Devin Bramhall

Co-host: Don't Say Content. Marketing Advisor. Agency Growth Strategist. Former CEO of Animalz.

Your CEO doesn't hate marketing. They hate that you can't prove that it works.

I know because I've been the marketer pitching brilliant strategies that get shelved and the CEO wondering why marketing feels like an expensive black box.

After 15+ years building content strategies as a marketer and tripling Animalz to nearly $12M ARR as CEO, I realized the real problem:

We're optimizing for activities instead of outcomes. Checking boxes instead of driving growth.

The dirty secret? Most "content marketing strategies" are just glorified to-do lists.

My book "B2B Content Marketing Strategy" shows why "do more marketing" is killing growth and what to do instead.

Now I help companies stop doing marketing and start growing businesses as a fractional Chief Growth Officer.

If you're tired of: 
→ Defending your work instead of leading with it 
→ Following frameworks that feel like busy work 
→ Watching brilliant ideas die in committee

You're in the right place.

I help marketers ask better questions. Not “what content do we need?” but “what does the business need to grow?'"

Get weekly no-BS takes on growth: devinbramhall.com/newsletter

Chief Executive Officer

So why am I starting a newsletter when there are already ten thousand marketing newsletters? Fair question.

I got tired of having the same conversation in private that nobody's having in public.

Every week, I sit with marketing leaders who are smart, capable, doing everything right on paper, and still getting crushed. Because the company around them is broken in ways nobody talks about.

The CEO who says "I trust you" and then rewrites your strategy in a board meeting. The founder who hired you to lead marketing but won't let you make a single decision without their sign-off. The reorg that has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with politics.

I hear these stories constantly. From my advisory clients. From my coaching sessions. From people in my comments and DMs who just need someone to say "no, you're not crazy."

So why is everyone learning this stuff alone?

I've also been the CEO. I have been the person making the calls that marketers complain about, and I've been the marketer complaining. I know what both sides are thinking because I've been both sides.

That's what Good Question is. 

I take real stories, real situations, change the names, and break down what actually happened. The human problem. The politics, the miscommunication, the thing nobody in the room said out loud.

Get my newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ehqXFYNB

First edition arriving in your inbox soon.

Chief Growth Officer [Fractional]. Author: “B2B Content Marketing Strategy” out now on Amazon

I’ve been a CEO. I’ve also advised dozens. And I can tell you... 

I've watched the same person look at the same marketing report on a Monday and love it. 

Then Wednesday? "I don't know why you're showing me this."

Same numbers. Same deck. The CEO had a different week.

And like, that's not a criticism. That's just the job. Being a CEO means you're thinking about 500 things in the next half hour. Your marketing report is maybe thing #387.

So my PR team sends me this question...
"What's the best ROI metric marketers should track in 2026?"

And I wrote this very long answer that was basically me being like, this is the stupidest question I've ever heard. It depends on the industry, the company, the CEO's literal individual personality. (I was nicer about it. Slightly.)

Because every CEO is different. Every person you report to is different. And what I keep trying to tell people is, your job isn't to prove marketing works with the perfect dashboard.

Your job as a marketing leader is to figure out what story your CEO will hear, what they'll say yes to, and what they can go brag about.

Like, give your CEO one killer data point the week before they go to a big dinner or conference. Something specific. Something they can drop in conversation. They'll tell you they don't care about vanity metrics, but THEY DO. They love those bragging rights. They just don't want to see the whole spreadsheet.

And get other people on the team whispering in their ear. Multiple people. So the CEO's hearing it from everywhere.

That's when you start actually making an impact. When your CEO looks good and lets you keep doing the work you know is right.

We keep debating metrics like there's a universal answer. There isn't. There's a human sitting across from you. Speak to them.

Anyway... I got into this more with Ross Hudgens on his podcast. 

Link in comments if you want the full rant.

Speak their language

I'm attending the CMO Alliance Summit in NYC this March.

85+ CMOs and marketing leaders in a closed, peer-focused environment. We're digging into why CEOs don't trust marketing by default, what actually earns that trust, and how you shift from defending your work to owning business outcomes.

If you want to build real trust with your CEO, this is worth your time.

It's invitation-only. DM me for an invite.

Shoutout to the CMO Alliance

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Everyone says the best marketers think like CEOs.

I've been both. They're wrong.

When I first started sitting in exec meetings, I was so focused on proving I was smart I missed every signal in the room. What the CEO actually cared about. Why they were pushing back. Gone.

That was the whole mistake.

I didn't need to think like a CEO.
I needed to pay attention like a marketer.

The CEO is an audience.
The CFO is an audience.
The annoying executive who suddenly has very strong opinions about marketing is definitely an audience.

You do not win those people over by becoming them.

You win them over the same way marketing works anywhere else. Study what they care about. Figure out why your pitch isn't landing. Then run a campaign on them like the marketer you are.

That is the job.

Talked about this Jordan Ogren on the On Marketing podcast and honestly went off more than I planned. If you want the full rant, link's in the comments.

So CEO buy-in is my thing now. 

I didn't pick it. I honestly kind of stumbled into it.

When Margaret Kelsey and I were doing our podcast Don't Say Content, we started talking about the disconnect between CEOs and marketing. 

First time we talked about how companies fail when the CEO and the GTM org aren't even speaking the same language? 

It was our best episode. By whatever the podcast metrics are. So we tried it again, slightly different angle. Same result.

And I was like OK that's interesting.

Then I started looking at my LinkedIn posts differently. I started paying attention to saves. Sends. Shares. Those are completely different-level signals than someone hitting the like button.

And what I care about the most is where people are deeply engaged. Where I see a real problem to be solved. And it was THIS topic.

But I didn't just go all in on this immediately. 

I spent years kind of figuring out what mattered within it. Testing it. Narrowing. What specifically about CEO buy-in? Which part of that conversation? What's the thing marketing leaders actually need?

And this is the part nobody wants to hear because it doesn't come with a template. You need to stop looking for proof. Stop asking for feedback. Stop looking at what your friends are doing.

What you need to do is think for yourself. Come up with an idea. Have enough leading indicators that it could work. Then go put together logical experiments to see if it will.

That's it. That's the whole strategy. Follow signals. Test. Narrow. Commit.

Nobody gave me permission to go all in on CEO buy-in. I just followed enough signals that I trusted myself to try.

Ross Hudgens and I talked about this, the whole thing about why nobody wants to hear "think for yourself" as strategy advice.

It's a good conversation if you're in this headspace right now. I'll link it below.

𝘖𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

Happy snow day to all those who celebrate.

Cooki Haircare

Good, clean, fun! Cooki is ultra-foaming solid haircare that actually works. It's plastic-free, no nasties shampoo and conditioner that’s great for your hair and fuss-free for travel. With over 3000 5-star reviews and 20,000 customers so far, we're quietly converting Australians and Kiwis to solids, one bar at a time.

Managing Director

eurowalls

Eurowalls is Australia and New Zealand's favourite destination for shopping wallpaper online. We are about premium quality made affordable, delivering an extensive range of European wallpapers and murals to your door since 2008. With over 50,000 styles - from Versace maximalism, to textured grasscloths, to floral prints - we've got your next interior project covered.

Consulting to a range of businesses and publishing clients within beauty, media, e-commerce and retail. Projects include book and magazine editing, workshop and focus group moderation, brand and content strategy, copywriting, campaigns and strategic partnerships.

Consultant - Marketing & Publishing

York St Brands

Joining initially as a consultant to run a repositioning of BOOST LAB, including focus groups, creating a brand strategy and defining a new tone of voice, rolling out new ads and successfully helping to drive exponential growth for the brand within a new target demographic. 

I later came on full time managing the marketing team across both tbh Skincare and BOOST LAB, spanning hiring and mentoring a team of five, product launches, and overseeing a busy graphic design studio for the two brands across trade marketing and B2C. Work spanned content strategy for social and email, ad concepting, NPD product marketing, and the rollout of the tbh Skincare launches into Priceline and Coles.

Head of Marketing

Floraly

As the first marketing hire for flower gifting e-commerce, Floraly, I built out the marketing strategy from scratch and also oversaw product development and gifting add-ons. I managed four agencies and two direct reports spanning key areas of content production, performance marketing, SEO, PR, affiliates, strategic partnerships, email marketing and social. Key achievements include leading a successful equity crowdfunding campaign resulting in $616k raised from customers and investors (target: $250k), increasing our average order value by 6% by bringing on 10 new gifting add-ons, and doubling the Floraly Instagram following in six months.

Head of Marketing & Growth

Scentre Group (Owner and Operator of Westfield in Aus and NZ)

Leading a team of 12 Regional Digital Leads across ANZ, I was responsible for Westfield’s national digital strategy across web, social and eDM, including the creation of our editorial content. Our role was to work with our centre teams to cultivate best practice writing, editing and social execution, as well as embedding digital insights and analytics skills across the portfolio. I also worked closely with our key retail partners to effectively program their news and editorial across our 42 sites.

Senior Marketing Manager - CX Strategy & Content

Leading a team of 12 Regional Digital Leads across ANZ, I was responsible for Westfield’s national digital strategy across web, social and eDM, including the creation of our editorial content. My team’s role was to work with our centre teams to cultivate best practice writing, editing and social execution, as well as embedding digital insights and analytics skills across the portfolio.

National Marketing Manager - Content, Strategy & Programming

Blackdot

Content strategy across a range of B2B and B2C clients, facilitating workshops, and working with the delivery team to develop blog posts, white papers, scripts and marketing campaign content from Blackdot’s core consulting IP. Led social strategy and art direction, including brand refresh across web, eDM, logo and collateral. Doubled Blackdot's LinkedIn following in three months after introducing a new content strategy.

Content Marketing Consultant

David Jones

Management of inhouse editorial magazine, JONES and the JONES digital platform. Seconded as Content Lead for the launch of David Jones Food - managing content and programming across digital channels.

Content Marketing Lead - JONES Magazine

Folo (folo.world)

Working across launch communications, strategy, marketing and branding for tech startup, Folo.

Head of Marketing & Communications

Karrikins Group

Contract role for a management consulting firm, working across social impact projects for Optus and CBA including Optus Digital Thumbprint.

Program Marketing Manager

I'm a marketer and editor with 15 years' experience spanning retail, startups and publishing. I bought then built Cooki Haircare, a D2C e-commerce brand selling solid shampoo (that actually foams!), where I grew online orders by 10 times in a year profitably to seven figure revenue. In 2024 I also acquired e-commerce interiors brand, Eurowalls, which imports premium wallpapers and murals from Europe into the Australian and New Zealand market. 

Previous lives include marketing roles at David Jones, the ABC, tbh Skincare, Westfield, Boost Lab and Floraly. I've been published in the New Zealand Listener, the ABC and InStyle Australia, and have edited books on topics from fashion to psychology. I love chatting e-commerce, brand marketing and publishing - my DMs are open!

Jaimee Vilela

Lucas and I have brought Cooki Haircare to Expo West in Anaheim this week - it's known as 'the Coachella of natural products', and with 65,000 attendees the scale is mindblowing! The NSW government were good enough to have us as part of their delegation and give Cooki its very own little shelf, and what we lack in formal booth, we aim to make up for in tshirt.

I have never been offered more free food samples in my life and am now approximately 60% beef tallow corn chips and 40% falafel. Ready to do it all again tomorrow! If you're here, stop by the Australian Pavilion at Hall B, 2168 to meet all the Aussies.

#expowest #expowest2026

Managing Director at Cooki Haircare and Eurowalls | Top 50 People in E-Commerce 2026

Incredibly honoured to be named 12th in Australia's Top 50 People in E-Commerce. Appearing on this list for the first time is such a mind-bend - I read it every year and the stories have always inspired me. Congratulations to everyone on it, who are an amazing group of people. 

Thanks also to Inside Retail Australia, Australia Post and all the judges for the effort that goes into creating this - I am gutted I couldn't raise a glass with you all in Melbourne last night, but today, there will be bubbles. I don't just mean shampoo.

#InsideRetail #Top50

The 2026 Top 50 People in E-Commerce report is out!

We're thrilled to announce Inside Retail's Top 50 People in E-Commerce for 2026, presented by Australia Post. This list is more than just names; it highlights the talent, determination, and innovation shaping the future of retail in Australia.

👉 Curious to meet the standout figures of 2026? Check out the complete list along with the inspiring stories behind their remarkable achievements here: https://lnkd.in/g5Eqjckd

This selection was made by some of the industry's finest experts: Anna Samkova, Lyn Nguyen, Jason Pallant, Nicola Clement, Mal Chia, Mark Baartse, John Venetsanos, Chelsea O'Reilly, Stephanie Caite Chadwick, Tahlia Whitfield, and Adam Thorn.

A massive shoutout to our excellent partners – Australia Post, ShipStation, preezie, Checkout Components by Basestack, Shopify and Convert Digital – for championing the brightest minds in the industry.

#Top50Ecommerce #InsideRetail #AustraliaPost

Adam Cox Alex Carter Beatrice Toh Brittney Saunders Vicky Robinson Taylor Brbot Suzie Young Alex Rienecker Alison Trang Bronte Jacobson Charles Moore Stephanie Lang Mel Grafton Nikhil Daftary Niklas Frassa Olivia Toth Raja Petchimuthu Argylica C. Clementine Boshevski Dave Gahan Elysia Krstevski Felicity Rodgers Guy Nappa Jere Calmes Heather E. Hitesh Mehta Jackie Kruger Olivia Carr Paula Mitchell Jaimee Vilela James Gino Salerno Roz Travers-Hucker Sara Long Stacey Crommelin

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The Battle

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Jaimee Vilela

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The Battle

Devin Bramhall

Jaimee Vilela

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Devin Bramhall's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJaimee Vilela's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDevin Bramhall's LinkedIn Performance