Turntide dedicates 50% of their marketing budget to trade shows because they deliver the highest ROI for lead generation and revenue. They attend 13-15 shows globally per year, targeting tier-one industry events and increasingly niche, industry-specific shows in marine, off-road, and motorsports. Rather than chasing trendy digital channels, Jillian doubles down on what actually drives deals.

Turntide runs monthly webinars that have become their most successful lead generation channel by deliberately avoiding sales pitches. Their engineering team leads deep dives into product specs, cybersecurity, and power electronics—essentially giving engineers peer-to-peer technical education. They intentionally avoid mentioning Turntide and focus on solving real problems their audience faces, which builds trust and generates qualified pipeline.

Rather than customizing booth sizes for each show, Jillian maintains consistent space dimensions across all 13-15 annual trade shows. This allows them to reuse graphics, ship the same trade kits, and work with the same agencies depending on region. The standardization dramatically reduces costs while maintaining professional presence at every event.

Turntide evaluates trade shows based on: (1) which industries they're trying to penetrate most, (2) what product launches are planned, (3) which channel partners they can leverage for exposure, and (4) what geographic gaps exist in their revenue strategy. This framework helps them choose between tier-one broad shows and tier-two industry-specific events.

After assembling her team, Jillian launched "Current and Wave" on Turntide's website—a dedicated content hub featuring 75+ articles of thought leadership around electrification, engineering, and industry trends. Combined with their website redesign, this content strategy contributed to 400% growth in website traffic over 15 months by establishing Turntide as a technical authority.

As a marketing leader at a startup, Jillian filters out the chaos, shifting priorities, and organizational turbulence so her remote team can focus on executing their quarterly plans. She holds weekly one-on-ones with each team member, weekly team calls, and quarterly on-site strategy sessions with clear actionable plans. This structured approach keeps the team focused on revenue goals despite startup volatility.

After extensive testing, Jillian concluded that Google Ads and LinkedIn advertising don't deliver ROI for Turntide—even having a Google rep tell her it wasn't worth the spend. She discovered LinkedIn's targeting is deliberately confusing, with entire budgets getting consumed by unqualified clicks from students when targeting countries like India. Rather than continuing to pour money into underperforming channels, she reallocated budget to proven channels.

With a small team unable to deep-dive into specific industries, Turntide uses "air coverage" across multiple sectors through strategic PR. They announce major customer partnerships, new product launches, and company milestones in tier-one media and trade publications, amplifying their reach beyond what their team size would normally allow.