Lee: Hello and Welcome to the Beyond B2B Marketing podcast. I’m your host Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing and today, our guest is someone I first met 9 years ago when she was at Salesforce and she had me on her podcast or Cloudcast as it was named. Fast forward to today and not only is she in an amazing leadership role at Microsoft Advertising, she’s dominating LinkedIn with her videos offering a humorous look at B2B marketing, career advice and more. You could say she’s the corporate natalie of B2B marketing – only better. Of course I’m talking about Heike Young, Head of content, social, & integrated marketing for Microsoft Advertising.
Heike: Wow. Thank you so much, Lee. That was so nice. Thank you for the wonderful intro, and I love the comparison to Corporate Natalie. She’s been an inspiration of mine. I remember the first time a friend sent me one of her videos and I was like, what, you can have fun and make jokes about the workplace like this? I try to bring that spirit to what I do.
Lee: You do it so well. It’s great to see you again. You were at Salesforce for about 11 years and Microsoft for just over a year. Tell us about that journey and what’s next.
Heike: This is the first podcast I’ve appeared on since I decided to turn the page to a new chapter. After many years as head of content at Salesforce, some time as head of content at Microsoft, and before that, working as a book editor and at a marketing agency, I’m going to take a break from corporate life.
The second thing is that I’ve spent a lot of time the past couple of years creating content on LinkedIn and some on TikTok and exploring other channels and formats. I’ve always done content as a B2B marketer, but doing it as part of the creator economy has lit something up for me.
Lee: Integrated marketing has been around a long time, but the discipline has evolved as buyers diversify where they get information.
Heike: In my most recent role at Microsoft, where I was head of content, social, and integrated marketing, it was my first opportunity as a content leader to oversee not just content channels, but the broader integrated marketing strategy and campaigns. Those campaigns incorporate many channels and tactics to get a singular message to market.
Lee: With competition for attention and changes in discovery, people aren’t just going to Google anymore. There’s Reddit, Substack, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI-powered search. Google’s search experience is different now than it was a year or two ago.
Heike: Yes, and whether it’s organic and paid, we see that content that looks and feels organic is often your best-performing paid content. We need to stop thinking about paid as a separate channel where we create entirely separate content, and instead look holistically at our best-performing content.
Do we have great employee-generated content? Do we have great customer hero content? Can we empower those pieces to be the stars of our paid campaigns because we see they’re performing well organically? Content strategists should be able to look across organic and paid, choose what’s working, and optimize the levers to make everything perform well.
Lee: It’s more about orchestration than relying on a single tactic. Another challenge right now is dropping organic search traffic because of zero-click search.
Heike: This gets to why B2B marketing often falls flat. There’s a sea of sameness. There’s generic content and bland “content voice.” You see jargon and buzzwords and vague language like “digital transformation” and “all-in-one AI-powered solution.” People land on a website or blog and think, what does this actually do? Why do I need it? They’re confused until late in a sales call when someone finally explains the product clearly.
We need to get to clarity faster and give people permission to understand what the thing does without forcing a conversion. I see three areas where marketers can lean in and move away from content voice and into more resonant content.
First, making customers the hero of your content. Second, empowering employees as creators, especially in B2B. Employees will break through on LinkedIn and organic channels in a way branded content never could. People want to hear from a real person.
Lee: That lines up with what we talk about as participatory marketing, centered around community. Activating customers, employees, and creators works best when it’s connected to strong brand and empathy.
Heike: I agree. AI can bring efficiency, but humans are still the breakout voices who cut through.
Lee: You’re a walk-the-talk example of innovative content. What’s your take on the right mix of AI and human content for B2B brands that want to lead with creativity?
Heike: I see AI as a tool. I’ve worked at tech companies where being AI-first and showing how you use AI was part of the job. It’s been a relief to have a space where I can create content just for the fun of it.
Let me answer this as a parent, too. My kids are inherently creative. They wake up creative. Nobody tells them not to be creative. But for adults, creativity doesn’t work like flipping a switch. My best creative ideas have never come in a brainstorming meeting where I’m put on the spot to produce genius in 45 minutes. So if you’re leading a team, you have to give people room to find their creativity in the way that works for them.
Lee: That’s a great point. People need options for how they express creativity, and it’s driven by context and inspiration, not pressure.
You’ve also talked about how many people want to create video for LinkedIn but struggle to execute. What advice do you have for people trying to produce video content, whether they’re employees, creators, or corporate teams?
Heike: A lot of people tell me they hate filming themselves, and I relate. But video is powerful. It conveys presence and voice in a way text doesn’t. If someone wants a more resonant personal brand on LinkedIn, I encourage them to start small. Don’t try to do long videos. Practice more than you think you need to. Practice really does make perfect.
When I started, it took me a long time to get a take I liked. I had to coordinate facial expression, vocal tone, and gestures, and it felt hard. After doing it for a couple of years, it’s much faster.
Two more practical tips: use tools that make you feel more comfortable on camera, and face a window, ideally in the morning. Lighting makes a huge difference.
Lee: Lighting matters a lot, and that’s a helpful way to frame it. Also using native tools as a test can give people confidence without pressure. And your point about sticking with it is important. People need to give themselves grace and time to improve.
Heike: That’s the exact same advice I’d give in-house marketers. If a few pieces flop, that’s normal. Don’t abandon a great idea after a few tries. Keep practicing.
Lee: I saw your post about introverted extroverts, which I relate to. I can speak on stage, but networking drains my social battery fast. What advice do you have for people who feel that introversion-extroversion dynamic at events?
Heike: I’m glad I posted about it because now more of my people will find me at conferences. For years I felt like I had to mask and perform a super extroverted persona because that seemed like the norm. Now I give myself permission to attend events in a way that’s energizing for me, and I encourage others to do the same.
If you’re newer in your career, you may feel pressure to say yes to everything. But you have to come back to your why. Why am I here? Does this serve me? If your social battery drains quickly, you need to prioritize. That’s how you get the most ROI from the event.
I get energy from people, but I also need alone time to recharge. Sometimes that recharge looks like leaving to get a meal somewhere quiet and resetting that way.
Lee: Great advice. Prioritize, focus, and build the event around what serves your goals and your energy.
Let’s talk about the creator economy and B2B. Brands have shown more interest in creators and influencers since COVID. What’s your advice for B2B brands tapping into the creator economy?
Heike: For aspiring creators, double down on LinkedIn and add other channels to your mix over time. For brands, the biggest mistake is treating it transactionally. A lot of brands approach creators with “how much for one post,” and that’s not where the value is.
Brands get the most value when they partner with creators in a meaningful way that serves the audience. One post is usually not enough. It should be multi-post and potentially multi-platform. I’d love to see brands think bigger, like asking creators to MC events, create organic moments people share, be talent in brand content, or contribute to a YouTube series or regular guest content. Too many brands think “pay for a post,” instead of integrating creators into integrated marketing.
Lee: Let’s look ahead to 2026. Based on your experience, what are one or two major changes you see happening over the next 12 months?
Heike: I would love to see brands pull back on stretching themselves so thin. There’s been massive scope creep. Brands try to do every channel and every tactic, and they spread themselves so thin they don’t do anything well.
I’ve seen brands with every social channel set up perfectly, but they’ve only posted once in months. In the era of doing more with less, we have to actually focus on impact over activity.
Lee: Let’s wrap with something beyond B2B. If you could do anything as a career besides marketing or being a creator, what would it be?
Heike: If I could make the same amount of money, I would 100% get paid to watch and play with my kids. I truly love hanging out with them. It lights me up. If it were a real full-time job with benefits and time off, I’d do that.
Lee: Amazing answer. Where’s the best place for people to connect with you?
Heike: LinkedIn is the best place. Heike Young. You can also find me on TikTok, where I post about more random topics beyond content and marketing. And I just started an email newsletter on Beehiiv. If you search Heike Young Beehiiv, you’ll find it.
Lee: Fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your insights, and congratulations on your big change.
Heike: Any time, Lee. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure knowing you over all these years. B2B marketing is different now, but the people in this community make it amazing and are why I keep doing this year after year. Cheers.
Lee: I want to thank you for tuning in to the Beyond B2B Marketing podcast. Be sure to subscribe so you can stay tuned for our next guest. And remember, there’s no better time than now to break free of boring B2B.
