Dearest Reader,

Content marketing works. I wouldn’t run mine if I didn’t believe that.

But it’s not the only lever in the room, and most founders I work with treat it like the only one they’re allowed to pull. Meanwhile some of the busiest pipelines I’m watching right now are being fed by something else entirely, alongside whatever’s happening on the content side, not instead of it.

Below are four of those engines. Not hypothetically...from my current stable of clients. The unsexy, un-viral, and worth running in parallel with everything you’re already posting. Steal whichever one fits your business.

1. Referrals

Being referable isn’t about asking people to refer you. It’s what happens upstream of that: the clarity, credibility, and complementary fit that make recommending you effortless and low-risk for the person doing the recommending. Most founders never build this on purpose. It just happens to them, or doesn’t.

2. RFPs

Government and institutional bidding is a channel most founders have never once considered, “everyone’s number one customer,” sitting right there, ignored because it feels too big, too slow, too corporate. It’s not a replacement for relationships. It’s a second lever layered on top of them.

3. Repeat buyers & reputation

Reputation compounds, it just doesn’t post on a schedule. Happy clients become repeat clients, repeat clients become referral sources. But what needs to be in place to deliver at this level?

4. Outbound

Outbound has a bad name because most outbound is bad. What actually separates a message that gets a reply from one that gets ignored (or reported) isn’t volume, it’s specificity: real research, real relevance, real timing. Fewer, sharper messages beats spray and pray, every time.

Okay, thanks Talica…but how?

Fair. Knowing the lever exists and knowing how to actually pull it are two very different things.

Which is exactly why I’m running a LinkedIn Live series this fall to unpack all four of these, with founders who are doing each one for real. Make sure you’re following me on LinkedIn — I’ll be going deep on the how, one mechanism at a time. The first one is happening this Tuesday, Aug 18th at 1pm ET. Check is out here.

Until next time, happy selling!

Talica