HubSpot ended the partner program I loved
On August 15, HubSpot will remove me from the Solutions Provider Program. I'm going to let them. This isn't a protest. It's a principled refusal to participate in a partner ecosystem built around quotas, because quotas compromise the objectivity that made the badge worth anything in the first place.
July 31, 2026 · 4 min readMarketing automation agency vs. in-house marketing hire: the real tradeoff
One hire gives you deep attention with big gaps. An agency gives you full coverage with less attention. A plain-language guide to which failure you can afford.
July 10, 2026 · 2 min readShould You Hire a CRM Administrator or Outsource Marketing Operations?
The question compares two things that are not the same size: a CRM administrator is a role, marketing operations is a function. Which parts must stay in-house whatever you decide, the honest case for each answer, and a one-week log that settles it with your own evidence.
July 9, 2026 · 4 min readMarketing automation services: what's included and what it costs
Every provider means something different by the phrase. Here is the honest scope of a full service catalog, what each piece is for, and how the pricing actually works.
July 7, 2026 · 3 min readWhat does a marketing automation consultant actually do?
The job title gets used for everything from campaign builders to systems architects. Here is what the senior version of the role actually covers, and how to tell whether you need one.
July 2, 2026 · 3 min readThe Hidden Cost of Hiring a Marketing Automation Specialist
The salary is the most honest number in the equation - and the smallest. Recruiting and vacancy months, the ramp, the disciplines the hire does not cover, and the single-point-of-failure premium: the full math on the specialist req, priced the way finance never sees it.
July 1, 2026 · 4 min readAfter the tactical marketing plan ships: 13 weeks of execution (part 5 of 5)
The plan is written, the calendar is set, the automations are specified. Here is what the first quarter of execution actually looks like, including the parts where the plan turns out to be wrong.
June 30, 2026 · 4 min readWhy our Act-On audit is free
Most Act-On instances I open are running at a fraction of what the platform can do. Our free 27-point audit reads the real instance, scores it, and hands the team a prioritized list of what to fix. Here is what it covers, and why we do not charge for it.
June 26, 2026 · 4 min readOpenAI sold me on ChatGPT Ads with an email
OpenAI launched a paid advertising platform inside ChatGPT and used email to invite advertisers. Not an in-app notification. Not a sponsored post. An email. The data on why that choice made sense has not changed in ten years.
June 24, 2026 · 5 min readThe Deliver phase of a tactical marketing plan: write it so someone else can execute it (part 4 of 5)
The third phase of a tactical marketing plan is what makes it tactical: automation programs specified as contracts, data feeds defined field by field, and reports named before launch instead of after.
June 23, 2026 · 3 min readDo You Need a Marketing Operations Manager or a Fractional Marketing Team?
One approved salary line, two ways to spend it. The full-time ops manager wins when the gap is deep; the fractional team wins when the gap is wide - and at most mid-size companies it is wide. An honest decision framework, including the cases where the hire is the right call.
June 19, 2026 · 4 min readWhy Most HubSpot Job Descriptions Ask One Person to Do Six Jobs
Read ten HubSpot Administrator postings and the same anatomy shows up: platform admin, automation architecture, campaign production, copywriting, design, and analytics - six professions under one title. Nobody decides this on purpose. Here is the structure that produces the composite req, and what it selects for.
June 12, 2026 · 4 min readBefore You Hire a HubSpot Administrator, Read This First
The req is approved and the job description is half-written. Before you post it, sort the bullet points by discipline: most HubSpot Administrator reqs quietly describe six professions on one salary line. What the market will actually send you, what the first year really looks like, and the question worth asking before the hire.
June 5, 2026 · 7 min read
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