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Growing Up

⚡️ Care about your audience? you need this (Growing Up 74)

Published about 1 month ago • 3 min read

Hey Reader,

In late 2023, I got an interesting email.

“Hi Brendan,
See you have a massive following on LinkedIn and post a ton of content about SaaS companies.
I'm working with several other influencers helping them land brand deals/advertise products in their LinkedIn posts.
Would love to help you do the same - open to a quick chat?”

Now look...

I never respond to cold emails.

Ever.

But this was… interesting.

I replied.

“Gimme the deets.”

Turns out, a young enterprising SaaS AE was spending his off hours as a BDR for people like me, reaching out to brands on their behalf.

We went back and forth, and it sounded interesting, but wasn’t something I could focus on at the time.

6 months later, I get another message from him.

He took what he was doing manually, and turned it into a product.
You can think if it a few ways:

  • A marketplace where brands can connect with B2B influencers.
  • Cameo + upwork combined but for for B2B influencers/newsletters
  • A place where brands can find, filter, and collaborate with B2B influencers/newsletters

No doubt you’ve seen the power of evangelism, creators and influencers in B2B.

But today, you get to see it in action.

Right now there’s 78 creators across sales, marketing and 11 other verticals.

👉 Click here to check it out.

Brendan

PS - You’re gonna want to star this email or bookmark the link above for later. Trust me. This will become a standard B2B playbook in the next 365 days.

SparkToro V2 is Finally Here. 👀

🗒️ The Gist: According to SparkToro’s co-founder Rand Fiskin, “V2 is, in every respect (including reviews from our beta testers and the customers who’ve switched over), vastly superior. It answers questions we know marketers care about, because you told us. It solves problems we know marketers struggled with, because you complained about them. It provides data we know marketers are hungry for, because you’ve been ordering off-menu for years to try and get it. Try it right now for free.

Lindsay’s Take: V2 shows *who* is searching for particular keywords and details about their online behaviors.

This. is. GOLD.

Knowing more about *who* is searching means we can learn to tailor our content not around the keyword but around the person.

Or we can call it quits on a certain KW if we find the person isn’t a great fit as our ideal customer. Think of all the time, money, and, truthfully, headaches you’ll save yourself from by digging deeper into online behaviors.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for SparkToro’s V2.

Brendan's Take: I made a quick video about why I think this is an absolutely *MUST* have for every agency & consultant, plus the value for in house marketers like you.

More SaaS Updates:

The secret to getting better at social is within your existing social.

🗒️ The Gist: Jack Appleby discusses how you can improve your social media marketing skills through slow growth, casual analytics, and doubling down on what’s worked for you.

PS. While Jack is speaking directly toward social media marketers, this is still a great read for every creatively-driven marketing role.

“if you get 1% better every day, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done.” - James Clear

Lindsay’s Take: As a diagnosed ADHDer, overcomplicating things is more natural to me than finding quick, simple solutions.

I demand perfection from myself.

Unfortunately, perfection on social media is ridiculously difficult. Some might say impossible (it me. I’m some).

Thankfully, Jack reminded me of the power of simplicity. Applying the +20% content strategy to your social media is “where things get deceptively simple,” as Jack puts it.

Double your high-permorning content. Cut your low performers. Learn from both. Win.

This isn’t rocket science—it’s a way to make a lot of content a little bit better every day.

More Marketing Updates:

Come join us to hop into these discussions!

  • Navattic - Double trials/leads *and* cut sales cycles in half
  • Demio - the webinar platform we’ll be using to launch events this year
  • SparkToro - find out who your customers really listen to (& what they Google!)
  • Growclass - Our community’s most highly recommended marketing training
  • PathFactory - Finally know the ROI of your “untrackable” content marketing. (whew!)

Have a great week!

Lindsay & Brendan

PS - Where I live, the sun won't set before 7pm again until October. We made it, baby. ❤️ - Brendan

915 Ridge Road Building 2 - Unit 3254, Munster, IN 46321
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Growing Up

by Brendan Hufford

I explore how SaaS companies *actually* get customers

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