Owned vs Earned Media in the Age of AI

Meghan Barr helped build one of the most powerful CEO brands on LinkedIn.

As VP of Brand, Content & Comms at ZoomInfo, she’s spent the last 5 years helping turn Henry Schuck (CEO of ZoomInfo, $1.2B ARR) into a storytelling machine, without losing authenticity.

In this episode, we go behind the scenes of that process:

- How Meghan transitioned from journalism to tech

- The content pillars behind ZoomInfo’s CEO brand

- How their “in your corner” videos are made

- What happened when they took out apology billboards

- Why Henry’s posts outperform ZoomInfo’s 240K-follower brand page

- How she’s scaling the strategy to other executives (and what she looks for)

- The playbook for brand leaders, comms teams, and CEOs who actually want their voice to cut through.

- Topics we cover in this episode:

- Going from Boston Globe journalist to ZoomInfo’s VP of Brand

- The origin story of ZoomInfo’s LinkedIn strategy

- Why they prioritize LinkedIn over blogs and press releases

- How to turn a CEO’s voice into a repeatable content system

- Managing risk, pushback, and post-performance conversations

The “personal + product” content blend that works best

Perfect for:

- Comms leaders building their CEO's Brand

- Founders building their LinkedIn voice

- Brand and content teams scaling thought leadership content

Connect with Meghan:

- Meghan’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-barr-3211865/

- ZoomInfo: https://www.zoominfo.com/

LinkedIn

Connect with me:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finnthormeier/

Website: https://www.project33.io/

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/03CXzsZp7wdqIRVDcqPTFH

Chapters

00:00 Meghan’s journey from newsroom to ZoomInfo

02:00 Why Henry Schuck hired a journalist, not a marketer

04:00 Making the jump during COVID and overcoming imposter syndrome

06:30 How newsroom skills transfer to startup brand leadership

08:20 Building trust with a high-expectation founder CEO

10:15 When LinkedIn replaced blogs (and why)

12:00 Henry’s viral obituary post: how it came together

14:30 The sausage-making behind every post

16:10 Content goals: Product, People, and Personal

18:00 Metrics: From 100K+ impressions to today’s new benchmarks

20:45 Dealing with performance pressure and pushback

23:00 Risk-taking: The billboard apology stunt that paid off

26:15 Turning ZoomInfo’s sentiment from negative to positive

28:30 Why LinkedIn is also internal comms now

30:00 Activating the rest of the executive team

32:00 Why safe content doesn’t work anymore

34:00 Aligning CEO messaging with company brand strategy

36:00 How Henry’s scrappy product demos are made

38:30 Why founder-led video works at scale

40:15 The no “leaders of leaders” mindset inside ZoomInfo

42:00 KPIs for executive content (followers, media, reach)

44:15 The new role of PR in an AI-dominated world

46:00 Why thought leader ads are a missed opportunity

49:00 Inspiration from John Gray, Daniel Ek, and McDonald’s CEO

51:00 What’s next: Vertical earnings videos and employee advocacy

53:00 How much time Henry actually spends on content

55:00 Final thoughts: Building trust and a strong internal rhythm

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