The Lonely Marketer

Founder

AudiencePlus

We are building software, content, and community to help every company become a media company. Join the movement at AudiencePlus.com

Head of Marketing

Groundswell

Growth Advisor

Pavilion

Pavilion is a private, invitation-only organization exclusively for top sales, marketing, and operations leaders and executives worldwide.

Member

HYPCCCYCL

HYPCCCYCL is an invite-only, professional community where top B2B revenue leaders cross-train their GTM skills with VCs.

ThinkSpark

We are committed to providing the highest quality in design, development, and marketing. Using strategic web-development and inbound marketing methods, our mission is to attract and build a loyal clientele base to promote your brand. We work with you every step of the way to deliver your content, the way you want it. Let’s build a better business.

Sales Impact Academy

Growth and Marketing Advisor

Hopin

Director of Growth Marketing

Dooly

Flatfile Inc.

Head of Growth Marketing 

Flatfile’s mission is to remove barriers between humans and data. With AI-assisted imports, you can eliminate repetitive work and make onboarding data fast, intuitive, and error-free. Flatfile automatically learns how imported data should be structured and cleaned, enabling your customers to spend more time using their data instead of fixing it.  

flatfile.io

Head of Performance Marketing

Hey there! 👋

My name is JK and I’m passionate about marketing. There’s something special about bringing products to the market that enrich people’s lives. 

More than 10 years of marketing and leadership experience has equipped me to produce practical solutions individually and in a team environment. 

Instead of chasing the latest “growth hack” I build sustainable and predictable growth levers. 

I’ve worked in both bootstrapped and well-funded businesses scaling from <$100K to more than $100M in revenue. Seeing success with both PLG and Sales-led motions.

I have a passion to help people develop; with a proven track record fostering an environment where individuals become the best version of themselves and produce incredible results for the team and organization.

⭐️ Be of value and abundance will follow. ⭐️


I also do growth and marketing consulting, DM me if you’re looking for help 🚀


My favorite things outside of work

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family
📈 Investing 
🚵 Mountain Biking
⛷ Skiing
🏌️‍♂️ Golf
☕️ Coffee


Named one of Drift’s Top 50 Conversational Marketers of 2019.

Yesterday was super special. 

Almost 300 of the best marketing leaders and practitioners gathered in Brooklyn, NY to find inspiration, education, and connection. 

Anthony Kennada, Todd Clouser, me, and the rest of the AudiencePlus team worked for months to bring this to life and I couldn’t be more happy with how it went. 

The quality of people in the room was incredible. 

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and for anyone who missed out, I hope the FOMO isn’t too bad. 😃

All of the content will be available on AudiencePlus later this month so be sure to check it out. 

And keep an eye out for Goldenhour 2025 👀

JK Sparks

We're two weeks away from Goldenhour and I can't wait for a packed day of inspiration, learning, collaboration, and community. 

April 17 in Brooklyn is packed from some of the best in the industry:

Anthony Kennada: A new Dawn for the Marketing Industry

Colin Fleming: Why We Launched Salesforce+

Jill Rowley, Jon Miller, Sangram Vajre: Why the Old Marketing Playbook No Longer Works

Mark Kilens, Sarah McConnell, Jo Birtle, Katie Berg: How to Convert Thought Leadership into Revenue

Kathleen Booth, Alex Poulos, Jack Foster, Andrew Davies: How the CMO Role is Becoming Reinvented

Todd Clouser, Obaid Durrani: How to Develop a Show Strategy that Drives Pipeline

John-Henry Scherck: How to Modernize Your SEO Strategy for Audience Development 

Tim Rath: How to Convert Audience Engagement into Revenue

Morgan J Ingram: How to Activate Your Customers and Teammates as Creators

Liam Moroney, Graceanne MacDonald: How to Prove the Impact of Audience Marketing to the C-Suite

Chelsea Castle: How to Build an Audience with Written Content

Abby Murray: How to Use LinkedIn (and Other Channels) to Build a Rented Audience

Shikhar Singh: How to Leverage AI to Operationalize the Marketing Funnel

Brianne Kimmel, Alex Lieberman, Amanda Goetz, Melissa Rosenthal: What B2B Marketers Can Learn from The Creator Economy

Adam Robinson: Building a Founder Brand that Converts (and How Marketing Can Help)

Anthony Kennada, Camille Ricketts, Devin Reed, Dave Gerhardt: It's The End of B2B Marketing (As We Know It)

Natalie Marcotullio: Leveraging Influencers & Advisors to refine your Marketing Strategy

Bolaji Oyejide 🔥🎙: How to Develop a Show That Wins Attention

Travis Tyler: How build an Edu-tainment Strategy and Process in 2024

James Carbary: How to get executive buy-in for Owned Media

+ talks from Tim Davidson 🍍🫐, Kaylee Edmondson, Mark P. Jung, and more.

+ the whole crew from Sell Better 

We've got:
- Content activations so you'll have videos to post same-day 
- Entertainment from Lindsey Sterling
- Networking for extroverts AND introverts
- And some stuff I'm not allowed to announce yet

Don't miss this, we're almost sold out but there are still a few tickets left. 

See you on April 17!

It's all happening. 

Months of hard work from Todd Clouser, Anthony Kennada, Amanda Bagley, me, and the entire AudiencePlus team. 

Goldenhour 2024 is ONE week away. 

- Talks from industry titans and practitioners.
- Networking opportunities with the best marketers in the industry.
- Fun content creation activations with your favorite B2B marketers.
- An exclusive dinner experience with a performance from Lindsey Stirling. 

There is something incredible that happens when hundreds of like-minded people get together in person to connect, learn from each other, and have some fun! 

We have just a few tickets left. 

Want to avoid the inevitable FOMO you will have one week from today? Send me a message. I'll get you signed up with my discount code.

Going LIVE from Goldenhour in Brooklyn, NY at 1:00pm ET. 

Don’t miss it!

2023 was the death of “growth at all costs” and the birth of “efficient growth.”
 
While you may be tired of hearing “efficient growth” as a marketer, it’s still the prevailing mantra of the board, investors, and executives in 2024.
 
But, how do you actually achieve efficient growth, especially with leaner teams and budgets?
 
There is one channel that I have seen grow in efficiency and efficacy. 

Events.
 
While I’ve always believed in the power of events throughout my career I’ve seen them work more than ever the past two years. 

And I have data to prove it - straight from AudiencePlus.
 
At AudiencePlus, we measure top of funnel marketing via the Qualified Subscriber.
 
Qualified Subscriber (QS) - a subscriber who meets our ICP and persona requirements AND has a certain level of engagement with our brand. Someone who could (and should) turn into a commercial conversation and eventually a good fit customer.
 
(Much more coming soon around the QS and how you can implement this stage into your own marketing strategy.)
 
I recently did a deep dive on our opportunities - Open, Closed Won, and Closed Lost. 

I found that 45% of our qualified subscribers and more than 1/3 of Closed Won revenue had been created through our Events motion.
 
And we view Events as a critical part of an effective (and efficient) Owned Media strategy. But we’re not talking about booth sponsorships or badge scans.
 
What I mean when I say events are the following:

- In-person. Hosting a “micro” in-person event in tandem with another event can work wonders on your pipeline without breaking the bank. We did this with the Efficient Growth Tour last year.

- Virtual. Hosting virtual only experiences that bring your audience together around an interested or relevant theme.

- Exclusives. Traditionally, you might call these a webinar, but that’s kind of a bad word now. Webinars were hijacked from value-driven to product pitches. Instead pivot yours to a value add for your audience. e.g. Bring on industry experts who are well respected within your audience and have a live conversation.

This is a huge part of why we’re investing in Goldenhour in less than a month in Brooklyn, NY. An industry conference that brings the best in marketing together for a full day of inspiration, learning, and community. 

Don’t miss your chance to register now for 20% off - spots are selling out quick.

Just like in personal wealth where multiple streams of income is critical. In marketing you must invest in multiple channels to bring in opportunities for the business. 

However, if you’re not thinking of Events as a critical part of your strategy, you should reconsider. 

There is a re-birth of event marketing and I’m personally really excited about it.

---

We just re-launched the AudiencePlus newsletter where:

I give perspective on using media for demand gen
Obaid Durrani gives strategy advice on how to build your media engine
Chelsea Castle shares how to use written content for modern media

We’re giving one Goldenhour attendee the FULL VIP experience.

I’m talking…

- Uber Black to and from the airport
- A 2-night stay in a king suite overlooking Manhattan
- Preferential seating in every session AND at dinner near Lindsey Stirling
- Exclusive access to the broadcast desk on the 20th floor in the Vale Residence

This person will achieve peak Goldenhour experience…and it could be you!

We’ve only got 30 tickets left and we're picking the winner next Thursday. 

Don’t miss your chance to be in-person for our industry's next chapter.

#b2bmarketing #goldenhour

Two content legends have put together something incredible. 

And I'm legitimately excited about it. 

Todd Clouser and Obaid Durrani are dropping game changing content at Goldenhour on Wednesday this week. 

You don't want to miss it. Make sure you register for the live broadcast if you haven't already. 

See you Wednesday.

Yesterday I made a mistake I said I never would do again.

I sent out a calendar invite to all Goldenhour virtual attendees. 

My phone and watch started blowing up with “Accepted Invite” 

Now I have a lot of clean up to do to get back to inbox 0 😅

Anyways, if you can’t make it to Brooklyn on April 17 go and RSVP for the live broadcast (and make my inbox hurt again)! 

BTW: This isn't a camera in the back of the room "hybrid event" it's a tailored broadcast experience with hosts interviewing speakers, flash talks from real practitioners, and behind the scenes commentary. 

You’ll hear from great people like: 

Morgan Ingram
Kaylee Edmondson
Colin Fleming
Dave Gerhardt 
Liam Moroney
Chelsea Castle
Anthony Kennada 

And so many more…

See you there!

What's an old digital marketing tactic that most modern marketers feel needs to die? 
 
The ebook.
 
Well, at the end of last year we released our first ebook at AudiencePlus. 

(Although, we refer to it as a guide) 😏 
 
You’re probably thinking one of two things:

“Nice, a tried and true standard marketing play. Congrats!”

OR

“Wow, what an outdated marketing tactic. Gross!”

I typically fall in the latter train of thought. But only because most companies are using them the wrong way.
 
Traditionally, marketing teams create ebooks that are just long winded versions of their point of view that pitch their product as the solution.
 
They put this out into the marketplace, gate it behind a form, and then anyone who fills out the form is instantly a marketing qualified lead (MQL).
 
They then bombard these MQLs with email outreach from the sales team, attempting to force a formal demo of the product.
 
The problem?
 
This is so far out of the natural buying cycle. In B2B, you're typically selling a product that has a fairly high ticket price (and multiple decision makers). 

It’s not a transactional sale. It’s a relational sale.
 
So, does this mean marketers should abandon ebooks altogether? 

I would say no. 
 
It’s time to move past thinking of ebooks as a lead magnet and think of them as a value based asset for your audience.
 
Use them as a way to guide your audience and dive deep into a relevant topic. 

Can it point to your product, absolutely, but it shouldn’t be a full on pitch deck.
 
Don’t gate it behind a form that goes into your sales process.
 
Treat it as exclusive content for subscribers to your brand.
 
This is what we did at AudiencePlus. 

We wrote a guide focused on “Planning for Owned Media in 2024.”
 
We’ve seen questions popping up in the market saying, “Hey, the whole ‘become like a media company’ thing is great, but how do you actually do it?”
 
So we decided to outline tactical steps, budgets, frameworks, and even team structure. We also talk about setting up a studio for creating Owned Media.
 
Instead of a landing page with a long form on it that obviously is going straight to a sales team. It’s behind a “Subscribe” button - just an email address and you get instant access to the guide and ALL of our exclusive content.
 
We also released it during planning season for the following year.
 
It was relevant, valuable, and timely. And guess what… it worked.
 
If you can position your long form content like this and it’s actually written with your audience in mind, not specifically selling your product, you will see results.
 
We had hundreds of downloads within the first three days. Many of which did reach out asking to see the product. 

It also “woke the dead” and brought several closed lost opportunities back to life turning into revenue.

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