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/

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

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.

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/

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/

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/

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/

😱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/

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/

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 marketers
• Marketers struggle to get buy-in from C-suite
• Lots of money is wasted on team overhauls, constant changes in strategy
• Progress stalls because you keep going in circles

Join 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 salads

Plus 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/