Yo! Welcome back to The Reeder Newsletter — your weekly dose of content strategy and growth advice. First time reading? Subscribe here.
We think we know what works on LinkedIn — until the data proves otherwise.
Dreamdata analyzed $9M in LinkedIn ad spend across hundreds of customers and found what gets clicks and conversions (and what doesn’t).
Here’s what caught me off guard:
–The one ad format that produces 2.3x more clicks (and why it works)
–How much budget other marketers are really putting into LinkedIn (down to the exact %)
–The shocking number of touchpoints in the average B2B deal — and what it means for your strategy
All this — and more — is inside their new benchmark report.
See all the data (and see how you stack up)
Last Thursday, I talked to one of my clients, Sasha.
From Day 1 she was in a tough spot.
Sasha just joined a 2-year-old procurement SaaS company as their first content hire.
Not an easy gig. No strategy, no data, no team to help.
Then to add to it, her inherited SEO agency handed her a 51-page audit with a "detailed roadmap" telling her to build pillar pages, cluster content, fix technical SEO, and chase keyword rankings.
Oh, and she's running brand awareness, lead gen, AND content strategy. Solo.
Gulp.
So she brought me on as an advisor to help prioritize and build her content strategy from scratch.
It was a good convo, and worth sharing with you.
Especially helpful if you're building from scratch right now or in the near future.
So I'm sharing our full conversation below — unfiltered, practical, and slightly shortened for your email viewing pleasure.
Her questions = italics.
My answers = everything else.
Ready? Let's ride 🌊
Where the hell do I start when EVERYTHING feels like a priority?
Forget the SEO stuff for a sec. Start with your CEO's goals.
Find the all-hands slide with your company's top 3 priorities.
Your job: Figure out how content impacts those goals directly or indirectly.
We need brand awareness. Lots of it.
Yeah, but everyone kinda needs brand awareness. It's not enough if your CEO wants tangible impact.
We're obsessed with leads and Tier-1 contact acquisition.
She measures that by tier-1 contacts in her CRM.
Great, get obsessed with leads (all marketers should be just as obsessed with good leads as their sales team).
So let's make that your North Star: Get more tier-1 contacts.
Not web traffic, blog posts, or keywords.
Your mission:
Tier-1 contacts → MQLs → Pipeline → Revenue.
Once you have that clarity, every decision gets easier.
Stop asking "Should I do this?" Start asking "Will this get tier-1 contacts?"
That makes sense, but HOW do I attract those tier-1 accounts? What content do I create?
Here's the 3-step system:
1. Study your top competitors
Figure out what they own. What's their "thing"?
Research? Podcasts? Founder brand?
Don't compete there. Stake your claim somewhere different.
2. Create "Content IP"
Highly specific, highly valuable, evergreen content you can build a library around.
Example: Expert interviews breaking down real procurement stories and workflows.
One per month is enough. You don't publish it once — you split it up:
- Website asset
- LinkedIn posts
- Email series
- Webinars
One interview = 10+ pieces of content.
Over time, this compounds into thousands of people anticipating your content.
3. Validate before you build
Go to Reddit (there's a thread for everything). Find the most up-voted threads and read them. Read the comments too.
Hell, copy-paste them into AI. Ask: What are the patterns?
Take your proposed format (interview series), and your topics (from research) to a real prospect and ask: "Would you click on this?"
Win on point of view, not features.
I'm a one-person show. How do I do this without burning out?
Building IP, intentional distribution, and repurposing is the easiest way to scale.
Don't bother with siloed channels and pumping out volume for the sake of activity.
Instead, build The Proximity Ladder.
You want a system to get found, engage, and convert:
→ LinkedIn (far): They might see your content. Might not.
→ Email (direct): You have inbox access. You're a welcome guest.
→ Webinars (close): They see you, hear you, trust you (and your product)
- LinkedIn drives email signups
- Email invites to webinars
- Webinars generate demos
At Clari, we'd get 20-30 demo requests from a single webinar.
Don't be everywhere. Bring the right people closer.
How do I choose which content topics to focus on first?
Use The Hurdles Framework:
(Lots of frameworks today, I know.)
- Map your prospect's journey: current state → goal
- List every problem in between
- Ask:
- What's most expensive?
- What's most urgent?
- Which does our product solve best?
At Gong, prospects were salespeople trying to close deals.
Hurdles: Cold calling, discovery, demos, objections, negotiation.
I constantly asked those three questions to get 3-4 highly relevant topics.
We ran rolling 90-day editorial calendars — never 12-month plans.
The principle: Solve the most expensive, most urgent problems your product solves best.
If you're in Sasha's shoes — building from zero and feeling like everything is a priority — here’s the truth:
When you're building from zero, you don't need more tactics.
You need decision frameworks.
- Start with CEO goals → work backwards
- Don't compete on volume → win on POV
- Build The Proximity Ladder → bring people closer
- Use The Hurdles Framework → focus on expensive + urgent
Don't try to do everything. Do the right things first.
Need help with your zero-to-one strategy?
This is the work I do with clients every week: build content strategy from scratch, prioritize the right plays, and connect it all to pipeline.
If you’re drowning in possibilities and need a real plan — not a 50-page deck — reply to this email or grab time with me here.
See you letter,
-Devin
P.S. — What's your biggest zero-to-one challenge right now? Drop it in the comments here on LinkedIn so other marketers can see they're not alone.
Pen by Devin Reed
Founder, The Reeder
Follow me on LinkedIn | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram
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