Tom Hunt

$3.6m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Jan 2014.I'm walking home from a depressing New Year's trip to Oslo with an ex. girlfriend.It's raining in East London.I made a decision:I would replace my management consulting salary (£42,000) by the end of the year.I had no idea from where, but that was the goal...I just about hit it and left the corporate world.And I haven't been back since.Fast forward a decade and I've:- Tried and failed with 17 businesses- Invested in 11- Learnt a LOTThe one that is finally working is called Fame:- We have a weird culture (in a good way)- We start and grow podcasts for B2B businesses- We are fully remote and have 75 full-time team membersI live for our awesome team at Fame, building businesses and great marketing.And I post about them here 🤗

Founder & CEO

We start and grow the world's most profitable B2B podcasts.

Clients include:

👉 IDEO
👉 Workday
👉 HighRadius
👉 People.ai
👉 Zendesk
👉 Bevy
👉 Circle
👉 Suzy
👉 Mazars
👉 LeanData
👉 CXL
👉 Ramp
👉 Alibaba
👉 Signify
👉 eToro

$4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

“We need to let them go.”

I’m in a 1-1 and a manager thinks someone in their team isn’t performing.

I'm in shock, to me they seemed enthusiastic and a culture fit.


We dug into the details:

- What weren’t they doing?
- Why weren’t they doing it?

The manager thought they either didn't understand or couldn't do the role.

Then I ask:

“How did onboarding go?”

“What do you mean by onboarding?” they reply.


And that's when we found the issue:

We skipped the onboarding process and replaced it with "a couple of calls".


If you’re recruiting right, you owe it to yourself to onboard right.

You can’t expect someone to join and start performing, you need to set them up to succeed.

Onboard right or do it twice.

Agree?

I had a terrible boss.

And I spent more time with them than my partner.
 

They never raised their voice.

They smiled (kind of).

But they also started:

- Passing my ideas off as their own
- Expecting email responses at 10pm
- “Checking in” multiple times per day
 
Again, they weren’t ever aggressive or rude, they just slowly eroded my confidence each day.

I thought this was normal e.g. you get a job, you get a manager like this.
 

And then…

I moved roles and got a new manager, they:

- Stepped in when needed
- Never emailed after hours
- Saved most comms to our weekly 1-1
 

A great manager won’t get you promoted.

They will change the trajectory of your career.

Agree?

My 7 favourite startup lies:


1. We’re scaling
-- No, you still don't know how/if you'll be profitable

2. We’re going viral
-- No, your CEO’s LinkedIn fundraise post got a few more likes than normal

3. TechCrunch picked us up
-- No, your $10k per month PR agency got you featured

4. We’re partnering with Google
-- No, you’re paying Google Cloud for servers

5. The inbound pipeline is strong
-- No, some competitors requested a demo to see what you’re building

6. We have FANG-level talent
-- No, one of your devs interned at Netflix 6 years ago

7. The team are fully incentivised
-- No, they have paper options based on an inflated fundraise


And my absolute favourite:

8. We’re worth $30m
-- No, a hyped up VC gave you this valuation to make themselves look good (so they can raise their next fund)


Thank god we don't have to lie to ourselves.

Here’s to the bootstrappers 🥂

(Exit the hype-train and subscribe to Cash Machines)

I probably shouldn’t share this…

I like to call it the “Pay Rise Formula”.


Most people go about asking for money in the completely wrong way:

1. Pay review arrives
2. “Can I have more money?”

It’s an easy "not yet" from the boss.


But if you follow these three steps, you boost your chances of a pay rise by at least 56%:

(Not a guarantee but it works)

1. 6 months before the pay review ask your boss: “what do I need to be doing in the next 6 months to get a pay-rise?”

2. Write those things down and make a plan to hit them. Work hard.

3. A few weeks before the pay review, show the list (with things ticked off) to your boss in a 1-1 and ask them to confirm if you are actually doing those things


If done right, there is no way a boss can push back on a raise with the "not yet" excuse.

Pro-activity pays.

Agree?

"OK let me get this straight..."

"Because it kind of sounds like you built yourself a job."


It's 11:37pm in 2017 and I'm sat with a good friend enjoying a spicy margarita in a seedy city bar.

He's shouting into my ear because they closed something called a "Series A":

- How their going to change the world
- An upcoming TechCrunch article
- All the people he needs to hire
- Their "enterprise motion"


But something isn't making sense to me:

1. He has to report to the board every month
2. Any cost greater than £25k must have board sign off
3. He can't take cash out whenever he wants
4. Board needs to sign off his salary
4. If he leaves in the next 4 years he only keeps a slice of his own company
5. If they don't sell it for a massive amount he may get nothing
6. To sell it, they need investor sign off


He replies:

"Yeah I see what you're saying, but the reality is the company is now valued at £20m, my stake is £6m, so I'm basically a multi-millionaire"

😳


As you can imagine, it didn't work out well.

Glad I stuck to building Cash Machines.

$4.5 million ARR, 0 raised.

$500 invested.

It’s been a wild ride.


We have built Fame as a service business with mostly intangible assets.

We did it without selling a single piece of equity to venture capital.

But even asset-light businesses get stuck.

You often need to buy speed to hire a star developer, fund a new marketing campaign, or pay a tax bill.

In those moments, I did not want to wait weeks for a bank.

Unless I had another option.

An option like iwoca.


They fund small businesses that move quickly and have already funded 100,000 businesses in the UK. 

They lent £3.3 billion to business owners who need to move fast and build resilience.

You can apply for business finance between £1,000 and £1M in about five minutes.

They typically give you a decision within 24 hours.

Apply here to check your options: https://lnkd.in/euSG4SCm

NOTE - applying does not impact your credit score.

#Ad

Brand partnership • $4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

It felt like the responsible thing to do... 


But then it turned out to be one of the worst business decisions ever.

Depreciating assets hurt the balance sheet, locking up capital that could be used for growth. 

For example... 

We are in a hiring sprint, bringing on 2 - 3 new team members in Feb. 

Old Tom would have dropped thousands upfront for laptops that would be worth significantly less by next year.

That isn’t scaling.

It’s a cash drain.

Instead, we are using Raylo.

It took 60 seconds to set up a subscription for the latest HP laptops, and they arrived the next day.

Here is why I recommend Raylo as an affordable option for small businesses:

- Protect Your Cash: We paid £0 upfront. Every pound saved on hardware goes straight into growth.

- Upgrade Freedom: With the MacBook M5 rumors floating around, I am not worried because we can upgrade the team to the latest models for free with Raylo's monthly rolling option.

- Zero Drama: If something goes wrong with a device during the subscription, Raylo's Lifetime Warranty covers technical faults and they sort it quickly.


Or in other words:

Stop buying "stuff" that rots on your balance sheet. 

Convert your tech to OpEx and keep your capital for growth.

Check out the subscription options for your team here: mdsh.io/raylo-business 

#Ad

Justin Rowe

Founder/CMO @ Impactable - B2B LinkedIn Ads Agency | Acquired in 2021 | 2x Acquisitions in 2024 | Making things up as I go

From Restaurant Hustle to LinkedIn Agency Founder → Acquired → Now Scaling the #1 LinkedIn Ads Agency

I went from serving tables to serving over 1,000 clients in 30+ countries - and building an agency that was acquired in an all-cash buyout.

Starting in the restaurant industry, I had a hunger for something more (pun intended). I turned to LinkedIn to document my journey and connect with people. That content led to job offers, investor conversations, and even a deal to co-launch a restaurant franchise.

I saw the power of LinkedIn firsthand and started helping others. That side hustle turned into Linknlearn, a global lead gen agency built entirely through Upwork and LinkedIn outreach. I became the #1 ranked LinkedIn expert on Upwork, launched a $500 website, and scaled the agency internationally.

In 2021, we were acquired. We pivoted to LinkedIn Ads, launched new tech tools, and Impactable was born.

Today, I lead Impactable — a LinkedIn-Centric B2B Marketing Agency and creators of DemandSense, our proprietary LinkedIn Ads platform. We’ve been recognized by LinkedIn, invited to speak at their Indie Agency Summit, and continue working toward deeper partnerships with their team.

💡 What I’m Focused On Now

👉 Helping B2B brands scale with LinkedIn + Google + Programmatic full-funnel campaigns
👉 Working with clients spending $5K–$200K/month in ad budget to scale high-value pipelines
👉 Building smarter offers, audiences, and funnels through our 90-Day Validation Sprints
👉 Empowering internal marketers with DemandSense: ad scheduling, audience testing, and signal tracking for LinkedIn Ads

🧰 Resources (Free & Paid)

🎯 Free Strategy Resources & Templates
→ linktr.ee/justin_rowe

🛠 LinkedIn Ads Toolset (DemandSense)
→ https://impactable.com/dgp-linkedin-ads-tools/


🎥 LinkedIn Ads + B2B Demand Gen on YouTube
→ https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCATGD6P27kWXDVuaAZeZBuQ/videos

📈 LinkedIn Ads Agency (Done-for-You)
→ https://impactable.com/

💬 Want to Collaborate?

→ Send me a DM if you want to:

Test your audience + offer fit on LinkedIn

Migrate from Google to multichannel demand gen

Build a scalable paid strategy with a trusted partner

Chief Executive Officer

Impactable is a Linkedin Ads Agency that specializes in Linkedin Marketing for B2B companies. We were acquired in 2021 by a data-heavy investor and made a strong pivot into Linkedin advertising. Impactable now manages over 150+ B2B brands with Linkedin advertising being our core focus. 

Other capabilities include website visitor identification, automated Linkedin lead generation, and a few saas tools we are working on.

Impactable is officially a  LinkedIn Marketing Partner for Signals Partner!
Really proud of our team and shout out to our awesome rep Mark Ayesh 🫡 

What is CAPI you might ask and why does it matter?

Super short version:
- better conversion data funneled back to LinkedIn 
-better in platform data to make decisions
-better results and more insights on conversion by demographics etc

CAPI (Conversion API) is basically the process of taking offline conversion (things you can't easily track by page load or Google Tag Manager (which most marketers hate). 

Things like webinar attendees
In person attendees
Sales accepted lead
Closed won deals
Kajabi signups

Especially things that don't happen digitally or happen on websites other than your website...CAPI could help pipe that data back to LinkedIn. 

And then LinkedIn basically will then cross-reference each person uploaded to see if any impressions were served to know if there was any influence and if so how much. 

So...I guess it's getting pretty series with this relationship. 

Come a long way from when my original startup received a cease and desist letter from LinkedIn 😂 (story for another day if you don't know this one). 

Questions about LinkedIn conversion tracking?
Drop a comment 👇

Website Linkedin Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
LinkedIn Ads Demo Video: https://lnkd.in/gudY92cC
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable Youtube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

CMO @ Impactable | B2B LinkedIn Ads Partners | ABM + Signals | Obsessed with Account and People Signals.

Impactable becomes LinkedIn CAPI certified partners

I know 10+ Marketing Leaders who were FIRED in the last 3 months...it's a bloodbath in some spaces and marketers get BLAMED more than they should. 

Listen to me...don't listen to me...I'm just an agency owner who works with 100+ marketing leaders on any given month and I'm seeing them drop like off - it's brutal. 

Here's my advice if you're a marketer and worry about this stuff or don't feel fully secure and want to change that. 

1. Build a personal brand on LinkedIn - it will 100% give you more options if/when you ever need that. Bonus is that it will benefit you personally but also the org you work for today so they should be willing to pay for the motion and it could make your role more secure but open up options just in case. 

2. Lean into AI - now I know this might just create some more FOMO but I'm not talking about N8N or agents...I'm just talking about simple AI adoption that can make you move faster and look like a badass. 

-Gamma for AI deck creation...look like a pro in every meeting and make beautiful decks in less than 10 min that are exec ready (I'm seriously considering doing a free workshop on this because I believe it can save marketers jobs)

-Descript - AI video editing and clipping to fuel your personal branding motion and help with random marketing needs/requests (you know...because many marketers are expected to be swiss army knives)

-Chat GPT - PROJECTS - I can't stress this enough. Move from just using chat gpt threads/chats and start learning how to use projects. Create a project for your marketing..load it with docs about brand, UVP, ICP, strategy, load marketing reports into it - now you have a special place to ask questions or feed data and it can answer through the context of fully understanding who you are, what you sell, and to who so all outputs are 10x stronger

*Bonus - use GPT to create slide by slide prompts from Gamma so you can whip out amazing decks with real data backed by actual context in minutes. 

3. Obsess over sales metrics not marketing metrics

If sales and marketing have different goals, KPIs, metrics, language, priorities...you're at risk. You're an "other" and expendable. 

Learn how to create dashboards in hubpsot, learn how to speak the same language sales does when they report. 

Learn how to talk about quality of lead vs number of leads. 

There are more...but those are some things top of mind that could really help secure you more at current role and open more doors if anything changes. 

What else would you add?

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

I've now removed 9,200+ connections in the last 5 months to FIX MY Reach..and it's working 😊 

Short version:
1. Your networks engagement with your content helps determine reach
2. Much of my network was created early on when I had a career in restaurants (FYI I used to be part owner of 4 restaurants 😜 )

3. I'm all about controlling the things I can control and not complaining about the things I can't. 

I used Sales Navigator to slice and dice my 1st connections and realized there are 10,000+ connections that are likely not on LinkedIn any more, wouldn't find any value in my content, and who I should likely just disconnect with. 

LinkedIn has been great for me - it's led to:
1. Connecting with investors that led me to becoming restaurant owner
2. Starting a side-hustle that helped pay for the extra costs of our first son (named Lincoln...which he asks if it h as anything to do with LinkedIn)
3. Turning that side-hustle into an agency that was acquired
4. Continuing to power pipeline for an agency pushing toward 10M ARR

So I understand the power of LinkedIn both organically and on the paid side...and my top advice?

1. Build your network strategically - send 15 connection requests a day and be picky what requests you accept
2. Be clear about your target audience, their pain points, and produce valuable content they'd regularly save and share
3. Spend 5x more time engaging and commenting vs posting
4. Use sales navigator to see ICP profile viewers and send them connection requests
5. Turn your top organic posts into evergreen retargeting ads with thought leadership ads

And honestly it feels like it's really working and helping me restore my reach and engagement as I go...so I'd encourage others to look at similar action. 

That's it for today : )

Need help growing more intentionally here - https://lnkd.in/gEn-5TuR

Founder/CEO @ Impactable | B2B LinkedIn Ads Partners | Paid Ads + Demand Gen + B2B Audience Experts

New favorite LinkedIn Ads control - Frequency + Click caps by Month
Here's how I'm using it

1. Penetration campaigns - for ABM motions or top of funnel plays where the audience is bigger than the budget...using a frequency cap can ensure you cover more surface area and penetrate the list deeper vs getting caught up over saturating a handful of active accounts. 

2. Budget control for Middle of funnel - I'm a big fan of 90-day retargeting but after looking through lots of data there is clearly (and logically) deminishing returns after serving more than 75-100 impressions per month to warm accounts. 

I'd look at doing a monthly cap of 75-100 impressions for 90-day MOF

3. Bottom of funnel controls - the idea with bottom of funnel is accelerating warm deals but again...clear deminishing returns from just oversaturing a small pocket. 

You can also set click thresholds as well so that you  remove engaged accounts from monthly penetration campaigns after getting the click (which likely already moves them to another campaign)

With LinkedIn ads, there are 100 ways to waste money so things like
-Ad scheduling/rotating
-Frequency capping
-Budget caps
-Targeting refinement and one-click account wide exclusions

These things (offered by DemandSense) actually make it way easier to spend responsibly and prove value. 

I'm playing with the right thresholds but I really like this feature.

Free trial available if you're curios - https://lnkd.in/gDDYsGVi

I started in restaurants - LinkedIn helped me become a part-owner of a small 4-shop franchise.  That's where I started to learn about marketing. 

Yea...I know..you likely didn't know that about me.

My first experience in marketing was trying to leverage LinkedIn organic, Facebook, and local partnerships to get real humans to come to our physical shop. 

Not exactly the same as B2B marketing lol but it's not so different. 

1. Gain visibility and start with small ponds
Good news is that in the organic game..there are not usually 100+ restaurants trying to dominate the local LinkedIn scene in their city..so it was actually easy for me to stand out and get attention for our new sandwich shop in town. 

This actually led to real revenue and a partnership opportunity. 

2. LinkedIn lead gen - simple but effective. 

A. Created sales navigator list of HR leaders, operation leaders, event leaders at orgs, and company owners, and just sent daily connection requests and links to our menu and pricing...and this led to a big catering business. 

3. Email marketing - we started a little newsletter. 

I know that sounds crazy because we were just like a little sandwich shop so what's the newsletter even about??

I honestly barely remember, but I know we got emails of our customers who signed up for the app or DoorDash, and I'd send a monthly newsletter basically sharing local news, fundraising we were putting on, new sandwiches or shakes on the menu, and maybe an offer/deal. 

Honestly, I was mostly just trying to cover more surface area (top of funnel, I guess 😂 ) to get more humans to get a craving for our sandwiches, soups, and shakes. 

That's how it started...and this sparked my love and curiousity around marketing which later became a side hustle that became an agency that led to an acquisition. 

And yes, that's me before kids, grey hair, and facial hair apparently.

Spending 30 hours to vibe code something that saves you $50/mo is not genius… u just suck at math

Today CJ Craig hits her one-year mark at Impactable.

In 12 months she’s completely revamped our initial 100-day client journey, helped us move into a real mid-market offering, and straight-up elevated client success across the board.

The result isn’t just prettier docs. 

The team feels more proud of their work. 

We’re doing better, deeper work with fewer clients and higher revenue per client and she was a great force in that direction for us. 

She's also been a great champion of our team and moral booster as we navigate the ups and downs of startup/agency journey (which is not easy). 

CJ, thank you for the leadership, the details, and for making us choose quality over quantity. 

Proud to have you on the team. 

Here’s to year two.

Pro LinkedIn hack to 10x visibility
Comment "This is utter nonsense" on 20 posts daily

Do this and tell me your profile views, engagement, and organic reach of your actual posts doesn't 5-10x.

PSA: Don't actually do this 😂 

But there is a valuable point here...the things that "work" to get vanity metrics. you track can 100% be gamed....but how much actual valuable growth would really come from this...none I'd guess. 

And yet marketing leaders chase all sorts of "hacks" like this every week. 

Things that help show a bump in "metrics" while doing nothing for the actual business. 

Some examples:
-running top of funnel lead gen forms to a cold audience with a fluffy lead magnet that your intern made...great to show "leads" but don't waste sales time with those

-making posts on LinkedIn about how you hate AI or how you got a bad DM...great for impressions on LInkedIn but likely no use or relevance to what you actually sell

-Cutting out LInkedIn ads spend because it's hard to prove and doubling down on Google ads because it's showing all the conversions

-spending 50 hours learning and creating V1 stuff in AI or claude code just so you can make cool posts and talk down to the peons who have a life all the while we all know whatever you launched won't actually still be in real production use to clients 90-days from now

If I could give other marketers a few pieces of advice that they for sure did not ask for and would likely not ask me for 😂 

1. Almost all successful engagements I've had with clients and even massive orgs is to start by amplifying what's already working before worrying about anything new

2. Understand the foundations first: what you actually do that's different, unique, craved, and defensible....and targeting should stem from there

3. Always secure warm 1st party audiences and warm digital audience before prioritizing cold accounts

4. Never start with cold native channel targeting before tapping into existing in-market demand if it exists (paid search)

5. Always anchor scaling paid search spend with healthy retargeting frameworks to atually get the most out of competitive paid search traffic

6. Organic and paid ads should not be 2 separate strategies...paid should amplify organic

7. Use paid retargeting to funnel prospects into owned communities for more efficient long term plays

8. Build a personal brand on Linkedin or 1 core channel you choose and take it seriously

9. Pretend it's your money and you have to prove that what you're doing is working...but more importantly that there isn't an even better use of that budget even if it is "working"

10. Be humble and keep a student mentality...we are all just experimenting honestly

Giving away your playbook isn’t risky. 
It’s a growth lever.

One thing that came up during my conversation at the DemandShift Summit was how openly I share LinkedIn ads playbooks, tactics, and experiments.

That’s not accidental.

I try to give away everything I know as freely as I learn it. 

Ironically, the more transparent you are, the more people want your help. 

Not because they can’t find information online, but because they trust your point of view and execution.

Building in public has been one of the most consistent growth levers in my career.

#B2BMarketing #ThoughtLeadership #BuildInPublic #LinkedInAds #Impactable

LinkedIn Ads + ABM: Here's how I'm advising orgs prove impact and focus on account engagement and movement vs clicks and leads -  the playbook 👇 

Short version:
Things really changed in 2025 - you can now see the EXACT companies clicking on and even just being exposed to your LinkedIn ads and can see that data by list upload or campaign which opens up huge options. 

I walk through how i'd structure reports for leadership and where and what data you can pull to show account movement and even structure campaigns a bit to give more meaningful insights like showing multiple buyer personals lighting up for top accounts and how this moves from marketing to sales. 

I'm curious how else marketing leaders are showing value and connecting the dots. 

Let me know in the comments - I need more ideas.

Way too many marketing leaders are struggling to prove ROI or even forward motion of ABM programs and especially have struggled to tie proper credit b

Open article: B2B LinkedIn Ads + ABM in 2026: Marketer's Field Guide to Proving Impact by Justin Rowe • 4 min read

B2B LinkedIn Ads + ABM in 2026: Marketer's Field Guide to Proving Impact

If you automate the relationship, don’t be surprised when it feels transactional.

The irony of modern marketing is that we’re obsessed with scale, but trust doesn’t scale the same way.

In my conversation with Gabe Larsen, he talked about being intentional with how he shows up. 

He posts consistently, engages directly, and personally responds to comments instead of delegating or automating that layer.

Could it be automated? Sure. A lot of people do.

But when the expert removes themselves from the interaction, the tone shifts and the connection becomes functional instead of relational.

Buyers today are more skeptical than ever and they’re choosing based on who they believe.

And belief is built in real exchanges, not optimized workflows.

Automation should enhance relationships.
It shouldn’t replace them.

Need help building/running a thought leader LinkedIn motion ? - https://lnkd.in/gEn-5TuR

#B2BMarketing #RelationshipMarketing #ThoughtLeadership #TrustBasedSelling #Impactable

You might already be the most visible expert in your network.

That was something I shared at the DemandShift Summit that surprised a few people.

Your feed is unique. And so is everyone else’s.

If you’re intimidated by the biggest creators on LinkedIn, here’s the reality. 

Most of your network isn’t following them. 
𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦.

If you show up a few times a week with thoughtful content, you may become the most consistent voice they see.

That proximity matters.

People don’t always follow the most famous expert.
They follow the one who feels relatable.

And that might already be you.

#LinkedInGrowth #ThoughtLeadership #B2BMarketing #PersonalBrand #BuildInPublic

Every one is obsessed or worried about attribution and proving ROI but many arn't taking basic steps to show/prove LinkedIn Ads

Here's the short version
1. With data/privacy shifting, ad pixels like LInkedIn insight tag is missing information and not passing back valuable conversion events back into the platform. 

2. This means that you'll often be flying blind with platform data and not able to see what's really working or not working from a campaign group or ad set level. 

3. This also leads to lack of insights around what audience demographics are working. 

When you have proper conversion data, you'll see things like:
-What company size are we doing better/worse with
-What industries are we doing better/worse with
-What countries are winning in vs need to stop spend

These are the kinds of insights that actually guide us to where to spend money or stop spend and where we need to double down and create more focused messaging for high-impact segments. 

Conversion tracking and attribution is something everyone seems to want to do a little better at so this should be helpful.

How server-side conversion events fix match rates, survive ad blockers, and protect privacy The LinkedIn Insight tag is great, but modern browsers and

Open article: Privacy-first tracking for LinkedIn Ads (Why CAPI Matters) by Justin Rowe • 3 min read

Privacy-first tracking for LinkedIn Ads (Why CAPI Matters)

If someone visits your website today, what story are they going to see over the next 90 days?

Most companies don’t think that far.

At the DemandShift Summit, I talked about how middle-of-funnel content is where trust is won or lost.

Someone clicked. They showed intent. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭.

Now you have a window.

If you could shape their opinion with 15 carefully chosen pieces of thought leadership over three months, what would you show them?

That’s how I approach retargeting.

Not as a generic reminder campaign.
But as a curated content engine that reinforces authority, expertise, and point of view.

When you control the frequency and the message, you can influence the buying decision long before the sales call.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T
Thought Leadership Done For you Motion - https://lnkd.in/gEn-5TuR

#DemandGeneration #B2BMarketing #ThoughtLeadership #PaidMedia #Impactable

Tons of people are making BANK ($$ for you non-cool kids) via LinkedIn DMs and they don't care if that twists your little undies or makes you FEEL some type of way. 

I get it, it's cool to show a bad email or DM where someone got the name or position wrong or double tapped a send....

Screen shot, name and shame post..get your little endorphin hit from all the "yea this is so terrible" "AI is the worst" comments - ah you've done great. 

Except...what if many of these "spammers" are actually crushing it. 
Actually getting demos booked on basically autopilot 
Actually could care less if a few messages don't hit

And spoiler alert...they are still crushing it...it does still work..and you're feelings/opinions on the matter (and your posts) don't change anything...other than making you a visible opponent of a basic tactic that works for thousands and thousands of orgs

I think the real danger comes from the collective "agreement" that seems to happen. 

Others who read your post feel it proves their own. personal bias and so they believe it...

But you know it and I know it..it's your opinion..no facts, not data, and not really based in reality. 

Yes, I agree spamming is bad and bad personalization is bad, but direct messaging still works. 

This is just my humble perspective from a founder that build a LInkedIn lead gen agency that was acquired and was running automation from 200+ executive profiles when I sold it...still worked then and still works today. 

Main changes though I'd suggest to make it work
1. Start with warm - profile visitors, company page followers, website visitors, active pipeline deals, highly engaged accounts from ads

2. Don't pitch slap - connect, introduce, and add value - add value from messages (share resources) and then share value via posts and newsletter long term

3. Be human and treat this more like a networking event vs door to door sales

4. Get serious about a real thought leadership motion with organic + paid on LinkedIn - that makes any outreach 10x more powerful by playing the long game.

You don’t need to be “interesting” to create good content.

That was one of the biggest lessons I shared at the DemandShift Summit.

Most people burn out trying to come up with something new, clever, or insightful every single day. That’s exhausting and unnecessary.

If you’re building a business, leading a team, or learning on the job, you already have content. 

You’re experimenting, making decisions, getting things wrong, and figuring things out in real time.

I started posting long before I had some polished success story. 

I documented my journey as a restaurant operator. Then as someone trying to build a lead gen agency with no clients and very little experience.

Looking back, I was early, naive, and didn’t know what I was doing yet.

And that’s exactly why it resonated.

There are always people a step or two behind you who find your experience incredibly valuable.

Need help getting your thought leadership motion going ? - https://lnkd.in/gEn-5TuR

#ThoughtLeadership #BuildInPublic #B2BMarketing #ContentStrategy #Impactable

Your posts and newsletters should be so good people are feeding their AI Agents with YOUR content.

Already people are singing up for newsletters just to be ingested by their AI agents so they can accumulate their trusted brain of knowledge to talk to.

Information is becoming cheaper, faster , and easier….. but a strong POV and TRUSTED expertise will be more rare than ever.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T
Thought Leadership Done For you Motion - https://lnkd.in/gEn-5TuR

AI tools are incredible for learners. 
They’re not replacements for operators.

ChatGPT and other models are phenomenal for people like me who want to understand the space, test ideas, and get smarter fast.

They lower the barrier to entry.

But they don’t remove the need for someone to architect the system, manage the risk, and make it work inside a real company.

AI is accelerating builders.
It’s not eliminating the need for expertise.

The companies that win won’t just use AI.
They’ll know how to operationalize it.

Website Linkedin Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
LinkedIn Ads Demo Video: https://lnkd.in/gudY92cC
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable Youtube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

#ArtificialIntelligence #B2BMarketing #FutureOfWork #AIOperations #Impactable

The hardest part of AI isn’t building it. It’s controlling it.

Gabe Larsen told me about a Fortune 100 COO who said they won’t allow random builders plugging agents into core systems.

Why?

Because once you start connecting AI to CRM data, billing systems, and proprietary information, the stakes change.

We’re even seeing this internally.

We’ve talked about building assistants that let clients query their LinkedIn ad data, contracts, and performance history.

Sounds powerful.

But then you ask the real questions.
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴?
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥?
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘉’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢?

That’s when this stops being a fun AI experiment and starts becoming infrastructure.

The winners won’t just build agents.
They’ll build secure systems around them.

#ArtificialIntelligence #EnterpriseAI #AIGovernance #SaaS #Impactable

Before you publish something, ask yourself one question.

𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵?

That’s how I think about content, and it came up naturally in my conversation with Ryan Williams, Head of Marketing at ZenMaid.

A lot of content today technically checks the boxes, but it’s not something you’d ever share one to one with a peer or a customer. 

It’s polished, structured, and forgettable.

Ryan’s take was simple. 

If you’re creating something you believe your ICP would genuinely enjoy or learn from, you can’t really go wrong.

Create less, make it better, and trust that consistency compounds.

Thought Leadership Done For you Motion: https://lnkd.in/gEn-5TuR
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

#ContentMarketing #B2BMarketing #LinkedInContent #MarketingStrategy #Impactable

taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

Justin Rowe

Followers

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Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJustin Rowe's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

Justin Rowe

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);}Tom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreJustin Rowe's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance