Hello and welcome back, we are now on the 157th edition of Fresh Salmon, your go-to B2B marketing newsletter, which is read by 4,000 founders, marketers, sales professionals, and product managers, across the world.

Last week, my entire family was down with the flu, and we’re still in recovery mode. I had absolutely no energy to write a newsletter, so I had to skip the last edition—only the third one I’ve missed in three years. That should give you an idea of just how rough it was! Apologies for the gap, and I appreciate your patience.

But I’m back today, and let’s dive in today’s edition.

Meet our primary partner for today’s edition: AdQuick. Check them out 👇👇

Modernize Out Of Home with AdQuick

AdQuick unlocks the benefits of Out Of Home (OOH) advertising in a way no one else has. Approaching the problem with eyes to performance, created for marketers and creatives with the engineering excellence you’ve come to expect for the internet.

You can learn more at www.AdQuick.com

Why You Need a Media-First Approach in B2B Marketing

B2B marketing is changing—fast. If you’re still stuck in the old ways of pushing blog posts and gated PDFs, you’re already falling behind.

The best brands today don’t just market. They own their audience.

And how do they do that? By shifting their content strategy to media-first content.

The Big Shift: From Text to Media

Most B2B companies treat content like a checkbox. Write a blog. Publish. Hope for leads. That playbook is dead.

Ironically, last week, I read someone mention the word: Checkbox Marketing. LOL. That’s exactly what you don’t want to do!

The real game is building a media-first approach—one that pulls people in, keeps them engaged, and turns them into loyal followers before they ever need your product.

The Core Principles of a Media-First Strategy

Here’s what works:

✅ Shift to Video – Blogs are great, but podcasts, video series, and panel discussions drive engagement at a whole new level. Today the distribution and user behaviors are setup in favor of the video-first content.

The potential reach and engagement metrics are through the roof - the only question is - why would you start your pillar content text-based when video-first content opens a plethora of opportunities for you?

✅ Go Episodic, Not One-Offs – Webinars and one-off events are transactional. But a recurring show? That builds brand affinity.

Think of it like “Late Night Talk Shows”, all of which follow a fixed format and are aired on a set schedule. Audiences know when the new episode will air, and what they can expect. That’s how you should think of your episodic content - fixed episodic content, which is what creates brand affinity.

✅ Match Content to the Funnel – Different buyers need different content. Top-of-funnel content builds attention, mid-funnel content establishes trust, and bottom-funnel content closes deals. (More on this below.)

✅ Create Consistently – The secret to success? Showing up weekly. This isn’t about perfection—it’s about consistency. You don’t have to compromise in quality, but you also don’t need to have studio-quality production. There are enough tools and tech available to create media content at a very decent quality.

✅ Keep It Mostly Ungated – If your content is locked behind a form, you’re killing your reach. Let people binge your content. Trust leads to conversions.

Meet our secondary partner for today’s edition: Hubspot. Check them out 👇👇

Learn What Fortune 500 Marketers Know

• Marketing strategies from industry leaders like the NBA, Liquid Death & Oatly.

• Behind-the-scenes stories of campaigns that crushed it.

• Actionable tips to boost your results today.

Subscribe Today

Episodic Content: The Growth Engine You’re Missing

The best way to build an audience? Create a show.

Think of the biggest brands today — HubSpot, Salesforce, ProfitWell.

They don’t just market. They run media networks with podcasts, talk shows, and mini-documentaries.

Why? Because episodic content gives people a reason to come back. When your audience knows a new episode drops every Thursday, they start to build a habit around your content.

👉 Imagine you’re selling software to healthcare providers. You could run a monthly talk show featuring real doctors sharing their operational challenges (mid-funnel content). Or a podcast breaking down healthcare trends (top-funnel content).

That’s how you stay top-of-mind.

Repurpose Like a Pro: Get 10X the Reach from One Episode

If you’re making video-first content, you’re sitting on a goldmine of repurposed content. Here’s how you turn one recording into a full content machine:

🎥 Record Video & Audio → Cuts for YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram
✍️ Turn into Text → Blog posts, LinkedIn carousels, Twitter threads
📧 Email It Out → Summarize key takeaways in a newsletter
🔊 Audio Clips → Short insights for podcasts and voice notes

This is how you get omnipresence without constantly creating new stuff from scratch.

Remember, you want to establish the new content flywheel →

Demand Creation > Demand Generation

Most B2B teams focus on demand generation, aka capturing people already in the market. That’s fine, but it’s only 5% of your potential buyers.

What about the other 95% who aren’t ready to buy yet? That’s where demand creation comes in.

Instead of chasing leads, own the conversation in your space. Educate, entertain, and build trust. When those buyers are ready, you’ll be the first brand they think of.

Building Media Content by Buyer Personas

Not all buyers consume content the same way. Here’s a simple playbook for matching media content to the sales funnel based on personas:

🔹 Top-of-Funnel (Attention) → Podcasts, thought leadership, industry news
🔹 Middle-of-Funnel (Trust-Building) → Panel discussions, category-focused content
🔹 Bottom-of-Funnel (Conversion) → Customer case studies, playbooks, expert Q&As

Want a real-world example? Here’s how companies in B2B tech, manufacturing, and financial services should go about for a B2B Buying Committee -

(See how each type of content aligns with the buyer journey? That’s the key.)

Meet our primary partner for today’s edition: Artisan. Check them out 👇👇

10x Your Outbound With Our AI BDR

Scaling fast but need more support? Our AI BDR Ava enables you to grow your team without increasing headcount.

Ava operates within the Artisan platform, which consolidates every tool you need for outbound:

• 300M+ High-Quality B2B Prospects, including E-Commerce and Local Business Leads

• Automated Lead Enrichment With 10+ Data Sources

• Full Email Deliverability Management

• Multi-Channel Outreach Across Email & LinkedIn

• Human-Level Personalization

Book a demo and supercharge your sales team.

Don’t Overcomplicate Production

A lot of teams get stuck because they think they need a studio setup. You don’t.

📌 All you need:
✔ Zoom or Riverside to record
✔ BuzzSprout to distribute podcasts
✔ LinkedIn & YouTube for promotion

Forget perfection. Focus on getting content out there, consistently. That’s what wins.

The Big Takeaway

In 2025, marketing is media. Your job isn’t just to generate leads—it’s to build an audience that wants to hear from you.

The brands that get this right? They’re the ones winning.

So, what’s your first move?

📩 Reply and tell me:

• Are you creating media-first content?

• What’s your biggest challenge in making this shift?

Interesting Thing That I Read This Week

Speed of Execution >

Tweet That I Posted This Week

This concludes this edition of Fresh Salmon. And….

Do what is good for your soul ❤️

All the best,

Vivek

PS. Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways in which I can help you and your business:

#1: B2B Marketing Consulting and Go-To-Market Advisory for your business.

#2: 1-on-1 Personal Coaching and Mentoring on anything related to Marketing and Go-To-Market Strategies for you.

#3: Promoting you or your brand via this newsletter.

For any of these things just shoot me a reply, and we will arrange a time to chat.