---
id: ins_95-5-rule-content-resonance
operator: Devin Reed
operator_role: Founder The Reeder; ex-Head of Content Gong & Clari
source_url: https://thereeder.co/
source_type: essay
source_title: "Devin Reed — anti-viral B2B content and the 95:5 rule"
source_date: 2026-03-03
captured_date: 2026-05-02
domain: [content, growth-demand, pmm]
lifecycle: [content, growth-loops]
maturity: applied
artifact_class: framework
score: { originality: 3, specificity: 4, evidence: 3, transferability: 4, source: 3 }
tier: B
related: [ins_demand-creation-vs-capture]
raw_ref: raw/expert-content/experts/devin-reed.md
---

# Most content should serve the 95% who aren't buying yet, not the 5% who are

## Claim
At any moment, only 5% of your addressable market is in-market and ready to buy; 95% are not buying but are willing to learn. Sustainable B2B content is built on resonance with that 95%, educational, trust-building material that earns attention before the buying window opens. When the 95% later enter market, your brand is already pre-selected. The 5% gets bottom-of-funnel content; the 95% gets everything else.

## Mechanism
Optimizing for "viral" or capture-only content burns budget on the small in-market segment and leaves the 95% to discover competitors. Resonance content (opinion-led, educational, executive-led) compounds attention with the 95% across months and quarters. Reed's playbook at Gong (scaled $20M → $200M) and Clari demonstrated this with explicit channel playbooks: Events, Webinars, LinkedIn Company Pages, Executive LinkedIn (6.1M views in 12 months for Clari's CEO).

## Conditions
Holds when:
- The category has long consideration cycles where 95%/5% ratio actually holds.
- Marketing has authority to invest in content that won't show up in last-click attribution.

Fails when:
- Categories with very short consideration cycles where every buyer is in-market each quarter.
- Pre-PMF startups where the 5% is the only realistic conversion source on current runway.

## Evidence
> "At any given time, only 5% of your addressable market is actively in-market and ready to buy, while 95% are not looking to buy but are looking to learn."

> "His LinkedIn playbook for Clari's CEO generated 6.1 million views in 12 months."

· Devin Reed (synthesized from operator's published work)

## Signals
- Editorial calendar splits content explicitly by 95% vs 5% intent.
- Executive LinkedIn presence has a documented playbook and KPIs, not vibes.
- Content programs have roadmaps, ship "features," measure outcomes, treated like a product.

## Counter-evidence
Performance-marketing-led growth orgs hit revenue without ever serving the 95%; the 95/5 framing under-weights the legitimate value of capture-mode content for buyer-intent products. Channel mix matters more than content split.

## Cross-references
- ins_demand-creation-vs-capture, adjacent framework