Marketing That Works: How to Get Clients and Grow a B2B Business (Without Wasting Time)
Many new entrepreneurs (especially side hustlers) waste time on things that don’t actually get them clients. Based on 12+ years of experience building marketing systems that scale, I’ll break down exactly what works—and what’s just noise—when it comes to growing a B2B business.
This session will help you:
- Understand what really matters in early-stage marketing (so you don’t waste months spinning your wheels).
- Avoid common marketing mistakes that slow growth.
- Learn simple, repeatable strategies to attract clients and grow—without burning out.
- Decide where to focus your limited time, budget, and energy for maximum results.
Whether you’re a freelancer, consultant, or service-based entrepreneur, this session will help you build smarter, not harder.
Emma Cimolini is a seasoned B2B marketing strategist with over 12 years of experience propelling startups from six-figure revenues to multi-million-dollar successes. As the Founder and Principal Consultant of 021 B2B Tech Growth Marketing, she specializes in crafting and executing growth strategies tailored for early-stage B2B tech companies.
- How to validate and monetize a side hustle
- Choosing the right marketing model (inbound vs. outbound)
- Choosing the right pricing model (one-off, subscription, retainers)
- Scaling a side gig while working a full-time job
- Automating and delegating to free up time
Shawn Johnson has built a career transforming ideas into global successes. As the founder of SocioPunk & Seichō Syndicate, he helps businesses scale through disruptive creativity and sustainable growth strategies. From leading product and design for Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal to working with brands like Nike, Disney, and Microsoft, Shawn knows what it takes to turn passion into profit.
In this session, Shawn will share his battle-tested strategies for scaling your side hustle while thriving in your career. Learn how to leverage your expertise, build high-value brands, and automate growth—all without burnout. Shawn’s blueprint blends product innovation, design thinking, and business strategy to help you create sustainable success.
Whether you're looking to launch, scale, or exit, this talk will equip you with the mindset and tactics to turn your side gig into a global powerhouse. Don't settle - join this session and supercharge your success.
My company Path Unbound, a boutique UI/UX design school, is a challenger brand in a saturated market with many big named schools. We experienced a long slump in revenue in the first couple of years in business because we couldn’t find our product positioning. We offered products similar to our big competitors and tried to beat them with lower price only to have the opposite effect. People start doubting if we are bad because we were so much cheaper.
Last year, we discovered the magic formula to growth for us as a small challenger brand without big budget for advertising. We started to repackage our big product offerings into smaller ones that are ultra flexible serving mini segments of user personas. We started to see results within weeks of launching our new offerings, attracting more customers than we’ve ever have. In this talk, I’ll how we structured our product offerings according to customer personas and how other small businesses that are challenger brands to big competitors can thrive doing the same.
Let’s be real—being a little weird is the best thing you can do for your brand. In a world full of sameness, it’s the memorable quirks, the unexpected twists, and the “wait, who are you?” moments that make people pay attention.
I’ve taken an unconventional path to get here (think: almost failing design school, living in a van in Australia, running a wedding company in China—yeah, it’s a story), and along the way, I realized that the magic in branding isn’t about fitting in. It’s about helping people own what makes them different and turning that into a brand that feels like them.
We’ll talk about:
- Why your weirdness is your unfair advantage
- How to help clients find their real brand essence (aka their secret sauce)
- Creative confidence—showing up fully as yourself
- The unexpected paths that lead to success
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite fit the mold—good. That’s exactly why you’re going to thrive. Let’s talk about it.
