More and more marketers are embracing demand creation as a strategy, at least in principle.
But making a fundamental GTM change is HARD.
You need to build executive alignment, define new KPIs, identify how to educate your target audience, fine-tune your content engine, and a whole lot more.
As VP of Demand Gen at Refine Labs, Sam Kuehnle has been a big part of the movement evangelizing a shift from lead gen to demand gen and has helped many companies make the transition.
Now he's leading a similar shift as an in-house marketing leader.
We go deep into what it takes to actually implement this strategy in practice, go beyond leads, and deliver real revenue impact.
Many thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Sam Kuehnle is VP of Marketing at Loxo, the Talent Intelligence Platform. From working in-house at a publicly-traded company, to advising seed stage companies trying to figure out how to crack their first $1M in ARR, to everything in-between, Sam is passionate about learning and sharing better ways to do marketing.
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Welcome to RevOps FM, everyone.
2
:Today we chat with Sam Keenly,
VP of marketing at Loxo.
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:Sam's one of a handful of people
who I think is really rewriting the
4
:playbook for B2B marketing today.
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:I've followed him on LinkedIn for
a few years now, ever since he was
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:VP of demand gen at Refine Labs.
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:And where Sam was really an important part
of that movement, evangelizing a switch
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:from traditional lead gen approaches
in favor of a demand gen or demand
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:creation strategy, which is something
I've really come to believe in as well.
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:But you know, one thing I've always
been super curious about is what does it
11
:look like for a company to fully embrace
those strategies from the top down and
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:really design their whole business?
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:Marketing approach around them.
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:You know, it's one thing to evangelize
a method as a consultant where you
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:have a certain professional distance
from the company and authority that
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:you bring as an external expert, it
can be quite another to lead that
17
:transformation from within a company
where you need to get fellow executives
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:on board, figure out communication.
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:Navigate all the challenges and
complexity that come with any
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:significant strategic change like that.
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:So Sam has been taking that
journey for the past year or so.
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:And today we're going to dive
into his career as a marketer, his
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:time at refine, and really go deep
into some of the super innovative
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:work he is doing today at Refine.
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:Sam, welcome to the show.
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:Sam Kuehnle: Thank you.
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:Appreciate that intro.
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:Justin Norris: I don't always start the
beginning with everyone, but I think
29
:in your case, it kind of relevant.
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:I'm curious what was your experience
like as a marketer before refined labs?
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:Sam Kuehnle: What was my
experience like before that?
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:Worked at a big publicly traded company.
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:I was very low on the totem pole.
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:So my point of view on marketing was
whatever I was told my point of view
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:on marketing was supposed to be.
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:it was a great experience overall.
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:It was like, I got to learn how big
companies work, how marketing works.
38
:And this formulated a little
bit of, how you understand and
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:learn things as time goes on.
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:So I say there's three stages to it.
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:Your first stage is you ask
questions and you get answers.
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:The second stage is, you're a
little bit more knowledgeable.
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:You give answers to the
questions that people are asking.
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:Then the third stage is you start
to question those answers that have
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:been given time and time again.
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:And so where that stemmed from was when I
was at that organization for eight years
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:and everything I got to experience at
all, I was like, I don't know anything
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:about marketing, but let's go learn it.
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:Then I got to start to do marketing
and people would come to me like,
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:Hey, what's the best way to, get
some new leads, what can we do?
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:And I'd start to, share, like,
here's what I've been told.
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:Here's what I'm going to tell you.
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:But what started to happen was I
noticed like things were a little bit.
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:Different.
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:They were changing with
the space and everything.
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:And I started to hear more
and more of good idea, Sam.
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:Now go sit down at the end of
the table and just be quiet
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:while the adults talk here.
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:They didn't actually say that
they weren't that rude, but we
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:all experienced that as a kid.
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:So my first few, Years there,
I was learning, I was doing,
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:I was absorbing all in that.
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:And then as time went on, I got to
take on more responsibility, AKA
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:like, Sam, you need to start thinking,
you need to start making decisions
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:versus just being told what to do.
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:And this is where I really started
to see a disconnect between marketing
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:success and then the lack of
that translating to the company.
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:So what I mean by that is we would hit
our lead goals for the quarter, for the
69
:first half of the year, whatever it was.
70
:But then we noticed like.
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:why are our company
pipeline targets short?
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:Because if we built this
perfect funnel, then.
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:X number of leads should mean Y amount
of pipeline Z revenue for the company.
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:Everyone's good, but
something wasn't working.
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:And that's why I started to think
more and more like there has to be
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:a better way of what we're doing.
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:And it's not, these linear
retargeting funnels, click on that
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:one, you're going to be served.
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:Add to click on that too.
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:You're served at three.
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:All of a sudden this person's ready to
be talking to sales and MQL chasing.
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:So that was the beginning of the
journey, so to speak before refined
83
:labs even entered the picture.
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:Justin Norris: And it sounds like
you alluded to this to some degree,
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:but at that company where you
had a fairly significant tenure.
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:Were they just using the kind of
traditional lead gen, you know, what MQL
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:hamster wheel quote unquote approach.
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:Sam Kuehnle: it was best
practice playbook at the time.
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:It was like the serious
decisions, waterfall, all of that.
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:the company was following exactly
what the board wanted to do.
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:Leadership wanted to do.
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:It was no, if I was in that
position, I was in leadership.
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:I probably would have been
saying, this is what we should
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:be running for the best results.
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:Like no one really knew there
was a better way at the time.
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:Justin Norris: To recap that
for those that, may not know
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:you collect leads, score them.
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:Them to some sort of sales.
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:team And then chase them down And probably
too much to ask but like what were the
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:conversion rates like at that time?
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:like lead to opportunity
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:Sam Kuehnle: I was so far removed
from that and underpaid to
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:even care about those.
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:Yeah.
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:My job is really just get as
many of these as possible.
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:I can tell you our cost per leads.
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:I was getting 40 cost per leads.
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:click to conversion rate was what I was
emphasizing on because it was all that.
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:But how do you define lead at that point?
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:And for me, it was get someone
to sign up for a webinar, get
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:someone to download an ebook.
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:So is it a qualified lead?
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:Is it someone who's just got
a little bit of interest?
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:That's where it was all different.
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:But I mean, I can't imagine what the
conversion rates were from lead to, I
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:guess, then it depends on like, what
do you want to convert that to, to just
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:opportunity being created, a qualified
opportunity, but I could probably
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:tell you it was less than 5 percent
to qualified opportunity from there.
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:Justin Norris: just pulling on that
thread because it alludes to something
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:interesting in a large enterprise
there can be like significant gaps
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:between like what you're doing in
this part of the assembly line process
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:and what's happening down there.
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:Was that lack of visibility, concerning
to you as a marketer, or was it from a
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:leadership point of view, Sam, keep your
head down, like generate the leads and
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:let sales kind of work it out down there.
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:Sam Kuehnle: I think I was so
young in my career at that point,
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:I wasn't even thinking about it as
more, I need to be here at nine.
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:I get to leave at five.
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:What are we doing this weekend?
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:And it wasn't until later that I
really started to enjoy and think
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:more methodically about marketing
and its impact to the company.
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:Cause we were very much siloed.
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:Marketing needs to produce
X amount of pipeline.
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:Sales is going to produce
Y amount of pipeline.
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:Partner resellers is going to
produce Z amount of pipeline.
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:Everyone lived in their own little
bubble and there were so many of us
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:contributing to just that marketing part.
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:I never went higher to look at
like, what's this doing for the
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:business impact or anything?
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:It was very much, if I want to keep my
job, I need to hit the specific goal
141
:that I'm given in my tiny little role.
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:Justin Norris: Make so
many widgets and then
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:the widgets disappear
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:Sam Kuehnle: Is that the best way?
145
:No, probably not.
146
:But I always say the only failures
are things you don't learn from.
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:Like looking back on that experience,
like I've learned from it and I
148
:know, what to expect of the team
and how to go forward with it.
149
:But it was definitely a
good career lesson for me.
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:Justin Norris: at some point you made
this jump and joined refined labs.
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:I think it was only about like a year
or so old at that point the agency tell
152
:us about that transition, what made you
think even about heading in that direction
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:and how you got on board that train.
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:Sam Kuehnle: honestly, it was pure
luck, right time, right place.
155
:That was when I was starting to think
beyond what's this disconnect between what
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:I'm doing and the company missing things.
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:I was getting irritated
with those a little bit.
158
:And I came across one of Chris's early
posts on LinkedIn and I commented on it.
159
:I had no LinkedIn presence at that time.
160
:I wasn't active on there.
161
:But he did this amazing thing.
162
:He commented back and it
continued that dialogue.
163
:And to me, I'm just like, Oh my
God, this is a guy who gets like
164
:hundreds of likes on his posts.
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:And he replies to me what world is this?
166
:And so I was like, that's interesting.
167
:I started to read some more of his
posts, got a sense of his philosophy.
168
:And that was the aha moment for me
where I was like, he's putting into
169
:words, the things that I was kind of
feeling where the disconnect that I was
170
:experiencing as a lead gen marketer.
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:And so I saw they were hiring.
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:I put in an application The
rest was history from there.
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:Justin Norris: I remember the first
post Chris wrote and he was just
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:hammering on marketing attribution.
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:I think it was one of those ones where
he said that it's cracking like cheap
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:glass And I was like, that was my job
to implement marketing attribution
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:technology and, had took a professional.
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:Pride and what I was doing But I really
did consider it like a sort of emperor
179
:has no clothes moment where like somebody
had to call out and say hold on a second,
180
:not everything is working the way that we
think it is or that everybody says it is.
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:And that's obviously part of the appeal.
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:And the power of that message
that I can cut through and be
183
:distinctive and be provocative.
184
:Was there an onboarding into that
mindset and methodology once you joined?
185
:Or was it sort of like, here's
smart people, let's go out and
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:figure things out in practice.
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:Sam Kuehnle: that's a good question.
188
:A lot of it was vetted and their
interview unique interview process
189
:that I actually, I loved and have
learned from and taken moving forward.
190
:But early on the first.
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:Couple of stages aren't so much
like your traditional, like, tell
192
:me about your biggest strength.
193
:Tell me about your biggest weakness.
194
:It was him probing to see, do you
understand this new philosophy
195
:that we're starting to notice?
196
:And more importantly, like critical
thinking, are you able to think beyond
197
:and just not just get a data point
and say this, or like thinking about
198
:attribution is the right question.
199
:How much should we be assigning
to the specific touch point?
200
:Or is it.
201
:Should we be understanding what
collectively helps us grow as a business
202
:and understand those levers so we can
raise and lower them specifically.
203
:So it was a lot of looking for those
types of insights and like you, like
204
:I'd worked to help implement visible at
that organization that was at before.
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:So I knew all about that and
everything was set to what's the
206
:exact ROI on this paid search keyword.
207
:What's the exact ROI on this
Facebook ad or anything else.
208
:So, it was really.
209
:Interesting to go into that
with Chris and a lot of it then
210
:became He had the podcast, you
know, are you listening to that?
211
:Do you agree with a lot of what he
says and this isn't him trying to say
212
:you need to agree with me but It goes
back to the Ahama when I was talking
213
:about a little bit ago, when he started
to put into words, similar thoughts
214
:that I'd had, but I couldn't quite
verbalize in a way that connected a lot
215
:of dots for me to be able to speak to.
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:It's like, okay, I totally get it.
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:And I can't force people through a funnel.
218
:A lot of people are in active contracts.
219
:They're not looking to move.
220
:You're targeting the wrong
person, but what happens if
221
:you just get ahead of them?
222
:So when they are ready to buy.
223
:you're not doing that with eBooks.
224
:That's not what they care about.
225
:Or if it is, give them the eBook.
226
:You don't need to gate it and
capture their information.
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:Zoom info is out there now.
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:You can go get their contact for 3 cents
instead of spending 45 for a conversion.
229
:So a lot of it was just kind of seeing
and reconciling how do we buy today and
230
:taking it from a common sense approach.
231
:And I'm just saying, if I was the end
user, what would I want my experience to
232
:look like if I were being marketed to, to
buy that product or to buy that service?
233
:Justin Norris: What would a
typical engagement be like for you?
234
:Was it coming in?
235
:Very holistically understanding,
the customer, the ICP and like
236
:building something, or do people
bring you in more or tactically
237
:to solve some specific problems or
what was their typical engagement
238
:Sam Kuehnle: it was a mix.
239
:So the typical engagement
would be usually we'd have.
240
:Customer come to us or future customer
come to us where there's a couple of
241
:key champions who recognize like our
current way of marketing isn't going
242
:to continue to work moving forward.
243
:We recognize the future.
244
:We either are a startup and we
don't have the resources to scale
245
:this appropriately in terms of
like, we can't do the executing.
246
:We.
247
:Have the leadership who wants to do
it, but they don't have the knowledge
248
:and experience of what exactly needs to
happen to write that playbook, to equip
249
:the team, to build the content engine,
to be able to move forward with it.
250
:Or we don't know how to sell
our leadership team on it.
251
:Like we know this is the way, but
sometimes you need that third party
252
:validation almost to say, it's
like, it's not just me who thinks
253
:this is a larger movement overall.
254
:So.
255
:One of those three scenarios were the most
common ones that we would come up against,
256
:and that's where we'd then work with them.
257
:And loved our few champions that
we'd have, but it was completely
258
:unrealistic to ever expect to have
a prospect come to us where 10 out
259
:of 10 people on that team were fully
aligned with what we wanted to do.
260
:We usually had to Sell them for
lack of a better term to understand,
261
:like, what is this approach?
262
:Why are we taking it?
263
:Why are we recommending it?
264
:And you have to get their buy in with it
because if they are not philosophically
265
:aligned with it, two months down the line
or even two weeks down the line, they're
266
:going to say like, where are the leads?
267
:What's this going on?
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:Like, why aren't we hitting those things?
269
:And you're going to be back to step one.
270
:And you can't straddle that line.
271
:Cause you're going to be
splitting your resources.
272
:You're not going to be able to go all
in on this demand gen strategies, which
273
:is more or less like you have to jump
in with both feet if you want it to be
274
:truly effective, because if you keep
doing the lead gen, then you're going to
275
:have half this stuff going over to sales.
276
:And they're just like, why
do I keep getting these?
277
:Crap leads, but then they're not going
to be able to recognize, well, what was
278
:the ebook download lead versus what's
the person who came to the website and
279
:said, like, I know what you all do.
280
:I have this problem.
281
:I want to talk to sales right now.
282
:They're not going to know that.
283
:And they're not going to follow up.
284
:They're not going to trust
marketing like they always do.
285
:So that's just one example of the
disconnect that needs to happen.
286
:So working with them to get full
alignment from the top down, and then
287
:start to say, here's the playbook
that we're going to run with you.
288
:We're going to help you
define your audiences.
289
:We're going to help you understand where
they spend their time, because yeah.
290
:While this client might be
doing great on LinkedIn.
291
:So for example, we market to recruiters.
292
:Recruiters have to use
LinkedIn all the time.
293
:Like it's a very easy channel for us to
leverage, but I've worked with companies
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:that sell to engineers, programmers,
developers, they're not on LinkedIn.
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:You've got to go find ways.
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:Like, how do we get onto GitHub?
297
:How do we get onto Reddit and YouTube and
those other places where they spend time?
298
:So that's where you take this overarching
philosophy of how do we get in front
299
:of the people we want to educate
them, help them, give them value.
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:So when they are ready to
buy, they'll come to us, then
301
:we go and help them plug in.
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:Okay.
303
:Here's your audience.
304
:Here's your message.
305
:Here's the mediums.
306
:Here's the content types that you want to
use and help them start to piecemeal that.
307
:And then either from there we'll execute
for them or we'll give them a playbook.
308
:They learn it nine months later.
309
:They're like, we've got it.
310
:We're going to build the team
in house and take it from here.
311
:So a couple of different choose your own
adventures within how all of that worked.
312
:But I'd say 95 percent of our
engagements looked like that.
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:Justin Norris: and a lot to unpack
there, but let me push on the
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:button around communication first.
315
:And we've had a few
offline chats about this.
316
:It's something that's very
top of mind for me right now.
317
:One of the things I've reflected on is
that it's this weird paradox that basic
318
:marketing sounds sophisticated to non
marketers or even some marketers like,
319
:Oh, look this keyword got us, I use
it like a million dollars in pipeline
320
:that sounds like very sophisticated,
very almost finance level hardness in
321
:terms of the data, people like that.
322
:They're like, Oh, this person's got
their act together, even though it Is
323
:a gross oversimplification of reality.
324
:It doesn't actually Make
sense in the real world.
325
:Whereas if you're like, oh, we're
gonna pursue this multi channel demand
326
:creation strategy and engage our target
audience and they're going to come to
327
:us when they want to buy To like, you
know, imagine delivering that message
328
:out in all hands It feels fluffy.
329
:to the people on the engineering team
the people on the finance team listening
330
:They're like, oh, it's just marketers
Head in the clouds, thinking they're
331
:waving their magic wands, even though
that's actually the more realistic and
332
:sophisticated approach to marketing.
333
:your clients?
334
:How did you come in and try to
present that in a way that had the
335
:like credibility and hardness to
it that you needed to get by him?
336
:Sam Kuehnle: So a lot of it
stems from expectation setting.
337
:And so I like to do that in two ways.
338
:And This is something that takes time.
339
:You're not going to be able to hash all
this out in a 30 minute meeting with them.
340
:You have to go in a
couple of different steps.
341
:So the first part of the expectation
setting is getting them to
342
:understand where you're coming
from with this new direction.
343
:So the first thing I'd like to do is,
you're in the room you've got your
344
:couple of champions in there and then
you have, the CEO, the CFO who needs to
345
:sign off, the sales team members who are
like great, another marketing agency.
346
:And what I like to do with them
is I just say right off the bat.
347
:Would you rather you've got two
options, hit your lead goal, miss
348
:your revenue target, or would
you rather miss your lead goal?
349
:Hit your revenue target.
350
:Let them think on that for a second.
351
:99 percent of business leaders, if
they're in a business leader position,
352
:they're going to say revenue target.
353
:Absolutely.
354
:Like that's what keeps the doors
open at the end of the day.
355
:That's what keeps us alive.
356
:So I'm like, okay, good.
357
:That's what we're focused on.
358
:And for anyone who, you know, Somehow
finds that 1 percent of people are like
359
:hit the lead target, like run fast.
360
:That's a sinking ship.
361
:You're just going to
want to get out of there.
362
:And so the purpose of that is one
to get them to align on what is
363
:our focus with this engagement?
364
:Is it leads or is it revenue?
365
:Okay, cool.
366
:We are aligned.
367
:We're focused on revenue.
368
:The next question I would like to
ask is I'd look at the CEO, the CFO,
369
:someone and just say like, Tell me
about the last purchase that you
370
:helped to make within the organization.
371
:How'd you go about it?
372
:What did the experience look like?
373
:Tell me about the whole journey.
374
:I really want you to think
about it and be detailed.
375
:So I'd go through it, give them a second.
376
:I'd say, well, you know, I had
a peer who told me about it.
377
:And then one day I was on LinkedIn.
378
:I saw a post from their CEO or,
you know, a team member shared
379
:the CEO's post in our Slack.
380
:Listen to a podcast with.
381
:this other company that I
admire recommended this product
382
:or said that they use it.
383
:I saw an ad on LinkedIn one day.
384
:I clicked on a Google ad when I searched
for like best software in X category,
385
:and the intent here is you're going
to see those last couple examples
386
:are very much trackable, traditional
marketing efforts, but the first three.
387
:Those are not trackable by any means.
388
:And those usually carry a lot more
weight because if you don't know
389
:that company, you're less likely to
click on that ad in the first place.
390
:But if you have a peer saying like,
go check them out, you hear someone
391
:on a podcast and you get to understand
the CEO's point of view of the
392
:software that you want to buy, and
you're like, yeah, that makes sense.
393
:I'm aligned to it.
394
:Those all.
395
:Influence the fact that you'll probably
be much more likely to engage with some
396
:of those other ads or items later on.
397
:And so all this to say is you have
to do all of this in aggregate.
398
:We're creating an ecosystem here.
399
:There's no linear path to purchase.
400
:There's so much untrackable
things that we need to do.
401
:And this even goes back to a Bain
study that very rarely do I say like
402
:Bain studies, Forrester reports,
any of those, like there's a lot of.
403
:Stuff in there that I'm, you know, I
take away the grain of salt, but this
404
:one was absolutely spot on where it was
saying four out of five companies go
405
:to market and they already have a short
list of vendors in mind for a software,
406
:for services, something like that.
407
:And when they go finally do
make that final purchase.
408
:90 percent of them pick
from that day one shortlist.
409
:So that tells me everything
you need to know right there.
410
:How do you get on that day one shortlist?
411
:That's your best odds.
412
:If you're fighting for that 10%, one
out of five, that's what, 5 percent
413
:of things that you can possibly win.
414
:That's the smallest slice
of pie that you could get.
415
:So that's what we're going after
is the long tail of the market.
416
:it's going to suck for the
first couple of quarters.
417
:Cause we have to build up this snowball
before it can start to really be big
418
:and have this momentum behind it.
419
:But if we don't do it.
420
:what happens to us if we keep
doing what we've been doing.
421
:And that's where I like to try
to say like, okay, let's map out,
422
:keep this strategy right now.
423
:Let's go do it down 12, 24, 36 months.
424
:It's going to get more expensive.
425
:The point of diminishing returns
is going to come into play.
426
:We're going to keep scrapping
for this part of the market.
427
:If we go this other route, we're
going to get ahead of the market.
428
:We'll have more people who are
aware of us who want to buy from us.
429
:And what happens if our competitors
start going that route too?
430
:Then that 5 percent slice of pie
just became probably smaller.
431
:So there's a lot within there.
432
:And that's even before I start to
get into the next stage of mapping
433
:expectations, but want to stop there.
434
:Just, I know that's a huge part of
the process that I can quickly tell
435
:if they're bought in and understand
that first part, if we're going
436
:to be successful as time goes on
437
:Justin Norris: That makes a lot of sense.
438
:And the example of like bringing
it back to your own experience.
439
:. I think that's really powerful
because all of us to some degree.
440
:Imagine like prospects as sort
of these alien beings that work
441
:differently than we ourselves do.
442
:And yet when you put yourself
in those shoes, you're like, Oh,
443
:actually they're just people like me.
444
:They, they, they.
445
:They.
446
:Are influenced by different things
like I am what would you say?
447
:Your success rate was in terms of
delivering that message and having
448
:people be like, oh, okay Like sam
knows what he's talking about.
449
:Like did you just have
people who are like, sorry?
450
:No, This is garbage.
451
:I don't believe it
452
:Sam Kuehnle: it usually landed well.
453
:90 percent of the time, everyone
was in the room nodding, agreeing.
454
:The people who didn't right
off the bat were usually those
455
:who felt threatened by us.
456
:It was a large demand marketer
who run the old playbook.
457
:And that was all that they knew.
458
:And we would always come on and say
like, we don't want to replace you.
459
:We want to teach you so you can do this.
460
:And we can, you know, wipe our
hands clean of it in a year or two.
461
:You know what to do.
462
:You can run it.
463
:So that was the immediate ones.
464
:It was usually later on down the line.
465
:We saw this with a lot of VCP
backed companies where the team
466
:in the room understands it.
467
:But a quarter later, two quarters
later, you've got the board saying you
468
:signed up for these nominative goals.
469
:We're running a predictable revenue model
and you're, you guys are short on this.
470
:They don't understand
the philosophy behind it.
471
:So if the CEO and CFO couldn't
effectively communicate that to the
472
:board, that's where we later got into.
473
:Difficulties where they might
want to, take a few steps back.
474
:We have to do this.
475
:We have to please the board.
476
:We have to bring in some more leads.
477
:can we split this up?
478
:Can we do something
different with the budget?
479
:And that's where it get a
little bit tricky sometimes.
480
:Justin Norris: i'm curious when we Talk
about that mix and you alluded to it a
481
:little bit with like some of the different
personas and where they hang out When I
482
:think of Demand creation like my first
model for it is what you yourselves did
483
:at refined labs You had your thought
leader Chris as well as yourself and
484
:other people like Sydney and folks that
I was familiar with on LinkedIn You had
485
:dimension live your event That you drove
people to mainly from LinkedIn and then
486
:you chop that up and then those videos
like fed back into LinkedIn That was like
487
:one way of doing it that worked obviously
really well, but it doesn't apply to every
488
:single business, every single market.
489
:How did you go about defining like the
demand creation mix, if we can think about
490
:it like that way, organic and paid and
what ecosystems are you going to play in?
491
:And how did you just go from blank page
to figuring out what that should be?
492
:Sam Kuehnle: So first thing I'd
always say, especially with a lot
493
:of startups is you can't spend
your way to product market fit.
494
:Demand creation works.
495
:Once you know who your audience is.
496
:You're not just your audience, your
ICP, who are your ideal buyers?
497
:You have a good message in
place that lands with them.
498
:Your offer is dialed in, you know, what's
the market willing to pay relative to
499
:the value that they'll get out from it?
500
:Man creation works really well.
501
:Once those are all set.
502
:So this is usually series B plus,
we were trying to figure out our
503
:own product market fit early on.
504
:And we worked with a couple
of seed stage companies.
505
:I remember.
506
:Laughing after a call one time when one of
the organization was like, I don't know.
507
:Sometimes I just, look off around my house
and think of different use cases that
508
:I could use this software for, and I'm
like, okay, they have no idea what their
509
:use cases, product market fit is yet.
510
:And absolutely phenomenal company.
511
:I loved working with them, but as you can
imagine, our time was limited because.
512
:They kept adding more spend, but we
weren't seeing bottom of the funnel
513
:results because it's like, well, we
were trying to spread everything.
514
:So thin to figure out what
message even works, what audience
515
:should we be going after?
516
:What part of the product
is most appealable.
517
:So that was one part of it.
518
:And then that then feeds into
the organic and paid side.
519
:So It's distinguished by who your
audience is, where they spend their time.
520
:So LinkedIn for us worked really
well because where do a lot
521
:of marketers spend their time?
522
:If they had to go and pick between
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit,
523
:Quartz, whatever, you know, you name it.
524
:You've got a lot of them spend
their time on, on LinkedIn.
525
:And we also happened to hit,
as I said, I touched on like.
526
:I think we also hit on right place, right
time with where the LinkedIn algorithm was
527
:when we got started and how people use the
platforms, there weren't a ton of creators
528
:yet, you could get crazy organic reach.
529
:As soon as you got a couple of likes
on a post, it would take off with the
530
:algorithm and it would be shown to tens,
if not hundreds of thousands of people.
531
:And that was partially due to,
there weren't a lot of people, you
532
:know, Sharing content on there.
533
:So LinkedIn wanted to get
anything in front of people that
534
:they thought might be relevant.
535
:So we were able to take advantage of that.
536
:Just, you know, Chris is able to do this.
537
:What happens if we have five other
voices behind him and extend our
538
:tentacles even further, so to speak.
539
:So that worked well with us, with
any organizations that were in the,
540
:selling MarTech, sales tech, recruiting
tech, people that are, Typically
541
:spending a lot of time on LinkedIn.
542
:Then we would have other customers that,
like I said earlier, you know, they
543
:might be a little bit more dev focused,
engineer focused, we had like call
544
:centers, we had operations type titles,
and sometimes what we do is we'd have to
545
:figure out the mix of in the beginning.
546
:We'd split it up between let's
see what things look like from
547
:a paid standpoint on LinkedIn.
548
:Let's see what things
look like on YouTube.
549
:Let's see what things look like on
Facebook and use that to inform the
550
:organic side and then say, okay,
we're noticing that YouTube does best.
551
:A lot of people like to watch,
to understand, to learn how this
552
:works, how they can apply it.
553
:So that's what we'd say.
554
:Let's double down on
the organic stuff here.
555
:That's shoot videos.
556
:We don't need to do, you know, nine
by 16, we can do the horizontal
557
:cause that's native for YouTube.
558
:Really get into the, how to show
the product, things like that.
559
:Versus if we were to say that same
audience worked well on Facebook,
560
:it'd be a completely different
set of recommendations for how to
561
:create that organic content there.
562
:So we just paid to help.
563
:Define what was the organic
strategy was, so to speak.
564
:But the other part of it was we
usually recommended having an
565
:ecosystem, so to speak, like don't
put all your eggs in one basket.
566
:You're going to want to at
least have a couple channels.
567
:But you should have a
primary channel that is dry.
568
:It's kind of like that 80 20 rule.
569
:Like usually one channel is
going to do the most of it, but
570
:algorithms are going to change people
spend time in different places.
571
:So we were always mindful of, it's
we've always done something one way
572
:you shouldn't be married to that.
573
:You should always be
willing to adapt to change.
574
:And that was our way of understanding if
there ever were changes or opportunities
575
:to double down on something that's
working really well elsewhere, those
576
:would give us the signals to do so.
577
:Justin Norris: How would you know early
stage if something was working or not?
578
:what metrics would you look at there?
579
:Cause you don't have the lead capture
part of it to be able to tell.
580
:Sam Kuehnle: Yeah.
581
:So we look at some just
base metrics on YouTube.
582
:Does this have.
583
:More likes, more views, more
comments than our other videos.
584
:Like, and start to understand
why is it the topic?
585
:Is it how we're presenting it?
586
:Did we do something different
within the video itself?
587
:Was it shorter?
588
:Was it longer?
589
:Was it a guest speaker?
590
:getting into some of that to inform it.
591
:And then if we did start to go down
funnel Chris kind of made us famous
592
:for the, how'd you hear about us
field that basically just took from
593
:B2C applications and applied to B2B.
594
:And so.
595
:When we're saying earlier, that's
not really trackable very few times.
596
:Do you have like a direct
response off of a YouTube video?
597
:Like get a demo, click on it.
598
:Like, even then it's going
to drive over to your site.
599
:Usually you're going
to lose the UTMs there.
600
:And so through that,
how'd you hear about us?
601
:We start to find out from some
of these previously untrackable
602
:channels, YouTube podcasts, Slack
communities, others, people are.
603
:Mentioning that in there.
604
:And so those are giving us some
insights into, okay, we're starting
605
:to see YouTube pop up more and more.
606
:And what I like about it is that's
not like the last touch attribution
607
:where they watch that and they're
like, I want to buy right now.
608
:Usually it's the most memorable or
the most helpful touch for them where
609
:they're like, that was kind of the
aha moment for them, so to speak.
610
:We were like, oh, I was watching this
YouTube video and then it clicked
611
:or like, I saw someone say it.
612
:And that was the final moment where
I was like, all right, there's
613
:serious contenders on my list.
614
:I do want to check them out.
615
:Cause usually what happens after
that is they go and type in locso.
616
:co and that's going to show up
as direct, or they might come
617
:through Google as organic.
618
:When we both know the full story
was something happened before that.
619
:And again, we're not doing
this to assign credit.
620
:We just want to know what are the
things that work best to drive
621
:the people that we want to do
business with over the longterm.
622
:Justin Norris: There's an approach to
doing what you're describing that kind of
623
:like a saturation method, like somebody,
I forget his name or I'd credit him, but
624
:he made an interesting post about monday.
625
:com's go to market.
626
:He was focusing on SEO, but it brought
to mind to me, there was like a period
627
:of time where you couldn't watch a
YouTube video without seeing a Monday ad.
628
:They were just everywhere.
629
:is doing it right now for me at least
maybe for others And it's like they
630
:must be spending millions and millions
of dollars So it's working it's
631
:getting in front of people but it's
if the premise of demand creation is
632
:actually we're going to be much more
efficient your CAC is going to go down.
633
:Taking this sort of just like
let's just pump millions of dollars
634
:It gets you in front of people, but
it doesn't get you to that efficiency.
635
:How did you think about blending
efficiency along with getting
636
:in front of people, having that
awareness, that visibility?
637
:Sam Kuehnle: I remember
that same Monday streak.
638
:I've been using Asana for years.
639
:And so this to me, as I say, the perfect
example of how do you differentiate
640
:brand awareness from demand creation?
641
:I know monday.
642
:com they exist, that they are
in the project management suite.
643
:I'm very happy with my current
project management tool.
644
:Did it create demand for them?
645
:it's hard to know.
646
:And I think that sometimes what
happens is if you aren't putting some
647
:type of sense of, urgency, a sense
of like what you're missing out on
648
:or That's where it's hard to know.
649
:And there's a big conversation
about that right now going on about
650
:what's the difference between brand
awareness and demand creation.
651
:And so that then gets into
me for demand creation.
652
:It's like you touched on it right
there, the efficiency side of it.
653
:Because what I look at is the
time constrained version of it.
654
:Brand awareness is always
on demand creation is okay.
655
:I'm going to go run.
656
:A lot of money on YouTube.
657
:I'm going to hit every marketer
with ads over the course of
658
:two quarters with monday.
659
:com over the following couple of quarters.
660
:Am I seeing an uptick
in pipeline in revenue?
661
:And this is where it gets hard.
662
:Sometimes you can.
663
:understand, like if they, if you do
have the, how'd you hear about us?
664
:Like you'll hear YouTube more and more,
and you can compare that to previous
665
:periods and look at the cohorted version
of it, some marketers are going to hate
666
:me for this, but something like just
basic correlations are going to help you
667
:understand if something was or wasn't
impacting and granted, this is going
668
:to only come into play if you don't
have many variables running at a time.
669
:So, you know, like this
was really the only.
670
:Possible factor, so to speak.
671
:And so that's where demand
creation to me is okay.
672
:If I'm hitting every marketer with a
bunch of money on this channel, only time
673
:constrain it after that time bucket is up.
674
:Did I see a meaningful impact to it?
675
:Cause if so, I've created
more demand for our company in
676
:the sense that it's created.
677
:Pipeline hand raisers revenue for us if
it hasn't and you go do a YouTube survey.
678
:Have you heard of monday.
679
:com?
680
:Yeah, 10 out of 10 people
have heard of monday.
681
:com, but it's not driving business
for you So that to me is how I
682
:like to differentiate between
brand awareness and demand creation
683
:Justin Norris: It does it then
come down to the creative?
684
:Because I know what you mean.
685
:Like It certainly made me like at
some point in the future probably
686
:years later when I needed to look at
project management software Like monday.
687
:com was in my list like I
guess I should check them out.
688
:They seem to be everywhere So it
achieved that much but it didn't give
689
:me that compelling feeling of like,
oh, they are the platform to be on
690
:You know that feeling that you want
691
:and is it because maybe their creative
was inadequate or is it because it's
692
:actually the more thought leadership
type stuff that gives you that feeling
693
:like that it's hard to do that within
the constraints of even a video ad
694
:let alone just a static image ad.
695
:What are your thoughts there?
696
:Sam Kuehnle: Yeah.
697
:So it depends on the medium,
but the creative itself works.
698
:It got your attention.
699
:You remember who they are, what they
did, I think where they missed out and
700
:why companies that are really succeeding
with the demand generation strategy.
701
:Now, I always say they need to
have a unique point of view.
702
:I don't think monday.
703
:com has a unique point of
view on project management.
704
:Why what they do is different,
how they help people work through
705
:tasks better, more efficiently.
706
:What differentiates them from
Asana, from Trello, from Basecamp?
707
:I mean, insert it, they're a commodity
and they haven't broken out of that.
708
:Bucket, so to speak.
709
:I think the companies that really do
this, like you said, they're sharing
710
:thought leader content in the sense of
how to make more out of your tool, how
711
:to get your team more engaged, how to
work through things quicker, faster,
712
:and that differentiates by you look
at them as not just another tool, but
713
:like, Oh, they really get this problem.
714
:And they're going to be invested in
my success and making more use of it.
715
:Versus just saying, spend
a hundred dollars with us.
716
:We'll get you as many
licenses as you want.
717
:And we'll just be someone
else that you can do.
718
:Like that's how you become.
719
:Just another option.
720
:And if I found a company that was
able to solve that better, shared
721
:that content, I'm going to go to that
company every time because they get it.
722
:Justin Norris: I think you just nailed
it if they had somehow I don't know what
723
:the message would be But if they were
like project management is broken the way
724
:that we're doing it does not work it's
very inefficient and here's this better
725
:way like the chris walkerfication Of that
space that, would have been compelling.
726
:Maybe just last for fine labs did
things evolve during your time there
727
:was I know the basic contours of the
philosophy probably stayed relatively
728
:the same, but were there like new
learnings that shifted how how you
729
:applied your methodology or what that was?
730
:Sam Kuehnle: everything evolved to there.
731
:We grew massively.
732
:So like you said, you
know, I joined early days.
733
:It was something, I don't
know, like employee 11, 12, 13.
734
:I was somewhere in there.
735
:So I got to experience when things
broke, when we hit 1 million revenue, 10
736
:million revenue, 50 employees, a hundred
employees everything was always evolving.
737
:And that was my first lesson in like
adaptation, the ability to move as
738
:the market moves, as the company does
anything like that's probably the most
739
:important thing to long term success.
740
:And so how that applied to like our
philosophy and playbook specifically
741
:was Platforms, like how I was talking
about in the beginning, the LinkedIn
742
:algorithm favored what we want to do.
743
:Fast forward a couple of years.
744
:It definitely changed.
745
:I mean, Chris's videos that used to
get a couple thousand likes per video
746
:are now getting, High hundreds, but
nowhere near that same initial value.
747
:So that was a lesson in and of itself.
748
:And that we then translated
down to playbooks.
749
:So we had playbooks, how to do
paid social, how to do paid search.
750
:And these were very top level before
you even got into the channel.
751
:But what we quickly learned was.
752
:And I would tell the team, this is if
we aren't changing these playbooks, at
753
:least quarterly, we are falling behind.
754
:These platforms are evolving.
755
:How people use the platforms are evolving.
756
:The mediums that are doing well,
the mediums that aren't doing well,
757
:all of that is absolutely changing.
758
:And our first playbooks that
were in a Google doc and everyone
759
:on the team had common access.
760
:And I would say, if I don't have a
comment in there, at least once a
761
:month, We're not doing something right.
762
:Cause if we're supposed to be at the
forefront of how demand generation and
763
:marketing works today, and we aren't able
to share any insights or pick up anything
764
:ourselves, and we're supposed to be the.
765
:Some of the top 1 percent
marketers in the world doing this,
766
:that says something about us.
767
:So in terms of evolution is like,
it's hard to point to specific things.
768
:I can talk about, the talking
head video and how those work with
769
:what Chris did with the podcast.
770
:Like that was a big evolution of things.
771
:And now go on LinkedIn today
and everyone's got that.
772
:And it's almost saturated in
that they don't work because.
773
:This almost goes to best practices.
774
:What starts is this new cool
thing becomes best practice.
775
:Everyone's doing best practice
and best practice is no
776
:longer actually best practice.
777
:It's this weird kind of
like inception moment.
778
:So that was the other side of it is
how do we see and launch the next
779
:And then by the time that it does
become already beyond to the next
780
:thing, and that's, what's really hard.
781
:You never know what that's going to be.
782
:It becomes.
783
:But it comes from a lot of
testing and having clients that
784
:are open to just saying, like,
we're going to figure it out.
785
:We want to be at the forefront.
786
:We know that it's not always going
to be what everyone else is doing,
787
:but we're okay with that because
that's what we want to be doing.
788
:Justin Norris: I think it's a difference
too, between people who can do the
789
:hard work to understand root causes.
790
:And the people that just see a surface
effect and mimic it, you know, like
791
:the things that work, they work
for a reason at a specific time.
792
:and if you're just like,
Oh, I'm going to do that.
793
:just copy this.
794
:Cause that's like the
video, the, all that stuff.
795
:Fine.
796
:You might catch a little bit
of that bandwagon effect, but.
797
:Then, like you said, yeah I've watched
that dynamic play out so many times,
798
:you can really see it on LinkedIn.
799
:It's such a, especially in marketing
circles, it's such a close little
800
:weird madhouse sometimes, but if
you're just always mimicking, you're
801
:never going to be able to figure out
what the next, I mean, you may strike
802
:gold accidentally, but more often than
not, it's like really understanding
803
:how people respond to things,
804
:it's hard work.
805
:Sam Kuehnle: I'm doing it
in a way it stands out.
806
:Cause like we said earlier with money,
like how are you differentiating with it?
807
:That's a huge part of, if you want to
be viewed as the thought leader, as
808
:the forefront person and not just a
commodity in a big saturated category,
809
:that's another part that you have
to do is be seen as an innovator.
810
:Justin Norris: So at a certain point,
your journey with refined came to
811
:an end and you jumped out there and
started to steer the ship at lock.
812
:So as the marketing leader maybe just
start with like, how did you know that
813
:it was the right time for you to do that?
814
:What drove you to take that step?
815
:Sam Kuehnle: a couple of things.
816
:One was purely personal.
817
:We've got a 11 month old.
818
:And so when we.
819
:We're getting serious about
like, we want to start a family.
820
:I know my working style, my work ethic.
821
:And when you're at an agency and you've
got clients in the West coast and in
822
:Europe, and you're sitting in the middle.
823
:My time, let's be honest,
I'm at the mercy of them.
824
:So I really wanted to be able
to own a little bit of that.
825
:Cause I wanted to be present with
the family and like, control my
826
:calendar a little bit more to
be able to be on top of that.
827
:So that was a big part.
828
:And then the other part of it was I.
829
:Started as a director of demand gen.
830
:I worked with something like, five to 10
clients that I personally own, managed
831
:everything from start to beginning.
832
:And then when I became a VP, I oversaw
20 clients at a different time.
833
:And my director of demand gen once
told me, the difference between.
834
:Working here and working in
house is, it's like having a kid.
835
:You can tell them what they're
about to do is skin their knees,
836
:but sometimes they have to skin
their knee to learn the lesson.
837
:So there's only so many times
where I could say, I really
838
:strongly recommend you do this.
839
:You don't do this.
840
:And then watch them.
841
:And I was like, if I could do
this myself, I could kill it.
842
:And I also want to validate for myself.
843
:Like if I do go own this all the way,
like I can tell everyone what we're doing,
844
:what we want to do, why we want to do it.
845
:And I had the time to implement it.
846
:Would it work?
847
:And so that was the other part was like
a personal challenge to myself was.
848
:Can I walk the walk after talking
to talk for a couple of years here?
849
:So it was those two things, which I
absolutely would not be in the position
850
:I am now, had I not had the years of
learning at refined labs to do that.
851
:So that set me up for where I am today.
852
:Okay.
853
:Justin Norris: Yeah, and it was
that curiosity about what it
854
:would it work to take someone
who's the expert in that and then.
855
:All right, here you go.
856
:Now you own this in house.
857
:Go make it work.
858
:What was your first, second
and third thing that you did?
859
:Sam Kuehnle: it was pretty
close to a blank page.
860
:So one it was just straight up
foundational work operations.
861
:Processes like we had Salesforce, we
didn't have a marketing operations
862
:platform We had a customer success
platform and everything I needed to get
863
:them all talking to one another so I can
understand like, who are our customers?
864
:What's going on with deals?
865
:Are they even being tagged properly?
866
:So I understand like when they were
created, what's our conversion rate?
867
:Like every company, we had data
hygiene issues when I started.
868
:And so I then implemented processes
for like, Hey, these opportunities, the
869
:close dates are, they're 180 days ago.
870
:Are you still working at no,
that's market is closed, lost.
871
:It's okay.
872
:We're not going to ding you for your
loss rate or anything there, but we just
873
:need to have an accurate sense of what's
our real pipeline and everything else.
874
:So, process operational stuff early on.
875
:That was a big part of it.
876
:And then the probably the next couple
of things, just learning the market.
877
:My background is not recruiting.
878
:I have not worked for a recruiting
company or as a recruiter.
879
:So really just understanding the nuance
of it and like any industry segment you
880
:get into, you'll quickly learn like what
seems simple in your head when you get
881
:started is actually a lot more complex.
882
:They're taking the time to understand
who they are, the different segments,
883
:what their use cases are, how they
speak, because how an in house recruiter
884
:speaks is very differently from how
an agency headhunter recruiter speaks.
885
:And being able to speak their
language is also how you get their
886
:trust, their credibility when
you do start to go to market.
887
:And then the third one was mapping
and building the content engine.
888
:I'm not saying scaling it.
889
:I'm just saying building, cause
we need to educate the market.
890
:If we want to be a thought leader,
we had nothing at the time.
891
:Like I could create ads and that
was about the limit, so to speak.
892
:But I wanted to get, what we did was
we built a podcast and I told our
893
:CEO, I'm like, I'm not doing this
podcast to get thousands of listeners.
894
:Per episode, like that's
not going to happen.
895
:What this podcast is going to do
is give us the engine for all of
896
:the content that we'll produce.
897
:So we need the long form in
order to create the short form.
898
:Basically, we need that long content
episode so we can have five micro
899
:videos that we can use on our
website and sales decks and social.
900
:So it can create a couple of blog
posts that we can use and write up.
901
:So we can use it to fuel, like we can
have customers on and use those as
902
:case studies, customer testimonials,
but we need that hub, right?
903
:In order to create everything else out
of, so it was mapping out all of that.
904
:So that was my first six months was
focused on all of those before we
905
:even got into that scale from there.
906
:Justin Norris: And did you need to
layer on any demand capture channels,
907
:in the beginning, like your SEM or your
directories or whatever else, just to
908
:like get that lead flow going, or did
you have some space to just build this?
909
:Sam Kuehnle: we had a core demand
generation plant program already running.
910
:We were running on LinkedIn.
911
:We were running a little bit
on Facebook and we did have
912
:Google ads running at the time.
913
:right at the end of the six months,
we started experimenting with
914
:Google ads and demand capture.
915
:And I'm going to caveat this with
like, this is far from market
916
:standard market, best practice.
917
:Like do your own research, find out
for yourself, but we have a low ACV.
918
:And so what I was finding after I ran the
math on very specific keywords and not
919
:just looking at paid search as a whole,
but breaking up branded, unbranded.
920
:Keyword level, everything else was that
we were upside down on almost all of
921
:it in terms of our CAC payback period.
922
:So I always look at if my CAC
payback period is more than 12 months
923
:that's not talking about like total
headcount, like marketing all up.
924
:So at the ad level, if I'm not
recouping a year one spend and people.
925
:Can only sign a one year contract.
926
:If they like, that's not a good look
for me, especially if we're bootstrapped
927
:and I need to be a steward of our funds.
928
:And so I looked at all this and
like, that doesn't make sense.
929
:And then we've got LinkedIn
over here that is just driving
930
:80 percent of our handraisers.
931
:It's killing it for us.
932
:it's not direct response, so I couldn't
tell you the specific payback period on
933
:it, but I know that we're far from the
point of diminishing returns in terms of.
934
:Our audience that we can reach there,
the effectiveness of the ads is like,
935
:it doesn't make sense to do Google
just because of demand capture, because
936
:every company like it's best practice.
937
:Right.
938
:So I ran the numbers
I did like micro test.
939
:What if we pause it for a week, for a
month, different like campaign types.
940
:And in the end we just
said like, let's pull it.
941
:And so demand conversion we.
942
:Stopped having that program and focus
solely on demand creation in the sense
943
:of like our sales team, we were winning
deals really well at crazy rates, so we
944
:know if we just got them in the funnel
we didn't need to worry about any of
945
:those like last touch type activities.
946
:Justin Norris: you took off
the net, you're up on the tight
947
:rope without a net, so to speak.
948
:The net being the traditional
demand capture channels that just
949
:bring a sense of comfort.
950
:I think to any demand marketer, like,
all right, I can bid on keywords.
951
:I can bring leads in.
952
:It's controllable.
953
:I can dial it up and down for the
LinkedIn work that you were doing.
954
:You mentioned it's not direct response.
955
:So I'm assuming it wasn't like
the, like lead gen form type stuff.
956
:It was more static image
ads, that sort of thing.
957
:Sam Kuehnle: Yeah.
958
:Static image ads and then video ads.
959
:So When I first got here, one of the
first things I noticed in the first
960
:30 days after listening to calls,
talking to customers was as soon as
961
:they saw the product, they got it,
that it was just like, Oh, this is
962
:way better than our current way.
963
:And that was our biggest problem was
we were never on that day one list.
964
:People didn't know who locks it was.
965
:There were so many incumbents and
we were creating this new category,
966
:talent intelligence platform that
overlaps with a lot of traditional
967
:categories, applicant tracking systems,
software contact or sourcing software,
968
:Contact information, finding tools.
969
:And so we had to help them see
there is a much better way.
970
:There's a much more efficient way.
971
:So we did a lot of video ads that
show different, like standard use
972
:cases of what they do and how easy
that does to execute as the end user.
973
:So they don't have to get a demo to do it.
974
:Cause why are they going to sign up
for a demo from yet another product
975
:when they're happy with what they are?
976
:Change management is the hardest
thing that we have to overcome.
977
:And so.
978
:Practically getting ahead of
all of that by just letting them
979
:see it and show up in the feed.
980
:And why LinkedIn works so
well for us is because with.
981
:The demand generation strategy and
knowing exactly who we want to target.
982
:We're not going super broad with
who we're getting in front of.
983
:We're not taking the monday.
984
:com approach of hitting
every recruiter in the world.
985
:We have a very defined subset
of who we want to be showing to.
986
:And for us to steal Chris's
words, it's guaranteed.
987
:Impressions for the people that
we want to be seeing our content.
988
:that's, That's.
989
:What the paid ads are
doing for us at that point.
990
:So using the videos, using static ads
and using it in terms of like messaging
991
:of around, like there's a better way
or speaking to some of those pains,
992
:not just like another application
tracking system with some stock picture
993
:of a laptop with a software picture on
it, but speaking to things that they
994
:care about, speaking to pains and.
995
:Doing it in a different way where
it's not, I always use this joke, but
996
:it's like, it's not a blue background
with white text talking about ROI, but
997
:it's creative that catches your eye.
998
:It's a message that pokes a little bit
fun and a self deprecating way towards
999
:what recruiters do and everything.
:
00:43:41,927 --> 00:43:44,267
So like one of them was like, stop
recruiting, like it's the::
00:43:44,677 --> 00:43:48,647
And then we did like, you remember the now
album, like now that's what I call music.
:
00:43:49,362 --> 00:43:51,582
So we did a, now that's
what I call talent.
:
00:43:51,582 --> 00:43:54,365
And we grabbed like 18 songs from
the::
00:43:54,365 --> 00:43:57,265
So they, they'd be kind of fun
related to recruiting or anything.
:
00:43:57,265 --> 00:44:00,575
So like, instead of Roxanne, we did
Loxanne and we created t shirts with it.
:
00:44:00,615 --> 00:44:04,015
We use those as ads as if it was like
the album and we created like fake
:
00:44:04,025 --> 00:44:05,565
infomercials and everything from it.
:
00:44:05,565 --> 00:44:05,865
So.
:
00:44:07,285 --> 00:44:09,755
Again, we're in a very commoditized
place, but taking it from a creative
:
00:44:09,755 --> 00:44:12,525
angle, a different way that stands
out and then gets people interested
:
00:44:12,525 --> 00:44:14,675
in knowing us, that's a little bit
of the brand awareness, but then we
:
00:44:14,675 --> 00:44:18,035
did have other plays in place, other
messages that weren't just those.
:
00:44:18,355 --> 00:44:21,235
So people understood what it was that
we were solving for when we'd say, make
:
00:44:21,415 --> 00:44:25,685
three times more hires than you currently
do save 20 percent of your workday.
:
00:44:26,045 --> 00:44:27,365
Those things, that's
where they can understand.
:
00:44:27,365 --> 00:44:27,585
Okay.
:
00:44:27,585 --> 00:44:29,065
Loxo and this, okay.
:
00:44:29,115 --> 00:44:29,815
That's interesting.
:
00:44:29,815 --> 00:44:30,815
Now you have my attention.
:
00:44:30,835 --> 00:44:32,555
So that was the approach
that we'd take on LinkedIn.
:
00:44:33,025 --> 00:44:35,845
Justin Norris: Two things you do there
that I really love, like bringing
:
00:44:35,845 --> 00:44:39,575
the product moments out and exposing
them rather than hiding them away.
:
00:44:39,615 --> 00:44:40,825
Too few people do that.
:
00:44:41,745 --> 00:44:43,855
But I think like Notion, I
think is really good at this.
:
00:44:43,855 --> 00:44:46,945
Their brand LinkedIn page, like they
have these animated gifs or little
:
00:44:46,945 --> 00:44:50,135
videos or whatever, but it's always
like showing like, here's how you do it.
:
00:44:50,135 --> 00:44:52,185
And I don't really use Notion,
but I have a favorable impression
:
00:44:52,185 --> 00:44:53,135
of them for that reason.
:
00:44:53,185 --> 00:44:55,275
Cause I'm like, Oh, it just feels cool.
:
00:44:55,455 --> 00:44:56,655
I can see how it would work.
:
00:44:56,665 --> 00:44:57,565
It's that better way.
:
00:44:57,565 --> 00:44:57,635
I like it.
:
00:44:58,225 --> 00:45:02,365
And then the creative aspect, which
let's face it, not all B2B marketers.
:
00:45:02,445 --> 00:45:05,375
We don't have the best track
record, let's say, as a discipline
:
00:45:05,375 --> 00:45:09,001
when it comes to creating good
creative that's unique and original.
:
00:45:09,625 --> 00:45:13,695
then this kind of brings us to some of
the work you're doing on connected TV.
:
00:45:13,705 --> 00:45:19,749
And I've seen some of the video ads,
and these were like TV quality ads, both
:
00:45:19,749 --> 00:45:23,652
in terms of production value and just
They feel like the sort of ad I would
:
00:45:23,652 --> 00:45:26,742
expect from a B2C or like a CPG company.
:
00:45:27,252 --> 00:45:28,272
Which is a lot of fun.
:
00:45:28,272 --> 00:45:31,142
So I'm curious, like you're
obviously making a bet here.
:
00:45:31,262 --> 00:45:33,802
Let's walk through the thought
process and how you got that
:
00:45:33,802 --> 00:45:35,132
creative in place and all of that.
:
00:45:35,797 --> 00:45:36,017
Sam Kuehnle: Yeah.
:
00:45:36,017 --> 00:45:42,205
So that was definitely the intention and
this was the one plus side of, Google
:
00:45:42,205 --> 00:45:45,165
ads, not being the best bet for us and
knowing brand awareness, people knowing
:
00:45:45,165 --> 00:45:48,205
about us getting on that first list is
the biggest problem we're struggling with.
:
00:45:48,215 --> 00:45:51,325
So, okay, to your root cause
analysis, what's our biggest problem
:
00:45:51,325 --> 00:45:52,245
that we're trying to solve for?
:
00:45:52,245 --> 00:45:54,045
And what's another way
that we can approach that?
:
00:45:54,135 --> 00:45:56,155
Well, it's not demand
capture, it's demand creation.
:
00:45:56,765 --> 00:45:57,045
Okay.
:
00:45:57,045 --> 00:45:58,755
So let's keep pulling on
that demand creation thread.
:
00:45:58,765 --> 00:46:00,205
We're on LinkedIn, we're
on some other places.
:
00:46:01,315 --> 00:46:01,715
But.
:
00:46:02,450 --> 00:46:06,030
If we know after looking at the data,
we have incredible wind rates when
:
00:46:06,030 --> 00:46:07,460
people get into the sales cycle.
:
00:46:07,750 --> 00:46:11,160
And our biggest challenges are we're
not on that day one, first list.
:
00:46:11,230 --> 00:46:12,710
We're in a very saturated space.
:
00:46:12,740 --> 00:46:14,530
People don't know about us.
:
00:46:14,530 --> 00:46:16,080
How do we stand out simple as that?
:
00:46:16,110 --> 00:46:19,640
And how do we also compete against
incumbents who have been in
:
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:22,740
the space for decades, who have
multimillion dollar marketing budgets?
:
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:24,370
To me, it came down to two things.
:
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:27,945
One, let's differentiate, let's do,
What no one else in this space does.
:
00:46:27,995 --> 00:46:30,615
And then let's play on a
little bit of like, call it the
:
00:46:30,615 --> 00:46:32,325
psychological element of it.
:
00:46:32,755 --> 00:46:34,395
You see a company on TV.
:
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:35,730
They must be big.
:
00:46:35,730 --> 00:46:36,570
How do I not know about them?
:
00:46:36,570 --> 00:46:38,010
Am I behind what's going on?
:
00:46:38,010 --> 00:46:40,670
And so there was that element to it
also, where it's just like, let's
:
00:46:40,670 --> 00:46:42,060
make us appear bigger than we are.
:
00:46:42,060 --> 00:46:45,340
Granted, we will absolutely be that
big and we meet the expectations there,
:
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:48,520
but we almost have to like push that
message forward that, Hey, we're not
:
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:50,180
just like some random startup out here.
:
00:46:50,180 --> 00:46:51,060
We've got our act together.
:
00:46:51,060 --> 00:46:52,190
We've got a phenomenal product.
:
00:46:52,190 --> 00:46:54,320
Like it is going to take over
the space in a matter of years.
:
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,870
We're just starting to
escalate that a little bit.
:
00:46:56,900 --> 00:46:59,890
So yeah, the CTV project was a lot of fun.
:
00:46:59,970 --> 00:47:03,683
To work for you to be creative, but
it was, you know, talk about removing
:
00:47:03,683 --> 00:47:04,843
the net from underneath yourself.
:
00:47:04,843 --> 00:47:08,082
It was, a sizable investment that we had
to make sure that we were going to get
:
00:47:08,082 --> 00:47:09,622
some return on or make sure it panned out.
:
00:47:09,622 --> 00:47:09,932
Well,
:
00:47:10,532 --> 00:47:13,562
Justin Norris: And just to talk through
one of your ads that I saw, if you
:
00:47:13,562 --> 00:47:16,322
don't mind, but it was it's a couple.
:
00:47:16,342 --> 00:47:17,472
They're in the forest.
:
00:47:17,882 --> 00:47:21,742
and the guy of the couple is like
looking for Bigfoot, you know,
:
00:47:21,750 --> 00:47:24,190
and in the background, there's
like a Bigfoot running around.
:
00:47:24,710 --> 00:47:27,883
And and the wife says something like,
you don't need to hunt for Bigfoot.
:
00:47:27,883 --> 00:47:28,773
You can use Loxo.
:
00:47:28,823 --> 00:47:32,063
And so just this clever
hook is clever concept.
:
00:47:32,073 --> 00:47:32,833
It's funny.
:
00:47:33,983 --> 00:47:35,603
Again, it's just like
the ads you see on TV.
:
00:47:36,573 --> 00:47:37,403
Did you come up with that?
:
00:47:37,403 --> 00:47:38,143
Someone on your team?
:
00:47:38,143 --> 00:47:39,093
Did you hire an agency?
:
00:47:39,093 --> 00:47:40,083
How did you get to that place?
:
00:47:40,113 --> 00:47:42,573
Because I think that's hard to come
up with those concepts, let alone
:
00:47:42,573 --> 00:47:44,753
sell them internally in a B2B context.
:
00:47:45,265 --> 00:47:45,875
Sam Kuehnle: it was really hard.
:
00:47:45,985 --> 00:47:49,205
So that whole process, yes, we
used an agency video brothers could
:
00:47:49,205 --> 00:47:50,735
not recommend them highly enough.
:
00:47:50,735 --> 00:47:51,645
They absolutely killed it.
:
00:47:52,145 --> 00:47:55,045
Cause to me, I was like, again, I
need to be a steward of our money.
:
00:47:55,045 --> 00:47:57,615
I need to make sure that we are absolutely
partnering with the best out here.
:
00:47:57,615 --> 00:48:00,915
So landed on video brothers
and then the process itself.
:
00:48:00,915 --> 00:48:04,335
So we have a very involved marketing team.
:
00:48:04,365 --> 00:48:07,145
I'm not a creative, but I love
ideating and having fun with that.
:
00:48:07,145 --> 00:48:09,715
We have Lex Winship, who is one of
the most Brilliant Brandon content,
:
00:48:09,725 --> 00:48:11,155
people and copywriters I've ever met.
:
00:48:11,495 --> 00:48:14,785
Brandon Alvarado is our
outsourced head of creative.
:
00:48:14,795 --> 00:48:17,915
And so the three of us really came
together in the sense of like,
:
00:48:18,335 --> 00:48:19,415
we want to be involved with this.
:
00:48:19,425 --> 00:48:22,393
So when we started working with
video brothers, we said, their usual
:
00:48:22,393 --> 00:48:25,421
engagement is, a big company comes in,
pays them, come up with a commercial
:
00:48:25,421 --> 00:48:26,981
idea, write it, script it, shoot it.
:
00:48:26,991 --> 00:48:27,631
You're good to go.
:
00:48:27,631 --> 00:48:28,151
We were like no.
:
00:48:28,191 --> 00:48:31,821
We want to be involved, especially knowing
the nuance of our market and knowing
:
00:48:31,851 --> 00:48:34,091
the We had to hit it on this first one.
:
00:48:34,121 --> 00:48:37,931
They had to know exactly who we were
talking to, how to communicate it, what
:
00:48:37,931 --> 00:48:41,211
would be funny in a way that's well
received, what would be funny in a way
:
00:48:41,211 --> 00:48:43,061
that has people turned off by our brand.
:
00:48:43,061 --> 00:48:45,491
And so we worked closely
with them on all of that.
:
00:48:45,511 --> 00:48:45,961
We did.
:
00:48:46,911 --> 00:48:50,101
A two hour brainstorm session on
just like, let's just go every
:
00:48:50,101 --> 00:48:53,131
possible idea that's out there,
what would land, what wouldn't land.
:
00:48:53,131 --> 00:48:57,691
And I think we came up with 25 plus
different ideas and then we narrowed
:
00:48:57,691 --> 00:49:01,341
it down to five and then we all voted
and landed on this Bigfoot concept.
:
00:49:01,821 --> 00:49:03,671
And so it was a lot of back and forth.
:
00:49:03,671 --> 00:49:06,030
And what I really liked about it
was everyone had different strengths
:
00:49:06,030 --> 00:49:08,332
some people would start pulling an
idea and then someone else could
:
00:49:08,332 --> 00:49:09,912
flesh it out or add an angle.
:
00:49:09,912 --> 00:49:13,796
And so we had this idea of the Bigfoot
thing and then video brothers, they knew.
:
00:49:14,226 --> 00:49:14,466
Okay.
:
00:49:14,466 --> 00:49:16,126
We have to pack a punch in 30 seconds.
:
00:49:16,126 --> 00:49:17,036
How do we use hooks?
:
00:49:17,036 --> 00:49:17,946
How do we add comedy?
:
00:49:17,946 --> 00:49:20,466
And that's where they just absolutely
blew it out of the water with it.
:
00:49:20,466 --> 00:49:23,266
So it's this whole yin and yang
approach of everyone working together.
:
00:49:23,266 --> 00:49:25,046
And honestly, I think that's
why it worked so well.
:
00:49:25,046 --> 00:49:26,926
Cause they were as
invested in it as we were.
:
00:49:26,926 --> 00:49:31,476
And both sides were happy to be
contributing all together with it.
:
00:49:32,074 --> 00:49:33,033
keep
:
00:49:33,283 --> 00:49:36,283
Justin Norris: about connected TV, I
mean, my understanding of it, I haven't
:
00:49:36,293 --> 00:49:40,133
used this channel directly myself, but
there are platforms that allow you to
:
00:49:40,383 --> 00:49:46,673
essentially make ad buys on TV through
streaming networks with kind of a level
:
00:49:46,673 --> 00:49:49,993
of targeting, not exactly as granular
as LinkedIn, but you're getting there.
:
00:49:50,383 --> 00:49:55,535
And using it as almost like a display
channel to get that message out there.
:
00:49:55,865 --> 00:49:57,825
How have you found using that channel?
:
00:49:57,825 --> 00:49:58,445
How are you.
:
00:49:59,110 --> 00:50:00,790
Evaluating results and impact.
:
00:50:02,052 --> 00:50:02,992
Sam Kuehnle: it's still early days.
:
00:50:03,082 --> 00:50:04,442
I'll be lying if I said it was perfect.
:
00:50:04,442 --> 00:50:06,342
I'd be lying if I said I
wasn't frustrated with it.
:
00:50:07,352 --> 00:50:08,682
So there's the good and the bad.
:
00:50:08,892 --> 00:50:12,322
A lot of the platforms say, you
know, you'll show up on ESPN.
:
00:50:12,332 --> 00:50:15,082
You'll show up on food network, you
know, wherever your audience is watching.
:
00:50:15,222 --> 00:50:18,522
But what you find out after you get going
is, yeah, you're showing up on ESPN.
:
00:50:18,522 --> 00:50:21,752
When people pick the ESPN app
on their smart TV, the food
:
00:50:21,752 --> 00:50:23,292
network app on their smart TV.
:
00:50:23,292 --> 00:50:25,752
But the reality is I don't have
the numbers to back this up.
:
00:50:25,752 --> 00:50:27,522
I would probably say three out of
four people are watching through
:
00:50:27,522 --> 00:50:31,332
YouTube TV, through Netflix, through
Hulu, through Amazon prime TV,
:
00:50:31,362 --> 00:50:32,862
one of those streaming services.
:
00:50:33,547 --> 00:50:36,137
And a lot of these providers don't
have hooks into those you have to go
:
00:50:36,137 --> 00:50:38,227
directly through Google on YouTube TV.
:
00:50:38,227 --> 00:50:39,197
You have to go through Hulu.
:
00:50:39,217 --> 00:50:40,787
You have to go through Amazon prime TV.
:
00:50:41,167 --> 00:50:44,217
And so that's where we're at right
now is going and making some of those
:
00:50:44,227 --> 00:50:45,607
direct buys because we're seeing it.
:
00:50:45,677 --> 00:50:46,787
It does work.
:
00:50:46,857 --> 00:50:48,797
But not as many people watch
those apps as you would think.
:
00:50:48,807 --> 00:50:49,507
I don't watch those apps.
:
00:50:49,527 --> 00:50:51,677
I haven't seen our commercials yet
because I don't watch those apps.
:
00:50:51,677 --> 00:50:54,747
I watch YouTube TV if I'm on, or I
go to straight to Hulu or something.
:
00:50:55,367 --> 00:50:58,922
And even in some of those cases, I
pay for Hulu to not have commercials.
:
00:50:58,942 --> 00:51:00,442
I wouldn't see them at that instance.
:
00:51:00,442 --> 00:51:04,732
So it's also understanding, like I
wouldn't buy Netflix, even if I could
:
00:51:04,732 --> 00:51:08,942
afford it, because it's something
like 80 or 90 percent have that non ad
:
00:51:08,942 --> 00:51:11,932
supported package, so it doesn't make
sense to really put money in there,
:
00:51:11,932 --> 00:51:14,942
especially when you're trying to be a
steward of your money, so, Long story
:
00:51:14,952 --> 00:51:18,532
short, it's working, I think, and
work better as we continue to iterate.
:
00:51:18,542 --> 00:51:20,012
But that's the whole point
of an experiment, right?
:
00:51:20,012 --> 00:51:21,952
You experiment, you validate, you iterate.
:
00:51:22,262 --> 00:51:24,062
You validate again, and then you iterate.
:
00:51:24,122 --> 00:51:27,522
And that's where we're at right now
is we are at stage one validation.
:
00:51:27,572 --> 00:51:28,832
We have the first insights.
:
00:51:28,842 --> 00:51:32,302
Now we need to iterate and see like,
if we make these changes, will it work
:
00:51:32,312 --> 00:51:33,922
in the way that we expect it to or not?
:
00:51:34,982 --> 00:51:37,652
Justin Norris: Maybe last question for
you, Sam, before we wrap, but I'm just
:
00:51:37,652 --> 00:51:42,402
curious, you know, we talked about the
bandwagon effect and things becoming
:
00:51:42,402 --> 00:51:44,582
stale and, discovering what's next.
:
00:51:44,972 --> 00:51:45,832
What are you thinking about?
:
00:51:45,832 --> 00:51:48,733
What are you keeping an eye on
for the next 12 to 24 months?
:
00:51:49,113 --> 00:51:54,463
Sam Kuehnle: An interesting one for
me, my background is not SEO but chat
:
00:51:54,463 --> 00:51:57,993
GPT and people going there for answers.
:
00:51:59,028 --> 00:52:02,968
Something's going to change here because
right now, if you go in and you say
:
00:52:02,968 --> 00:52:07,418
like chat GPT, go ask any questions or
whatever, it doesn't provide sources.
:
00:52:07,738 --> 00:52:10,248
But right below where you go
and type in the query, it says
:
00:52:10,258 --> 00:52:11,678
chat GPT can make mistakes.
:
00:52:11,688 --> 00:52:13,418
Consider checking important information.
:
00:52:14,098 --> 00:52:16,538
You ask for that information and
they say, we won't provide sources.
:
00:52:16,618 --> 00:52:20,028
So there's this like give and take
that has to happen somewhere in there.
:
00:52:20,418 --> 00:52:24,838
And so my eye is when that change
does come, it's going to have to come.
:
00:52:24,858 --> 00:52:26,288
Everyone's always
saying, cite your source.
:
00:52:26,308 --> 00:52:27,738
Like you can only have
so much credibility.
:
00:52:28,118 --> 00:52:29,218
That's going to change at some point.
:
00:52:29,218 --> 00:52:30,808
And when it does, how do
you optimize for that?
:
00:52:30,838 --> 00:52:32,218
That's what I'm keeping an eye on.
:
00:52:32,842 --> 00:52:33,722
Justin Norris: That's really interesting.
:
00:52:33,752 --> 00:52:37,642
I've seen some of those responses come in
through like our, how did you hear about
:
00:52:37,642 --> 00:52:43,702
us or I work like people using chat GPT,
people using Gemini to build short lists.
:
00:52:44,142 --> 00:52:45,402
So it's definitely happening.
:
00:52:45,412 --> 00:52:46,603
And it's the wild west.
:
00:52:46,603 --> 00:52:48,063
It's like SEO in::
00:52:48,226 --> 00:52:49,296
how do you influence that?
:
00:52:49,296 --> 00:52:49,986
How do you get inside?
:
00:52:49,996 --> 00:52:50,226
All right.
:
00:52:50,226 --> 00:52:52,752
Well, Sam, this was
super, super interesting.
:
00:52:52,812 --> 00:52:53,862
Thank you so much.
:
00:52:54,222 --> 00:52:54,922
Wish you the best.
:
00:52:54,952 --> 00:52:56,349
And hopefully catch up with you again.
:
00:52:56,349 --> 00:52:57,139
See how things are going.
:
00:52:58,519 --> 00:52:58,645
right.