Creating 8+ months worth of content in 2 days

✍️ Extending the shelf life of in-person events

Most B2B marketing events play out like this:

✔️ Set up a booth

✔️ Pass out originally, unoriginal swag

✔️ Scan as many badges as you can

✔️ Drag yourself to an after-party

✔️ Fly home, walk in your front door, and immediately get a Slack from leadership asking, “How many leads did we get?”

My original idea

Now, I’m not the first person to do video at an event.

But when I’ve seen it done before, it’s usually been through a self-promotional lens — videos that put the company and their presence at an event front and center.

I wanted to test my idea and use this event as a way to create evergreen, conversational content instead.

Stuff that had an indirect tie to UserEvidence and the problem we help solve.

Before the event

I searched on Google and asked people I trust in my network on who I should talk to.

This turned into three calls with Austin-based video agencies. Mostly to keep travel costs down for this experiment.

I went with EventShark over two larger agencies. They were the only ones that worked exclusively in the B2B space. Plus, they’re early stage, which — as I know well — tends to make you scrappier and hungrier to deliver.

I wrote down event speakers and moderators I already knew, B2B marketers I respect, and a few names from target accounts.

Then sent a mix of texts, emails, and LinkedIn DMs to ask if each person was down for a short video interview. Just like this:

After each person said they were in, I sent calendar links (ahead of the event) to book 20-minute time slots and get each interview on the books.

During the event

I coordinated with the video team on Slack leading up to, during, and after the event.

We met up the night before Spryng to scope out, set up the interview stage, and do a quick test run.

Interviews were semi-evenly split between the two event days, with two parts to each interview (roughly 10 minutes for each part).

The first half was a little more specific to whoever I was talking to, their company, and what they were doing in marketing. The second set of questions made those subtle ties to UserEvidence and the space we’re in.

We unpacked how buyers really buy, what they hate about buying software, and where people go to find trustworthy sources. The kind of verified sources our platform helps companies easily surface for their buyers.

After the event

2 days. 12 interviews. 15-25 minutes each.

From the footage, we got ~8+ months worth of long- and short-form content. We’ll be releasing the full interviews every couple of weeks, and cutting them up into shorter clips for social.

I also got really amazing feedback from both the people I interviewed and other attendees. All of which factored into the ROI story I was able to frame for leadership after the fact.

Is it something I’d do for every event we attend? No.

Turns out, interviewing people for two days straight is exhausting. But for something smaller with the right people and recognizable faces, this first go-round definitely paid off.

You can watch the first interview with Devin Reed here (before anyone else too).

🤓 Stuff I’m learning (and digging) right now

• Reed Between The Lines with Devin Reed — Dev’s new show is a true blend of actual insights and entertainment. Last week’s episode with Eddie Shleyner is my favorite (so far).

• Closing the Content Gap: What We Learned from Talking to 400+ GTM Pros — I’ve worked with the BEAM Content team for almost three years now. Can’t say recommend them enough. There are a ton of solid content marketing takeaways in their recent report.

• Loss analysis with Goldpan - for the first time in my career, I got outside help and ran 10 interviews from recent closed lost deals in our ICP. We used Goldpan and found some money insights. Good people too.

💰Opinions are cheap and proof is gold

Emily Kramer, Adam Goyette, and Jeff Ignacio schooled me on revenue models in the latest episode of The Proof Point.

We talked about why most GTM leaders are bad at math, how to set more realistic pipeline/revenue targets, and how to build your revenue model.

My biggest takeaways:

• Pipeline and revenue planning is typically a process that very few Marketing leaders enjoy, and — surprise, surprise — it’s usually done in a silo.

• Once you’ve created your revenue model, it’s not a “set it and forget it” type deal. Marketing leaders should revisit the model every quarter with Executive and Sales leadership so they know what needs to change before it’s too late.

• It’s called BOTTOM-up forecasting, not BOTTOMS-up forecasting.

Listen on Spotify, Apple, or head over to YouTube watch the show.

UserEvidence, who?

UserEvidence is a customer evidence platform that helps B2B marketing teams generate verified proof points that credibly prove the value of your product.

Using custom surveys at key moments throughout the customer journey, you can capture case studies and testimonials, as well as competitive intelligence, product stats, and ROI data.

Turn happy customers into your best sellers with UserEvidence.