ModumUp - Social Selling for B2B (ENG)
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Social Selling is lead generation for B2B via networking and the building of personal brands on social media

Our website: https://modumup.com/
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In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast, Olga Bondareva, Founder of ModumUp, talks about marketing planning in B2B with experts from different B2B companies:

Doug Kimball, Sr. Director Product Marketing at Digital Science
Natalija Pavić, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at KIBO
Olga Bakanova, Head of Marketing at BESTMIX Software
Rahul Agarwal, Strategic Marketing Manager at Trystar

The guests shared how planning looks very different depending on company size and structure. Doug Kimball described managing five business segments at Digital Science, each planning independently. Natalija Pavic runs an agile team at Kibo Commerce that rebuilds plans mid-year when needed. Olga Bakanova keeps it lean at BESTMIX Software, starting from business goals and translating them directly into marketing strategy.

The group agreed that one metric is never enough. Olga Bakanova shared a counterintuitive result: at BESTMIX Software, brand and thought leadership activities convert better than direct lead generation, so 60% of the budget goes to awareness. Natalija Pavic pointed out the risk of over-optimizing a single number, like close rate, which can hide missed opportunities.

All four speakers are using AI in planning today. Olga Bakanova's team ran a competitive analysis and found that BESTMIX Software was perceived as the most expensive solution in the market, despite never publishing pricing. Doug's company Digital Science launched "AI Tuesdays", and Rahul Agarwal built an AI council that standardizes prompts across functions and cuts campaign brief time from a week to an hour.

On advice for starting from scratch: Natalija Pavic recommended building the budget from zero each year instead of modifying last year's numbers. Olga Bakanova said planning only works when it starts from a clear business goal. Rahul Agarwal advocated for real cross-functional collaboration with sales, product, and engineering.

You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast:

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gwp7JKgjzq8
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0n7u0tQwaLlGjcVQvjomoM
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-planning-in-b2b-insights-from-experts-at/id1852582740?i=1000761309588

Also, read the full article summary of the episode here: https://modumup.com/blog/marketing_planning_for_b2b
Everyone talks about how AI saves time and reduces manual work. But can it actually help you make more money?

At ModumUp, the answer is yes.

The team applied its Social Selling playbooks and a large base of proven case studies to develop AI agents and introduce a new service tier: AI-based Social Selling on LinkedIn. The result is a model that costs 3–4 times less than traditional retainers.

This is not a fully autonomous setup. Each workflow is reviewed by a ModumUp specialist with hands-on experience in Social Selling, which keeps quality under control and reduces the risk of errors.

The new offering is already bringing in clients who previously considered the service out of reach on price.

In practice, AI opened access to a segment the agency couldn’t serve before.

The tier is currently generating around $5,000 in monthly revenue, with plans to scale further.
Harbinger and ModumUp - Social Selling Case Study.pdf
1.8 MB
We're excited to share one of our recent Social Selling case studies: $1.25M in closed deals, 400%+ ROI, 215 leads, and 3,977 target contacts. These results stem from 7 months of ongoing LinkedIn Social Selling for Harbinger, a US-based startup focused on building commercial electric vehicles.

Harbinger, founded in 2021, launched production in 2024 and faced the challenge of scaling its sales to fleet operators, a market accustomed to diesel vehicles for the past 30 years. Dmitry Suvorov, Senior Marketing Manager at Harbinger, joined as the company’s first marketer and kickstarted the Social Selling project with ModumUp.

The project targets two segments across the US and Canadian markets: fleet operators in government, utilities, food and beverage, retail, and leasing and rental companies. The goal was to engage VP-level decision-makers, fleet directors, operations leaders, and mid-level fleet managers. We manage the LinkedIn profiles of several Harbinger representatives to build a strong digital presence.

A core element of Social Selling is content. The most successful posts were personal, featuring team members sharing why they left the diesel industry to join an EV startup, real photos from customer visits and field events, and honest perspectives on the commercial EV market. Over the first seven months, 22 posts went viral, achieving a view rate above 100%. The top-performing posts reached 55,000+ views and 350+ reactions. One post was even selected by an industry LinkedIn Newsletter as one of the most relevant pieces in the segment without any outreach or promotion from our side.

Dmitry shared his thoughts: "By the time you reach out through your profile, the prospect already knows who you are and what you build. Cold email can’t do that."

Another key aspect of Social Selling is lead generation. We engaged with decision-makers at fleet-operating companies. The highest response rates came from US states with active fleet electrification funding, where prospects were already familiar with Harbinger's content in their feed. As a result, outreach didn't feel cold. For prospects not yet at a decision stage, the goal was to set up demo deployments where Harbinger delivered vehicles to a fleet depot for up to a month of hands-on trial. This level of commitment requires trust, and LinkedIn helps build it.

After 7 months, the results were impressive:

- 3,977 target contacts attracted to managed profiles
- 22 viral posts, with top posts reaching 55,000+ views and 350+ reactions
- 158 Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs): shared contacts, requested presentations
- 57 Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs): scheduled calls and meetings, with multiple vehicle demo deployments ongoing
- 2 enterprise deals closed, totaling $1.25M, yielding a 400%+ ROI on the Social Selling campaign

Additionally, there is an ongoing opportunity valued at over $1M.
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Our team ran an ABM+Social Selling project on LinkedIn for an AI platform for LLM training, targeting 27 enterprise companies in The US and Western Europe.

After a year, two deals closed totaling over $3M, and the project delivered ~1,400% ROI.

The client already had an ABM strategy: a defined list of 27 target companies. ModumUp’s job was to get inside those accounts and build relationships with decision makers: ML engineers, product managers, and C-level executives from each company.

Over the year, managed profiles connected with 3,202 target contacts, with a 25% connection rate. That is above average for this type of outreach.

The content strategy was built around expertise: LLMs, practical AI insights, and clear explanations of complex concepts. Of all the posts published, 13 reached more than 100% view rate, and the top post hit 1,101%.

A LinkedIn Newsletter brought in 345 subscribers from target accounts and generated 6,564 article impressions. Newsletter subscribers receive separate notifications via LinkedIn, push, and email, so the audience kept seeing the content without the author having to fight the algorithm every time.

One LinkedIn Live event, supported by one week of organic promotion, generated 130 registrations and 225 views without any paid spend.

Outreach was personalized at the company level. Messages referenced specific AI products the prospect’s team was building and the data challenges usually tied to that kind of work.

When someone didn’t respond or declined, the team came back every month with something useful: a relevant article, a webinar invite, or a question tied to a new newsletter piece.

Most of the 49 sales calls and meetings and 132 MQLs came from those follow-up sequences, not from the first message alone.

Enterprise deals are rarely closed through one clean touchpoint. They take months of repeated contact across the buying committee.

LinkedIn works well for this because an expert profile can run brand awareness, content credibility, and targeted outreach to the same list of accounts at the same time.
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In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast, Olga Bondareva, founder of ModumUp, talks about account-based marketing in B2B with experts from different companies:

Irina Chernova, Demand Marketing Manager EMEA&LATAM at NetApp 
Viviane Ross, Senior Marketing Campaign Manager at Octave (formerly - Hexagon Asset Lifecycle Intelligence) 
Elena Simkina, Sr. Digital Marketing Director at Acronis

The experts shared how differently ABM works depending on company strategy and target accounts. Viviane Ross focuses on one-to-many and one-to-few campaigns in the US and Canadian public sector at Octave. Irina Chernova runs strategic one-to-one ABM at NetApp, targeting high-value accounts across EMEA. Elena Simkina described Acronis's evolution from targeting 5,000 accounts with general advertising to a focused combination of one-to-few and one-to-many built around industry-specific lists.

All three speakers agreed on the same challenge: sales alignment. Elena Simkina shared that it took about a year to agree with sales that ABM is not about hot leads but about working together on a specific list of accounts. Irina Chernova put it sharply: ABM is not marketing (despite its name), it is a customer experience - marketing orchestrates, but the work is still sales.

On personalization, Elena Simkina shared a practical lesson: Acronis once built 20 different landing pages with hyper-personalized messaging. It didn't deliver expected results. What worked was personalizing by role and buying committee expectations. Irina Chernova added that personalization should be good enough but shouldn't look like stalking.

All three experts use AI for research and analysis at scale, but keep the final review human. Viviane Ross stressed the human element: ABM is about the person-to-person aspect behind business-to-business. Irina Chernova described using people from professional services as an intelligence channel - gathering customer insights without being invasive.

You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast:

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LPgMW5aK72c
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2HeJRyoDIBKguZajd9NV8S
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/abm-in-b2b-insights-from-netapp-octave-and-acronis/id1852582740?i=1000767731506
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ModumUp spent two years on Social Selling for a corporate workplace SaaS platform. The result: 200 B2B leads and 4 major enterprise deals from two executive LinkedIn profiles.

Is that a lot or a little for two years? For B2B enterprise with long sales cycles and complex buying committees, it’s a strong outcome.

The product covers corporate email, messenger, video conferencing, cloud storage, and task management. ModumUp managed two executive profiles and focused on CEOs, CIOs, CDOs, and CISOs at large enterprises in banking, retail, manufacturing, logistics, and the public sector.

Audience growth

Over two years, the profiles connected with 4,364 target contacts. Followers grew from 706 to 5,070, and the profiles began appearing in feeds as recognized industry voices.

Content

Case studies with enterprise clients, personal posts, and management topics received the strongest response. A product case study reached over 41,000 views with a 774% view rate, while a personal post about reading habits got 9,000+ views and 80 comments.

LinkedIn Newsletters were launched on both profiles, growing combined subscribers to 1,450. Subscribers get notifications via LinkedIn, push, and email, so the audience sees new issues without the team having to fight the algorithm on every post.

Lead generation

Outreach combined direct-to-the-point messages with softer networking sequences such as useful materials, webinar invites, and conference invitations. 29 of 36 SQLs came from direct messages. Event invitations through DMs brought 610 registrations.

For complex B2B products, LinkedIn works best when inbound and outbound efforts are combined.

Results after two years:
- 4,364 target contacts
- 1,450 Newsletter subscribers
- 610 event registrations
- 164 MQL: shared contacts, requested presentations
- 36 SQL: scheduled calls and meetings
- 4 major enterprise deals closed from leads we passed

The project is ongoing.

Social Selling works — and the numbers show it.
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Our AI-native system keeps growing, and we're integrating it into more of our daily workflows at ModumUp. It saves hours of time for our team.

At the core is an internal operating system paired with a database. We gather information from multiple sources, process it, and provide it to agents. The team can also work directly with the data and generate outputs.

Security is a priority: local LLMs handle sensitive data, while cloud models process everything else.

For instance, during a client Zoom call, the system collected notes from the conversation, chat history, project files, and external research. It then built a target company list for ABM outreach on LinkedIn, suggested approaches for each account, and identified contacts inside those companies. The list can go directly into automation tools, but we usually review it manually first.

We also developed a quality control system for LinkedIn posts. It checks over 100 parameters and flags anything that doesn’t match our content guides and best practices.

There are additional applications with our CRM and other workflows.

With an AI-native setup, almost anything that once seemed too complex is now achievable — limited only by time and focus.
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On our team call last week, we discussed how Social Selling supports RFP-related work.

One robotics client actively participates in RFPs. When they weren’t on the invite list, our team reached out to procurement to check if the process was open (even though we already knew it was ) - and the client got invited to participate. We also help this client find potential partners on LinkedIn by checking who has bid on similar public RFPs and suggesting collaborations to strengthen proposals.

For another project in the automotive industry, the project manager noted, “our client doesn’t participate in RFPs. We asked several times.” We responded that asking sales reps is one perspective - the budget owner might see things differently. With AI, we can pull open RFPs in that industry in about ten minutes and provide real examples instead of just debating it.

Another client in retail automation chose not to participate in RFPs at all, since the process could last a year with no guarantee - and they don’t have the resources for that.

So yes, it’s a choice - participate or not, invest or not. But if you do choose to participate, procurement and sourcing should be part of your Social Selling plan. Published RFPs are usually just the last visible step.

Wishing everyone success in Social Selling!
In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast, Olga Bondareva, founder of ModumUp, talks about demand generation in B2B with experts from enterprise companies:

• Irina Chernova, Demand Marketing Manager EMEA & LATAM at NetApp
• Aleksandra Savina, Demand Generation Manager, Global Marketing at Thermo Fisher Scientific

The experts shared how demand generation works in practice at two large B2B companies. Irina Chernova at NetApp described targeted demand as the last mile between strategic programs and sales conversations, with pipeline created and won pipeline as core KPIs.

Aleksandra Savina at Thermo Fisher Scientific runs global demand gen programs in the proteomics division, building campaigns around buyer questions rather than product features.

On what works, Irina Chernova shared how monthly engineering webinars became one of NetApp's strongest ongoing campaigns after the team expanded the audience, added follow-up, and repurposed recordings for lead acquisition. Aleksandra Savina described a 3-4 month proteomics program built around one educational topic across a webinar, white paper, blog, and social channels.

The speakers were also open about less successful initiatives. At NetApp, appointment-setting with external vendors did not deliver the expected pipeline - nurture through content worked better for their model. Aleksandra Savina noted that promoting a single asset without a full customer journey rarely delivers results, and that educational landing pages with too many CTAs often underperform compared with permanent site pages.

Both experts said a large share of the role is orchestration across field marketing, events, communications, digital, and sales. On AI, they start with goals, not tools: Copilot for planning and scheduling, HubSpot for analytics and AI search visibility, with FAQ content and llms.txt as early steps for LLM presence.

A big thanks to Irina and Aleksandra for a great and insightful conversation!

You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast: 

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UldbYypT4_I 
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2wY46WfJSb3QV1OwqJS2nh 
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/demand-generation-in-b2b-insights-from-netapp-and/id1852582740?i=1000773161818 
Also, read the full article summary of the episode here: https://modumup.com/blog/9g9i7eooi1-thermo-fisher-scientific-and-netapp-on-d
Recently, our team reviewed LinkedIn outreach messages and discussed the copy mistakes that lower conversion into leads.

LinkedIn outreach rarely fails because of one major mistake. More often, small copy decisions make a message feel generic, pushy, or too demanding.

Here are the patterns we discussed - and what we are changing.

1. The first message explains instead of creating curiosity

Some messages try to answer every possible question before the recipient has shown interest. The result is a small product brochure in the inbox.

A better approach: give enough context to show why the message is relevant, but leave room for a question. A reply such as “Can you tell me more?” means the conversation has started.

2. The message sounds judgmental

Questions such as “Are you still doing this manually?” can make the recipient feel criticized or behind the market.

A better approach: ask neutral questions such as “What do you use for this today?” or “How much time does your team spend on this step?” You get the same information without putting the person on the defensive.

3. Follow-ups make the person feel guilty

“In case you missed my last message” may sound harmless, but it can feel like blame.

A better approach: make each follow-up useful on its own. Add one relevant detail, a short example, or a new reason to reply.

4. The copy relies on mass-outreach phrases

“Quick question,” “Just following up,” and overly polished paragraphs are easy to recognize. Once recipients spot the pattern, they are less likely to consider the offer.

A better approach: write like a person in a real conversation. Keep the message short, specific, and natural.

5. The next step asks for too much too early

When someone asks for an example and receives “Let’s book a call,” the conversation often stops. A calendar slot requires more commitment than another reply.

A better approach: share the example, ask for an email only when needed, provide demo access in the thread, and suggest a call once the person has enough context.

6. The same messages go to different roles

A message based on one pain point is often reused across industries and job titles. Even a strong offer can feel irrelevant when it does not reflect the recipient’s responsibilities.

A better approach: connect the message to the role. Talk about risk with risk leaders, hiring time with hiring leaders, and processes and workload with operations professionals.

LinkedIn outreach still works when the message respects the reader, gives them a reason to respond, and does not ask for too much too soon.

Wishing you success with your Social Selling efforts!
How do you build trust in strategic accounts before the first sales conversation?

Irina Chernova, Demand Marketing Manager EMEA & LATAM at NetApp, and Olga Bondareva, Founder of ModumUp, walked through a year-long case study at our online event on July 8.

Below is a recap of the session.

NetApp sells into enterprise accounts with long sales cycles and large buying committees. New roles keep showing up on those committees too: AI, DevOps, and cloud leaders. For NetApp, ABM came down to figuring out who actually influences a deal and connecting with them through people already inside the company. They treated it as customer experience and sales alignment, not a standalone marketing program. The pilot ran across 10 strategic accounts in finance, oil and gas, services, and telco.

Olga walked through how Social Selling fit into that. The team already had a target account list, so the next steps were finding buying committee members on LinkedIn, picking the right internal profiles to represent the company, and using content and events as a natural excuse to open a private conversation. The rollout started with Irina's own profile, then moved to exclusive content, an executive profile, and eventually BDRs.

They tested the approach around NetApp Insight, warming people up before, during, and after the event. Irina then shared gated research where people had to comment or message to get it. That soft mechanic, paired with an already-warmed audience, brought in people from target companies who could be handed to sales as SQLs. Seeing that human layer between marketing and sales work is what convinced the team to scale it. From there they added an executive profile for peer-to-peer outreach with decision-makers, and a lot of C-level prospects went straight to DMs. BDRs joined last. One of them said social media gave him access to people he never could have cold-called, because they already recognized his profile.

The result: around $20M in deals tied to large AI deployments, and roughly 3x growth in leads.

Watch the full session: https://youtu.be/AX51HlQ5c3E
Read the detailed recap: https://modumup.com/blog/netapps-approach-to-social-selling-and-abm
Join us for TRUST, ModumUp’s sixth annual online conference.

For the past five years, the event was held as Social Selling Con, bringing together experts to explore how B2B marketing and sales teams can work together to drive business growth through social media.

Across those five conferences, 49 speakers shared their experience with more than 10,100 registered attendees from over 50 countries, and the sessions generated more than 12,900 views.

This year, the conference returns with a broader focus and a new name: TRUST.

TRUST will explore how B2B companies can earn credibility, build meaningful relationships, and become trusted voices in their markets. The name reflects five elements that shape trust in modern B2B:

Thought leadership
Relationships
Unique perspective
Strategy
Technology

As AI makes it easier to create and distribute content, visibility alone is no longer enough. B2B companies need real relationships, a clear point of view, strong market authority, and a strategy that connects human expertise with technology.

The conference will explore three ways to build trust: through relationships, through your own authority, and through trusted brands, analysts, partners, and industry experts.

Program

10:00–10:30 AM CT
Olga Bondareva, Founder of ModumUp and organizer of the B2B Marketing Leaders community
The TRUST framework: how B2B brands build credibility in the age of AI

Part 1. Build relationships

10:30–10:45 AM CT
Dmitry Suvorov, Senior Marketing Manager at Harbinger
From outreach to revenue: 215 B2B leads and 2 deals via Social Selling

10:45–11:00 AM CT
Irina Chernova, Demand Marketing Manager EMEA & LATAM at NetApp
NetApp’s approach to Social Selling and ABM

Part 2. Build your own authority

11:00–11:15 AM CT
Speaker to be announced
How category design helps companies define and lead new markets

11:15–11:30 AM CT
Speaker to be announced
Building multichannel thought leadership through company content and personal brands

Part 3. Borrow trust

11:30–11:45 AM CT
Speaker to be announced
Analyst relations as a channel for trust and market influence

11:45 AM–12:00 PM CT
Speaker to be announced
Building credibility through strategic partnerships and industry experts

Our speakers are members of an invite-only Slack community of 220+ senior B2B marketers from enterprise tech companies. Members come from companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, and other leading tech companies. Learn more about the community here: https://modumup.com/b2b-marketing-leaders

You can register for the conference and watch the event here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7485697383134093312

Join us on September 23 at 10:00 AM CT, and feel free to invite your colleagues, friends, and peers!
Recently, Irina Chernova, Demand Marketing Manager EMEA & LATAM at NetApp, and Olga Bondareva, Founder of ModumUp - Innovative B2B Marketing Agency, shared a year-long ABM and Social Selling case study: 10 strategic accounts, around $20 million in deals, and 3x lead growth compared with the previous approach.

The session attracted 407 registrations from 44 countries and showed how the program worked step by step.

NetApp sells to enterprise accounts with long sales cycles and large buying committees. AI, DevOps, and cloud teams now influence deals alongside traditional IT roles.

For NetApp, ABM was not a standalone marketing program. It connected customer experience and sales alignment around the same accounts. The goal was to identify everyone who could influence a deal and reach them through NetApp employees, not only through marketing campaigns.

The pilot covered 10 accounts in finance, oil and gas, and telecom across EMEA. The account list was already defined. Social Selling helped the team find executives, engineering leaders, and users, match them with the right NetApp profiles, and use content, research, and events to start conversations.

The program began with Irina’s profile and later expanded to gated content, an executive profile, and BDR profiles tied to account goals. ModumUp supported profile strategy, content, coaching, and lead generation.

Phase 1: NetApp Insight

The team engaged relevant contacts before the event, posted during it, and continued conversations afterward. Attendance grew from around 600 to about 1,000. Social Selling helped widen the audience, although the result also reflected the wider event campaign.

Phase 2: Research-led outreach

People could receive IDC and NetApp research by commenting or sending a direct message. The campaign generated 79 responses, including 44 from target companies and eight SQLs. That means 18% of targeted responses moved into the sales pipeline.

Phase 3: Executive-led communication

An executive profile helped the team reach senior decision-makers directly. Relevant connections grew from 800 to 5,000. Average reactions per post rose from 34 to 85, while comments increased from 10 to 31. Many C-level contacts preferred direct messages.

Phase 4: BDR participation

This is where many Social Selling programs lose momentum: maintaining sales consistency is difficult.

ModumUp coached the BDRs and supported their content and outreach. One team member said LinkedIn helped him reach people he could not contact through cold calls because they already recognized his profile and understood why he was writing.

By the end of the project, NetApp had built at least one relationship at every buying-committee level across all 10 accounts.

The takeaway: start with ABM strategy before LinkedIn tactics, test the model on one profile, give each role its own goals and KPIs, and expand only when sales and executives remain involved.

Thank you to Irina for sharing the project and its results so openly 😊
How we organized a meetup in New York with top guests and speakers from major companies using Social Selling on LinkedIn

For the past two years, ModumUp - Innovative B2B Marketing Agency has been building B2B Marketing Leaders - сommunity and podcast, an international community for B2B marketers.

We organize community meetups every month, but until recently, they had all been online. When Olga Bondareva, Founder of ModumUp, planned a vacation in New York, we decided to combine it with the community’s first in-person meetup

We used Social Selling to achieve three goals:

• Find a free venue
• Bring in 4–5 expert speakers
• Attract 10–15 relevant attendees

1. Finding the venue

This was the hardest part, but we eventually found two strong venue options in Manhattan.

The most effective approaches were:

• Warm introductions
• Outreach to potential speakers, with an offer to host the meetup at their company’s office

Channels: LinkedIn and email

2. Finding the speakers

We already had a well-tested process. ModumUp regularly recruits speakers for podcasts, webinars, and community meetups.

For this event, the criteria were strict: experienced B2B marketers from major companies who were ready to share practical AI use cases for B2B marketing, supported by examples and numbers.

Two approaches worked:

• Warm outreach to members of our community
• Cold outreach supported by ModumUp’s track record of webinars, podcast episodes, and events with respected industry experts

The communication path was: LinkedIn -> meeting -> email

The final lineup included speakers from Lenovo, Globant, Kyndryl, and other companies.

3. Attracting the right attendees

Quality mattered more than the number of registrations. We were looking for B2B marketing directors and experienced managers from medium-sized and large technology companies.

We already had a proven process for attracting attendees, which we regularly use for our own webinars and client projects.

We invited selected people through LinkedIn. Registration was managed through Luma, with every application reviewed before approval to make sure the audience remained relevant.

The result was 30 relevant registrations - exactly the limit we had set.

12 people attended. The audience was highly relevant, and the discussion focused on practical AI use cases and the challenges of applying AI in B2B marketing.

Several attendees demonstrated such strong expertise that we now plan to invite them as speakers at future community events.

The meetup achieved everything we had planned. The atmosphere was open and welcoming, the discussion was highly practical, and ModumUp also generated new business leads - although lead generation was never an event goal.

Organizing the meetup alongside a planned trip required additional coordination, but the results confirmed the value of the format and created a strong foundation for future in-person community events.
In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast, Olga Bondareva, founder of ModumUp, talks about B2B marketing metrics and KPIs with experts from different B2B companies:

• Bridget Locke, VP of Strategic Marketing at VitalPath
• Ravi Raj Pareek, Senior Marketing Data Manager at Sage 
• Nick Starikov, Manager, Marketing Analytics and Insights at Sun Life 

The experts talked about what to measure once lead volume alone stops telling you much. Bridget Locke at VitalPath described a three-month campaign for its laser-components business, a shorter-cycle part of a medtech company where full device programs can span three to six years from early engagement to full-scale manufacturing. Quotes in 24 hours and prototypes in two weeks helped generate leads that contributed roughly $500,000 in pipeline over the following six months. Ravi Raj Pareek shared a similar lesson from a previous role: MQL volume was growing, but too few leads were turning into meaningful pipeline until the team started looking at ICP fit, MQL-to-opportunity conversion, opportunity value, and pipeline by channel. Nick Starikov added another example: connecting sales feedback with lead-source data revealed significant differences in conversion by channel and showed where the team could improve.

The speakers also talked about metrics that can create a misleading picture. Ravi pointed to three common problems: measuring results too early, comparing groups that aren’t truly comparable, and aggregating data in ways that hide what is actually driving performance. Nick cautioned against relying too heavily on before-and-after comparisons when a proper creative or targeting test isn’t possible, since outside factors can distort the result. Bridget described an event where VitalPath sent three people and ultimately saw two pipeline opportunities - one sourced directly from the session and another influenced by the broader event activity. For her, those two qualified opportunities mattered more than a much larger top-of-funnel lead count.

On setting targets, all three came back to reverse-funnel math: start with the business goal and work backward through the opportunities, activity, and spend required to reach it. Nick added another reality check - whether the addressable market is actually large enough to support the target. He also argued that KPIs should stay focused on the few outcomes that ultimately define success, while other metrics help explain what is happening along the way. On attribution, Bridget uses the CRM as the source of truth and recognizes that ROI and attribution won’t always be perfectly precise in a long, multi-touch buyer journey. Nick pointed out that a new customer can generate value for years, which can dramatically change the ROI calculation. Ravi uses tools such as Snowflake Cortex and Power BI Copilot, while arguing that people should remain responsible for the final decision layer.

A big thanks to Ravi, Nick, and Bridget for a great and insightful conversation!

You can check out the full episode on the B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast: 

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HqMaR9vJXWg 
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0urmP66UI5x0AN57ZzhJLg 
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/metrics-and-kpis-in-b2b-insights-from-experts-at-sage/id1852582740?i=1000783130880