#338: LinkedIn Advertising: What's Working Now in 2026 (with Davang Shah, VP Marketing at LinkedIn)

Dave is joined by Davang Shah, VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, for a conversation about what actually works with LinkedIn ads right now. They cover why brand and performance aren't two separate strategies, how to think about measurement beyond last-click attribution, and why 95% of your buyers aren't in market at any given time. Davang also shares the data behind thought leader ads, what most marketers get wrong about the buyer journey, and how he's leading his own team through the AI shift.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - The stat that explains why B2B marketing is so hard
  
• (03:14) - Davang's background: 17 years at Google, now VP Marketing at LinkedIn
  
• (03:41) - The state of B2B marketing in 2026 and what CMOs actually care about
  
• (06:22) - How AI search is changing buyer behavior (94% of B2B buyers use LLMs)
  
• (09:01) - Why LinkedIn became a real social network, not just a professional one
  
• (10:25) - Thought leader ads: what they are and why they outperform single image ads
  
• (13:29) - Why brand and performance aren't two separate things
  
• (16:40) - How to build a full-funnel LinkedIn ads strategy
  
• (21:26) - The measurement problem: 211-day deal cycles and 22 decision-makers
  
• (23:20) - CRM sync, Conversions API, and Company Intelligence explained
  
• (30:01) - How AI will change the way marketers run ads (and what LinkedIn is building)
  
• (36:12) - Making the case for keeping marketers: creativity, human connection, and trust

Join 50,0000 people who get our Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive.

Optimizely - An AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Get a free, personalized 45-minute AI workshop to help you identify the best AI use cases for your marketing team and map out where agents can save you time at optimizely.com/exitfive (PS - you'll get a FREE pair of Meta Ray Bans if you do).

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive

‍Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand generation agency that helps high-growth cybersecurity, DevOps, and enterprise software companies drive more pipeline through AI SEO, paid media, and go-to-market engineering. Visit compoundgrowthmarketing.com and tell them Dave sent you.

***

TThanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

• They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
• Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.
• Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Dave [0:00:01]: You're listening to the Dave Gerhardt Show.

Dave [0:00:02]: Did you know that the average B2B deal picks two hundred and eleven days and involves twenty two people, That's why this stuff is complicated.

Dave [0:00:24]: That stat came from my guess this episode, Davang Shah.

Dave [0:00:28]: He's the VP marketing Linkedin and running their Linkedin ads business before that, he spent seventeen years at Google working in B2B.

Dave [0:00:35]: He came on the podcast talked about what's actually working right now with Linkedin ads, how to think about measurement beyond the last click.

Dave [0:00:42]: We also talked a lot about organic and brand and performance.

Dave [0:00:45]: Plus I asked them about his team how he's thinking about Ai as a VP of marketing himself.

Dave [0:00:50]: Enjoyed this conversation mostly about Linkedin ads with Davang Shah.

Dave [0:00:54]: Alright.

Dave [0:00:55]: Excited to be back.

Dave [0:00:56]: Fresh new episode with you My guess is Davang Shah.

Dave [0:00:59]: He's VP marketing at Linkedin works on the Linkedin ads business, and I just said to you behind the scenes.

Dave [0:01:04]: I couldn't think of a more topic squarely in the venn diagram of things that people are interested if they listen to this podcast.

Dave [0:01:10]: Thanks for giving us some time.

Dave [0:01:12]: Thank you for coming on.

Dave [0:01:13]: Tell me about who you are?

Dave [0:01:14]: What do you do at Linkedin and just your background to get here also at school.

Davang [0:01:17]: Sure.

Davang [0:01:17]: So.

Davang [0:01:18]: So as it's Dave.

Davang [0:01:19]: You mitch My name is Davang .

Davang [0:01:20]: I work at Linkedin as a VP of Marketing for our Linkedin Marketing solutions business.

Davang [0:01:25]: What does that mean?

Davang [0:01:26]: My job is to help advertisers understand how to use Linkedin ads products to grow their business.

Davang [0:01:33]: And in particular, very much focused on how we help advertisers drive the bottom line.

Davang [0:01:37]: So is that pipeline?

Davang [0:01:39]: Pipeline velocity deals closed to revenue.

Davang [0:01:41]: That's where we spend our our time energy and effort.

Davang [0:01:44]: I spent twenty plus years in the B2B space in another ten or so years in the B2c space.

Dave [0:01:51]: Very cool.

Dave [0:01:52]: What'd did you do before this?

Dave [0:01:52]: You have some good companies on on your record?

Davang [0:01:54]: Was at Google for around seventeen years, working in B space on advertising before that.

Davang [0:01:59]: I was at Ford Motor company worked in the B space.

Davang [0:02:03]: And then had a brief stint internship at Pro and Gamble.

Davang [0:02:06]: So fortunate have to work at some bigger brands and learn along the way.

Dave [0:02:11]: I was gonna save this for later, but since you mentioned this, I'm, I kinda wanna make...

Dave [0:02:14]: Maybe me set this stage here.

Dave [0:02:15]: You have a lot of experience working with, you know, B2B CMOs, B leaders, twenty years and B to b, you know, Google now Linkedin.

Dave [0:02:23]: We're recording this in March of twenty twenty six.

Dave [0:02:27]: How would you describe the state of B marketing or the state of what CMOs and VP vps care about right now.

Dave [0:02:32]: But your point of view.

Dave [0:02:33]: Yeah.

Davang [0:02:35]: Yeah.

Davang [0:02:35]: I'm I'm happy to share.

Davang [0:02:36]: I think from the conversations Had with CMOs, most important is how we're driving Roi.

Davang [0:02:42]: How are we driving bottom line outcomes for the business.

Davang [0:02:44]: The types of conversations that CMOs are happening.

Davang [0:02:47]: I are happening at the Cfo level.

Davang [0:02:50]: Right?

Davang [0:02:50]: They're getting called into room, and they wanna be able to prove that the work they're doing is driving real impact.

Davang [0:02:56]: I said it earlier and I mean...

Davang [0:02:57]: That means pipeline.

Davang [0:02:58]: That means pipeline, velocity deals closed in revenue and.

Davang [0:03:01]: I think you have to think about that in context of the world that marketers are operating and now, which is very diverse.

Davang [0:03:07]: If you think about B2B b buyers, seventy percent of them now gave or or Gen z and millennials.

Davang [0:03:12]: You think about the type of content they consume, they're leaning more into things like video.

Davang [0:03:16]: And then when you think about who influences them thought the traditional type of work we had have done in the past, very much sort of grounded in people who have deep expertise, people have a point of view, creators who established themselves as being authentic in providing real world perspective on the topics they're interested in.

Davang [0:03:35]: So it's a drastically different world and it's been in the past.

Dave [0:03:38]: Yeah.

Dave [0:03:38]: That's interesting.

Dave [0:03:39]: So it's, like, my brain obviously goes to right to Ai and, like, what that's gonna mean.

Dave [0:03:44]: But you mentioned this...

Dave [0:03:45]: There has been this big disruption.

Dave [0:03:47]: The whole, you know, creator economy.

Dave [0:03:49]: I mean, our whole business at Exit Five is, like, built off of this kinda influencer community, But CMOs now and in B2B b are navigating, like, hey, which influencers do we need to work with?

Dave [0:03:58]: What's our social strategy?

Dave [0:03:59]: What's our you know, we need user generated content, Like, that's a big shift from how it kinda always used to be work with Ga and Forrest, you know, you still gotta run those plays, but the whole game has changed.

Dave [0:04:10]: And then, you know, Ai is the other thing on top of.

Dave [0:04:12]: But, while you said that, next week, we're going to...

Dave [0:04:14]: Will be recorded, but we're all going to Arizona.

Dave [0:04:16]: We have this marketing leadership retreat we're doing in in Arizona, there's a hundred B2B CMOs and Bp most like mid market Saas companies.

Dave [0:04:24]: I'm gonna be there.

Dave [0:04:25]: And we surveyed them just to figure out, like, you know, what's top of mind right now.

Dave [0:04:29]: Number one is Ai, not surprising.

Dave [0:04:31]: And everyone's under pressure.

Dave [0:04:33]: Basically, every responder was, like, I'm under pressure to learn how to, like, do more with less.

Dave [0:04:38]: The board and CEO kinda just want us to, like, say Ai in a lot of these examples to say that we're doing it.

Dave [0:04:43]: But then the other big one is and we obviously summarize this with Ai, but it was, like, we need to grow more spend less and then prove that marketing didn't it.

Dave [0:04:52]: Right?

Dave [0:04:52]: So it's not just grow, but we need to grow and prove that marketing was a key player in this game.

Davang [0:04:58]: I think it's interesting if I can share a couple pieces of insight and perspective based on the conversation for Ai is at the forefront.

Davang [0:05:04]: And for all the reasons you articulated.

Davang [0:05:06]: Of course, there the efficiency how you're gonna drive more with less.

Davang [0:05:09]: That's sort of consistent, Right?

Davang [0:05:11]: Especially in a world where there's margin pressure and you're in those conversations with Cs, there's also just the real world of what's happening with buyers.

Davang [0:05:18]: Right?

Davang [0:05:18]: So if you think about B2B buyers I mentioned seventy percent plus or, Gen z and Millennials, we also know that when you're going to search It's different now.

Davang [0:05:27]: Right?

Davang [0:05:28]: So sixty percent of searches are zero click searches now.

Davang [0:05:30]: If you look at where people are going to get information, ninety four percent of B2B buyers are getting information from Los.

Davang [0:05:38]: And so how do we as marketers think about influencing those L?

Davang [0:05:43]: It's really important to make sure the content we create the messages that we wanna deliver are being delivered in a way that the L value and.

Davang [0:05:52]: And what is in the insights that we have or, it's a content that comes from trusted voices.

Davang [0:05:57]: It's content that comes from people with expert perspective and we're seeing and and there's some data that just actually was released yesterday from profound that Linkedin is a place where that's happening.

Davang [0:06:07]: Right, it makes sense intuitively, you've got a platform with one point three billion professionals, seventy million companies, a hundred million verified users, the conversations that are happening on the platform are really what drive B2B to b.

Dave [0:06:21]: And so then it's interesting because it...

Dave [0:06:22]: There's like this shift now, but if you rewind back, I was one of the earlier people who was using Linkedin as, like, a social network.

Dave [0:06:30]: As my blog, basically like, sure.

Dave [0:06:33]: Here's what I had for Lunch.

Dave [0:06:35]: Of whenever everyone's like, what's this idiot posting is launch on link.

Dave [0:06:38]: This is...

Dave [0:06:38]: Excuse me.

Dave [0:06:38]: This is Linkedin.

Davang [0:06:41]: Enough.

Dave [0:06:41]: But it really shifted.

Dave [0:06:42]: You know, last four or five years, everyone that's been successful in the platform is using it that way.

Dave [0:06:47]: Like, I look at your page.

Dave [0:06:48]: Right?

Dave [0:06:48]: You have almost thirty thousand followers and you a lot of content.

Dave [0:06:51]: So Linkedin has also become this...

Dave [0:06:53]: It's not just this professional network, but it's actually this social network where you write about work stuff, and it turns out the people who work at B2B companies, whether that's, you know, Hr finance, sales, with accounting, marketing, manufacturing like, we'd like to use the Internet and talk about what we're doing at work.

Davang [0:07:13]: People care.

Davang [0:07:13]: Right?

Davang [0:07:13]: The reality is if you think about a macroeconomic environment and everything that's happening right now with the world of work, people need a place to go where they can learn where they can share a perspective where they can also build businesses and connect with buyers.

Davang [0:07:28]: And there really is only one platform where you can do all of that in a way, that's validated, authentic and coming from people, real people with real perspectives, and know we've seen that, and that's resulted in, I think a lot of growth for our platform.

Davang [0:07:43]: And importantly, for us as the people who are responsible for creating that platform and maintaining the entire of that platform is making sure that those types of perspectives are getting surfaced and that we're helping marketers understand, that's actually what people want.

Davang [0:07:58]: And when you give it to them, as opposed to the highly polished type of work that maybe we thought we had to do in the past.

Davang [0:08:04]: That's actually what generates the best results.

Dave [0:08:07]: Yeah.

Dave [0:08:07]: I mean, so many people in our audience the last couple years.

Dave [0:08:11]: I don't know when they actually came out, but They're running thought leader ads.

Dave [0:08:14]: Right?

Dave [0:08:15]: And so the content and thought leader ads is not coming from the company page.

Dave [0:08:18]: It's coming from a person at the company.

Dave [0:08:21]: We're actually doing I just did a kicked off a little contest.

Dave [0:08:24]: We a small team, we have six people on our team in Exit Five.

Dave [0:08:27]: But we have all these testimonial videos from our members, and I wanna get our team to post them and so I just made up a little contest for social.

Dave [0:08:35]: I said, hey.

Dave [0:08:36]: Here are these testimonial videos.

Dave [0:08:38]: I want you to write a post with the test...

Dave [0:08:40]: Pick one of your favorite, And I can tell you which use pick your favorite testimonial video.

Dave [0:08:43]: Write copy on Linkedin explaining, you know, why Exit Five is great and why people should join Exit Five.

Dave [0:08:49]: And then everyone's gonna submit theirs this week, and I'll pay you a cash price for whoever has the most engagement.

Dave [0:08:54]: Right?

Davang [0:08:55]: Love it.

Dave [0:08:55]: Wanna But the real reason we're doing it is because that also then is four or five unique ads that we can then give to, you know, we can then put our body behind because we run thought leadership as we as an agency that helps us do this.

Dave [0:09:07]: Those can now be four or five thought leader ads.

Dave [0:09:10]: And so what's really cool about this as a strategy is it, like I love how it mar organic and paid.

Dave [0:09:16]: So we're gonna, like, do something we're gonna get benefit from that organically, then we're gonna promote it and target.

Dave [0:09:20]: I think that's what's really interesting about.

Dave [0:09:22]: This slice of ads I think people really like.

Davang [0:09:25]: That's is right.

Davang [0:09:25]: And and there's two, I think insights to what you just shared.

Davang [0:09:29]: One, there's that authenticity that people are creating the content that people who live and breathe and built Exit Five.

Davang [0:09:35]: Right?

Davang [0:09:35]: So there's an authenticity to what they're creating to, the type of format that you're using using things like video to help communicate what people are feeling and what they're experiencing and why they love, Exit Five and why others should be part of the community that actually translates quite well.

Davang [0:09:51]: So when we look at thought leadership ads and how they perform, they perform at a rate of roughly two point two higher clip through rates compared to single image ads or that have them maybe the same objective.

Davang [0:10:03]: So we know that people find them more engaging, and we know that people find results.

Davang [0:10:08]: And there are a number of examples, one of the companies that we've worked with that's had great success in smoke.

Davang [0:10:14]: It's a a legal tech company, they need to to figure out how to build brand or mental availability.

Davang [0:10:19]: And so what do they do?

Davang [0:10:20]: They leveraged thought leader ads paired with testimonials similar to what you are doing with Cure and Dave, they saw a hundred and eighty six percent increase in ro ads, how and an eight point seven x increase in video completion rates.

Davang [0:10:32]: So I keep hammering this because it matters, Dave, it's people are authentic, sharing real perspective and making sure it's reaching the right audience, it's a pretty simple formula, but when you master, we're seeing the impact.

Dave [0:10:45]: What I think, there's also like a level of...

Dave [0:10:47]: I like the creativity that you can have here because you could write.

Dave [0:10:51]: So there's the obvious play, which is, like, hey, we have some set of creative, and we want to spread that.

Dave [0:10:57]: Through the Linkedin ad network to companies that we wanna see it.

Dave [0:11:00]: But then there's also this, like, when you get a social post, it has a lot of comments and engagement.

Dave [0:11:05]: My brain goes to, like, oh, my god, Should be an ad because when people see something like the social proof of the lots of likes, lots of comments, lots of engagement, you can now play this other game, which is, like, CEO write something interesting.

Dave [0:11:18]: It kinda goes viral in your niche.

Dave [0:11:20]: Let's go update that post, drop a link to, like, subscribe to the CEO's newsletter.

Dave [0:11:25]: Then let's go boost that with paid.

Dave [0:11:27]: And so I'd like, marrying those two approaches and we're seeing this.

Dave [0:11:30]: I had them, Ryan Na, who's is the VP marketing at rip on a couple weeks ago.

Dave [0:11:34]: And he was saying, like, our best performing creative right now is, like, having our social media person go down to the street, They were doing a webinar with, like Heinz ketchup up, and so they went down to the street, found a hot vendor in New York and just filmed the message and said, like, hey, tomorrow at two Pm, you know, with the iphone and that becomes not just organic but also brand.

Dave [0:11:53]: It's like brand form, the combination of the two.

Dave [0:11:56]: Which just...

Dave [0:11:56]: Really cool.

Davang [0:11:57]: Yeah.

Davang [0:11:57]: If you don't mind, I'd love to talk about that.

Davang [0:11:58]: I did...

Davang [0:11:59]: You know, we often fear about the distinction and I believe it's genuinely, like, an artificial distinction between branded and performance but.

Davang [0:12:05]: All of the data that we have indicates super clearly that.

Davang [0:12:09]: If you wanna be successful, You have to build your brand.

Davang [0:12:11]: You have to become viable.

Davang [0:12:13]: You have to become a trusted brand that people will stand behind.

Davang [0:12:16]: You have to be top of mind when people are in the process of buying and to do that, you actually need to be present and we also know from our data that ninety five percent of our B2B b buyers aren't in market at any given time.

Davang [0:12:28]: Only five percent are.

Davang [0:12:30]: So you have to build that awareness, you have to invest at the top end of the funnel so that when people are ready They know your brand.

Davang [0:12:37]: You've leveraged trusted voices.

Davang [0:12:39]: You've created a connection with them that's authentic.

Davang [0:12:41]: You've leveraged creators who are helping them see their real value in the products and solutions you offer.

Davang [0:12:47]: And then that, helps warm and nurture those leads so that they're able to close at a later point in time.

Davang [0:12:52]: Brand performance aren't two distinct things.

Davang [0:12:54]: They're sort of very intricate connected and the more we try to pull them apart.

Davang [0:12:58]: I think the more you see, your brands tend to be less successful.

Davang [0:13:01]: Yeah.

Davang [0:13:02]: And, you, I think there's a point in time, Dave, where this happens more never.

Davang [0:13:05]: And that's when things get tough and people are thinking about how they need to optimize, spend.

Davang [0:13:10]: They tend to focus on bother the funnel objectives and that's probably right they...

Dave [0:13:15]: It's just...

Dave [0:13:15]: It's so easy to be like, we need to optimize spend right now.

Dave [0:13:18]: You know, everything is tight.

Dave [0:13:19]: Everything has to be direct response, but then it's, like, if we only do that, we don't ever get the other stuff.

Dave [0:13:25]: I just know from our own data.

Dave [0:13:27]: Two years ago, we were spending no money on Linkedin advertising, and things were kind of flat.

Dave [0:13:33]: And then if you map just when we started increasing our spend on Linkedin ads to also our branded search direct search, views to my.

Dave [0:13:44]: Like, all of the kind of other brand metrics.

Dave [0:13:46]: It's not a perfect match, but it's pretty damn obvious that, like, there's a lift there that's beyond people actually clicking on our ads.

Dave [0:13:52]: And then I I have to think about that math because it's people might listen to our podcast.

Dave [0:13:56]: They might subscribe to our newsletter.

Dave [0:13:59]: They might then join the community.

Dave [0:14:00]: They might go to internet.

Dave [0:14:01]: We don't have all those things like equally wait out, but it's just so obvious.

Davang [0:14:05]: Yeah, Dave, at the end of the day, it's not about, like, sort of one format another.

Davang [0:14:08]: I'm fully aligned in the sense that there are a lot of things that are gonna drive Exit Five's growth right.

Davang [0:14:13]: I I strapped your newsletter.

Davang [0:14:14]: I'm was really intrigued by the way, by the sixteen things you wish you learned before you became a CMO took away a couple lessons that I shared with my team.

Davang [0:14:22]: But, you know, I learned from that, I listened to the podcast.

Davang [0:14:25]: And then on top of that, you know, I might be exposed to your perspectives on Linkedin.

Davang [0:14:29]: All of those things are important to help nurture me throughout the funnel so that I end up maybe being part of the community and coming to one of those events that you have in Arizona in the future.

Davang [0:14:38]: But the data also bears it out.

Davang [0:14:41]: Right?

Davang [0:14:41]: So we know that when founders like you come out and they talk about how they're going to post on Linkedin or when they actually post on Linkedin, you have an authentic voice, one that's trusted.

Davang [0:14:52]: You do something we internally call, say the damn thing.

Davang [0:14:56]: You you have a real perspective.

Davang [0:14:57]: When you say the damn thing.

Davang [0:14:59]: People listen.

Davang [0:14:59]: And Yeah it's something that translates to their behavior.

Davang [0:15:02]: And so When you do it regularly, Dave, When you post at least two times a week.

Davang [0:15:07]: What we see is that you'll see a five x increase in things like profile views.

Davang [0:15:12]: So this is all part of the full funnel of how we're gonna get you...

Davang [0:15:16]: To engage meaningfully and then ultimately how that translates down the funnel to people who are gonna buy.

Dave [0:15:22]: This date is really helpful because I think people can...

Dave [0:15:24]: A lot of times people intuitively really know that this is right, but what they need is, like, They need to realize, I gotta go back to work, and I can actually just like, I wanna explain our whole Linkedin strategy to my team into the company because I think what happened is we're like, okay, World ads.

Dave [0:15:40]: We know how to measure ads because, you know, you're driving to a landing page is whatever we can track all that.

Dave [0:15:45]: But then it becomes on the other side.

Dave [0:15:47]: All the branded stuff.

Dave [0:15:48]: Like, how do we measure the CEO writing on Linkedin, and I like when we can put them together and teach people hey.

Dave [0:15:53]: Like you said, over a billion, people on Linkedin.

Dave [0:15:56]: We believe our buyers are on Linkedin and so our Linkedin strategy is gonna be twofold.

Dave [0:16:00]: Let's dive into the ad stuff specifically.

Dave [0:16:03]: We talked about thought leader ads.

Dave [0:16:06]: We can add more to that or come back to that.

Dave [0:16:08]: But maybe just in general, the marketers that are listening this are probably spending on Linkedin in sub capacity.

Dave [0:16:15]: So I don't wanna give them, like, you know, one zero one do this not that.

Dave [0:16:19]: But maybe are there some kind of mistakes you see people making, things people should be thinking about.

Dave [0:16:25]: Give me something to talk to that group about.

Davang [0:16:28]: Yeah.

Davang [0:16:28]: No.

Davang [0:16:28]: I I think there are a lot of mistakes that people make.

Davang [0:16:30]: And I think that tends to be when you're short term focus and you're not actually thinking about that entire buyer journey.

Davang [0:16:36]: And so what that means is that people often will over optimize to things like clicks.

Davang [0:16:41]: They won't think about the full journey of how you've got nurture someone all way from exposing into your brand, making sure you're top of mind.

Davang [0:16:49]: To how you build things like viability.

Davang [0:16:51]: This concept of viability is the core of what's gonna matter, which means building trust, building the relationships, getting people to know that the brand you offer is one that they can spend when it comes time to purchase because that concept of defending your purchase is real.

Davang [0:17:06]: When you're a B2B buyer, that's what you care about.

Davang [0:17:09]: And if you do that well, then you get to the moment in time when considering the product or service you're selling, I'm primed and ready to know your brand trusted by the right people is a brand that I'm willing to take a risk on that I can defend because that's at the core of what we wanna do and as humans to be successful in our jobs.

Davang [0:17:28]: That's sort of the way that we view things.

Dave [0:17:31]: So how do you put together a strategy that does that?

Dave [0:17:33]: Is there, like, a recipe for different funnel stages for ads?

Dave [0:17:38]: How do you think about a campaign holistically as opposed to, like, I just wanna show I just wanna show up in the feed.

Dave [0:17:45]: Like, what ad formats work, what types of offers, like, anything interesting there.

Davang [0:17:50]: So I'll I'll share a little bit about formats in a second, But I think from a strategy perspective.

Davang [0:17:54]: First thing you do is get super crisp and clear on who your ideal customer profile is?

Davang [0:17:59]: Know who you're wanting to target.

Davang [0:18:01]: Second, getting clear on your unique value proposition it.

Davang [0:18:04]: And these things sound foundation are fundamentals because they are.

Davang [0:18:07]: Understand your value prop, understanding who your ideal customer profile is, and then actually building out what the engagement strategy will look like.

Davang [0:18:15]: And that starts with upper funnel top of funnel types of things, which are obviously lending themselves to things like video ads and solutions or thinking about how you're gonna leverage, thought leadership ads at the next stage, to try to drive consideration.

Davang [0:18:29]: Right?

Davang [0:18:29]: Which is this notion of viability, getting people to speak on your behalf and talking about your products.

Davang [0:18:34]: And then you could also use video through that stage as well as the final stage when you're thinking about how am I gonna drive ultimate conversion.

Davang [0:18:42]: People think about video is sort of top of funnel maybe middle a funnel.

Davang [0:18:45]: They're actually quite useful all the way through the funnel.

Davang [0:18:47]: We see that in our data.

Davang [0:18:48]: And importantly, I think there's two things that you need to do.

Davang [0:18:51]: You have to think about what nurture looks like.

Davang [0:18:53]: So at each of those stages, how am I moving here from one place to the next.

Davang [0:18:57]: That could be dot leadership ads.

Davang [0:18:59]: It could be how you're using retargeting.

Davang [0:19:01]: It might be and it should be how you're using your own first party data to start nurturing people through that process.

Davang [0:19:07]: But the most important thing on all of those fronts is to make sure that you've got the right measurement in place.

Davang [0:19:13]: What I see and what our team see is that often people are still living in a world day where they're focused on the vanity metrics instead of the value metrics.

Davang [0:19:21]: And that means, yes, things like clicks and impressions.

Davang [0:19:24]: There's a some value to it, but you really need to make sure that you're measuring how that translates to actual pipeline velocity deals close and running.

Dave [0:19:33]: How do you talk a team through measurement of that.

Dave [0:19:36]: If you're building more of, like, a holistic campaign where...

Dave [0:19:39]: You say you're showing videos.

Dave [0:19:40]: There might not be a call to action on the video or it might not be a direct response ad.

Dave [0:19:44]: Is there a way that I will know that that video got a touch in this journey.

Dave [0:19:50]: Right?

Dave [0:19:50]: We still need to understand all of the...

Dave [0:19:52]: Everyone wants to know, like, Well, but then did they watch it?

Dave [0:19:55]: So we map out the customer journey, but then I wanna know.

Dave [0:19:57]: Okay.

Dave [0:19:57]: But did they watch the video?

Dave [0:19:58]: Is that working or the right people watching what's the story I can tell my boss about the money that we're spending because everyone's not buying today, but they might buy eight months from now?

Dave [0:20:06]: How do I prove it this is working?

Davang [0:20:08]: It's great question.

Davang [0:20:09]: I'll start by sharing two other data points that I think will be useful for the audience.

Davang [0:20:14]: One, the average B deal cycle takes two hundred and eleven days.

Davang [0:20:18]: Two, the average deal is influenced by twenty two people.

Davang [0:20:23]: And of those twenty two people, half of them are within new Org, half of them are outside of your Org.

Davang [0:20:28]: And you think about how you're gonna influence that many people over that duration of time, it requires a very thoughtful process and measurement that's alight each step of the way.

Davang [0:20:38]: Two products that for me, I think are absolute must haves if you're thinking about measurement and want to really prove the efficacy of your work on platforms like Linkedin or any other platform.

Davang [0:20:48]: Make sure that you've got Crm sync in place.

Davang [0:20:52]: And that enables you to see, you know, what's actually happening on your end with the first party data and the data that we see on our end.

Davang [0:20:58]: You define that you're in leverage the conversions Api, two examples of products that are absolutely critical because then Once we've aligned on what actually matters to you, and then we're tracking that and measuring that, we can then understand what the process looks like to nurture those people based on the conversion stages they're at, and then optimize your spend towards accomplishment it.

Davang [0:21:20]: There's one third tool that I will tell you is a must for people to explore and and think about company intelligence.

Davang [0:21:27]: You know, one of the mistakes people often make, Dave is they're limited in their review of the impact in influence the media has and moving pipeline through the process company intelligence actually gives you a completely different view and helps you look at what's actually happening at the company level based on your organic and your paid media presence.

Davang [0:21:45]: And what you see and when we leverage something like company intelligence is, There's actually exponentially more conversions and more people influence than you typically think are.

Davang [0:21:54]: And so that gives you a bigger aperture to understand how those two things work together and then how you optimize those things moving forward.

Dave [0:22:02]: I've always wanted to just, like, take my...

Dave [0:22:03]: Linkedin post and, like, export all the likes and comments and run that up against, like, Ic.

Dave [0:22:10]: Because it's all there.

Dave [0:22:11]: The engagement is there.

Dave [0:22:12]: We just don't get credit for in the same way.

Dave [0:22:14]: Well, I didn't know that they directly sign up for a deal, but it's like, man.

Dave [0:22:17]: I've been seeing the VP marketing in this company has been commenting on a bunch of my stuff recently like, that counts.

Davang [0:22:23]: It counts more than you can even imagine course because intelligence tells you that.

Davang [0:22:27]: Right?

Davang [0:22:27]: It helps you understand job titles and what their engagement looks like.

Davang [0:22:31]: And then if we're connected to things like your conversion, we use conversion Api and Crm sync, now all of a sudden, I know that that VP of marketing, she's actually gone to my site, downloaded a web or a white paper or is viewed a video, I've got those conversions I see it.

Davang [0:22:48]: And when the deal closes, I can actually look at what attribution should be, not from a last click method which candidly screws up everything, but look at it from the journey and where those touch points and influences is.

Davang [0:23:01]: And that will transform the way that you market moving forward.

Dave [0:23:05]: Alright.

Dave [0:23:05]: That was good.

Dave [0:23:05]: There's a couple places people can go back.

Dave [0:23:08]: And if you're listening this and you're asking yourself questions in your head right now?

Dave [0:23:11]: Like, I don't know.

Dave [0:23:12]: Are are we doing that?

Dave [0:23:13]: Are we using that thing.

Dave [0:23:14]: This would be a good opportunity to revisit that.

Dave [0:23:16]: People will ask for this.

Dave [0:23:17]: I just wanna come back to you you mentioned that the average B deal takes two hundred eleven days and the average people involved in the deals is twenty two.

Dave [0:23:23]: Is that Linkedin data?

Davang [0:23:25]: Yeah.

Davang [0:23:25]: We can share the details with you afterwards on the study because I think it might be useful for you folks to see.

Davang [0:23:30]: But they're Linkedin commission studies, and we work with third party partners to understand what those processes look like So.

Davang [0:23:36]: Cool.

Davang [0:23:36]: Well, show that

Dave [0:23:37]: data That's useful.

Dave [0:23:37]: I think the reason I'm asking is people.

Dave [0:23:39]: Anytime we can get a benchmark from a reputable source.

Dave [0:23:42]: Like, The way to use this is to be able to go back and marketers need this to go back to, like, explain the marketing strategy to the team.

Dave [0:23:49]: Hey, Cfo.

Dave [0:23:50]: Like, the reason why we're doing this thing.

Dave [0:23:53]: Not this thing is because, look the average deal takes two hundred eleven days.

Dave [0:23:56]: Right?

Dave [0:23:56]: That is seventy percent of the year.

Dave [0:23:59]: We gotta be marketing to these people.

Davang [0:24:01]: You've got market to them.

Davang [0:24:02]: You have to measure along those seven, you know, months plus.

Davang [0:24:05]: Right?

Davang [0:24:05]: That's what matters.

Davang [0:24:06]: And then, yeah, I don't wanna lose the Nuance in the twenty two people did.

Davang [0:24:10]: Because to me, this is You know, I've been in B2B for a long time.

Davang [0:24:13]: This was sort of an eye opener for me.

Davang [0:24:15]: Right?

Davang [0:24:15]: Twenty two people influenced the deal.

Davang [0:24:17]: Half of those people are within your company half or not, and that's like the people in your network who are influencing.

Davang [0:24:23]: If you're a buyer, how you think about the product or service.

Davang [0:24:26]: And so as a marketer selling one of those products services I need to be really thoughtful about that buyer group.

Davang [0:24:32]: And how do I influence that buyer group, How do I build the notion of viability for my brand, but that broader group and that entails a lot of work that needs to happen early on in the process because, you know, to your very first question we were talking about or the discussion was around Ll llc, and Ai, you know, a lot that purchase process gets condensed and they're going to Ll to get information, you need to make sure you're top of mind.

Davang [0:24:56]: And so when you're top of mind and they're going to get that information, that's when you become viable because you have to be a trusted source and you have to be relevant at the right point in time.

Davang [0:25:05]: And if you're not, I think You face existential risk going into the future.

Davang [0:25:10]: Because at the end of the day, changes in the way buyers are are behaving.

Davang [0:25:14]: If we don't react and and we don't sort of think about the process holistically and the points that we have to influence, you're not gonna be on that shortlist list.

Davang [0:25:22]: If you're not on that day one list, chance and and probability of being the brand that's fought is quite low.

Dave [0:25:28]: I wanna talk specifically to CMOs and marketing leaders for a second.

Dave [0:25:32]: Just thinking about the execution of all this stuff.

Dave [0:25:35]: Back in the day, used to have to have, you know, a team of paid.

Dave [0:25:39]: There's a digital team and there's paid people on there and they run the paid channels or maybe there's an agency or outside.

Dave [0:25:45]: Just seeing how fast everything is moving with Ai, Like, is there a world where the owner of the company just logs into Linkedin and the ads are just running and I just write with text prompts and tell them, like, what to do and what to change?

Dave [0:26:01]: Like, where is this going on the back end?

Dave [0:26:03]: Of advertising.

Dave [0:26:05]: I'm curious.

Dave [0:26:05]: I really have no idea.

Dave [0:26:07]: If for anybody listening.

Dave [0:26:08]: Like, I've I've never run a linkedin out of my life.

Dave [0:26:10]: So take away my resume.

Dave [0:26:11]: I'm the king.

Dave [0:26:12]: I've always had people that do that kind of stuff for me.

Dave [0:26:14]: Alright?

Dave [0:26:15]: Obviously.

Davang [0:26:17]: I love it.

Davang [0:26:17]: Well, here's my perspective.

Davang [0:26:19]: I think you're gonna see an evolution and that evolution is gonna be grounded in the capabilities that Ai can enable that, well, translate to gabe coming at some point to Linkedin and saying, Here's my business since five.

Davang [0:26:32]: I make money through conferences and association and membership.

Davang [0:26:36]: And here's what I'm willing to pay and help me figure that out.

Davang [0:26:40]: Right?

Davang [0:26:40]: And then used to be.

Davang [0:26:41]: I might be

Dave [0:26:42]: Used to be the VP of sales.

Dave [0:26:43]: Like, I was already marketing.

Dave [0:26:44]: The VP sales used to come to my desk.

Dave [0:26:45]: Be like, where are the leads?

Dave [0:26:46]: Now it's gonna be like, me logging into Linkedin talking to my Ai be like, where are the leads?

Dave [0:26:51]: Things are slow today?

Davang [0:26:53]: Look it's gonna be the sort of bend of the future how long it takes to get their note question that we don't know the answer to But I will tell you we're investing aggressively to figure out how to simplify things, how to make the product more intuitive and easier to use so that we can just deliver the outcomes that matter to you as a B2B marketer and you'll see that across the, the ad types that we're talking about building the functionality that might help you with things like audience development and all the way through measurement and how we can help you, optimize and nurture in a turnkey and easy way.

Davang [0:27:23]: That's gonna be the key for the future.

Dave [0:27:25]: What do you say with creative and how, you know, demand gen teams are deploying different creative based on exploring new things with Ai.

Davang [0:27:33]: So I will share, again, in another piece of internal data.

Davang [0:27:36]: We looked at thousands of pieces of creative with our teams in our data sizes, try to understand, like, what works what doesn't work for an ad, we found that sixty to seventy percent of an ads effectiveness is actually tied to creativity.

Davang [0:27:49]: So when you think about effective creative that generates a response with buyers.

Davang [0:27:54]: That's gonna be grounded in something that's truly motive that is something that connects on a human level.

Davang [0:28:01]: We've talked a lot about Ai, but let's not forget about the fact that, you know, you and I are buyers were people we consume content where influence in different ways, and that human connection and being able to convey what you want about your product, not in a way that's just about features and benefits, but in a way that's more authentic in a way that's more grounded and expertise, In a way that might be through creators is how you're going to win, and, you know, you can have the best ads in the world in your mind.

Davang [0:28:28]: But if they're not waiting on the creative front, sixty, seventy percent of your efficacy is thrown out of the window.

Dave [0:28:34]: One of our last guests was Dom.

Dave [0:28:36]: She's a CMO at Le and they're...

Dave [0:28:38]: They're an interesting company in the B2B Saas, and she show me these ads that they're doing.

Dave [0:28:42]: I have couple brands of seeing in that where it's like, it's three d.

Dave [0:28:46]: It looks like it's coming at you off the screen.

Dave [0:28:48]: Have you seen that.

Davang [0:28:49]: I haven't seen it.

Davang [0:28:49]: I'll take a look.

Davang [0:28:50]: I was excited to see great B2B creative.

Davang [0:28:53]: There are a few things that have sort of stood out to me in the past.

Davang [0:28:55]: I think the work that Servicenow does the work that workday does.

Davang [0:28:59]: Those are are great examples of exceptional creative I think the work that we're gonna do on the B2B front for Linkedin is pushing in that space because, you know, there some real human truths to how you buy ads and what it's like to be a marketer and, you know, sometimes you have to hit those head on and and have a little fun at doing it and tell a story around it's like to be a marketer nowadays.

Dave [0:29:21]: The reason why I mentioned rip before, and I think this is a good example because I've seen the workday stuff, Colin is great.

Dave [0:29:26]: He's brought a bunch of energy into all their stuff.

Dave [0:29:28]: But I do think what's unique now, but even at that fortune whatever level of a service now, you know, I see a company like Rip who's doing hundreds of millions in arr.

Dave [0:29:39]: And Granted, I think it depends on the niche that you're selling to.

Dave [0:29:42]: They sell Hr.

Dave [0:29:43]: It's really cool to also hear that, like, we live in this world where something shot on your iphone can be as just as effective as, like, the high productive agency thing.

Dave [0:29:53]: I think if you talked to any CMO, you you need both.

Dave [0:29:55]: There's a certain level of, like, real.

Dave [0:29:57]: You know, Rip link did a Super Bowl app.

Dave [0:29:59]: They didn't shoot the Super Bowl on iphone.

Dave [0:30:01]: They could have.

Dave [0:30:01]: Right?

Dave [0:30:02]: But it's cool to see the mix of stuff.

Davang [0:30:05]: Dave, I say, that's actually probably one of the most important insights because, you know, if you think about being a small to medium sized brand, it can be intimidating to produce what we're talking about, like, this best in class creative.

Davang [0:30:15]: The reality is it doesn't have to be over produced.

Davang [0:30:18]: In fact, the stuff that's over produced tends to probably not perform as well as the stuff that is, again, grounded and authenticity, grounded in expert perspective and candidly is real, funny, humorous and connects with people on a real

Dave [0:30:31]: base that's the whole thing about connecting the organic side of this.

Dave [0:30:34]: It's like, you should at least have a good sense that the joke is gonna land before you go spend all the money on, like, producing it.

Dave [0:30:41]: You know what I mean Yeah?

Davang [0:30:43]: Or a benefit of organic.

Davang [0:30:44]: You get out there.

Davang [0:30:45]: You post.

Davang [0:30:45]: You can see what the engagement looks like.

Davang [0:30:47]: That's a pretty damn clear signal.

Davang [0:30:49]: Nice wanna.

Dave [0:30:50]: I have a story you'll like about.

Dave [0:30:51]: So That's really...

Dave [0:30:52]: When I was starting Exit Five, the value prop was like, I came up with.

Dave [0:30:57]: Like, because nobody went to school for B2B marketing.

Dave [0:30:59]: Now, there are some people.

Dave [0:31:00]: I always get one email from one guys.

Dave [0:31:02]: Like, actually did go to school for.

Dave [0:31:03]: I'm like, I'm sorry.

Dave [0:31:04]: Alright.

Dave [0:31:04]: The point is that, like, you know, most of us you just kinda learn on the fly, and you didn't...

Dave [0:31:08]: You weren't born as a young kids, I'm a b a B2B marketer, but you gotta learn this stuff, and you figured it out, so that was the value prop for the community.

Dave [0:31:14]: And one day, I just kinda wrote that off the cuff on Linkedin, like, because no one goes to school for B2B marketing it, and it blew up.

Dave [0:31:22]: And that was the signal for me that, like, yeah.

Dave [0:31:25]: Oh, this is the homepage headline.

Dave [0:31:27]: Like, that it's like, a comedian testing material.

Dave [0:31:30]: And then and then we made a video based on that concept.

Dave [0:31:33]: And then we ran a bunch of paid behind it and the video worked.

Dave [0:31:36]: And so I think that's what's cool and you can marry the organic and paid stub is like, you should have a good sense of whether something is gonna work or up before you have to go spend your money behind it.

Davang [0:31:45]: The smartest clears in world do exactly what you just articulated it.

Davang [0:31:48]: Leverage the platform, test your message see it if it aligns with your Ic.

Davang [0:31:52]: That's driving engagement, then we know that truth.

Davang [0:31:55]: Let's think about how we amplify that through paid media, How do we extend that importantly through the buyer group.

Davang [0:32:01]: And then ultimately make sure that you're measuring it because you're gonna see the same results that you just articulated.

Davang [0:32:06]: You know, I think we often feel as marketers there's some secret formula out there.

Davang [0:32:10]: This isn't that complicated.

Davang [0:32:12]: Right?

Davang [0:32:12]: Let's get focused on driving real outcomes that matter for the business, measuring the right way and learning across the journey.

Dave [0:32:19]: I love what a really smart person says, like, let's simplify marketing.

Dave [0:32:23]: It's one of my favorite things because it is so much of where everything gets gets out of whack.

Dave [0:32:28]: I wanna shift gears and talk about your role as a VP marketing today?

Dave [0:32:33]: You're running a team at Linkedin.

Dave [0:32:34]: What's top of mind for you right now?

Dave [0:32:37]: Where does Ai fit in the management of your team and what you expect your team to be doing and what's winning from a marketing like, separate the you work at Linkedin from, like, people wanna hear about you're a high level operator.

Dave [0:32:49]: How do you run your marketing team?

Dave [0:32:50]: I maybe we could spend a couple minutes there before you wrap?

Davang [0:32:53]: Yeah.

Davang [0:32:53]: Happy to.

Davang [0:32:54]: I will start by saying, I work with the world's best B marketers.

Davang [0:32:58]: I am so fortunate to work with the team of people that I get to work with.

Davang [0:33:02]: And I say that genuinely and it's something that gets me excited every day.

Davang [0:33:06]: What I think about our team and how we can leverage Ai, we're along the same journey as everyone else, which is, let's look at how we can improve from a content creation perspective that How are we looking at media and media optimizations?

Davang [0:33:19]: And then where can we leverage Ai from an insights perspective across the portfolio of work that we do?

Davang [0:33:25]: So, you know, we have people who are product marketers, people who are growth marketers, Be working, industry marketing, vertical marketing, people working out, thought leadership, agency marketing, ecosystem marketing, you know, whole host of folks and every one of those people is impacted in a material way.

Davang [0:33:41]: By what gay I can do to help them be more successful in their role.

Davang [0:33:44]: What I would tell you is that that journey is one where we started testing and now we're accelerating to transformation.

Davang [0:33:52]: And I think that is the journey that most of us is marketers and the organizations were fortunate enough to lead.

Davang [0:33:58]: Are going on.

Davang [0:33:59]: It does mean that there's a lot of testing.

Davang [0:34:01]: There's a lot of learning and a lot of iterating.

Davang [0:34:03]: Things won't be perfect.

Davang [0:34:04]: But what I'm leaning into and what our CMO, Jessica Jensen is leaning into is is how do we accelerate that so that we're learning more learning faster.

Davang [0:34:12]: Second thing I will tell you, is and I think it's incredibly important is that, you know, you can't expect this to happen sort of overnight.

Davang [0:34:19]: And the reality of is what the technology can do and what humans are capable of doing are two different things.

Davang [0:34:25]: And so how do you merge those to to make sure it's progress over perfection, And I think that matters a lot.

Davang [0:34:31]: And lastly, what I would say is that at the core of what Ai does is it's enabling.

Davang [0:34:36]: Right?

Davang [0:34:37]: It's not replacing.

Davang [0:34:38]: And so from a perspective of how...

Davang [0:34:40]: We're thinking about things.

Davang [0:34:41]: It's much more about how we can leverage Ai to continue to deliver real human work that transforms the way that marketers leverage Linkedin to win and to grow their business.

Dave [0:34:55]: You think we're gonna have jobs in five years?

Davang [0:34:57]: Heck yeah.

Davang [0:34:57]: I do.

Davang [0:34:58]: Do I believe they'll be different?

Davang [0:35:00]: A hundred percent?

Davang [0:35:00]: They'll be different.

Davang [0:35:01]: But technologies evolved over the years?

Davang [0:35:03]: Like probably the same types of questions that came up when, you know, it was

Dave [0:35:07]: in your words, let's make the bull case for not laying off every marketer, not shrinking all them money.

Dave [0:35:13]: Know, I something earlier that was, like, if you go to Youtube or on Linkedin that it's insane, you know, claude code replaced my marketing team in twenty minutes.

Dave [0:35:21]: Right?

Dave [0:35:21]: Here's how I replaced a seventy five person marketing team in five minutes with Claude, what's the reality?

Dave [0:35:27]: If you said, heck, yeah.

Dave [0:35:28]: So what do you think that humans, like, let's make the bold case for people?

Dave [0:35:32]: Let's be optimus.

Davang [0:35:34]: Creativity, real connection are grounded in human to human interaction, And that's not gonna be replaced anytime soon.

Davang [0:35:43]: Can we drive efficiency in all of the fields that need.

Davang [0:35:47]: Will that to happen?

Davang [0:35:47]: Absolutely.

Davang [0:35:48]: So it's gonna be a marriage of those two things, but I don't see a replacement in the next five years of of every marketing org by any stretch the imagination.

Davang [0:35:56]: And Again, if you think about what you and I do, what we consume, all the people who listen to this podcast, sign up for your newsletter these are marketers, we are people, we consume content and experiences we talk to each other.

Davang [0:36:10]: We are influenced by each other.

Davang [0:36:12]: We're influenced by creators.

Davang [0:36:13]: Ai is not gonna replace that.

Davang [0:36:15]: Right, to make it better.

Davang [0:36:16]: That's not gonna replace it.

Dave [0:36:18]: Well said.

Dave [0:36:19]: I'm trying to balance the line of, like, I'm a techno note.

Dave [0:36:22]: Opt.

Dave [0:36:22]: I believe in technology, but I also think that humans play a really unique role in what makes a lot of stuff work in the world, and especially in marketing.

Dave [0:36:31]: I think you can't just run everything within an Ai agent.

Dave [0:36:33]: But they'll play this at much funeral I'm sure.

Dave [0:36:36]: But...

Dave [0:36:36]: Do you think there's a world in, like, this B2B buying thing?

Dave [0:36:39]: Is there a world or, like, you're gonna have an Ai as the VP of marketing at Linkedin?

Dave [0:36:44]: Or are you gonna have an Ai agent that's gonna go and shop and research all the mart tech tools to you for you and do all the research and That's actually who we're trying to influence in our marketing.

Dave [0:36:52]: Do you believe in that?

Davang [0:36:54]: I believe we will have to influence those agents that will do some of that work.

Davang [0:36:58]: They will be an input to the decision, but I am a hundred percent certain.

Davang [0:37:01]: I'll probably ping you at some point to understand what you're using from a mart tech perspective.

Davang [0:37:06]: All the other people in my network that are gonna help guide me and help me understand what was successful because at the end of the day, to be viable, you have to be human.

Davang [0:37:14]: You have to be trusted, and that's gonna come from experiences and connections.

Davang [0:37:18]: That we have then give me the confidence to make that purchase that I wanna make.

Dave [0:37:23]: Is there, like, Linkedin is a massive company.

Dave [0:37:25]: Right?

Dave [0:37:26]: I'm assuming you can't just, like, take something like an Ai agent and just, like, throw it in your workflow.

Dave [0:37:31]: There's a whole lot of, like, and we we have this private group of CMOs next if I've called the CMO Counsel, and there's interesting discussion because this one woman was, like, you know, this is super interesting.

Dave [0:37:41]: Like I read all this, and I take all this stuff like my It team.

Dave [0:37:44]: You know, we're in, like, this highly regulated industry, and they're like, no.

Dave [0:37:47]: No.

Dave [0:37:47]: No.

Dave [0:37:47]: And so it just makes me think, like, there's a huge gap from what I see on social media then, like, what's actually happening in bigger companies.

Dave [0:37:53]: I I wonder if you feel that anyway.

Davang [0:37:55]: I'm hundred percent.

Davang [0:37:56]: They're guard rails.

Davang [0:37:56]: Right?

Davang [0:37:57]: We have to be using tools that have passed all the right.

Davang [0:38:00]: Sort of test, if you will from, privacy safety and regulation perspective, and we will never jeopardize that.

Davang [0:38:08]: And so we'll live within that contract, but we're fortunate enough to work with an amazing Mart team amazing legal team an amazing engineering team that pushes the boundaries of what we're capable of doing, but in a way that's very much grounded in privacy safety and regulation.

Dave [0:38:24]: Okay.

Dave [0:38:24]: Any party work before I let you go.

Dave [0:38:26]: I got everything out that I wanted to talk to you about,

Davang [0:38:29]: you know, you know, one of the things that I often think about is what does success look like?

Davang [0:38:33]: And for the team of people I get to support, we wake up every day wanting to think about how we can help make marketers more successful using Linkedin as a platform.

Davang [0:38:42]: So I'm obviously present on the platform, engaging on the platform to perhaps it has to your readers and the folks listening to the podcast to reach out share perspective, share feedback on what's working and what's not working.

Davang [0:38:57]: Our job is literally to help make you more successful earlier today, I posted that I was looking for information about people and what ideas they have and how we can actually get better on the platform or build things that are more useful for them.

Davang [0:39:09]: So even the ask is out there and know that we're listening and you'll see us engage.

Dave [0:39:15]: Okay.

Dave [0:39:15]: So I expect you if you're listening to this podcast.

Dave [0:39:17]: I'm putting your Linkedin profile linkedin in the show notes.

Davang [0:39:21]: I want

Dave [0:39:21]: you to send me a screenshot weeks after this podcast.

Davang [0:39:24]: Me be

Dave [0:39:24]: like, man You guys do have people at listen.

Dave [0:39:25]: I got a lot of ideas.

Dave [0:39:26]: So send them your Linkedin ads ideas, everything you wanna know.

Dave [0:39:30]: We didn't uncover the myth that is...

Dave [0:39:32]: I'm sorry to I should have put this in the headline would would've been great clickbait.

Dave [0:39:34]: We.

Dave [0:39:34]: I was gonna have like, Linkedin out Linkedin.

Dave [0:39:37]: Let's...

Dave [0:39:37]: We should do a thumbnail like this.

Dave [0:39:39]: Like, Linkedin algorithm rhythm revealed.

Dave [0:39:41]: Linkedin exec shows me absolutely nothing about the Linkedin now.

Davang [0:39:46]: I love it.

Davang [0:39:46]: It's clickbait, But let's actually add value.

Davang [0:39:48]: Let's focus on that value over the vanity.

Dave [0:39:51]: We did.

Dave [0:39:51]: We added a bunch of value.

Dave [0:39:52]: I got some good stats, got some good insight, and I I appreciate you giving us some time and coming on the podcast.

Davang [0:39:58]: I love the conversation, and I do genuinely love what you're doing.

Davang [0:40:01]: Good community.

Davang [0:40:02]: So thank you for doing that.

Davang [0:40:03]: You'll see look.

Dave [0:40:05]: If every podcast listen, take notes.

Dave [0:40:06]: I saw you listen the podcast joined the newsletter weeks leading up to the interview you did a great job.

Davang [0:40:12]: Appreciate it.

Davang [0:40:12]: I'm sincere.

Davang [0:40:14]: So well back.

Dave [0:40:15]: Thank you.

Dave [0:40:15]: I appreciate it.

Dave [0:40:15]: Alright.

Dave [0:40:16]: To see you later.

Dave [0:40:16]: Thank you.

Dave [0:40:17]: Hey.

Dave [0:40:21]: Thanks for listening to this podcast.

Dave [0:40:23]: If you like this episode.

Dave [0:40:24]: Do you know what?

Dave [0:40:25]: I'm not even gonna ask you to subscribe and leave a review because I don't really care about that.

Dave [0:40:29]: Have something better for you.

Dave [0:40:31]: So We've built the number one private community for B2B marketers at Exit Five, and you can go and check that out instead of leaving a rating a review, go check it out right now on our website, exitfive.com.

Dave [0:40:42]: Our mission at Exit Five is to help you grow your career in B2B mark.

Dave [0:40:46]: And there's no better place to do that than with us at Exit Five.

Dave [0:40:49]: There's nearly five thousand members now in our community, People are in their posting every day asking questions about things like marketing, planning, ideas, inspiration, asking questioning and getting feedback from your peers, building your own network of marketers who are doing the same thing you are, so you can have a peer group, or maybe just venting about your boss when you need to get in there and get something off your chest.

Dave [0:41:10]: It's a hundred percent free to join for seven days so you can go and check it out risk free, and then there's a small annual fee to pay if you wanna become a member for the year.

Dave [0:41:19]: Go check it out, learn more, exitfive.com, and I will see you over there in the community.

‍