MMS #82 - How CMOs Can Elevate CEO Personal Brands with MJ Smith
Apr 18, 2024
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B2B marketing leader MJ Smith shares insights on elevating CEO personal brands through LinkedIn engagement, strategic narrative development, and content diversity. Key topics include harnessing CEO influence, aligning marketing with sales, and strategies for expanding audience reach on LinkedIn.
Aligning company leadership with marketing strategies is crucial for cohesive messaging.
Active CEO engagement on LinkedIn can result in significant pipeline growth and tangible business outcomes.
Deep dives
Understanding the CEO's LinkedIn Engagement Impact on Pipeline Growth
Adam Keating, the CEO of CoLab Software, has leveraged his LinkedIn activity to generate significant pipeline growth, with 19% of their qualified pipeline originating from his LinkedIn engagement. By aligning the company narrative and leadership team around compelling storytelling, Adam creates content that resonates with the audience, translating it into posts, images, and videos. This personalized narrative approach not only reflects Adam's vision and fosters human connection but also drives substantial pipeline results, establishing LinkedIn as a pivotal revenue-generating channel for the company.
Strategic Narrative Development for Effective Content Creation
CoLab Software's strategic narrative, developed collaboratively with Adam, serves as a foundational framework for creating compelling content. Leveraging Andy Raskin's structure, the narrative answers crucial questions like 'why change' and 'why now,' aligning the entire company behind a coherent message. This narrative not only informs sales pitches and marketing campaigns but also empowers the marketing team to generate quality leads by translating it into engaging content that resonates with the audience and reinforces brand messaging across various platforms.
Utilizing AI and Data Insights for Enhanced Content Creation
CoLab Software's innovative approach involves experimenting with AI to extract valuable insights from large data sets. By using AI to summarize audience interactions and identify trends, the team gains deeper customer understanding and content inspiration. This data-driven strategy enhances content relevance, enabling targeted messaging that aligns with customer needs and preferences. Furthermore, leveraging AI for strategic content creation supports the development of compelling narratives that resonate with the audience, ensuring a holistic and customer-centric approach to engagement.
Sales and Marketing Alignment through Persona-based Targeting and Content Strategy
CoLab Software emphasizes the alignment between sales and marketing by targeting specific personas and refining content strategy based on customer insights. Through detailed account research and customer profiling, the sales development team personalizes outreach efforts, engaging prospects effectively. By combining strategic narrative elements with AI-driven insights, the team enhances content relevance and delivery, fostering stronger customer relationships. This alignment enables both teams to collaborate seamlessly, driving customer engagement and revenue growth through targeted, impactful marketing and sales initiatives.
In this episode of Mastering Modern Selling, our special guest, MJ Smith, a seasoned B2B marketing leader with extensive experience in the industrial sector, shared invaluable insights that are shaping the future of sales and marketing.
Below are the five key takeaways from our enlightening discussion:
Leadership and Content Synergy:
MJ underscored the critical role of aligning company leadership with marketing strategies. His approach involves creating a cohesive narrative across the organization, starting from the CEO, to ensure that the messaging resonates deeply and uniformly across all platforms.
Harnessing CEO Influence on LinkedIn:
An astonishing 19% of MJ's qualified pipeline results from the CEO's active participation on LinkedIn. This highlights the power of personal branding and direct engagement by company leaders on social platforms to drive tangible business outcomes.
Strategic Narrative Development:
The conversation emphasized the importance of crafting a compelling strategic narrative that answers "why change" and "why now" for customers. This narrative serves as a foundational piece that informs all aspects of business communication and product development, ensuring consistency and clarity in all messages.
Content Diversity and Authenticity:
MJ advocates for a mix of content types on social media, from strategic narrative posts to spontaneous, visionary insights directly from the CEO. This blend not only enriches the content stream but also maintains authenticity, keeping the audience engaged and connected.
Focused Channel Strategy:
Focusing predominantly on LinkedIn has allowed MJ's team to maximize their impact where their target audience is most active. This strategy of channel concentration rather than dilution across multiple platforms has been key to building a strong brand presence and recognition.
Engage, Inspire, and Innovate
MJ Smith’s session is a treasure trove of innovative strategies that challenge conventional sales and marketing approaches. His integration of personal leadership narratives into the company’s brand story, combined with a focused content strategy, provides a replicable model for sales leaders looking to elevate their game in the digital age.
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This Show is sponsored by Fist Bump Your prospecting partner to authentically fill your pipeline with ideal customers.