powerful websites visually — without coding.

Happy solar eclipse Monday! Hope you've got your special sunglasses handy.

Modern Startup Marketing just reached 200 episodes!!! Wild. 🦁 Do I feel tired? Does it feel like a lot? Will I be doing 100 more episodes? What's been the hardest thing about podcasting for 4 years? What’s been the most surprising thing about podcasting for 4 years? What are the most important Qs to ask if you're doing a pod? What are my most favorite episodes? How do you know if your podcast strategy is working? How am I celebrating 200 episodes? What mistakes did I make? I answer ALL these questions in this 200th episode. Oh, and there are some pretty funny bloopers. Come for the bloopers, stay for the insights.

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Just got back from a (mostly) relaxing Spring Break and eager to jump back into things. Hope you're doing well!

Anthony Pierri is Co-Founder and Partner at FletchPMM. He helps founders market hard-to-market products and specifically focuses on Homepages.

We cover:

What’s wrong with so many Homepages today;

How to fix those specific problems;

A specific example in the HR tech space;

Why does this Homepage (and website) work matter?

AMA: Anthony asks me his burning question which I will answer in the 200th episode comin' up!!

I’ve often wondered about how influencer partnerships work. I've been involved in a couple, so I get to see examples from the inside. But I wanted to see more examples, so I brought on Emily Steele, Co-founder and CEO at Hummingbirds (Seed funded).

She’s actually built a business around helping brands discover and work with hyper-local content creators. Some of these brands are working with 50-100 creators at once. A lot of what we talk about is very relevant for B2B influencer partnerships.

What does a good partnership look like? How do you know it’s working? Do you need to partner with people that have huge followings? And what are some of the best content creators doing really well?

We also cover:

Hummingbirds' positioning in sales conversations (it's not what you think);

The nuances of measuring the impact of influencer partnerships;

What differentiates an amazing content creator from just a mediocre one;

What marketing big bets are you taking in 2024 and why;

AMA: Emily asks me her burning question.

About Hummingbirds:

• Founded: 2022
• Funding: Seed ($4.4M)
• Description: Grow your business with hyper-local content creators.

Gaetano DiNardi is the Growth Advisor for 10 B2B startups. Something you may not know about him is that he spent 5 years as a music producer & songwriter in NYC.

I first learned about Gaetano back in 2020 when he was doing Demand Gen Live sessions with Chris Walker. What I love about his content on LinkedIn is that it’s not fluffy and he's honestly trying to be helpful.

We cover:

Gaetano's past life as a music producer and songwriter;

The MaaS Method (Marketing as a System) has 10 steps, or 3 parts. What do you think early stage startups should focus on out of these 3 parts;

Define lead gen vs. demand gen and pitfalls you see with lead gen strategies;

Advice for early stage startups that are prioritizing SEO as part of their content strategy;

AMA: Gaetano asks me his burning question.

It doesn’t take magic to make content that resonates. You just have to be real. Show your audience that you get them by understanding their cares, frustrations, and the reality of their day-to-day lives. But to do this, you really have to know your audience and their life experiences.

I was invited onto the Remarkable! podcast to share B2B content lessons from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It's a children’s book series about a boy named Greg Heffley. More than 290 million copies have been sold globally. 

So what can B2B startups learn from Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Keep listening to find out. It’s pretty remarkable.

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Happy International Women's Day!

I promised to answer this question for ya and I always deliver. Ari Yablok, Head of Brand at Island (Series C), was on the show (Ep. 194) and he asked me: "Founders that are not Marketing-driven or not appreciative of the role, what are some of the things you do to help them buy-in to marketing?" I answer in this 2-min. bonus episode.

If founders ARE bought-in to Marketing but don't understand how to measure brand, or don't know what to prioritize first, or aren't sure how marketing fits into their GTM strategy, etc., well that's different.

For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

Ari Yablok is Head of Brand at Island (Series C). He joined Island in the very early days, back when they didn’t even have their name out in public. His job was to build the brand from zero.

You rarely get the chance to pitch to a CIO/CISO (their target buyer) so the founders knew they needed to enter that world in a way that sent a very clear signal that this is actually a new conversation. 

How do you send that signal? What kind of message did they use? How do you attract the C-Level with your product when they're so hard to reach? Why did they need to go against all the playbooks in the industry? How do you prove the impact of Brand on business growth? We tackle these important questions with Ari.

We also cover:

What did Ari work on as Head of Brand early stage;

Who was on the GTM team early stage;

Their unique approach to hiring salespeople;

How Island's brand has evolved over the years;

Why building a new category meant they spent more time educating and less time pushing the product;

What marketing big bets they're taking in 2024 and why;

Why they spent years ignoring Demand Gen;

How sales and marketing can play nice and respect their differences;

AMA: Ari asks me his burning question which I will answer in the next BONUS episode.

About Island:

• Founded: 2020
• Funding: Series C ($385M total)
• Description: The Island Enterprise Browser has all the core security IT and productivity needs of the enterprise built into the browser, so work is naturally smooth and secure.

In a world where using AI to do more, automate more, get more leads (more more more!) is celebrated, one thing that early stage startups have as the upper hand over larger companies is the permission and ability to do those things that don’t scale. Build community and relationships in unique ways (like with events), be creative, test wild ideas, learn and pivot quickly, etc.

Why might a focus on doing more with AI and automation actually hurt early stage startups?

That's the focus of my conversation with Corrina Owens (Chief Evangelist Officer at Purple Cork). Corrina worked at Gong where she focused on ABM programs and on a Super Bowl ad. Now she's the GTM Advisor for companies like Navattic, GTM Partners, Aptivio and Postal.io.

Purple Cork helps B2B companies create polished events that drive revenue through virtual wine tastings.

We also cover:

The nuances of when it's appropriate to use AI so that you still stand out;

Which AI tools Corrina has been using;

When GenAI tools overpromise but underdeliver;

AMA: Corrina asks me her burning question.

ABM often gets a bad rap, especially with early stage startups. People think ABM means you’re just running ads to a list of people, or that you need really expensive tech.

A couple of weeks ago I had Trinity Nguyen (VP of Marketing at UserGems) on the podcast and we talked about how she joined an early stage startup and decided to go the route of Scrappy ABM which ended up being super successful for them (90% of their pipeline was generated from this play).

There’s something about ABM when you run it scrappy and Mason Cosby (Founder of Scrappy ABM) joined me on the show to explore.

We cover:

What is Scrappy ABM;

Where does it fit in your business strategy;

When’s the best time to run a scrappy ABM program;

Multiple examples from Mason and from me;

How to create new ABM ideas;

Why did Mason decide to focus on Scrappy ABM instead of Scrappy Marketing or Scrappy Sales;

AMA: Mason asks me his burning question.

Happy Presidents Day 🇺🇸 🎉

Does your CEO like the content your marketing team is producing? Does your CMO? Does your head of Sales? Do you know the answer for sure? Does it matter?

John Bonini (Founder of Some Good Content) has been meeting with founders and marketing execs that have said some variation of the following regarding their content marketing: “We’re doing SEO, but the content is not good, and it’s just not working very well anymore.”

So what’s broken with our content efforts? And how can we fix it? How do you ensure that your content isn’t just being created for the sake of content, but that it actually produces pipeline and revenue?

We also cover:

John's Content Motivation Framework that focuses on buyer motivation instead of a company's funnel;

AMA: John asks me his burning question.

Picture this. You’re the first business hire at a 4-person early stage startup. Head of Marketing. So you get hired, and you’re trying to follow the Hubspot Playbook. The problem is, it’s taking too long. You’re impatient. The founders are impatient. You want to see something faster. You need to prove yourself. How do you cut through the noise? How do you get your target buyer to pay attention?

Trinity Nguyen (VP of Marketing at UserGems) was in exactly this situation and shares what happened next. And how what happened next was tied to more than 90% of their pipeline in those early days. 

We also cover:

What was the turning point from Seed to Series A;

Why early stage you need to loosen up your attribution model to get big wins;

Why does marketing fail at the early stage;

Happy Friday ya'll.

I just finished a 3-part series of episodes where I explored 3 topics:

1. positioning
2. strategic narrative
3. category design

I hear these concepts being thrown around all the time but I wanted to get to the heart of them. What are the key differences? When should you use one approach over another? And finally, what’s my take? Which one do I think is actually the most helpful for me and WHY? That's what I'm covering in this BONUS episode.

Check out the prior episodes where I actually went through each of these approaches and tried to apply them to my own business.

What’s your take? If you listened to this BONUS episode I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a message on Spotify or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review if you're lovin' the show!

And whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: