Don't Say Content

Here's a bonus episode where our host, Devin Bramhall joined Joei Chan on her podcast, Good Boss Bad Boss to talk about how rewarding it is to have the best worst job ever: being a CEO.

Listen to Good Boss Bad Boss: https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/good-boss-bad-boss/id1683210629
Connect with Joei: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeichan/

Here's a bonus episode where our host, Margaret Kelsey, joined Ramli John on his podcast, Marketing Powerups to talk about her brand marketing flywheel. 

Listen to Marketing Powerups: https://marketingpowerups.com/podcast/
Follow Ramli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramlijohn/

Connect with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/
Connect with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/
Subscribe to the Don't Say Content newsletter: https://www.dontsaycontent.com/

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: 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/

We’ve got a sweet treat for you this week: a deep dive into Halloween candy, horror movies, and a deep analysis into how much Margaret pumpkin spice lattes in the fall vs summer months. 

…And we continue our convo about the marketing gig economy and how fear-based decisions are causing marketers and leaders to miss the huge opportunity in front of them: Chaos.

No more social “town square”; folks have scattered to small communities across platforms. For now, marketing budgets are anemic and it is taking longer to close deals. But, within these and other realities are opportunities for marketing freelancers AND companies. 

• Freelancers are in demand because companies are afraid to commit due to lack of certainty in the market
• Companies can make the most of their budget by creating hyper-focused plans and hiring freelancers to serve only those immediate needs 

Forget the headline hype. Pull a Jennifer Connolly and flick away those inaccurate categorizations of the current moment, think for yourself, and tell that hairy fear monster: “You have no power over me.”

When you’re done, have yourself some candy corns, watch The Monster Squad, drink a pumpkin spice latte, and you’ll see: when the playbook stops working and nothing is as it used to be, you’re in the best place possible to level up your career and company. 

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/

Times of chaos can be huge opportunities for companies who are open to thinking outside the playbooks and frameworks they’re familiar with. 

Leaders who approach current industry and economic challenges with curiosity and bravery will find themselves uniquely positioned to win. It’s time to get scrappy!

This includes how marketing leaders plan for growth on limited budgets and even more scrutiny from investors, CFOs, and CEOs. These days, a good marketing strategy looks a lot more like a business strategy, and that’s a good thing. 

How come? 

• The same old tactics aren’t as effective based on a cultural shift in focus to individuals over brands
• We’re living in a decentralized online social era, which is ultimately a good thing for brands, but short-term means a more hands-on approach and recalibration of how companies measure ROI
• Marketing talent is mediocre and they likely won’t be competitive until after they go through operating in a tough economy  

What companies need most right now is a strategic growth plan optimized for short-term impact, flexibility, and efficiency. That’s where outsourced marketing partners shine a much-needed bright light on dark times. 

 Join your hosts, Devin Bramhall and Margaret Kelsey, as they explore the untapped potential outside of the traditional in-house marketing setup. 

Jump into the conversation:

(10:30) The Freelancer Takeover

(15:30) Understanding Leaders’ Challenges

(18:45) Burnt out? Move on.

(25:00) Our Consultant Recipe

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/