Podcast Summary: Inside Exit Five: How We Doubled Community Growth in Under a Year (with Matt Carnevale)

Release Date: March 31, 2025
Host: Dave Gerhardt
Guest: Matt Carnevale, Marketing Manager at Exit Five

Introduction

In this insightful episode of B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt, host Dave Gerhardt welcomes Matt Carnevale, the Marketing Manager at Exit Five, the premier community for B2B marketers. Released on March 31, 2025, the episode delves deep into Exit Five's strategies that led to a remarkable doubling of community growth within a year. Matt shares actionable tactics on engagement, audience building, and treating the community as a dynamic product to ensure sustained growth and high member engagement.

Segment 1: Understanding Community Growth

Key Discussion Points:

• Community as a Product: Matt emphasizes the importance of viewing the community not just as a group of members but as a product that requires continuous development and iteration.
• Audience Building Foundations: The foundational role of audience in community growth, highlighting the necessity of a strong, engaged audience outside the community to funnel new members effectively.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Carnevale [09:41]: "Audience is the building block of community growth. If you want to grow your community, you need to grow your audience."
• Matt Carnevale [24:59]: "Marketing doesn't help a shitty product. If your community's value isn't solid, no amount of marketing can sustain it."

Segment 2: Exit Five’s Strategy for Doubling Growth

Key Discussion Points:

1. Developing an Interesting Point of View:

   • Exit Five's stance: "Because nobody goes to school for B2B marketing," positioning itself as the go-to resource for B2B marketers seeking to enhance their expertise.

2. Choosing the Right Platform:

   • Focus on LinkedIn as the primary platform due to its alignment with B2B professionals and high engagement potential.

3. Consistent Content Creation:

   • Regular posting on LinkedIn, leveraging popular topics like company vs. personal branding to attract the right audience.
   • Matt Carnevale [10:15]: "We all have the same goal, which is to grow the business and grow our personal brands."

4. Analyzing and Iterating:

   • Utilizing analytics to identify high-performing content and doubling down on those topics to maximize audience growth.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Carnevale [13:35]: "60% of them said LinkedIn. So our audience building strategy is working."
• Alexis Teichmiller [03:50]: "We're a paid membership community, but we also run limited time cohort-based programs."

Segment 3: Treating Community Like a Product

Key Discussion Points:

• Product Management Approach: Applying product management principles to community building—hypothesize, test, gather feedback, and iterate.
• Member Feedback Integration: Regularly soliciting and incorporating member feedback to enhance community features and offerings.
• Community Signals and Trends: Monitoring trends within the community to guide feature development and event planning.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Carnevale [26:15]: "Treat your community like a product by iterating based on member feedback ensures it continuously meets their needs."
• Alexis Teichmiller [30:00]: "Members are investing in a product that you are continuously building and iterating based on their feedback."

Segment 4: Driving Engagement to Reduce Churn

Key Discussion Points:

• Engagement-Driven Retention: High engagement correlates with low churn rates, crucial for the sustainability of a paid community.
• Monthly Active Usage Strategies:
  1. Member-Led Events: Empowering members to host events fosters a sense of ownership and active participation.
  2. Matchmaking Programs: Facilitating one-on-one connections among members enhances networking opportunities and community bonds.
  3. Tagging Experts: Highlighting and tagging experts within the community to provide authoritative responses and guidance.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Carnevale [36:42]: "It's better to have 10 engaged members than a hundred disengaged ones."
• Alexis Teichmiller [38:04]: "Members are excited to be engaged and to connect because they want opportunities to speak or teach."

Segment 5: Q&A Highlights

Notable Topics Discussed:

1. Content Strategy for Small Communities:

   • Matt advises erring on the side of more content initially to identify what resonates, then refining the strategy based on engagement metrics.
   • Matt Carnevale [45:15]: "Put enough shots on goal for one of them to eventually go in."

2. Overcoming the Cold Start Problem:

   • Strategies to re-engage members who have purchased courses but remain inactive, such as integrating course content with community discussions and incentivizing active participation.
   • Matt Carnevale [49:04]: "Teach the behavior of engaging with other members as part of the community ethos."

3. Matchmaking Program Development:

   • Utilization of tools like Matcha and Orbit AI to automate and enhance member matchmaking based on specific criteria.
   • Matt Carnevale [49:41]: "Matcha does all the heavy lifting for me."

4. Communicating Membership Value:

   • Leveraging social proof and member testimonials to convey the tangible benefits of community membership.
   • Matt Carnevale [56:53]: "Use social proof to showcase the value through member feedback and success stories."

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Carnevale [50:05]: "If you have a free community, can you shrink it down and find a really small subset of people that are thirsty for this thing and can you charge them for access to that thing?"

Segment 6: Conclusion and Final Insights

Key Takeaways:

• Continuous Improvement: Treating the community as a product ensures ongoing development that aligns with member needs.
• Strategic Engagement: Focused engagement strategies drive active participation, reducing churn and fostering a vibrant community.
• Social Proof Utilization: Showcasing member success and testimonials effectively communicates the community’s value proposition.

Closing Remarks: Dave Gerhardt wraps up the episode by reiterating the success of Exit Five and encouraging listeners to join their growing community to enhance their careers in B2B marketing.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave Gerhardt [59:10]: "Our mission at Exit Five is to help you grow your career in B2B marketing. There's no better place to do that than with us at Exit Five."

Key Strategies Employed by Exit Five:

1. Audience Building:

   • Establish a strong presence on platforms where target members congregate (e.g., LinkedIn for B2B marketers).
   • Develop and share content that reflects the community’s core values and expertise areas.

2. Engagement Tactics:

   • Host member-led events to encourage participation and knowledge sharing.
   • Implement matchmaking programs to facilitate meaningful connections among members.
   • Tag and involve experts to provide authoritative insights and support.

3. Continuous Iteration:

   • Regularly seek and incorporate member feedback to refine community features and offerings.
   • Analyze engagement metrics to identify and amplify high-performing content and activities.

4. Value Communication:

   • Utilize social proof and member testimonials to demonstrate the community’s value.
   • Offer trial periods to allow potential members to experience the community’s benefits firsthand.

Conclusion

Matt Carnevale's in-depth exploration of Exit Five's community growth strategies offers valuable insights for B2B marketers aiming to build and sustain vibrant, engaged communities. By treating the community as a dynamic product, focusing on strategic audience building, and implementing robust engagement tactics, Exit Five successfully doubled its community growth in under a year while maintaining high member engagement and satisfaction.

For more insights and to join the leading community for B2B marketers, visit Exit Five.

Notable Quotes Recap:

• Matt Carnevale [09:41]: "Audience is the building block of community growth."
• Alexis Teichmiller [30:00]: "Members are investing in a product that you are continuously building and iterating based on their feedback."
• Dave Gerhardt [59:10]: "Our mission at Exit Five is to help you grow your career in B2B marketing."