In 2008, I was CMO of a 120-person SaaS company, desperately looking for growth.
Trying, testing, learning on how to do it.
Today, having led marketing with revenue responsibility from $4m to $4bn, I can tell you exactly which shifts moved the needle.
๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ #๐ญ: ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐
2008: Generate leads. Gate everything. Hammer the database.
That worked when Marketo was revolutionary (I was in their beta program - it blew my mind).
But buyers changed. They stopped trusting vendors. Started trusting peers.
At Adobe, we shifted our budget from lead gen to community building. Created spaces where customers helped each other. Built advocacy programs that turned users into evangelists.
Result? Pipeline quality jumped 3x. CAC dropped 40%.
Communities scale. Lead lists don't.
๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ #๐ฎ: ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐๐-๐ข๐ป
Stop thinking quarters. Start thinking compounds.
The biggest mistake I see? Marketing in bursts. Big campaign. Big push. Then silence.
Over the years, weโve rebuilt everything around always-on:
Content that answers real questions in forums like Reddit (not just promotes features)
SEO (and now GEO) that builds authority over years (not just keywords)
Social that engages daily (not just during launches)
Your best marketing asset isn't your next campaign. It's what you built last year that's still working.
๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ #๐ฏ: ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฒ๐
I know, I know. I tell people to stop saying "brand."
But here's what actually matters: Having a teachable point of view.
When everyone's feature list looks identical, your perspective is your differentiator.
At every successful company I worked out, we had a clear POV:
โCRM should be more than a database - it should be the engine of customer growth.โ (not just "we have CRM")
โSecurity is freedom - it lets businesses innovate without fear.โ (not just "we do security")
"AI should amplify humans." (not just "we have AI")
Your POV becomes your strategy. Your strategy becomes your story. Your story becomes your valuation.
Three shifts. That's it.
Not massive frameworks. Not revolutionary tech. Not massive budgets.
Just fundamental changes in how we think about growth.
These shifts are harder than they sound because they require patience in a world demanding quarterly results.
But if you want to go from startup to exit, you need to play the long game.