Blame it on Marketing ™

Hosted by Emma Davies and Ruta Sudmantaite

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115

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Do you ever feel like it's always marketing at fault? We know the feeling. We can't afford more therapy so we decided to collect all the ridiculous things that marketers hear and invite our friends to chat about them. If you want to hear us (Emma and Ruta) rant about sometimes funny sometimes serious topics this is the place for you.

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June 11, 2026Episode 11241 min

New Segment, New Problems: How to Expand GTM | E112 with Anastasia Albert

Going after a new segment sounds sexy… until you actually try to do it. 😅 New vertical, new geography, new buyer, new motion — and suddenly everything breaks: messaging, pricing, onboarding, customer success, and your sanity.In this episode, Emma and Ruta are joined by Anastasia, founder of B2B Practitioners, to talk about when segment expansion is actually smart — and when it’s a fast track to chaos (especially in seed and Series A land).Marketing confession of the episode: Anastasia changed lead scoring in HubSpot and accidentally applied it to older contacts… nuking the MQL and SQL stages. Reversible, but emotionally scarring.We get into: ✅ The first question to ask: why do you want a new segment — and have you actually exhausted the current one? ✅ The 18-month reality test: how likely are you to win this segment in the next year and a half? ✅ ICP validation when you have no customers there yet: 10 to 15 interviews, then patterns and buying triggers ✅ Disqualifying hard: why 60 percent ICP fit should often be a no ✅ Expansion myths: “Let’s just break into the US” and why CAC and competition explode ✅ Partnerships and relationships: the fastest way into a segment (and why cold entry is brutal) ✅ AI positioning: “AI-enabled” is not differentiation — outcomes are ✅ Product vs marketing: how to spot a product-market fit problem (Sean Ellis test, discount dependence, early churn) ✅ Service vs software tension: when customers want the service but investors want SaaS ARR ✅ Operational readiness: what must change across product, pricing, marketing, sales, and CS when you pick a new segment ✅ The vertical-agnostic trap: why “we can sell to everyone” usually means wasted spend and worse retention ✅ Healthy churn: why letting bad-fit customers go can actually strengthen your brand and flywheelIf your team is about to say “Let’s go after a new segment” — play this first. It’ll save you six months of pain.#B2BMarketing #GTM #StartupMarketing #ICP #ProductMarketFit #ABM #MarketingStrategy #RevOps #AIinMarketing We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.

May 28, 2026Episode 11134 min

Paid, Owned, Earned.. Where Do B2B Influencers Fit? | E111 with Will Beech and Chris Peters

B2B influencer marketing is having a moment… but most teams are still treating it like a vibes-based experiment. 😅 In this episode, we take a different angle: B2B influencers as a paid media channel, and what changes when you treat it like a proper media buy.We’re joined by Will and Chris from Moon at Dawn to break down paid, owned, and earned media, where influencers sit across all three, and how to measure impact without pretending a single post is going to “drive pipeline” on its own.Marketing confessions included: Chris dropped an uncomfortable truth bomb to a client at 3pm on a Friday Will accidentally copied an influencer into a brutal client feedback email thread (nightmare fuel) We get into: ✅ Paid vs owned vs earned, and why influencer sits across all three ✅ Why “pay-to-play” is only the starting point (collaboration beats basic promotion) ✅ The real problem with influencer selection: too much gut feel, not enough data ✅ Moneyball for influencers: choosing creators based on outcomes, not hype ✅ New measurement thinking: “resonance” and depth of impact with hard-to-reach ICPs ✅ How to make influencer work in B2B with paid distribution, not just organic reach ✅ When celebrity speakers work (and when they’re just expensive entertainment) ✅ How to start small: plug influencers into what you are already doing and test messaging pillars ✅ Beyond LinkedIn: why YouTube and Substack matter, plus LLM discoverability and citations ✅ Marketing gossip: talent agencies slowing deals, and LinkedIn building a creator marketplaceIf you’ve been told to “just work with a few influencers” but nobody can explain how to measure it, budget it, or scale it… this episode will save you a lot of pain.Like, subscribe, and drop your biggest B2B influencer question in the comments.#B2BMarketing #InfluencerMarketing #PaidMedia #MarketingStrategy #LinkedInMarketing #ABM #MarketingOps

May 14, 2026Episode 11043 min

Side Hustles: Cute Hobby or HR Problem? | E110 with Liz Maguire

Side hustles used to be the vibe… but are they still “allowed” now? 😅In this episode of Blame It On Marketing, Emma and Ruta are joined by Liz Maguire (email marketer for SMEs) to unpack the reality of side hustles in 2026 — what’s healthy, what’s risky, and what it actually teaches you as a marketer.Liz shares her passion project, Flea Market Love Letters — a digital archive of vintage love letters — and we get into the messy middle: monetisation, boundaries, employer perceptions, and why marketers can’t stop marketing… even on their days off.Marketing confessions included: Liz accidentally wrote “lay of your life” instead of “lady of your life” (auto-scheduled… tragic) Emma asked a male guest live on-air: “Is there anything else that’s hard right now?” and mentally left her body We get into: ✅ Are side hustles a distraction — or a sanity saver? ✅ The monetisation line: why hobbies feel “fine” until money shows up ✅ What’s actually not okay (hint: doing your side hustle on company time) ✅ Why side hustles make you a better marketer: experimentation, reps, confidence, ownership ✅ The one mindset shift that improves your marketing instantly: stop “I, I, I” and write “you” ✅ Side hustles vs business ideas: why it’s easy to dream and hard to run something real ✅ Ethics and impact: are you building something meaningful or just more landfill? ✅ Marketing gossip: the downfall of ugly AI posters and the return of human designIf you’ve been thinking about starting something on the side — or you’re worried your boss will freak out if they find out — this one’s for you.Like, subscribe, and comment: what’s your side hustle (or your dream one)?#Marketing #B2BMarketing #SideHustle #EmailMarketing #CareerAdvice #SmallBusinessMarketing #AIinMarketing We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.

April 30, 2026Episode 10943 min

Stay or Go? The Marketing Career Crossroads | E109 with Ana Rogerson

Should you stay… or should you go? 😅With the job market doing the absolute most, marketers are stuck in the same loop: tolerate the chaos, or risk jumping into something worse.In this episode, Emma and Ruta are joined by Ana Rogerson — B2B marketer turned career coach and mentor — to unpack the real decision framework behind leaving a role, staying put, or going freelance. No “just manifest it” nonsense. Just practical advice for marketers who are tired.Marketing confession of the episode:Ana accidentally sent an email attachment that she very much wishes she hadn’t. The kind of mistake that ages you three years in 24 hours.We get into:✅ The simplest test: am I learning and am I still smiling?✅ Why rushing into the next job is the fastest way to repeat the same nightmare✅ How to research company culture properly: employees, ex-employees, and what to look for✅ Why “quiet quitting” is a terrible strategy when you’re job hunting✅ The hidden career game: performance keeps you employed, but image and exposure get you promoted✅ Freelance and fractional reality: it’s not instant freedom, it’s sales, resilience, and cashflow swings✅ Practical stay strategies: boundaries, communication, reporting rhythm, and meeting leaders where they are✅ Protect your peace: coping routines so work doesn’t eat your evenings and relationships✅ Why having a work bestie is not optional — it’s survivalIf you’re sitting at your laptop thinking “I can’t do this anymore” — this episode will help you slow down, get clear, and make the next move a smart one.Like and subscribe for more Blame It On Marketing episodes.Comment below: are you in a stay, go, or “plotting quietly” phase right now?#MarketingCareers #B2BMarketing #CareerAdvice #MarketingLeadership #JobSearch #FreelanceMarketing #WorkCulture We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.

April 16, 202626 min

Conversion, Not Clicks | Live with Paul Rawson @ BCMU!

If your leadership team only cares about “what did we close?” but you’re stuck reporting traffic, followers and vibes… this episode is for you. 😅In this live session, we’re joined by Paul (20+ years in marketing, now at Marmalade Marketing and a HubSpot Gold Partner) to get into the actual data and metrics that matter — what to stop reporting, what to track instead, and how to explain B2B buying journeys without hiding behind a funnel diagram.Marketing confession of the episode: Paul got Argos catalogue pricing wrong and a product that should’ve been £79.99 went out as £39.99. Print mistakes are forever.We get into: ✅ Vanity metrics to ditch (and why CEOs eventually come for “commercial impact”) ✅ The three numbers that matter most: revenue, pipeline, ROI — and why conversion and velocity deserve a seat too ✅ People, not personas: why named accounts beat “Jane, 32, reads The Guardian” ✅ The funnel is not linear (and maybe never was) — so how do we explain the journey? ✅ Account-based thinking: quality, penetration, and activity in the right accounts ✅ How long B2B journeys really are (and why 3 website visits over 2 years can still be a win) ✅ Lead scoring as a practical way to track progress without funnel theatre ✅ The “so what?” problem: data everywhere, but no story — how to fix analysis and reporting ✅ Minimum data every marketer should have: TAM, conversions, velocity, plus GA and website behaviour tools ✅ Website metrics: what matters, what doesn’t, and why top-of-funnel numbers still need contextIf you’re tired of getting dragged into “why didn’t this channel convert?” arguments, or you need a smarter way to communicate marketing impact to finance and leadership — hit play.Like, subscribe, and drop your worst “CEO hates my metrics” moment in the comments.#B2BMarketing #MarketingMetrics #ROI #Attribution #HubSpot #MarketingOps #ConversionRate #ABM

April 16, 202622 min

Data that actually influences | Live with Jade Faulconbridge @BCMU

Ever walked into a meeting with a spreadsheet… and watched everyone’s eyes glaze over? 😅This episode is for the marketers trying to use data to influence up, sideways, and across the business — without being ignored, undermined, or dragged into a channel-by-channel debate.We’re joined by Jade Faulconbridge, marketing ops consultant (finance, manufacturing, payroll — the full chaos), to talk about how to build a data story that executives actually understand, and how to use that story to set boundaries, win budget, and prove marketing is a revenue team.Marketing confession of the episode:Jade got fired from her shortest-ever job after pushing back on a founder’s “AI will replace SEO and write all our content” plan. Painful… but also iconic.We get into:✅ Why marketing should be treated as a revenue-generating team (with KPIs that matter)✅ The only way to win influence: pick your numbers, repeat them, report over time✅ Why you should never start with data — start with the “why” and use data to back it up✅ The 3 numbers to take to the board every time: revenue, pipeline, ROI (plus conversion and velocity if you’re feeling spicy)✅ Direct vs influenced attribution — and how to talk about both without getting eaten alive✅ How to push back without saying “no” (be curious, force trade-offs, let them realise it’s a bad idea)✅ Why CRM and reporting foundations come first — otherwise you’re “just doing stuff”✅ What not to share with leadership until you’ve fixed it (some dashboards are inside-only)If you’re tired of being asked to prove marketing with one month of data, or justify every channel like it lives in a silo — this episode will save your sanity.Like and subscribe for more Blame It On Marketing episodes.Comment your worst “show me the ROI” meeting story below.#MarketingOps #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #Attribution #ROI #RevOps #StakeholderManagement #MarketingLeadership

April 16, 202618 min

Why is marketing so hard right now? | Live with Jake Kitchiner @BCMU

Marketing feels harder than it should right now. Bigger targets, tighter budgets, AI expectations, more noise everywhere… and somehow it’s still “why didn’t that email get opened more?” 😅In this episode, Emma and Ruta sit down with Jake (co-founder of ChannelCrawler) to talk about why marketing feels so brutally difficult in 2026 — from both sides: founder brain and marketer reality.Marketing confession of the day: Jake thought he was resetting a SendGrid API key… and it turned out to be a phishing scam. Cue password resets, broken automations, and a serious “I thought I was tech-savvy” moment.We get into: ✅ Why marketing has always been hard — but budgets and expectations make it feel impossible now ✅ The AI noise problem: more content, less quality, less attention ✅ Founder syndrome: “I’ve got a great idea” vs the roadmap (and how to push back) ✅ How to communicate marketing properly to sales and leadership (and stop the magic lead tree fantasy) ✅ Why more traffic doesn’t mean more revenue (and why conversion can be the real priority) ✅ Picking your path: channels, trade-offs, and committing without panic-sweating ✅ Lead quality vs lead volume: why 50 MQLs are not all created equal ✅ A practical tool to protect focus: OKRs and “what are we dropping to do this?”If you’ve been asked to do more with less, explain your existence in every board meeting, or compete with a tidal wave of AI slop — this one’s for you.Like and subscribe for more Blame It On Marketing episodes. Drop your biggest “marketing is hard right now” pain point in the comments.#B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #StartupMarketing #ConversionRate #MarketingLeadership #AIinMarketing

April 2, 2026Episode 10842 min

Ultimate marketer personality test | E108 with Michelle Hartley

Why do some marketing teams move fast and break things… while others want a spreadsheet, a process, and a risk assessment before lunch? 😅In this episode, we’re joined by Michelle Hartley from People Sorted to unpack marketing personalities using the Insights Discovery framework (the one with the four colours). We’re talking team dynamics, communication, decision-making, and why “just be more collaborative” is not a strategy.Plus: we do the personality reveal on Emma and Ruta (spoiler: it explains a lot).We get into:✅ What the four colour energies mean (red, yellow, green, blue) ✅ Why some people want speed and others want certainty ✅ How your “work self” vs “real self” shows up under pressure ✅ Why sales and marketing can feel like different species ✅ The hidden reason “nice culture” still ends in chaos ✅ How to work better with people who are the opposite of you ✅ What a “perfectionist profile” looks like in marketing (and why it’s a blessing + curse)If you’ve ever thought “why is this person like this?” at work… this one’s for you.#marketing #b2bmarketing #leadership #teamwork #careerdevelopment We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.

March 19, 2026Episode 10730 min

CRM Hygiene 101: Stop the Rot, Start the Revenue | E107 with Jack Roberts

Your CRM is meant to be the backbone of marketing… so why does it feel like a haunted house? 👻In this episode, we’re joined by Jack, a CRM and automation expert (marketing + recruitment), to unpack what actually goes wrong inside CRMs — and what to do when your “single source of truth” is anything but.We talk messy data, broken integrations, Franken-stacks, and the classic problem: one marketer builds a beautiful system… then leaves… and nobody knows what anything does.We get into:✅ The most common ways teams wreck their CRM (and don’t realise)✅ Data hygiene first: how to audit what’s broken before “fixing” anything✅ Zombie contacts and old records: when to delete, when to downgrade, and why it matters✅ Custom fields, forms, and lists: how to simplify before it becomes unreportable chaos✅ Lead source is everything (so why does nobody capture it properly?)✅ HubSpot + Salesforce together: the pain, the mismatched numbers, the “who changed that field?” drama✅ Naming conventions and documentation: how to make your CRM survivable when people leave✅ Automation that protects your data (alerts, required fields, and keeping things clean over time)✅ AI and CRM ops: what’s worth learning now if you want to go full marketing-nerdIf your CRM is currently held together with hope, duct tape, and 400 undocumented workflows — this one’s for you.

March 5, 2026Episode 10652 min

You're too Young/Old for Marketing | E106 with Justine Lou and Lenna Lou

Why is marketing the one industry where you can be “too young” and “too old” at the same time? 🤯In this episode of Blame It On Marketing, we’re talking ageism in marketing (and yes… the sexism that comes with it). We’re joined by a mother-daughter duo: Justine, Marketing Director at The L Factor, and Lenna, award-winning business mentor and professional “nosy parker” (her words, not ours).We get real about what ageism actually looks like in marketing, why it’s so baked into the industry, and how to handle those comments without losing your mind (or your professionalism).We get into: ✅ Why ageism and sexism are basically inseparable for women at work ✅ The weird questions women get asked at events (and how to respond) ✅ Why marketing “experience” is misunderstood — and how to reframe it ✅ How to challenge ageist behaviour without going full confrontation mode ✅ Cross-generational lessons: what newer marketers miss, and what older teams miss too ✅ The AI hype problem: not everything needs to be “AI powered” ✅ Why “looking busy online” is just digital confetti (and what actually builds trust) ✅ Reddit honesty: how to show up without pretending you’re “one of the community”If you’ve ever felt dismissed, underestimated, or boxed in because of your age — this one’s for you.Subscribe for more B2B marketing truths, rants, and real talk. 💛 We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.