Attributed - A podcast by Dreamdata

The average B2B sales cycle takes 272 days, so why are most LinkedIn Ad strategies built for a week?

Anthony Blatner, Managing Director, Founder, and CMO of Speedwork -- LinkedIn Ads Agency, joins us to talk about his playbook for building highly profitable LinkedIn Ads strategies that match the reality of how B2B deals close.

We'll pair his playbook with new data from the 2026 Dreamdata LinkedIn Ads Benchmark Report.

As Anthony highlighted in our benchmarks report: "We’ve always known B2B sales cycles are really long, and now it’s great to have real data behind it. A 272-day timeline can seem daunting, but accepting it will change how you approach your entire B2B marketing strategy."

In B2B, you shouldn't ask a cold audience to book a demo on their first ad impression. Instead, Anthony will explain how to use Thought Leader Ads to foster relationships, allow your prospects to get to know your leadership team, and build compounding trust over the long B2B buying window.
What we will cover:
- A dive into the 2026 Dreamdata benchmark data and what a 272-day journey means for your pipeline.
- Why you shouldn't ask a cold audience to book a demo on the first ad impression.
- How to use your team's leadership and storytelling to build compounding trust over time.
- How to prove the value of your top-of-funnel LinkedIn investments so your team stays committed.
Follow Anthony Blatner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyblatner/
Follow Steffen Hedebrandt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffenhedebrandt/
Thanks for tuning in to the Attributed Dreamdata Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it.

To stay updated on all things Dreamdata and B2B go-to-market:

👥 Follow us on LinkedIn: Dreamdata 
💬 Join Our Community on Slack: Dreamdata Community 
🎙️ Subscribe to Our Podcast: Don't miss out on future episodes! Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a comment or review. 
🔗 Visit Dreamdata's Website to see how we can help you connect your marketing to revenue: Dreamdata.io

B2B marketing isn’t struggling because of a lack of tools, channels, or budget.

It’s struggling because too many teams have lost focus on the fundamentals.
In a world obsessed with funnels, dashboards, and short-term performance, marketers are executing more than ever - but often without clear strategy. Tactics come before diagnosis. Measurement is everywhere, but impact is still unclear.

In this session, Mark Ritson joins Dreamdata to challenge how modern B2B marketing is done - and reset what good actually looks like.

Expect a candid, no-BS conversation on:
- Why most B2B marketing starts in the wrong place
- The over-focus on short-term performance - and what it’s costing you
- Why brand building still matters (yes, even in B2B)
- Where measurement creates the most value in B2B
- What actually drives sustainable growth

More importantly, you’ll walk away with tangible takeaways you can apply immediately:
- How to refocus your marketing around strategy, not just execution
- How to balance long-term brand building with short-term results
- How to prioritize what actually moves the needle
- And how to use measurement to support better decisions and prove real impact

Mark Ritson is known for cutting through marketing nonsense and bringing the focus back to what works: clear strategy, smart prioritization, and long-term effectiveness.

If you’re a B2B marketer under pressure to deliver results - and want a clearer, more effective way to do it - this session is for you.

Follow Mark Ritson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markritson/
Follow Steffen Hedebrandt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffenhedebrandt/
Thanks for tuning in to the Attributed Dreamdata Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it.

To stay updated on all things Dreamdata and B2B go-to-market:

👥 Follow us on LinkedIn: Dreamdata 
💬 Join Our Community on Slack: Dreamdata Community 
🎙️ Subscribe to Our Podcast: Don't miss out on future episodes! Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a comment or review. 
🔗 Visit Dreamdata's Website to see how we can help you connect your marketing to revenue: Dreamdata.io

AI is flooding every inbox, feed, and funnel, and it does a lot of the heavy lifting. So why is the one of the most powerful things in your demand gen toolkit something that's been around since humans first gathered around a fire?

Joe Glover has built a community of 50,000+ marketers. In this episode of the Attributed podcast, The Marketing Meetup founder breaks down why in-person events have quietly become a strategic necessity in modern marketing.

What we’ll talk about:
- Why AI can predict data, but only events can create "meaningful accidents."
- How face-to-face interaction bypasses the skepticism of the AI era.
- Using physical meetups to turn passive followers into active advocates.
- Strategies for making in-person gatherings feel essential, not exhausting.

Tune in to discover why the future of high-tech marketing is, ironically, higher-touch than ever.

Follow Joe Glover on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josepheglover/
Follow Steffen Hedebrandt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffenhedebrandt/
Thanks for tuning in to the Attributed Dreamdata Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it.

To stay updated on all things Dreamdata and B2B go-to-market:

👥 Follow us on LinkedIn: Dreamdata 
💬 Join Our Community on Slack: Dreamdata Community 
🎙️ Subscribe to Our Podcast: Don't miss out on future episodes! Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a comment or review. 
🔗 Visit Dreamdata's Website to see how we can help you connect your marketing to revenue: Dreamdata.io

AI is everywhere - but how do you actually show up inside it?

As LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini etc.) become a primary way buyers discover and evaluate solutions, B2B marketing teams face a new challenge:

It’s no longer just about ranking on Google, but also about being surfaced, cited, and recommended by AI.

Join Steffen Hedebrandt, co-founder and CMO at Dreamdata, and a panel of seasoned B2B leaders as they unpack how content strategies are evolving - from production and distribution to LLM visibility and influence.

Together, they’ll share how they’re adapting to a world where awareness isn’t just built in channels - but inside the models themselves.

What you’ll learn:
✔️ How to create content that LLMs can understand, trust, and surface in responses.
✔️ Tactics for increasing your brand’s visibility and recall inside AI-generated answers.
✔️ How buyer journeys are shifting as LLMs become a key discovery layer and what to do about it.
✔️ New ways to measure success when traffic is replaced by influence and inclusion in AI outputs.
✔️ The frameworks and skills needed to compete for attention inside LLMs, not just outside them.

The Panelists:

Sooraj Shah, Content Marketing Lead at Aikido Security
Daisy Shevlin, Leading SEO/GEO at Cognism
Anna Puig, Senior Growth Marketer at Orb
Follow Sooraj Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soorajshah/
Follow Daisy Shevlin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daisy-shevlin-5a0409b2/
Follow Anna Puig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annakpuig/
Follow Steffen Hedebrandt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffenhedebrandt/
Thanks for tuning in to the Attributed Dreamdata Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it.

To stay updated on all things Dreamdata and B2B go-to-market:

👥 Follow us on LinkedIn: Dreamdata 
💬 Join Our Community on Slack: Dreamdata Community 
🎙️ Subscribe to Our Podcast: Don't miss out on future episodes! Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a comment or review. 
🔗 Visit Dreamdata's Website to see how we can help you connect your marketing to revenue: Dreamdata.io

It’s a sad truth, but many B2B leaders still treat “brand” as fluffy stuff, something to worry about once the “real” marketing work is done.

But when 81% of the buyer’s journey happens before sales even get involved, your brand can be your most efficient conversion lever.

In this episode of Attributed, Steffen Hedebrandt sits down with Kelly Hopping, CMO at 6sense, to talk about her "Performance Branding" framework. She’s led marketing at Fortune 500 giants Dell and Kraft Foods and scaled the AI powerhouse Demandbase. She’s got the experience, so she’ll be sharing how she bridged the gap between consumer-style storytelling and high-velocity B2B revenue engines.

What you’ll learn in this session:
- Why a strong brand narrative is the only thing that shortens the sales cycle when the buyer won't talk to a human.
- How Kelly structured her teams to own 95% of the company pipeline by aligning Brand, Demand, and SDRs under one mission.
- Why shared metrics between the CMO and Head of Sales are the only way to scale "Performance Branding."
- How to make sure your brand shows up when buyers (and LLMs) are researching your category behind the scenes.

If you’ve ever been told to “just run more ads” when the pipeline is down, this one’s worth your time. 
Follow Kelly Hopping on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyhopping/
Follow Steffen Hedebrandt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffenhedebrandt/
Thanks for tuning in to the Attributed Dreamdata Podcast! We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed creating it.

To stay updated on all things Dreamdata and B2B go-to-market:

👥 Follow us on LinkedIn: Dreamdata 
💬 Join Our Community on Slack: Dreamdata Community 
🎙️ Subscribe to Our Podcast: Don't miss out on future episodes! Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a comment or review. 
🔗 Visit Dreamdata's Website to see how we can help you connect your marketing to revenue: Dreamdata.io 
Sign up for our next Live Sessions:
How LLMs Are Reshaping Content - From Creation to Visibility
Joe Glover: The Power of In-Person Events in the Age of AI
Mark Ritson: Making B2B Marketing Work Better
How to Win B2B LinkedIn Ads (272-Day Deals) with Anthony Blatner