Marketing isn’t just about getting your product in front of people—it’s about delivering value, solving pain points, and creating a connection with your audience. That’s the foundation of the recent conversation on the GTM Secrets podcast between Stephen Lowisz and seasoned internet marketer Zach Presnall. With over two decades of experience, Zach offered insights and actionable strategies spanning email marketing, generative AI, sales and marketing alignment, and more.

If you’re ready to sharpen your marketing game, this blog will walk you through their most insightful strategies and teach you how to put them into action.

Email Marketing Done Right (and Fixed Fast)

It’s tempting to assume email marketing success is guaranteed if you have a massive list. But Zach didn’t pull any punches when he outlined the critical mistakes marketers make with email. Here’s how to sidestep the pitfalls and implement email tactics that actually work.

The Common Missteps

1. Focusing on Yourself, Not the Reader

  Many marketers fall into the trap of writing emails that center on their product, promotion, or bottom line. But your audience doesn’t care about your goals—they care about their own. Zach hammered home the importance of thinking like your customer.

  How to Fix It: Write every email with the "what's in it for them?" mindset. For example, a car dealership email should focus less on “Buy This Weekend!” and more on “5 Tips for Zero-Stress Car Shopping.”

  Example Strategy: A healthcare SaaS company could send an email titled “3 Ways to Save Time for Your IT Team” instead of “See Our New Features.”

2. Short-Term Thinking

  Zach pointed out that many marketers stop at one-off email blasts, expecting big results. It rarely works. Instead, think of email as part of an overarching communication plan that plays into broader annual strategies.

  Tactical Tip: Create a multi-email drip campaign. For example, if you're launching a new software product, your sequence could look like this:

• Email 1: Educate with a compelling statistic or story.
• Email 2: Offer actionable advice tied to their pain points.
• Email 3 (and beyond): Introduce your solution subtly and end with a clear call-to-action.

3. Neglecting List Health

  Sending more emails may seem like a good idea, but blasting unsegmented lists can result in opt-outs and spam complaints. Worse, it can destroy your sender reputation.

  Proactive Steps: Run regular list hygiene practices:

• Remove inactive users.
• Allow recipients to manage preferences (weekly newsletter vs. monthly update).
• Personalize content to the user’s behaviors—such as past downloads.

Subject Lines That Deliver

There’s no overstating the importance of a killer subject line. Zach underlined a simple truth—if your subject line doesn’t grab attention in seconds, the rest of your email is moot.

Practical Advice for Better Subject Lines:  

• Keep it short (5–7 words).
• Test ultra-personalized lines (e.g., “John, You’re Missing This Opportunity”).
• Avoid clickbait (gain attention without breaking trust).

For instance, if you’re an eCommerce retailer, “Your Winter Wardrobe Needs This” might outperform “20% Off Winter Clothes Sale” because it directly relates to the reader’s emotions rather than price alone.

Pro-Level Hack  

Use iterative testing. If you send out thousands of emails each month, tweak messaging just slightly and analyze patterns across subject line variations. A 2% boost in open rates could translate into thousands of dollars in revenue.

Generative AI Is Unlocking New Marketing Frontiers

AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s rapidly transforming how marketers work. Zach passionately discussed how AI is reshaping content creation and campaign strategy at every stage, offering marketers faster, smarter, and more scalable ways to operate.

Content Processing at Scale

Zach talked about the magic of breaking a single piece of content into multiple formats. Gone are the days when a webinar meant just a webinar.

Tactical Examples of AI in Action:  

1. Webinar Repurposing: Turn your one-hour webinar into:

• A YouTube Short summarizing the key point.
• A written blog post with actionable advice.
• An infographic to share across social.
• Podcast episodes (use AI tools like Riverside or Descript to pull audio quotes).

2. Smarter Ad Creation: Platforms like Pencil use AI to produce creative ad content automatically. For instance, feed a short description of your product into the platform, and it spits out eye-catching copy and visuals tailored for channels like Instagram or display ads.
3. Personalized Video Ads: Using AI to embed a prospect's name and company in automated sales videos can dramatically increase engagement rates.

AI in Paid Advertising

AI’s role in ad management is another fascinating development. Zach sees promise in platforms leveraging AI for micro-targeting precision and campaign iteration. Meta Business Manager, for example, uses AI-enhanced features like image optimization and creative suggestions.

However, challenges remain. LinkedIn’s ad platform, as both Stephen and Zach pointed out, still lags in capabilities despite being a treasure trove for B2B targeting. Experimentation remains key.

Game-Changing Tip:

Got a startup budget? Feed customer personas and ad creative into AI-building systems like Pencil or Jasper and use programmatic ad platforms to consistently tailor messaging. This method can help make campaigns feel custom-built—even without the resources of a Fortune 500 team.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Stop Thinking Small

If you’re in B2B and not leveraging ABM, you’re leaving money on the table. Zach drove home the importance of not thinking about individuals but entire accounts as you target businesses.

Why ABM Matters

Zach used his government marketing experience to highlight that purchasing decisions aren’t made alone. By targeting an agency or company's broader ecosystem, marketers can drive conversations at multiple levels.

What ABM Looks Like in Action:  

1. Personalize email content for the entire decision-making committee.
2. Track individual and team engagement with your materials—webinar attendance, whitepaper downloads, etc.
3. Develop custom landing pages or resource hubs built specifically for that target account.

ABM doesn’t only work for billion-dollar companies. Even small B2Bs can execute it smartly with tools like Demandbase or HubSpot’s account targeting features.

Zach's Tactical Tip:  

Once you've identified a hot account, deploy hyper-customized door-opener campaigns. You might offer on-site training, specialized resources, or even something as bold as "white-glove consultation weeks" tailored to their unique needs.

Why This Works:  

It’s laser-focused, cuts through the noise, and positions your solution as indispensable.

Bonus Insight—Leverage Intent Data

For longer sales cycles, using tools like 6sense or Bombora can help surface signals such as team research activity or competitor interactions—clues that an account is warming up to buy.

Bridging the Sales-Marketing Divide

Great marketing falls flat without sales alignment. Zach offered powerful advice on ensuring sales and marketing teams work together, rather than against each other.

Build Trust Between Teams

1. Make Dashboards Visible: Marketing teams should create dashboards tracking contributions to revenue, not vanity metrics like impressions.
2. Tie Campaigns to Sales Goals: For example, if sales needs 25 leads to close a $100,000 deal in Q4, map your campaign cadence around quality—not volume.

Key Alignment Step:

Create "closed-loop feedback" meetings weekly or bi-weekly. Sales can share insights about bad leads, and marketing can train them to spot purchase signals in prospective accounts.

Avoid Data Blind Spots

UTM tags on everything! You simply can’t align teams if you don’t track what’s working.

Stephen’s Warning:  

“If you can’t prove marketing drove the deal, sales won’t value it.”

Advanced Alignment Techniques:

• Use chatbots integrated with CRM systems to alert sales reps in real-time when ABM targets interact with specific campaigns.
• Build “battle cards” collaboratively showing how your campaigns target competitors.

Final Word—There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

When Stephen asked Zach for his ultimate lead-driving channel, the answer was brutally honest—wherever your audience already hangs out. For some B2B brands, it’s LinkedIn. For others, it might be influencer marketing in niche publications. And don’t dismiss unexpected platforms like TikTok if they deliver outcomes.

Tactical Recap for Marketers:

• Fix email marketing by honing in on reader value and rigorous testing.
• Use AI to supercharge content distribution and ad creation.
• Invest in content upfront—it’s the engine of demand gen.
• Prioritize specialty platforms for true audience focus.
• Align sales and marketing by tracking and sharing goals unequivocally.

Ultimately, it’s about intentionality. Whether you’re applying ABM principles, leveraging generative AI, or simply writing better subject lines, your strategy boils down to one crucial factor—are you providing value to the audience? Align that value with your team’s initiative, and you'll go beyond delivering campaigns—you’ll build enduring growth.

Stay on strategy. Stick to impact. And remember—test everything.

Want more tactical marketing expertise? Follow Stephen Lowisz’s podcast weekly or connect with the guest speaker, Zach Presnall, on LinkedIn to learn more!

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