Cold email isn’t dying. Lazy marketing is.

In this episode of TLDR, I spoke with James Milsom, Head of Marketing at Hunter.io, about what’s actually working in cold outreach right now.

Here’s some uncomfortable truths:
😟 Campaigns sent to 1,000+ recipients average ~2% reply rates
😟 71% of decision-makers ignore emails because they’re irrelevant
😟 Open rates and click rates? Mostly noise. Replies are what matter

The problem really isn’t the channel.

Marketing is changing and lazy volume-first tactics are getting taxed.
It’s that most teams are still optimizing for volume - more contacts, more sends, more automation, instead of better segmentation, better offers, better sequencing.

James breaks down:

➡️ Why cold email should run 3-4 week structured experiments

➡️ How to A/B test offers, not just subject lines

➡️ Why layering LinkedIn with email nearly doubles effectiveness

➡️ Why email verification is an important step (but most teams skip this)

At this point, you can’t just blast your TAM and hope 2020 tactics still work.
Buyers are smarter. Inboxes are harsher. Attention is expensive.

So you can either tighten your targeting, or accept 2% reply rates.

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Most marketers still treat cold calling like it’s not their job.
And that’s a problem that needs to be fixed.

In this episode of TLDR, Evan Dunn shares how he took an outbound program from 0 to 5 meetings/day - not by just hiring more SDRs, but by applying demand gen-level experimentation to outbound.

Why does this matter for marketers?

Because the fastest path to offer clarity isn’t waiting on demo form fills.
It’s picking up the phone & talking to real buyers.

Evan breaks down:

• How he used cold calls to find PMF gaps and rebuild positioning

• Why outbound conversations beat other tools for finding your real competitors

• How he rewired a marketing org to own outbound (without losing attribution)

• The cold call stack + strategy that was used

“Founder-led sales works not because founders are great sellers, but because they’re closest to the feedback loop. Marketers need to get that close again.”

If you’re a marketer struggling to differentiate, this episode is a must-listen.

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LinkedIn Ads used to be niche and expensive.
Now it's mainstream and expensive.

In this episode of TLDR, Srikrishna (CEO of Factors.ai) and I were discussing how the change in LinkedIn Ads is massive:

B2B ad spend on LinkedIn jumped from 3-5% to 20-25%. Everyone finally realized it's the only way to reach decision-makers at scale.

But here's the catch: if everyone's doing it, then the old playbooks are not going to work anymore.

You’ll have to start thinking about changing your approach.

And this is exactly how Alaan Pay was able to drop their CPL by 56%.

Not through better creative or copy. Through better & improved infrastructure.

Most companies are still uploading 100K contacts and hoping for the best.

But in this episode, Sri explains what actually works now:

1. Build smarter audience lists: Don't just use Apollo or Sales Navigator filters. Layer in intent signals: G2 competitor page views, website behavior, email engagement. Segment into TOFU, MOFU, BOFU - not one massive list.

2. Distribute ads strategically: SQLs should see 10x more impressions than cold accounts. Show case studies to SQLs, competitor comparisons to closed-lost deals. Stop wasting the budget showing ads to existing customers.

3. Implement CAPI (Conversions API): Feed website conversion data back to LinkedIn's algorithm. Most companies only send CRM data (super limited). Factors is one of 4 LinkedIn CAPI partners globally.

If you run LinkedIn ads or plan to, this is a must-listen.

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