The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

#366 | The B2B buyer has gone antisocial. No form fills, no hand raises, just self-directed research through Google, Reddit, and AI before they ever talk to sales. In this session, you'll hear from three marketing pros about how they built a LinkedIn influencer program that doubled branded search volume, why ungating top-of-funnel content drives more meetings - not fewer, and how to build an LLM visibility page so AI models correctly answer questions about your product. Plus the case for measuring trust in hours of content watched, and much more. Featuring Judy Kimball (Consensus), Hunter Talpas (Tekmetric), and Mason Cosby (Scrappy ABM).
Timestamps

(00:00) - - How the B2B funnel has flipped

(05:52) - - Why brand is the new demand

(08:23) - - Running a LinkedIn influencer program that moves pipeline

(13:19) - - Why ungating content drives more meetings, not fewer

(15:57) - - Building for AI and LLM visibility

(19:00) - - What an LLM visibility page looks like

(24:48) - - Using async video to build trust at scale

(29:14) - - Why seven hours of content watched beats 28 touch points

(36:26) - - How to get leadership to ditch the MQL model

(42:00) - - Measuring demand gen by stage of the buyer journey

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.

Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Most B2B influencer programs fail for the same reason: no defined success metrics before the first post goes live. Brianna Doe, founder of influencer marketing agency Verbatim, breaks down how to actually build an influencer program that maps to pipeline — not just impressions. She covers her "Creator Engine" framework, how to tier creators by authority and reach, and why 90 days is the absolute minimum for a meaningful pilot. If you're trying to convince leadership this channel works, this is the playbook.
Timestamps

(00:00) - - Intro

(01:00) - - Why influencer marketing is no longer optional in B2B

(03:00) - - What most companies get wrong about influencer marketing

(07:00) - - Lessons B2B can borrow from B2C influencer campaigns

(08:00) - - The creator engine: how to actually structure an influencer program

(13:00) - - How to choose the right creators for your goals

(15:00) - - How to align your team on what success actually looks like

(22:00) - - The 90-day influencer pilot framework

(25:00) - - How to coach leadership on offers, ROI, and longer B2B sales cycles

(34:00) - - How to discuss risk with clients before handing over creative control to influencers

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.

Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Dave sits down with Eoin Clancy, VP of Growth at AirOps, to talk about what's working in B2B marketing right now. They get into the rise of the content engineer role, how to use AI to produce high-quality content without creating AI slop, and why webinars have become AirOps' top growth channel in 2026. Eoin breaks down the three signs that content is AI slop, how AirOps runs their webinar funnel end-to-end, and how they follow up with attendees without ever pushing for a demo.

Timestamps

(00:00) - - Intro and episode overview

(01:36) - - What AirOps does and the content engineer role

(07:10) - - Why good SEO principles haven't changed in the AI era

(11:34) - - AirOps' growth story: 10x revenue in 12 months

(15:01) - - The challenge of using AI without creating slop

(18:09) - - Three signs your content is AI slop

(22:08) - - How to capture and maintain your brand's tone of voice

(25:02) - - Why subject matter expertise is the best content ingredient

(31:24) - - Why webinars are AirOps' #1 growth channel in 2026

(37:18) - - How AirOps plans topics and sources webinar guests

(38:40) - - The webinar tech stack: Luma, HubSpot, Zoom, and Clay

(39:09) - - Personalized follow-up strategy and signal scoring

(43:42) - - How to build internal buy-in for a long-game content strategy

(48:49) - - How to fill a webinar without gating anything

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.

Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#363 | Louis Grenier joins Dave for a conversation about what it takes to stand out in B2B marketing when everything feels the same. They get into how people really decide to buy, why most B2B brands look and sound identical, and the marketing fundamentals that hold up no matter what's changing around them. The kind of conversation that reminds you why you got into marketing in the first place.
Timestamps 

(00:00) - - Intro

(04:35) - - Surviving cancer at 36 and what it taught Louis about doing work that matters

(11:31) - - Why marketers fail when they try to educate the market instead of meeting it

(16:57) - - The case for leading with one thing even when your product does ten

(19:00) - - You can't create demand you can only position into demand that already exists

(24:29) - - Why the most memorable brands use assets that mean nothing on purpose

(31:09) - - What a real point of view is for and why most companies get it wrong

(32:08) - - How to get leadership to say yes to bold unconventional marketing ideas

(42:53) - - Why pain points don't drive purchases and what actually pulls the trigger

(47:57) - - The case for saying the same thing a thousand different ways

(55:07) - - Why strong marketing fundamentals matter more in an AI world not less

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.

Visit hatch.fm to learn more

#362 | Dave sits down with Eddie Shleyner, founder of VeryGoodCopy.com, to talk about why great marketing copy can't be generated — it has to be written. They get into why AI writing feels flat, what separates copy that moves people from copy that just fills space, and why the process of writing is where the real work happens. Eddie also shares how he accidentally built one of the most-read copywriting newsletters on the internet and what he's learned about writing for humans after years of studying what makes people take action.

Timestamps

(00:00) - - - How Eddie accidentally discovered copywriting while writing job ads

(00:19) - - - Why marketers are starting to push back on AI-generated content

(00:20) - - - Why the best copy gives readers less — and makes them feel more

(00:25) - - - Marketing is a human profession because empathy can't be prompted

(00:34) - - - Where AI actually helps: research, not writing

(00:38) - - - How VeryGoodCopy started as a private Google Doc no one was supposed to see

(00:43) - - - Why AI writing tells you how to feel instead of letting you feel it

(00:44) - - - The experiment: Eddie wrote the same story as AI, word for word, to prove a point

(00:46) - - - What inspired writing has that AI writing doesn't

(00:52) - - - Why shortcuts in the writing process produce worse work, not faster work

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.

Visit hatch.fm to learn more