Podcast Summary: The Dave Gerhardt Show

Episode: How To Drive Revenue Through Content with Lashay Lewis (Founder, Authority Plug)
Date: January 29, 2026
Host: Dave Gerhardt
Guest: Lashay Lewis

Overview

In this episode, Dave Gerhardt brings back Lashay Lewis, founder of Authority Plug, for a deep and practical discussion on how to drive real revenue through content—specifically, “bottom of the funnel” (BOFU) content. Lashay details her research-driven, product-led approach and why focusing on BOFU content is a powerful and often underused lever for growth in B2B SaaS. The conversation covers actionable frameworks, feature mapping, knowledge extraction to streamline content production, and tactical advice on getting executive buy-in. Lashay’s in-the-trenches perspective and practical playbooks deliver lessons relevant to any marketer seeking to connect content to pipeline.

Main Topics & Key Insights

1. The Power and Purpose of Bottom-of-Funnel (BOFU) Content

Timestamps: 04:20–13:41

• Obsession with Results:

  • Lashay’s focus on BOFU content comes from its direct impact on revenue and sales-qualified leads (SQLs).
  • She enjoys being able to measure and attribute pipeline to content, which is often what executive leadership values most.
  • Quote:

    "Nothing gets executive leadership more excited than seeing SQLs come in the door. And then if you can show the company how you've been able to do that and make that clear attribution, then yeah, you're going to have a really illustrious career." – Lashay Lewis (05:16)

• Why Most Marketers Ignore BOFU:

  • The bias in content marketing favors high-traffic, top-of-funnel topics and listicles, causing companies to miss out on the conversion power of lower-volume, high-intent keywords.
  • BOFU content often seems less attractive due to lower search volume, but the conversion intent is far higher.
  • Quote:

    "You start to understand it's not about the search volume, it's about the intention." – Lashay Lewis (08:34)

• BOFU vs. Top-of-Funnel:

  • BOFU content is easier to attribute to closed deals and shorter sales cycles.
  • Instead of pushing for quantity, one or two deeply researched articles can outperform dozens of top-of-funnel pieces.

2. Achieving Success with BOFU Content

Timestamps: 07:32–13:41, 25:36–37:41

• Customer Research is Everything:

  • Real customer research (not just scraping competitors’ blogs) underpins high-converting BOFU content.
  • Lashay listed her key research questions for customer and product insights that map directly to the buyer journey.
  • Quote:

    "It just makes it so much easier for your content to convert when you're speaking on real customer pain points. Not something you made up." – Lashay Lewis (13:16)

  • Example research questions:
    • What were the largest deals closed in the last year?
    • Which products do prospects often switch from?
    • Who are the decision-makers?
    • What KPIs does your product help hit? (13:57)

• Overcoming SME Bottlenecks — Knowledge Extraction Framework:

  • Rather than scheduling interviews for every content piece, Lashay created a structured dashboard in Notion to extract and organize team expertise upfront.
  • Teams fill out product, customer, and use case information once, allowing content teams to create future assets more independently.
  • Quote:

    “The way I get around that is just to extract knowledge from them and place it all into one place and really consolidate that information.” – Lashay Lewis (17:55)

• Great Content is Great Editing:

  • Once thorough research is organized, writers aren’t starting from scratch and instead synthesize insights into compelling narratives.
  • Quote (on writing):

    “Great writing is great editing. If you want to level up your content strategy, you need something like what Lachey has here.” – Dave Gerhardt (24:55)

3. Feature Mapping: The BOFU Content Secret Sauce

Timestamps: 25:36–31:15

• What is Feature Mapping?
  • Take each product, break it into features, map those features to specific pain points, then to the corresponding ICP (Ideal Customer Profile).
  • Start research from the product (not keywords), then move outward to the audience—ensuring content matches real problems and product strengths.
  • Example: For Salesforce, the same product may be positioned as order management, analytics, or automation depending on the ICP.
  • Quote:

    "Feature mapping is the process of breaking your SaaS down to a feature level and then mapping those features back to specific pain points and then mapping those pain points back to an ideal customer profile." – Lashay Lewis (26:25)

4. Repurposing and Distributing BOFU Content

Timestamps: 37:41–41:50

• Beyond the Blog:

  • The world is shifting—BOFU content shouldn't just live as a blog post. Repurpose high-performing pieces across LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts, and more.
  • Use social as a testbed for ideas: posts can validate need before investing in full content assets.
  • Quote:

    "If it works good on a blog, film a YouTube video and then embed the YouTube video into the blog... It's really just like creating an entire ecosystem of just your product, your brand." – Lashay Lewis (40:36)

• Top/Mid/Bottom of Funnel Applies Everywhere:

  • This framework is useful not just for your website, but also for structuring LinkedIn and other platform strategies.
  • Quote:

    “Even with a LinkedIn content strategy, I still look at it the same way I look at it. Like certain posts are top of funnel... Certain are bottom of funnel: reach out to me for a strategy call.” – Lashay Lewis (41:27)

5. Favorite BOFU Examples and the Case for Focus

Timestamps: 33:36–37:41

• Examples of Well-Executed BOFU:

  • Bigtincan Learning, HelpSpot, ServiceTitan—sites to check for strong product-led, pain-point focused content.
  • The majority of companies are still missing the mark with BOFU, making it a major opportunity.

• Efficiency & Budget Impact:

  • With a focused approach, one thorough BOFU asset can deliver more pipeline impact than dozens of generalist posts.
  • Lashay describes this as a "sniper approach" vs. the "shotgun approach" typical of broad SEO campaigns.

6. Tactics for Executive Buy-in

Timestamps: 13:57–18:58

• Tie content efforts to clear business value and pipeline results.
• Use consolidated research and attribution to demonstrate content’s direct ROI.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Mindset Shift:

  “It's not about the search volume, it's about the intention.” – Lashay Lewis (08:34)

• On Attribution:

  “A lot of content marketers don't have the answer to [how is this making money?]... when you're focusing on bottom of funnel, you do.” – Lashay Lewis (10:16)

• On Knowledge Extraction:

  “The way I get around [SME interviews] is just extract knowledge from them and place it all into one place and really consolidate that information.” – Lashay Lewis (17:55)

• On Feature Mapping:

  “Take the core product and then you break it down by feature, and then you start mapping those features to specific pain points... work from the product and work your way all the way back to the customer.” – Lashay Lewis (29:09)

• On Distribution:

  “Repurposing bottom of funnel content — just take what's working and figure out how to tailor it to the specific platform...” – Lashay Lewis (40:52)

Memorable Moments

• Dave’s use of Drift’s repositioning content (“Live chat for sales”) as a classic BOFU and sales enablement example (12:51–13:16).
• The “Notion dashboard” system walkthrough, with practical instructions on structuring and sharing research to empower writers (17:55–21:03).
• Lashay’s “sniper, not shotgun” analogy for resource-effective marketing (36:40).

Suggested Listening Roadmap (Timestamps)

• BOFU Content Philosophy & Results: 04:20–13:41
• Tactical Approaches (Feature mapping, Knowledge extraction): 13:41–31:15
• Distribution, Social, Repurposing Strategies: 37:41–45:03
• Specific Company Examples: 33:55–36:00

Resources Mentioned

• Lashay’s Notion Content Dashboard: (Not publicly linked in the episode; listeners encouraged to contact Lashay on LinkedIn for more info.)
• Companies with exemplary BOFU content: Bigtincan Learning, HelpSpot, ServiceTitan

Closing Notes

For B2B marketers seeking clarity, focus, and ROI in their content strategy, Lashay’s frameworks offer a battle-tested blueprint for driving real revenue, not just page views. The actionable advice on feature mapping, knowledge extraction, and repurposing BOFU content is a must-listen for anyone tired of the high-volume, low-impact SEO hamster wheel.

Connect with Lashay on LinkedIn for more tactical resources and updates.

Ads, intros, and outro not summarized per instructions.