Episode Summary
What does having a personal brand really mean? There is no shortcut to becoming known on the Internet fast, but the key to personal branding is authenticity.
Chris Walker, the CEO of Refine Labs, thinks that giving value to the people who already follow you is the most important part of the personal branding journey. But what does “giving value” mean for B2B marketers? For Chris, it’s all about whether his content helped someone. If you think that there is already too much good content on the Internet and that no one will listen to what you have to say, Chris is going to convince you otherwise.
Nick Bennett chatted with Chris about personal branding during this episode of Rep Your Brand. The two cover a wide range of topics associated with personal branding, including content creation, how to build your personal brand, platforms to focus on and the impact a personal brand can have on a company’s revenue.
Guest Profile
- Name: Chris Walker
- What he does: Chris is the CEO at Refine Labs and has built a strong personal brand by sharing organic LinkedIn content - largely stemming from the State of Demand Gen podcast.
- Company: Refine Labs
- Key Quote: "I am in a place where I learn by doing. And so I'm not looking at other people's experiments and the results that they got, I'm going to go and do it myself."
Key Insights
- Don’t be everywhere. Figuring out which platform works best for you is one of the most important parts of a personal branding journey. For some people, Instagram is great, while for others LinkedIn gives the best results. Monitor your progress and focus on the platforms that are a good fit for you.
- Great marketing requires interaction with customers. To get the best results, you need to know what your potential customers need. There is no value in your offer if people don’t feel the burning desire to have it. Chris firmly believes that listening to what people have to say will benefit both sides - your customers and your personal brand.
- Get unlimited content ideas by having a system. Chris talks about how he created an entire system for content creation so it doesn’t consume his entire day. He thinks that to create great content; you need to know what’s going on in the market.
“You want more followers? That’s selfish. Reverse it.
With the followers you have, what can you give to them where they’ll say something good about you?”
Chris Walker
CEO
Refine Labs
Episode Highlights
How Do You Know Which Platform Is The Best For You?
“I’m very passionate and very bullish on LinkedIn and podcast right now.
I think it’s the two best opportunities. These are the best-performing channels. And then when there is another opportunity, we will sense that, and then we will go into that, but it also comes down to how much time in a day do you have and does doing the seven other channels take away from the two channels that are working the best?”
Build a System to Create Unlimited Forms of Content
“I interact with customers. I take discovery calls with the market. I have a very good sense about what’s going on in this space, just because of everything I do. So it gets stored in my brain. And now I’ve created a system where I’m able to communicate that and then able to publish and distribute it without completely disrupting my day.” Chris uses a combination of podcast episodes on State of Demand Gen as well as guest appearances on other podcasts to drive a lot of the content he creates.
Listening To Your Customers Is The Key To A Successful Personal Brand
Chris emphasizes how important it is to read comments and listen to what people have to say about your content. “I am closer to my customer than anybody else, because I listen very closely to what they’re saying in a lot of different places, as well as understanding what their life is like.”
What Type Of Posts Get Chris’ Attention?
“I think some of the things that I’m noticing in my own behavior is that I’m leaning a lot more into creative. So pictures, videos, things that are not standard text posts are now standing out more for me. Even things that are irrelevant to marketing or sales.”
Personal Branding Helps Great People Find You
“I think the idea that we’ve been able to hire such top-quality talent, if you go and actually look at the people, we have amazing people here coming from really strong companies and we do not go outbound to get them. They come to us.” Chris believes that personal branding on LinkedIn has helped him save thousands of dollars on recruiting because people who are a great fit for his company already know who he is.
