Subscriber-first marketing

If marketing jargon and recycled industry advice gets on your nerves, Marketing Facts & Hacks might just be the series you need. In its debut episode, Click That Subscribe Button, Magnolia’s new series turns the market funnel upside down, delving into how data-driven strategies often miss the human element that drives real connections. Our goal was to make the show equal parts informative and actionable, with plenty of expert insights to keep marketers inspired. 

It’s really fun to host this show. My background is in Demand Generation and I am the kind of person who loves data. And as marketers, we have no shortage of it. Demographics, psychographics, geographics—we’ve got it all. People expect a certain level of personalization - they only want to get offers they are interested in and they are used to it from mega-vendors like Amazon. So now, more than ever before, data only really matters if it’s being used to create authentic human connections.

Marketing Facts and Hacks was produced to take the usual marketing strategy topics and turn them into something fun and actionable. So, of course, we kicked off the series with LinkedIn influencer and subscriber-led growth expert Nick Bennett.

The show goes through the standard marketing funnel but points out how it’s become an outdated, one-size-fits-all model that no longer works in today’s customer-centric world. Sure, we’re all familiar with the classic funnel approach—lead generation, conversion, repeat—but the central message is a wake-up call: marketers need to stop seeing prospects as just leads and start seeing them as real humans.

Putting the customer first means embracing a “people-first” approach to the marketing funnel and in this new environment, data is only useful if it’s used to build relationships, not just aiming to push customers through a sales pipeline- cause that won’t work And that’s the heart of the episode: if we, as marketers, fail to leverage data in a way that nurtures trust and loyalty then we won’t be able to keep up with our competitors.

Episode one dives headfirst into the latest industry trends, starting with Salesforce's State of Marketing Report. This report reveals that despite marketers using an average of eight different tools to manage outreach, only 32% are satisfied with how they’re using customer data to create meaningful experiences. This is a stark reminder that all the tech and data in the world won’t help you if you’re not personalizing your approach.

There’s another statistic that drives home the point: 71% of digital content consumers feel more trust in a brand when it provides engaging, interesting content. This is a powerful takeaway, positioning thought leadership as a key strategy for building that trust and ultimately driving brand loyalty. Providing value through high-quality content isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s an essential component of transforming your marketing from a one-way street into a two-way relationship. And that’s where subscriber-led growth comes in.

When we made Marketing Facts and Hacks, we did it to give marketers like us the tools to take action, and that’s where Nick Bennett’s subscriber-led growth strategy comes into play. Veteran Silicon Valley marketer and author of B2B Influencer Marketing, Nick is an advocate for rethinking the traditional marketing funnel and focusing on a subscriber-first approach. He suggests marketers need to stop treating every top-of-the-funnel contact as a “lead” and instead focus on building relationships with subscribers.

It’s a simple, yet profound shift in thinking. Rather than pushing people through the funnel as quickly as possible, Nick advocates for giving subscribers real value—whether that’s through newsletters, podcasts, events, or premium content. This strategy isn’t about immediate conversions; it’s about building a community of engaged individuals who can become your most loyal brand advocates over time. This is complicated in its simplicity, but as Nick points out, when you treat subscribers as people rather than leads, you’ll see them warm up to your brand, eventually moving them into the middle of the funnel with even more valuable content.

Watch the full episode here:

What makes this approach so compelling is that it’s built on something marketers often forget: people are complex, multifaceted beings. They’re not just numbers to be crunched—they’re individuals with their own wants, needs, and desires. Nick’s advice is a breath of fresh air in a world where marketers are often obsessed with metrics and quick wins. Instead, he encourages long-term thinking, focused on creating meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with customers.

If marketers want to build lasting success, they need to start nurturing relationships that can stand the test of time. It’s a challenge to the traditional methods that have dominated the marketing world for years, and one that feels particularly timely in an age where consumer trust is harder to earn than ever. Putting subscriber-led growth into practice requires time, effort, resources, and the right interconnected tools – but the investment can pay off big time.

I’m really excited to share this series with all of you and I hope that you’ll reach out to let us know what topics you need us to dig into. In the meantime:

Check out the show page to learn from leading tech marketers how to build content marketing campaigns that drive real business outcomes!