10 years of B2B marketing…in one email (Exit Five Newsletter)

Hello and welcome to the Exit Five Weekly Newsletter — read by 42,000 B2B marketing professionals around the world. Exit Five is a membership site designed to help you build a successful career in B2B marketing. Join 5,700 other members at exitfive.com.

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TOGETHER WITH WALNUT

💻 71% of small B2B teams use AI to create most of their content

And they’re not just using AI for fun, they’re using it to publish faster, smarter, and with less headcount.

In a new report from Walnut, 100+ B2B teams reveal how GenAI is moving from side project to core workflow, with small, scrappy teams leading the way.

In this report, you’ll learn:

• Top Use-Cases & Volume Trends
• What the 2025 AI Tool Stack actually looks like
• How to use AI with confidence and protect quality and brand voice
• Skill evolution and change management tips to get your team ahead

Don’t let AI pass you by, see how top teams are already putting it to work.

🧑‍🏫 10 Lessons from 10 Years of B2B Marketing (In One Email)

Dave’s recorded over 250 hours of podcast interviews with top B2B marketers, and so for this week’s newsletter we thought it would be fun to feed all of that information to our AI Assistant and pull out the gems, the 10 best lessons from over the years. Here we go.

1. Nobody cares about your product
Because people care about themselves and what’s in it for them. So stop leading with features. Your prospects are lying awake at 3am worried about missing quota, getting fired, or looking stupid in front of their boss. Start every campaign, every piece of copy, every conversation with their problem. Not your solution. Make everything about them.

2. Brand is your moat
This is more important than ever. In the age of AI there are more copy cats, more content, and it’s getting harder and harder for people to tell how you’re different. You don't just want attention, you want a reputation that resonates with your audience. So how do you make prospects feel when they hear your name? Brand is how you stand out and win.

3. Differentiate or die
Using phrases like, "We're the leading provider of..." means sounding exactly like everyone else. Take a stand. Have a perspective. Be known for something specific, even if it alienates some people. You can’t possibly be everything to everyone and get ahead.

4. Speed beats perfection every time
Marketing isn't about launching perfect campaigns, it's about learning what works through real feedback. The only way to do that is to get stuff out there (ideally weekly, not quarterly). So ship something, measure the response, and improve from there.

5. Talk to your customers
You’ve heard this 1000 times, but the absolute best insights you have come straight from your customers. Join sales calls, run interviews, listen to recordings. Ask why they bought, why they almost didn't, and what made the difference. Their exact words can be used everywhere in your copy. Real conversations are what help you win.

6. Marketing is a team sport
You can optimize your funnel all day, but if sales doesn't know how to handle your leads, you're wasting money. If product doesn't understand your positioning, your messaging falls apart. Get everyone rowing in the same direction first. This is so much easier when there’s trust. So do whatever you can to build it.

7. Measure what matters
There are SO many things you can measure in marketing. Website visitors, traffic, MQLs, conversion rates. So it’s really easy to get overwhelmed and lost in the weeds (we’ve all been there). But at the end of the day, marketing is about sales and oftentimes the things you need to focus on are pipeline and revenue. Because the more you can connect your metrics to revenue, the better.

8. Take creative risks
Yes, legal will have opinions. Yes, leadership wants to see three rounds of revisions. But vanilla gets ignored, and ignored doesn't move deals. The risky move is being forgettable. Start with small tests, find what resonates, then double down. Your audience is drowning in sameness. Give them something to talk about.

9. Master the fundamentals
Positioning, messaging, and storytelling are forever. Every new marketing channel, every AI tool, every trend builds on these basics. If you can't clearly explain who you serve, what problem you solve uniquely, and why anyone should care, nothing else matters. Get the foundation right first.

10. Stay curious, stay scrappy
The playbook for success is changing constantly. The best marketers aren't the ones who know everything. They're the ones who learn fastest. Question everything, test constantly, and never stop experimenting.

The fundamentals haven't changed in decades. Everything else is just noise.

But that’s just our list, since we had to find a way to pick 10 for this email. What did we miss? What would you add to this list? You know we can't get them all, but if you have some to add or want to yell at Dave about something he missed do it here.

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

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📚 LATEST CONTENT

Here's the latest from the Exit Five content library:

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• 📰 How to Lead a High Functioning Marketing Org
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• 📰 How to Put On a Virtual Event People Actually Want to Attend

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