5 Nov · 23 min

In the Age of AI Slop, Face-to-Face Events Are Still the Top Converting Channel | David Cardiel

David Cardiel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cardiel22/), Chief Marketing Officer at NetVendor (https://www.netvendor.com/) and founding partner of fractional marketing firm ArcWright, joins Marketers of Technology to share how he walks into B2B SaaS companies where sales carries the pipeline and builds marketing into a measurable revenue engine. With 20-plus years of experience, including go-to-market leadership through the acquisitions of TrendKite by Cision and Parse.ly by WordPress VIP, David breaks down why face-to-face events are still the top converting channel in proptech, how he is getting NetVendor cited by AI search, and why he thinks SDR teams belong under marketing. Topics Discussed: - David's background as a B2B SaaS marketing executive and fractional CMO, and why he founded ArcWright - What NetVendor does: vendor management and compliance technology for the commercial and residential real estate market - Building NetVendor's first scalable inbound engine on top of a strong outbound motion - Why face-to-face events are the top converting channel, and how dinners, happy hours and on-site experts beat standing in a booth - Layering paid, account-based marketing and content on top of the events strategy - Using AI as one tool in the bag without letting AI slop replace human taste - Getting found by LLMs: a stronger blog strategy, measurement and a content strategist at the center - How NetVendor's customer journey works, from marketing activity to SDR qualification to AE conversation - Walking into companies as marketer number one, and what he learned at TrendKite and Parse.ly - Being industry agnostic and applying a go-to-market playbook to a new buyer - Building an AI SDR manager and running an SDR team as a fractional leader - Why SDRs belong under marketing GTM & Technology Adoption Lessons: - Build the experience around the event. At NetVendor, events convert best. David's team prospects ahead of time, hosts dinners and happy hours, connects experts with key accounts and runs a full post-event follow-up instead of just scanning badges. - The education never stops. Even a category leader with a strong brand has to keep educating the market, especially in a compliance-driven space like vendor management. - Fix the missing half of the funnel. NetVendor already had a strong outbound engine. David's job was to stand up inbound through events, AEO and SEO, content, webinars and a website refresh. - Use AI, but keep human taste in the loop. David uses AI daily, especially when he is a team of one, but warns that a little more human editing is often the difference between content that works and AI slop. - Show up for LLM search with real content. The biggest measurable jump in LLM visibility came from beefing up the blog, using a platform to track results and keeping a strong content strategist feeding longer-form content. - Operationalize measurement early. Early channel activation only matters when you also define how each lead is classified, whether from a demo request, webinar, event or form, and build the operations behind it. - Let your playbook travel. David has marketed to engineers, publishers, PR pros, CFOs and HR. A repeatable playbook lets him step into a new industry, like proptech, and apply it quickly. - Put SDRs under marketing. David says conversion and activity are consistently higher when the development team sits with marketing, especially on the inbound side. // Sponsors: Front Lines — Silicon Valley's leading Podcast Production Studio. We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. Mention you are a listener and get a 10% discount. www.FrontLines.io/Podcast-as-a-Service