Why Your Go-To-Market Plan is a Red Flag

If I was the Content & Social Manager at a bootstrapped SaaS startup*, here's how I'd think about content marketing: *I am 😅 (Hi, Financial Cents 👋 ) ➖ Turn internal processes into public content. We're not hiding our work; we're broadcasting our expertise. ➖ Monitor relevant conversations in our niche. This can be on Reddit, Twitter, etc. When someone asks "What's the best alternative to [expensive enterprise tool]?" on a Tuesday, I'm answering with a detailed comparison post by Thursday. Speed beats budget every time. ➖ Build content flywheels, not one-off campaigns. A 30-minute conversation can spin into 2 weeks of content across multiple channels. ➖ Become the unofficial journalist of our niche. Cover industry updates, give recommendations, product launches, and conference highlights. (You should check out the Get Work Done newsletter 😉) ➖ Exploit our founder's personal brand ruthlessly. Their LinkedIn posts, conference talks, and industry hot takes become content assets because personal brands also scale faster than company brands. ➖ Mine customer support and sales conversations for content ideas. ➖ Scale through community, not ads alone. Find 5 -10 Facebook/Reddit communities where our ICPs hang out and become genuinely helpful there. Answer questions, share insights, and never pitch directly. ➖ Document failures publicly. Share what didn't work in our product during the building phase, marketing experiments that flopped, and why. Failure content builds trust faster than success stories because everyone knows success stories are cherry-picked. ➖ Build content partnerships with complementary tools. I'll co-create content with non-competing SaaS tools that serve the same audience. Split the work, double the distribution, and share credibility. ➖ Repurpose obsessively. One product demo becomes: YouTube tutorial, LinkedIn carousel, Twitter thread, blog post, email newsletter section, and sales enablement asset. Different formats, same core insight. ➖ Track leading indicators that predict revenue. Demo requests from content, trial signups by content source, and sales conversations that mention specific content pieces. ➖ AI, AI, AI. I'll use AI as a force multiplier for drafting the boring stuff faster, spin out content variations in half the time, pre-structure blog posts or newsletters so I’m not starting from zero, etc. ➖ Encourage my team to post more on social media, positioning them as definitive experts in their space. -------- This post was inspired by Ryan Law 🥳

Pay-Per-Click marketing. Like downing three whiskeys to calm your nerves before meeting your girlfriend's parents, it can backfire. Sure, it might get you in the door, but now it's not just your rapport with Tracy's step-dad that's on the line. PPC has its place - retargeting runs or awareness spikes - but ask yourself: what kind of attention are you really creating, and is it sustainable? Yes, we used to fight wars, but ad fatigue is a real thing. Contrast it with content marketing.  You're not showing up on someone's front steps uninvited and interrupting their dinner like a pushy Jehovah’s Witness. Plus, with over 615 million devices now making use of ad-blocking software, you won't even show up on most people's ring cams. With content, you invite them into your home. You play host. You provide the value. Think of it like this. You're at a party. If PPC is the loud, thrill-seeking type who makes a splash on the dance floor, only to disappear into the back of a cab the moment the music stops, then content marketing is their esteemed counterpart. Going around, person to person, making them feel understood. Content marketing keeps working in the background to build trust and credibility, and organic traffic through SEO and social sharing. You don't need to keep throwing money at it. Because it's much easier to turn readers, subscribers and followers into customers. Stop chasing clicks, start making friends.

7 reasons I wouldn't run paid ads without organic social media: 1. Your feed is your first impression. People click your ad, then check your profile. If it's empty or outdated, they won’t stick around. The higher your ticket item (i.e. a car vs. a smoothie) the more truth there is to this. 2. Connection leads to conversions. Ads get attention, but organic posts build trust. And trust is what actually drives sales. 3. Don’t pay to send people to a dead page. You wouldn’t send traffic to a blank website, so don’t do it on social either. Tell me you wouldn't do this PLEASE. I actually see a lot of clothing brands do this. They'll run an ad for women's golf clothes, but their feed is 99% men's golf clothes so it doesn't give me much reason to stick around unless I'm shopping for my husband. Which I'm not. 4. Test content before you boost it. See what performs well organically first, then use that content in your paid ads. I also highly recommend trial reels for testing out new content. Not every account has access to trial reels yet, but I'd say 95% do. 5. Better engagement = better ad performance. When people interact with your organic posts, your paid ads often perform better too. Plus the cost is lowered. 6. Your organic content keeps working. Ads stop when your budget does. Good organic content stays searchable and shareable. 7. Consistency shows credibility. If you only post when you're selling something, people notice. Organic content builds long-term trust. Bottom line: Paid ads can work, but without organic content, you’re leaving money and trust on the table. Post with purpose and run ads that actually convert, but let's stop ignoring organic social media. Interested in getting social media right for your business? Message or email today!

400K Views Per Video With ZERO Paid Promotion: The Organic Strategy That Shocked Everyone. Six months ago, Tecno Mobile Lebanon faced a challenge every tech brand knows: how do you cut through the noise in a market dominated by giants? 📱 The Problem: Users weren't connecting with their devices' intuitive features. Great technology, weak emotional connection. Our Bold Approach: Instead of showcasing specs, we showcased solutions. The "Tecno's Tips and Tricks" campaign focused on one simple truth—people don't buy phones, they buy what phones help them do. The Strategy That Changed Everything: - Short, engaging videos demonstrating real-world phone versatility - Content created by actual users, for actual users - Organic social media focus—zero paid promotion - Relatable scenarios that made viewers think "I need to try this!" Results That Stunned the Industry: • 400,000+ views per video (organically!) • 250% boost in brand awareness • Doubled user engagement across all platforms • Transformed Tecno from "another phone brand" to "the helpful tech friend" The Game-Changing Insight: Users don't share product features—they share life hacks that make them feel smart. When you teach instead of sell, viral happens naturally. What Made This Campaign Special: 1️⃣ Authenticity Over Production: Real problems, real solutions 2️⃣ Education Over Advertisement: Tips that genuinely helped people 3️⃣ Community Over Company: User-generated momentum The biggest lesson? Sometimes the most powerful marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all. Have you seen organic content that made you completely rethink a brand? What made it stick with you? 👇

Running paid ads on LinkedIn vs. Creating content consistently: let’s compare. Most business owners think the only way to get traction on LinkedIn is to run ads. But let’s break it down: 💰 LinkedIn Ads ▪️ Average CPC (cost per click): $5–$9 ▪️ To generate 100 clicks/month, you’re looking at $500–$900 just to get traffic to your page or offer. ▪️ Want meaningful leads? Most companies spend $3,000–$10,000/month before seeing real ROI. ▪️ And the second you stop paying? The attention stops. 📝 Consistent Content ▪️ Cost: $0 (unless you hire help) ▪️ The investment is time - showing up, posting 2–3 times a week, engaging with your audience. ▪️ Over time, every post builds equity. A single piece of content can keep generating visibility and leads weeks or even months later. ▪️ The reach doesn’t vanish when you stop - your content library keeps working for you. The reality is: Ads buy attention. Content builds trust. Neither is “easy.” Ads require budget discipline. Content requires consistency and patience. 👉 Choose your route. Choose your hard. One drains your wallet if you’re not careful. The other requires you to show up when it feels easier not to. But if you’re looking for long-term growth, skipping the content piece means you’ll always be paying rent on attention instead of owning it.

🚀 Organic Marketing vs Paid Marketing – Which One Wins? Organic Marketing 👉 What it is: Getting attention naturally (without paying for ads). 👉 How it works: Creating helpful content (blogs, videos, social posts) that people discover over time. ✅ Pros: Builds long-term trust & credibility. ⚠️ Cons: Takes time and consistent effort. 🔎 Examples: SEO, social media, content marketing. Paid Marketing 👉 What it is: Paying to get your brand in front of the right people. 👉 How it works: Ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. ✅ Pros: Fast results with precise targeting. ⚠️ Cons: Stops the moment you stop paying. 🔎 Examples: PPC, social media ads. Quick Breakdown 👇 🔹 Organic = Free (but slow), long-term, builds trust. 🔹 Paid = Budget-driven, instant, short-term boost. 💡 The smartest marketers use both: Organic = like growing your own food 🌱 (takes time, lasts longer). Paid = like buying from the store 🛒 (fast but costs money). 👉 Together, they create a strong foundation + quick wins.

the bar for B2B content got raised. and most companies are starting to feel it. last week, the CEO of a cybersecurity firm told me they make content. then followed up with AI blog content on their website. we are entering a new AI era of SEO with the need to consider the GEO layer. companies like Hubspot are publicly sharing a huge decline in impressions and/or clicks. you need to consider building an integrated content ecosystem & being in online touchpoints scraped by LLM tools. here's what the winning c-level execs are doing in 2025: Alina from Chili Piper? radical transparency.  building in public. sharing the immigrant founder journey while juggling family, company, culture.  her posts feel like diary entries that happen to drive revenue. HockeyStack? they went full cinema. their exec team publicly committed to budget more for cinematic video content. i still remember their creative from 3 months ago. can't recall a single company that did a Canada Day announcement (even though many did so) Exit Five? content flywheel mastery. strategic podcast guests who amplify their reach bring their own communities.  every episode amplifies through their networks.  result: fastest-growing B2B marketing community right now. Close? they gamified LinkedIn. competitive video series between trusted creators. their sales leader audience eats it up. shares it. talks about it. memorable in a sea of boring "professional" content. Cognism? comedy meets B2B. low-production skits that nail their ICP's daily struggles. entertaining first. educational second. pipeline third. notice the pattern? they're not making commodity content. they're creating experiences. they took the DTC creative playbook and made it work for B2B. while you're still debating video budgets, they're building binge-worthy series. the uncomfortable truth: in 2025, commodity content = invisible content. you want to keep your market share? you better start climbing. because your buyers' feeds just got a lot more interesting. and "professional" doesn't cut it anymore.

Generating weekly leads and thousands of views from content is the dream. We helped our client, Robert Heineke, do exactly that by doing one simple thing Roasting his audience. In one of our strategy sessions, we came up with a simple idea: To start a video series called: "Roasting my followers' LinkedIn profiles" And it crushed. It generated… 🔵 Thousands of qualified views 🔵 Tens of inbound leads 🔵 And multiple 5 figures in revenue In just a few episodes Here's how it delivered predictable results: - He selected people from his own audience - He recorded a long-form breakdown of their LinkedIn profiles. - He analyzed their headlines, bios, content, and positioning turning his expertise into a public consulting session. This simple format created a powerful trust loop: 🔵 It proved his expertise before ever asking for anything 🔵 It gave personalized, high-value content to people already following him. 🔵 It created a predictable lead-generation engine he could repeat every single week. He landed new clients without ever needing to sell them directly. This diagnosis format works for almost any B2B offer. Just find a problem you can publicly solve for your ideal customer. - Paid Ads Agency? → Break down someone's ad copy, funnel, or media plan. - Brand Strategist? → Analyze their homepage visuals, messaging, or positioning. - Copywriter? → Disect their landing page or offer stack. - Ops or Systems Consultant? → Review their workflows or delegation structure. You don’t need to “create content” anymore. Just diagnose problems publicly and let the right people raise their hands. ____________ As many people have been asking for this, now launching this format myself. Every week, I’ll break down someone's entire content strategy, from your funnel, and channels to your content and profiles. I’ll show what’s working, what’s broken, and what to fix. Want to be the first one I break down? Comment "Funnel" and I’ll add you to the list.

Paid media or organic content? It’s not either/or, it’s when and why. Paid media is perfect when you need: - An instant traffic spike (product launch, timed event, urgent promo) - Highly targeted reach to a niche in-market audience - A testbed for messaging before you go big with organic But here’s why organic content will always win the long game: 1 Staying Power Paid is a rented billboard, turn off the budget and it’s gone. Organic is an asset library that compounds in reach, authority, and trust. 2. Multi-Layer ROI Ads can get you leads. Organic gets you leads, builds brand, attracts talent, earns investor confidence, and strengthens partnerships. 3. Broader Impact Paid only hits the <5% of your ICP ready to buy right now. Organic warms the 95% who will be in-market, plus your future hires, investors, and partners. 4. Brand Health Paid asks for something. Organic gives value, earns goodwill, and makes people want to hear from you again. 5. Compounding Results Paid is short-term fuel. Organic is a snowball, the longer you roll it, the bigger the impact. 6. Sales Enablement Paid stops when the budget runs out. Organic keeps showing up in investor decks, recruitment pitches, and sales conversations years later. So, use paid for speed, organic for strength. If you want your brand to survive the quarter, run ads. If you want it to thrive for a decade, build the content machine.

Most coaches & consultants think organic and paid are separate strategies. They're dead wrong. Here's what millions of dollars in ad spend taught me: Meta is just like a giant scoring system. Every action some takes gets points - ex.: → Like = 1 point → Comment = 2 points → Profile visit = 3 points These "points" are signals telling Meta what type of person engages with your content. When someone likes your post, Meta learns: "This person is interested in this topic." When you run ads, Meta uses those signals to find your first audiences - the people who already showed interest in what you're doing. Zero organic signals = expensive ads to cold audiences Strong organic signals = cheaper ads to warmer prospects I see coaches obsessing over viral posts that have nothing to do with their business. Wrong approach, you're confusing the AI brain or "Pixel". Better: Create lower-reach content that your IDEAL customers engage with deeply. Quality signals > Vanity metrics When organic and paid work together, magic happens: Organic builds the relationship and feeds the algorithm quality signals. Paid amplifies your best content to more of the right people. We've scaled businesses from $1M to $5M in 12 months using this approach. Try doing that with organic alone. Good luck. But here's the flip side: Pure paid eventually plateaus. Why? Your warm audience only sees ads (not relationship-building content). People get ad fatigue. They want value, not constant pitches. The winning formula: → Organic: Add value, build relationships, create signals → Paid: Amplify your best content, ask for the sale Let organic do the giving. Let paid do the asking. Most coaches pick one or the other. The smart ones use both. Are you building organic signals before you advertise?