Matt Kemp

There are certain agencies I consistently hear terrible things about. There are certain agencies I consistently help brands move away from. Still -- I don't think those agencies are 'bad' agencies. They are bad for those clients though. Better for others, presumably. And, even "the best agency in the world" to some of their clients, too. I don't want to work with them. And I wouldn't recommend them. But, the point is this. Finding an agency is easy. Finding the right agency is hard. Agencies should be more selective in who they take on. Agencies should be more graceful when they lose clients. Agencies should stay in their proverbial lane. Brands should communicate their needs better. Brands should be more transparent with their agencies. Brands should invest more into their agencies. *not necessarily $$. Good agencies exist. Bad agencies exist. Great agencies exist. Good to you, may be bad to another. Great is the goal. Ya just gotta find them. ..ya may have to kiss a few frogs first, too.

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Talked with two CMOs today doing $10m and $100m+ in revenue at their companies. Here's their hot takes: 1) The CMO role is back. Years of a focus of growth marketing has left a lot of companies endlessly hunting the next optimization but not building a sustainable, compounding marketing mix. CMOs who can guide a product and brand from first principles are being added. 2) Data-driven is a false god. Most analytics is tablestakes and the advanced stuff is too messy to rely on. Good strategy and creative is always reliable. 3) Many companies they see struggle with marketing have either far too simple or far too complicated marketing tech stacks for their stage. Underrated area of friction holding them back from speed of iteration and quality execution. Team>Martech fit is a thing. 🤔

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Stop Burning Ad Dollars – Enterprise SaaS advertising isn’t just hard—it’s a minefield of wasted spend, wrong metrics, and missed opportunities. But it doesn’t have to be. In my latest blog, "How to Unf*ck Your Ad Spend – Part II", I break down the Five Pillars of SaaS Advertising Success and how you can: ✅ Nail your targeting with precision ✅ Craft creative that actually stops your audience in their tracks ✅ Choose the right platforms for every stage of the buyer journey ✅ Align your ads to real business outcomes (not just clicks) And here’s the kicker: I’m not talking theory. These are actionable strategies built for the real-world chaos of enterprise GTM motions. Whether you’re struggling with attribution, lackluster ROI, or just trying to avoid “that meeting” with the CFO, this framework has you covered. 💡 Pro tip: The quickest win might not be where you think. Sometimes it’s about tweaking what happens after someone clicks your ad. 👉 Ready to stop wasting money and start driving meaningful results? Check out the blog [link in comments]. Let’s fix your ad spend and turn it into a pipeline powerhouse. 💪 #EnterpriseSaaS #B2BMarketing #AdSpend #SaaSAdvertising #ABM #GrowthHacking

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If I could only look at one metric forever to evaluate my new customer acquisition, it would be this one... First Order Value/nCAC 🚨 This is a ratio, not an absolute number, expressed as a percentage. I mentioned this number in my last post about the "eCommerce scorecard." This ratio includes two metrics: 1. First Order Value Profit - Take the average first order value and subtract the costs to deliver this order to your customers. This gives you the first-order gross profit. 2. nCAC - The average amount you are paying to acquire a net new customer. By dividing the former by the latter, you get a number expressed as a percentage. When this number is over 100%, it means that your first order is not costing you a penny. It covers all costs to acquire the new customer and deliver the first order. If it's below 100%, for every dollar spent on new customer acquisition, you are losing some money... For most bootstrapped eCom brands that are in scaling mode, this number should probably always be as close to 100% as possible. This ensures you are in the perfect balance of not burning money and not leaving potential growth on the table. Have you ever heard of this KPI before? 👀 #kpis #ecommerce #newcustomer

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Secrets I learned from working with payment processors... Turns out we’ve been lied to. #1 Most people think they’re getting paid fairly, but it turns out most merchants have hidden fees, tiered fees, OR none-transparent structures Secret insight: request a breakdown of every fee and compare it to their contract #2 Most sales teams are incentivized to upsell not SERVE the customer… GOOD modern-day sales people find solutions to real problems. Secret insight: If you’re getting pitched RUN, make sure they’re understanding your business #3 Automation isn’t enough Without human oversight, there will be fraud, errors in invoices, and payments. Secret insight: Make sure automation is combined with a customer-first mindset This is a universal business lesson.. Make sure to dig deeper, hold your partners accountable, and ask better questions If you’d like recommendations on trusted processors shoot me a DM!

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Great agencies make it easy for a prospect to say yes. Great agencies make it easy for a prospect to visualize getting started. And, if it's hard to say yes -- you're almost always getting a no. I see a lotttttt of agency proposals/plans/RFP responses. The best one's check 2 huge boxes. 1) They are easy to understand. They take complex 'stuff' and dumb it down and make it super palatable. In reading it, a prospect can see that it's an easy button of sorts. It tells a story and makes them feel comfortable in their decision. Like a warm blanket of sorts. 2) They include some sort of 'project start'. The 'if you say yes, then this is how we get rollin' section. It demystifies the 'what next' question. There's a time for complexity and flexing the collective brainpower/muscle of the agency, but, regardless, when it gets to the end, I often see brands selecting agencies who make it easiest to get started. If you're not making it super easy for a client to say yes, and visualize getting started... ...by proxy, you're making it hard on them. And, that's not getting you hired.

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Vertically-niche-focused marketing agencies can market and sell much more efficiently than the rest. On the Metrics & Chill podcast, I've interviewed a number of marketing agency owners who are focused on a market niche. One of the latest is Andi Graham, Managing Partner at Big Sea. They "empower mission-based organizations to amplify their purpose through impactful storytelling." During our podcast we compared her agency's own sales & marketing performance against a benchmark of 130+ other HubSpot partners. (Access the data here: https://lnkd.in/epN-QaHn) As I said on the podcast, with a relatively small team of 18 people, they are "punching above their weight class." As you can see on the video below, one area where they are outperforming is with their landing page submissions. When I asked her why she thinks they are doing so well vs the rest of the group, she revealed that she had one specific campaign that takes them about a month to execute that generates a large portion of their leads for the year. Yes, the YEAR!!! While I guess other agencies (who are not fully focused on working with non-profits) could duplicate it, this campaign works really well for them because they are. The best part? It's brilliant in its simplicity. What's the campaign? Every year they give away $30k worth of marketing services to one lucky mission-based organization. Why does this work for them? They get loads of non-profits completing the application form. They also get applicants all year round by simply changing the landing page call-to-action to say, "Notify me when applications open for next year." Plus, they have a blog post that ranks well in Google which lists out marketing grants available to non profits. Of course, they feature their own at the top. Add in what I would consider a modest, but purposeful effort towards marketing each month, they can nurture some of the rest of those applicants into paying clients. ----- For the last 9 months, I sorta stopped pushing my agency owner friends to go niche. When we developed our free course (https://lnkd.in/eGH_8qpR) that teaches professional services firms how to market and sell more effectively using KPI and business process benchmark data, we even went so far as to simply lay out the pros and cons of running a benchmark study for a niche vs a broader group of companies, instead of suggesting that everyone should build a niche one. Even though I wanted to push agencies to build a niche group, I was tired of people fighting us on it. But, then over the last few months, I've seen more agencies niche further. We've also observed that when niche agencies launch a benchmark study with our free benchmark software (https://lnkd.in/efK_5xKf), they're more successful. So, I'm back on this bandwagon again. PPS. You can hear the full podcast episode here: https://lnkd.in/e-TUEtNj PPPS. Big ups to Hatch (hatch.fm) on the podcast production.

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I've made a concerted effort to collect testimonials from the brands that hire agencies I introduce them to. This is the 2nd time I've helped Mike Kaplan, CMO at AVOXI find an agency. There's a few consistencies among the testimonials I receive. - Speed - Quality If you talk to a few of the RIGHT agencies, the time spent finding the right vendor is drastically reduced. Marketing moves fast. CMO's have a million things on their plates. A long drawn out agency search is draining. Speed kills.

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Cheers to saving $$$ and generating impactful Amazon ad campaigns with Otrera. 🥂 If: 🛍️ Your ads are NOT effectively converting potential customers into buyers 🔍 You’re unsure how to optimize keyword bids to maximize ROI 📉 Your brand is not getting enough exposure in the competitive Amazon landscape Then Otrera is right for you ✔️ Try it now in the link in our bio. 🔝

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How do you master master the use of personas and buying groups? We wrote a 2000-word How to blog post on this. The link is in the comments ⬇ Here is the TLDR version. Understanding entire buying groups is foundational for effective Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in healthcare tech marketing. ABM, in particular, requires a deeper understanding of how decision-makers function as a group. Key Components of ABM Persona Development: 1️⃣ Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)   - Define the characteristics of your ideal customer organization 2️⃣ Map out the buying group   - Typically 6-7 people, sometimes 10+ in larger organizations   - Key roles: Champions, Decision-makers, Influencers 3️⃣ Create detailed personas   - Focus on champions and primary decision-makers   - Include role, responsibilities, goals, challenges, and decision-making influence 4️⃣ Understand buying group dynamics   - Describe how the group works together   - Identify shared challenges and success metrics Creating The Buyer Journey Break down the journey into four stages: 😕 Problem definition 🔎 Solution definition ⚖ Vendor evaluation 🤝 Decision-making For each stage, identify questions and issues each persona is addressing. Gathering Information for Persona Creation: 👉 Internal sources: Sales team, Customer success, CRM data 👉 External sources: Customer interviews, Industry reports, Social media 👉 First-party research: In-depth buyer interviews, Win/loss analysis Putting It All Together: 1️⃣ Develop targeted content strategies 2️⃣ Create personalized engagement plans 3️⃣ Tailor campaigns to specific roles and journey stages 4️⃣ Align sales and marketing efforts Persona development is ongoing. Regularly refine your personas as markets and buyer behaviors evolve. Read the blog post for a more detailed set of instructions #AccountBasedMarketing #ABM #B2BMarketing #BuyerPersonas #MarketingStrategy #HealthcareTech

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"We track 57% more events than a leading competitor" -- a bold statement esp when the competitor is named Elevar in sales calls. Listen -- it's no surprise there have been new providers jumping into the conversion tracking space. It's a HUGE need. In the end it's great for brands and forces innovation. But not all solutions are created equal. Anyone can offer a CAPI or Klaviyo solution...but it could be feature, compatibility, and data poor. Back to 57% more tracked events claim. 1. Our promise, er, guarantee, for years has been tracking 100% of purchase conversions. We display, alert, and provide money back guarantee on this promise. You can't send > 100% unless you are duplicating events. 2. Allow me to educate on Klaviyo event tracking (and likely more I don't know of): a) Klaviyo has an app that installs client-side tracking. Depending on the browser, the cookie(s) Klaviyo uses can last 24 hours up to 90+ days. If a user at any point submitted an email or SMS then this cookie (while valid) will connect activity (like Add to Carts) to Klaviyo profiles to power flows, etc. ❌ There is no incremental value when a vendor like Elevar, or anyone else, sends these events to Klaviyo (b/c Klaviyo already matched) b) Klaviyo adds identifiers to inbound links from emails. Ex. user gets newsletter => clicks link in email => visits website. The user activity is also connected at this point, even if the original cookie from a) had expired, because this has now been reset/updated in this new session. ❌ There is no incremental value when a vendor like Elevar, or anyone else, sends these events to Klaviyo (b/c Klaviyo already matched) c) Klaviyo has built-in integrations with apps that collect user data and use these interactions + integrations to connect data between the two. Ex. User opts into Attentive popup => email and session info synced to Klaviyo ❌ There is no incremental value when a vendor like Elevar, or anyone else, sends these events to Klaviyo (b/c Klaviyo already matched) Now a few other points: d) A service tries to GUESS who the user is (aka "Anonymous User/ID" detection). They will then capture events and send this to Klaviyo with the GUESS of who the user is. ❌ This is bad. You have to be 100% accurate with user data. If you are only 95% accurate then that means 5% of your profiles are being corrupted and worse you may be spamming the wrong people impacting deliverability rates, etc. Event Fingerprint.js is not 100% accurate. e) A service uses an ID and builds profiles around this user (ex. email submitted, etc). When service recognizes this returning user, events are sent server-side to Klaviyo with profile data to power flows, etc. This is Elevar's Session Enrichment. ✅ This is the incremental value brands get above Klaviyo tracking -- In short, simply comparing Event Counts is shortsighted and misleading. Compare REVENUE LIFT through Klaviyo Segments over 30 days (or different pixels on Meta)

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Who killed your physician-locator-funnel to connect patients to clinics? Colin Cook knows... He's also: - a brilliant writer - a skilled technical builder - a giant hammer of a gentleman If you're interested in deep medtech business insights AND occasional zombies, give him a follow. #medtech #medicaldevices #medicaldevice

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Ben Perkins and the &Collar team have built out a powerful, profitable full-funnel direct mail program to overcome Meta's increasing costs and volatility, dropping email open rates, & create genuine connections with customers. Here's how they're successfully hitting all stages the funnel: Acquisition: Sending postcards to new male + female audiences via PostPilot's hyper-targeted AcquisitionAI lookalike prospecting. 4x+ ROI on COLD prospecting. Retargeting: Driving email subscribers to make their first purchases with MailMatch (No mailing address? No problem—you can still send postcards to warm leads) for less than the cost of a Meta retargeting click. Retention: Post-BFCM retention, "Sunset Winbacks" (customers who haven't purchased in 1yr+), VIP winbacks, and more. Plus, they're sending handwritten cards (using our handwriting robots that use real pens) to their VIPs to extend genuine thanks. No CTAs or discount codes on them, either. As Ben says, "Customers just get pounded on the head with notifications and CTAs from all directions. It’s been a one-way street for too long. We’re trying to open up a “two-way commerce” where we can do things like simply say “thank you” to our VIPs." Those sincere thank-you notes drove a 15x+ ROI, and the rest of their results were killer, too. Direct mail works. Across the whole funnel. And on a personal note, huge fan of Ben and the company he's built. Genuinely great guy and love seeing him succeed. Let me know if you want a custom strategic plan based on what we see working for our thousands of brand partners. You'll be live by Q3 and scaling by Q4.

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Not all CMS platforms are created equal. How do I know? We've powered agencies and marketing technologies alike, where websites were just a means to support the broader goals of a franchise’s business. If you're relying on a single agency or platform to handle your paid ads, social media, listings, reviews, websites, content, advanced SEO—all of it—you’re doing it wrong in 2025 and beyond. The franchise space comes with unique complexities and technical requirements, from corporate to local management, and native integrations with industry-specific tools. These alone demand technical expertise—not to mention design, testing, Google updates, and more. Do you really think your websites are reaching their full potential in their current setup? Are your franchisees happy with their websites? Join us, we were built for franchise. #franchise #websites

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If you're thinking Clay is "a cold email tool" or "a spreadsheet on steroids," take a look at their most recent case study. You can use Clay to improve damn near every aspect of your Go to Market operation. 1. Improve match rates in ad platforms 2. No code, super simple data scraping 3. Personalize assets (landing pages, emails, etc...) at scale - write the prompts for each column once, auto personalize for every company/lead added thereafter... https://lnkd.in/dK4nkk4B

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Billboards are bigger than ever. "Up until a few years ago, out of home advertising was measured in isolation. It was measured by, ‘We put the billboard up. What was the percentage lift in same-store sales?’” Chris Gadek, CEO of out-of-home advertising platform AdQuick, said. “Now we have the ability to demonstrate that out of home performs better or worse than — in most cases we’re finding better than — TV, radio, paid social, you name it.” Out-of-home budgets, Gadek says, are going to increase because customers can finally quantify its value. Read more of Rani Molla's great piece on Sherwood News with great insights from OAAA's Anna Bager, PJX Media's Rick Robinson, and Shingy >> in the first comment Photo: Colossal Media

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The new TCPA rules are going to hit both the debt space and the business funding (MCA) space extremely hard. This is why it's more crucial than ever to generate your leads from digital opt-ins rather than churning and burning through endless amounts of "trusted" data sources. I've said it before and I'll say it again— Paid ads are an inevitability. If you think otherwise you're so far back in the stone ages that I'm surprised you've had time to read this in your pursuit of inventing fire.

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Action Items for the Growth Marketer: Leverage AI-driven data insights to optimize both inbound and outbound marketing strategies. Balance your efforts on new customer acquisition with strategies focused on customer retention and expansion. Let JoeMarketing assist you with your PLG motion. Learn more about our GTM, PLG, and SLG services here, or contact me here. #PLG #ProductLedGrowth #GTM #GoToMarket

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