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Three Must-Have Campaigns
in Your First 90 Days as a Marketing Leader
90 Days to make your best, and lasting, first impression as the Marketing leader
When you start a new marketing or sales leadership role, there’s no shortage of “first 90-day” checklists.
Build trust. Diagnose pipeline health. Set up reporting. Get to know your team. Define the operating cadence. Establish the right metrics.
Yes, all of that matters(and we have a checklist for you, CLICK HERE)
But here’s what often gets missed:
You have a short window to make a lasting first impression and gain trust from your CEO, the Board, and your Sales partner.
Build trust. Diagnose pipeline health. Set up reporting. Get to know your team. Define the operating cadence. Establish the right metrics.
Yes, all of that matters(and we have a checklist for you, CLICK HERE)
But here’s what often gets missed:
You have a short window to make a lasting first impression and gain trust from your CEO, the Board, and your Sales partner.
Brand is an earned budget
As a marketing leader, one of the biggest challenges is balancing short-term pipeline wins with long-term brand building.
It's tempting to lean into brand work when we first join a new company. After all, marketing is often the keeper of brand and brand strategy.
But if you don’t show pipeline or revenue impact fast, ie. in your first 3 months, you risk losing trust with your CEO, your Board, and your sales partner.
As Alison Munro, CMO at Vena Solutions, says:
“Brand is an earned budget.”
You need to earn that trust before you can place long-term bets.
This post is your cheat sheet: Three proven outbound campaigns that generate pipeline, fast.
They’re not just top-of-funnel plays. These campaigns drive real meaningful pipeline and revenue—and they’re the ones you’ll want to have live within your first 90 days.
It's tempting to lean into brand work when we first join a new company. After all, marketing is often the keeper of brand and brand strategy.
But if you don’t show pipeline or revenue impact fast, ie. in your first 3 months, you risk losing trust with your CEO, your Board, and your sales partner.
As Alison Munro, CMO at Vena Solutions, says:
“Brand is an earned budget.”
You need to earn that trust before you can place long-term bets.
This post is your cheat sheet: Three proven outbound campaigns that generate pipeline, fast.
They’re not just top-of-funnel plays. These campaigns drive real meaningful pipeline and revenue—and they’re the ones you’ll want to have live within your first 90 days.
campaign #1
Revive Closed Lost
Probably one the top 3 sources of pipeline for most companies.
Most teams talk about closed-lost nurture. Very few actually do it well. And even fewer automate it.
This is your second quick win—because these prospects already know who you are, and you already know a ton about them. That context gives you a major head start.
Set up two campaigns:
1. Time-Based Re-engagement:
Reach out to accounts that closed lost 4–6 months ago (adjust based on your sales cycle). A simple check-in from a BDR or AE can reignite the conversation, especially if the original reason no longer applies.
2. Signal-Based Re-engagement:
Watch for activity signals during the “cooling off” period (eg. the 4-6 months above). If something changes, re-engage immediately.
- Website visits: If they hit your homepage, pricing page, or product pages, they’re showing intent.
- New executive hires or promotions: New leaders bring new priorities, new budgets, and often a mandate to shake things up. ZoomInfo found that new executives spend 70% of their budget in the first 100 days.
In fact, response rates for signal-based re-engagement are 2 - 3X higher than your average outbound.
Combine timing and signals, and you’ve got a powerful always-on engine.
💡 How to set up Revive Closed Lost campaign: https://www.usergems.com/playbooks/revive-closed-lost-opportunities
Most teams talk about closed-lost nurture. Very few actually do it well. And even fewer automate it.
This is your second quick win—because these prospects already know who you are, and you already know a ton about them. That context gives you a major head start.
Set up two campaigns:
1. Time-Based Re-engagement:
Reach out to accounts that closed lost 4–6 months ago (adjust based on your sales cycle). A simple check-in from a BDR or AE can reignite the conversation, especially if the original reason no longer applies.
2. Signal-Based Re-engagement:
Watch for activity signals during the “cooling off” period (eg. the 4-6 months above). If something changes, re-engage immediately.
- Website visits: If they hit your homepage, pricing page, or product pages, they’re showing intent.
- New executive hires or promotions: New leaders bring new priorities, new budgets, and often a mandate to shake things up. ZoomInfo found that new executives spend 70% of their budget in the first 100 days.
In fact, response rates for signal-based re-engagement are 2 - 3X higher than your average outbound.
Combine timing and signals, and you’ve got a powerful always-on engine.
💡 How to set up Revive Closed Lost campaign: https://www.usergems.com/playbooks/revive-closed-lost-opportunities
Campaign #2:
Past Champions at New Companies
Warmest leads. Highest conversions. Often overlooked.
This is one of the oldest, highest-performing sales plays—and still wildly underutilized. Past champions who’ve used or bought your product before and have moved to new companies (that match your ICP) convert 2.5x to 3x higher than your average leads.
Why?
They know your brand. They trust your product. In a sea of cold leads, they’re already bought in.
How is this a quick win?
Most companies don’t have a system to track these people. That means when you turn this campaign on for the first time, you’ll get an instant boost of pipeline—often thousands of warm leads —who haven’t been touched since they left their old company.
Who to track:
- Closed-won contacts: The people who bought from you.
- Admins & end users: They used your product and may now have buying power or can champion for you.
- Closed-lost contacts: They evaluated you once. New job, new context, new chance.
💡 How to set up the Past Champions campaign: https://www.usergems.com/playbooks/reach-out-to-past-champions-when-they-change-jobs
Once this play is live, it can run continuously, feeding your pipeline every week without manual lift.
This is one of the oldest, highest-performing sales plays—and still wildly underutilized. Past champions who’ve used or bought your product before and have moved to new companies (that match your ICP) convert 2.5x to 3x higher than your average leads.
Why?
They know your brand. They trust your product. In a sea of cold leads, they’re already bought in.
How is this a quick win?
Most companies don’t have a system to track these people. That means when you turn this campaign on for the first time, you’ll get an instant boost of pipeline—often thousands of warm leads —who haven’t been touched since they left their old company.
Who to track:
- Closed-won contacts: The people who bought from you.
- Admins & end users: They used your product and may now have buying power or can champion for you.
- Closed-lost contacts: They evaluated you once. New job, new context, new chance.
💡 How to set up the Past Champions campaign: https://www.usergems.com/playbooks/reach-out-to-past-champions-when-they-change-jobs
Once this play is live, it can run continuously, feeding your pipeline every week without manual lift.
3X
higher conversion rates
Past Champions leads convert 2.5x - 3x higher than average leads
2X
higher win rates
Deals with Past Champions has 2x higher win rates and 1.5X bigger deal size
91%
don't come back on their own
91% of Past Champions don’t come back on their own without vendor's reaching out
campaign #3:
Target Customer Competitors
Because nobody wants to lose to their rivals.
Here’s a play that blends strategic timing with a bit of competition: Reach out to companies that compete with your existing customers, especially when they’ve just hired (or promoted) a new executive.
The new leader wants to make an impact fast, and they definitely don’t want to fall behind their competitors.
Mentioning that their rival is using your solution can drive 2.5x higher conversion rates compared to your regular outbound.
When their competitor is seeing success with your product, you already have a strong use case to anchor the conversation. It’s not just “here’s what we do”; it’s “here’s how we’re helping a company just like yours.”
What to look for:
- Companies competing with your Customers, AND
- New Director, VP or C-level hires (your target persona)
💡 How to set up Customer Competitor with New Hires campaign: https://www.usergems.com/playbooks/sell-to-new-hires-at-customer-competitors
Here’s a play that blends strategic timing with a bit of competition: Reach out to companies that compete with your existing customers, especially when they’ve just hired (or promoted) a new executive.
The new leader wants to make an impact fast, and they definitely don’t want to fall behind their competitors.
Mentioning that their rival is using your solution can drive 2.5x higher conversion rates compared to your regular outbound.
When their competitor is seeing success with your product, you already have a strong use case to anchor the conversation. It’s not just “here’s what we do”; it’s “here’s how we’re helping a company just like yours.”
What to look for:
- Companies competing with your Customers, AND
- New Director, VP or C-level hires (your target persona)
💡 How to set up Customer Competitor with New Hires campaign: https://www.usergems.com/playbooks/sell-to-new-hires-at-customer-competitors
Stack Quick Wins Before You Scale Long-Term Plays
When you step into a new leadership role, it’s tempting to start rethinking the brand, the tech stack, or the content strategy. But none of that matters if you can’t deliver pipeline in the short term.
These three campaigns—Revived Closed-Lost, Past Champions, and Customer Competitors—don’t just move fast. They’re strategic. They compound. And they show your team, your board, and your CEO that you can drive real results now while laying the foundation for what’s next.
Once you’ve earned that trust, you can build the brand you’ve always wanted.
These three campaigns—Revived Closed-Lost, Past Champions, and Customer Competitors—don’t just move fast. They’re strategic. They compound. And they show your team, your board, and your CEO that you can drive real results now while laying the foundation for what’s next.
Once you’ve earned that trust, you can build the brand you’ve always wanted.