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Gary Dietz — The EdTech Product Marketing Detective, in The Case of the Stalled Pipeline

Noir style image with heading The Product Marketing Detective, in The Case of the Stalled Pipeline Somewhere in your buyer's silence, the story hides…

Somewhere in your buyer's silence, the story hides…  |  gdietz@garydietz.com  |  garydietz.com  |  AI Example: res-o-matic.com

Pssst! Yes, the fedora is a choice. So is every word on this page. I can work in every register and tone: Corporate formal, thought leadership, on-stage funny, and everything in between. This “noir” approach is how I introduced myself to you (you can thank Spider Noir and Nic Cage).

If you're curious what I'd do for your brand, or how well I can align with it, ask me. I'll show you, not just tell you.
The Problems

Something between your product and your pipeline isn't working. Could be the message. Could be the enablement. Could be both. This gumshoe has seen the good (mostly), bad, and ugly across EdTech. Elluminate, Blackboard, Turnitin, mimio, consulting, and more. Your market isn't the mystery. The gap usually is.

The Investigations

When reps can't close, the challenge is often upstream of sales. On the conference floor, in an analyst call, in a win/loss report or roundtable. I'll come back with something they can load and fire. Positioning landing before the demo. Webinars that enthrall. Content that prospects remember.

Taking New Cases

Seeking a senior IC role, f/t preferred. Strategy & execution. No FTE overhead, if fractional is the game. Team too lean? Pipeline too soft? Brand needs rocket fuel? I was born for it. EdTech or adjacent SaaS or HW. Greater Boston hybrid or fully remote. E-mail me for a cuppa joe.

Nine Cases. Closed. Many more in the files.Tell me about your case. Maybe I can help.
The Case of the
Missing Ammunition
Leads
200% more leads. Same staff. Better story.
Your reps aren't closing because they're carrying the wrong story. The deck is fine. The message isn't landing. The gap gets detected in the field: Conference floors, roundtables, ride-alongs. Result: 200% YoY increase in conference MQLs after a tradeshow rebuild.
The Case of the
5% Solution
Webinars
A webinar nobody finishes is a lead nobody follows up on.
Your demand team won't use leads that bailed after 60 seconds. Industry drop-off runs 50%-plus. That's not a platform problem, it's a format problem. I rebuilt it: expert-led conversations, less PPT, more interaction. Under 5% drop-off vs. 50%-plus. MQL manna.
The Case of the
Lonely Partner
Partners
100 EdTech partners change the equation.
Your marketing budget has a ceiling. Partnerships don't. Co-marketing & co-presence make messages travel farther than a media buy. Built a ~100 org partner program from 0. Got us in the room before the sales call. Partners aren't vendors. They're a force multiplier.
The Case of the
Damn AI Thing
Res-O-Matic
Strategy without execution is a memo. I write the memo and ship the product.
A strategy-only PMM is a liability. I build the thing. res-o-matic.com: agentic AI storytelling, live now. 0-to-1 safety edu product from concept to direct revenue. CRM, WordPress, GA4, the full stack. And risked my own moola. That changes how I think about yours.
The Case of the
OEM Caper
Pipeline
New category. No playbook. $6.5M pipeline anyway.
When buyers don't have language or visuals for what you sell, they can't buy. Solved that. Built an EdTech category from zero: OEM partnership, product story, co-marketing engine. $6.5M pipeline in a newly named category. Your positioning problem has a solution.
The Case of the
Persnickety Personas
Thousands served
The EdTech buyer has heard everything. Help them NOT tune out yet.
The CIO, dean, CLO, VP of HR all buy, object, and define ROI differently. A message for one can fail with others. I've sat across from all of them and built core messaging that doesn't collapse for different buyers. Pipeline and message grow on the same tree.
The Case of the
Prolific Portfolio
Content
One person. Three continents. Sixty pieces. Fourteen months.
Buyers remember feeling understood, not data sheets. Content fails when features lead as the thesis rather than pain reduction. A full content calendar doesn't mean a full pipeline. Investigate first. Test. Create. And hire a content detective.
The Case of the
Closed Campus
District training
Zero-to-one in thirty days. The market couldn't wait.
When markets move faster than your plan, you can't wait. March '20: schools closed overnight. In 30 days I built a training offering, signed a partner, and had 90 paying customers. Speed is a skill. When the window is closing, time matters.
The Case of the
Credible Content
Speaking and podcasts
Earned credibility is the only kind that compounds.
EdTech buyers don't trust coin-operated attention. Trust is earned: analyst mentions, press, peers. Hidden Brain. Columbia. Johns Hopkins. Brandeis. Platforms came to me. Earned credibility compounds. Bought attention expires.

For more details on more cases, or to share yours, drop me a line.

Gary Dietz LinkedIn Res-o-Matic.com

Your Case Won't Solve Itself

Your competitors may be telling a better story to your buyers. You don't need another committee. You need a detective to run the investigation and act.

What you get: senior strategy, street-level execution, and a PMM who's done this in EdTech long enough to know where the bodies are.

W-2 senior IC. EdTech or adjacent SaaS or hardware. Greater Boston hybrid or fully remote. On-site when the case demands it. Fractional if that's what opens the door to this gumshoe.

My assistant hasn't been paid in months. She's still here. That should tell you something about the quality of the operation.

gdietz@garydietz.com
Notes
  1. This concept is all mine. AI used from paid versions of Envato and Gemini to adapt my own photos and writing, using detailed prompts (spent WAY too much time and iteration) I wrote.
  2. I don't really smoke.
  3. Pssst! Yes, the fedora is a choice. So is every word on this page. I can work in every register and tone: Corporate formal, thought leadership, on-stage funny, and everything in between. This “noir” approach is how I introduced myself to you (you can thank Spider Noir and Nic Cage).

    If you're curious what I'd do for your brand, or how well I can align with it, ask me. I'll show you, not just tell you. Back to Top