Erin Balsa

Content Marketing Consultant and Writer 

I build and execute content marketing strategies for sales-led B2B SaaS startups that sell complex, enterprise-ready solutions.

Erin enjoys B2B content marketing, keeping the Halloween spirit alive year-round, and talking about herself in the third person. 

No but really ... 

I've been working in content since 2011 when I landed my first job as an editor. Since then, I've worn a bunch of hats like:

- Content marketing agency leader
- Inc. 5000 B2B SaaS marketing director
- Freelance content strategist, writer, and editor

Over the years, I've written for a bunch of brands you probably know including:

- HubSpot
- Drift
- G2
- Intuit
- And a Fortune 100 that shall not be named

These days, I help marketing teams at B2B SaaS companies (Series A-C) survey a representative sample of their ICP and write a 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 original research report that positions their brand as a credible authority — to secure press mentions and close enterprise deals.

If you're ready to publish research that builds trust instead of skepticism, let's chat. And if you just want to connect with a fellow marketing nerd who decorates for Halloween in July, I'm here for that too.

Hausofbold.com

Content Marketing Consultant

I build and execute content marketing strategies for sales-led B2B SaaS startups that sell complex, enterprise-ready solutions. 

Unlike some strategists and agencies, I don't hand you a content strategy and say, "Best of luck!" I ensure your success by helping across four buckets:

▶ People 
▶ Process 
▶ Strategy
▶ Execution 

Learn more and read client testimonials at: hausofbold.com

An influencer once posted about how to publish an original research study in a week. 

When I asked a technical question about data analysis, it was clear we weren't talking about the same kind of "research."

I could end the story here because IYKYK. 

But for those of you newer to publishing survey-based research reports, I'll add a pinch of color.

*𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘫𝘪*

You can NOT publish a 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 study in a week. 

Even if you collect enough quality responses in two business days — and even if you use AI to analyze the data and surface trends — that leaves you only THREE business days to do everything else:

Report strategy
Survey design
Soft launch
Data cleansing
Human review of AI output
Outline building 
Outline review
Copywriting
Editing
Revisions
Graphic design
Proofreading
More revisions
Autoresponder creation and testing
Nurture campaign creation and testing
Rev ops
Sales enablement
PR
Launch day prep
etc. etc.

Shoot, I spend an entire day writing survey questions!

So yeah, it's possible to publish 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 in a week. But there will be trade-offs, like:

- Potential inclusion of AI hallucinations 
- Rushed survey design that produces obvious, shallow insights
- Limited analysis (no time for meaningful cross tabs or synthesis)
- Weak narrative cohesion that undermines thought leadership
- A report that screams "we built dis 4 leads!"

If your goal is credibility, increased trust, and research that actually shapes the conversation in your space, one week simply won't cut it.

I help B2B marketers create survey-based research reports 📈 Next available report kickoff date → April 6

Turns out the rumors are true. 







Washing machines really DO eat socks. 

I’m enjoying a typical morning of juggling work and home responsibilities. 

Today, the appliance repair guy is here fixing our front load washing machine, which has been leaking due to a rip in the door gasket. 

As the guy was fishing around inside the recesses of the machine, he pulled out a freaking sock. 

45 years old and I’m still learning something new almost every day. 🤭

The most difficult part of transitioning from a retainer-based biz to a project-based biz?

Scheduling 

Survey-based research reports are complex projects with lots of moving pieces. 

And even though I’ve developed — and refined — my report project management template over the past 8 years, scheduling multiple overlapping timebound reports has been surprisingly challenging. 

That said … 

Back in my agency days, I used to manage writer resources for 15+ full-time writers to the 30-MINUTE UNIT! 

Imagine your agency has 350 clients.  Each client gets different types and amounts of content. In order to maximize profits, you need to assign each writer as much work as they can humanly handle — and keep their assignment log full at all times, in spite of frequent delays on the client side. And now imagine that one 30-minute unit is equal to 200 words of “standard content,” 150 words of “premium content,” 100 words of “responsive content,” 1 page of an e-book, a 250-word “gold infographic,” a 500-word “silver infographic,” a 300-word video script (and so on and so forth). 

It was nuts. 🥜 

But that’s the kind of workload I managed — by hand, inside various spreadsheets, long before ChatGPT — for 3.5 years. 

So yeah, scheduling multiple report projects for myself is tricky, but I got this.

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🎬 Behind the scenes of making a Navattic research report 🎬 l

Multiple marketing leaders have told me they love Navattic's reports, so Natalie Marcotullio and I figured it would be cool to show you how Navattic "makes the sausage."

I'll be sharing bits of our 30-minute Q&A across a few different posts.

Erin: When did the idea for your "State of the Interactive Demo Report" first come about?

Natalie: The first report was published in 2023, which means the idea came about in 2022. We kept getting questions from customers and prospects asking for data. When you sell to marketers, they really love data — so it was a no brainer! Let's build a resource that succinctly answers all these questions that we can share whenever someone asks a question.

Erin: What questions were your customers and prospects asking?

Natalie: Customers ask questions like, "How long should I make my demo?" and "What kind of language should I use?" Prospects usually want help making their case internally. So with the benchmarks in hand, they can say to their leadership: "Demos convert at a higher rate than other assets we use," or "If we invest in this, here's what we can expect."

Erin: What was the primary question you were trying to answer when you created your first report?

Natalie: What do top-performing interactive demos have in common? 

Erin: How has that primary question evolved, if at all?

Natalie: In the 2026 report, we're still trying to answer what top-performing interactive demos have in common ... but we're getting more granular. People don't just want to hear how their demo compares against ALL the demos built on Navattic — they want to measure performance within their industry or for their company size. Also, we now have lots more features, and people have specific questions about those. For example, "That extra CTA banner that's always across the demo — is that commonly used in the top 1% of demos?"

👉 Navattic's 2026 State of the Interactive Product Demo 2026 report drops next week. 

Want to be the first to see it?

Get early access here: https://lnkd.in/edZ_e7aJ

Meanwhile in Boston ... 

Just sitting here playing the "Should I try to get some work done even though there are five children in the next room?" game. 

Considering it took me 15 minutes to hear myself think long enough to write this three-word post, I’ll see myself out.

Your research report launched ... and nobody seemed to care. 

What do you do?

Welp, your first instinct might be to stick your head in the sand in shame. Totally understandable. But just know that this is fairly common.

(I recently spoke with a former colleague who spent MONTHS and THOUSANDS on a survey-based research report that didn't do a damn thing for the business.)

Fortunately this is a solvable problem — if you're willing to run a project post-mortem. Here's a simple plan of attack plus the kinds of questions that reveal what went wrong:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗼𝗻𝗲 - 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱. 

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘪𝘵?
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥?
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵?

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝘄𝗼 - 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘐𝘊𝘗 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵?
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨?
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘴?

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 - 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆.

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦?
𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵? 
𝘐𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 - 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴. 

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸?
𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘦?
𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?

And if you'd like an outside opinion on where things broke down, I'm always here to help!

The 2026 State of the Interactive Product Demo report just dropped! 👀 

Navattic analyzed the top 1%, 10% and 25% of demos built on their platform to uncover what actually works.

They found that top 1% interactive demos do 7 specific things:

1) They keep it short (5-13 steps).

2) They offer choices. 

Demos that give people options (explore different product lines, personas, or use cases) have a 57% completion rate vs. single-flow demos, which have a 35% completion rate.

3) They get Step One right.

On step one, 29% use "you/your" language, 24% add visual beacons to indicate where users should look, and 15% give explicit instructions. 

4) They use multiple CTAs inside the demo.

Believe it or not, they use 4-5 CTAs per demo on average! Most CTAs are actionable (Try for free, Book a demo, Get started).

5) They deploy interactive demos all over the dang place.

50% of top performers have demos in multiple places:

- Product pages: 62% (up from 19% last year)
- Homepage: 48% (up from 8%)
- Demo centers: 45%

6) They tend to be ungated. 

7) They use HTML/CSS web capture. Web captures refer to HTML/CSS cloning of the front end of your product. This means the demo looks and feels real and you can edit the product data for personalization. 

👉 Download the full report for more helpful insights — like interactive demo performance and adoption by industry! 

Link in the comments.

And keep an eye out for more posts from my "Behind the scenes of making a Navattic research report" interview with Natalie Marcotullio!

Chart from Navattic's State of the Interactive Product Demo report

Yesterday I was a bear coming out of a cave. Today I'm a marketer talking about research reports.

More specifically, how brands do it wrong.

Mistake no. 1: Sloppy methodology.

You may have heard the phrase "Garbage in, garbage out."

If you build your report on a foundation of garbage data, you wind up publishing a garbage report that spreads misinformation.

And that's likely at odds with what you're trying to accomplish as a brand. 

Got 30 seconds? Watch the clip.
Got 30 minutes? Watch the full video. 

Thanks Justin Vajko for inviting me on your podcast!

What's the ROI of a research report?

As I told Justin Vajko, while there's nuance, you should generally see two outcomes:

1) In the short-term, press mentions.

There are three things you gotta get right here. 

- Your research has a newsworthy angle.
- Your report is built on high-quality data.
- You let the market know about your study.

If you get those things right, you should see press hits right away. As an example, one of my clients got a write up in an industry publication with 2.6 million daily readers on day one of their report going live.

2) In the longer-term, deal impact.

It generally takes a couple of months to see deals you can confidently attribute to the report, which is why I check in with my clients at the 3-month mark.

At the time of this recording, the same client had just told me that their report had already influenced a few enterprise deals and a few renewals.

Enterprise deals are big, and they take time. 

If the report was that one thing that helped buyers think, "This brand gets it. They seem credible," then I've done my job. 

👉 Liked this clip? Check out the full interview where I explain my approach: Believable Research.  

I'll drop the link in the comments as per usual.

My face when I see someone make sweeping claims about an industry based on their survey of 50 people.

(jk jk — I’m not here to judge, I’m here to help.)

If your survey sample was itsy bitsy teeny weeny, don't present your findings using words like:

everyone
no one
all

That's like walking into a room where all 50 people are wearing Nike sneakers and declaring, "Everyone wears Nike sneakers!" 

No. 

Everyone in that ROOM wears Nike sneakers.

There’s nothing wrong with surveying a small group and sharing what you found. It's a great way to spark interesting conversations on social. 

Just don't frame your findings as universal truths.

Instead, use language like:

"Of the 50 senior leaders we surveyed ... "
"The majority of respondents said ... "
"1 in 3 surveyed BDRs ... "

That way you come across as credible instead of just another vendor who stretches the truth to push their narrative and sell shit.

Generic GTM is dead → Go to my featured section for actionable GTM insights and elevate your marketing game 🔥| Co-Founder of TACK | Creating the category of People-first GTM 👥| 13+ Years in B2B Marketing 📈

I help B2B companies build go-to-market strategies that prioritize real connection because relationships, not just reach, drive growth.

After 14 years in B2B marketing, I’ve led field marketing, demand gen, community, and influencer programs. I know what works, what doesn’t, and what’s changed.

Too many companies still treat buyers like leads. That’s not how modern GTM works.

I’ve helped 35+ B2B brands shift from transactional tactics to connection-driven growth, building scalable strategies, launching communities, running 30+ webinars, and rolling out on-demand models that replaced bloated in-house teams.

Today, I work directly with brands, founders, and marketers to build go-to-market engines that scale—without the spam.

What I do:
→ Build integrated campaign strategies that drive pipeline
→ Coach creators and brands on influencer marketing
→ Design community-led and field programs that actually work
→ Speak on GTM, content, and creator-led growth
→ Act as a fractional marketing leader or advisor

📚 Author of B2B Influencer Marketing: Work With Creators to Generate Authentic and Effective Marketing (Kogan Page, 2025)

👋 Let’s work together: DM me or visit https://linktr.ee/NickBMarketing

Nick Bennett

In March, I walked away from TACK.

A 7-figure business I co-founded. We crossed a million in revenue in our first 6 months together. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

I also learned that revenue does not equal pay. Different lesson for a different post.

35+ clients. A book. A community. Two incredible years with Mark.

And honestly? I had no idea if going solo would work.

Everyone has opinions when you make a move like that. Some people thought I was crazy. Some thought I'd be back in a "real job" within 6 months. A few just asked why I'd leave something that was working.

Here's what actually happened:

I had my best year ever.

Not because I scaled. Not because I hired a team. Not because I built an agency.

Because I stayed small on purpose.

9 months in, here's what I learned:

𝟭. 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁.

The first few months were weird. No co-founder to bounce ideas off. No team Slack. Just me, my laptop, and a lot of "what the hell am I doing?"

But then clients started coming. Referrals picked up. And somewhere around month 2, I stopped holding my breath.

𝟮. 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲.

I don't want 10 employees. I don't want an office. I want to do great work with a handful of companies I actually believe in.

That's not a limitation. That's the whole point.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣&𝗟 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

Yeah, the numbers worked. Better than I expected, honestly.

But the real win? I end my day every day at 4pm. I make it to school pickup. I watched my three daughters grow up instead of watching Slack notifications pile up.

That's the ROI nobody puts in a spreadsheet.

𝟰. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.

I spent 15+ years building a career in B2B marketing. Then I co-founded something. Then I walked away from it.

None of those chapters required anyone's approval. Neither does yours.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵?

Going solo isn't for everyone. Some months are lonely. Some weeks are slow. And there's no one else to blame when things don't work.

But for me? This was the move.

If you're sitting on the fence about betting on yourself, here's what I'd tell you:

You probably already know the answer. You're just scared to admit it.

I was too.

What's holding you back from making your move?

15+ Year B2B Marketing Leader Turned Founder | ABM, Field Marketing & Events, Influencer Marketing & More | DM Me to Learn More

When I was coming up as a marketer, I had nobody to ask.

No mentor. No network. Just Google and a lot of guessing.

I figured it out eventually. But it took way longer than it should have.

Now I get DMs every week from marketers asking for advice. And I love it. But I can't get to everyone.

So I'm trying something new.

Every week, I'll answer a few marketing questions that are submitted. 1:1. Free. No calls. No pitch. No catch.

Whether you're a first-time marketing hire trying to figure out ABM or a CMO wondering why your pipeline dried up, I'll do my best to help.

This platform gave me everything. The clients. The community. The career I have now.

Time to give some of it back.

Drop your question here → https://lnkd.in/eqPW4MD5

I'll tackle as many as I can each week.

Let's see how this goes.

80% of your event ROI happens before your flight takes off.

Most teams obsess over what happens at the event. The booth. The swag. The badge scans.

We obsess over what happens before.

The single most underestimated step? Getting the prior year's attendee list.

No list = No leverage.

That list is how we filter by ICP, pre-book meetings, and personalize every message. Without it, you're just showing up and hoping.

Here's exactly how we run it:

𝟰-𝟲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
Before you sponsor anything, ask for a sample of last year's attendee list. This is your filter...if the list doesn't match your ICP, don't waste the budget.

Once you have the full list, build a simple GPT to cross-reference it against your target accounts. It'll score ICP fit, flag priority titles, and surface insights in minutes. No more spreadsheet hell.

𝟮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
Send a gift. As a former field/event marketer, I always like going with a spa voucher with a note: "Events are exhausting. Here's something on us to enjoy after."

It's not about the gift. It's about showing you get it before you've even met.

𝟭 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
Follow up with specific time slots. "I'll be at [Event]. Free Tuesday 10am or Wednesday 2pm. Where works for you?"

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳:
Skip the booth. Your job is the meetings you already booked.

At a recent MarTech event, we ignored the booth entirely.

Instead:
→ Asked for a sample attendee list before sponsoring
→ Used a GPT to cross-reference against our target accounts
→ Pre-booked 13 meetings with ICP-fit prospects
→ Sent gifts the week before
→ Co-hosted a dinner with another vendor
→ Walked away with 3 new pipeline deals

Meanwhile, the booths around us were scanning badges and giving out frisbees.

Our numbers across events:
• 50-60% response rate pre-event
• Near 100% attendance to booked meetings
• 10+ meetings before we land
• 4-5 new opps added to pipeline per event

And that's before follow-up even kicks in.

The brutal truth?

Most teams treat events like lead gen. We treat them like relationship acceleration.

The ROI isn't in the booth. It's in the prep.

What's your pre-event playbook look like?

Just chatted with an Event Marketer that spent ~$300k on events & conferences in 2025. I had to ask them which one's performed best 👇

"Well, my boss would probably get mad at me for saying this, but we go by gut feeling.
If our sales reps say it went well, we kind of just trust them lol."

I've watched this play out at dozens of companies. Same story.

Team flies to a conference. Scans 200 badges. Dumps them into the CRM. Moves on. Three months later someone asks what pipeline came from that ~$300K spend.

Crickets.

Not because events don't work. Because the data never made it anywhere useful. Here's what breaks every time:

The badge scanner.

You get a name. Maybe a company. A wrong email & phone number. No context. No notes. No way to remember why they mattered.

The CRM black hole.

Leads sit in a spreadsheet for a week. Half get tagged wrong. Half don't make ever make it to the CRM.

The follow-up gap.

By the time sales reaches out, the prospect forgets who you are & they end up going with a competitor. 10 days of silence will do that.

Your event ROI problem isn't an event problem. It's an attribution problem.

Been using Popl. It changed how I think about this entirely.

Scan a badge or business card with a full name & company. Then it enriches the contact automatically. Tags the lead for attribution. Pushes to your CRM with notes.
Sends the follow-up while you're still on the floor.

Every event marketer I show Popl to says the same thing. Where has this been?

The gap was never the event. It was everything between the handshake and the CRM.

Fix that and suddenly you have ROl you can actually point to.

What's your biggest event attribution headache?

Tomorrow I turn 39.

One year from "I'm in my 40s" and I'm not ready.

Before I disappear (birthday + NFL playoffs = zero LinkedIn), 39 things I've learned:

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿:
1. Revenue ≠ pay.
2. Build your network before you need it.
3. People remember how you made them feel, not your title.
4. Titles are rented. Skills are owned.
5. Most meetings should've been emails.
6. You don't need permission to reinvent yourself.
7. Small on purpose beats big by accident.
8. LinkedIn gave me everything.
9. Betting on yourself is terrifying until it isn't.
10. The people who helped me most asked for nothing.
11. Say yes to things that scare you.
12. The loneliness of solo work is real. So is the freedom.
13. Your career is a marathon with a few sprints that matter.

𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲:
14. Your kids don't care about revenue. They care if you showed up.
15. Health is the asset nobody talks about until it's gone.
16. Sleep won. I stopped fighting it.
17. The friends who stay when things suck are the only ones that matter.
18. Time is the only thing you can't make more of.
19. Therapy isn't weakness. It's maintenance.
20. Your 20s: figure out what you don't want. 30s: build what you do.
21. Saying no is a skill.
22. Nobody thinks about you as much as you think.

𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺:
23. Coffee is non-negotiable.
24. Never trust someone who doesn't like dogs.
25. NFL playoffs AND Pats are back? Rough few years since Brady. This one hits different.
26. Marry someone who makes you laugh.
27. Best ideas come in the shower.
28. Stop comparing your chapter 3 to someone's chapter 20.
29. Your gut beats most spreadsheets.

𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗻𝘆:
30. I peaked athletically at 17.
31. Hangovers after 35 are a 2-day event.
32. Still don't understand TikTok.
33. Fantasy football causes more stress than most jobs.
34. Dad jokes are mandatory once you have kids.
35. 39 feels like 38. The math isn't mathing.
36. Youth sports cost more than my first car.
37. 9pm is basically midnight now.
38. I've accepted I'll never fold a fitted sheet correctly.
39. 40 is just a number. A terrifying one. But still just a number.

Go Pats! See you Monday.

Chaos tolerance is an underrated skill that only shows up when things break.

I hired someone once with a perfectly linear career path. Great resume. Steady climb. No gaps.

First time a campaign flopped? They froze.

Couldn't pivot. Couldn't adapt. Just stared at the data like it personally betrayed them.

Meanwhile, the person with three failed startups on their resume? They just shrugged and said "okay, what's next?"

Same problem. Completely different response.

The brutal truth?

Resumes don't tell you how someone handles chaos. They tell you how someone handles success.

And success is easy. Anyone can look good when things are working.

But when the campaign tanks. When the launch flops. When the plan falls apart at 3pm on a Friday.

That's when you find out who you actually hired.

I've stopped looking for perfect trajectories. Now I look for scar tissue.

The person who's been through it. Who's failed publicly. Who knows what it feels like to rebuild from nothing.

Because that person? They don't panic when things break.

They've already been there. They know the way out.

Your next hire's biggest red flag might be a resume with no failures on it.

What's the most underrated skill you look for when hiring?

In my last post, I said revenue doesn't equal pay.

A lot of you asked what I meant.

So here are 9 things I've learned running a solo business that nobody tells you until you're in it.

𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 ≠ 𝗽𝗮𝘆.

You can invoice $50K in a month and take home way less. Taxes. Software. Contractors. That big month shrinks fast.

The flip side? I run at insane margins now because I have almost zero overhead. No office. No employees. Barely any software.

From April to December 2025, I spent $550 total on business expenses. Five hundred and fifty dollars. I use what my clients have when working with them versus needing my own stuff. I don't even have a CRM haha. 

That changes everything.

𝟮. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 ≠ 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻.

With Mark, we hit $100K-$150k months sometimes. Still felt stretched thin. Growth adds complexity. More clients = more deadlines, more deliverables, more stress.

Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes it's just bigger.

𝟯. 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲.

I don't have a website. Not joking. No landing page. No funnel. No email sequence.

Just this platform. Six years of showing up here. That's it. Oh, and a Linktree, I guess.

𝟰. 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿.

I've never sent a cold email. Never ran ads. Never hired a BDR.

Inbound just finds its way to me. That's not luck. That's 6 years of compounding. Showing up when nobody was watching so I don't have to chase when it matters.

𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹.

No one to riff with. No one to blame. No one to celebrate the small wins with.

I miss having a partner to bounce ideas off. Some weeks are just quiet.

𝟲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Inbound exploded before I had systems. I was taking money and figuring it out live.

Great for speed. Terrible for sanity.

𝟳. 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 ≠ 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

Even when things are going well, it's hard to sit still. There's always another idea. Another project. Another thing to chase.

Learning to enjoy the win is harder than getting the win.

𝟴. 𝗡𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.

People ask how's business and expect a number. But the number doesn't tell them if you're happy. If you're present for your kids. If you're burning out.

The life you build matters more than the number you hit.

𝟵. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁.

All of the above is true. And I'd still choose this every time.

I end my day at 4pm. I make school pickup earlier if needed. I work with people I actually like.

That's the ROI nobody puts in a pitch deck.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵?

Running solo isn't passive income and laptop lifestyle. It's real work with real tradeoffs.

But if you design it right, it's the best job you'll ever have.

What's the one thing about running your own thing that surprised you most?

Most pre-event playbooks assume you have an attendee list.

You don't.

Unless you're a sponsor or exhibitor, nobody's handing you a spreadsheet of who's coming. So you build it yourself.

Here's exactly how:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 (𝟯 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁)

→ LinkedIn search "[Event name]" and filter by your ICP titles. People post "see you at [conference]!" constantly.
→ Check the speaker list and sponsor list. Those companies are definitely sending people.
→ Search the event hashtag on LinkedIn and X.
→ Look for an event Slack or community app where attendees introduce themselves.
→ Ask your sales team who they want to meet.
→ DM 5 people in your network: "Who else is going to X?"

Target 20-30 people. Not 500.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁 (𝟮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁)

$25 coffee card. That's it.

Message:
"Hey [Name], saw you're heading to [Event]. I'll be there too. Would love to buy you a coffee and hear how you're thinking about [specific challenge]. No pitch. Just a conversation."

Coffee cards, DoorDash, lunch vouchers. Small and useful wins.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 (𝟭 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁)

Short message with 2-3 specific time slots:
"Still on for [Event]? I'm free Tuesday 10am or Wednesday 2pm. Happy to meet wherever works."

No response? One more nudge 3 days before. Then stop.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 (𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳)

Skip the booth. Your job is the meetings you already booked.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 (𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿)

People who showed: Thank-you note + next step.
People who didn't: "Sorry we missed each other. Here's a coffee on me anyway."

That second group converts more than you'd think.

Total cost: ~$500
Meetings booked: 15-20
Pipeline created: More than most $50K booths.

What's your pre-event play?

Yesterday I mentioned using a GPT to cross-reference event attendee lists against target accounts.

A bunch of you DM'd asking how.

Here's the exact setup. Copy it.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆

You need two CSVs:
→ Attendee list (name, title, company minimum)
→ Target account list (company name, tier, target titles)

Clean both first. Standardize company names (Salesforce vs Salesforce.com will break matching). 10 minutes here saves hours later.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗣𝗧

Go to ChatGPT → Explore GPTs → Create.

In the instructions, paste this:

---
You are an event prospecting assistant. When I upload an attendee list and target account list:

1. Match attendees to target accounts by company name (fuzzy match for "Inc" vs "Inc.")

2. Score ICP fit (1-5):
   - Title: C-suite = 5, VP = 4, Director = 3, Manager = 2, IC = 1
   - Department: Marketing/Sales/RevOps = 5, Ops/Finance = 3, unrelated = 1
   - Account tier: Tier 1 = +1, Tier 2 = +0, Tier 3 = -1

3. Flag priority contacts (4+) with ⭐

4. Output: Name | Company | Title | ICP Score | Priority Flag

5. Summarize: Total matches, priority contacts, recommended outreach order
---

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱

Selling to engineering? Swap department relevance:
→ Engineering/Product = 5, DevOps = 4, IT = 3

Enterprise only? Add:
→ "Exclude companies under 500 employees"

The GPT is only as smart as the criteria you give it.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗶𝘁

Upload both files. Ranked list in under a minute.

Pro tip — ask follow-ups:
→ "Which Tier 1 accounts have no attendees?"
→ "Who should I prioritize if I can only meet 10 people?"

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁

4s and 5s: Gifts + personalized outreach. Book before you land.
3s: Add to nurture. Don't force it.
1s and 2s: Skip entirely.

20 minutes to set up once. 2 minutes per event after.

What's your ICP criteria? Drop it below and I'll tell you how to tweak the prompt.

Your CRM is misleading you.

Not maliciously. Just slowly. One outdated email at a time.

I've seen it happen at every company I've worked with. You build a beautiful segment. Launch a campaign. Get excited about the targeting.

Then 6 months later you realize half those contacts have changed jobs. A quarter have duplicate records. And your attribution is telling you stories that aren't true.

The worst part? You don't even know it's happening.

This is what CRM data decay actually looks like for marketing:

𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁.
That ICP segment you built last year? It's not the same people anymore. Titles changed. Companies merged. People moved. But your CRM still thinks they're the same contacts.

𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘆.
When one person has 3 records in your CRM, which one gets credit? All of them? None of them? You're making decisions based on data that's fundamentally broken.

𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.
You think you're reaching decision makers. You're actually emailing people who left months ago. And nobody flags it because the emails don't hard bounce.

The brutal truth?

Manual cleanup projects don't fix this. They just hit pause on the problem.

You clean everything up. Feel great for a month. Then the decay starts again. Because every new tool, every enrichment source, every signal layer you add creates duplicates, conflicts, and more mess.

The answer isn't more rules. It's a different approach entirely.

You need an identity layer that sits outside your CRM. One that continuously resolves who someone actually is. Merges the duplicates. Verifies the emails. Treats your CRM as context, not the source of truth.

It's one of the reasons I've been spending time in Common Room lately. Open any contact and you see multiple CRM records rolled into one person. Verified emails. Merged identities. It changes how you think about routing, outreach, and trust.

Because if your data isn't trustworthy, everything else breaks.

Before workflows. Before AI. Before scale.

How are you handling CRM data decay on your team?

#CommonRoomPartner

Most B2B influencer programs fail because they chase attention.

What should you do instead?

Pursue trust.

At the DemandShift Summit, I’ll break down 5 Steps to Build Pipeline with B2B Influencers.

It’s the exact framework I’ve used to build programs that turn creator partnerships into actual revenue.

You don’t need more reach. You need the right people saying the right things to the right audience.

Grateful to Logan Lyles for inviting me to share this.  Hope to see you there.

To make that happen, just grab the link in the first comment down below.

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The Battle

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The Battle

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