Advertise on podcast: The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

407 | Original air date: Jun 20, 2023. Devin Reed is the Founder @ The Reeder, previously Director of Content at Clari and Head of Content Strategy at Gong. Dave and Devin talk about his role at Clari and what the content team did. They discuss Gong's early content strategy, how to make long form content work, and what type of content works on LinkedIn today. They also discuss the importance of personal brand, bust some marketing myths, and more. Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

406 | In this mailbag “Ask Dave Anything” episode, he gets into your most burning B2B marketing questions, concerns and challenges. There's no playbook for B2B marketing, but you can lean on the pros (like Dave) for advice when you're stuck. He shares his take on prioritizing brand or demand, then explains what he'd do in his first 90 days as a new marketing leader. He also shares his take on AI for outbound, the most underrated marketing investment, community vs. audience and whether AI is a bubble. Timestamps: (00:00) - A solo mailbag: Exit Five members ask, Dave answers (05:42) - The biggest "mistake": narrowing Exit Five's ICP (08:52) - Brand building vs. bottom-of-funnel pressure (11:08) - AI outbound and "why you, why now" (12:58) - The most underrated investment: giving a damn (16:58) - Building community by showing up (10,000 comments) (19:20) - Thinking like an exec: why incentives drive behavior (21:51) - Your first 90 days as head of marketing (26:21) - Life outside B2B: family, exercise, and routine (30:42) - What younger Dave wanted vs. what he doesn't want now Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#405 | Dasha sits down with Casey Patterson, who runs North American ABM at Snowflake, to talk about what ABM looks like as AI reshapes it - live from Drive. Casey explains why the next era of ABM moves past the account to the individual, how her team goes from an account’s intent spike to a personalized gift in four days, and what she means by “tokenomics,” matching the right AI tool to each job. She shares how she inspires her team to disrupt their work a little every week so they never fall behind. Casey dives into her “database washing machine” project for cleaning expired marketing data and an agent that tells sales which event to invite each account to. In the end, Casey names one thing she won’t let AI replace (the direct sales connection), and her 2027 bets on account-based billboards and CMO-to-CMO video. Timstamps Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#404 | Dave chats with Hillary Carpio, VP of Growth Marketing at Snowflake, about account-based marketing. Hillary runs a 20 person team focused on ABM at Snowflake today. They discuss why Snowflake has been an "account-based organization", ABM vs. Demand Generation, how to measure ABM, what an effective ABM campaign looks like, creating a tiered ABM strategy, how marketing exists to support sales at Snowflake and why it works, how tools like ChatGPT and Jasper can help ABM marketers, and more. Timestamps Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#403 | We asked six B2B marketers a simple question: what’s the most creative way you’re using AI in your process right now? What tools you reach for, which prompts you run, and where you refuse to relinquish control to AI. Each marketer shared their best creative AI workflow, from start to finish. Then, they answered questions live.  What you’ll walk away with: Six real creative workflows you can steal – from brainstorm to final productionThe specific tools that have earned a place on these teams (and the ones that got cut)When to trust AI for speed and when to protect the work with human judgment Speakers: Josh Mendelsohn, Pendo: Turn your persona research into a prep doc sales looks forward toCaitlin O. Bigelow, Blazel: Build a lead magnet that grades a year of LinkedIn posts against 30,000 peersAlexandra Franco, Empact: Turn hiring posts and public signals into a plan for reaching your ICPJessica Rosenberg, Gamma: Build one Skill file that lets any team member prototype an on-brand landing pageMike Fredrick, Walker Sands: Refresh campaign creative by testing 200 AI models at onceMaya Shah-Ceccotti, Passage Health: Turn your positioning into the context every AI tool starts from Timestamps (00:00) - Intro: making more content without losing creativity (05:30) - The survey: more content, but only 18% think it’s better (08:52) - Josh, Pendo: an AI skill for sales call prep (15:37) - Caitlin, Blazel: AI lead magnets and a LinkedIn report card (22:00) - Alex, Empact: an AI chain to find and qualify accounts (29:44) - Jessica, Gamma: a brand skills library for the whole company (36:37) - Mike, Walker Sands: node-based AI production (43:50) - Maya, Passage Health: nine positioning questions behind an AI system (48:55) - Voting on the winning play (50:04) - The Exit Five community and the Experts Network Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#402 | Dasha interviews Colin Kendall, CMO at SC&H, live at Drive. They discuss how a brand that isn't a household name can build a brand and pipeline. Colin attributes the success to events - his team turned them into a measurable revenue channel by going beyond the sponsor booth. They focus on getting their own experts on stage, and repurposing that content afterward to build touchpoints with people who'd never heard of them. He explains how to get time-strapped executives to build a real LinkedIn presence and why standing out in the age of AI slop means having a point of view that's uniquely yours. He also dives into how his team scales their CEO's voice by turning his Slack posts into LinkedIn content. Plus, why he's betting on employee advocacy and personal branding in 2027, and how gamifying it (like Exit Five's Clout Cup) makes it stick. Timestamps (00:00) - Marketing a firm that sells expertise, not software (01:31) - Inside SC&H: a hands-on alternative to the Big Four accounting giants (04:13) - SC&H's biggest 2026 win: proving events drive real revenue (05:04) - Why a sponsor booth isn't enough: get your experts on stage (06:04) - Make one speaking slot last all year by repurposing the content (07:01) - Turning in-house experts into credible LinkedIn thought leaders (09:02) - The AI slop problem: why your point of view has to be your own (11:04) - Repurposing leader's Slack messages as LinkedIn posts (11:53) - The 2027 bet: employee advocacy and personal branding (13:48) - The Clout Cup: using competition to drive LinkedIn growth Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#400 | Lashay Lewis helps B2B SaaS companies create profit-driven content strategies. We talk about why a B2B content strategy should be built from the bottom of the funnel up, why she interviews sales teams to understand "life before using the product" and why she interviews customer success teams to understand "life after using the product" and how that influences content strategy, how writing influences buyers, the power of a strong company POV, training in-house writers and freelancers in a way that scales, where podcasting fits in a B2B content strategy, why search volume can be misleading, and thoughts on how content marketers can use AI. Timestamps (00:00) - Why timeless marketing fundamentals still beat chasing new tactics (03:45) - Why bottom-of-funnel content actually converts (06:57) - Why search intent matters more than search volume (13:06) - The customer research questions that make content convert (15:14) - How to write content without interviewing experts every time (24:36) - Feature mapping: turning product features into customer pain points (31:55) - Companies that get bottom-of-funnel content right (35:41) - Repurposing one converting article across every channel (43:03) - Wrap-up and where to find Lashay Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#399 | Dave sits down with R. Ethan Braden, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Texas A&M University, to talk about big brand swings he took with NASCAR, Fast Company and SXSW to insert the university into the national conversation and change the perception of a 150-year-old brand. Ethan explains why Texas A&M University's challenge is reputation and how he got the whole campus telling the same story. Ethan also covers why he holds marketing to the same rigor as finance and engineering, and why his strategy involved going where other universities aren't. Ethan covers how he turned 4,300 faculty into media experts with earned media PR. They also get into repeating one message, and why great marketers can work in any industry when they focus on the craft, not the category. Timestamps (00:00) - Why a higher-ed CMO is on a B2B marketing podcast (03:02) - The real challenge: brand perception (08:18) - Building a brand that gets noticed (11:46) - Why Ethan thinks you should pick a lane and repeat one message (16:02) - Holding marketing to the same rigor as finance and engineering (18:43) - NASCAR and IndyCar sponsorships (25:48) - SXSW with Fast Company and brand partnerships (31:39) - Building an earned media engine with 4,300 faculty experts (34:43) - Marketing challenges: talent and trust in higher ed (40:02) - Why great marketers can work in any industry Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

OK maybe it's not so secret, but it makes for a more clickable headline.  We're doing an Exit Five Meetup in NYC October 15 and we'd love to have you. Tickets here: https://exitfive.com/nyc/

#398 | Dasha chats with Ross Simmonds, founder of Foundation Marketing and Distribution.ai, live at Drive. They talk about why most marketing content fails: it gets created once and then left to collect dust. Ross breaks down his full distribution playbook for a single blog post - from social and email to Reddit, shorts, carousels, and reposting on a schedule. Then, Ross shares the receipts: 10X traffic and a three-year-old asset that now gets cited in AI answers and still generates leads. He explains his rule to create ridiculously good content once and distribute it forever, the four E's that separate great content from slop, and the two blog posts that changed his career. Plus, how to hire people that runs without you, why spamming Reddit with self-promotion is ineffective, and Ross’s bet on in-person events in 2027. Show notes: 14 books to get a job in advertising: https://rosssimmonds.com/blog/20-books-read-job-advertising/  Timestamps: (00:00) - Recording Live at Drive (02:36) - Why Most Great Content Just Collects Dust (03:43) - How AI Made Distribution Noisier and Cheaper (04:56) - Distributing One Blog Post Across Every Channel to Maximize Reach (06:55) - 10X Traffic and Playing the Long Game with Content (09:19) - The Four E's of Great Content (11:01) - The Blog Posts That Changed His Career (14:30) - His Biggest Win: A Team That Runs Without Him (17:30) - Reddit Done Right: White-Hat, Not Spam (18:58) - His Bet for 2027: In-Person Events Come Back Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#397 | One of our most popular episodes ever, inducted into our Best of B2B series: April Dunford is a B2B positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. Sales Pitch guides you through an eight-step sales pitch structure the helps you stand out and win business. Building on the concepts of the bestselling book, Obviously Awesome, Sales Pitch will give your sales reps a story that makes your product shine. We talk about her new book, lessons from her first book, and covered: - Positioning vs. Category Creation vs. Strategic Narrative- Lessons from 200+ B2B sales pitches- Why differentiation is everything and how to do it- Why positioning has to be a cross-functional activity - not just for the marketing- A structure anyone can use to turn positioning into a strong sales pitch- Why she set out to write a follow up book to her 2019 hit Obviously Awesome called Sales Pitch (and go through the pain of writing a book all over again) Timestamps (00:00) - Why timeless marketing lessons still matter (01:21) - How April does positioning in one week (07:22) - Why marketing never wins a battle of opinions (08:38) - Who you really compete with (11:49) - Positioning vs. strategic narrative vs. category creation (19:40) - No decision, FOMO, and the race to the bottom (22:44) - Finding differentiation when you think you have none (27:58) - Selling what's on the truck vs. the vision (34:18) - Why April wrote Sales Pitch (41:00) - The sales pitch structure, with a Help Scout example Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#396 | Dave and Dasha recorded this episode live during Drive 2026 - our biggest event yet. Dave explains how Drive nearly moved to Boston, and why he thinks keeping it in Vermont matters. They also went deep into how Dave wrote this year's keynote. He shares his struggle of building an outline with Claude that had no soul, and asking Harry Dry for help. Eventually, the talk became about one idea: connection. Dave also covers how that experience changed the way he gives feedback to his team, his biggest wins of 2026, and what he's betting on for 2027. Timestamps (00:00) - Interviewing Dave IRL at Drive about His Career and Keynote Writing Process (03:49) - How the Drive Event Started (09:08) - Why This Year's Keynote Matters and How Dave Wrote It (11:49) - Moving Past the Writer’s Block: "AI Rotted My Brain" (13:47) - Getting Harsh Feedback from Harry Dry (16:00) - The Angle: a Story About Human In-Person Connection (20:13) - Bringing Harry's Feedback Style to the Team (25:41) - How to Build an Outstanding Team and Why This is Your Biggest Lever (31:43) - The Canadian Snack Taste Test Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#395 | Dasha sits down with Freya Ward, Associate Managing Director at Headley Media, to talk about why MQLs get a bad rap and what to do about it. Freya explains why the problem is usually the framing rather than the tactic, how renaming MQLs changes how sales handles them, and what you should rename them to. They also get into how to run a workshop that aligns the team on what counts as a qualified lead, and three specific fixes you can make today for better sales and marketing alignment.  Show notes Gareth James at Hallam on getting brand investment signed off by finance directors: https://hallam.agency/blog/investment-for-brand-how-to-get-sign-off-from-finance-directors/ Timestamps: (00:00) - Why Freya quit marketing to join the sales team (09:02) - Is the MQL actually dead? (10:02) - Rename the MQL to qualified outbound leads (11:22) - Why every marketer has speak the sales, finance, and other department’s languages (16:47) - Three rituals that keep sales and marketing aligned (20:47) - Build your MQL definition from deals that closed (24:43) - Why Dasha's BDs report into marketing (26:26) - Fix #1: make lead rejection a required CRM field (31:46) - Fix #2: assign someone to nurture dead leads (38:00) - Fix #3: pilot alignment with one SDR Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#394 | Dave takes his phone to the conference floor at HubSpot's UNBOUND in Boston and asks 5 B2B marketing leaders two questions: what are you doubling down on at work, and what are you doubling down on in your personal life? He opens with thoughts on why strategy and positioning matter more than tactics now that AI makes everyone sound the same. Then you'll hear from Jonathan Hunt of HubSpot on treating brands as live experiences, Palmer Houchins of G2 on balancing AI efficiency with effectiveness, Sangram Vajre of GTM Partners on the power of one-on-one conversations, Jess Cook of Vector on personally rebuilding her company's website with Claude Code, and Amit Sharan of Tatari on the importance of exploring new channels and how they're creating video content built to be found by AI search. Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#393 | Dave interviews Katie Miserany, Chief Communications Officer and Head of Marketing at SurveyMonkey, about why the company rebranded to Momentive to go upmarket and then reversed the decision after going private. Katie explains why sales believed nobody would spend six figures with a company called SurveyMonkey, what changed under the new CEO, and why she now sees the monkey as an advantage. She also covers her path into marketing from communications, why more comms leaders are moving into C-suite marketing roles, and the advice she followed when she took over the function: get close to the growth team and ask your basic questions early so imposter syndrome doesn't cost you the learning. Timestamps: (00:00) - Why Katie Feels Like She’s Gotten Twenty Years of Experience in Seven at SurveyMonkey (05:41) - Why Sales Thought Nobody Would Buy From a Company Called SurveyMonkey (07:06) - Creating Our Brand Vision and Bringing it to Life (12:33) - The Campaign That Didn't Move the Needle (17:04) - Everyone Knows Us - The Version of Us From 2009 (20:08) - The Tactic That Lifted Click-Through by 73% (25:19) - The Journey From Comms to Head of Marketing (31:18) - What Comms Actually Does (37:14) - How to Determine if You Need a Meeting vs an Async Update Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/ *** Brought to you by: Zoom Webinars & Events – The virtual event platform built to help B2B marketers run webinars that actually drive pipeline, with branded registration pages, live engagement features, and built-in tools to repurpose sessions into clips and content. Learn more at zoom.com/exitfive. Convertiv - A B2B marketing agency that helps enterprise teams build an AI-powered go-to-market strategy, specializing in AEO. Podcast listeners get a free AI search review showing how you stack up against competitors. Learn more at convertiv.com/exitfive. Optimizely - the AI platform for marketers. Build your own AI agents or pull from a directory of 50+ pre-built ones for marketing use cases. Their new Virtual Teammates can join meetings, complete tasks, support campaigns, and keep your website optimized. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand gen agency helping high-growth cybersecurity and enterprise software companies show up earlier in the buying journey, combining AEO, modern paid advertising, and a dedicated go-to-market engineering team. Podcast listeners get two free media planning sessions to find out what channels are driving the best ROI. Learn more at compoundgrowthmarketing.com/exitfive. Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive. *** Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production. They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest. Visit hatch.fm to learn more