The Marcus Playbook — how to replicate what he did, step by step

Marcus did not do anything you cannot do this week. Here is the exact system behind his 11 messages, one call, and $600/month client.

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Section 1 — How to Find Your 11 People

Marcus did not message randomly. He found people who had already told the internet they had the problem. That is the only filter that matters.

1. Go to LinkedIn search. Search job titles: "agency owner", "paid media director", "PPC manager", "head of performance marketing". Filter by connection degree: 2nd connections only.
2. Check for a pain signal before messaging anyone. Open their profile and look for one of these:
   • They posted about client reporting, dashboards, or ad performance in the last 60 days
   • They commented on someone else's post about agency operations or client management
   • Their profile mentions they manage multiple clients or accounts
3. One signal gets them on the list. Zero signals, skip them. Do not message anyone you cannot connect to a real pain point.
4. Build a list of exactly 11 names before you write a single message. Not 20. Not 5. Eleven. This is the number Marcus used — enough to get one reply without overwhelming your follow-up capacity.
5. Note one specific thing per person — a post, a client type, a platform they run ads on. One sentence. This is what makes the message personal without taking more than 60 seconds per person.

The goal is not to find people who might have the problem. It is to find people who have already admitted they have it.

Section 2 — The Full Message Set

The issue gave you the core message. Here is the complete set — first message, email version, and a follow-up for people who read it but did not reply.

LinkedIn DM — First Message

"Hey [name] — I noticed [specific thing from their profile or recent post]. I built a tool that pulls campaign and revenue data and generates a plain-English weekly summary — what worked, what didn't, and what to do next. It emails directly to your client every Monday. Worth a 15-minute call to see if it saves you any time?"

Replace [specific thing] with something real — a post they wrote, a type of client they mentioned, a platform they run ads on. That one personalised line is the difference between a message that gets read and one that gets ignored.

Email Version

Subject: Quick question about your client reporting

"Hi [name] — I came across your agency and had a quick question. How are you currently handling weekly performance reports for your clients — is that something your team produces manually?

I built a tool that automates the whole thing. It pulls campaign data, runs an AI analysis, and emails a plain-English summary to your client every Monday. No manual work on your end.

Happy to show you a 2-minute demo if it sounds relevant. Just let me know."