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.

SaaS Content Marketer | Helping marketing teams hit content goals with PLC, BOFU & campaign content

Well... hello! So glad you stopped by. 

I’ll skip the introduction as you already know my name.

Here’s what I do as a content marketer:

I bridge the gap between content ideation and execution, write on real topics to help real people (not hypothetical personas). 

My mission is to educate your buyers throughout their buying journey with content. 

If you decide to team up with me — whether it's for creating a content strategy aligned with business goals, writing content, repurpose, and distribute them — I will work with you to execute content plans and bring the outcomes you want.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

My suggestions and strategies are created keeping your customers in mind, which will fuel your bottom line.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          As a writer & marketer, if my research says one topic doesn't serve your audience or might not help your company as well, I’ll bother to tell you.

My clients say — I'm easy to work with, fast to pick up technical stuff and keep myself informed with current events that are shaking and shaping the marketing industry.


Wanna know more? Let's have a chat while sipping on a steamy hot cup of tea/coffee. ☕️

If you think the fit is strong enough, shoot me an email at — contact.samirahtabassum@gmail.com

or my DMs are open. 💬

Samirah Tabassum

I spent the last year and a half deep in ghostwriting projects. 

Good work, but it came at a cost: my visibility basically flatlined. 

It’s hard to build a name when no one can see my name on my work.

So this year, I'm allocating more time for guest posts and prioritizing clients who give bylines. 

Not abandoning ghostwriting entirely (it pays well), but balancing it with work that actually has my name on it.

Speaking of bylines, my guest post for Mobile Text Alerts went live a few weeks ago. 

I've been lazy about sharing it (my classic excuse), but here it goes: https://lnkd.in/gxvHuBrW 

S/o to Sam Pelton for making this collaboration a smooth sail.

Worth a read if you're curious about SMS marketing ROI and why most brands are measuring it wrong.

Open article: What Is the Average ROI for SMS Marketing in 2026? by mobile-text-alerts.com

What Is the Average ROI for SMS Marketing in 2026?

Nobody wakes up and says "let's synergize our morning routine." 

We prolly don’t ever use the word “supercharged” in real-life conversations.

Yet we overuse these redundant terms in B2B content to the point where they’ve become ineffective.

To top it off, we copy from the same playbooks, borrow ideas from the same verticals, and end up with content that looks, sounds, and feels identical across every industry.

I believe this obsession with sounding too polished, buttoned-up, and safe is what killed B2B content.

Writers who dare to inject personality often watch their best lines get quietly redlined in the name of sounding professional.

After seven rounds of approvals and legal sign-offs, it becomes another safe, sanitized piece of content nobody remembers reading.

So tell me, why should B2B content be anything but BORING?

I second Amy's point the moment you start chasing perfection and edit out the human parts, you're putting a wall between yourself and the audience.

And once that wall is up, nothing can make your audience care.

Thanks for the shoutout. 🫶

B2B marketing…but make it ✨fun✨ | Social Strategist + Content Creator 👩🏻‍💻

This comment sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole 🕳️🐇

“Maybe B2B only feels boring because we’re all obsessed with looking polished?”

When I saw this comment from Samirah Tabassum on one of my recent posts, it threw me slightly.

Firstly, because I am 100% guilty of trying to make everything look “perfect” 🥴
And secondly, because it’s true.

Audiences consistently show us that they prefer content that’s human, raw, and a bit off-centre. And yet, we rarely see that kind of content pop up in B2B feeds.

Here’s why I think that happens, and why B2B brands (and I myself) could stand to benefit from a being a bit messier 👇

—

What are your thoughts on “polished” content in B2B? Let’s chat 💬

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