Remarkable Marketing Podcast

The episode contains solid tactical advice about LinkedIn campaign structure (top/middle/bottom funnel, retargeting audiences, matched audiences, video length optimization) that would be useful to someone new to LinkedIn ads. However, much of the substance is fairly standard funnel methodology applied to LinkedIn - building trust through retargeting, segmenting audiences, testing creative - which any seasoned marketer has heard before. The guest does provide some platform-specific nuances (matched audiences for video completion rates, audience network concerns, LinkedIn's data freshness advantage) but spends considerable time on obvious points (short videos work better, ask for the conversion, multiple touchpoints matter). The cost-per-click benchmarks ($1 - $5 average, $5 - $15 for top funnel) are useful anchors but lack depth on why these numbers are justified or how they vary by vertical.

“There's really high friction there now for this client in particular, they did have a very, very strong video top of funnel”

“You would be amazed at how much ROI you can squeeze out of your target audience simply by retargeting them”

The episode rehashes well-known B2B advertising principles - funnel structure, audience segmentation, retargeting, creative testing, reverse-engineering cost per lead from lifetime value - that are standard across Google Ads, Meta, and other platforms. The application to LinkedIn is somewhat fresh (audience network exclusions, matched audiences based on video completion), but the core strategic thinking is conventional. The guest frames everything through a three-layer funnel (top/middle/bottom) with pain-point ads at the top and social proof at the bottom, which is textbook marketing. There is minimal contrarian or first-principles thinking; the episode largely validates what most practitioners already do.

“You have to be actively looking, testing and optimizing”

“You want to make sure that you're engaging the right people for your offer and showing them the content that's going to build the trust and credibility to get them to convert”

Josh Stout has demonstrable operating experience: he personally managed or oversaw strategy on 1,000+ LinkedIn ad accounts, trained 50+ people at a prior agency, and was certified a LinkedIn Marketing Expert and awarded a Top Voice badge by LinkedIn itself. He is now Director of Advertising at Influent, leading their LinkedIn division. These credentials suggest real hands-on platform expertise and scale. However, the episode lacks specifics on his own company's revenue, client results, or whether he still personally runs significant accounts versus purely managing others. For a guest discussing LinkedIn advertising strategy, his pedigree is solid but not exceptional - he is a specialist in one channel rather than a CEO, founder, or CMO who built a major business using the tactics he describes.

“For the last five plus years I spent my time with an agency that was also LinkedIn centric and I basically built their ad service so kind of from the ground up”

“I either personally managed or oversaw strategy and, as you said, over a thousand ad accounts”

The episode includes some concrete numbers and named details - 5 - 15 second videos, 50% video watch thresholds for audience matching, 8 - 12 to 20 - 40+ touchpoints to convert, $5 - $15 CPCs for C-suite, $1 - $5 average CPC across layers, 10 - 15 ads per funnel layer - that provide a framework for practitioners. The extended case study of the financial services client is valuable (retargeting video watchers, chopping long videos into shorter segments, doubling results), but it lacks specifics: no company name, no actual CPM/CPC numbers from before/after, no concrete revenue or lead volume figures, and no timeline. The guest often says 'we improved their results' without quantifying by how much or in what timeframe. Most examples are described abstractly rather than with precise metrics.

“They over doubled their results, not only just in leads but also with conversions”

“So $5 to $15 for a click is not unreasonable”

The host asks broad setup questions ('Can you share who you are', 'Tell us a story') and allows the guest to deliver long, structured monologues without interruption or challenge. There are no pushbacks on the guest's claims, no questions about failure modes, edge cases, or counterarguments (e.g., why audiences network is so effective if the mindset advantage is lost, or how these results compare to non-LinkedIn B2B channels). The host does ask a useful question about benchmarking success and cost-per-lead, but doesn't follow up with skeptical questions like 'How much of that improvement was the new funnel structure vs. increased budget?' or 'How often do these results fail to replicate?' The interview is friendly and collaborative rather than probing; the host repeats the guest's framing rather than testing it.

“So why don't we start off? Can you share just a minute or two, a little bit more about who you are and what you do?”

“Tell us a story about some of the remarkable results you've been able to generate on LinkedIn, some that really stand out above the rest”