Defne Gencler

Laurel Leaf

Laurel Leaf is a GTM-driven content agency for B2B SaaS and AI startups.

We close the gap between strategy and execution — delivering ICP research, messaging, and content strategy alongside full-funnel content that drives demand, enables sales, and builds your brand.

Senior-led, fast-moving, and embedded in your workflows, we're your strategic content marketing partner, without the overhead.

We’ve consistently 2-3x’d conversion rates for our clients, in addition to growing organic search traffic by 94% year-over-year for another client, with +31% time on site, +12% more interactions per session.

Founder & Managing Director

Google

- Advised marketing teams on engagement strategy for case studies, insights, and thought leadership articles on Think with Google Nordics/Benelux site
- Led the messaging strategy and production of various key Think with Google campaigns, including podcast episodes, Youtube video campaigns, social content, and thought leadership articles
- Created and oversaw execution of highest performing Think with Google social media assets to date during my tenure
- Scripted Think with Google YouTube ad with the lowest CPC for all Think with Google video ads
- Rallied and aligned stakeholders across teams on projects while managing expectations, timelines, and last-minute changes

Content and Engagement Lead

Fortune

- Produced and optimized editorial content for Fortune.com, managing publishing via WordPress and custom CMS tools
- Collaborated with in-house SEO team to align articles with search strategy and improve discoverability
- Identified UX and content gaps, driving recommendations to improve site experience and editorial workflows
- Audited digital assets and implemented CMS/HTML edits to ensure technical and visual consistency
- Reported on content performance and surfaced actionable insights to stakeholders to refine strategy and increase ROI

Digital Producer

Viacom

- Managed digital video content strategy and execution for VH1 and CMT websites and apps, across full episodes, highlights, bonus clips, and exclusives
- Delivered performance insights using key engagement metrics, helping shape editorial direction and platform prioritization
- Collaborated cross-functionally with Editorial, Video, and Engineering teams to manage production timelines and QA across platforms
- Owned project workflows in JIRA, tracking content requests, scheduling releases, and ensuring timely delivery across channels

Associate Producer

RR Donnelley

- Led content development and CMS management on key client account, ensuring consistency, quality, and on-brand execution
- Served as brand and messaging steward, maintaining editorial standards and optimizing content performance across platforms
- Partnered with distributed comms and marketing teams to align content strategy with broader GTM objectives and publishing cadence
- Oversaw social strategy and copywriting for RR Donnelley, driving engagement through consistent brand voice and strategic storytelling

Web Content Manager

Can't sell your product or service? My words turn copy into cash | Ex-Google

Most marketing teams face the same problem — and it’s killing their results.

I call it Message Misfire.

Your teams speak different languages. 
Your assets don't reflect your full value.
But you can't figure out quite how to bring your message to life.

Agencies and freelancers can help you either strategize or execute.

But they can't do both. 

At Laurel Leaf, we bring strategists and senior writers to the table from day one.

We can help you figure out what your message needs to be...
And bring it to life on different channels tied to your biggest GTM priorities...
While increasing traffic, interest, and conversions.

Previously, we've helped clients:

- 3x conversion rates
- Grow organic search traffic by 94% YoY
- Increase time on site (+31%) and engagement (+12%)

If you're tired of dealing with Message Misfire, let’s fix that: https://calendly.com/laurelleaf/projects

Founder

The other day a Head of Content told me: "It's like pulling teeth to get anything from other agencies."

This was in reference to the volume and quality of our content. 

Now, idk about every other agency. 

But what I do know about running Laurel Leaf is that since day one, I've run this agency with one word in mind:

Committed.

Here’s what that means to me 👇

1. Committed to understanding our clients’ businesses first

Startups come in all shapes and stages. 

That’s why we don’t run rigid, productized offers.
We use standardized frameworks, then tailor around what startups actually need. We're like a consultancy that happens to create content.

2. Committed to bridging the gap between strategy & execution

Consultants set a strategy and leave.
Others act on one and stop there.

We do both: define the strategy, build the roadmap, and execute it with your goals front and center.

3. Committed to building with B2B SaaS and AI realities in mind

We get the pressure lean GTM teams are under.
We understand technical products.

And we’re carefully building AI into our own workflows to keep things running on time and on point.

4. Committed to create success in 2025 and beyond.

We use your SME insights to build a content ecosystem that’s original, discoverable across search and answer engines, and designed for distribution where your audience hangs out.

Because in the next era of marketing, trust and authority are gonna matter more than clicks or traffic.

5. (A little bonus): I haven’t been committed to anything like this before

There were many times I wanted to quit or throw in the towel.
But I didn’t. I saw through the lows to get to the highs: From seeing our clients 2-3x their businesses to growing our own business.

And maybe that’s why we attract founders and marketing teams who are just as committed: to their craft, their product, and doing things the right way.

Defne Gencler 🌿

I help B2B SaaS and AI startups attract & convert more prospects through content

Everyone stop what you're doing and go check out our client, Dragonfly's new website. 🥳 

They came to us looking for someone to clarify their message and attract new users for their beta launch.

Now, they've landed on a message that:

- Aligns the team internally on who they serve and what challenges they solve
- Differentiates their product from other alternatives in the space
- Highlights its features, capabilities, and how it works
- While user testimonials speak to the outcomes 

Congrats Sean King, Sven Sabas, Mohammed Ismail, and team! 👏

HOMEPAGE MESSAGING AUDIT: Dealfront 

The other day I had the chance to audit Dealfron’t homepage. 

(Thanks again for letting me take a look,👨🏻‍💻 Dipak Vadera and team!)

3 strengths:

- strong social proof builds credibility right away

- outcome driven hero section that still tells you what the product is

- product shots that show you how powerful this tool really is

3 opportunities I spot:

- potentially testing out whether users click through the buttons (and if not making sure they see the messaging)

- closing the gap between the messaging on the Home and About pages (which I’ve been told is in the works)

- creating more urgency with a narrative arc. Answering what’s going on in the market & why this is the right solution right now

All in all, an awesome platform you should check out right now. 

Go give em a follow if you haven’t already! 🥳

Did i miss anything? Drop it in the comments below!

After growing my agency through inbound and partners, here's what running an outbound sales motion has taught me:

1. Outbound starts with skepticism, not trust.

Inbound leads came to me warm, so they already knew me or trusted the referral. Outbound prospects don’t. They’re on the call to figure out if you’re credible. Have clear talking points ready.

2. Your offer isn’t real until someone buys it

You think your positioning is strong… Until it falls flat with someone cold. 

Those early rejections are lessons. 
They show you how the market hears your offer. 

Don’t take it personally. Adjust fast.

3. Outbound without content won’t close.

Some teams think “we’re sales-first, so why bother with content?” 

But trust isn’t built in two emails. 
It comes from the content trail behind you. 

Let your content do the heavy lifting before and after calls.

Outbound is humbling. 

But it’s also the fastest way to pressure-test your offer.
What’s been your biggest outbound lesson?

After working with VC-funded startups this year, I’ll be at MicroConf for the next few days meeting bootstrapped founders.

As a bootstrapped founder myself, I know that when every resource counts, it’s even more important to get the foundations right.

Especially your positioning and messaging. 

A funded startup can weather pivots and market changes.

But a bootstrapped startup needs to make the right bets earlier on of it wants to survive. 

I’ve helped both sides of the coin and there’s always something so rewarding in helping a bootstrapped founder get it right the first time around.

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What makes an AI product click with buyers... And what holds it back? 
Watch this messaging audit to find out. 

(Yes, they're back.)

Context: This week I reviewed Rudys.AI, a Google Ads automation platform built by my friends Ruud ten Have and Nasir Shadravan. 

The product is strong. They have a fun brand. 

But like most early-stage startups, their next growth unlock isn’t more features, it’s in positioning & messaging.

Here’s what stood out:

💪 3 Strengths
1. Problem-market fit
They know how to speak to marketers and agencies managing Google Ads people because they've done it themselves.

2. A brand with personality.
Their cartoon avatar, Rudy, gives the product character and consistency. It’s memorable, scalable, and instantly ownable.

3. Human credibility.
Founder bios, quotes, and on-page transparency build instant trust, especially in a market flooded with faceless AI tools.

⚡ 3 Opportunities

1. From tool to partner.
Positioning Rudy as an AI Google Ads Partner (not just an automation tool) reframes its value from time-saving to growth-driving.

2. Show the transformation.
The pain points are clear, but there’s no emotional “after.” What happens once Rudy’s doing the heavy lifting? 

3. Add proof and outcomes.
Real data, before/after examples, or testimonials would turn product claims into buyer confidence.

Subtle shifts like these can lead to big changes in how you're perceived by the market.

Did I miss anything? Lmk in the comments!

The most dangerous thing about unclear messaging isn’t just the lack of results.

It’s the fact that you’re letting other people control your narrative.

What your business does, who it serves, and what makes it different should never be open to interpretation by others.

It should be something you own and communicate. 

Not the other way around. 

(Especially as AI also picks up on what others are saying about your brand to drive its results.)

If your prospects are on calls still asking “so what exactly do you do” it might be a sign to get more clear. 

Or get support from someone who can help you with that.

SO excited for our client Waqas Khokhar on officially launching his new Google Ads agency, ScalixAI. 

Waqas and I first connected when this agency was still an idea... 

And months later, we got to collaborate with him on the messaging and copy for his new website. 

Watching him grow his business so fast and already work with top startups (even backed by a16z) has been awesome. 

Pumped to see where else things go.

Yet another reason why running an agency is fun: 

You make connections you get to make with other founders and operators doing cool things.

Leading with features is the WORST thing you can do for your AI startup.
Take this example:

My bookkeeping and accounting company has a proprietary software they use for bookkeeping.

I used to spend hours matching invoices to payments and manually filling out my invoice details to make sure everything was reflected correctly in the software.

A couple of months ago, they updated the software with an AI-powered enrichment feature that automatically takes information from your invoices and uses it to auto-fill the fields.

Now I spend 70% less time filling out invoice details and my books get done faster.

So imagine if their website just said:

“AI-powered enrichment for your bookkeeping.”
…and stopped there.

That tells me nothing.

Versus:

“Automatically match your invoice details to our software with our AI-powered enrichment tools — so you can spend less time doing your books and more time getting to the million things on your to-do list."

I’d be so much more bought into the second one.

Because yes, you need to mention the feature.
But you also need to connect it to what it means for the customer.

At the end of the day, I don’t care if it’s AI-powered, magic-powered, or powered by an Oompa Loompa... 

It’s what it does for me that makes me buy.

There's one word is killing marketing teams at AI startups and it's this:

Reaction.

Reactions to competitors.
Reactions to trends.
Reactions to fears. 

But reaction ≠ strategy.
And you can’t lead a market if you’re always chasing it.

Sure, the market might shift.
A competitor might launch something new.
Someone will always make noise on Product Hunt.

But you know what never changes:
The importance of solving your customer’s actual challenges.

So before you chase the next trend, ask yourself:

- What problem are we actually solving better than anyone else?
- How does our product make a customer’s day meaningfully easier?
- What proof do we have that this change matters?

Build your content around those answers and you’ll stop reacting to the market.

You’ll start owning it.

“Should your website reflect your current product or your future product?”

— a marketer asked me this the other day.

The answer isn’t so straightforward. A lot depends on your sales cycle.

If you have a longer sales cycle, by the time you close a customer your product will likely reflect what you’ve been marketing. 

In that case, leaning into your future positioning might make sense.

If you have a shorter sales cycle, churn is the bigger risk. You don’t want customers signing up, logging in, and feeling misled. 

(It happened to me recently and I hit that “cancel” button real quick.)

So here, your website should focus more on what exists today, while still sharing a roadmap to rally them around where you’re headed.

I’d never recommend promising something that doesn’t exist yet.

(Imagine if a service business did that lol)

The balance is: sell today’s value, inspire with tomorrow’s vision.

9 truths I've learned after 2-3x'ing conversion rates for my clients for the past three years:

1. Conversion rates are overrated. The better questions: Are people coming back to the site? Are quality of leads improving? Do people actually get what you do?
2. Your positioning is your stance. Your messaging strategy is your arm. Your copy is the sword. You can't swing without the first two. 
3. Adding a new customer segment or ICP isn't a quick copy fix. It's a shift in your entire strategy.
4. Marketing doesn't serve sales. They're feedback loops to make each other better. Not just one or the other.
5. AI tools are in everyone's hands. Results vary based on whose hands they're in. 
6. Strategy isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. In fact, most of the things we consider luxuries are probably necessities.
7. Don't try to be everywhere if you don't even know what to say.
8. Sales calls aren't the same thing as customer interviews. Your sales team is trained on how to sell, not unearth hidden insights. 
9. Don't listen to everything you see on X/LinkedIn. 99% of it is oversimplified and designed for likes, not nuance. (Who knows, maybe even this one?)

Repurposing content is easy. You just need to…

	•	Read your blog post 3–4 times to find the angles that can be broken into smaller pieces

	•	Decide which pieces go in emails, which go on social, and which become webinars

	•	Write 5–10 new posts from that one blog

	•	Design visuals for each post and email

	•	Schedule everything in a content calendar

	•	Publish, monitor, tweak, and analyze performance

	•	Repeat for every single blog post you write

The “content flywheel” sounds simple—but making it spin is actually a full-time job (or several).

Most startups stumble here because it’s not seen as worth the investment. 

But content isn’t finished when it’s written, it’s finished when it’s repurposed, distributed, and seen.

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