“Most marketers are copying what their competitors are doing without realizing they might be copying the losing version,” says Casey Hill, CMO at DoWhatWorks.



In this episode of The Content Cocktail Hour, Jonathan Gandolf welcomes back Casey Hill to explore why marketers need to question the default choices they make and how actual A/B test data is reshaping what “best practice” really means. Casey unpacks what thousands of tests reveal about things like social proof, button copy, and AI messaging, and why most marketers are accidentally copying losing strategies from their competitors. They also dig into how internal politics and funding optics can sometimes override what the data says, and how to navigate that tension without sacrificing performance.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. Why generic AI messaging is underperforming and what to do instead
2. How to build testable hypotheses without compromising creativity
3. How to use test data to influence stakeholders and avoid opinion-based decisions

Resources:

Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-gandolf/

Explore AudiencePlus: https://audienceplus.com

Connect with Casey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseyhill/ 

Explore DoWhatWorks: https://www.dowhatworks.io/ 

Subscribe to the DoWhatWorks Newsletter: https://www.dowhatworks.io/newsletter 

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:22) Understanding DoWhatWorks

(02:13) The importance of data in decision making

(03:00) The role of algorithms in marketing

(06:46) The power of social proof

(07:58) Effective use of customer logos

(11:34) The evolution of marketing norms

(16:54) AI messaging in marketing

(24:32) Unpopular opinions in B2B marketing