If "becoming a media company" feels like a vague buzzphrase inside your organisation, this episode gives you the real definition. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down what it actually means for B2B companies to adopt a media-first mindset and why it's not about chasing views or trying to be BuzzFeed.

Jason's core point is clear: becoming a media company means setting yourself up to be a consistent source of trust for the right prospects, through regular cadence and a strong point of view. It's not about impressions or virality, it's about achieving resonance with your prospective customers. And if you don't move toward a media-first mindset, you'll stay stuck in campaign mode, keep starting from zero with cold outreach, paid ads, and SEO, and get increasingly commoditised.

The resistance to this shift often comes from short-term thinking. Marketing teams want to see leads now, conversion yesterday. Building trust takes time, and when leadership can't draw an explicit line from content to revenue in the short term, these initiatives start to feel like distractions, especially in volatile economic environments.

But companies that don't make this transition will face three fundamental problems. One: they'll be stuck in campaign mode forever. Two: they'll always be starting from zero; cold outreach, paid ads, SEO, all starting from scratch every time. Three: they'll be totally commoditised. Everything they do from a marketing standpoint can and will be replicated by competitors if it isn't already.

So how do you navigate the shift into a media-first mindset? Jason offers three critical moves. First, stop thinking about campaigns and start thinking about systems. Build a workflow across your content production that allows you to consistently demonstrate a strong point of view without burning out your team. Second, stop renting attention on borrowed platforms and start focusing on the platforms that allow you to own that attention: your podcast, your newsletter, your website. Third, move away from a content calendar and move into an editorial strategy. This isn't about getting 100,000 people on your website tomorrow, it's about getting the 100 right people today.

When B2B companies make this shift, several things start to happen. Outbound gets easier because people start recognising you when you land in their inbox. Sales cycles get shorter because people already trust you across the entire buying committee. Deals get less fragile because you've already demonstrated your value from the start of their buying journey. Inbound starts to balance outbound, content drives actual pipeline, and sales begin to use your marketing assets as intended.

If you're ready to stop chasing impressions and start building consistent trust, this episode is your practical roadmap for making the media-first shift without burning out your team.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: What does becoming a media company actually mean?

01:00 - Defining a media company in B2B context

02:00 - Why B2B companies resist the media-first mindset

03:00 - The attribution gap and short-term thinking

04:00 - Three problems companies face without the shift

05:00 - How to navigate into a media-first mindset

06:00 - Editorial strategy over content calendars

07:00 - What happens when B2B companies make the shift

08:00 - How to get started with B2B Better

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Check out the Pipe Dream Podcast on Podbean listing

Learn about Owned media and Editorial mindset for B2B marketing

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

If your outbound is getting ignored, it's not your reps, it's the volume-over-value playbook. In this solo episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell breaks down why traditional cold outreach is failing and how owned media can transform your outbound from extractive spam into contextual, value-first conversations that actually get responses.

Jason's core point is blunt: AI has flooded inboxes, trust is at an all-time low, and "Can I grab 15 minutes?" reads as extractive instead of helpful. The numbers back this up. Most B2B buyers receive 20-50 outbound emails per day, and there's zero differentiation between them. Our sensors for AI-generated outreach are sharper than ever, which means prospects tune out before they even finish reading.

The real cost to your business? SDR burnout, wasted resources, and eroded brand trust. When you're sending volume over value, pipeline becomes a numbers game instead of a game of generating quality, value-first relationships. And that "Can I grab 15 minutes?" CTA puts the burden on prospects to figure out if you're even relevant, it's extractive, not value-driven.

The alternative is contextual outreach powered by owned media. Instead of leading with "we have a solution that we think is relevant to you," you lead with "we created a piece of content that we think is relevant to you because we know it's relevant to all the other prospects and personas we're interviewing on our podcast. Curious to know what you think."

Here's how it works: build a piece of content IP (podcast, newsletter, YouTube series) with a clear point of view, co-designed with sales around real buyer challenges. Then lead outbound with relevant insights before you ever ask for time. That's the difference between cold and contextual outreach. Cold is a stranger asking for a prospect's time. Contextual is when you're perceived as an informed peer offering relevant insights to your target audience.

Owned media used this way gives you credibility and gives value before the ask. And the results speak for themselves: traditional cold outbound rates hover around 2% on a good day. Contextual outreach using owned media can see outbound reply rates go as high as 10-15% and the replies are more substantive than "I'm not interested." They're often "thank you for showing me this content, let's stay in touch."

Over 3-12 months, this approach creates a compounding effect: higher reply rates mean more at-bats, warm outreach converts better than cold, and prospects who don't reply now might reach out later because you started the relationship from a position of value rather than an ask.

If your outbound program feels broken, this episode is a practical reset on how to use owned media to build credibility first and pipeline second and avoid the extractive playbook that's killing response rates.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Why traditional cold outreach is dying

01:00 - The inbox overload problem (20-50 emails/day)

02:00 - What "Can I grab 15 minutes?" really says to prospects

03:00 - The owned media alternative: content IP that demonstrates POV

04:00 - How to align sales + marketing around contextual outreach

05:00 - Results you can expect: 2% vs 10-15% reply rates

06:00 - The compounding effect of value-first relationships

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

Remember when SEO was the backbone of B2B content strategy? Sean Blanda thinks that era is ending. In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell reconnects with Sean, former VP of Content at Crossbeam and founder of Gate Check Studios, to unpack what Google AI summaries, LLMs, and the “slop wars” mean for marketers still renting reach from algorithms.

They dig into why companies keep pouring budget into rented channels even when they know they should own their audience. Sean points to the “measurement effect”: if it’s easy to track, it feels effective. Owned media is harder because it requires patience (often 9–12 months), conviction, and a real point of view. And he’s honest that it’s not for every business: if you’re selling a true commodity and performance marketing works, that might be the right play. But for many B2B brands, the real truth remains: a human buyer has to believe in you.

Then comes the accelerant: the slop wars. With LLMs, the market flooded with AI-generated content, making generic “SEO blogs” even easier to ignore. In that noise, the advantage shifts to people and companies with real expertise, strong storytelling, and distinctive perspectives regardless of platform.

A key takeaway: AI is a tool, not a strategy. It can speed up execution, but it can’t replace fundamentals; clear goals, audience understanding, and a message worth remembering. Sean argues the hardest part isn’t tactics; it’s conviction. Brands fear alienating anyone, but trying to appeal to everyone is how you end up forgettable.

They also talk about distribution in a creator-driven world. Instead of gambling on a single algorithm, Sean suggests partnering with niche creators who already have the audience you want. And if you’re building an internal content team, he likes an “SNL model”: develop creators, amplify them, and accept that great talent may eventually move on, your point of view and process should outlast any one person.

Bottom line: if SEO is weakening under AI summaries, this episode lays out what to do next. Stop relying solely on rented reach, build owned media only when it fits your GTM, and win with clarity, patience, and a differentiated perspective in a sea of AI sameness.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Full circle from COVID to AI

02:00 - Sean's journey from Crossbeam to Gate Check Studios

05:00 - The moment SEO's backbone started crumbling

08:00 - Why B2B companies still rent reach from algorithms

12:00 - The measurement effect vs patience and conviction

16:00 - What turbocharged the shift: the slop wars

20:00 - AI as tool, not strategy

24:00 - The biggest challenges: patience and point of view

28:00 - How to develop your brand's point of view

32:00 - Getting executive buy-in with examples and ROI

36:00 - The rise of niche creators and partnership opportunities

40:00 - The Saturday Night Live model for content teams

44:00 - Devil's advocate: when owned media isn't the answer

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Sean Blanda on LinkedIn

Visit Gate Check Studios

Check out Sean’s website at seanblanda.com/about

Visit Human Internet

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

Can AI create great content? Sure. Can it create content that actually moves people? That’s the question at the heart of this episode, where host Jason Bradwell sits down with Melanie Deziel, former (and first-ever) editor of branded content at The New York Times and author of The Content Fuel Framework and Prove It, to explore what makes content truly defensible in the age of AI.

Melanie looks back on her NYT work and explains why the most memorable branded content leans into experiences AI can’t replicate. She points to projects built on real reporting; interviewing people, gathering lived stories, capturing sensory detail, and earning emotional truth. ChatGPT can’t call someone up, build trust, or understand the texture of human experience firsthand. The more human your content is, the safer it is from commoditisation.

The conversation then turns to Prove It and the reality that skepticism was already at an all-time high before AI went mainstream where fake news, deepfakes, and “alternative facts” made audiences harder to convince. Now, with synthetic content everywhere, empty claims are even easier to dismiss. Melanie’s argument is simple: the brands that win won’t just say things they’ll prove them with evidence, specifics, and credible support that goes beyond generic marketing language.

Jason asks about AI ethics, and Melanie draws a parallel to the early days of sponsored content labeling. Her view is that disclosure matters because trust matters but the bigger test is whether the content genuinely adds value. AI-assisted work can still be meaningful if it’s transparent enough and actually useful.

On creativity, Melanie argues that while AI can generate unlimited ideas, it often produces similar outputs when everyone uses the same tools and prompts. What makes ideas interesting is the fuel AI can’t access, your memories, curiosity, experiences, and perspective. That’s why she still believes structured creativity beats random brainstorming: a strong process consistently produces better work than chasing “inspiration.”

Melanie also shares how she uses AI in practice: speeding up research, checking blind spots and biases, and acting like a verbal processing partner without outsourcing the actual strategic thinking or full creative execution. She wants AI to buy back time so she can do more of what she loves: creating.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Introduction: Defining modern branded content

02:00 - What makes content defensible in the AI age

04:00 - Buyer skepticism and the Prove It framework

06:00 - The ethics of AI-generated content

09:00 - When AI helps creativity vs flattens it

13:00 - How Melanie actually uses ChatGPT

15:00 - Building multiple forms of media and IP

18:00 - Creative side quests and pulling threads

21:00 - Divergent vs convergent thinking

23:00 - Advice for risk-averse marketing cultures

Useful Links

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Melanie Deziel on LinkedIn

Explore Melanie’s website melaniedeziel.com

Visit Creative Constructs

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

"Use AI to do more!" might be the worst advice B2B marketers are getting right now. In this episode, host Jason Bradwell sits down with Charlie Riley, Head of Marketing at OneScreen.ai, to talk about why mass personalisation is backfiring, how to actually build stakeholder buy-in for thought leadership, and why being a marketing team of one forces you to make better strategic choices.

Charlie breaks down his approach to aligning sales and marketing around LinkedIn advocacy, creating non-scalable experiences that actually convert, and using out-of-home advertising as both a brand and demand gen play. If you're drowning in AI tools and wondering what actually moves the needle, this conversation will reset your thinking.

Jason and Charlie start by tackling the conventional wisdom that AI lets you "do more", more outreach, more personalisation, more content. Charlie's take? That approach is creating AI slop that people see right through. He explains why marketers are starting to swing back toward doing fewer things better, especially things that can't scale (spoiler: that's where the magic happens).

As a marketing team of one at OneScreen, Charlie's had to get ruthless about focus. He shares his three-to-five channel strategy: LinkedIn (organic and paid), visual content showcasing real OOH campaigns, and live events like Drive and Spring. He explains how these channels create an owned media flywheel, content feeds community, community shows up at events, events create more content.

They dig into LinkedIn strategy, and Charlie makes a key point: people don't work with brands, they work with people. OneScreen focuses more on executive and team member profiles than the company page. Charlie shares practical tactics for getting internal buy-in, finding a champion, helping them time-block 15 minutes daily for LinkedIn, and gamifying the process for competitive salespeople.

Jason shares his own experience trying to roll out an advocacy program across an entire sales team (spoiler: it failed) before pivoting to work with two or three champions who were already posting. Once they could show millions in attributed pipeline, executive buy-in came naturally. Charlie adds that you have to get into the psychology of each function, salespeople want commission, CS wants retention bonuses, and CFOs want shorter sales cycles.

If you're a B2B marketer feeling pressure to "do more with AI" or struggling to get internal stakeholders bought into content and thought leadership, this conversation offers a refreshingly practical alternative. Charlie's insights on doing fewer things better, building advocacy programs that actually work, and creating experiences that don't scale will help you cut through the noise and focus on what genuinely drives results.

00:00 - Introduction: Marketing as psychology

02:00 - Why "do more with AI" is backwards

05:00 - Building marketing as a team of one

07:00 - Three-to-five channel strategy

09:00 - The owned media flywheel

11:00 - People work with people, not brands

13:00 - Getting executives to share on LinkedIn

15:00 - Internal advocacy: finding your champion

18:00 - Gamifying LinkedIn for salespeople

20:00 - The blank check question: curated experiences

Connect with Charlie Riley on LinkedIn and on his website charlieriley.com

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Subscribe to Beyond the Billboard (Apple Podcasts)

Visit OneScreen.ai

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

“We help companies drive growth. We deliver innovative solutions. We’re customer-focused.” Sound familiar? If it does, your positioning probably sounds like everyone else’s, and in a world where ChatGPT can generate endless value props in seconds, that sameness is now a real threat.

In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell talks with Christian Klepp, co-founder of EINBLICK Consulting, about why vanilla positioning is collapsing under AI pressure and how to build differentiation that actually holds up. Christian argues that the brands that win won’t be the ones publishing more AI content. They’ll be the ones doing deeper customer research, crafting a clearer point of view, and using subject matter experts as a defensible moat.

Jason opens with the core problem: AI made generic messaging catastrophically easy to ignore. Christian explains what’s changed recently, buyers increasingly use AI-assisted search and comparison tools that see through fluff faster than ever. It’s no longer enough to say “we have AI.” Buyers want specifics: what is AI doing, how does it create value, and why should they trust your approach?

They also address the pressure many agencies feel as clients expect AI to make everything cheaper and faster. Christian’s take is that AI has no “soul”, no nuance, humor, lived experience, or real context. The winning strategy isn’t volume (100 AI-generated blogs), t’s choosing fewer topics and creating truly insightful, differentiated content that reflects real expertise.

Christian explains why companies end up with bland positioning: fear of alienating prospects, cultures that reward safe messaging, and internal misalignment about what truly differentiates them. He’s seen teams stuck in endless debates, leading to either analysis paralysis or messaging based purely on internal assumptions.

His solution starts with a research strategy. He compares it to building a house - you wouldn’t build without a blueprint. Likewise, you shouldn’t build positioning without deep customer interviews that uncover why buyers chose you, what triggered the decision, and what language they use to describe value. That customer voice becomes the foundation not boardroom opinions.

And if you think you don’t have differentiation? Christian argues it’s there, but often hidden. The answer lives with your customers and SMEs, you need to dig through interviews, sales calls, and objections to find the real demand triggers.

Companies producing generic content will drown in sameness. Use AI intentionally, not as a replacement. Tap SMEs, listen to sales conversations, and build messaging from real expertise. If your positioning could’ve been written by anyone or any AI, this episode is the wake-up call you need.

00:00 - Introduction: The uncomfortable truth about your positioning

02:00 - Meet Christian Klepp and EINBLICK Consulting

04:00 - What's changed since AI went mainstream

07:00 - The agency tension: AI expectations vs actual value

11:00 - Why AI content lacks soul (and why that matters)

14:00 - Why companies default to vanilla positioning

18:00 - Using market research to break internal misalignment

22:00 - What to do when differentiation isn't obvious

26:00 - Differentiated perspective vs being opinionated

30:00 - The cybersecurity firm that got it right

34:00 - Is the media the new competitive moat?

38:00 - What happens to companies that don't adapt

42:00 - Final advice: Interview SMEs and sit in on sales calls

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Christian Klepp on LinkedIn

Visit EINBLICK Consulting

Check out B2B Marketers on a Mission Podcast

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

You've nailed product-market fit, so why isn’t anyone buying? In this episode of Pipe Dream, host Jason Bradwell sits down with messaging strategist Diane Wiredu to unpack why message-market fit matters just as much as your product, and how many B2B companies accidentally sabotage themselves by simplifying their messaging into vague, meaningless fluff.

They start by defining message-market fit: when your messaging resonates with what buyers care about not just what you think sounds clever. Diane argues that SaaS teams often obsess over product-market fit while ignoring messaging, so even great products can fall flat. Signs you’ve found include shorter sales cycles, better-fit engagement, attracting the right prospects, and crucially, repelling the wrong ones (because not everyone should be your customer).

A major theme is the clarity vs. simplicity trap. Diane says “simplify your messaging” advice is often misapplied: in the rush to be punchy, companies strip out meaning and end up with websites full of phrases like “reimagined” or “easy to use” that say nothing. Clarity isn’t about being short, it’s about being meaningful, valuable, and relevant. Sometimes that takes full sentences and detail, especially when selling to technical buyers like engineers who don’t need to be talked down to.

Jason then asks how service businesses differentiate in crowded, “commodity” categories like agencies, consultancies, and law firms. Diane introduces her differentiation stacking framework: instead of chasing one radical USP, stack multiple real differentiators your approach or methodology, delivery model (sprints vs. retainers), expertise and credentials, and your process. It’s marginal gains thinking: being slightly better across several areas adds up to something genuinely distinctive. She references her ROAR framework as an example of how a clear method can anchor positioning.

They also dig into internal alignment, which Diane calls the biggest KPI for messaging work. She insists CEOs should be involved because without leadership buy-in, the work won’t stick. Messaging isn’t just marketing, it’s strategy. Align the CEO, head of sales, and head of revenue first, then roll it out top-down. Otherwise you’ll build “great messaging” that never gets used.

On AI, Diane’s stance is grounded: it should execute and optimize, not replace strategic thinking. She uses it for extraction, synthesis, and stress-testing ideas, but warns that outsourcing strategy to AI leads to commodity messaging. Do the thinking yourself, then use AI to improve output.

If your B2B company has a strong product but messaging that sounds like everyone else’s, or you can’t align internal stakeholders, this episode offers practical frameworks to stand out and convert.

00:00 - Introduction: From concept to commercial results

01:30 - Why B2B Better is a podcast marketing agency

03:00 - Phase 1: Strategy development and the show blueprint

06:00 - Phase 2: Funnel mapping and the distribution grid

09:00 - Phase 3: Pre-production essentials

11:00 - Phase 4: Creative treatments—producing vs production

14:00 - Phase 5: Integrated campaigns and smart distribution

17:00 - Phase 6: Reporting and optimization

20:00 - How to get started with B2B Better

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Diane Wiredu on LinkedIn

Learn more about SaaStock

Visit Diane’s website at Lion Words

Use Claude and ChatGPT for you messaging work

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast

Level up your B2B marketing and build a brand that actually stands out: subscribe to the Pipe Dream podcast from B2B Better for narrative-driven B2B marketing strategy, media-led content ideas, and practical GTM frameworks from host Jason Bradwell.

Ever feel like AI is the new “pivot to video”? Recorded live at SaaStock, Jason Bradwell sits down with repeat guest Danielle Parker to ask whether we’re living through an AI hype bubble and what that really means for B2B marketers, content engines, and your career.

They dig into how AI is reshaping B2B marketing strategy in practice: which entry-level tasks are most at risk, why teams might get smaller (but not disappear), and what B2B buyers actually expect now that ChatGPT can answer basic questions in seconds. The conversation cuts through generic “AI for marketers” takes and focuses on building media-led, narrative-driven brands with a clear, differentiated point of view.

Danielle also walks through her unconventional path from municipal bond analyst to running a 100K+ food Instagram (Boston Brunch Guide), growing Mel Robbins’ audience past 1M, and helping build ProfitWell’s Recur Media into one of B2B’s best examples of serialised, media-first content. She and Jason unpack what it really takes to launch a show, avoid the “repurposing industrial complex”, and use frameworks like B2B Better’s distribution grid to map episodes across the full awareness journey. Finally, they explore the one marketing skill Danielle believes is truly AI-proof: events and face-to-face experiences and why companies are hiring dedicated events marketers earlier than ever.

Subscribe to catch every episode. Leave a review to help others discover the show. Share with security professionals or B2B marketers trying to break through technical noise. Follow B2B Better on LinkedIn for weekly insights.

00:00 - Introduction: Reconnecting at SaaStock where they first met

01:30 - The biggest challenge for B2B brands right now

02:30 - Are we in an AI hype bubble?

04:00 - What B2B buyers actually expect in 2025

06:30 - Why your people and point of view are your biggest differentiator

07:00 - Danielle's journey: From bond analyst to Boston Brunch Guide

08:30 - Growing Mel Robbins' Instagram from 30K to 1M+ followers

10:00 - ProfitWell as the gold standard for media-led B2B companies

11:30 - How Recur Media impacted ProfitWell's acquisition valuation

12:30 - Launching Boxed Out during COVID & the D2C ASMR video

14:00 - Why distribution needs to be part of the plan from day one

15:30 - Turning six ABM podcast transcripts into one comprehensive guide

17:00 - The content repurposing trap: Quality over quantity

18:30 - The distribution grid framework explained

21:00 - What AI absolutely cannot replace

22:00 - Why events marketing is having a major moment

23:30 - Being a person people want to do business with: The ultimate AI-proof skill

Connect with Jason Bradwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Danielle Parker on LinkedIn

Learn more about SaaStock

Explore B2B Better website and the Pipe Dream podcast