This time on Pipeline Brew, Matt is joined by Andrew Racine, VP of DemandGen and Growth at Writer, the full-stack generative AI platform for enterprises.

Andrew shares the journey he’s taken through the SaaS industry to where he is today, including how he got his start with HubSpot originally as an SDR. His transition to other major organizations such as MongoDB and Fivetran are a reminder of how career paths are seldom linear, especially in marketing.

One consistent highlight from their conversation is Andrew's emphasis on the importance of human connection in marketing, a refreshing take in an era dominated by automation and data-driven strategies. Andrew underscores the necessity of understanding customer needs deeply, distinguishing Writer’s approach to create GenAI applications that can tackle business problems and amplify human effort, not replace it.

Marketers looking to level up their own career should keep an ear out for two pieces of advice: the power of empathy and the long-term importance of brand over short-term metrics. Also stay tuned to hear about baseball, parenting, and the west coast.

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Guest Bio

Andrew Racine is a seasoned marketing professional currently serving as the VP of Demand Gen and Growth at Writer, a leading generative AI platform. With a robust background in demand generation, he has previously held significant roles at Fivetran, Turbonomic (an IBM company), and MongoDB. Racine's expertise lies in helping companies scale their marketing efforts effectively, leveraging his experience from various high-profile organizations. He holds an MBA from Babson College and has a history of driving growth through innovative marketing strategies.

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Guest Quotes

“People want to be heard. They want to be understood and they want to spend their time on things that are going to help them advance. And so you need to have those in mind, not in a selfish way, but in a way that will help them achieve their goals. And if you can help them do that, hopefully they pick you again and it's a win-win.”

“We're just really trying to get people to understand how we can help them solve a specific problem. And then our job in marketing is just getting really good at understanding their problems and those use cases that make it a no brainer to invest in something like generative AI. So that focus – it is fast because we have to keep at pace with the market, and maybe even be a little bit ahead of it. But [also] we need to be focused on what really matters to folks and not get swept up into all the noise.”

“If you're constantly playing those growth hack games, I just think you're constantly going to be looking for more and more silver bullets and it'll take you away from the long term investments. And so, I think fundamentally Demand Gen needs to be looked at from a long term view. And the one thing that I've learned is just the importance of brand and that's not always in the purview of a Demand Gen Marketer.”

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Time Stamps

00:00 - Episode Start

00:55 - Ice Breaker

03:02 - Andrew's Background

06:38 - Early lessons in empathy

07:52 - What is Writer?

11:22 - How Writer stays connected to their customers

13:43 - Leveraging field marketing

15:30 - Drinking your own champagne

18:37 - "Writer Speed"

20:45 - Start with the problem

24:13 - How to maintain the human element

26:39 - Bring it back to brand

33:17 - What's on Tap

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Links

• Connect with Andrew Racine on LinkedIn
• Check out Writer
• Connect with Matt Hummel on LinkedIn
• Check out Pipeline360

On this episode of Pipeline Brew, Matt welcomes A. Lee Judge, Co-Founder of Content Monsta, a content marketing, video, and podcast production agency specializing in the production of content that drives business.

Lee shares his journey from a DJ and photographer to a marketing entrepreneur, emphasizing how his foundation and early experiences led to his successful career in marketing. He also talks about what inspired him to start Content Monsta and the story behind the name.

Throughout their conversation, Matt & Lee discuss the ongoing debate of “Quality vs. Quantity” in regards to content and what strategies organizations should be taking. Rather than saying the two are mutually exclusive, Lee introduces the Quality vs. Quantity (QVQ) funnel strategy, outlining that it’s more important to target each stage of the funnel differently to have the most impact.

Touching upon the crucial topic of sales and marketing alignment, Lee underscores the need for cohesive collaboration between these two departments to create a seamless customer experience. Read more about this in his upcoming book, CASH: The Four Keys to Better Sales, Better Marketing, and a Cohesive Revenue Machine.

Later on, you’ll hear more about Lee’s personal life and what he drinks to avoid a hangover.

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Guest Bio

A. Lee Judge is the Co-Founder and CMO of Content Monsta, a digital content agency. He also serves as Global Digital Marketing Manager, at Hexagon Geosystems. Previously, Lee served as Sr. Digital Marketing Director at B2B customer service software company Jacada, connecting the organization’s Sales and Marketing Operations. Focused on B2B marketing for over 20 years, Lee is both a digital marketing practitioner and creative content entrepreneur. He is a leading LinkedIn video creator, Forbes Agency Council member, and engaging event speaker providing training on digital marketing, content creation, social selling, and sales enablement from the Marketing point of view.

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Guest Quotes

“I realized that there was a gap there in terms of what the market needed. I was a marketer who needed video, who didn't have a $10,000 budget, who needed to do more than just one video a month. And so I launched Content Monsta to begin creating content for businesses at a faster pace, better economy.”

“Quantity doesn't mean you have to lose quality. And fast doesn't mean cheap and low quality.”

“While you're saying: ‘But it wasn't in the studio, but it doesn't have our logo behind this, the quality isn't there.’ Meanwhile, your consumer is consuming all of your competitors' content, and they're not judging it by the type of camera. They're judging it by: ‘Did they move me closer to doing business with them?’ And that's what your competitor is doing.”

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Time Stamps

00:00 - Episode Start

00:47 - Ice Breaker

02:29 - A. Lee Judge's Background

04:32 - From analogue to digital

07:55 - What is Content Monsta?

12:35 - Balancing content quantity and quality

17:29 - Creating content for each stage of the funnel

21:18 - Impressions are everything

23:25 - Repurposing content

27:35 - Lee's advice for others

33:03 - What's on Tap

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Links

• Connect with A. Lee Judge on LinkedIn
• Check out Content Monsta
• Get your copy of CASH: The Four Keys to Better Sales, Better Marketing, and a Cohesive Revenue Machine
• Connect with Matt Hummel on LinkedIn
• Check out Pipeline360

Today on Pipeline Brew, Matt is joined by Greg Verdino, Founder & Chief Operating Officer of CognitivePath, an AI consulting firm that guides organizations through this new era of artificial intelligence.

Greg takes us on a journey through the AI landscape, debunking the myth of AI as a miracle worker and framing it instead as a trusty sidekick that elevates your marketing game only if you stick to the fundamentals. From AI's mimicry potential to the importance of good data, Greg sheds light on how to avoid the AI bubble trap by aligning tech with tactical goals and crafting authentic content that speaks from the soul.

Additionally, Greg and Matt touch on the allure of any shiny new tech tool, and how marketers need to resist the siren call of innovation without intention. It's all about getting back to basics—knowing your audience and letting AI be the Watson to your Sherlock. Greg shares a few tactical pieces of advice on how to channel AI effectively, harnessing its power for genuine transformation rather than getting caught up in the tech hype.

As always, the conversation wraps up with some personal stories, where Greg shares some stories from his parental life and his experience running the content consultancy, VERDINO, with his partner Amanda.

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Guest Bio

Greg Verdino is the author of Never Normal: Uncommon Ideas for Leaders Who Won’t Settle for the Status Quo (2020) and microMARKETING: Get Big Results By Thinking and Acting Small (McGraw-Hill, 2010). And as the co-creator of The Adapt Manifesto, Greg is leading a movement to align leaders around a core set of principles that help organizations reliably and repeatedly adapt to the changing environment in which they operate.

His perspectives have been shaped by 30+ years spent working at the forefront of change. Over the course of this career he has advised hundreds of organizations including more than 50 of the Fortune 500; has served in senior leadership positions at a half-dozen technology start-ups; and has launched innovative products, lines of business, and divisions from within traditional companies. Through his work speaking, writing, and consulting on digital strategy, business transformation, and adaptability he helps leaders build thriving, future-ready companies.

Greg is also the founder of CognitivePath, a strategic AI consultancy that helps organizations harness the transformative power of generative AI to enhance productivity, unleash creativity, improve performance, and create strategic advantage.

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Guest Quotes

“There have been some unreasonable expectations set around what today's generative AI tools are actually capable of delivering.”

“Content is a complex beast. It's easy to put words on paper. It's much more difficult to ensure that those words bring real insight, perspective, point of view, and something new to the market.”

“AI is not a miracle machine, but a mimicry machine. It's been trained on all of the world's data, and what that means is at the end of the day, pure AI content brings to the table a raw average of everything else that's ever been produced.”

“Good content is about answering your prospects or customers’ most burning questions.”

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Time Stamps

00:00 - Episode Start

00:54 - Ice Breaker

01:21 - Is AI a miracle machine for marketers?

05:36 - What makes great content

08:47 - Prediction vs. Generation

11:29 - Your AI is only as good as your data

16:03 - Don't become obsessed with the shiny new object

18:48 - Are we seeing the bubble starting to burst?

23:13 - Greg's advice for marketers looking to capitalize on AI tools today

26:22 - Learnings from CognitivePath's AI Maturity Model

29:49 - What's On Tap

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Links

• Connect with Greg Verdino on LinkedIn
• Check out Cognitive Path
• Connect with Matt Hummel on LinkedIn
• Check out Pipeline360