The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

#376 | Eight marketers. Two minutes each. One live bracket to crown the best-performing paid ad play. We brought back the Blitz Exit Five Live session format - this time for the Paid Ads Playoff: a head-to-head paid ads showdown, where marketers pitch their single best ad from 2026 in real time to our live voting audience. The plays cover a lot of ground: scroll-stopping creative for an unfamiliar category, testing TV as a full-funnel channel, measuring out-of-home, a 9-minute LinkedIn video that beat every short clip, incentivized demo offers, ChatGPT ads, fighting Google's AI Overviews in paid search, and the most creative ad creative you've ever seen. Presenters include Alexander Goodwin (Fingerprint), Stefanie Wlotzki (SurveyMonkey), Jake Newby (Lendio), Anthony Blatner (Speedwork), Dylan Wingrove (Pacvue), Kenna  Rooney (EasyLlama), and Shlomo Genchin (Unbored.com), co-hosted by Jess Cook of Vector.
Timestamps

(00:00) - - Welcome to the Paid Ads Playoff format

(05:32) - - Making an unfamiliar B2B category scroll-stopping on paid social

(08:04) - - Testing TV as an always-on demand channel

(10:23) - - Measuring out-of-home ads with control markets

(13:03) - - Why a 9-minute LinkedIn video beat every short clip

(15:48) - - Q&A: targeting, TV attribution, and matching creative to the platform

(25:49) - - Incentivized demos and gift-card offers that convert

(28:32) - - Testing ChatGPT ads and shifting budget out of Google

(32:40) - - Fighting back against Google's AI Overviews in paid search

(34:50) - - The soap opera ad and turning boring software into a story

(48:13) - - Tracking signals and structuring content for a long-form ad

(55:05) - - The analogy framework behind the year's best-performing ad

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:
Webflow - A website platform built for the agentic web, helping modern marketing teams build fully custom sites—no developer needed—that perform in AI search. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
Markup AI - A content quality platform that scans your content against brand voice, preferred terms, messaging standards, and AI-search readiness before it goes live, right inside Google Docs. Learn more at markup.ai.
Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive.
Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.

Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link.

***

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

#375 | If you can double your ad's click-through rate, you can usually cut your cost-per-click in half. Anthony Blatner, founder of Speedwork, sat down with Matt Carnevale to walk through how he's using AI to run LinkedIn ads at scale for clients right now. The conversation covers connecting Claude Code directly to the LinkedIn Ads API to automate bid management and reporting, building personalized ad campaigns, landing pages, and lead magnets for dozens of segments at once, and using account-based marketing principles to get LinkedIn's algorithm to reward you with lower costs. It also gets into avoiding content that reads as obviously AI-generated, running competitor conquest campaigns, and building target account lists for niches LinkedIn doesn't have a clean filter for.

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:
Webflow - A website platform built for the agentic web, helping modern marketing teams build fully custom sites—no developer needed—that perform in AI search. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
Markup AI - A content quality platform that scans your content against brand voice, preferred terms, messaging standards, and AI-search readiness before it goes live, right inside Google Docs. Learn more at markup.ai.
Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive.
Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.

Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link.

***

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

#374 | Most B2B marketers think brand means bigger budgets. This episode shows otherwise. Dave sits down with Ryan Narod, VP of Marketing at Rippling, to talk about what it actually takes to build a brand people recognize in B2B. Ryan walks through the real campaigns behind that shift - from scrappy iPhone videos and webinar promos to high-production customer films and their Super Bowl commercial. Ryan breaks down how he built a content flywheel, why injecting real humans into every piece of content matters, and how they measure brand impact without losing accountability to pipeline. It's a practical look at going from growth-only marketing to a brand with real personality, with examples you can steal no matter your budget.
Timestamps

(00:00) - - Today's guest: Ryan Narod, VP of Marketing at Rippling

(02:44) - - What Rippling actually does and why HR, finance, and IT live under one roof

(07:00) - - Why brand building starts with content and story, not billboards and TV ads

(09:00) - - Building a content flywheel out of interviews, written pieces, and video

(13:10) - - Getting the brand story straight across personas and the C-suite

(18:30) - - Marketing plays in action: from scrappy iPhone videos to big-budget customer films

(27:09) - - How to build a brand on a startup budget without Rippling's resources

(29:33) - - Comparing production value head to head: a big-budget campaign vs a lo-fi one

(32:29) - - How Rippling measures brand marketing with mixed media modeling and incrementally testing

(39:49) - - Inside the Super Bowl ad and the reverse timeline it took to pull off

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:
Webflow - A website platform built for the agentic web, helping modern marketing teams build fully custom sites—no developer needed—that perform in AI search. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
Markup AI - A content quality platform that scans your content against brand voice, preferred terms, messaging standards, and AI-search readiness before it goes live, right inside Google Docs. Learn more at markup.ai.
Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive.
Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.

Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link.

***

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

#373 | Dave sits down with Rebecca Busk, CEO and Partner at Kvalifik, to talk about what it actually takes to show up in AI search. Rebecca breaks down the three types of prompts you need to rank for - foundational, core, and must-win - and why most AEO content fails because it's too generic to ever get cited. They get into the technical side of AEO like crawlability and schema markup, why Reddit and community platforms carry more weight than LinkedIn in AI citations, and a ten-point checklist for content quality you can run against your own site today.
Check out Webflow's free AEO assessment here.
Timestamps

(00:00) - - Thank you to Webflow

(01:59) - - Why AI search is quietly rewriting how B2B buyers find vendors

(02:42) - - From agency employee to owner: buying an agency

(05:19) - - How to build marketing expertise without a marketing degree

(09:56) - - What AEO actually means, and a real example of how it narrows buying decisions

(13:38) - - Why you shouldn't write AEO content with AI

(17:04) - - Rethinking content strategy: what buyers actually ask before they buy

(22:05) - - Crawlability, schema markup, and a technical checklist for showing up in AI search

(31:12) - - Ten things to check for content quality right now

(38:18) - - What builds real authority in AI search, and whether PR still matters

#372 | Dave sits down with Jay Schwedelson, founder of subjectline.com and Guru Media Hub, one of the sharpest tactical minds in email, webinars, and live content. Jay explains why so many B2B marketers get live content wrong from the very first step, and how small shifts in packaging can completely change who shows up and who doesn't. They dig into the psychology behind when people actually open and engage with email, why shorter almost always wins, and the habits that quietly keep you out of the spam folder. Jay also shares the specific email and send-day habits he swears by, a few of his go-to tricks for getting people to actually reply, and how he thinks about testing your way to what works for your own audience.
Timestamps

(00:00) - – Why "webinar" might be costing you registrations

(01:12) - – Meet Jay Schwedelson and the virtual event he built to 30,000 people

(06:26) - – A simple trick to get more people to actually show up live

(08:44) - – Why giving everything away on-demand might be a mistake

(10:23) - – The case for live, human connection in an AI-saturated world

(13:00) - – The send times most B2B marketers are sleeping on

(15:18) - – How to package and name your content so people actually want it

(22:02) - – The newsletter habit that makes people stick around

(26:09) - – Small email tweaks that quietly boost open rates and deliverability

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:
Webflow - A website platform built for the agentic web, helping modern marketing teams build fully custom sites—no developer needed—that perform in AI search. Learn more at webflow.com/for/exitfive.
Markup AI - A content quality platform that scans your content against brand voice, preferred terms, messaging standards, and AI-search readiness before it goes live, right inside Google Docs. Learn more at markup.ai.
Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Learn how to deploy agents on your marketing team at Agents in the Mix. Learn more at optimizely.com/exitfive.
Walker Sands - An integrated B2B marketing and growth services agency that helps marketing leaders turn strategy into measurable business impact through their Outcome-based Marketing model. Learn more at walkersands.com/exitfive.

Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link.

***

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