Tech Qualified

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Justin Brown sits down with Jonathan Bland, Co-Founder of Omni Lab Consulting, to unpack one of the most pressing conversations in B2B marketing right now: how to use AI responsibly in content creation without contributing to the wave of slop flooding LinkedIn and the broader web. The two agency owners open with a candid take on "scrappy marketing" — including a pointed conversation about why expensive ABM platforms like 6sense are losing favor with heads of marketing who never needed that level of tech in the first place.From there, the conversation pivots to the heart of the episode: the difference between responsible and irresponsible AI use in content. Jonathan and Justin agree that AI itself isn't the problem — the problem is lazy prompting, missing point of view, and content created without source material or proprietary insight. They explore how brands like Ahrefs and Influ2 are getting it right by leading with original research, first-person perspective, and real product snapshots, while many B2B teams are publishing volume for volume's sake.The episode closes with a real-world case study: Justin shares how his business partner Tristan went from zero content to a thriving M&A practice in six months by using AI to scale content derived entirely from real conversations and lived experience. The throughline is clear — AI is a force multiplier, but only when human POV, source material, and active community engagement sit at the foundation.Guest-at-a-GlanceName: Jonathan Bland Role: Co-Founder Company: Omni Lab Consulting Context: Jonathan leads a demand gen and paid media agency focused on SaaS brands. He's an active content creator and commentator on B2B marketing strategy, AI in content, and the evolving role of paid media. He's known for sharing tactical POVs on LinkedIn and championing scrappy, high-leverage marketing plays over bloated tech stacks. Where to find him: LinkedIn (Jonathan Bland) | omnilabconsulting.comThis episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Justin Brown sits down with Chris Corcoran, Cofounder and Managing Partner at Blue Tusk Partners, to unpack more than two decades of trying to grow a B2B services company without ever building a massive marketing organization. Chris walks through the evolution of memoryBlue's marketing function — from a word-of-mouth-only era driven entirely by client referrals, to early agency partnerships, to bringing on a high-performing junior hire, to eventually building an in-house team led by a director of marketing. Along the way, he candidly discusses what worked, what didn't, and why he ultimately wishes he had started investing in marketing earlier and more aggressively.The conversation digs into the realities of being a sales-led founder running a services company, including how memoryBlue differentiated itself in a crowded SDR outsourcing market, why their website became their best salesperson and recruiter, and how 70–80% of their business came in through inbound channels despite being an outbound-focused company. Chris also shares hard-earned perspective on managing agencies — arguing that the tighter founders manage their agency partners, the better the outcomes — and reflects on channels that didn't deliver (like SEO) versus harder-to-measure investments like the company's podcast that paid off in culture, recruiting, and brand affinity.For founders and small marketing teams trying to figure out whether to hire, outsource, or do it themselves, this episode delivers a rare, honest look at what scaling marketing actually looks like when you're a services company without endless resources.Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name:  Chris Corcoran 💡 What they do: Cofounder + Managing Partner 💡 Company: Blue Tusk Partners 💡 Noteworthy: Chris spent more than two decades helping build memoryBlue into one of the most recognizable outsourced SDR firms in the industry. He had a front-row seat to nearly every growth challenge a scaling B2B services company can face — from founder-led sales and word-of-mouth growth to agency partnerships, in-house team building, content, PR, podcasts, and events. 💡 Where to find him: LinkedInThis episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Justin Brown, Co-Founder at Marketers in Demand. They explore what marketing ROI means when your team must both “keep the lights on” and drive growth.Justin draws a hard line between table-stakes marketing and growth marketing. Your website, basic content, and consistent presence work like HR or accounting: you need them to run a business, and not every dollar ties to a clean return. Problems start when leaders demand perfect attribution for everything, or when marketers accept vague goals like “more” without a definition.For growth work, Justin pushes for a model built on history: cost per lead, cost per opportunity, and pipeline targets. He shows how board numbers can set teams up to fail, even when performance rises. If you lack data, he recommends setting a baseline, using benchmarks, and getting leadership to sign off on metrics.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Tristan Pelligrino, Co-Founder at Marketers in Demand. They explore the realities of account-based marketing (ABM) for small B2B tech teams, focusing on practical ways to build effective programs without big budgets or expensive software.Tristan explains how scrappy ABM differs from enterprise approaches, breaking down the process of connecting with target accounts using lean tools and smart workflows. He highlights the value of layering outreach—using cold email, targeted ads, and LinkedIn sequences—to create momentum and gather early signals. Tristan shares how his teams track website visits and ad engagement to spot interest before leads fill out a form, making sure marketers have data to report real progress.The episode closes with advice for teams getting started: focus on a strong, relevant offer and keep friction low for your prospects. Tristan stresses that even with modest tools, clear messaging and ongoing testing drive the best results.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Content Logistics, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Justin Brown, founder of Marketers in Demand. They explore what it means to build a true marketing roadmap and why small B2B teams need more than just ideas to see growth.Justin breaks down the gap between having a “strategy” in your head and having a documented plan with real goals and actions. He explains that most teams think they have a strategy but lack a written roadmap that outlines what needs to happen and why. Without this, teams chase tactics—like paid ads or new messaging—without tying them to outcomes, which wastes time and budget.The conversation focuses on the power of starting with clear business goals, then building tactics to support them. Justin shares why teams should prioritize content creation and test internally before spending on outside help. He closes with simple advice: if you can’t send someone your marketing strategy in a document, it’s time to create one.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Justin Brown, Co-Founder at Marketers in Demand, to tackle the real challenges of measuring content ROI for small B2B marketing teams. They dig into why direct attribution is so hard when you’re working with limited budgets and lean teams—especially when enterprise tools are out of reach.Justin shares why not every marketing activity needs to show a direct return. He explains the concept of “table stakes marketing”—the foundational work like keeping your website and social media fresh—that builds trust and credibility but rarely delivers a clear, immediate payoff. Justin stresses that this work matters for brand health, even if you can’t tie every action to a new lead.Together, Baylee and Justin explore smarter ways to track progress, like watching for growth trends and engagement, rather than obsessing over single-channel metrics. They remind listeners that investing in marketing is a long game, and lasting results often come from consistent, visible effort—not just short-term wins.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Justin Brown, Co-Founder at Marketers in Demand. They explore the real work that goes into launching and sustaining a successful B2B podcast, especially for small marketing teams. Justin shares why consistency matters more than flashy production and explains how a podcast can anchor content strategy for tech companies.Justin pushes back on the idea that business podcasts should focus on executive stories or product launches. Instead, he urges listeners to build shows around real audience problems and to use targeted questions that give practical takeaways. He also describes how podcasting can fuel content for blogs, social media, and sales outreach, making it a practical choice for busy teams.Throughout the conversation, Justin stresses the value of starting simple and building over time. He encourages marketers to respect the medium, aim for steady output, and use podcasting as a tool for lasting relationships and trust—not just vanity metrics.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Kiyan Klocker to explore what makes a paid landing page work. Kiyan explains why landing pages must focus on a single audience and a single goal, and why sending paid traffic to a homepage usually falls short. Instead, he shares how to reuse strong content from other parts of your website while tailoring each landing page to match the campaign’s purpose and the visitor’s needs.Kiyan walks through the difference between marketing and sales, stressing that marketing should center on helping prospects solve problems. He outlines how to build campaigns for every stage of the funnel, from raising awareness to driving action, and why every landing page must set clear expectations for what happens after a visitor hits submit. He also highlights common mistakes, like adding too many calls to action or mismatching ad copy and landing page content.The conversation wraps with practical advice on measuring success, customizing by audience, and keeping the user journey smooth from ad to form. Kiyan’s insights offer a clear path for anyone looking to improve campaign performance with better landing pages.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Tristan Pelligrino, Co-Founder at Marketers in Demand. They explore how B2B tech companies can craft offers that cut through the noise and drive real engagement in account-based marketing (ABM).Tristan explains why strong offers start with a deep understanding of customer pain points. He shares the importance of moving beyond generic content and building no-brainer offers that deliver meaningful value—sometimes even quantified as a percentage of the annual contract value. Tristan also stresses the difference between resources and true offers, urging teams to segment and qualify prospects before extending high-value opportunities.The conversation turns to messaging and testing. Tristan outlines practical ways to reach buyers through tailored emails, ads, and sales outreach. He encourages teams to test different angles, use real customer language, and rely on frequent iteration instead of waiting for perfection. The key is to launch, learn, and keep refining with real feedback.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell sits down with Tristan Pelligrino, Co-Founder at Marketers in Demand. They explore how B2B tech companies can build stronger content strategies by focusing first on understanding their ideal customers. Tristan explains that content isn’t just about producing blog posts or white papers—it starts with knowing exactly who you want to reach and what problems they face.Tristan shares why small marketing teams should prioritize real conversations with customers and internal experts. He shows how these discussions reveal the challenges buyers care about and help teams create more meaningful, specific content. By gathering insights from sales calls, customer interviews, and feedback sessions, marketers can move beyond generic messaging and stand out from competitors.The conversation wraps with practical advice for scrappy teams: start with one type of conversation, such as a podcast or video chat, and repurpose that material across channels. For Tristan, this approach helps teams stretch their resources, reach the right people, and build a content engine that actually supports growth.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Baylee Gunnell joins Colin Costigan, Head of Accounts at Marketers in Demand, to discuss a common marketing challenge. Many teams want to launch a perfect campaign, but the market demands speed. Colin explains why perfection is unattainable and how teams can shift their thinking.Colin suggests moving from an "architect" to an "engineer" mindset. Instead of endless planning, marketers should build, test, and gather real-world data. He advises treating every launch as a live experiment, not a final exam. This reframes failure as a learning opportunity and removes the pressure of a single, high-stakes release.To build momentum, Colin advises a consistent cadence for reviewing data and launching new tests. This creates a continuous loop of learning and iteration. By focusing on progress, marketers can adapt faster and achieve better results in a constantly moving market.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Marketers often jump directly into tactics, feeling pressure to show progress. In this episode of Tech Qualified,, Baylee Gunnell and Colin Costigan, Head of Accounts at Marketers in Demand, discuss how to build a stronger marketing foundation. Colin explains that the desire for tangible results and leadership pressure cause teams to skip essential planning.A strong marketing plan starts with a business goal. This "North Star" guides your strategy, which defines who you will target. Only then should you develop tactics like email outreach or social media ads. Every tactic must trace back to the strategy and serve the main business outcome.Knowing when to adapt is critical. Colin explains how to tell if a problem is tactical or strategic. Signals like a low click-through rate may require a tactical change. However, major issues like a doubling cost-per-lead signal a need to revisit your strategy. This framework helps teams stay structured while remaining flexible.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Building a website can feel overwhelming. In this episode of Tech Qualified, Erin Ham, Account Director at Marketers in Demand, shares a clear roadmap for website strategy. She joins host Baylee Gunnell to discuss why every project must start with a single, defined goal. This foundation guides all future decisions, from content planning to tech stack integration.Erin highlights common pitfalls, including overloaded menus and confusing jargon. She recommends a "five-second test" to ensure visitors immediately understand how you can help them. This means shifting from "selfish content" about your company to customer-centric messaging that solves a problem. It’s about focusing on what the user gets, not just what you do.The discussion also covers practical tactics for improving an existing site. Erin suggests talking to your sales team to learn customer pain points and using tools like heat maps for user insights. The key takeaway is to build a simple, strategic path that guides users and helps them succeed.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Justin Brown, co-founder of Marketing in Demand, explains why founder-led content matters more than most executives realize on this episode of Tech Qualified with host Baylee Gunnell. Justin argues that founders bring irreplaceable industry perspectives that employees simply can't match, especially those who've spent decades in their field.The conversation explores three types of founders: those who resist content creation entirely, those who are open but hesitant, and those who fully embrace it. Justin emphasizes that most founders fall into the middle category and need content creation made as simple as possible. He suggests quarterly recordings that can be repurposed across multiple channels rather than demanding weekly commitments.Justin challenges traditional ROI thinking around content marketing. He views founder content as essential business infrastructure rather than direct revenue generation. Content serves multiple purposes: sales enablement materials, customer testimonials, and relationship building with industry leaders. This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Justin Brown talks with Joe Michalowski, Head of Client Services at New North, about the importance of documenting marketing strategies. They discuss the value of creating detailed plans for various marketing channels.Justin and Joe explain that a written plan keeps everyone aligned, from internal teams to client stakeholders. It provides clarity on goals, target audiences, and metrics for tracking success. They also delve into the risks of neglecting documentation, such as inconsistent brand messaging, missed business goals, and difficulty in measuring marketing ROI.Joe emphasizes the need for living documents that evolve with a company's marketing efforts. He outlines key elements to include in a comprehensive plan: clear identification of the target customer, well-defined goals, specific metrics, and assigned responsibilities for execution.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker welcome Florian Delval, Director and Technical Product Marketing Manager at ActionIQ. Florian shares his journey from software engineering to product marketing, highlighting the skills and insights he brings from his technical background.Florian discusses a recent fast-track product launch at ActionIQ, where his team had just eight days to prepare. He emphasizes the importance of internal communication, having a clear plan, and focusing on essential tasks to ensure a successful launch. Florian also talks about the value of understanding market trends and staying ahead of the curve.Listeners will gain insights into how ActionIQ empowers marketers by simplifying access to customer data without requiring deep technical knowledge. Florian shares his strategies for effective collaboration between marketing and technical teams, ensuring everyone is aligned and working towards common goals. This episode is a must-listen for marketers navigating complex technologies and striving to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving field.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker chat with Greg Elfrink, Director of Marketing at Empire Flippers. Greg shares his experiences and insights on building and maintaining a successful newsletter, scaling content efforts, and leveraging global talent in the M&A space.Greg dives into the creation of the "This Week in M&A" newsletter, detailing its transformation from a simple content wrap-up to a robust weekly update with 118,000 active subscribers. He explains how switching to a more diverse and engaging format, inspired by popular newsletters like The Hustle and Morning Brew, significantly improved metrics and audience engagement.Throughout the conversation, Greg emphasizes the importance of curating relevant content and staying updated on industry trends to provide value to subscribers. He highlights the strategic use of both internal and external resources, including influencers and social intelligence software, to keep the newsletter fresh and informative.The discussion also touches on the challenges of marketing to entrepreneurs in the digital space, the benefits of a well-structured content strategy, and the impact of effective communication tools on team alignment and productivity. Greg's insights offer valuable takeaways for anyone looking to enhance their marketing efforts and connect with a broader audience.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker sit down with Allys Ton from Qortex to discuss the intricacies of brand building, particularly for small marketing teams. Allys shares her extensive experience in creating and nurturing brands at various companies, highlighting her unique approach to personifying brands. She explains how a comprehensive branding exercise can define a brand’s personality, voice, and values, making it easier to communicate the brand’s essence across all marketing materials.Allys emphasizes the importance of collaboration within a company during the branding process. She advocates for involving different departments to get a holistic view of the brand's identity. This approach ensures that the brand’s personality resonates with everyone, from engineers to customer-facing employees. Allys also talks about the practical steps involved in launching a brand, such as updating websites, social media, and marketing collateral, to align with the new brand identity.The conversation also covers the challenges and strategies of maintaining brand consistency with the help of external contractors. Both Allys and Meredith share their experiences working with designers and content creators to keep their brand’s voice and visual identity cohesive. They discuss the balance of in-house skills and outsourced expertise, emphasizing the need for clear communication and feedback to ensure that all content reflects the brand’s core values and personality.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this illuminating episode of "Tech Qualified," hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker engage with Ryan Tidwell from Saltmine, exploring the unique challenges of marketing within niche B2B spaces. Ryan shares his journey of marketing in underrepresented sectors like prop tech and how crucial consistency and tailored strategies are for his 'small but scrappy' team. His insights reveal that success lies not in grand gestures but in steady, thoughtful marketing that resonates with a specific audience.Ryan emphasizes the importance of understanding the audience's needs, avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions, and instead focusing on what truly matters to them. This approach requires marketers to think critically about the utility and clarity of their content, ensuring it speaks directly to the concerns and interests of their niche audience.The discussion also delves into the broader implications of marketing strategies that prioritize authenticity and strategic thinking over flashy, transient tactics. By sharing examples from his own experience, Ryanl illustrates how effective marketing in specialized fields doesn't always follow the mainstream but instead builds its own path to resonate deeply with its intended audience. This episode is a must-listen for marketers aiming to leverage limited resources for maximum impact.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In the latest episode of "Tech Qualified," hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Medsker engage with Drew Moffitt from Kumospace to explore innovative strategies in B2B influencer marketing and virtual office environments. Drew details Kumospace’s virtual platform, which simulates a physical office digitally, enhancing remote collaboration. The discussion also covers how Kumospace has been effectively utilizing influencer marketing to boost visibility and engagement, demonstrating substantial impacts on their growth and customer acquisition strategies.Drew explains the mechanics behind their successful influencer campaigns, emphasizing the importance of organic and relatable content to ensure authenticity. He shares insights on the careful selection and management of influencers to maximize reach and engagement. This approach has not only increased Kumospace's visibility but also significantly contributed to their revenue, demonstrating the effectiveness of influencer marketing in the B2B space.Furthermore, the episode dives into the operational aspects of running influencer campaigns, including the tools and processes Kumospace employs to manage and measure the success of these initiatives. Drew’s candid discussion provides valuable lessons for marketers looking to leverage influencer marketing, highlighting the potential for substantial returns when executed with a strategic and genuine approach.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker chat with Stephen Robles of Riverside about asynchronous recording technologies. The discussion kicks off with an overview of Riverside's features designed to ease recording processes for busy professionals. Stephen explains how the platform allows for recording without requiring all participants to be online simultaneously, a boon for busy CEOs and subject matter experts.The conversation dives into specific functionalities of Riverside, such as creating links for asynchronous recording, which simplifies the collection of high-quality audio and video content. This feature is particularly beneficial for journalists and businesses needing testimonials without coordinating schedules. Stephen highlights the intuitive user interface that guides users through the recording process, ensuring quality submissions with minimal technical know-how.Towards the end, the podcast covers Riverside’s innovative approach to content creation and its potential applications in various fields, including marketing and education. Stephen discusses upcoming features and enhancements that streamline the editing process, enabling users to produce polished content directly within Riverside. This episode is a must-listen for professionals looking to leverage technology for more efficient content creation and management.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker host Nick Lafferty, a seasoned growth marketing consultant and founder of the Early Exit Club. Nick discusses the crucial role of paid marketing strategies for B2B organizations, emphasizing the rapid feedback and optimization opportunities it provides. He details how paid marketing efforts can be a valuable tool for small teams looking to test ideas quickly with minimal initial investment.Nick explains how to align marketing strategies with business objectives and select the most effective channels, such as Google Ads and LinkedIn. He stresses the importance of matching these channels to the company's stage of development and budget, guiding businesses through the initial steps of creating a paid media program from scratch.The conversation also covers common challenges and pitfalls in paid marketing, such as inadequate budget allocation and the complexities of channel prioritization. Nick shares insights on when companies should consider investing in paid channels and how to measure the success of these investments, providing practical advice for companies at various growth stages.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified,  Justin Brown and  Meredith Metsker dive into the world of social media's role in business growth with Kirsti Lang from Buffer. The conversation starts with the importance of having a strong digital presence, even for small teams, and quickly transitions to the power of authenticity in social media marketing. Kirsti emphasizes that people trust individuals over brands, making the personal stories and posts from company leaders crucial for engagement and trust-building.Kirsti shares practical advice for executives hesitant to embrace social media, suggesting starting small with regular posts to showcase the human side of business. She explains that sharing the founder's journey and the company's story can significantly impact audience engagement, resonating more than traditional brand posts.The discussion also highlights the need for consistency in social media efforts and the value of having a strategy that includes content pillars and audience understanding. Kirsti suggests that marketing teams can support their leaders by providing tools, content calendars, and encouraging a culture where posting on social media is seen as an opportunity rather than a chore. The episode wraps up with the insight that anyone within a company who aligns closely with the ideal customer profile can be a valuable voice on social media, not just the executives or marketing team.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Meredith Metsker and guest Justin Brown of New North explore the transformative impact of episodic content for small marketing teams. Justin shares his journey from struggling to produce regular content as a small business owner to discovering the strategic advantages of podcasting. This transition not only facilitated consistent content production but also significantly boosted engagement with key audiences.Justin emphasizes the flexibility and efficiency of episodic content, particularly podcasting, in enabling small teams to punch above their weight. By leveraging podcasts, companies can generate a continuous stream of content, enhance their brand’s visibility, and establish themselves as industry thought leaders without the resource drain typically associated with traditional content creation methods. This approach not only aids in content distribution but also fosters valuable connections within the industry, making it a potent tool for businesses aiming to expand their influence and reach.The conversation dives into practical tips for developing a successful episodic content strategy, highlighting the importance of audience-centric content planning and execution. Justin’s insights underline episodic content's role in not just attracting but also retaining an engaged audience by consistently delivering valuable and relevant insights. This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, Justin Brown dives into the intricacies of content creation with limited resources. He discusses the unique challenges faced by small B2B tech marketing teams with Meredith Metsker , the Director of Content and Community at uConnect. The conversation explores strategies for building an efficient content machine, underscoring the importance of adaptability and resourcefulness in a constrained environment.Meredith shares her journey from working in larger marketing teams to embracing the agility of smaller groups, highlighting the advantages of reduced bureaucratic hurdles. Her experience across various roles in the tech sector has shaped her preference for lean teams, where the rapid execution of ideas thrives. The discussion also touches on the common misconceptions about content creation capabilities of small teams, debunking the notion that quality content requires a large workforce.The episode concludes with actionable insights into establishing a successful content strategy. Meredith emphasizes the value of consistency, strategic planning, and the power of outsourcing certain tasks to maintain a steady flow of engaging content. Her approach, focusing on leveraging podcasts and multimedia, showcases the potential for small teams to make a significant impact, driving increased web traffic and generating leads for uConnect.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

​​In this episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker welcome Joe Michalowski from New North. They dive into the evolving landscape of B2B marketing, discussing the critical shift from in-house roles to agency settings. Joe shares his unique perspective on adapting strategies for client success in a competitive digital environment.Joe emphasizes the importance of leveraging content to address customer pain points. He outlines effective methods for creating content that resonates with target audiences, highlighting the need for authenticity and value-driven messaging. The discussion also explores how small marketing teams can punch above their weight through strategic planning and execution.The conversation wraps up with insights on measuring marketing success. Joe stresses the significance of aligning marketing metrics with business goals to truly gauge the impact of campaigns. This episode offers valuable advice for marketers looking to refine their approach and drive growth in the B2B sector.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this insightful episode of Tech Qualified, Meredith Metsker hosts Lindsay McGuire, Associate Director of Content and Campaigns at Goldcast. They dive into the art of crafting effective event strategies for small marketing teams. Lindsay emphasizes the importance of aligning events with business goals, highlighting how different event types serve varied objectives - from brand building to community engagement.Lindsay shares practical advice on efficiently running events with limited resources. She stresses the significance of roles like hosts and producers in ensuring the smooth execution of events. The discussion also explores leveraging virtual events to extend brand reach and content strategies, underscoring the value of audience engagement and feedback in shaping event direction.Concluding with key insights, Lindsay offers guidance for small teams considering event strategies. She advocates for using events as content generators and prioritizing audience needs, ensuring impactful and sustainable marketing efforts.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, Meredith Metsker and Justin Brown dive into essential marketing strategies. They reflect on an interview with Tory Kindlick, VP of Marketing at Corti, discussing the fundamental role of content marketing. Kindlick's approach to building a marketing team prioritizes content creation, highlighting its vital role in successful marketing strategies.The conversation shifts to the importance of diverse skill sets in marketing teams. Justin, with a background in content, emphasizes the need for technical expertise in tandem with content creation. This balance ensures a comprehensive approach to marketing, facilitating both creative and analytical strengths. They underscore the need for marketers to possess a blend of skills to adapt and thrive in various marketing environments.Lastly, the episode focuses on the art of interviewing in marketing. Justin stresses the significance of asking the right questions to gain deeper insights. This skill is crucial for understanding market needs and crafting relevant content. Their discussion reveals how effective interviewing can lead to more impactful marketing strategies and better audience engagement.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, host Justin Brown welcomes Meredith Metsker, Senior Content Marketing Manager at uConnect. They delve into the challenges and strategies of content marketing in a small team environment. Meredith shares her experiences in creating effective content strategies that balance both execution and strategic planning.Meredith emphasizes the importance of agility and autonomy in small teams. She discusses how these qualities enable quick adaptation to changing market trends and audience needs. The conversation also touches on the significance of understanding the audience to create relevant and engaging content.The episode concludes with insights into the future of content marketing. Meredith provides valuable tips for solo content marketers, stressing the need for a balance between hands-on content creation and overarching strategy development. This discussion offers a comprehensive look into the dynamic world of content marketing from an expert's perspective.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker welcome Rachel Cottam, Director of Content at Delivery Solutions. Rachel shares her diverse experiences in marketing, emphasizing the unique challenges small marketing teams face. She draws parallels between her past as a high school English teacher and her current role, highlighting the nuanced skills required in content marketing.Rachel dives into the isolation often felt in small teams, discussing how content marketers, despite being part of a niche, need to ensure their strategies and metrics are well understood organization-wide. She stresses the importance of community building among marketers and the need to recognize the varied roles and responsibilities within the marketing sphere.The conversation shifts to the balance of creativity and strategy in small teams. Rachel advises embracing a growth mindset, encouraging marketers to say "yes" to diverse tasks and learn through experience. Her approach underlines the importance of adaptability and feedback in honing one's skills, especially in compact marketing teams.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In this episode of Tech Qualified, Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker dive into the intricacies of marketing in the tech industry with Tory Kindlick, VP of Marketing at Corti. They explore the challenges and strategies of creating content and leading marketing teams in specialized fields.Tory discusses the transition from interviewing experts in various fields to leading marketing efforts in the healthcare technology sector. He shares insights on leveraging storytelling and subject matter expertise to build credibility and trust with medical professionals, a key audience for Corti.The conversation also touches on the importance of clear communication and simple tools like Google Docs for team alignment. Tory emphasizes the value of an agile approach to keep the team focused and efficient without micromanagement.Finally, Tory and the hosts reflect on the leadership styles that drive marketing success. They highlight the shift from directive to collaborative roles, with Tory advocating for a "lead from the front" mentality. The episode wraps up with Tory's perspective on prioritizing hires in content creation and paid media to bolster marketing operations.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

In the relaunched episode of Tech Qualified, hosts Justin Brown and Meredith Metsker dive deep into the evolution of the podcast. Justin reminisces about the podcast's earlier days, where they interviewed VPs of marketing and CMOs, emphasizing the shift towards creating more targeted and meaningful content.Both hosts highlight the significance of addressing core audience issues when crafting content. Meredith, drawing from her journalistic background, underscores the importance of starting with the most pressing information and genuinely adding value to the audience. She champions the idea of facilitating genuine subject matter expertise rather than feigning it.From an agency standpoint, Justin elaborates on the centrality of content in effective marketing. He believes that understanding the customer, producing content tailored to them, and then amplifying that content are the pillars of successful marketing. The episode serves as a rich exploration of content creation from both in-house and agency perspectives.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Dan Daron of Searchspring links an improved e-commerce customer experience directly to a company's bottom line. Merchandising and improved search solutions are important to this improved customer experience, whether the company is a retailer, brand, or B2B wholesaler or SAAS company. "If a customer can't find the products that they're looking for, you've basically lost them. They have, little to no attention span these days," says Dan. Calling on his experience at Searchspring and as an e-commerce and marketing consultant for 16 years, Dan provides tips on merchandising. He also discusses how Searchspring works with e-commerce teams to provide the tools and services to enable them to succeed. He describes how Searchspring is building relationships, becoming a thought leader in the e-commerce industry, and creating a community among e-marketers. He also gives hints about what the company's recent merger with Nextopia will mean for the industry.  Highlights include: Improving your search engine is a quick way to improve your bottom line. Customizing product recommendations will drive both upsells and cross-sells, while simultaneously improving the customer experience.   Searchspring gains customers through building relationships. It builds these relationships through a variety of channels including Sales Development Representatives, thought leadership, trade shows, media, and developing relationships within the tight-knit e-commerce community. This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

As a marketer and a creator, you know creativity is essential in this industry. But what you might not know: You could be thinking about creativity all wrong. Now, that sounds a little oxymoronic. Isn’t creativity all about not having boundaries? Thinking big? Creating that “wow, genius” viral moment? Jay Acunzo begs to differ.  The award-winning podcast host, global keynote speaker, and author firmly believes creativity is less about coming up with sporadic, disruptive ideas and is instead something that should occur consistently on a more micro level. Spoiler: Putting processes in place to help you harness your creativity is key. Jay has worked for some major tech companies, including Google and Hubspot, and he’s had a hand in helping grow startups, like Dailybreak Media and Boston Content. Now he’s doing his own thing at Marketing Showrunners, where he helps marketers from brands like Red Bull, BBC, Adobe and The New York Times best serve their audiences. On a recent episode of Tech Qualified, Jay explains how he’s rethinking creativity — plus the essential role creativity plays in marketing.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Stephanie Cox, VP, Sales and Marketing at Lumavate talks with Tristan Pillegrino about her journey as a marketer. She reflects on the challenges of making her opinions and ideas heard earlier in her career.  She recounts her progress along a path of personal growth from that early career experience, which led to her ultimate adoption of a professional philosophy grounded in proactively tackling problems independently, without permission.  Stephanie reflects on her former sense of relentless determination to achieve perfection on all projects, and the problem with striving to maintain that personal standard over time, especially in terms of the trade-off of speed and quality. She discusses the evolution of her mindset from commitment to incessant pursuit of perfection in outcomes to a principle of iterative stages of development. Stephanie compares the objectives of achieving top quality and providing rapid results and talks about how the switch to focus on incremental improvement through processes of iteration has transformed her project management and team leadership methodologies.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Lindsay Tjepkema has spent her career in marketing, usually on branded content and improving customer experiences.  She wanted to broaden her reach and explored using audio content as a content marketing strategy.  However, in her previous role at a technology company, she found that the technology for marketing with the spoken word was pretty deficient. While many pieces of the puzzle existed for podcasting, nothing existed to pull all the pieces together.  Lindsay wanted to create a new way of using the podcast as part of a content marketing strategy. Thus, Casted was born.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

According to Aashish Dhamdhere, the VP of Marketing at Skilljar, optimizing customer experience is at the core of every marketer's goal. Any interaction should add value to the company. Companies need to have a clear sense of their brand projections to ensure that they give customers the right impressions. Aashish Dhamdhere emphasizes that the number one driver of business decisions is how customers respond and interact with the products. A close second is the support and education provided by the company to the customers. Deliver content in a variety of formats. The goal is to find what works for the company. Options include webinars, question and answer sessions, and conferences. Marketers must put themselves in the mind of the customer. What type of experience is the company providing to the customer? Along with being particular about the content offered by the company, how is the content being delivered? Websites need easy navigation with user-friendly designs. Building and nurturing connections is also an essential facet of marketing. The more interactions, the more likely that trust levels improve between customers and the company.   Sales and marketing departments need the same goals, which boils down to pipeline. The pipeline for sales and marketing is always the same. Aashish Dhamdhere stresses how his goal is to pipeline everything up. Sources of lead generation are less important than securing the high numbers, no matter what channel used. Collect data, but collect the right data to make high-value decisions. To achieve this, focus on designing a reliable data infrastructure.  This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Nathan Bliss is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Kinsta, a WordPress hosting platform that knows what it does well and continues to get better at it.  “We don't bend a lot on where we feel we fit in,” Nathan says. “It’s kind of like why you can't Google a discount code for a Tesla. The price is the price. So that may sound a bit standoffish, but we ultimately feel that we want to provide that level of value.” Nathan’s previous roles include everything from account executive and solutions specialist to sales coach and regional sales manager, so he calls himself a sales and revenue guy “through and through.” That background gives him a unique approach to his current position as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, in which he combines his passion for recruiting top-tier employees with his knowledge of what strengths a company should emphasize from a selling standpoint.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, Nathan discusses how to move from a broad to a more targeted marketing approach, why it’s possible for a bootstrapped company to grow with the right marketing and the aspect of management he’s currently struggling with the most: delegating.  “We are not institutionally backed and we have no institutional financing,” Nathan says. “So we had to use very scrappy, time-tested methods to grow the business from its historic past. And now if you go to Google and you search a term anywhere related to WordPress or building a website that kind of falls anywhere on that spectrum of interest, it's hard not to find a search result [for us] on page one of Google.”This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Amy King’s path into marketing was a little unconventional. She got her master's in art history, and along the way, discovered it was really about critical thinking. This ultimately led her to product marketing for ad tech and software companies. Amy is now the VP of Marketing at Zaloni, a data management and operations software company that helps customers streamline their data ecosystem by making it run faster, better and at a lower cost. Amy has a multi-channel marketing approach, relying on inbound marketing to get to know Zaloni’s customers and ensure her team is attracting quality leads. On this episode of Tech Qualified, Amy talks about how marketing at Zaloni evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how inbound marketing became its most valuable source of leads. She also shares about the highly personalized and long sales cycle its prospects go through, using a mix of different content types, in order to get them from the marginally interested phase to wanting a demo.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

From product marketing to corporate comms to sales, Lindsay Duran has finally settled down in marketing. As the CMO at Zilliant, a B2B data science and software company that assists large organizations with sales and pricing, Lindsay helps companies reimagine their approach to commercial decisions. Her experience in different business areas only helped her grow as a marketer, allowing her to fully understand the sales cycle and what “qualified'' really stands for with MQLs.  "Moving a prospective customer down the path to becoming an actual customer is really about taking the time to understand a company's business … and helping them see how this is actually going to improve their employees' productivity, decision making and their overall business performance," Lindsay says. On this episode of Tech Qualified, Lindsay talks about her focus on finding highly converting MQLs and the in-depth content strategies she uses to provide value to customers in every industry. She also shares how she warms up prospects to the idea of overhauling a large portion of their business and what it takes to be a successful marketer. This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

When Michael joined Revenue Analytics as its Vice President of Marketing more than two years ago, he was a one-man team. Since then, he’s built out a small team of talented marketers, executed a complete brand refresh and solidified the company’s marketing strategy.  Over time, Michael has found that rather than investing in sales and business development reps, content prevails. People don’t want to be told what their problem is; they want to discover it for themselves, and content allows them to do just that. “I like to tell our team when we’re creating something, pretend it’s for your brother-in-law or sister-in-law, someone you’re genuinely trying to help — not someone you’re trying to sell,” Michael says. On this episode of Tech Qualified, Michael talks about his trials and tribulations when building out the Revenue Analytics marketing team, and he explains what he’s learned along the way. He also shares how his team has weathered 2020 and what he’s doing to best support them (and himself) during these trying times.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Crystal always had a passion for marketing and knew that's where she wanted her career to take her.  After working at Hewlett Packard and starting two of her own companies, Crystal helped conceptualize The 20 — a marketing agency for managed service providers (MSPs) that helps with lead gen, sales and scaling their businesses. The name is derived from the 80/20 rule, "as our intention is to dominate the top 20% of the IT industry," Crystal says.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, Crystal dives into how she approaches lead gen for a service that requires customers to make major changes within their business and how she cultivates thought leadership at The 20. She also shares what her most successful marketing campaigns are and what it takes to be a successful B2B tech marketer.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Amber Herndon wears many hats. Whether she's sitting in on sales calls, managing new clients, or brainstorming content strategy, Amber is always laser-focused on driving leads and building an engaging brand.  While she's living the typical startup life and wearing many hats in her role, her official title is Director of Marketing and Client Success at Signal Insights — a customized "daily digest" platform that delivers news, updates, and content trends on competitors and key accounts.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, Amber talks about how you can transform discussions with prospects and clients into valuable marketing material, what she did to break through the noise of countless other B2B Martech platforms, and why you should always ask for forgiveness instead of permission.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

At business intelligence agency Praxis Metrics, AJ Yager and his team harness the power of data to help e-commerce companies grow. The agency evolved from an offering AJ launched within his marketing agency Yager Media Group.  Referrals have been huge for expanding Praxis’ business in the early days — and AJ found a lot of success by being a guest on podcasts hosted by people in his network. The agency grew around 400% in 2019, which he attributes largely to being a guest on five to seven podcasts that got him in front of the right audiences.  With the help of Praxis’ Marketing Director Spencer Connell, the agency has increased inbound leads through an expanded content library. Once a lead is in the funnel, they go through the nurture sequence with the goal of getting them on a sales call. “All we're trying to do is get people from understanding what Praxis does, get them excited about what Praxis does, and then get them on a call. That's our marketing ideology,” he explains.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, host Justin Brown talks to the duo about their latest content strategies, which includes the launch of a new podcast and videocast series of their own as well as a potential book.   “Now what we're doing is saying we want to own this conversation around data. We're going to simplify the complicated subject of data,” AJ says.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Unlike most SaaS professionals, Aaron Stillman didn’t end up in software because it was a longtime passion. Instead, he wanted to drastically increase his fresh croissant intake. In other words, he saw his first SaaS job as an opportunity to live in Paris while developing his product management — and eventually marketing — abilities.  That first role kept him in the global market, where he now works for international customer experience optimization platform AB Tasty as its “director of storytelling” — or, as some prefer to call it, director of product marketing.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, Aaron discusses the importance of using a multitude of marketing tools to reach customers and why it’s vital to pay attention to which tools are most appropriate for a particular moment in time. Currently, the tool he finds most effective is video.  “Video’s really a first-class citizen for us,” Aaron says. “I want to make sure that our story gets across in a video in a way that will have that human impact when somebody watches it. When people log in to use our platform and ... create a personalization campaign, they'll receive a video helping them understand the key value propositions and the how-tos of using the product.”This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Half a year doesn’t seem like much time to take a marketing department from idling to racing ahead, but Mary Ford moves fast. Mary recently became the Chief Marketing Officer of CENTEGIX, an internet of things (IoT) company making emergency alert software. Its main clients are K-12 schools and hotels. School safety is a potentially heavy subject, but Mary focuses on the positives of what CENTEGIX’s product can do. “My job as a marketer is to help people understand the day-to-day value the solution brings to those who feel more protected because they're empowered to get help when they need it,” she says. Although Mary only joined this year, she’s been busy improving CENTEGIX’s brand awareness and profile. When she first came onboard, the company had a website — and not much else. “We needed to build some basic marketing competencies and fundamentals,” Mary says. Under her watch, the CENTEGIX marketing team launched a social media program and started producing white papers and email campaigns, improving internal communications (especially with sales) and hosting webinars. Fortunately, working at four startups in the past has given Mary a taste for juggling lots of projects at once. “I like to build things, and it's fun to see how our marketing function has evolved over the past six months.”This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Michelle Tilton fell in love with B2B marketing while working at a small boutique agency after college. It wasn't the "glamorous B2C space" everyone else wanted to get into, but something pulled her in and she's been in the B2B world ever since.  Now, Michelle works as the VP of Marketing at Infutor, a data solutions company that helps its clients better understand their customers through data. Michelle uses a multi-channel, multi-touch marketing approach to drive demand and integrates processes between marketing and sales to ensure a consistent, high-quality lead flow.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, Michelle talks about how Infutor nurtures different MQLs and the seamless handoff between its sales and marketing teams. She also shares about how she properly attributes lead data and the ways each team in her company works toward obtaining highly qualified leads and closing a higher percentage of sales.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Laura Scruggs attributes her company's "astronomical growth" to a strong alignment between sales and marketing. As the Director of Marketing at Mindgrub, a full-service digital marketing agency that focuses on tech companies, Laura tailors both Mindgrub’s and its affiliate companies’ marketing strategies to the changing needs of the B2B world.  In a time when marketing budgets are slashed each quarter and most businesses are just trying to stay afloat, it’s not easy to stay relevant.  "That window of relevance got so much smaller once the crisis hit because there are so many industries who are in absolute crisis right now,” Laura says. “If you're trying to approach them with a sales-forward message, they're not going to be receptive to that," On this episode of Tech Qualified, Laura details Mindgrub's successful marketing strategies, which include segmented advertising and creating content for every part of the sales funnel. She also shares about the importance of building authentic partnerships with clients instead of seeing them solely as a source of revenue.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

AnnaMaria Turano is Vice President of Marketing at Synzi, a company that was facilitating telehealth services before it was cool — or, rather, before it became an overwhelming necessity because of COVID-19.  “In late 2017, entering 2018, we figured out Synzi was the right name, the right brand. And then we determined the look and feel of what that brand identity should be, including the colors, including the font, etc., to be markedly different from everyone else in the telehealth space,” AnnaMaria says. “We saw ourselves as having been a pioneer of bringing forth a different type of solution and a different way of thinking about how that solution would actually work in a provider organization.” Because Synzi started using the term “virtual care” before other telehealth providers, AnnaMaria and her marketing team knew it was important to establish the company’s unique identity.  On this episode of Tech Qualified, AnnaMaria discusses marketing’s role in making a company stand out, the importance of maintaining customer relationships (and adapting based on their changing needs), and how helpful it is to think of varying marketing objectives as working hand-in-hand rather than achieving separate things.   “We've got all these things we're doing at once. They're all important. They all feed into each other, and there is no reason to just put one aside versus the other,” she says. “You can't drive lead gen without strengthening brand awareness, and at the same time … you're going to have to enable sales and make sure that your sales force has the right tools they need to close the deals, but also the right tools they need to get the customer started.”This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision. 

Heather Knutson is a seasoned marketer who has spent the last eight years in the housing industry space and data market. In the beginning of 2020, she took a new role as VP of Marketing at Ascent360, a computer software company that supports B2C marketers with its comprehensive customer data platform. On this episode of Tech Qualified with Justin Brown, Heather explains her marketing philosophies and how she strives to keep Ascent360’s marketing strategy fully aligned with its sales team. She also shares her love for thought leadership and why it’s a big “vein” in her marketing strategy. “I'm big into having good thought leadership where ... you don't want to give everything away — but you want to give enough information that you pique interest,” she says. Heather goes on to discuss building a library of content that she can use to repurpose across the industries that Ascent360 works with. The library helps her set processes in place, reuse good content from platform to platform and better align with the sales team as they go after customers in the pipeline.This episode is produced by New North.  New North is a strategic B2B marketing agency specializing in working with tech companies. Going beyond conventional tactics, we craft a personalized marketing strategy, conduct research, lay a solid foundation, execute dynamic campaigns, and continuously refine our approach through analysis. With New North, your small, scrappy marketing team transforms into a powerful growth engine, achieving your goals with less pressure and more precision.