Two strategies to sharpen your 2026 growth plan

Hi there,

I’m heading into December feeling pretty smug with my Christmas shopping virtually done. But more than that, I’m really proud of how we’re closing out the year at Wondrous. We’re ending exactly where we wanted to be, with plenty in motion for a strong start to January. A good mix of active client projects, new work kicking off, and our own marketing plans already underway.

And with so many teams now looking ahead to January and the fresh year that’s coming, I wanted to share some quick tips from my latest two podcast episodes that will help you hit the ground running. These are designed to give you clarity, focus, and momentum as you plan for 2026.

Let’s dive in ⬇️

How to Create a $Million Pipeline with Owned Events

In this episode, Shaun O’Keeffe, SVP Growth Enablement at zerohash, shares step-by-step how he built an event series that drove more than $1M in pipeline. It’s an absolute must-listen!

Watch the full conversation ↗️
Find Funnel This on your usual podcast platform.

Here are three takeaways to get going with:

1. Anchor the event to a real industry problem
zerohash didn’t centre the event on themselves. They rallied people around a pressing industry challenge, positioning themselves as the connector rather than the promoter. When your event speaks to a genuine problem, outreach and senior engagement become much easier.

2. Build a line-up that blends credibility with target accounts
Before thinking about attendees, Shaun focused on securing trusted voices on stage. At the same time, they used speaker slots to bring in their enterprise-level targets, giving those accounts an early, value-led touchpoint. With those names confirmed, attendee outreach became instantly more compelling.

3. Treat the event as content for the next 90 days
The room is only the starting point. Shaun turned every moment into follow-up fuel — clips, quotes, insights, personalised takeaways, all of which kept conversations warm and moved deals forward long after the event ended.

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If you’d like to hear Shaun’s full breakdown, you can watch or listen to the full episode on our YouTube channel.

Watch the full conversation ↗️
Find Funnel This on your usual podcast platform.

How to Stay Visible When AI Makes the Shortlist

In this episode, Jeremy Laight shares how the B2B buying journey is shifting, and what marketers must do to stay visible when AI now plays a major role in surfacing, comparing, and shortlisting vendors. It’s packed with practical advice for teams trying to protect (and grow) their pipeline in 2026.

Watch the full conversation ↗️
Find Funnel This on your usual podcast platform.

Here are three quick tips:

1. Make your content findable, not just publishable
Jeremy talks about how AI is increasingly shaping the early discovery phase long before someone ever reaches your website. That means your content needs to be clear, structured, and problem-led so AI can recognise it and surface it. Vague messaging disappears. Sharp, specific content gets pulled forward.

2. Diversify where your expertise shows up
The buying journey is now multi-person and mostly invisible. Someone sees a case study. Someone else sees an employee post. Another hears your name in a Slack community. Jeremy’s point: spread your presence. When multiple people inside an account encounter your brand across different channels, AI and humans start drawing the right connections.

3. Prioritise content that demonstrates fluency, not features
With AI comparing products quickly, feature lists aren’t enough. What stands out is content that shows deep understanding of buyer problems such as explainers, narratives, how-tos, lived examples, frameworks.

This kind of fluency-led content is what keeps a brand on the shortlist even when automated tools do the initial filtering.

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If you’d like to hear Jeremy’s full take on staying visible when AI is shaping the shortlist, you can watch or listen to the full episode on our YouTube channel.

Watch the full conversation ↗️
Find Funnel This on your usual podcast platform.

Behind the scenes at Wondrous

We’ve had a full mix of client projects on the go this month, but as always at this time of year, the Mortons Tree of Light has been the one closest to our hearts.

The Tree of Light is an annual online memorial service that celebrates and honours the lives of those we have loved and lost. It’s a project that brings every part of what we do together: web, email, design, editing, production and social.

Filming is well underway, and we’ll be wrapping the final scenes in early December, so everything is ready for the service to go live on 14 December.

A much-loved part of Tree of Light is the writing of Memorial Stars for Mortons’ giant Christmas tree. Anyone can submit a message online using the interactive star on the service website: mortonstreeoflight.co.uk

That’s it for this month’s insights. I hope these two episodes give you plenty to think about as you shape your 2026 plans. We’re closing out the year feeling energised, focused, and excited for what’s ahead.

I’ll be back later this month with a special final edition, including our end-of-year video and a behind-the-scenes look at what we’ve been building. Keep an eye on your inbox — it’s a good one.

See you next time.

Sally.