Turn Your Customer Base Into a Growth Engine

 Jess Cook is the VP of Marketing at Vector, the contact-level advertising platform that helps B2B teams reach the specific people inside their target accounts who are actually in market. She joins the show to trace her path from 15 years of B2C copywriting on brands like McDonald's, Pop Tarts, and Frosted Flakes into B2B marketing leadership. She makes the case for brand as the thing that actually drives demand, sharing how Vector ran its first year almost entirely on organic and inbound, why the team optimizes for likability and shareability, and how brand now shapes everything from wild CTV ads to how the company shows up in AI answers.Tune in to this episode as we explore:(00:53) Jess Cook's path from B2C copywriting to B2B marketing leadership(03:19) What to learn and unlearn stepping into a VP of Marketing role(06:52) Contact-level advertising explained: getting a level deeper than ABM(09:51) Re-education over category creation: optimizing for likability and shareability(15:19) Turning CEO one-on-ones into a podcast and sarcastic LinkedIn personas(22:06) Data-driven sameness, AI, and hiring people who want to stand out(31:26) The surround sound campaign and 40% lifts in traffic and pipeline(38:19) Why brand permeates every customer touchpoint(40:08) Showing up in AI answers with positive sentiment(43:43) Quickfire: AI tools, the video-production edge, and a community pickLinks mentioned in this episode:Jess Cook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesscook-contentmarketing/ Vector: https://www.vector.co/ This Meeting Could Have Been a Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2sB6JDR0wQOYT0XLEwaQrS Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy: https://www.amazon.com/Ogilvy-Advertising-David/dp/039472903X Dreamdata: https://dreamdata.io/ Exit Five: https://exitfive.com/ 

Neil Patel, Co-Founder at Neil Patel Digital explains why most marketers are spending time and money on the wrong things. From Super Bowl ads that move the needle for almost no one, to AI tools that look impressive but drive zero revenue, Neil cuts through the noise and gets to what actually grows a business.In this minisode, we explore:(00:00) The uncomfortable truth about AI adoption - everyone uses it, almost no one profits from it(01:15) Vanity traffic vs. revenue traffic: why 600K monthly visitors can be completely worthless(04:30) The content shift that took NP Digital from 5M to 36M+ in revenue (08:11) Super Bowl ads, Olympic spots, 20M+ in spend (10:19) What actually drives word of mouth Listen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/50KwaYQgQOEquNjXnKWGtS 

Jillian Als is the CMO at Leadfeeder, the website visitor identification platform that recently consolidated its brand away from Dealfront. She joins the show to walk through what it actually takes to pull off a rebrand in a single quarter, why purpose work matters more than colours and fonts, and how she's rethinking paid search, AI's role in marketing, and what marketers should own in a world where every channel feels noisier. Along the way she shares hard-won lessons from a startup bankruptcy, why she banned AI from her team's early narrative work, and where she thinks human judgment still beats the machines.Tune in to this episode as we explore:(03:05) Inside a startup bankruptcy and the early warning signs Jillian missed(09:07) Why Leadfeeder dropped the Dealfront name and rebranded in a single quarter(14:39) Defining mission, purpose, and vision from the outside as a new CMO(18:31) Getting brand narrative to seep through the organisation(20:30) Why she banned AI from the early narrative work(23:10) The manual / AI-assist / fully agentic spectrum for marketing tasks(25:36) Advice for marketers feeling pressure from above to deliver AI's promises(26:57) Building the new website for LLMs and an MCP server in the works(32:03) Paid search scepticism and why "be everywhere" prevents compounding(39:10) Retention as a team sport and marketing's role beyond closed-won(40:39) Quickfire: AI for slides, problem-solving as a career skill, and a PR-shaped big betLinks:Jillian Als on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianals/ Leadfeeder: https://www.leadfeeder.com/Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462487/unreasonable-hospitality-by-guidara-will/9781529146837 

Justyna Dzikowska is the Head of Marketing at Brand24, the social listening and media monitoring tool helping companies measure their online presence. She joins the show to share what 10+ years in SaaS marketing has taught her about building brand visibility in the AI era. From working in traditional PR to why most companies are measuring LLM visibility wrong, Justyna offers a practical view on content pruning, video in B2B, and why narrowing your strategy is harder than ever when every channel feels like a priority.Tune in to this episode as we explore:(02:10) Why traditional PR is suddenly relevant again for AI search visibility(04:59) The problem with measuring brand visibility through LLMs alone(08:50) The biggest misconception marketers have about analytics and data collection(11:25) Why studying competitors matters more than obsessing over your own brand(13:15) Why prioritisation, not ideas, is the real bottleneck in modern marketing(18:35) The rise of video content and humanised brand communication in B2B(23:27) Where AI-generated video belongs and where it absolutely doesn't(28:55) The "curse of the AEO case study": what happens when AI content backfires(30:43) How content pruning helped Brand24 after a Google update(33:45) Quickfire: ZenABM, the "Still No CMO" YouTube channel idea, and a LinkedIn recommendationLinks:Justyna Dzikowska on LinkedIn Brand24: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justyna-dzikowska-content-marketing-digital-pr/ Brand24: https://brand24.com/ Tom Rudnai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-rudnai-0539b6151/ ZenABM: https://zenabm.com/ Emilia Korczyńska on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliakorczynska/ Product Rantz: https://pages.userpilot.com/product-rantz/ 

Chelsea Castle is a content and brand marketing leader who most recently led content and brand at Close, the small business CRM. She joins the show to share what she's learned from building and inheriting content programs at startups including Chili Piper, Lavender, and Emma/Campaign Monitor, and why marketing is closer to renovating a house than following a playbook. Chelsea opens up on building memory structures through repetition, finding spiky points of view that compound over time, and why protecting human judgment matters more than ever in an AI-driven landscape.Tune in to this episode as we explore:(00:54) Chelsea's path from journalism and agency life into content marketing in tech(02:32) Balancing strategy and tactics: what working at Lavender taught her(06:57) The differences between reviving a brand, scaling one, and building from scratch(13:30) Why marketers should still absorb context the old-school way before reaching for AI(20:35) Brands as memory structures and why everything in content compounds(24:51) Red threads and brand associations at Chili Piper, Notion, Asana, and Vector(30:31) Getting company-wide buy-in for brand, and why it has to start at the top(35:38) What makes a spiky point of view different from a hot take or rage bait(42:42) Staying consistent with your message without sounding like a broken record(47:30) Quickfire: connecting MCP to a CRM for content IP, and a skydiving road showLinks:Chelsea Castle's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseacastle/ CloseLavenderChili PiperPeep Laja (Wynter)Jess Cook (Vector) LinkedInDave Gerhardt (Exit Five)Andy RaskinChris WalkerAdam Robinson (RB2B)

Sarah Cameron, Head of Content & PR at ComplyAdvantage, cuts through the AEO hype to share what's actually moving the needle - and what your exec team is probably already asking you about. From vendor comparison content to tracking AI citations, she brings the receipts on a strategy that's delivering higher demo conversion rates than organic search.Tune into this episode, as we explore:(00:03) AEO vs. SEO (03:04) The vendor comparison bet that paid off big (and why they almost didn't take it)(04:41) How to build your first prompt tracking list when you're starting from scratch(05:50) Why AI search converts better than organic - and what that tells you about buyer intent(07:02) Keeping your exec team and board informed on AI search without losing your mindListen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1mVJj6o7TokSHljPFlpZU0

Darren Chait is the CMO at beehiiv and ex-Head of Growth at Calendly. He joins the show to share how an Australian corporate lawyer ended up co-founding Hugo, leading growth at Calendly, and now shaping the playbook at one of the fastest-growing creator platforms. Along the way, he explains why the best CMOs think like CFOs, how the role of a marketer has shifted in 2026, and what actually makes a newsletter worth subscribing to.Tune in to this episode as we explore:(00:34) The beehiiv philosophy: why creators should own their audience, not rent it(06:35) From corporate lawyer in Australia to co-founding Hugo and joining Calendly(08:26) What four years at Calendly taught Darren about growth at real volume(11:23) Why there's no traditional marketer archetype left in 2026(15:41) The best CMOs are actually CFOs: understanding every lever in your business(19:33) A three-step playbook for the first weeks in a new marketing leadership role(22:12) Calendly vs beehiiv: incremental experiments vs big swings(28:35) How AI changes the job of a marketer without replacing judgment(34:25) What makes a newsletter genuinely work: trust, consistency, and multi-channel reach(45:53) Newsletter vs email marketing: the two-way relationship that changes everything(49:28) Darren's dream campaign: dominating cities with out-of-home advertising(53:17) Final recommendation: Growth Daily by Marketing MaxLinks:Darren Chait's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenchait/ beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/ Calendly: https://calendly.com/ Kyle Poyar: https://www.growthunhinged.com/ Growth Daily by Marketing Max: https://www.marketingmax.com/

Esther Dawson, Global Brand & Content Lead at Breadcrumb, tackles one of B2B marketing's trickiest challenges: how to build a genuinely funny brand without making everyone cringe. She gets into the culture, the craft, and the calculated risks behind making humour work in industries where no one expects it.Tune into this episode, as we explore:(00:24) Culture first: why humour has to exist inside the company before it ever hits the feed(02:31) The cringe problem and why you can't just hire someone and tell them to "be funny"(04:32) Gallows humour in cybersecurity and why the best campaigns meet your audience where they actually are(06:18) Where humour earns its place: brand awareness, pain points, and the printer you've formed an unhealthy relationship with(09:20) Scaling a humour-led brand: how to keep the confidence (and the buy-in) as the stakes get higher(11:36) Witty vs. jokester - the distinction that keeps your brand from becoming one person's version of funnyListen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1DpkFKoGo7i7Po30ux8WOZ

Sophie Logan is one of the Top 50 Most Influential PPC Experts of 2026 and Community and Editorial Manager at Rough Agenda, the company behind Brighton SEO and HeroConf. She joins the show to pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to programme a large-scale marketing conference: managing 180 speakers, keeping content off the sales pitch, and building communities that outlast the event itself. As a longtime PPC practitioner and international conference speaker herself, Sophie brings a rare dual perspective on what makes events genuinely valuable for the people in the room.Tune in to this episode as we explore:(00:37) Sophie's background (02:23) What goes into managing 180 speakers across a two-day event(06:45) How Rough Agenda filters out salesy content through the deck review process(10:57) Using post-event surveys and live room observation to sharpen the agenda(15:54) How COVID changed the events industry and why in-person is bouncing back(21:13) Why relatable content beats big names - and how events create community(27:30) Catering for generalist marketers across specialist conference tracks(33:24) Practical advice for running a great event on any budget(44:42) How AI has helped Sophie as a dyslexic writer - and an honest career screw-upLinks mentioned in this episode:Sophie Logan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophielogan/ https://marketingsoph.com/ Rough Agenda: https://roughagenda.com/ Brighton SEO: https://brightonseo.com/ HeroConf: https://ppchero.com/hero-conf/ The AI-Amplified Marketer by Frederik Boysen: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ai-amplified-marketer-frederick-vallaeys/1149791057

Dave Boyce, revenue strategist and PLG expert, flips the funnel on its head and makes a compelling case for why the real money in B2B isn't at the top of the funnel - it's already inside your customer base. If you're still measuring success at closed-won, you're missing 90% of the story.Tune into this episode, as we explore:(00:16) The $100M ARR breakdown that'll make you rethink your entire marketing budget(03:41) Why do we hand off our most valuable work to the lowest-paid people in the building(04:15) Incentives drive behaviour(07:07) Growth loops in action: how Canva, Zoom, and Figma turn customers into pipeline(10:11) Community, events, and peer influence - the right-side-of-the-bow-tie playbook most B2B teams are still missingListen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3eehi7RuJmrN59UgjHMr43.