Article's Content
Article's Content
Welcome to Volume 200 👋
On this very special anniversary edition, we’re kicking things off with some words from the man who started it all: Ross Simmonds.
“We started at 001. Now we’re at 200.
Over the last few years, we’ve officially published 200 round-ups that share insight into the things shaping B2B and marketing as a whole. We’ve covered everything from some of the most important acquisitions in SaaS to the rise of AI and its impact on our space. It’s been quite the ride.
Thank you for being subscribed, and I hope the next 200 are better than the last.
Today, we’re going to take a moment to look back at some of the best pieces we’ve shared over the years, and I’m hopeful that you get some value from this look back into our archives. It’s possible that in this 200th email, you’ll come across a piece of content that not only resonates with you but can help you unblock or unlock a new area of your business or thinking at large.”
Thanks, Ross. And here’s to 200 more.
In this week’s newsletter, we cover:
- 🏆 Our Best Hits from the Last 200 Weeks
- 👀 The Latest in B2B SaaS This Week
- 🧠 This Week’s Brain Food
- ➕ The Best Content Across the Web
Let’s get into it.
📢 Get Your Copy of Create Once, Distribute Forever 📢
It’s time to get a head start on that summer reading list — Ross’s new book, Create Once, Distribute Forever, is officially available. He’s been preaching the value of content distribution for years across social media, podcasts, and the speaking circuit.
These days, how and where you distribute your work is more important than the work itself if you want to make an impact — amazing products and extraordinary ideas are no longer enough.
Distribution is the missing piece in many SaaS marketing engines, even those at the enterprise level. That’s why Ross put this book together.
Create Once, Distribute Forever is about how to build a sustainable, long-term marketing strategy and ensure as many people see your content as possible. With real-world examples, helpful checklists, and a step-by-step playbook for crafting your own distribution plan, you don’t want to miss this!
Ready to radically transform your content distribution strategy? Order the book today.
B2B SAAS NEWS
Revisiting the Hits: Foundation Favorites from the Last 200 Weeks
It was 1999 — just over 25 years ago — when Smash Mouth said these prophetic words: “The years start coming, and they don’t stop coming.”
The Foundation team has updated you and other B2B marketers with the latest insights from tech and beyond for 4 years (3.835 if you’re picky). 46 months. 200 weeks. That’s 200 newsletters, 200+ company and strategy breakdowns, and countless more blog posts.
Just think: When Ross first kicked off this newsletter, Twitter was still Twitter, Google SERPs were largely devoid of Reddit and Quora threads, and generative AI was still in the early adopter stage.
Naturally, none of that is true anymore. Still, if there’s one thing we need to keep in mind, it’s that the years don’t stop coming; and those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it — even in eternally optimistic and forward-facing industries like tech.
With this in mind, we decided to look through the Foundation Lab’s archive to bring back some of the best insights you may have missed, from the greatest hits to the hidden gems. Give them a bookmark and make your way through them. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Best-in-class SaaS company breakdowns:
- How MasterClass Built a $2.8 Billion EdTech Empire in 7 Years [Content Case Study]
- Gong’s LinkedIn Strategy: Breaking Through Social Media Noise
- Dialpad’s Area Code SEO Moat: How to Rank for 50k Keywords
- The Canva Backlink Empire: How SEO, Outreach & Content Led To A $6B Valuation
- 72% Increase in 6 Months — Wiz’s Winning Content Investment
Next-level B2B marketing strategy analysis:
- This Content Distribution Strategy Earned 26,282 Page Views In 7 Days
- How to Write SEO Content According to the Google Leaks
- TAM, SAM, SOM: How to Calculate Them for Your Industry
- How B2B Tech Companies Can Publish 100+ Articles Per Year
- How To Recruit Marketing Talent
The latest insights on generative AI for marketers:
- AI in Marketing: Research Study, Stats, Industry Trends & Data
- Prompt Engineering: A Guide for Marketers and Content Creators
- DALL-E Prompt Writing: How To Create Great Prompts
- What’s Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) & How To Do It
- How Chain of Thought Prompting Improves Your ChatGPT Outputs
There’s plenty more where that came from in the Foundation Lab and still more to come as we move into the next 200 weeks.
Happy reading!
🚨 New Podcast Alert: The Impact of AI on Marketers 🚨
To celebrate the 200th newsletter, it’s only right that we discuss the technology that will impact marketers most over the coming 200 weeks and beyond: artificial intelligence.
In the latest episode of Create Like the Greats, Ross sits down with Joe Glover from The Marketing Meetup for a check-in on the status of AI in marketing. Both agree that these tools serve to augment the human element, not replace it.
Here’s how they see AI’s role in the marketing game:
- Creative thinking and content creation: By using prompts and personas, tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E spark fresh ideas tailored to specific contexts.
- Audio efficiency and innovation: Adobe, ElevenLabs, and Descript give marketers the tools to create and alter audio files for things like ads, podcasts, and more.
- Extending the lifespan of content: The aforementioned tools make it simple to repurpose individual assets into derivatives for a range of different media formats.
Check out the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and take your AI abilities to the next level!
👀 What’s the Latest in B2B SaaS This Week? 👀
⚖️ Judge Rules That Google “Is a Monopolist’ in US Antitrust Case | The Verge
💳 X Is Getting Closer to Launching Its Payment Service | TechCrunch
🤖 Instagram Will Let You Make Custom AI Chatbots — Even Ones Based on Yourself | WIRED
🎣 Google Takes Another Startup Out of the AI Race | The Verge
🗓️ Organize to Excel — Bring Your Content Together in Planable 🗓️
If you’re still of the mindset that you can plan your entire marketing operation in a spreadsheet, this one’s for you.
Planable is a collaboration platform that drives all of your content distribution efforts through an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. It’s a digital command center where you and your team can create, plan, review, and approve all your awesome marketing content.
And Planable isn’t just for social media. It helps you optimize your workflows for blogs, newsletters, press releases, briefs — every asset in your content portfolio!
With a dedicated workspace for each brand or client, you’ll experience a faster, smoother workflow that helps your team work together like never before.
Because Planable loves organized content. And so should you.
Bring all your content together today. Try Planable for free.
🧠 This Week’s Brain Food 🧠
At 200 editions, the Foundation Newsletter is nearly four years old. I’ve been a Foundationite for more than half of them and have written over 50 of the editions.
Writing newsletters, breakdowns, blog posts, and research assets for the Foundation Lab has been a truly formative experience for me — as a marketer, a writer, and a person. It’s sappy, I know, but true.
Scouring the web for stories and social posts from some of the leading publications in the industry is an invaluable education. Not only do you learn about all sorts of amazing products and technologies from major companies, but you learn how the thought leaders in these segments communicate. The goal of conversion is always top of mind.
Not all of the learning experiences are so straightforward or glamorous, though. Many of the most important lessons come at inopportune times (often preceded by a minor panic attack). Thankfully, those are fewer and far between these days.
For that, I have to thank the amazing team that brings the newsletters, blogs, breakdowns, and everything else to life — week in and week out:
- Our wonderful writers, Chris and Chloe
- Our strapping strategists, Connor, Enzo, Leigha, Jill, and Taylor
- Our essential editors, Nicole M., Nicole D., and Jessica
- Our powerful production team, Lainey, Bronwyn, Adrielle, and Aina
- And, of course, our fearless leader Ross Simmonds
Last but not least, thanks to you for sticking with us and making this newsletter possible. I have a feeling the next 200 are going to be something special!
Want to sponsor our next issue? Reply to this email, and we’ll share how you can reach more SaaS founders and marketers today.
📢 Introducing Foundation’s AI Marketing Console 📢
A few years ago, if someone said that mastering a single SaaS tool could save you 500+ work hours every year, make you a better creator, and increase your chances of landing a leadership position, you’d probably laugh them out of the room. Well, no one’s laughing now.
Generative AI is projected to add billions of dollars to the marketing industry in productivity savings alone, and the vast majority of professionals in our industry are incorporating AI this year.
Like all emerging technologies, there’s a huge advantage to moving quickly. Experimentation and research are key to building the skills you need to stay ahead. Unfortunately, these are also time-intensive processes.
That’s why we’re excited to announce the release of the AI Marketing Console.
With the AI Marketing Console, you get an arsenal of 130+ battle-tested ChatGPT prompts to help you create everything from landing pages and email drip campaigns to reports and customer research.
Plus, you’ll get exclusive access to the following:
- A visual AI toolkit with 20+ video walkthroughs
- Two keynote presentations on the state of AI in marketing
- An AI content evaluation checklist to level up your outputs
Get full access to the AI Marketing Console, and start building your AI skills now!
If you want more information on why we’ve created this offering, check out this video from Ross!
🏅 Twitter/X Thread of the Week
How to Repurpose LinkedIn Content for More Reach by Ross Simmonds
🎖️ LinkedIn Post of the Week
99% of People in SEO Get Prompt Engineering Wrong! by Charles Floate
🤳🏽 Nice Finds You Should Binge
- Google AI Overview: What Is The Future of Search Algorithms? | Foundation
- Gen AI’s Awkward Adolescence: The Rocky Path to Maturity | VentureBeat
- SearchGPT Is OpenAI’s Direct Assault on Google | Wired
- Why Did Wiz Walk Away From $23 Billion? | TechCrunch
- The Latest Sell-Off May Be the Beginning of the End for the Tech Bubble, Strategist Says | Business Insider
💻 Job Postings Worth Checking Out
Looking for a new opportunity? Here’s a round-up of some exciting job openings in the B2B SaaS space.
- SignalFire Job Board
- Foundation: B2B Content Marketing Strategist
- Foundation: Content Creator
- Foundation: Content Marketing Manager
- Foundation: Senior Director of Social Media
- Foundation: Senior Director of B2B Marketing
- Foundation: Social Media Editor (Freelance)
Want us to include your job postings in our next issue? Reply to this email, and we’ll share how you can reach more SaaS professionals today.
🎧 What We’re Wired into This Week
Coastline — Geoffroy
This smattering of SaaS stories is brought to you by Ethan Crump!
If you have any feedback, suggestions, or ideas you want to see in this newsletter, feel free to email me at ethan@foundationinc.co. We always look for ways to improve and provide the best B2B SaaS marketing resources.
Have a great weekend, and see you on the other side!
