Blame it on Marketing ™ – Details, episodes & analysis

Why are marketers still arguing about ROI in 2025? 🤯 “ROI is reductive!” “You can’t measure brand!” Meanwhile…budgets are getting slashed and CFOs are sharpening their scissors.

In this episode, we’re joined by Jordan Stachini—founder of Co & Co and proud member of the “least-fluffy marketers” club—to cut through the noise. We get real about what ROI actually is (and isn’t), how to report it without strangling creativity, and how to keep your budget safe when the money people come calling.

We get into:
 ✅ “All sales are conversions—but not all conversions are sales.” How to set objectives and measure the right thing at each stage
 ✅ Holistic > siloed: why channel-by-channel ROI gets marketers in trouble (and how to report at the right altitude for board, C-suite, and team)
 ✅ When you don’t have revenue access: scrappy ways to start measuring today (yes, even if it’s manual)
 ✅ Offline → online is one journey: activations that earn digital reach (and why tying every post to a till receipt is a trap)
 ✅ Founder taste ≠ ICP truth: keeping opinions out of your metrics
 ✅ Talking to CFOs without losing your soul (or your budget)
 ✅ “Champagne results on lemonade money”: setting realistic ROI expectations
 ✅ AI vs human creativity: Billy bookcase content vs bespoke craftsmanship—and why connection still wins
 ✅ Regional ads that slap (Hooch in Ancoats) vs ones that flop (Magnum in Piccadilly Gardens)—and the ROI lesson behind both

If you’re done with ROI theatre and want a practical playbook for proving value without dumbing down your marketing, this one’s for you.

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.

Why does every second LinkedIn post promise an “AI system” that will fix your marketing overnight? 🤖✨ If you’ve been told to “just automate everything,” this episode is your antidote.

In this episode, we’re joined by Fiona Sherwood (fractional CMO & AI marketing trainer) and Joanna Edwards (events leader behind a GenAI-for-marketers summit) to get practical about what an AI strategy actually is—and why tools come last, not first. 

We get into:
 ✅ Why “automate everything” isn’t a strategy (and where automation does belong) 
✅ Using real customer insight (CRM + sales-call transcripts) to fuel content that isn’t beige 
✅ Guardrails that matter: GDPR, FCA/regulated industries, brand voice, approvals, and culture 
✅ Tooling sanity: start small, personalize your stack (Copilot, GPT, etc.), and budget for training 
✅ How marketers can lead company-wide AI standards—without shaming or “AI-washing” 
✅ Measuring what matters, spotting hype, and setting expectations with the C-suite 

If you’re tired of guru threads and beige outputs—and you want an AI plan tied to revenue, compliance, and actual customer problems—this one’s for you. 

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.

Why do marketers blame shadow bans when their posts flatline? 🤔 If you’ve ever felt like LinkedIn’s algorithm is out to get you, you’re not alone. From engagement pods to Top Voice conspiracies, the platform’s quirks spark more theories than a late-night Reddit scroll.

In this episode, Emma & Ruta play detective with two LinkedIn insiders—Corey Johnson, growth marketer (LinkedIn addict), and Ash Turner, ex-LinkedIn creator manager to bust myths and reveal what really moves the feed.

We get into:
 ✅ Engagement pods vs. genuine reach—does LinkedIn even care?
 ✅ Top Voice badge drama—why some big influencers get snubbed
 ✅ Carousels, video & clicks—how metrics hijack your content
 ✅ Shadow banning: myth, marketing excuse or content fail?
 ✅ Company pages vs. personal profiles—which one wins?
 ✅ Creator monetization & pay-to-play—sponsored posts explained
 ✅ API lock-down—why third-party tools struggle on LinkedIn

If you’ve ever wondered why your best posts get buried—or why a meme explodes while your thought pieces vanish—this one’s for you.

🎧 Listen now and crack the LinkedIn code.

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.

In this episode, we’re ditching the basic bitch prompts and going deep on real AI power for marketers. Emma and Ruta unpack everything from prompt engineering to custom GPTs to automated workflows—so you can stop treating AI like a toy and start using it like a pro.

We get into:
 ✅ The AI lingo you actually need: models vs. providers vs. platforms vs. benchmarks
 ✅ Prompt engineering 101: zero-shot, few-shot, meta-prompts & when to use “reasoning”
 ✅ Building your own Custom GPTs—for content, strategy docs, coaching & more
 ✅ Automations that turn transcripts into blog posts, spreadsheets into insights
 ✅ Data cleaning, contract checks & process docs—all without lifting a finger
 ✅ Picking the right model: why cheaper LLMs sometimes outscore GPT-4 on copy
 ✅ AI as your personal CMO-mentor: role-plays, feedback loops & impulse checks
 ✅ Content audits, gap analyses & campaign plans—instant, AI-powered QA

If you’re tired of treating AI like a magic wand—or you’re ready to stop copy-pasting prompts and start building real AI-driven workflows—this one’s for you.

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.

Why do so many marketers break into a cold sweat at the mere mention of “board meeting”? 🤔 We’ve all been there—calendar invites arrive, you scramble through slide decks, and suddenly your palms are slick with nerves…

In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Kelly, Head of Marketing, to unpack the marketer’s boardroom debut—how to earn that seat, craft the right story, and walk out with the board singing your praises blame-it-on-marketing_f….

We get into:
 ✅ Why only commercially minded marketers should elbow their way in (and how to know if it’s your moment)
 ✅ Networking tactics that turn casual hallway chats into boardroom invitations
 ✅ Crafting slides that follow your narrative—story first, data second, and a dash of creative flair
 ✅ The board’s must-know metrics (cost per lead, brand awareness lift) vs. vanity numbers you can ditch
 ✅ Surviving the toughest questions: AI tools for mining potential Q&A and rehearsal hacks
 ✅ Rehearsal rituals—record yourself, get feedback, and build unshakeable confidence
 ✅ Showcasing your team’s wins to build internal advocates (and succession backups)
 ✅ Post-meeting power plays: following up on board queries to cement your credibility

If you’re tired of sweating over last-minute decks—or you’ve been knocking on the boardroom door with no answer—this one’s for you.

Why do so many marketers build campaigns in a vacuum—then wonder why they flop? 🤔 We’ve all seen it: content calendars packed with guesswork, launch after launch… and still, crickets.

In this episode, we’re joined by Helen Saxton, customer-experience advocate and Blame It On Marketing’s newest bestie, to unpack why customers must be at the heart of every business—and how to turn real-world feedback into content that converts. 

We get into:
 ✅ Why brand managers who never speak to customers keep missing the mark
 ✅ Mining free insights from social comments, CS tickets & on-site reviews
 ✅ Balancing quant (surveys, NPS) with qual (deep-dive interviews) for true customer clarity
 ✅ Partnering with customer-success/service teams for an always-on feedback loop
 ✅ When to pick up the phone—and when to gather feedback asynchronously

If you’re tired of launching campaigns nobody asked for—or if you’ve been guilty of marketing by gut instead of data—this one’s for you.

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.

Why do so many B2B marketers treat YouTube like a dusty archive? 🤔 We’ve all seen it—upload a stale webinar, paste a podcast video, and then scratch your head when views don’t budge… with zero strategy behind it. 

In this episode, we’re joined by Jake Kitchiner, co-founder of Channel Crawler and our new Blame It on Marketing YouTube guru, to unpack the B2B Tube trap—why companies dump content on YouTube and see no ROI, and how to build a channel that actually drives leads. blame-it-on-marketing_y…blame-it-on-marketing_y…

We get into:
 ✅ Why simply reposting webinars and demos is YouTube clickbait… for crickets
 ✅ The three-step service model: free tutorials → paid deep-dives → new clients
 ✅ How B2B SaaS brands like Clay turn “how-to” videos into product subscriptions
 ✅ YouTube’s three discovery feeds—Homepage, Suggested, Search—and how to win them
 ✅ Crafting hooks, thumbnails & chapters that make viewers click, watch, and subscribe
 ✅ Evergreen content planning: batch filming, SEO research, and a six-month runway
 ✅ How to use YouTube Ads with channel & video-level targeting (not just keywords)
 ✅ Repurposing your podcast or LinkedIn content into short-form YouTube hits

If you’re tired of uploading endless “just-because” videos—or if you’ve been guilty of treating YouTube like a dumping ground—this one’s for you.

🎧 Listen now and let’s talk about turning YouTube views into real business.

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.

Why do so many companies treat consultants like magic beans? 🤔 We’ve all seen it—bring in a “growth expert,” sprinkle them between teams, and pray they fix everything… without clear goals or accountability.

In this episode, we’re joined by Loren Shumate, growth consultant and our new Blame It On Marketing bestie, to unpack the consultant conundrum—why leadership chases silver bullets, where it blows up, and how to get real ROI instead ​E84.

We get into:
 ✅ The biggest myth giving consultants a bad rap—and why clear deliverables matter
 ✅ How to know when your startup needs outside help (and who should make that call)
 ✅ The right questions to ask before signing a statement of work
 ✅ Why siloed tactics fail—and how consultants drive cross-functional alignment
 ✅ Dodging “magic bean” tech plays: why you need vendor-agnostic advice
 ✅ Turning boardroom truths—like “my CRM’s a ball of yarn”—into actionable change ​E84
 ✅ Red flags that scream “run away” when you’re vetting marketing experts
 ✅ The LinkedIn soap-opera of fake influencer feuds—and why labels don’t make better marketing

If you’ve ever hired (or been tempted to hire) a consultant—and ended up with a mess—this one’s for you.

Why does email marketing often feel like shouting into the void? 🤔 We’ve all been there—campaigns get built, contacts pile up, and engagement flatlines… yet somehow “just send more emails” remains the rallying cry.

In this episode, we’re joined by Beth O’Malley, self‑proclaimed Email Queen and 12‑year CRM veteran, to dismantle the biggest email myths—why your campaigns keep missing the mark, and exactly how to fix them.

We get into:
 ✅ Why borrowing B2C “best practices” and 2004 segmentation still holds you back
 ✅ The real risks of buying cold lists (and smarter ways to reach prospects)
 ✅ The three pillars of email mastery: strategy, data integrity & tech setup
 ✅ How to build subscriber‑centric journeys that deliver the right message at the right time
 ✅ Quick wins with exclusion‑based campaigns to trim the fat and boost engagement
 ✅ Why open rates lie—and which metrics actually prove email ROI
 ✅ Avoiding technical dead ends: SPF, DMARC & platform limitations to watch
 ✅ Winning leadership buy‑in with analogies (and the cost‑of‑inaction playbook)
 ✅ The unethical tricks—like fake order confirmations—that always backfire

If you’re done watching your emails underperform—or you’re ready to turn email into your highest‑ROI channel—this one’s for you.

Link to Beths course: https://www.certifiedguru.com/

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.

What’s causing senior marketing leaders to burn out, feel isolated, and lose their edge? 🤔 In this episode of Blame It On Marketing, Emma and Ruta sit down with the insightful Fiona Jensen—a veteran with over 20 years of B2B marketing recruitment experience—to break down the hidden crisis in senior marketing.

We get into: 

✅ The real reasons behind the burnout and isolation of senior marketers
✅ Why being the “glue” of the company can make your contributions invisible
✅ How unrealistic KPIs, shifting roles, and ever-growing pressure are driving top talent to quit
✅ The essential role of building a robust network and finding the right mentors
✅ Practical red flags and tips for spotting unhealthy work environments and preventing burnout

If you’re tired of seeing top marketing talent get crushed under endless pressure—or if you’re a senior marketer needing a wake-up call on how to safeguard your career and well-being—this episode is for you.

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.