Sam Kuehnle

Loxo

Vice President Marketing

Refine Labs

Vice President of Demand Generation

Make Demand Generation your Competitive Advantage.

Refine Labs is a demand accelerator for B2B SaaS companies. We help companies increase marketing’s contribution to qualified pipeline and revenue while lowering customer acquisition costs. Through our Demand Acceleration Framework, we build a system to capture existing market demand in intent channels and create new demand in awareness channels. We test, iterate, and push boundaries to continually bring new strategies into your marketing mix - giving you the edge over competitors.

Director of Demand Generation

Blackbaud

Team Lead, Digital Marketing

Own and manage 100+ fully integrated digital marketing campaigns designed to increase both demand opportunities, as well as awareness campaigns, for our marketing team. My overarching goal is to ensure Blackbaud is reaching our current and prospective customers in the right place and the right time in their digital journey. From this, I oversee the strategy, execution, and reporting of the campaigns.

Skills/Responsibilities:
- Digital marketing strategy
- Go to market strategy
- Content strategy
- Digital journey
- Top of funnel prospecting strategy
- Paid digital media (Paid Search/SEM, Display and Video Retargeting, Display Prospecting, ABM, Paid Social, and Content Syndication)
- Owned digital media (website demand strategy and allocating dollar values to domain-generated leads)
- Earned digital media (Search Engine Optimization/SEO)
- Web and campaign analytics
- Multi-touch attribution
- Budget and Spend management
- Manage 25+ individual solutions/verticals and their digital strategies
- Lead generation
- Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
- A/B testing and optimization strategy
- Partner/Vendor Relationships

Senior Digital Marketing Manager

Own and manage fully integrated digital marketing campaigns designed to increase demand opportunities for our channel marketers.

Digital Marketing Manager

I gained the unique opportunity to create a hybrid role working with two different teams within our Marketing department, both ultimately leading towards increasing the number of sales opportunities for Blackbaud. In this role, I had two main goals:
1.) Created and executed a strategy to grow our Employee Sales Lead (ESL) Program that led to a 71% bookings growth YOY from $43.9M to $75.1M.
2.) Assist in driving our marketing pipeline endeavors using digital marketing and online advertising strategies and reporting out on said results.

Core responsibilities:
- Manage internal promotion of the ESL Program
- Report results out on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis to varying stakeholders
- Training opportunities about the program for new employees
- Understanding of the buyer's journey and how that aligns with channel strategy
- Distinguish when paid, owned, or earned digital media tactics will be best to reach target audience
- Tracking channel digital budgeting and spend

Marketing Operations Specialist / Digital Marketing Associate

Working as Lead Specialist taught me all about the behind the scenes work that goes on in marketing. I was responsible for supervising and routing tens of thousands of incoming leads and  tracking specific opportunities from an email all the way through the sales process to a sold deal and tying that back to specific marketing campaigns.

Core responsibilities:
- Lead routing and management
- Processing incoming leads for Employee Sales Lead Program
- "Go-to" for all things SalesForce and lead related
- Maintain health of SalesForce database
- Partner with demand marketers ensuring their campaigns work correctly in the system
- Create, manage and educate sales and marketing teams on lead capture for events

Lead Specialist

I Marketed Blackbaud to current and prospective clients through outbound calling campaigns, generating 112 leads for sales, resulting in a total pipeline of $634,875 and sold pipeline of $260,010 in company revenue, while attaining a monthly average of 111.94% to quota.

- Composed features for the Blackbaud Social Email every week, growing skills that would later be recognized in becoming a key stakeholder in the corporate social ambassador program launch.

- Prepared biweekly calling campaign updates, providing the ADR team with in-depth data analysis and suggestions to capitalize on specific talking points to drive conversations with prospective clients and accounts.

- Represented the ADR team in headsetting with two potential hires, demonstrating our daily duties and gaining an understanding of their capacity to be an asset to our team.

Account Development Representative

Professional soccer player. Physical therapist. Psychologist. 

What do these occupations have in common (besides all starting with "P")? They were the different career paths I wanted to take growing up. As you see by my job title, those didn't happen.

"Cool, Sam, but what's the point?" Although I didn't end up in one of those fields, those interests provided me with a unique skillset that’s allowed me to prosper as a marketer.

Teamwork & Discipline:
Good luck having any chance at success as a soccer team if teamwork and discipline aren't at the core of what you do every day. At a company serving multiple clients, working as one with each group is a necessity in creating successful omni-channel campaigns. 

Find Problems and Deliver Solutions:
Your back has been killing you lately, so you go to a physical therapist and they tell you it's because your right hip is a half-inch higher than the left (true story). Your back compensates for this by working double time on that side, creating a strain. The physical therapist gives you exercises targeted specifically at treating the root cause, and the pain goes away. As a marketer, it's critical to understand the full customer journey. A late stage tactic may not be performing well, but the reason for it could be an early stage tactic not providing the necessary input. Understanding how everything ties together and having a plan to fix the root cause is required to be successful.

Empathy:
The single most important trait required of a psychologist is being able to place themselves in the other's shoes. As a marketer, the exact same is true. You must ask yourself, "What type of content is relevant to me?" at each stage of the journey.

Expertise: Paid Search/SEM, Search Engine Optimization/SEO, Display, Retargeting, Social Media/SMM, Paid Media, Account Based Marketing/ABM, Digital Marketing/Strategy, Analytics, Customer Acquisition, Customer Journey, Content Marketing, A/B Split Testing, Budget Management, Conversational Marketing, Conversion Rate Optimization, Growth Marketing, Multi-Touch Attribution, Copywriting, Demand Generation, Forecasting and Modeling

2020: Dark Social taught us awareness ≠ clicks
2025: Dark SEO is teaching us the same lesson

Over the past handful of months, here's what I've been seeing when analyzing our SEO performance:

📈 Unbranded impressions: up triple-digits
➡️ Unbranded clicks: flat
🚀 Pipeline from organic: +2x

My takeaway: search has officially moved to the dark funnel, it's time to adapt

This is the new journey that we're seeing play out

1) A user searches for something unbranded like “best ATS for recruitment agencies”
2) Google’s AI Mode surfaces an answer and mentions us as a solution
3) The user does NOT click through, but they remember our name
4) Minutes, hours, days, or weeks later, they search “Loxo” directly or go straight to our website
5) They click the branded result, land on our homepage, and request a demo

The magic happens in step 3. They got value from the AI response. They didn’t need to click to learn about us. But we earned mental real estate.

This is exactly what we discovered in 2020 with dark social + demand gen campaigns where we realized not every ad had to have a CTA to get a demo, that not every post had to drive to a landing page, etc.

So here's how I'm rethinking SEO/AEO as we wrap 2025 + are moving into 2026 planning

What I’m putting LESS weight behind:
- CTR as a primary success metric (or at least, unbranded CTR)
- Click traffic directly from SEO
- Click-to-conversion attribution models

What I’m putting MORE weight behind:
- AI visibility + citations
- Brand search volume trends
- Brand lift measurement over time
- Self-reported attribution citing things like “web research” or “ChatGPT”

Visibility has always mattered more than clicks. We just had the luxury of using clicks as a proxy for visibility. But that luxury is gone now.

Time to take the guiding principles we learned from dark social + apply those over to the world of search

VP of Marketing @ Loxo, the #1 Talent Intelligence Platform and global leader in recruiting software | Weekly newsletter: samkuehnle.com

I asked GPT what the most common piece of negative feedback was about Clay. It came back with "A steep learning curve / complexity for advanced workflows"

So I turned that feedback on its (actually, my) head - literally - to show how easy it can be

And in doing so, I set a world record for being the first person to build a Clay table upside down (yay me, love getting a shiny gold star ⭐)

Now everyone has the chance to set a Clay world record as they kicked off their World Records campaign where anyone from their community can create Clay tables in imaginative scenarios and claim world records for those scenarios 

They'll then compile all of the records into a *real* book - "2026 Clay World Records"

If you want to join in on the fun, record a video of how you've built your Clay table + submit it over at clay[dot]com[slash]world-records

Friday health thoughts: I've been avoiding screens for the first hour after waking up + I'm convinced it's a cheat code

A few months ago, my typical morning looked like this:
- Wake up
- Grab my phone to check for slack, email, and text notifications that came in overnight
- Get out of bed + make a cup of coffee
- Read a book for 15-30 min (TV on in the background)
- Pull out the laptop and get to "urgent" things for 30 min
- Get ready for the day
- Go into the office to start working "properly" for the day

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I realized my HRV was out of whack + my body thought it was in constant fight or flight mode, I started making some changes

And because I'm a nerd at heart, I tested different things, but one of the single biggest variables that helped was simple: avoid screens for the first hour of the day after waking

It's not about the screens or "blue light," but the influx of inputs I'd bombard myself with by exposing myself to them

- All of the new emails I'd need to get through
- All of the "urgent" slack messages
- The news "headlines" that are designed to trigger + get an emotional response from viewers

All of that within minutes of waking

Is it really a wonder why our bodies immediately clench up and go into stress response mode???

So now I skip all of that. No phone. No TV. No laptop.

The first hour of the day is mine to ease into

Fast forward to today + now my typical morning looks like this:
- Wake up
- Get out of bed + make a cup of coffee
- Stretch for 5-10 min
- Read a book for 15-30 min
- Get ready for the day
- Go into the office to start working "properly" for the day

Better mood. Less stress. More productivity. Higher HRV. Improved sleep.

TBH, I haven't found a downside to this new rule, so I think it's here to stay

CEO: "If there was one hire that could really move the needle for us, what would it be?"
Me after thinking about this for 2+ weeks: it's not "what role," it's "what person"

When first thinking about this question, I did what anyone would do - I ran through our org chart + looked at the gaps. A potential director here. A potential analyst there.

Each role made sense + would help shore up those gaps. But then the “aha” moment smacked me in the face as I was thinking about our current team and what made our top performers the top performers.

It wasn’t their job title. It wasn’t their skills or experience.

It was their archetype

The people who actually changed our trajectory as a company weren't defined by their job description. They're what I call "Level 5 Simplifiers"

They take complexity and turn it into clarity (simplifier)
They solve problems instead of escalating them (level of agency)

Here's a common pattern we see:

Most people operate at Levels 2 or 3:
"Here's the problem. Here are some possible causes. Here are some possible solutions. What should I do?"

But the very best operate at Level 5:
"I identified the problem, figured out what caused it, researched how to fix it, and I fixed it. Just keeping you in the loop."

They’re the person who doesn’t consume a manager’s bandwidth - they free it

They don’t come to you with problem after problem, their work halted until you can give them a solution + instruction on how to carry it out

They say, “Hey boss, there’s a problem I’ve noticed. Here’s what’s going on, what I think we should do about it, and what it’ll look like after executing. You good with me to pursue this path?”

One Level 5 Simplifier is also an organizational force multiplier

They do more than 5 good operators combined

Give me just one Level 5 Simplifier + I’ll put them up against 5 of the smartest “complicators” out there or 10 of the best level 2 operators any day, 100% confident the Level 5 Simplifier will run circles around them

That’s the power of hiring this archetype. That’s why we’re so obsessed with solving this problem for recruiters here at Loxo.

So here's how I'm approaching this question:

Prioritize the archetype first, constrain to the gap area second

If I wait for a Level 5 Simplifier to show up in your exact gap area, I might wait forever

But if I find a Level 5 Simplifier who has competence in an adjacent or related area, HIRE THEM

They’ll see the system I'm missing
They’ll solve problems I didn’t know we had
They’ll raise the altitude of how our team operates, regardless of their title

So back to my CEO’s question: “If there was one hire that could really move the needle for us, what would it be?”

It’s not a job title. It’s an archetype. It’s a Level 5 Simplifier.

- - - - - - - - - -

Wrote about this one in depth this past weekend + it was a fun and enlightening one to think through. Essay can be found on my website samkuehnle[dot]com

Most of us are about to build 2026 plans that are just prettier versions of 2025. More budget. More people. More of what worked. And we'll call it strategy.

But here's the thing I keep asking myself: Can I actually keep scaling the same engine, or am I just throwing money at diminishing returns?

My initial answer? Probably the latter - and that's what worries me because I know what's gotten us *here* isn't going to get us *there*

Last year I did this whole methodical breakdown of annual planning. This year I wanted to show the raw side - the thinking, the questioning, the doubting

And on that note, here are 5 raw thoughts I've kept coming back to as I'm looking ahead to 2026:

Different > better
Unless I can statistically prove that the outcome a prospect will get with us is at least 10x better than their current way, it’s very hard to beat status quo by saying we're better. But if we can show we're fundamentally different, that’s where the dynamics completely change

Research, relevance, relationships, and recall
I’m betting on this being the formula to win in 2026 and beyond. It’s noisier than ever, so more isn’t the answer to getting better results. It’s being highly relevant to the prospect. Doing proper research. Using that info to develop relationships. Making enough deposits into their piggybank so we're at the top of their list (recall) when they come to market.

There are no darlings in marketing
I get bored easily. And that’s why I love marketing. Evolving products. Shifting markets. New technologies. Nothing is constant, so there’s always a new dynamic in play. But what that also means is that what’s worked beautifully in the past for me probably won’t within the next year or two. Understand when to kill your darlings or be prepared to fall behind.

I'm not here to tell you I've figured it out - that if you adopt the above along with me that we'll crush our 2026 goals

I'm here because I'm in the thick of planning + it seems like every year we live at the ends of the spectrum when it comes to annual planning as we either do "more" of what we had in the previous year's plan and hope that it'll get us "there", or that we wipe the slate clean and try to build a new plan from scratch

Since sharing this in my newsletter last weekend, a mentor of mine (Chris Daly), told me about the 6Q planning methodology he uses + now has me thinking about:

At the end of every quarter, look back on hits/misses, goals met/missed and what I learned along the way. And then I look at next quarter:
Are the goals still the same?
Are the activities still the same?
What technology do we need?
What information do we need?
What people do we need?
What financing do we need?
Is there something in Q2-Q6 that we want to move up?
Is there something next quarter we want to move back?

And this led me to this final thought: don’t be so rigid with our plans that we miss out on better opportunities - there’s always more than one path to reach the destination

"Did I just waste 6 months + a significant investment in SEO?"
I expected to see more impressions. More clicks. But they weren't there.

Then I looked at our handraisers
Our pipeline
Our deals

These were all climbing, and significantly at that

So I thought, "how is this possible when traffic is relatively flat?"

Turns out, Google's AI Mode + other AEO factors changed everything we thought we knew about SEO

People get answers without clicking now

And they remember the companies + products mentioned

Our unbranded impressions: up triple-digits YoY
Our brand searches: another chart up + to the right
Our pipeline from organic: +2x

I'll be honest - putting less weight behind impressions + clicks feels wrong. It goes against decades of SEO "muscle memory"

SEO isn't dead. It's just moved to the dark funnel.

The same exact thing we saw with social years ago

Zero-click content
Dark social

Now it's time to apply those same lessons to search

Shout out to the team at YOYABA who are leading the way in educating marketers like me about this new impact to SEO

Most SEO agencies would keep playing the traditional SEO game and try to find ways to keep boosting impressions + clicks because that's the "traditional playbook"

But as I learned while at Refine Labs + doing this with Dark Social, real growth comes from adapting to new shifts in technology and market behavior, and that's exactly what the team there is helping us do

5 projects × 2 weeks each = 10 weeks of continuous wins
5 projects × 12 weeks in parallel = 11 weeks of nothing, a swell in week 12

Look at your current project list right now. How many things are “in progress”?

For most marketers I talk to, it’s usually somewhere between 3-7 “bigger” things happening at once. A new campaign. An email newsletter series. Updating the pitch deck. Website changes. SEO projects. Content requests from sales.

My Asana board was even worse. Tons of ideas that I was excited about and “making progress on,” but when they’d finally ship and show up in our pipeline and revenue numbers were a different story.

We tell ourselves we’re being productive. We’re making progress on multiple fronts. “Look at how much we’re doing!”

But here’s what actually happens:

You spend 20% of your time on each project, thinking that if something takes 1 day at 100% focus, that means it’ll take 5 days at 20% focus.

But with context switching, the mental overhead of juggling multiple priorities, the “quick check-ins” and “just one more thing” requests, that 5 days turns into 10 days. Or 15. Or more.

And then, if we’re lucky, everything lands around the same time. Three months later, we have a tidal wave of launches, results, and activity all at once.

Then...nothing for a while as we ramp up the next batch of projects

Nothing is compounding. No momentum is ever really being built. No feedback loops that inform the next thing while we still have energy and context.

So this led to a hypothesis we tested a few weeks ago:

What if we sprint?
What if we ruthlessly prioritized?
We pick ONE thing, go all-in for a week or two, ship it, and then move to the next thing?

This was the topic of my newsletter last Saturday. Full breakdown of how we approached it + what I learned can be found in the link in my bio.

Friday health thoughts: "Your HRV pattern is classic 'high-functioning burnout.' You're active & sleep decently, but operate in a chronic stress state (sympathetic dominance)"

That's what my WHOOP data told me in my most recent analysis

I was trying to figure out why I've been a little more tired than usual lately

Why getting into deep focus was a little harder than it normally is

And I thought "huh, that's interesting"

Burnout to me has always been when you lose the drive to keep pushing, when you wake up and don't look forward to the day ahead, when you just want to go off the grid for a week to get away from it all

The last month for me has been full of excitement, big goals, positive stress (eustress) in knowing what we can accomplish by pushing hard

But I don't think my body's been able to tell the difference

So reflecting back on the past month, I noticed I've dropped off a few of the things I usually do to help balance things out

--> Wasn't doing the breathing exercises I used to do
--> Wasn't taking a 20 min walk after work to separate the work day from family time
--> Would catch up on emails/slacks < 1 hour after waking

As with most everything else when we notice we're going slightly off course, it's time to get back to the fundamentals

#fridayhealththoughts

taplio

Sam Kuehnle's Linkedin Analytics

Sam Kuehnle

Performance ScoreSam Kuehnle's LinkedIn Performance

What is Sam talking about?

Sam Kuehnle's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Sam Kuehnle's Linkedin Analytics

Sam Kuehnle

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);}Sam Kuehnle's LinkedIn Performance

What is Sam talking about?

Sam Kuehnle's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Sam Kuehnle's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreSam Kuehnle's LinkedIn Performance

Sam Kuehnle's Best Posts (last 30 days)