Episodes
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Did you just get fired? Spend a bunch of money on a marketing project or campaign that didn’t work?
It can feel like marketing failures are happening today at a higher rate than ever before. Markets are changing; buyer’s processes, decision-making, and budgets are in flux; and companies are switching up their marketing organizations and leadership.
Devin and Margaret explore our own relationship with failure—and what you can do next—on this episode of Don’t Say Content.
Resources:
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.dontsaycontent.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Here's a bonus episode from Devin's conversation with Joei Chan on her post, Good Boss, Bad Boss. It's a meaty one where she share lots of secrets about being a good and bad boss, and stories from her time as the boss of all bosses (CEO).
Also, season 4 is dropping soon! We're kicking off season 4 on 2/6 with a live show on YouTube. You won't want to miss it. (And if it's past 2/6/24—press play already.)
Listen to Good Boss Bad Boss on Apple, on Spotify, or on YouTube (or wherever you get your podcasts).
Connect with Joei: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeichan/
Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius
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Missing episodes?
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Have you missed us?! Don’t Say Content season 4 is coming back on February 6th, and we’d love for you join us—here on the feed or live, on Youtube.
We’re starting the season off on YouTube live on February 6th at noon ET. But don’t worry, we’ll drop the live show on the podcast feed if you can’t make it.
Wanna join us live? Check out our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=danFfrLz5XQ
(And set your notifications so you don’t forget!)
Otherwise, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so you don’t miss any of the new episodes.
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Bonus episode time! Before season 4 drops, enjoy this bonus episode where Margaret joined Ramli John's Marketing Powerups podcast to talk about her strategic brand flywheel.
Like what you hear? Check out Ramli's podcast here: https://marketingpowerups.com/podcast/
For more from Devin + Margaret, head to dontsaycontent.com.
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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We're even less filtered than normal in our Season 3 finale, so buckle up: we’re talking about our challenges with gender inequity, patterns of entrenched misogyny, societal expectations, unhealthy boundaries, and reflections on how our careers are viewed by others in the industry.
Big life changes and challenges bring big reflections and feelings. They also spotlight challenges we’ve accepted and taken for granted, bringing a strikingly clear question to the fore: Why are we so afraid?
[NOTE: We’re continuing this convo and starting others during the holiday break on Substack. Follow along and participate: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/]
We’re afraid telling the truth will piss people off. We’re afraid of becoming a pariah: getting fired, being “unhireable”, and alienating our friends and colleagues.
When faced with the opportunity to address interpersonal challenges that are rooted in systemic prejudice, inequity, and unfairness, a lot of us (yes, us too!!), we begin to doubt our experience is real and rationalize to avoid ruffling feathers.
Nothing has actually changed, we’re sorry to say. The same misogyny, inequity, and bad behavior still exist, they’re just hidden in a black hole. Not behind or cloaked in something, they are an active part of our current societal galaxy, studied, written about, analyzed, and discussed.
None of that has led to meaningful change. Worse: it’s given us the belief that change has happened, making us feel accomplished and comfortable, such that we accept a daily reality that still really sucks.
What would happen if we stopped being afraid and angry and started approaching change with curiosity, bravery, compassion, and love? What if we had shared language around our challenges, including with the people who we are challenged by?
It still won’t be easy. People will still get mad. Unfair things will still happen. But if all that’s happening already and nothing is changing, isn’t it time to step outside our comfort zone and try something new?
Tune in for a heartfelt and vulnerable discussion around the real human issues we face today–as women, and as people. We hope to leave you with something to think about, and maybe a bit more shared language around these experiences.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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What if we started looking at marketing as a business growth strategy instead of a promotional department?
Devin and Margaret discuss the role Marketing plays in fundraising and investor board meetings. They explore how the current startup investing structure only widens the trust gap between CEOs and Marketing, including understanding the chasm and how that leads to wrong solutions that are often avoidable.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Q4 has begun, and the year is coming to a close. But you’re in overwhelm—from setting new goals for next year, setting the big vision for your strategy, and oh yeah—finishing out this year strong. But that overwhelm and busyness is not new to the B2B tech world.
Some of the problems that rear their heads in times like these are just that: nothing new. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t any easier to handle. Where do you find the right marketers to take your team to the next level? Where do you find creative, strategic ideas when you’re overwhelmed with the day-to-day? How do I enable my teams to act on our bigger mission and vision?
To help cut through the noise and overwhelm, Devin and Margaret asked their CEO & founder friends about what topics are keeping them up at night. Their answers will help bring you back to reality, center your actions around progress, and give you jumping-off points for solving these common problems.
Devin and Margaret channel their full consultative skills and reference their experience in similar situations and roles to answer these three main questions:
How do you build a marketing team that buys into your bigger mission and vision? Not spammy tactics.How do you combat analysis paralysis in a small marketing department?How can you embrace and maximize the messiness of the marketplace right now?Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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😱WHAT. A GUEST?! 😱 We said we weren’t doing an interview show, but we did need a hand with this week’s topic: how do visual mediums help achieve business growth, and what role do executives and team members outside the marketing team play in modern marketing strategy?
Rachel Downey, CEO and founder of Share Your Genius joins the show today to break down what companies actually want to do: create content that moves your company toward your growth goals and outcomes.
Marketing is about influencing human behavior. Sharing stories from a business and human perspective helps brands connect with current and potential buyers through the experiences shared by folks across the team, including the executive suite. Visual media can increase the pace of connection by showing the humans behind it sharing their ideas, perspectives, answers, tips, or just joining a conversation.
This should be music to the ears of executives and investors alike: media-led, community-focused approach to B2B sales and marketing removes the paradigm of “scale” and introduces a self-perpetuating cycle of high-converting, WOM-driven growth that costs less and sustains longer.
Take your hand off the wheel: self-driving marketing is here, and it looks nothing like the programmatic, scheduled, templatized content marketing of the past.
Jump into the conversation:
(01:00) We’ve got a guest?!
(03:50) What’s up with creating a media brand?
(20:00) Nearbound 🤢Community 👍
(24:00) Setting the foundation of your story for max connection + growth
And we know you’re wondering—are we going to continue to have guests? Probably not. Are we going to have Rachel back on to talk about this topic some more? Probably. Stay tuned.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Newsflash: your lifeboat has a hole in it. Oh, and that life vest you’re wearing—lol. It doesn’t help when you’re sinking into an ocean of lava.
No, we’re not talking about the apocalypse, we’re talking about what it takes to make your company survive in 2024 and beyond. If you’re reaching for familiar growth tactics, you’re putting your company at risk and missing the opportunities embedded in times of uncertainty and change.
Here’s the deal: the only reason your playbooks worked before is because everything worked up until a year ago.
Smart business leaders see business strategy in chaos. They experiment and take risks to uncover unique opportunities to get ahead and they need their marketing and growth teams to support
From tactics to team-building, Devin and Margaret share insights on real-life examples and strategies to leave you reevaluating how (and if) you’ll pick up a playbook again.
Jump into the conversation:
(01:00) Oi with the playbooks already
(11:00) Should you future-proof?
(18:00) Playbooks & Building Teams
(30:30) Wrapped in a bow?
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Confusion. Miscommunication. Misunderstandings. That’s what happens when marketers and business leaders use too many buzzwords.
YET WE ALL KEEP USING THEM (us, too). Chaos agents disguised as trendy trifles that we claim to aid in communicating our marketing plans and getting buy-in from CEOs, clients, and teams. Poppycock!
Don’t use buzzwords, say what you mean, otherwise, you’re just perpetuating a broken system where:
The C-suite doesn’t trust marketersMarketers struggle to get buy-in from C-suiteLots of money is wasted on team overhauls, constant changes in strategyProgress stalls because you keep going in circlesJoin Devin and Margaret as they dissect the problems that buzzwords create and the threats they pose to businesses.
how leadership latches on to trends, how to incorporate these “strategies” into business goals, lack of alignment and mutual understanding that founders, CEOs, and heads of marketing alike experience as a result of buzzword saladsPlus some bonus advice may or may not be helpful, but it came out in the convo, so we’re sharing it with you anyway.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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We’ve got a sweet treat for you this week: a deep dive into Halloween candy, horror movies, and a deep analysis into how much Margaret pumpkin spice lattes in the fall vs summer months.
…And we continue our convo about the marketing gig economy and how fear-based decisions are causing marketers and leaders to miss the huge opportunity in front of them: Chaos.
No more social “town square”; folks have scattered to small communities across platforms. For now, marketing budgets are anemic and it is taking longer to close deals. But, within these and other realities are opportunities for marketing freelancers AND companies.
Freelancers are in demand because companies are afraid to commit due to lack of certainty in the marketCompanies can make the most of their budget by creating hyper-focused plans and hiring freelancers to serve only those immediate needsForget the headline hype. Pull a Jennifer Connolly and flick away those inaccurate categorizations of the current moment, think for yourself, and tell that hairy fear monster: “You have no power over me.”
When you’re done, have yourself some candy corns, watch The Monster Squad, drink a pumpkin spice latte, and you’ll see: when the playbook stops working and nothing is as it used to be, you’re in the best place possible to level up your career and company.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Times of chaos can be huge opportunities for companies who are open to thinking outside the playbooks and frameworks they’re familiar with.
Leaders who approach current industry and economic challenges with curiosity and bravery will find themselves uniquely positioned to win. It’s time to get scrappy!
This includes how marketing leaders plan for growth on limited budgets and even more scrutiny from investors, CFOs, and CEOs. These days, a good marketing strategy looks a lot more like a business strategy, and that’s a good thing.
How come?
The same old tactics aren’t as effective based on a cultural shift in focus to individuals over brandsWe’re living in a decentralized online social era, which is ultimately a good thing for brands, but short-term means a more hands-on approach and recalibration of how companies measure ROIMarketing talent is mediocre and they likely won’t be competitive until after they go through operating in a tough economyWhat companies need most right now is a strategic growth plan optimized for short-term impact, flexibility, and efficiency. That’s where outsourced marketing partners shine a much-needed bright light on dark times.
Join your hosts, Devin Bramhall and Margaret Kelsey, as they explore the untapped potential outside of the traditional in-house marketing setup.
Jump into the conversation:
(10:30) The Freelancer Takeover
(15:30) Understanding Leaders’ Challenges
(18:45) Burnt out? Move on.
(25:00) Our Consultant Recipe
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Moments of chaos are moments of opportunity. That is your marketing mantra heading into 2024.
In this conversation, Devin and Margaret cut through the chaos that is the present-day marketing landscape to offer marketing leaders a bit of clarity. The key to your company’s strategic growth may not be as complicated as you think. It isn’t another tool in your tech stack, there’s no AI hack, and it’s not something you can gather pixel data on.
Are you ready for this? The answer is… your network. It’s your community and like-minded human beings who may be interested in your brand or product.
Especially in the rat race atmosphere of the VC-backed B2B startup, pressure to achieve meteoric growth at all costs blinds marketers, founders, and the rest of the c-suite to sane, sustainable goals—solutions to growth that don’t require endless budget and a dizzying mix of marketing channels paving the halls of your sales funnel. Lazy girl marketing, if you will.
Jump into the conversation:
(03:00) Why We’re Talking About Community
(13:00) Referral Partnerships for the Win
(24:00) VC’s Missed Opportunity
(36:00) Time to Experiment
(42:00) Stop Measuring by Channel
If you’re ready to take a breather, get back to basics, and create your own job security, tune in to this episode for some real talk and reassurance.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Most of us used the wrong criteria when we evaluated job opportunities at some point in our careers.
You know what they are: reactive, emotion-driven departures. Being lured by pay without evaluating the health of the company. Taking a lateral move at a company based on a promise that - if we were looking at the situation objectively we’d know—never results in the upward motion or promotion we were promised.
The list is long.
Then comes this point where you not only see the whole game board, but you stop judging it, which frees up your headspace for objective evaluation and strategic career planning. And that’s when things really take off.
Today we’re tackling a listener question: how do you know when it’s time to leave your job?
Join Devin Bramhall and Margaret Kelsey as they examine their own career trajectories to extract the decisions that helped them move up to senior-level marketing roles, CEO and then to successful consulting careers.
Short-term versus long-term—what choices will get you closer to your career objectives? Do you even know what you want? Strategic mindset: aligning your career objectives with the organization to accelerate your progress.The crucial role that discomfort plays in your career and how to make it your strategic advantage.Jump into the conversation:
04:00 Title vs. salary: what matters more?
13:00 Values Influence Leadership Decisions
25:30 When Margaret Almost Missed an Opportunity
The TL;DR? Devin and Margaret want to urge you to analyze opportunities based on personal goals and values, advocating for a more logical and data-driven approach to job decisions rather than simply complaining about current situations. So join us for a discussion that will leave you encouraged to reflect on your career choices, embrace change, and pursue your goals with confidence and clarity.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Did you attend this year’s HubSpot Inbound conference?
Whether you did or not, Devin and Margaret are here to break down the highlights of everyone's favorite marketing conference. What did they take away? What was their favorite part? (And maybe even spill a little tea about where they leave room for improvement, too.)
From juicy behind-the-scenes details of being a speaker at one of the top marketing conferences to tried-and-true conference strategies, this episode will have you both laughing and learning as Devin and Margaret reflect on their time at Inbound together.
In this episode, we’ll explore:
The power of thinking outside the booth: Devin and Margaret dish on why getting a booth might not be the best move for your event marketing strategy. Discover out-of-the-box ideas that will raise eyebrows and set you apart from the sea of sponsors.
Throw your own party: Who needs a boring sponsored event when you can throw a bar takeover?! Learn how brands grabbed attention, engaged marketers, and made lasting connections (with free drinks—you love to see it).
Secrets from the green room: Devin and Margaret talk VIP experience for speakers and conference attendees alike, while also discussing some of their favorite backstage marketing efforts they’ve seen and executed—including a backstage video series at Appcues, where they tapped into the adrenaline-fueled minds of speakers post-presentation.
Jump into the conversation:
03:10 VIP vs. Regular Ticket
05:30 Community Over Everything
10:45 Best & Worst Conference Event Marketing Strategies
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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Is the marketing industry better or worse off in today’s day and age based on the fact that we have access to more data than we could ever possibly report on?
They share stories of the good and bad ways they’ve seen data used to adjust marketing programs, the power of data in marketing experimentation, and share hot takes they gathered from their friends in the industry.
Since we have so many data points across platforms and initiatives, there’s so much to interpret and use to make decisions. The themes of this podcast can also be summed up in a few questions to help you think about data in your marketing execution:
Are you using reporting to tell an effective story?Can you categorize your marketing goals and results into vital and experimental categories?Are you using your data to inform what programs you’re keeping and cutting?So press play to hear Devin and Margaret dive into the relationship between data and marketing success.
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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We asked, you answered. What are your least favorite marketing jargon terms?
Sourced from our loyal community on LinkedIn, hosts Devin Bramhall and Margaret Kelsey discuss some of the most used marketing terms in the industry today, challenging marketers and executives to move beyond “strategic” and “evergreen” as descriptors of your efforts. And in Devin’s own words, “Say what you actually mean.”
But don’t worry, Devin and Margaret know they aren’t exempt from this industry-wide communication plague. Margaret offers up some of her most-used buzzwords, and they work together to break down what she’s trying to convey when she says “sexy” in a business strategy context. They also dive into why content is their top do-not-say word and how these words become almost meaningless.
Listen in for:
Ways to communicate beyond overused buzzwordsWhy prioritizing people-first content moves us away from buzzword trends and into a more authentic marketing industryHot takes and listener submissions to make you laugh about the terms we’ve come to hear too oftenSubscribe to our newsletter for bonus content: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius
An award-winning podcast production company working with the largest B2B brands to drive engagement, and retention: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
Amplified by Casted
Podcast and video marketing platform for B2B brands to grow their audience and impact the bottom line: https://www.casted.us/
Marketing by Kristina Carson
Digital marketing and social media expert. https://www.kristinacarson.com/
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We’re back for season 3 with a topic sent in by a listener: the relationship between sales and marketing.
Fraught relationship or not, there is so much opportunity and growth when these teams are aligned. So why is it so hard to make that happen?
Devin and Margaret challenge leaders to bridge the communication gap with their sales counterparts, and challenge marketers to gain an understanding of how to extract crucial customer information from sales conversations, build exclusive content offers that drive engagement, and collaborate effectively to achieve growth objectives.
With thought-provoking discussions on the evolving landscape of account-based marketing, event strategies, and the importance of aligning goals and responsibilities, this episode leaves marketing leaders with plenty to ponder, including:
Why marketing + sales have to be aligned from the top downThe power of effective marketing (dangling carrots) that sales can actually useIdeas for how marketing + sales can work together for real impactSubscribe to our newsletter for bonus content: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius
An award-winning podcast production company working with the largest B2B brands to drive engagement,and retention: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
Amplified by Casted
Podcast and video marketing platform for B2B brands to grow their audience and impact the bottom line: https://www.casted.us/
Marketing by Kristina Carson
Digital marketing and social media expert. https://www.kristinacarson.com/
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In this bonus episode, Devin Bramhall and Margaret Kelsey sit down with Rachel Downey, CEO and Founder of Share Your Genius (their production company) to reflect back on how the podcast came to be, how transformative it has been for themselves and their personal brands, and how this podcast has helped move them past their fear.
And don’t worry, there are some solid asides too. You won’t want to miss hearing about the episode that got cut. 😉Press play for a look back and a look forward in the world of Don’t Say Content and B2B podcasting.
Connect with Rachel Downey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelelstsdowney/
Listen to her podcast, Voicemails with Rachel: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/voicemails-with-rachel/id1648953137
Check out Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
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We’re back with a bonus episode to hold you over until season 3 drops in September of 2023!
What are your guesses for how many times our hosts Devin and Margaret said the word “content” during season 2? Hint, it’s over 50. 🤯
Devin and Margaret reveal the total number and more in this episode, including teasing what’s coming up for season 3, reflecting on the original premise of Don’t Say Content, and sharing a few times where saying the word “content” was actually warranted (that might also double as a shame reel).
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dontsaycontent.substack.com/
Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://www.shareyourgenius.com/
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