Lynn Bruno

I don’t think I can express enough the importance of setting client expectations up front…early and often. If you start off a new client relationship delivering double, triple, or more because you’re hoping to establish better rapport and trust, is there a downside? I see arguments on both sides… On the one hand… 1. You can show off some great work fast. 2. The client feels like you’re really invested in their needs and success. 3. You get a lot down early and feel like you can taper off later. But on the other… 1. They can expect that level of service all the time. 2. You lose money without KNOWING that it’s a long term client. 3. It can begin to look a lot like over promising…and you can’t survive if you over promise and over deliver. Not sustainable. I’m very much a proponent of doing great work for clients, but doing great work that is agreed upon by both sides, planned out well, and communicated throughout. If you deliver 3 months of work in the first month, what about those next 2 months? If you have an easy client, maybe they’re ok slowing down. In my experience…there aren’t a lot of those. #marketingagency #agency #clients #clientwork #marketing

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If you are in any form of marketing, product, or sales role at a PLG company, please read this post from Kira Klaas 🙏🏻 Is it a bit self-serving—considering my role? Sure. But that doesn't make it any less valid. The gist, in her words: "1. You cannot separate your product from your brand. They don’t exist without each other.  2. PLG, like any growth motion (sales-led, marketing-led), will hit a ceiling—and investments in both branding and brand marketing are necessary to overcome the hump of these inflection points." #brandmarketing #b2bmarketing

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While I don't post about every client I'm working with, I do want share that I've joined SendSquared as their Fractional CMO. Why? And why share this out? Because these days I'm choosing who I work with very thoughtfully. Working with leaders like Nicolas W. is a sincere pleasure. (You may have heard his crazy story recently on the Alex & Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals podcast.) Going through that type of life incident and launching a software company takes grit. I find what he has done admirable. His team is committed to overachieving, prioritizing their partners, and exceeding expectations -- not to mention operating with a high level of integrity. I'm excited to support them through my branding and marketing superpowers. This stage of brand growth is hard and I love a good challenge. :) So for all the other CRM brands in the vacation rental industry, I'm sorry I can't work with you at the moment because I don't work with two brands in the same space at the same time. Oh, wait. There aren't any others. :) #fractionalCMO #CRM #vacationrentals https://lnkd.in/enX7KBGX

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This guide by Michael Applebaum is one of the best product marketing guides that I've seen written. Concise and practical. Thanks to Stage 2 Capital as well. #ProductMarketing #PMM

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Moments like these are ones you live for as an author. This C-suite reader emails to tell me how my book, "STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World," has helped him: "Recently, during a crucial negotiation with a vendor, I remembered your emphasis on active listening. Instead of pushing my agenda, I focused on truly understanding their needs. This resulted in a serious discount on their services in exchange for a case study on my firm using the product. In a world filled with books on communication, yours stands out. The simple yet powerful message of listening first has become a core principle in my approach, even at the C-suite level of a national law firm. I now keep a white business card with 'STOP TALKING' on my desk as a constant reminder. Thank you for writing such a profound book!"

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Every leader should have a quick hit list of words (or phrases) to remember to help guide day-to-day work. The only rule? Write them in sentence form. Easier to remember! Here's our quick list for the marketing team at Jellyfish. I've stolen more than a few from teams over the years. We share before ready.  We celebrate outcomes, not projects. We have difficult conversations.  We surprise and delight. It’s how we focus, drive change, and launch our ideas. It’s how we elevate marketing to an influencer, not an order-taker. Nobody wants to be an order-take Shoutout to the best team in the biz!

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What do you want to know from these folks? Who do you want to meet in person? I'm headed to San Francisco because I have my list... Topics at the inaugural Beloved Tech Brands conference are below, but there's still time to provide feedback into the specific content we cover. 15% off with the discount code CD15. There's also a 2-for-1 deal if you're interested, DM Maya Spivak. Topics: 🔹 Unlocking Product-Led Sales Magic Elena Verna - PLG Expert, Dropbox, Miro, Malwarebytes, 🔹 Building a Beloved Brand in a Sea of Also-Mes Camille Ricketts, Former Head of Marketing at Notion 🔹 Definitive Frameworks for B2B marketing Emily Kramer, MKT1 founder, Former Head of Marketing at Carta 🔹 Using Brand Marketing as a competitive battle tool Scott Holden, CMO, Brex 🔹 The Path to the C-Suite - Me :) 🔹 Signal-based marketing in the age of the 'dark funnel Kevin White, Head of Marketing, Common Room 🔹 The Full Spectrum Comms Org Ulysses King (he/him), EVP archtype Caitlin Epstein, VP of Communications, Twilio 🔹 Getting Results with Analyst Relations Christine Wan, Director of AR Splunk (Love her! We worked together) 🔹 Building and Scaling Product Marketing Tanya Khakbaz, Head of Product Marketing, Stripe 🔹 Sales and Marketing, best friends forever Linda Lian, CEO and Co-Founder, Common Room 🔹 Breaking down out-of-home advertising - not just for big brands! James Salwasser, OUTFRONT Media 🔹 Debugging Developer Marketing Morgane Palomares, VP of Marketing, Vercel 🔹 Unsexy B2B brands need emotional marketing too Sarah Scharf, VP of Marketing, Vanta Let us customize our talks to what people really want to see! Comment here and I'll bring it up at our pre-meet :) Beloved Tech Brands (BTB) conference, May 15 in SF at China Live. 🎟️ Tickets: https://www.btbconf.com/ #Marketing #PLG #Inpersonisback *Oops! I stole this image from Kevin. That's actually him. I'm not a handsome blonde man at this time.

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When I first joined Frontify and the partnership team, I quickly got used to using Gong for all my external calls. The funny thing is, more often than not, the people I'd speak to would also get very excited about it and ask if they could get it too (mind you, this was BEFORE the big AI hype). So naturally, when Udi Ledergor 🏳‍🌈 invited marketers to talk to him and learn more about how to leverage Gong for marketing, I was excited to hear more. While talking to Udi, I was reminded again about what a great tool Gong is (yes, I work for a SaaS company, and I love software, so what) and how easy it is to leverage for direct feedback at scale from your customers and prospects. Thanks so much for the insightful session, Udi!

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I've been receiving an inordinate amount of messages from individuals on behalf of their CMO, and I would love for it to stop. It goes something like this: "Hey! Would love to connect. My CMO and I thought your profile was interesting, and we would love to partner with you. We have an amazing opportunity. Are you interested?" I also receive messages on behalf of the CEO. If you are outsourcing the outreach, it shows the project's lack of importance and has the exact opposite effect. It pushes me away. It's easy to build a process that allows the CMO and CEO to do the outreach themselves. Peer-to-peer outreach can be extremely successful if done correctly.

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The waves of mass layoffs continue to roll in—many in the media and tech industries. And the abrupt manner in which they're being done is gut-wrenching. I'm sorry if you're reading this and are one of the many who have been impacted. I also keep hearing from freelance writers who are abruptly losing clients because their editors are laid off without any notice. Sometimes the editors are cut off from email immediately and aren't able to email the freelance teams they were managing. 🤯 This is leaving freelancers scrambling to wrap up their projects, get paid, and replace the client. Has this happened to you? I hope not, but I did experience it at the start of 2022. I'm going to share my experience and 4 tips on how freelancers can mitigate the risk in tomorrow's ATFW jobs newsletter (plus 30 new freelance writing gigs from the week). Join the list here: https://lnkd.in/g-jPqnCX P.S. Also, here are a few other resources for finding media jobs as a freelancer or employee: Kaitlyn Arford shares 100+ freelance opportunities for writing and beyond each week through her newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gqHZFgdC Harlow has a job board with hundreds of freelance opportunities https://lnkd.in/gTvuqPAA Mandy Hofmockel shares journalism jobs regularly (and cute pictures of her dog 🐶 ) https://lnkd.in/gYCvfczH Qwoted has a job board now for the media industry https://lnkd.in/guF5gdYG

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The facts do the selling. With a little opening compliment and a strong closing call to action, I made a great B2B email sandwich. I really enjoyed reworking the email to make it as concise as possible. Because time is precious! ✍Behind the Copy Here's the thinking behind my B2B SaaS spec email. https://lnkd.in/eYifrHk4 📢Tone of Voice An informative tone commands respect and an understanding undertone connects with the business owner. 🌟 Subject Line An intriguing question inspires an emotional response and the email is more likely to be opened. 📰Body -Further emotion is triggered with a personal compliment. The owner trusts that you care about their business. -Case study data from well-known, successful brands qualifies your business's claims. -Another question brings it back to the owner's business and helps them to see this as a reality for them. 📢 Call to Action Commanding urgency with 'today' but reducing pressure with a short 15-minute chat. A link to the calendar also makes it easy and quick to schedule a call. Are you in need of concise, effective B2B emails? 📩 Contact me for warm yet fact-driven emails that prompt businesses to action.

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I spent Memorial Day Weekend building an email marketing agency for female content creators <3 At SoftGirl Solutions we… -Optimize LP’s for Conversions (CRO) -Implement Automations that SELL -Monetize Newsletters by selling Ad Space -Create Intriguing Lead Magnets and Opt In Gates to grow Email Lists Because too often I see influencers on the verge of burnout. They’re creating content, managing socials, and nurturing their community which is three jobs in it of itself. Even worse are the agencies managing content creators who are not implementing this strategy… or just doing a sh*tty job. They’re sending out promos once a week (if that), not providing value to their audience, and straying from the authenticity of content creators personal brand (ew) Our Email Marketing Agency helps content creators scale their Personal Brand so they can live their SoftGirl Life… because Email is a full time job ;) Links are in the bio if you wanna learn more👩🏼‍💻 #digitalmarketingagency #emailmarketing #influencermarketing #affiliatemarketing #CRO #SEO #softgirl #marketingagency #digitalmarketingstrategy

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Team alignment is critical to driving growth. It's one of the reasons I am so passionate about product and marketing team collaboration. Working toward shared goals is an important part of this, so I'm excited to introduce a revamped version of Amplitude's popular North Star Playbook! This playbook covers why teams should align early on a North Star metric, and how to use your metric to drive product success. Dive in: https://lnkd.in/gHMkrUTw

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Recently, I read a blog post that detailed on the return of content marketers. I couldn't agree more on this thought process. The essay delved upon the loss of senior content experts, many moving to product marketing and leadership roles. Personally, I'm too a B2B marketer who started out in content (writing ebooks, case studies, blog posts, social snippets, and what not). I took a leap into product marketing because of my love for software products (my engineering appetite led me here) and my passion for marketing. In this AI era, for a B2B SaaS product to work, we need specialized, extremely helpful, and aesthetically appealing content. That means, once a content-turned product marketer person can now flock to content anytime - they will be welcomed with full hands. Also, many of the marketing leaders I follow have had the chance to work in content marketing and product marketing. Both experiences are invaluable. I'm really happy to have this skillset mix and rising marketing ladder is something I look forward to every day. Becoming a wholesome B2B marketer is my aspiration, and my short-term goal is to master product marketing before I juggle to content. And finally, I knew I could write well from my 6th grade, but I never thought that writing leverage can put me in a marketing track that I love and adore. That brings us to my marketing rant! Hit me up if you need some help choosing content over product marketing or vice versa. #B2Bmarketing #contentmarketing #productmarketing #contentwriter

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If Liam Moroney is 100% right and I disagree with him on something, does that make me wrong? 🤔 I think it’s a pedantic point, if that counts for anything. 🤷‍♂️ The big rocks of modern B2B marketing have become clear. Liam talks about brand marketing, which is the foundation from which all profitable growth is built. Chris Walker has talked long and loud about how modern demand gen functions operate effectively. Charlie Saunders and Crissy Saunders will show you how to make all that work in whatever hot mess of a martech stack you’re running. But we’re still not all speaking the same language. Specifically, Liam doesn’t like the term “demand creation” and I absolutely disagree with him. In his recent MarTech article (link in comments), Liam says, “...there is an admirable and passionate desire to win MQLs by a persuasion effort [...]. Some people are calling this demand creation. The idea is to provide so much value through thought leadership and clear messaging that you will create demand for your product… [I]t still suffers from the same linear thinking that … audiences are in a passive state until you move them into an active one through persuasion.” My contention is that you can “create demand” in a non-linear fashion. Demand creation is simply the function of pulling your brand awareness (because you ARE listening to Liam and working on brand now, right?) into a specific situation that leads to action. How often have you been working through some process and thought “this sucks” and immediately moved on with your day? The solution provider in this case would activate demand by building on that brand awareness and associating it with that very specific JTBD so that instead of just moving on with your day, you take some step to alleviate that pain. Maybe it’s just an email to your team asking them to look at alternatives. Or a question posted in your favorite networking group. Or now it’s an agenda item at your next team meeting. The point is, organizations have momentum, especially big enterprises. And “demand creation” is often required to nudge that momentum in your direction. Because often your biggest competitor is "doing nothing."

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I'm going to be hiring for our marketing team next year - and here's the advice I'm following to make sure I DON'T write a 💩 job description Paul Stansik has helped make a hire or two (or hundreds) for his portfolio companies So when I had him on our podcast, one of the topics I knew we had to get into was how they attract the right people + set appropriate expectations for the job And when he boiled it down to 3 question framework, I couldn't wait until I could use it myself for some of the upcoming roles I'll be hiring for The 3 questions? 🤝 What does this person need to do to establish immediate credibility and trust with the team? ⭐️ What are the 3 things that they need to do in the first 6 months to be considered a success in the role? 🤓 What are the essential skills that they need to hit the ground running? If you can speak to these three things in your job description, it'll be better than 99% of what's out there as it's specific, relevant, and tailored to what the hiring manager needs in this role uniquely for the organization - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And for those curious, here are the 4 roles we'll be looking to add to our marketing team over the next 6-12 months: 💙 Community Marketer ✏️ Content Marketer 🍾 Field Marketer 🏴‍☠️ Product Marketer

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If you are SaaS tech founder looking to build a marketing function. This is the perfect article to read. Look for a CMO that is truly excellent at product marketing, content marketing and growth marketing. They are rare. Equally, if you are a CMO in an early-stage tech start-up the article has a perfect framework on how to build your team out (internally, or outsourced). https://lnkd.in/eZs-RUjc

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