If your podcast has 10,000 downloads and only two sales meetings, Jason's take is blunt: you're doing everything wrong. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down why most B2B podcasts become expensive therapy sessions for executives who like hearing themselves talk, and more importantly, how to fix it.

Jason's core point is clear: downloads don't pay salaries, pipeline does. Most B2B podcasts fail commercially for four reasons. They borrow strategy from B2C entertainment instead of building revenue assets. They optimise for vanity metrics because that's what vendors sell. They exist in a silo with no connection to sales motion or funnel stages. And the generic interview format doesn't map to the buyer journey.

The problem isn't production quality or download numbers. The problem is that marketing makes the show, sales doesn't know it exists, and when sales don't use it, it's just an expensive content theatre. One 45-minute conversation with a random influencer doesn't help a prospect at the consideration stage trying to figure out if you can actually deliver results, or help a champion sell your solution internally to their CFO.

Instead of downloads, impressions, and social shares, here's what actually matters. Leading indicators like enterprise guests booked from your ABM lists, meetings created attributed to podcast touch, and accounts touched. Commercial outcomes like deal stage acceleration, rep usage in sequences and discovery calls, and pipeline influenced. That's the difference between vanity metrics and revenue metrics. One makes marketing feel busy, the other moves the business forward.

Jason shares a real example. A B2B tech company ran a podcast for 18 months with 40 episodes, a few thousand downloads, and zero pipeline influence. They interviewed random influencers because "that's what podcasts do." Their sales team had never heard of the show. B2B Better killed the influencer strategy and started interviewing their own clients, CTOs and engineering leaders who'd worked with them but would never sign traditional case studies due to compliance constraints. They packaged content as battle cards and sales enablement artifacts, not social clips. Within 90 days, sales used clips in 60% of discovery calls, influenced £3 million in pipeline, and improved outbound reply rates by 34% when reps included a 92-second client clip in sequences. Same production effort, completely different outcome. The only difference was strategy.

Here's the process. Audit your funnel gaps to find where deals actually stall. Map content to that stage. Design multi-segment episodes that serve different funnel stages, not one 45-minute interview that does nothing particularly well. Package for sales with battle cards, objection handlers, and committee packs. Measure commercial impact through meetings created, accounts touched, pipeline influenced, and deal velocity, not downloads.

If you can't answer "which specific deals will this help us close," you're not ready for a podcast. You don't have a content problem, you have a strategy problem. Stop trying to be Joe Rogan. You're building a revenue asset, not an entertainment show.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Why downloads don't pay salaries, pipeline does

01:00 - The word podcast has become a red herring

02:00 - Four reasons B2B podcasts fail commercially

03:00 - No connection to sales motion equals content theatre

04:00 - Revenue metrics that actually matter

05:00 - Real example: Zero to £3 million pipeline influenced

06:00 - The process: Audit, map, design, package, measure

07:00 - Multi-segment episodes serving different funnel stages

08:00 - Most teams shouldn't have a podcast yet

09:00 - The activation test: Ask sales if they've used it

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Listen to Pipe Dream Podcast on Podbean

HubSpot ABM reporting guide for tracking accounts touched

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast 

If you're tired of chasing "flash in the pan" tactics that promise overnight results, this episode is your reality check. In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell sits down with Dev Basu, CEO of Powered by Search, to unpack how to build an inbound-only growth motion that actually compounds over time instead of burning out your team and budget.

Dev's core point is clear: stop creating remixable AI content and start building lived-experience content that creates goodwill as a moat. The marketers winning today aren't the ones doing more, they're the ones doing the simple things better and measuring what actually matters.

For 16 years, Dev has helped VPs of marketing and CMOs at B2B SaaS companies build predictable pipeline without cold outreach. His approach targets two groups: the 5% in-market demand actively looking for solutions, and the 45% of right-fit customers who don't wake up thinking they need your software but would benefit from it.

Dev walks through Powered by Search's playbook, which drives more than half their inbound leads through LinkedIn alone. His SAGE framework (Simple, Actionable, Goal-oriented, Easy to consume) focuses on publishing content about how they've done something, not generic how-to advice. This lived-experience approach can't be copied through ChatGPT or Claude, building genuine goodwill that compounds over time.

The conversation breaks down the "do more, do better, do new" framework. Most companies don't need revolutionary tactics, they need to optimise existing channels ruthlessly. AI plays a role, but it's about speed, not strategy. Dev uses AI to accelerate production once they know what good looks like, not to figure out what to say.

Then Dev drops the tactical goldmine: the 3x10 rule. Get 10% more right-fit traffic, reduce acquisition cost by 10%, and increase average contract value by 10%. When you stack these three improvements, they compound to roughly 30% more pipeline. He guarantees this in 90 days and explains exactly how, from internal linking to push pages onto page one of Google, to cutting wasted ad spend, to targeting slightly larger companies with higher willingness to pay.

If you want a blueprint for building predictable B2B SaaS demand generation without the hype, this conversation delivers.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Dev Basu and the inbound-only motion 

01:00 - The 5% in-market demand vs 45% right-fit customers 

02:00 - Eating your own dog food: How Powered by Search acquires clients 

03:00 - The problem with flash in the pan tactics and LinkedIn slop 

04:00 - SAGE content framework: Building goodwill as a moat 

05:00 - Triangulating attribution to prove LinkedIn drives half the pipeline 

06:00 - Lived-experience content you can't remix with AI 

08:00 - The playbook: Five pillars of demand generation 

13:00 - Do more, do better, do new: The framework for prioritisation 

16:00 - Using AI for speed, not strategy 

20:00 - Buyer psychology and why nobody wants to "get a demo" 

22:00 - The 3x10 rule: 30% more pipeline in 90 days 

23:00 - Getting 10% more traffic with simple internal linking 

24:00 - Cutting wasted ad spend to reduce CAC by 10% 

25:00 - Moving upmarket slightly to increase ACV by 10% 

26:00 - The Grand Slam offer and guarantee 

27:00 - Where to learn more about Powered by Search

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Dev Basu on LinkedIn

Learn more about Dev Basu

Explore Powered by Search and the Grand Slam Offer

Check out Clay for enrichment

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

Level up your B2B marketing and build a brand that actually stands out: subscribe to the Pipe Dream podcast from B2B Better for narrative-driven B2B marketing strategy, media-led content ideas, and practical GTM frameworks from host Jason Bradwell.

If "thinking like a media company" feels like empty advice, this episode shows you exactly what it means in practice. In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell sits down with David Rowlands, Head of Product at B2B Marketing and Propolis, to unpack how a traditional magazine and events business transformed into a community-led subscription media model during the pandemic.

David's core point is clear: in a world flooded with AI-generated content and collapsing trust, B2B marketers need to move beyond helpful content and start creating valuable, memorable work. The kind buyers remember weeks later because it's built on proprietary data, real CMO conversations, and peer learning you can't get anywhere else.

When COVID-19 hit, B2B Marketing's events business went on indefinite hold overnight. At the same time, digital publishing barriers disappeared and trust collapsed. Anyone could write a blog or publish a report, creating massive noise. B2B marketers needed a place to get clear answers and learn from peers without sorting through the chaos.

That's how Propolis was born. B2B Marketing formalised their Leaders Program into a subscription model around expert advisory, private community, and proprietary benchmarking. Instead of competing on helpful content anyone could replicate, they built something AI fundamentally can't: genuine community combined with anonymized member data that powers insights like the Propolis Community Index.

David explains why this matters beyond B2B Marketing. The brands winning attention aren't publishing more content, they're creating distinctive IP that connects community, insights, training, and events into one ecosystem. And heading into 2026, measurement and attribution remain the core challenge, not because the tools don't exist, but because proving marketing's commercial impact still feels like an uphill battle.

The conversation also covers what AI means for B2B marketing teams right now. While 91% of marketers are experimenting with AI, the real challenge isn't adoption, it's knowing where AI helps versus where it creates problems. The marketers struggling most are stuck in lead generation mode, unable to have strategic conversations about marketing's actual impact on revenue.

If you want a blueprint for building a media-first B2B strategy without the "more content" trap, this is it.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: David Rowlands and the transformation of B2B Marketing 

02:00 - From editorial assistant to Head of Product during COVID 

03:00 - The pivot moment: Events disappear and trust collapses 

05:00 - How Propolis was born from the Leaders Program 

07:00 - What "thinking like a media company" actually means 

11:00 - Building the Propolis Community Index with anonymized member data 

16:00 - Helpful versus valuable content: Creating memorable work 

21:00 - Why proprietary data and community can't be replicated by AI 

26:00 - The AI content flood and how to differentiate

30:00 - Measurement and attribution challenges heading into 2026 

33:00 - Skills marketers need: Communication and financial acumen 

36:00 - Why junior marketers need these skills more than anyone 

38:00 - Where to learn more about Propolis and B2B Marketing

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with David Rowlands on LinkedIn

Explore Propolis and the Propolis Community Index

Visit B2B Marketing

Listen to The B2B Marketing Podcast

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

If you're creating a dozen LinkedIn clips, X posts, blog articles, and email newsletters from every podcast episode because you can, this episode will change how you think about repurposing forever. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down why most B2B teams get content atomisation completely wrong and what to do instead.

Jason's core point is clear: just because you can create 50 things from one piece of content doesn't mean you should. The real problem isn't lack of effort, it's creating a little bit of everything instead of focusing on the few assets that actually move prospects through the buyer journey. Most teams are building redundancy, not results.

The appeal of content repurposing is obvious. You record one 60-minute podcast episode and suddenly you can create clips for LinkedIn, X, Instagram, blog posts, newsletters, listicles for SEO, and ads. At the end, you’ve got 50 things from one episode. Sounds amazing, right? But that mindset creates massive redundancy because you're not asking the critical question: should you actually create all of this? Can you create clips for X? Sure. But are your customers actually on X? Only three people subscribe to your newsletter, so why spend the time turning this into an email?

What B2B Better does instead is map the content they create from one flagship piece against the buyer journey, specifically the stages of buyer awareness: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, and product aware. When you map these stages on a grid, you can identify how to plug each gap using different distribution channels.

Take the unaware stage. There's a subset of your target audience that's unaware a massive problem is facing them. How do you reach them? B2B Better typically suggests running ads on platforms like LinkedIn or Google using content from your podcast that educates them about the problem. But you can't just hope that content naturally comes out of your recording. You need to script for it ahead of time. If you're running a guest-based podcast, ask questions that evoke answers and perspectives that educate unaware customers about the problem they're facing.

Now flip to the product aware stage. These are people who know about the problem and solutions available, but don't have enough trust in your product to pull the trigger. For this stage, interview your existing customers and have them talk about their experiences using your product or service. Then turn that content into something your sales team can use to hit leads who have already demonstrated interest in your business. This is the tipping point that moves them from uncertainty to actually picking up the phone.

This exercise of mapping different content types to different stages of buyer awareness is incredibly useful in evaluating not what content you could create, but what content you should create that's actually going to move people from podcast to pipeline.

If this is an exercise you're interested in learning more about and you'd like B2B Better to run it with you, drop them an email or message using the details in the show notes.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Why B2B businesses get repurposing wrong

01:00 - Creating the wrong things instead of what matters

02:00 - Just because you can doesn't mean you should

03:00 - Mapping content to buyer awareness stages

04:00 - Targeting the unaware stage with strategic ads

05:00 - Building trust with product aware prospects

06:00 - Moving people from podcast to pipeline

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Learn about Stages of Awareness framework

Explore Content Atomization strategies for B2B

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast 

If "becoming a media company" feels like a vague buzzphrase inside your organisation, this episode gives you the real definition. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down what it actually means for B2B companies to adopt a media-first mindset and why it's not about chasing views or trying to be BuzzFeed.

Jason's core point is clear: becoming a media company means setting yourself up to be a consistent source of trust for the right prospects, through regular cadence and a strong point of view. It's not about impressions or virality, it's about achieving resonance with your prospective customers. And if you don't move toward a media-first mindset, you'll stay stuck in campaign mode, keep starting from zero with cold outreach, paid ads, and SEO, and get increasingly commoditised.

The resistance to this shift often comes from short-term thinking. Marketing teams want to see leads now, conversion yesterday. Building trust takes time, and when leadership can't draw an explicit line from content to revenue in the short term, these initiatives start to feel like distractions, especially in volatile economic environments.

But companies that don't make this transition will face three fundamental problems. One: they'll be stuck in campaign mode forever. Two: they'll always be starting from zero; cold outreach, paid ads, SEO, all starting from scratch every time. Three: they'll be totally commoditised. Everything they do from a marketing standpoint can and will be replicated by competitors if it isn't already.

So how do you navigate the shift into a media-first mindset? Jason offers three critical moves. First, stop thinking about campaigns and start thinking about systems. Build a workflow across your content production that allows you to consistently demonstrate a strong point of view without burning out your team. Second, stop renting attention on borrowed platforms and start focusing on the platforms that allow you to own that attention: your podcast, your newsletter, your website. Third, move away from a content calendar and move into an editorial strategy. This isn't about getting 100,000 people on your website tomorrow, it's about getting the 100 right people today.

When B2B companies make this shift, several things start to happen. Outbound gets easier because people start recognising you when you land in their inbox. Sales cycles get shorter because people already trust you across the entire buying committee. Deals get less fragile because you've already demonstrated your value from the start of their buying journey. Inbound starts to balance outbound, content drives actual pipeline, and sales begin to use your marketing assets as intended.

If you're ready to stop chasing impressions and start building consistent trust, this episode is your practical roadmap for making the media-first shift without burning out your team.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: What does becoming a media company actually mean?

01:00 - Defining a media company in B2B context 

02:00 - Why B2B companies resist the media-first mindset 

03:00 - The attribution gap and short-term thinking 

04:00 - Three problems companies face without the shift 

05:00 - How to navigate into a media-first mindset 

06:00 - Editorial strategy over content calendars 

07:00 - What happens when B2B companies make the shift 

08:00 - How to get started with B2B Better

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Check out the Pipe Dream Podcast on Podbean listing

Learn about Owned media and Editorial mindset for B2B marketing

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast 

If your outbound is getting ignored, it's not your reps, it's the volume-over-value playbook. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down why traditional cold outreach is failing and how owned media can transform your outbound from extractive spam into contextual, value-first conversations that actually get responses.

Jason's core point is blunt: AI has flooded inboxes, trust is at an all-time low, and "Can I grab 15 minutes?" reads as extractive instead of helpful. The numbers back this up. Most B2B buyers receive 20-50 outbound emails per day, and there's zero differentiation between them. Our sensors for AI-generated outreach are sharper than ever, which means prospects tune out before they even finish reading.

The real cost to your business? SDR burnout, wasted resources, and eroded brand trust. When you're sending volume over value, pipeline becomes a numbers game instead of a game of generating quality, value-first relationships. And that "Can I grab 15 minutes?" CTA puts the burden on prospects to figure out if you're even relevant, it's extractive, not value-driven.

The alternative is contextual outreach powered by owned media. Instead of leading with "we have a solution that we think is relevant to you," you lead with "we created a piece of content that we think is relevant to you because we know it's relevant to all the other prospects and personas we're interviewing on our podcast. Curious to know what you think."

Here's how it works: build a piece of content IP (podcast, newsletter, YouTube series) with a clear point of view, co-designed with sales around real buyer challenges. Then lead outbound with relevant insights before you ever ask for time. That's the difference between cold and contextual outreach. Cold is a stranger asking for a prospect's time. Contextual is when you're perceived as an informed peer offering relevant insights to your target audience.

Owned media used this way gives you credibility and gives value before the ask. And the results speak for themselves: traditional cold outbound rates hover around 2% on a good day. Contextual outreach using owned media can see outbound reply rates go as high as 10-15% and the replies are more substantive than "I'm not interested." They're often "thank you for showing me this content, let's stay in touch."

Over 3-12 months, this approach creates a compounding effect: higher reply rates mean more at-bats, warm outreach converts better than cold, and prospects who don't reply now might reach out later because you started the relationship from a position of value rather than an ask.

If your outbound program feels broken, this episode is a practical reset on how to use owned media to build credibility first and pipeline second and avoid the extractive playbook that's killing response rates.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Why traditional cold outreach is dying

01:00 - The inbox overload problem (20-50 emails/day)

02:00 - What "Can I grab 15 minutes?" really says to prospects

03:00 - The owned media alternative: content IP that demonstrates POV

04:00 - How to align sales + marketing around contextual outreach

05:00 - Results you can expect: 2% vs 10-15% reply rates

06:00 - The compounding effect of value-first relationships

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast 

Remember when SEO was the backbone of B2B content strategy? Sean Blanda thinks that era is ending. In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell reconnects with Sean, former VP of Content at Crossbeam and founder of Gate Check Studios, to unpack what Google AI summaries, LLMs, and the “slop wars” mean for marketers still renting reach from algorithms.

They dig into why companies keep pouring budget into rented channels even when they know they should own their audience. Sean points to the “measurement effect”: if it’s easy to track, it feels effective. Owned media is harder because it requires patience (often 9–12 months), conviction, and a real point of view. And he’s honest that it’s not for every business: if you’re selling a true commodity and performance marketing works, that might be the right play. But for many B2B brands, the real truth remains: a human buyer has to believe in you.

Then comes the accelerant: the slop wars. With LLMs, the market flooded with AI-generated content, making generic “SEO blogs” even easier to ignore. In that noise, the advantage shifts to people and companies with real expertise, strong storytelling, and distinctive perspectives regardless of platform.

A key takeaway: AI is a tool, not a strategy. It can speed up execution, but it can’t replace fundamentals; clear goals, audience understanding, and a message worth remembering. Sean argues the hardest part isn’t tactics; it’s conviction. Brands fear alienating anyone, but trying to appeal to everyone is how you end up forgettable.

They also talk about distribution in a creator-driven world. Instead of gambling on a single algorithm, Sean suggests partnering with niche creators who already have the audience you want. And if you’re building an internal content team, he likes an “SNL model”: develop creators, amplify them, and accept that great talent may eventually move on, your point of view and process should outlast any one person.

Bottom line: if SEO is weakening under AI summaries, this episode lays out what to do next. Stop relying solely on rented reach, build owned media only when it fits your GTM, and win with clarity, patience, and a differentiated perspective in a sea of AI sameness.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Full circle from COVID to AI

02:00 - Sean's journey from Crossbeam to Gate Check Studios

05:00 - The moment SEO's backbone started crumbling

08:00 - Why B2B companies still rent reach from algorithms

12:00 - The measurement effect vs patience and conviction

16:00 - What turbocharged the shift: the slop wars

20:00 - AI as tool, not strategy

24:00 - The biggest challenges: patience and point of view

28:00 - How to develop your brand's point of view

32:00 - Getting executive buy-in with examples and ROI

36:00 - The rise of niche creators and partnership opportunities

40:00 - The Saturday Night Live model for content teams

44:00 - Devil's advocate: when owned media isn't the answer

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Sean Blanda on LinkedIn

Visit Gate Check Studios

Check out Sean’s website at seanblanda.com/about

Visit Human Internet

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

Can AI create great content? Sure. Can it create content that actually moves people? That’s the question at the heart of this episode, where host Jason Bradwell sits down with Melanie Deziel, former (and first-ever) editor of branded content at The New York Times and author of The Content Fuel Framework and Prove It, to explore what makes content truly defensible in the age of AI.

Melanie looks back on her NYT work and explains why the most memorable branded content leans into experiences AI can’t replicate. She points to projects built on real reporting; interviewing people, gathering lived stories, capturing sensory detail, and earning emotional truth. ChatGPT can’t call someone up, build trust, or understand the texture of human experience firsthand. The more human your content is, the safer it is from commoditisation.

The conversation then turns to Prove It and the reality that skepticism was already at an all-time high before AI went mainstream where fake news, deepfakes, and “alternative facts” made audiences harder to convince. Now, with synthetic content everywhere, empty claims are even easier to dismiss. Melanie’s argument is simple: the brands that win won’t just say things they’ll prove them with evidence, specifics, and credible support that goes beyond generic marketing language.

Jason asks about AI ethics, and Melanie draws a parallel to the early days of sponsored content labeling. Her view is that disclosure matters because trust matters but the bigger test is whether the content genuinely adds value. AI-assisted work can still be meaningful if it’s transparent enough and actually useful.

On creativity, Melanie argues that while AI can generate unlimited ideas, it often produces similar outputs when everyone uses the same tools and prompts. What makes ideas interesting is the fuel AI can’t access, your memories, curiosity, experiences, and perspective. That’s why she still believes structured creativity beats random brainstorming: a strong process consistently produces better work than chasing “inspiration.”

Melanie also shares how she uses AI in practice: speeding up research, checking blind spots and biases, and acting like a verbal processing partner without outsourcing the actual strategic thinking or full creative execution. She wants AI to buy back time so she can do more of what she loves: creating.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Defining modern branded content

02:00 - What makes content defensible in the AI age

04:00 - Buyer skepticism and the Prove It framework

06:00 - The ethics of AI-generated content

09:00 - When AI helps creativity vs flattens it

13:00 - How Melanie actually uses ChatGPT

15:00 - Building multiple forms of media and IP

18:00 - Creative side quests and pulling threads

21:00 - Divergent vs convergent thinking

23:00 - Advice for risk-averse marketing cultures

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Melanie Deziel on LinkedIn 

Explore Melanie’s website melaniedeziel.com

Visit Creative Constructs

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast 

"Use AI to do more!" might be the worst advice B2B marketers are getting right now. In this episode, host Jason Bradwell sits down with Charlie Riley, Head of Marketing at OneScreen.ai, to talk about why mass personalisation is backfiring, how to actually build stakeholder buy-in for thought leadership, and why being a marketing team of one forces you to make better strategic choices.

Charlie breaks down his approach to aligning sales and marketing around LinkedIn advocacy, creating non-scalable experiences that actually convert, and using out-of-home advertising as both a brand and demand gen play. If you're drowning in AI tools and wondering what actually moves the needle, this conversation will reset your thinking.

Jason and Charlie start by tackling the conventional wisdom that AI lets you "do more", more outreach, more personalisation, more content. Charlie's take? That approach is creating AI slop that people see right through. He explains why marketers are starting to swing back toward doing fewer things better, especially things that can't scale (spoiler: that's where the magic happens).

As a marketing team of one at OneScreen, Charlie's had to get ruthless about focus. He shares his three-to-five channel strategy: LinkedIn (organic and paid), visual content showcasing real OOH campaigns, and live events like Drive and Spring. He explains how these channels create an owned media flywheel, content feeds community, community shows up at events, events create more content.

They dig into LinkedIn strategy, and Charlie makes a key point: people don't work with brands, they work with people. OneScreen focuses more on executive and team member profiles than the company page. Charlie shares practical tactics for getting internal buy-in, finding a champion, helping them time-block 15 minutes daily for LinkedIn, and gamifying the process for competitive salespeople.

Jason shares his own experience trying to roll out an advocacy program across an entire sales team (spoiler: it failed) before pivoting to work with two or three champions who were already posting. Once they could show millions in attributed pipeline, executive buy-in came naturally. Charlie adds that you have to get into the psychology of each function, salespeople want commission, CS wants retention bonuses, and CFOs want shorter sales cycles.

If you're a B2B marketer feeling pressure to "do more with AI" or struggling to get internal stakeholders bought into content and thought leadership, this conversation offers a refreshingly practical alternative. Charlie's insights on doing fewer things better, building advocacy programs that actually work, and creating experiences that don't scale will help you cut through the noise and focus on what genuinely drives results.

00:00 - Introduction: Marketing as psychology

02:00 - Why "do more with AI" is backwards

05:00 - Building marketing as a team of one

07:00 - Three-to-five channel strategy

09:00 - The owned media flywheel

11:00 - People work with people, not brands

13:00 - Getting executives to share on LinkedIn

15:00 - Internal advocacy: finding your champion

18:00 - Gamifying LinkedIn for salespeople

20:00 - The blank check question: curated experiences

Connect with Charlie Riley on LinkedIn and on his website charlieriley.com 

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Beyond the Billboard (Apple Podcasts) 

Visit OneScreen.ai

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast 

“We help companies drive growth. We deliver innovative solutions. We’re customer-focused.” Sound familiar? If it does, your positioning probably sounds like everyone else’s, and in a world where ChatGPT can generate endless value props in seconds, that sameness is now a real threat.

In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell talks with Christian Klepp, co-founder of EINBLICK Consulting, about why vanilla positioning is collapsing under AI pressure and how to build differentiation that actually holds up. Christian argues that the brands that win won’t be the ones publishing more AI content. They’ll be the ones doing deeper customer research, crafting a clearer point of view, and using subject matter experts as a defensible moat.

Jason opens with the core problem: AI made generic messaging catastrophically easy to ignore. Christian explains what’s changed recently, buyers increasingly use AI-assisted search and comparison tools that see through fluff faster than ever. It’s no longer enough to say “we have AI.” Buyers want specifics: what is AI doing, how does it create value, and why should they trust your approach?

They also address the pressure many agencies feel as clients expect AI to make everything cheaper and faster. Christian’s take is that AI has no “soul”, no nuance, humor, lived experience, or real context. The winning strategy isn’t volume (100 AI-generated blogs), t’s choosing fewer topics and creating truly insightful, differentiated content that reflects real expertise.

Christian explains why companies end up with bland positioning: fear of alienating prospects, cultures that reward safe messaging, and internal misalignment about what truly differentiates them. He’s seen teams stuck in endless debates, leading to either analysis paralysis or messaging based purely on internal assumptions.

His solution starts with a research strategy. He compares it to building a house - you wouldn’t build without a blueprint. Likewise, you shouldn’t build positioning without deep customer interviews that uncover why buyers chose you, what triggered the decision, and what language they use to describe value. That customer voice becomes the foundation not boardroom opinions.

And if you think you don’t have differentiation? Christian argues it’s there, but often hidden. The answer lives with your customers and SMEs, you need to dig through interviews, sales calls, and objections to find the real demand triggers.

Companies producing generic content will drown in sameness. Use AI intentionally, not as a replacement. Tap SMEs, listen to sales conversations, and build messaging from real expertise. If your positioning could’ve been written by anyone or any AI, this episode is the wake-up call you need.

00:00 - Introduction: The uncomfortable truth about your positioning

02:00 - Meet Christian Klepp and EINBLICK Consulting

04:00 - What's changed since AI went mainstream

07:00 - The agency tension: AI expectations vs actual value

11:00 - Why AI content lacks soul (and why that matters)

14:00 - Why companies default to vanilla positioning

18:00 - Using market research to break internal misalignment

22:00 - What to do when differentiation isn't obvious

26:00 - Differentiated perspective vs being opinionated

30:00 - The cybersecurity firm that got it right

34:00 - Is the media the new competitive moat?

38:00 - What happens to companies that don't adapt

42:00 - Final advice: Interview SMEs and sit in on sales calls

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Christian Klepp on LinkedIn

Visit EINBLICK Consulting

Check out B2B Marketers on a Mission Podcast

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast