I find what's holding back growth, then fix it.

I've spent 15+ years in B2B marketing, leading demand generation, ABM, and marketing operations. I'm hands-on where it counts, whether that means reworking a message that isn't landing or building a system that gets qualified leads to the right salesperson.

42%SQL growth YoY at a ~$500M firm
26%Pipeline growth YoY at a digital commerce consultancy
$1MAd spend cut, sales pipeline maintained

Problems Solved

Three problems, three different fixes.

Each one started with finding the real issue.

Choosing where to focus

With many offerings, several audiences, and limited time and budget, effort was spread thin. Client data and buyer research showed where the proof and buying intent actually were. I focused demand gen and ABM on those segments, rewrote the messaging around what buyers actually buy, and kept a capped, automated layer for everything else.

Client dataBuyer researchPositioningABM

Direct buyer inquiries in this business unit rose 44% year over year, even as gated downloads were cut in half.

In-market signals

A job posting is often an early sign a company could use staffing support, and an even stronger one if they already use a competing staffing firm. But finding those companies meant manual searches, lookups, and outreach, so execution varied by location and workload. I built a workflow that surfaces relevant hiring activity at good-fit companies and routes the most promising accounts and contacts to the right salesperson.

ApifyGeminiSupabaseCloud Run

Qualified leads delivered to sales daily, without a human in the loop.

Measuring what matters

Marketing had no reliable way to tie spend to revenue. I co-built a measurement framework that connected website behavior with ATS and CRM data, then checked it against control groups. For the first time, we could see which spend actually drove pipeline.

Customer researchClickstream trackingATS + CRMControl groups

$1M in ad spend cut while maintaining sales pipeline.

Impact

What the work changed.

Mostly in-house, with agency and consulting chapters - across HR tech, staffing, professional services, and SaaS.

Senior Director, Digital MarketingAtriumStaffing & contingent workforce management · ~$500M revenue

Built the company's first ABM and demand generation programs. Also designed and built the automated lead-generation engine delivering qualified, enriched, deduped leads to sales daily. Grew AI search visibility from 6th to 3rd most-cited domain in its category.

42% SQL growth YoY

27% more direct buyer inquiries YoY

Director of Demand GenerationObject EdgeDigital commerce, CPQ & data consultancy · <$50M revenue

Increased pipeline through strategic development of targeted content, webinars, virtual events, and integrated advertising campaigns.

26% pipeline growth YoY

Head of Digital MarketingClearEdge MarketingMarketing agency · talent & HR tech · <$50M revenue

Led the agency's digital practice, overseeing strategy and execution while serving as the digital subject matter expert on sales and discovery calls.

Fastest-growing, most profitable practice

VP, Inbound and Digital MarketingThe Adecco Group North AmericaStaffing, contingent workforce & VMS · Fortune Global 500

Over a nearly 12-year tenure, created and led the digital and content marketing shared services teams for the North American market within a Fortune Global 500, developing scalable strategies across multiple business units.

$1M ad spend cut

Sales pipeline maintained

How I Work

Strategy, systems, and execution.

Strategy through execution

Demand gen, ABM, positioning, content, SEO, paid media, social, email, automation, and analytics. I set the strategy, build what it needs, and stay close enough to the work to know what's working.

Always learning, led by evidence

Fifteen years in, I'm still early to what's next, from AI search to AI-built marketing workflows. Customer research, business priorities, and analytics decide what stays, so effort lands where it compounds instead of where it's loudest.

Make the team better

I share what I know, give people room to own their work, and step in when I can help remove a roadblock. The goal isn't just strong individual work - it's a team that gets smarter and more capable together.

Recommendations

What colleagues say.

"In a world of marketing noise, John is a calm force. He brings perspective, experience, and a full suite of marketing competencies to create marketing campaigns that result in revenue."
Sarah Falcon
Managed John at Object Edge
"I have never met anyone to match John's wealth of knowledge in digital marketing, marketing automation... and anything marketing technology."
Madalyn Destafney
Marketing team peer at The Adecco Group
"I'm definitely a better marketer because of his influence and guidance."
Sarah Walls
Reported to John at The Adecco Group
"He knows way more than he lets on or will ever take credit for, and is always happy to share that knowledge if you just ask."
Jessica Leisman
Reported to John at The Adecco Group

Skills & tools

What's in my toolbox.

Growth strategy

B2B growth strategy, demand generation, account-based marketing, ICP development, positioning and messaging, customer and competitor research.

Demand channels

LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Reddit Ads; SEO and answer engine optimization; webinars, small in-person events, sponsorships, and email.

Marketing operations

Lead response management, intent, workflows and automations, data and systems integrations, enrichment.

MarTech

HubSpot, Claude Code, Google Cloud, Vertex AI, Apify, Zapier, Profound, Peec, Fibbler, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, Salesforce, Clay, Marketo.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you use AI?

To accelerate research, analysis, operations, and production. And yes, I'm one of those Claude Code people.

  • Contact and account workflows, automation, and enrichment with data provider APIs, Google Cloud, Vertex AI, and Apify.
  • Audit, review, and other repeatable marketing and operations workflows with Claude Code and integrations into Profound, Ahrefs, LinkedIn Ads, and Google Ads.
  • Campaign and advertising optimization and reporting through platform APIs.
  • Video transcription and editing, audio creation and editing with VEED and Descript.

What is your approach to ABM?

I'm a big fan of Emily Kramer's approach outlined in The Shift to Account-Driven GTM.

Build the foundation, layer on account-driven campaigns and workflows, then set up signal-based campaigns.

My two cents: a legacy ABM platform like 6sense is not required. More modern, decoupled tools that support your strategy can be far more powerful.

What kind of environment do you do your best work in?

I gravitate toward smaller, more nimble environments where I can stay close to both strategy and execution, build what doesn't exist yet, and drive impact faster. That's where I do my best work: solving the business problem, building the system around it, and staying close enough to execution to see what's actually working.

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