While construction might seem like an offline industry, Stephanie discovered LinkedIn works surprisingly well for reaching decision-makers with budget authority. She also found Facebook effective with the older demographic. The key insight: don't assume where your audience isn't - test and validate based on who actually makes purchasing decisions.

When executives push for lead generation through gated content, Stephanie uses selective gating as a compromise. She gates only the "hottest potato" content (newest case study) while keeping everything else ungated. This satisfies leadership's attribution needs while maintaining the brand's commitment to providing value first.

Stephanie's approach to saying "no" to boards and executives is refreshingly direct. Her philosophy: "I'll put it on the list" for suggestions she disagrees with, then lets time naturally filter out the noise. She emphasizes that executives hired her for expertise, not compliance, and maintains this boundary consistently.

Rather than broad founder visibility plays, Stephanie uses targeted tools like Dripify exclusively for executive-to-executive conversations. She keeps these interactions conversational rather than pitchy, focusing on authentic connection between peer-level decision makers. This creates higher-quality relationships than traditional sales outreach.

Stephanie warns against the constant "X is dead" hot takes dominating LinkedIn marketing discourse. Her advice: trust your experience and knowledge of your specific company, customers, and market rather than chasing every trending opinion. This grounding prevents the constant strategy pivots that derail marketing effectiveness.

Taking six months instead of the planned three to build marketing foundations, Stephanie prioritized understanding inherited team strengths/weaknesses, cross-departmental alignment, and uncovering systemic issues before launching campaigns. This patient approach to foundation-building creates sustainable growth rather than quick wins.

Stephanie shifted her team away from talking about their platform ("Kathleen") to focusing on actual customer pain points. This customer-problem-first approach requires deeper research into what prospects actually struggle with, but creates messaging that resonates because it addresses real issues rather than feature benefits.