Exit Five Newsletter: 5 ways to stand out at your next event

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 TLDR

💰This Ad Channel Delivered $75K in Pipeline (Hint: it’s not Google or LinkedIn)

ThreatSpike shifted spend from Google and LinkedIn to newsletter ad placements with TLDR, generating between $25K and $75K in pipeline per campaign.

One campaign even opened doors to a 30,000-person enterprise company. No CMO, huge media budgets, or complicated ABM tools required.

Why TLDR newsletters worked when other channels didn’t:

• Qualified Audience: TLDR reached 6M+ subscribers. 70% held technical roles. 40%+ were executives or managers.
• Precise Targeting: 12 niche newsletters pinpointed the right readers. Topics include AI, cybersecurity, dev, product, and more.
• Zero Complexity: TLDR handled campaign creative, launch, optimization, and reporting. No extra costs. No headaches.

See how ThreatSpike outperformed legacy ad channels with TLDR.

🎟️ How To Make Your Next Event Booth Actually Useful

“What are some of the best content activations you’ve seen at events?”

It’s probably not that branded frisbee you tossed in the trash the second you got back to the hotel.

It's not your $50K booth with the pile of swag that’s collecting dust.

Stop doing the same thing you’ve seen at every event you’ve ever been to.

Here's what actually works, straight from B2B marketers who've cracked the code.

Do Something Genuinely Useful

When's the last time you updated your LinkedIn headshot? For most people, that answer is years ago.

So set up a professional photographer at your booth. People walk away with something they actually need, and you get quality face time without the sales pressure.

Create Experiences, Not Pitches

Does your audience love cars? Take them to a race track to drive Ferraris and Lamborghinis. No pitch. No hard sell. Just an incredible experience.

That’s exactly what one marketer experienced.

The result? A multi-year relationship with seven-figure programs.

Do something fun. Invite awesome people. Make it memorable.

Host Intimate VIP Events

Skip the big booth crowds. Host mini-parties with 10-15 key prospects and a few existing clients.

The prospects can pay for flights and you can cover food and the hotel. It works wonders.

You can keep it even simpler with a food truck and coworking space.

The magic happens in small groups where real conversations can happen.

Do Something Unexpected

The most crowded booth one marketer ever saw? A magician giving away branded balloon animals and doing card tricks.

Think outside the box. You’re not going to win anyone over with things people have seen over and over again.

Go Beyond the Booth

You can also think bigger with physical activations:

• Bid on conference keywords in search ("XYZ Agenda," "XYZ Location")
• Display ads around the venue
• Host a happy hour or rent a mobile billboard truck
• Hand out flyers at the entrance

The bottom line? Stop trying to pitch from your booth. Instead, ask yourself: What would make someone's day genuinely better? What are they going to go home and tell their family about?

That’s where you’re going to win.

P.S. These are the exact types of conversations happening in the Exit Five community 😉

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

Open to all

• July 23rd: How B2B Marketers Are Actually Using AI for Content

Exit Five Pro Members Only

• July 22nd: 3 Smart Ways Marketers Are Actually Using AI
• July 23rd: Women in B2B: Setting Boundaries and Expectations, Professionally and Respectfully

CMO Club Members Only

• July 31st: AI Spotlight - How Are B2B Marketing Leaders Using AI?

Not a member yet? Learn more about an Exit Five Membership here.

If you are an Exit Five member, click here to RSVP to these events.

📚 LATEST CONTENT

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

• 🎧 The Atlassian Playbook for Building a Fast-Moving, Outcome-Driven Marketing Team
• 🎧 Inside Customer.io’s B2B Marketing Strategy: Org, GTM, and Growth Channels with Jason Lyman
• 🎧 Building a Brand Strategy and Content Goldmine with Chelsea Castle, Head of Content and Brand at Close
• 📰 How to Lead a High Functioning Marketing Org
• 📰 Marketing Is Broken: Why You’re So Busy and Still Not Getting Anything Done
• 📰 How to Put On a Virtual Event People Actually Want to Attend

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