audience & revenue growth tips for B2B startups and creators

My mission is to build predictable pipelines for B2B startups. I share what I learn along the way. 

Read more if you are ready to build your pipeline 👇

💡 I am super relevant if you are:

→ Indie Hacker
→ Freelancer
→ Early Startup Founder
→ B2B Sales Person
→ Creator (any profession)

✍️ I write about:

→ B2B sales
→ Go to market strategies
→ Signal-based prospecting

Little more about me:

Cryptocurrency Investor. SaaS Enthusiast. Agriculture Business Owner. 

Lived in 3 countries.

I'm a T-shaped growth person who has experience in sales, content marketing, and growth.

Drop me a LinkedIn message if you need any help.

We will keep it simple.

Twitter: @sehaokudan

https://calendly.com/sehaokudan/30min

Seha Okudan

Helping B2B founders turn LinkedIn into deals | GTM Strategist

5 worst discovery questions:

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople:
(Even for the top ones.)

5 difficult scenarios for salespeople:

Stop trying to fake urgency in B2B. 
(it doesn't work)

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁:

→ Knowing pain
→ Understanding the impact of pain

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀:

1️⃣ Not every problem is worth solving

Trying to create an urgency won't work if they don't have something that is worth solving.

Nobody will buy a strong painkiller for a mild headache, even if it’s the last day of a 20% discount.

If the impact of the pain is close to zero, no urgency will stick.

2️⃣ A problem can have different solutions

Even if the pain is real, buyers still have options.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻:

•⁠ ⁠Build in-house
•⁠ ⁠Pick a cheaper workaround
•⁠ ⁠Wait until the budget frees up

Both a raincoat and an umbrella protect you from rain.

If you don’t show why your path is better, faster, or safer;

Urgency dies.

𝗧𝗟;𝗗𝗥

𝗧𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆:

-⁠ ⁠Find the pain that matters most
- ⁠Show the true cost of doing nothing
- ⁠Prove why solving it now beats later
- ⁠Position your solution as the safest path

Deals move when urgency is real. 

Not when it’s forced.

How do you create urgency without sounding pushy?

5 Unexpected Things in Sales
(hope they happen to you today)

5 Unexpected things in sales:

Contact data is out of control.
(for real)

Don't get me wrong.

I don't mind people pitching me.

I do it every day, too.

BUT

Every single week, some people:

- Add me to lists I never joined.
- Drop me into random waitlists.
- Email me again after I unsubscribe.
- Promise what no one can deliver.
- Sends emails written with poor prompts.
- Message me on WhatsApp out of nowhere.

I block them. They switch mailboxes.
I say, “I’m not a fit,” they keep texting.
I say it on the phone, they keep selling.

“I want to tell you about a promo…”
 “There’s a new offer…”

I don't want to click on report Spam.
I don't want to be rude.
I get it, we all try to make a living.

But this is not outreach.
This is not marketing.

This is SPAM.

Are some people ruining the industry?

Bad contact data can kill your business.
(real examples)

Your data provider is the most important part of your tech stack.
It is non-negotiable.

If your data is bad, you lose.
Simple as that.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝟭:
Picked the best provider, tested ICP coverage.
Checked accuracy and verified test emails.
Only had HubSpot + the data provider (not ideal).

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
Hit targets.
Scaled the team.
Added new tools later.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝟮:
Paid for expensive tool stacks for sequencing, etc.
Then, they selected the most cost effective data provider.

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
High bounce rates.
Burned mailboxes.
Low call connect rates.
The team missed targets.
The company started downsizing the sales team.

𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀:
1.  Build a sample list. Verify it.
2. Check coverage across your ICP + regions.
3. Choose tools that use waterfall enrichment.

If your data provider is wrong, nothing you do will work.
You cannot afford bad data.

How do you choose your contact data provider?

12 mistakes that cost you deals:

Denis Acia

Co-Founder at SaasFluence | B2B Influencer Marketing for SaaS Brands

I’m Denis, Co-Founder of SaasFluence

We’re an influencer marketing agency helping B2B tech brands drive demand and visibility by partnering with LinkedIn influencers.

Currently — with over 200 influencers, we manage influencer marketing programs for B2B sales tech companies like Maildoso, Icypeas, Saleshandy, Fowla, and others.

Why We Started SaasFluence

Before SaasFluence, I ran an outbound agency, Applus Leads. Through that experience, we worked with some incredible B2B tech brands — companies with fantastic products and real value to offer. But despite outbound efforts (cold calls and cold emails), they weren’t getting the traction they deserved.

A big reason?

Their LinkedIn presence and engagement were minimal. Most had only a few hundred page followers and very little visibility in the market.

That lack of recognition made it hard to convert cold leads. Without social proof or brand mentions, prospects were hesitant to engage — especially in the highly competitive sales tech space.
What they really needed was a new approach — one that would:

1. Build credibility
2. Earn trust
3. And drive demand by establishing them as trusted solutions in the market.

That’s where SaasFluence comes in.

Our mission;
To help B2B tech brands leverage influencer marketing to drive demand, increase sales, and grow.

How We Can Help

☑ If you’re a B2B tech founder or business leader with an influencer marketing budget of at least $10K/month,
 ☑ And you don’t have the time to run campaigns or manage influencer partnerships,
We’ll handle it for you.

We’ve launched thousands of LinkedIn-sponsored campaigns, and our clients are seeing exceptional ROI.

If you’re curious, DM me and I’ll share a few of our client case studies so you can learn more about our systems and results.

Or, visit our website to explore further:
 👉 www.saasfluence.co

Lead Generation Partner - Outbound

Here are 5 Linkedin comment frameworks I use to get more profile clicks:

(You won't like these if you think LinkedIn is a resume)

1. "Yes And"

Don't just agree - agree and add one smart thing.

Example: "Fr! And I think people also forget that you need to fix your offer first. Good point."

2. "Friendly Fight"

Disagreement gets attention but don't be rude. Be nice about it.

Example: "Hmmm I see where you are coming from. But in my experience small creators convert better than big ones. 

Maybe it depends on the niche?"

3. "Mirror"

Tell them a quick story about how this happened to you.

Example: "Lol this happened to me last week. I sent the wrong link to a client and I wanted to disappear haha!”

4. "Specific Hype"

If you want to compliment, point out exactly what you liked.

Example: "Thisssss 💯. Especially the part about the onboarding email that is genius man!"

5. "Curious Cat"

Ask a question that shows you read the whole thing. The creator will answer you.

Example: "Wait… does this strategy work if you have zero budget? Or do you need ads?"

Do you notice something? These 5 templates all have one thing in common:

They are human.

Which style do you use the most?

Commenting Frameworks

Founders who say B2B influencer marketing doesn't work…

I have a few questions for you. Did you:

→ Hire practitioners who use tools like yours every single day?
→ Vet their audience to make sure it was full of buyers not other creators?
→ Give them a brief which was easy to get?
→ Give them a unique offer to share with their audience?

And did you:

→ Give them the creative freedom to speak in their own voice?
→ Have a clean system for handling contracts and payments?
→ Run the campaign for at least 90 days to build momentum?
→ Ask your sales team if their calls felt warmer afterward?

And also, did you:

→ Repurpose the best content in your ads and onboarding emails?
→ Check their past partnerships to see if they're selective about who they work with?
→ Set up a shared Slack channel so communication was easy?
→ Get their feedback on the campaign angle before you started?

The campaigns that work for our clients are built on these simple things.

Influencer Marketing Checklist

Most creators have no clue how 1,000 comments on a single post can kill your next ten.

It sounds crazy but over the years we’ve seen it happen….

Have you seen those "comment for my guide" posts? They go absolutely wild. 

And you get this huge flood of new followers overnight. 

But a lot of those people, they did not follow you for you. They followed you for the free thing.

I love to call them "ghost followers."

So when you put out your next post, a post that's not giving something away, these ghost followers scroll right past it. They don't engage.

And LinkedIn looks at this and its brain thinks, "hmm, a big chunk of this person's new audience doesn't care about their content." 

So it slowly starts showing your future posts to fewer people.

You accidentally traded a quick sugar rush for long-term sickness.

So should you never do these posts? No. That's not what I'm saying.

It only becomes a problem when:

→ The free thing you're giving away is so general that it attracts everyone.
→ The new followers you get are not the people who you want to talk with.
→ You don't try to provide any value to them in your next few posts.

The smart way to do it is to make your free thing so specific, so niche, that only your absolute dream customer would ever want it. 

That way the new followers you get are the right followers. And your account grows with the right people.

I visited a SaaS website today and I instantly got a headache. 

It said: 

“Empowering teams to elevate operational excellence through intelligent workflows.”

I read the headline and I stared at my screen for a full minute trying to figure it out.

What does that even mean?

Do you sell a project management tool? Do you sell a chat app? A CRM?

I have zero clue.

It hurts to watch because I know this company spends thousands of dollars on ads and influencers. They send humans to this page every single day.

And I'm pretty sure most people leave in five seconds because nobody has time to solve a riddle.

Of course I am not an A-list copywriter. 

But you don't have to be an expert to see why this is killing their business.

Now compare that to the website headline from Aimfox.

"Supercharge Your LinkedIn Pipeline. At Scale."

And then the subhead says:

"Reach thousands of leads per day with an end-to-end tool that gives you access to unlimited LinkedIn profiles for scale."

You read that and you instantly understand what you get.

The #1 rule of marketing is that you need to be understood.

Did AI make us forget that?

I sell B2B influencer marketing services.

Here are 5 reasons you should not hire me:

1. Your product is not ready yet.

If your current users are confused, or they are not happy, you have a product problem. 

Marketing a confusing product will just make more people confused faster. 

2. You need sales today.

Influencer marketing is for building trust and being seen over time. It is not a "get demos now" button. 

If you need to sign five clients to make payroll next week, you should run ads or do aggressive outbound instead.

3. It's hard to understand what your product does.

If it takes you a 30-minute demo to explain what your tool does... a creator cannot explain it in a one-minute video. 

You need to simplify your message first. 

4. You just want to test it out with a tiny budget.

This one is tough but I've seen it a lot. A founder wants to "dip their toe in" with one creator but this never works.

It's like doing a single exercise and expecting to be fit. More creators in your industry = more reach.

5. Everyone in your market already knows who you are.

If you are already the big, famous name in your space, like a HubSpot or a Slack, a big campaign to spread awareness wouldn't be as effective.

Influencer marketing is a great tool but you have to use the right tool for the right job.

Can you explain what your SaaS does in one simple sentence?

I get a lot of questions about how we handle the process after a prospect shows interest.

Here’s the exact tech stack we use the moment a lead wants to know more:

Flowla → We send them a page that holds our case studies and proposal. All you need to know about how we work is there.

send.co → This lets us see who is spending the most time looking at our stuff. It's a simple way to know who is serious and who is just browsing.

Icypeas → If they go quiet on LinkedIn, this helps us find their email. It's always good to have a second way to follow up.

Loom → Sending a video of a success story feels more personal than a PDF.

GetSales → We use this to set manual reminders for our team to follow up. Follow ups need to be human and I don’t like to leave it to the AI.

Cal.com, Inc. → The goal is to make booking a call as easy as clicking a single button.

These 6 tools make the process simple for them and clear for us.

What's one tool you rely on to close deals?

I think most SaaS marketing teams are sitting on a goldmine and they don't even know it.

I see marketing teams locked in a room trying to brainstorm the perfect headline for their next campaign.

Meanwhile, down the hall, your sales team is on a Zoom call and they are hearing the exact words your customers use to talk about their problems.

They hear:

→ Honest frustrations. 
→ Honest objections.
→ Moments when a prospect goes from confused to "aha, now I get it."

And yes, I know an AI can give you a summary of the call. But it cannot grasp the excitement when they finally understand your solution.

Give your marketing people the headphones and let them listen to one call a week.

The angles they will find are a thousand times more valuable than anything they could brainstorm on their own.

Now, would you rather guess what your customers are thinking or hear from them?

Please don't replace yourself with AI if you care about your followers.

(I see people do this every day…)

They go to ChatGPT and ask it to "write a post on 5 ways to boost email reply rates."

And the AI spits out the same generic advice that thousands of other people have already posted.

So here is how I use a tool called MagicPost without repeating the same redundant ideas.

1. I hunt for the winning topic.

I go into the "Inspiration" tab in MagicPost. Maybe I see that a post about "Why Cold Emails Fail" is going viral.

I don't do cold email. I do LinkedIn.

So I think "Okay, I will write about Why LinkedIn DMs Fail." The logic is the same.

2. I copy the structure.

I click "Generate Draft" based on that topic… but I don't post what it gives me. I look at the structure. It uses a list of 3 examples? Good structure.

3. I inject "pain."

The AI writes: "Don't be too salesy in your message."

I delete that immediately.

I replace it with: "I sent 500 DMs last month. The ones where I pitched in the first line got X replies. The ones where I asked a question got a X reply rate."

That is how you use these tools. 

You let them build the skeleton because they are fast but you have to put the meat on the bones.

If you want to try this workflow, magicpost.in has a free trial.

Replace yourself or clone yourself?

If you are a LinkedIn creator, I want to ask you something...

I'm always trying to figure out what a great brand partnership looks like from your side.

So I have a hypothetical for you…

Imagine two SaaS brands approach you. Both have great products and the same budget.

Brand A says this:

"Here is the budget and a brief with the main points we need to get across. Do your thing."

Brand B says this:

"Here is the budget. We've already thought of a few specific ideas for the hook and the angle that we think would work well. Let's work on this together to make sure it's a success!"

Which brand would you want to work with more? A or B?

There's no right answer. One is freedom and the other is a team effort.

Let me know in the comments or shoot me a DM.

Did you hear about the new brain LinkedIn is using to show us posts? It’s called 360Brew and here’s what I think is about to happen…

For years, you were told you had to trick the algorithm.

The gurus, they all told us to write these long stories. About your childhood dog, your first lemonade stand, your first rejection, your villain arc. 

The whole point was to make people keep reading. They called it 'dwell time'.

And it worked for a while.

But this new thing... this new brain is not counting the seconds someone stays on your post.

It's reading the word like a human.

It can tell when your long story is a big fluffy blanket hiding a tiny valuable point.

And this is the part that makes me so excited…

It means we can stop performing.

We can stop trying to be professional storytellers. We don't need to wrap our one good idea in a 10-paragraph story about a lesson we learned in kindergarten just to get the algorithm to notice us.

The new game about who can deliver the most value in the shortest amount of time.

A long story or a straight point?

SaaS founders… please stop trying to turn a creator into your sales rep.

(I see this happen in so many campaigns.)

As a founder you probably love your product so much. I get it. You spent a lot of money on the dashboard and the reporting and the mobile app.

So you want the creator to mention all ten features in a sixty-second video.

But this kills the campaign.

It makes the post feel like a sales demo…

And nobody goes to TikTok or LinkedIn to watch a sales demo.

Here is how I look at this:

Maybe your software has Feature X and Feature Y. And maybe you love Feature Y because a lot of effort was put into it.

But the creator runs their whole business using Feature X. They use it every single day. They don't even touch the other one.

And that is okay!

If you force them to talk about Feature Y, they will sound fake. They will look like they are reading a script. 

But if you let them just talk about Feature X…

They will speak with passion. They will show how it saved them time. They will sound like a friend recommending a tool they love.

It is better to be remembered for one thing than forgotten for ten things.

Explain everything or the “relevant” thing?

I want to tell you why sending a PDF as a lead magnet is a mistake in 2025…

I see so many people doing this. A prospect asks for your guide or your case study.

And you attach a PDF to the email or you send a generic Google Drive link.

Here's what happens:

The prospect opens it on their phone. The text is too small. They have to pinch and zoom. They get annoyed. They close it and they forget about you forever.

We stopped doing that. Now we use a tool called Flowla.

It lets us create a "Deal Room" which is basically a personalized webpage for that one prospect.

Here is exactly how we do it when a SaaS founder asks for our list of top influencers:

→ We go into Flowla and duplicate our template.

→ We change the room name. We name it "Influencer List For [Company Name]."

→ We customize the list. If they sell a sales tool we filter our database and only put sales-focused creators in there.

→ We add our simple process next to the list so they see how we work.

→ We put our Cal.com, Inc. booking page inside the same window.

They open a single link. They see a list made exactly for them. 

And if they like what they see, they can book a meeting with us without even closing the tab.

We give this away for free.

Maybe they take the list and run the campaign themselves. That is fine.

Maybe they see how organized we are and they hire us. That is also fine.

But we never send a PDF anymore.

Send a file or send an experience?

If you are a LinkedIn creator, can I ask you something?

I see a creator's list of past brand deals and sometimes it makes me a little sad.

They show us this long, long list of all the brands they've worked with and it is impressive.

Then I look closer at the list and I see their audience is full of sales leaders. 

But they did a post for a tool that helps Shopify stores. Or a post for some crypto thing.

And this is the part that breaks my heart a little bit.

Because I know the best creators protect their audience like a fortress. 

They know their audience's trust is the only thing they have and it’s not surprising…

I think you would agree that a single bad recommendation can burn down years of work.

So when a creator who has only ever worked with sales tools for a sales audience... it tells me they have a deep understanding of one world.

And I’m 100% sure their followers trust them with their recommendations.

What's the one red flag that makes you run from a brand deal?

4 reasons why your LinkedIn DMs might not be booking meetings…

(I am not going to say it's because you are too salesy)

I have sent over 5,000 LinkedIn DMs and I booked I don't know how many meetings. But it is a lot.

Here are the 4 biggest lessons I have learned…

1. Don't try to be their friend.

They know why you are in their inbox. You know why you are there. They don’t want to hear empty compliments.

Can you help them? Can they help you? Good. Just say what you offer.

2. I book meetings months after the first message.

People who say you should disappear after 3 follow-ups aren't booking any meetings. 

Send a few follow-ups. If you don't hear back, set a reminder for a few months from now. 

Then follow up respectfully. 

A lot of prospects are too busy or the timing is off. They don't want you to give up on them.

3. Stop sending 100% AI messages.

This is cliche but it has gotten so bad. People just want to chat with other people here without talking to robots. 

Everyone has used so much AI that they can spot a bot instantly.

You can use AI for help, but please edit your message so you look like a human at least.

4. Use multiple touch points.

Don't just reach out to a single person in the company. Reach out to several of them. 

Even non decision makers because they will direct you to the right person. 

It is common sense but the more people you reach out to the higher your chances of booking a call.

What is your #1 linkedin advice? Tell us below 👇

Linkedin DM tips

I want to show you the simple tech stack we use to manage a live campaign.

We have 150+ creators, different post dates, and a lot of money moving around.

And it can get really messy if you're not organized. 

Here's how we keep it from turning into a nightmare:

Airtable → This is our command center. It holds posting schedules, creator's payment info, and everything else. 

Slack → This is where we talk to the creators. It's so much faster than email. A quick message, a quick reply. 

Wise, Stripe & Deel → Getting creators paid on time is the most important thing. We use these to send money to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Google Docs → This is where we write the campaign brief. 

Favikon → Helps us track the performance of the posts after they go live. We can see the likes, the comments, and who is engaging.

Make → Sends automatic reminders to creators for invoices or sharing their post impressions. It saves us a ton of time.

What's the one tool you use to stay organized?

Should SaaS companies pause their influencer campaigns for the holidays?

I have been thinking about this a lot today…

A lot of people say B2B slows down now. They say decision makers are on vacation or they locked their budget until next year.

And they are right.

If you need to close a deal this week, December is tough. It is hard to get a sign when the CFO is skiing.

But think about what happens when work slows down.

People have more time. They scroll on LinkedIn and watch cat videos.

They are paying attention more because their boss is not bothering them every five minutes.

So here’s what I think:

Do not run a campaign if you need immediate revenue right now. You will be disappointed.

But if you want to be the first product they call in Jan/Feb... then you should definitely keep going.

Basically you are preparing for Q1.

What is your plan for this month? Pause or push?

You are the most valuable asset on LinkedIn if you fit this description.

We call this the "Golden Creator."

Brands are desperate to find people who look exactly like this:

1. You held a job title in the industry.

A former VP of Sales with 8,000 followers is gold to us. A generic "business coach" with 200,000 followers is often a gamble.

The VP speaks the specific language of the buyer while the coach usually shares general advice that appeals to everyone. There is a big difference in trust.

2. You teach specifics instead of motivation.

We love creators who teach. They share how-to guides and specific playbooks on how to solve a problem.

3. Your comment section is full of buyers

If the comments are full of random fans saying "Great!" that is okay.

But the Golden Creator has comments from potential buyers. You see other VPs asking specific questions about the tool.

4. You post enough to be part of a daily routine.

Posting once a month is not enough to build a relationship. They show up 3 or 4 times a week and become part of their audience's daily routine.

Which one of these is the hardest to build?

taplio

The Battle

Seha Okudan

Denis Acia

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSeha Okudan's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDenis Acia's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Seha Okudan

Denis Acia

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Seha Okudan's LinkedIn Performance

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Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSeha Okudan's LinkedIn Performance