Every marketer knows that moment. A few days into a new role, imposter syndrome hits like a truck. That “oh shit, I’m in over my head” feeling is uncomfortable, but it’s also the best thing that can happen to you. Why? Because it forces you to act. You throw yourself into the deep end, sink or swim.
This isn’t about playing it safe. Sure, many of us could coast in cushy roles, building 50-slide marketing plans no one ever looks at, personas no one will ever use, and running campaigns that disappear into the void. That’s for the timid. I prefer the equivalent of being dropped into a Slayer mosh pit during their encore. Embrace the chaos and feed off the energy, or stay in your ergonomic chair wondering what could have been.
For years, I had it easy marketing to marketers. The persona was me. What makes me click? What do I like? Easy peasy, right? Then I got bored. I wanted a real challenge. Holy hell, did I find one.
Two brutal boot camps stripped away every marketing crutch I had: marketing to developers, then diving into legal tech. These experiences completely reshaped how I think about audience engagement, messaging, and what truly matters in B2B marketing.
Forget the Masterclasses being hocked by self-proclaimed gurus. You don’t become better by thinking your way to growth. You act your way into it. Let me repeat that, you cannot think your way to becoming a better marketer, you have to actually do the work. Herminia Ibarra calls this “Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader.” You don’t wait to feel ready; you just start, experiment, fail, learn, rinse and repeat.
Developers: The Bullshit Detectors of the Internet
Marketing to developers is not for the faint of heart. They don’t just hate marketers, they despise us. Seriously. They’re the kings of ad blockers and masters of technical discourse. Reddit is their playground, and they can spot your overpromising bullshit from outer space. When I started working with this audience, it became painfully clear that the traditional B2B playbook wasn’t just worthless; it was actively harmful.
What worked instead? Three things:
Brand: Not just logos and colours, but an identity developers could respect. In an ultra-competitive space, brand and messaging are your differentiators. You need to reinforce trust – prove you’re not just the best solution now, but that you’re one of them, in it for the long haul. No fluff. No over-promising. The goal here is to be relatable and trusted.
Community: Engage directly in their space, dare I say it, authentically (a word we toss around like a cheap commodity these days). Answer questions better than your competitors. Have strong opinions on how things should be done and back them up with experience. Basically, show up and give a shit.
Events: In-person events. Virtual if you have to, but double down on in-person. Have a rock-solid strategy to capture conversations, not just scan badges for leads. Lean into context, needs, personal anecdotes—things your HubSpot instance can’t capture. And of course, follow up immediately. A simple LinkedIn connection request and a quick, personalized email. Timing is everything.
Legal Tech: Where Every Word Matters
After a couple of years of marketing to developers, I found myself marketing legal tech to lawyers. And let me tell you, this is entirely on another level. The typical B2B playbook of “innovative solutions” and vague transformation stories doesn’t work here, actually it doesn’t work anywhere any longer. This may seem obvious, but take a look at any new AI company’s homepage and try to figure out what the hell they actually do. It’s like a marketing riddle wrapped in an enigma.
The fast lessons I’ve learned marketing to lawyers? Skip the jargon and buzzwords, know your audience and respect their time. Just use plain English to show how you’ll help their practice and more importantly, their clients. What problems do you actually solve? How long does implementation take? What measurable impact can they expect? When you show that your solution cut processing time by 60% at companies they recognize, that gets attention. Real results matter more than marketing promises.
Now don’t get me wrong, lawyers aren’t all business. After immersing myself at the largest legal tech conference in the world, I saw firsthand that these folks know how to have fun. But when it’s time for business decisions, they expect precision. And isn’t this exactly what ALL B2B marketing should be? Clear value, real results, no bullshit. We’ve somehow convinced ourselves that enterprise marketing needs to be complicated when it’s actually about answering the same fundamental questions every business has.
Make Your Own Best Practices
I’ve always prided myself on leading with creativity and being a good writer, but these experiences pushed me even further by forcing new constraints. There’s a strange misconception that creativity needs to roam wildly, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Constraints don’t kill creativity, they sharpen it. The right limits lead to more elegant solutions to the same old problems.
Every bad marketing habit I’d picked up before this journey got obliterated. I had to rebuild my approach from scratch, and I came out sharper, bolder, and way better at what I do. Not through growth hacks or best practices, but by getting my ass handed to me (I mean, humbled), starting over, and learning to speak human again.
The traditional B2B playbook isn’t just dead—it’s decomposing and stinking up the place. Good riddance. What replaces it? A renewed focus on brand, community, and actually giving a shit about your audience’s problems instead of bullshitting them.
Next up, I’ll show you how to build, execute, and measure a brand that actually matters. In the meantime, get in the pit, get uncomfortable, and don’t be a marketing mouth breather.
