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Earlier this week, I shared a post on LinkedIn about one of the hardest lessons I've learned as a five-time first marketing leader: you can't scale what hasn't been proven to work.
It sparked a great conversation with other marketing leaders about what happens when companies try to generate demand before they've figured out why customers actually buy.
That got me thinking about the other side of the equation. Once you've figured out why customers choose you, how do you turn those wins into something that helps you win the next hundred?
Your best brand campaign is a customer who kept their job.
That line is on a slide in the talk I'm giving with AdRoll in San Francisco next week, and it's something I've believed for a long time.
When someone chooses an early-stage vendor over an established competitor, they're not just making a technology decision. They're putting their reputation on the line. If the implementation goes sideways, they're the one who has to explain why they took the risk. But when it works, and they look smart for making that decision, you've created something far more valuable than another marketing campaign. You've created a customer who can tell your story better than you ever could.
Yet most of us still spend the bulk of our energy beating our own chests. Bigger feature claims, longer comparison pages, more of us telling the market how great we are. Buyers have heard all of it from every vendor in the category, and they discount it accordingly.
Prove the Message Before You Scale It
Before you can turn customers into your best marketing, you have to understand why they bought in the first place.
Early on, I've found that one of the best ways to do that is to focus on buyers who are already in market. They're actively comparing alternatives, which means you learn pretty quickly whether your positioning resonates, what makes you different, and whether you've given them a compelling reason to change.
Skip that step and jump straight to broad awareness campaigns, and you risk spending money amplifying a message you haven't proven works.
But once those buyers start choosing you, something changes. You have real customers, real buying decisions, and real outcomes to learn from. That's where some of your most valuable brand-building opportunities begin.
What We Did at Akeyless
At Akeyless, we used intent data to focus our advertising on ICP accounts showing signs they were actively in market. We weren't trying to convince everyone they needed a new solution. We were trying to reach the right buyers at the right time with a message that gave them a reason to consider us.
As those efforts helped bring in customers, we invested in turning their success into proof that other buyers could trust.
We encouraged customers to share their experiences on G2 and Gartner Peer Insights. We invited them to speak at industry events, where they could tell their stories in their own words. We built case studies and testimonials around the problems they solved and the results they achieved. And we turned customer and partner wins into PR that supported our broader demand creation efforts.
The important part was that these weren't stories about how great Akeyless was. They were stories about people who took a chance on a different approach and got results.
During that period, Akeyless grew revenue 350% and raised a $65M Series B. A lot of things contributed to that growth, but I believe the credibility we built through our customers was one of our most valuable marketing assets.
Why Customers Out-Sell Your Feature List
A buyer comparing three vendors sees three feature lists that look almost the same. What none of those lists can tell them is what it's like to deploy the product at a company like theirs, and how things turned out for the person who made the call.
That's what a peer review or a customer on stage gives them. It's also what your champion needs when they go sell you internally. Last week on our Pipe Dreams podcast, John Kwarsick talked about how the justification travels upward but the understanding doesn't. A credible story from someone in the buyer's own seat is one of the few things that survives that trip.
There's something in it for the customer too. Being the person who picked the right vendor, and getting to talk about it on stage or in a review, is good for their career.
Where to Start This Week
Pick three customers who've gotten a real result from your product. Then have a conversation that goes beyond whether they're happy with it.
Find out why they bought. What problem were they trying to solve? What alternatives did they consider? Why did they choose you, and what almost stopped them? Those answers are often more valuable than another positioning workshop.
Understand what changed. What results have they achieved? How has the decision played out internally? Did it make their job easier, help them deliver on a commitment, or make them look good to leadership?
Give them an opportunity to tell their story. Ask for a review on G2 or Gartner Peer Insights, invite them onto a webinar or event panel, or feature them in a case study. Make them the hero, not your product.
Put their words to work. Use what you've learned on your website, in your sales deck, in competitive messaging, and in the materials your champions use to make the business case internally.
More customers are willing to share their experiences than we sometimes assume, especially when the story is about their accomplishments rather than promoting a vendor.
That's demand creation built on proof. And in my experience, it's a lot more convincing than another round of feature campaigns.
If you're already doing this, reply and tell me what's worked. I'd love to hear it.
Live Tuesday: The Business Case for Happiness
Tuesday, November 10 | 11:00 AM ET | LinkedIn Live | Free
Quick heads up if you registered last week: we've moved this conversation to Tuesday and switched to LinkedIn Live.
Most marketing leaders I talk to are being asked to deliver more with fewer resources, all while navigating AI and an increasingly uncertain job market. It's easy to assume happiness comes after success, but research suggests the relationship often works the other way around.
I'm sitting down with Mark Goldschmidt, founder of The Why and How of Happiness, to explore what the research says about happiness, engagement, productivity, and performance, and what leaders can actually do with it.
Bring your questions. We'll take them live, and the conversation will also become a future Pipe Dreams episode.
See You in San Francisco?
I'll be in downtown SF on Thursday, Nov 12, presenting "Rethinking the 95/5 Rule" with Ryan Horn, VP of Marketing at AdRoll, at the ANA Silicon Signals event. If you're around and want to grab a coffee, just reply to this email.
Compare Notes With Other Marketers
The MarketingHQ community is a free, private group for in-house B2B marketers, from startup teams to marketing leaders at global enterprises. We're over 120 members now, with a Leaders Circle for heads of marketing, a Boston group and the jobs list every Friday before it hits this newsletter.
No vendors. No pitches. Just marketers helping marketers.
Career Up: Marketing Jobs This Week
Hand-picked roles from the MarketingHQ Job Board. Community members get them first, every Friday.
Leadership
VP of Marketing at LevelTen Energy (Seattle)
Director of Communications at Waabi ($165–255K)
Director, Marketing Business Strategy at Franklin Templeton (New York / $200–225K)
Boston-area
Marketing Manager at Carrier (Beverly, MA / $96–192K)
Product marketing, ops & growth
Principal Product Marketing Manager, Emerging Mid Market Platform at Intuit (New York / $205–278K)
Lead Product Marketing, AI Decisioning Studio at Braze (New York / from $134K)
Product Marketing Manager, AI CTRL at Expedient (US / $125–175K)
Senior Product Marketing Manager at Restaurant365 (Denver / $116–145K)
Senior Staff Product Marketing Manager at Impinj ($148–222K)
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Serverless & Containers at AWS (Arlington, VA)
GTM & Growth Marketing Manager at Vericast (San Antonio / $100–120K)
B2B Marketing Manager at AssetWatch (Remote)
Marketing Manager, Technology Solutions at GDIT (Falls Church, VA / $126–170K)
Field & Event Marketing Lead at Haus (Remote)
Lead Field & Events Marketing Manager at WP Engine (Concord, NC / $120–125K)
Event Marketing Manager at Tennr (Remote)
Early career
Social Media Specialist at ReliaQuest (cyber) (Salt Lake City)
Marketing Intern, Digital Marketing at TE Connectivity (Remote / $21–37/hr)
Find many more roles on our MarketingHQ Job Board
Let's keep the conversation going on LinkedIn
I share more of my thinking on startup marketing, GTM strategy, and the challenges of leading marketing between newsletter editions. If you enjoy the newsletter, follow me on LinkedIn and join the conversation.
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