The Founder-Led Marketing Show How this VP of Comms Built ZoomInfo’s $1.2B CEO Brand on LinkedIn
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/
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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