Founders, not sure you’re working on the right things? Honestly, it usually boils down to two pain points: ➡️ In terms of ops: what's painful for the team? ➡️ In terms of product: what's painful for the customer? Don’t overcomplicate the vision and path forward.

Most companies are sitting on a distribution engine they’re not using. Your team. Your marketers, your sellers, your product leaders—every one of them has a network. People who trust them more than they trust your brand. People who actually read what they post. That’s why employee advocacy is one of the most underrated growth levers in B2B AND why we launched our 𝘖𝘸𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 Challenge. Individuals get 8x more engagement than content posted by company pages on average. And we all know that buyers trust people, not logos. Your exec AND team’s voice can build brand affinity 10x faster than any ad spend. Here are the stats from the ‘arb after 4 weeks of the challenge: • Posts: 375 • Impressions: +5.6M • Reactions: +41.6K • Comments: +8K • Reposts: 912 • Social Referral Traffic: up 31% • Demos Referencing the Competition: +50% • Est Pipeline Value Driven: $403K • Internal teamwork on each other’s posts: Gold So when you’re ready to launch your own version of “OTI” here are my best tips from what we’ve learned so far. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗠𝗘𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 Every department has unique insights. Encourage product managers, recruiters, and engineers to post about what they’re learning. These are the stories that make your brand human. 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 Celebrate the people building trust online. Create a Slack channel for shared wins. Incentivize creativity and consistency. Build advocacy into culture—not just into campaigns. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 Forced advocacy fails. Empowerment wins. Give them the tools—but let them opt in, make it their own, and watch the authenticity come through. 𝗧𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 Track referral traffic and attribute inbound leads. Share the actual ROI of employee advocacy with your team—so they SEE the impact they’re making. If you're struggling to get traction on social or wondering why your content isn’t hitting, you might be overlooking your best creators. (I didn't even make top 5 posts for the team. And couldn't be a prouder loser.) They already work for you. Invite them to work with you. Hats off @storyarb crew! Y'all crushed this OTI thing. Now, what's next????! 👀 👀

Ahhh mid-year panic. When the YE goals get real real. 🫣 Getting this a lot out there rn. Mostly with teams leading AI-product launches, but have no GTM motion in motion quite yet. They all need content out the front door yesterday. And it can't take too long. They have real KPIs to hit. So it's gotta work now. AND it's gotta work later. Quick wins in the form of net-new MQLs --> New $$ (The 5% of your ICP) Slow-burn nurturing of those Leads --> MQLs --> SQLs that aren't quite ready to buy. But will be. (The 95%) Here’s the play @storyarb recommends (and is running right now behind the scenes for AI product teams trying to salvage YE goals): • Exec Content — Get your internal SMEs and leaders talking. Like right now. Everywhere. LinkedIn, interviews, podcasts. • Editorial Newsletter — Launch a niche-first editorial newsletter for your ICP. Yes "for" ... treat it like a publication, not a promo engine. • Flagship Content — Pick ONE cornerstone asset (playbook, case study, guide) that’s worth the download. Done right? → Social fuels quick $$ wins. → Social also fuels newsletter subs. → Newsletter builds credibility + awareness. → Flagship content captures leads and compounds in value for your ICP AND your pipeline over time. Start this week and you’ll be 60 days into momentum by Q4. Or let us build it for you. In other words, DM me if you’re in scramble mode.

Soooo many marketers riding the wrong wave. “Total engagement skyrocketed!” → Great! Until it dips or dives or bumps... and suddenly you’re spiraling: “Do I actually know what I’m doing here?” Here’s the problem: Total engagement ≠ quality engagement. Total engagement ≠ business results. If you’re a marketing team of one (especially if you're reporting up to leadership), here’s what matters way more: Percent engagement steadily increasing over time — with your target, in-niche audience. That is the signal. That proves you’re building the right audience and that your content is working as a compounding asset. Not a one-timer. How to measure it (simple version): 1️⃣ Define your ICP — ex: Heads of RevOps at $10M+ B2B SaaS companies 2️⃣ Track % of your engaged audience that fits this ICP — weekly or monthly 3️⃣ Monitor for consistent growth over time — even if absolute engagement looks “lower” 4️⃣ Report this % metric to leadership → it proves content is building pipeline-qualified attention Why it works: High total engagement on random viral posts won’t help your funnel. I'm dubbing these one-timers. Growing % engagement within your ICP-aligned prospects and buyers absolutely will. In fact, this is a real nice swell. This is the wave you should be riding.

“We’re looking for the 1,000 true fans.” A very smart marketing leader from a very smart company said this on a discovery call this week, and I can’t stop thinking about it. That’s what every company should be building for. It’s what I’m looking for at the ‘arb, and it’s what our team is building for. You don’t need the whole market. Just the right market that can’t stop talking about you. The person that tells their neighbor about you by the grill on a Saturday. Or at the gym Monday morning. Or in line with a co-worker for midday coffee. They can’t not talk about your company cause they genuinely love what you do that makes their lives just a little better or a little easier. Too many companies chase reach. The smart ones chase loyalty. Building for 1,000 true fans forever now.

"Excellent" rarely shows up in my vocabulary. Maybe it's the Montessori in me. But this week, I've used it multiple times. That's when I know our team is on fire. They Get it. Capital G. Three simple questions to use as a checkpoint to understand if your folks are firing on all cylinders in right seats within your org: 1. Do they GET it? 2. Do the WANT it? 3. Do they have the CAPACITY to do it? GWC: A "hell yes" to all three and you've got yourself a stellar crew on your hands! 💪

We sold subscriptions to a site we hadn’t built yet at my last startup. A little wild when I really think about it. But it worked. We sold the vision of what it was going to be, and because we were building something the industry was in desperate need of, it clicked immediately for the ones who could ‘see it.’ So if you’re marketing in beta or pre-launch, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: It’s never too soon to launch your content. In fact: → It’s your earliest demand signal. → It’s how you start building the first “1000 true fans.” → It’s how you figure out which parts of the vision land (and which parts don’t). No product? No problem. The best B2B companies win on narrative, not just features. So don’t wait for the product to be “done.” The sooner you start the content engine — exec social, flagship pieces, newsletter — the more market momentum you’ll have when the product is ready to sell.

If your newsletter disappears tomorrow will anyone notice? If the answer is no, you're promoting. If the answer is hell yes, you're building a product. Newsletters are products, NOT promotion. Build something they want and need to read.

I’ve been leading marketing teams for 15 years and the most successful ones routinely do these 5 things: 1. Start with the customer, not the channel They obsess over their ICP. Before making a single content, ad, or campaign decision, they ask: *“*Would this help our customer be better at their job?” Not “Will it get likes?” 2. Build content like a product They don’t just “do content.” They have a roadmap. Clear formats. Launch cycles. Performance tracking. Great content is an asset, not a task. 3. Bridge sales and marketing Best-in-class teams don’t let silos fester. They share insights, swap pain points, and co-own revenue metrics. 4. Review and refine frequently They don’t set strategy once a year and forget it. Monthly retros. Quarterly resets. They’re honest about what’s working—and ruthless about cutting what’s not. 5. Say no to the wrong growth The best teams don’t chase every lead or traffic bump. They know who they’re for (and who they’re not). They protect the brand and prioritize sustainable wins over quick hits. 6. Say no to jerks (there’s always a bonus for the readers that stay ☺️) This one tells me the fastest if a team is on the highway to health or highway to hell. I don't care how talented you are. Jerks will ruin a creative space faster than budget cuts or poor content performance. Culture is everything. Leading our ‘arb team through 2025 and these still hold.