Episode 6: Disrupt the Market with a Pillar-Based Marketing Strategy with Stephen Messer, Co-Founder of Collective[i]

This episode features Stephen Messer, the co-founder and vice-chairman of Collective[i] and formerly, co-founder at Linkshare Corporation (exited for $500M). In the episode, you'll discover how Collective[i] disrupted the sales forecasting game with a pillar-based marketing strategy that built strong brand awareness and generated an impressive volume of leads.

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About The Guest

Stephen Messer is the vice-chairman of Collective[i] and a founder of the company, along with Tad Martin and Heidi Messer, his sister. Prior to Collective[i], Stephen and Heidi co-founded LinkShare Corporation, a host to one of the world’s largest online affiliate networks, linking advertisers with publishers. With Stephen as chairman and CEO, LinkShare was for two consecutive years recognized by Deloitte &Touche as the fastest-growing technology company in the New York Region. Stephen was awarded the Best Service to the Industry award by ABestWeb, recognizing his contributions to the development of the affiliate marketing industry, and in 2005 he received the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the New York Region. In 2005, he and Heidi sold LinkShare to Rakuten (4755:JASDAQ) for $425 million.

Episode Description

This episode features Stephen Messer, the co-founder and vice chairman of Collective[i] and formerly, co-founder at Linkshare Corporation (exited for $500M). In the episode, you'll discover how Collective[i] disrupted the sales forecasting game with a pillar-based marketing strategy that built strong brand awareness and generated an impressive volume of leads.

Key Takeaways

When you're the leader (in a disruptive category especially), weaker players will put out misinformation or make themselves look like the one who's winning.
People will decide within the first paragraph if content is valuable or clickbait.
Content needs to solve a problem, and the brands that win at marketing are the ones who enter into a dialogue by taking their time and providing real value.

Quotes

"We must have a dialogue with our customers but they don't want to start the dialogue by having me lecture. They want to go and read it, research it, form their own opinion and belief, come back with the questions and debates, and have you convince them as an advisor. They don't want to be sold because they've been sold for too many years."
- Stephen Messer

Timestamps

* (:59) Stephen’s journey to co-founding Collective[i]
* (3:23) Parallel between agile sales and agile marketing
* (8:37) Content marketing for a disruptive product
* (11:32) Making data-driven decisions for SEO strategy
* (15:52) Stephen’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on marketing

Sponsor

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