Podcast Summary: “What’s Working Right Now in B2B Marketing – Live from Drive 2025”

Podcast: The Dave Gerhardt Show
Host: Dave Gerhardt
Guests: Sylvia LePoidevin (CMO, Kanji), Trinity Nguyen (CMO, UserGems), Natalie Taylor (Head of Marketing, Capsule)
Date: November 24, 2025
Location: Recorded live at Drive 2025, Burlington, VT

Episode Overview

This live panel, recorded at Exit Five’s annual DRIVE conference, brings together three marketing leaders to share actionable insights on what’s actually working right now in B2B marketing. Host Dave Gerhardt steers the conversation away from generic strategy and into the real-world tactics, tools, and experiments these leaders are running in Q4 2025. Topics include lean team strategies, changing roles of events, content for AI, go-to-market alignment, and the new challenges and opportunities presented by the rise of AI and LLMs (large language models) in B2B marketing.

Meet the Panelists

• Sylvia LePoidevin ([03:59])

  • CMO at Kanji: Provides Apple device management (cybersecurity & IT).
  • Team: 13 people (core team of 5 + Sylvia), 300-person company in high-growth mode.

• Trinity Nguyen ([04:30])

  • CMO at UserGems: AI solution for sales and marketing, capturing buying signals and generating pipeline.
  • Team: 3 marketers (hiring more), strong use of contractors/consultants, and an in-marketing ADR team.

• Natalie Taylor ([05:01])

  • Head of Marketing at Capsule: Series A, video editing software for enterprise brands.
  • Team: Just her + recent events lead hire; recently funded and scaling up.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Non-Negotiable Marketing Channel Right Now

Natalie Taylor: Events as the Pipeline Engine

• “It’s my first marketing hire. Best marketing—best hire I’ve ever made. And she is running the function that has been our runaway successful channel. Our pipeline would just plummet… if we weren’t running that events machine.” ([05:59])
• Events Strategy: Highly targeted, peer-networking-focused dinners at cool venues built around hot topics (video and AI). Events execute a full-funnel go-to-market plan—prospects, customers, AEs, and aggressive, structured follow-up, often converting attendees on-site.
  • “It’s all in how you get people there and how you’re framing it.” ([07:26])

Memorable Moment:

• Hiring an ex-11 Madison Park events lead with tech CS experience, recruited via a LinkedIn post.
  • “She led private events at Eleven Madison Park... then pivoted into tech customer success and was like the top CS rep at Calendly.” ([08:55])

Trinity Nguyen: UserGems as the Go-To-Market Operating System

• “Our entire go to market team, our entire CRM is powered by this one product.” ([10:08])
• Approach: Using UserGems internally to orchestrate highly targeted ABM (600 accounts monthly), guided by granular intent signals, and tight AI-augmented prioritization.
• Outbound isn’t dead:
  • “When people say cold calling doesn’t work, I have numbers to show you that it does. It just works if you figure out optimizing for it and make sure they all go out at the same time in a very orchestrated way.” ([11:20])

Effective Outreach Framework:

• Combine account and contact signals (job changes, previous touchpoints, tech stack) into personalized emails/calls.
• “If you give [reps] a reason why they’re calling... right in front of them is like, ‘this is the reason why I’m calling you.’” ([12:53])

Sylvia LePoidevin: Creating a Media Property for LLM Discovery

• “It’s our media property. We have this media property called the Sequence that we launched... And we realized like a month after it launched that it’s being cited so heavily in all LLM search.” ([14:58])
• The Sequence: An external-domain content hub (not a “company blog”) featuring editorial, video, and demo recaps—designed to be cited as an external source by LLMs and to house all social/video/event content.

Impact:

• “We launched... a ‘how did you hear about us?’ field... and it was about 17%—17% said they found us through LLM, specifically.” ([15:56])
• “We have 20X the number of subscribers that we get from the company blog.” ([16:36])

2. What’s Dying (or Dead) in B2B Marketing?

• Company blogs full of generic content.
  • “We’ve just done away with generic content. AI can write generic content... They want something with an opinion and they want it to come from a person.” (Sylvia, [19:21])
• Massive event booths/conferences with little focus. (Trinity, [23:19])
• Conversational ads on LinkedIn: Once a niche, now saturated and ineffective. ([22:38])
• Thought-leadership virtual events:
  • “For virtual events, people just want something super, super practical... for our audience, the demo day format works.” (Sylvia, [19:21])

Notable Quote:

• “Whenever I say something that we stop doing, I’m going to regret it because somehow in a year it works again. Because everybody says dead.” (Trinity, [22:15])

3. Building Alignment Across GTM (Go-To-Market) Teams

Natalie Taylor:

• “The events, for example, were a full go-to-market team effort. CS is advising on what customers to come, sales is—we build a seating arrangement... and the follow up plan for every person. That alignment has been crucial for our success.” ([32:46])
• Weekly wins meetings and sprint meetings keep full team aligned and collaborating toward revenue goals.

Trinity Nguyen:

• “A lot of marketers actually don’t know how sales operate... If you show me incentives, I will tell you the behaviors people will do.” ([34:35])
• Advocates for marketers deeply understanding sales comp plans, activities, and account-level work for real revenue alignment.

4. Offensive (Proactive) vs. Defensive (Reactive) Marketing

Sylvia LePoidevin: Shark Tank Day for Idea Generation

• “I wanted to get all the best ideas to the top of the pile, and I created the Shark Tank Day, basically marketing Shark Tank. We had 16 ideas, we pitched... to a panel of ‘sharks’ representing our buyer personas.” ([27:41])
• Outcome: Six or seven pitches now in the works, including digital twin interactive AI and fun idea like a “roast your tech stack” bot.

Memorable Moment:

• “Our ICP loves to chat. They don’t like to fill out forms or talk to sales. They like to chat.” ([30:41])

5. The New Content Playbook for AI/LLMs

• Content for LLM Discovery:
  • Use of independent domains for editorial media properties (external signals for LLMs).
  • Demo day recaps and highly practical content over generic “thought leadership.”
  • Open-form “How did you hear about us?” fields capture real attribution from LLM users; revealed 17%+ attribution to LLMs in one week. ([15:56], [37:27])
• PR as a channel for LLM and buyer discovery:
  • “Press releases actually is now hot, not dead... because they’re looking for third party sources.” (Trinity, [38:45])
• Let teams (and individuals) become internal influencers, not just corporate spokespeople. ([45:29])

6. Q&A and Rapid Fire Gems

• LLMs and External Domains: LLMs prefer to cite “external” sources, so creating a credible editorial property on its own domain rather than on the company website can confer more authority in answers and result in increased brand reach via AI-powered search. ([36:09])
• Interactive Demos:
  • Regular “demo days” streamed and recapped as a practical, high-converting content format; feedback shapes the pitch and addresses real objections in the funnel.
• PR Tactics:
  • Build company data stories or commission research to provide genuine value to journalists—become a frequent source, not just push company news.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "Events execute a full-funnel go-to-market plan... our pipeline would just plummet if we weren’t running that events machine." — Natalie Taylor ([05:59])
• “We run a lot of ABM... So our entire CRM is powered by UserGems, and now it's picking up the messaging...” — Trinity Nguyen ([10:08])
• “We didn’t want to keep building the company blog because, like, nobody wants to read that. Can we create something that people will actually follow?” — Sylvia LePoidevin ([14:58])
• "It's not like a hacky thing... It genuinely started as like, can we make really good content?" — Sylvia LePoidevin ([16:36])
• “Show me incentives and I'll tell you the behaviors people will do.” — Trinity Nguyen ([34:38])
• “Our ICP loves to chat. They don’t like to fill out forms or talk to sales.” — Sylvia LePoidevin ([30:41])
• "Press releases actually is now hot, not dead." — Trinity Nguyen ([38:45])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:59] - Introduction of the panelists and their company/team setup
• [05:49] - “What’s the one thing you wouldn’t give up in marketing right now?” (Events, UserGems, Sequence)
• [07:26] - How Capsule structures effective events and drives pipeline
• [10:08] - UserGems’ role as CRM backbone, ABM strategy
• [14:58] - Launching “The Sequence” for LLM-driven discovery and lead generation
• [16:51] - Content creation structure at Kanji/The Sequence (multi-stream, demo days)
• [19:21] - What channels/tactics have been dropped or deprioritized (blogs, big booths, virtual events, LinkedIn conversational ads)
• [27:41] - Creating a “Shark Tank Day” to generate and vet ideas
• [32:46] - Aligning the go-to-market team for event success
• [34:35] - Why marketers must understand sales comp and behavior
• [36:09] - The logic behind external domains and LLM citations
• [38:45] - Resurgence of PR and third-party content for LLM/SEO
• [45:29] - Empowering internal spokespeople and leveraging proprietary data for effective PR

Overall Takeaways

• Bold, practical innovation wins: Whether it’s product-centric demo days, highly orchestrated ABM, or interactive content, tactics rooted in real customer needs outperform “checkbox” marketing.
• Content and attribution are evolving: LLMs and AI are shifting how prospects discover brands, raising the bar on content quality and distribution strategy.
• Events are back, but different: Intimate, curated experiences that create immediate value for both attendees and the business—when executed holistically—deliver disproportionate ROI.
• Cross-team alignment is non-negotiable: Marketing can’t win alone; the best results come from seamless collaboration with sales, customer success, and leadership.
• Experimentation mindset beats rigid playbooks: What works (or doesn’t) today may flip quickly. Leaders stay close to data, drop ego, and pivot fast.

For listeners who missed the live panel, this episode breaks through the noise and delivers sharp, current, and immediately applicable insights for B2B marketers seeking to win in 2025 and beyond.