What worked in marketing five years ago won’t get you far today. Discover 10 practical marketing strategies that HR and work tech leaders can use to drive growth, earn trust, and stay competitive.
Let’s be honest: what worked five years ago doesn’t land the same way anymore. Whether you’re building in HR tech, work tech, or the future of work more broadly, modern marketing requires an entirely different mindset.
Buyers are sharper. Channels are noisier. And visibility can spike, or vanish, with a single post.
As the strategic marketing advisor at WorkTech Advisory, I partner with founders and go-to-market teams to build systems that generate demand, not just content. The most common question I get is, 'What’s working now?'
In this post (and in the video below), I’m breaking down 10 marketing moves that are working for business leaders trying to grow in a noisy, high-trust environment.
Paid ads aren’t dead, but they’re not the starting point either. If you don’t have clarity on your ideal customer, message, or journey, pouring money into ads can create more noise.
Instead, invest in:
Consistent LinkedIn content
SEO, including AI-optimized search
Podcasts or niche event visibility
Earn trust. Don’t just rent time on a feed.
We’ve all hit a wall of required fields. Today’s buyers expect easier access to value. Gating makes sense when you’re sharing:
Proprietary research or data
Interactive tools or ROI calculators
Deep-dive frameworks
Ungate when you’re offering:
A perspective
A case study
A video like this one
Let value be the driver. Not friction.
If your brand only shows up when you’re launching something, you’re missing most of the journey.
Try this instead:
Post weekly in places your buyers already hang out
Join conversations in Slack groups, DMs, and LinkedIn comments
Treat marketing as a rhythm, not a launch checklist
Be present, not just promotional.
Buyers want to hear from people, not just polished brand accounts. Your voice matters, especially in the early stages.
Ways to show up:
Share team learnings
Offer POVs on industry shifts
Speak plainly about what you’re building and why
It’s not about becoming an influencer. It’s about being credible.
You don’t have to build a community from scratch to benefit from one.
Look where your buyers already engage:
Invite-only Slack groups
WhatsApp chats
Substacks and niche newsletters
Use tools like Common Room to identify those pockets, and show up thoughtfully.
Your best ideas don’t come from a content calendar. They come from your customer conversations.
Here’s how to extract them:
Use Gong or Fathom to surface real objections
Talk to your CS and Sales teams
Use those conversations to shape content ideas
You can use AI tools like ChatGPT to help draft, but the spark still needs to come from a living and breathing source.
Funnels stop at conversion. Flywheels continue to grow through user love and advocacy.
To keep momentum going:
Invite users into betas
Spotlight customer wins
Ask for feedback and make it public
Your happiest users are your best marketers.
Great insight doesn’t only live in the marketing team... it’s scattered across your org.
Build lightweight systems for insight-sharing:
A shared Notion for customer questions
Slack threads for field feedback
Monthly 15-min cross-functional syncs
Then let marketing synthesize and scale.
Urgency-based tactics are being ignored. Buyers want real help. Instead of: “Only two spots left!”
Offer:
Templates
Checklists
Playbooks
Help people do their jobs better, and they’ll remember who helped.
Community isn’t a tactic, it’s infrastructure.
How to start small:
Invite-only LinkedIn groups
Monthly Zoom roundtables
Personal email check-ins with power users
When the time comes to ask for referrals or testimonials, you’ll already have a bench of advocates.
Q: What if I don’t have a full-time marketing team yet?
A: Start with small, deploying consistent actions such as LinkedIn content, SEO basics, and joining relevant communities. Use AI tools to help scale what you’re already doing.
Q: How do I balance founder content with other priorities?
A: You don’t have to post daily. Just show up weekly with substance. Commenting on relevant trends or sharing what you’re learning can go a long way.
Q: What’s the best way to identify where my audience is?
A: Tools like Common Room, SparkToro, Clay and direct customer interviews can reveal which platforms, communities, or conversations matter most to your buyers.
Modern marketing is about value, not volume
Trust is earned over time, not captured in a single click
Founders who show up with a clear POV build faster traction
Hi everyone I'm Kirsten Robinette and I'm the marketing strategist at WorkTech Advisory I support HR and work tech founders and go-to-market teams on building smart scalable marketing systems that create demand not just noise And today we're talking about modern marketing So yes before anyone calls it out I am delivering this with plug-in headphones I understand the irony but sometimes vintage is better.
Number 8: Marketing is a conversation, not a campaign
If your strategy only shows up quarterly or when you're launching something, you're missing 90% of the buying journey. Modern marketing is consistent, conversational, and human. Show up where your buyers are every week, not just when you want something. LinkedIn comments, Slack group input, thoughtful DMs—that's where reputations are built today. You don't need a campaign calendar to be present. You just need a voice. And this leads nicely to point number seven.
Number 7: Founder- and leadership-led content still wins
In early- and growth-stage companies, your founder's voice is your fastest path to credibility. B2B buyers, especially, say they are more likely to engage with companies whose leaders are active on social media. It builds trust, shortens sales cycles, and boosts recruiting. But it's not about becoming an influencer—don't worry. It's about showing up with a clear point of view. Comment on industry shifts. Share what your team is learning. Talk like a leader—because you are.
Number 6: Your audience is in communities, not just platforms
Your best prospects aren't necessarily scrolling your homepage. They're in invite-only Slack groups, Substacks, WhatsApp chats, and niche events. You don't need to launch your own community to benefit. Just join one, show up consistently, and add value—and again, it's not about just adding noise. Look into tools like Common Room to find where your buyers already engage. Start there.
Number 5: Content isn't a deliverable—it's a dialog
The best content doesn't start in a content calendar—we've touched on this already. It starts in a customer conversation. Use tools like Gong or Fathom, or your CS team's inbox, to mine real questions and objections. Then use those as raw material. AI can help here. Tools like Jasper, Writer, or ChatGPT can help you draft first versions. But the insights need to come from your actual market.
Number 4: Replace funnels with flywheels
Funnels stop at conversion; flywheels build momentum through loyalty, advocacy, and expansion. Build loops: onboard users with delight, invite them to private betas, ask for feedback, spotlight them publicly. That's how you turn your customers into compounding growth—not just closed revenue.
Number 3: Make marketing everyone's job
Some of your strongest content ideas live within your sales team, your customer success calls, and your product roadmap. Build lightweight systems to capture this insight—a shared Notion doc, a 15-minute monthly sync, even a Slack thread can massively help. Then let marketing curate and scale that insight, and you can use AI to help if you need.
Number 2: Lead with usefulness, not urgency
Modern buyers ignore scarcity-based tactics. What they do respond to: immediate value. Offer templates and playbooks; open up frameworks that help your audience do their jobs better—whether or not they buy. That builds trust, and trust drives pipeline.
Number 1: Build a community before you need one
Community isn't a tactic; it's a moat. Start small—an invite-only LinkedIn group, a monthly roundtable, a direct email loop with top users. Invest early, and by the time you need referrals, advocates, or testimonials, you'll already have them.
Closing
To sum this up, modern marketing isn't about being everywhere; it's about being essential to someone. Focus on creating value. Focus on building credibility. Focus on systems that scale your message without sacrificing trust.
In the meantime, if you want help bringing any of this to life—be it positioning, content planning, or community development—we'd love to support you. You can reach me directly at kirsten.robinette@worktechadvisory.com or through the WorkTech Advisory website. And this recording and transcript will be available on the website—ungated, of course—along with my contact details. Thanks again for joining me, and yes, the headphones are here to stay.