Brand Building and LinkedIn Strategies for B2B Growth with Coach Michelle J Raymond

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Michelle J Raymond: G'day everyone. It is Coach Michelle here. And I hope you all had a fabulous break over the new year. And here we are back into things. I appreciate all of the listeners that are joining this early in the year. I love that you're keen. It's time to start taking action to set you up for success. These are the actions that if we take them now, by the end of the year, when you look back, you're going to be mind blown just like I was about how much I'd achieved.

[00:00:27] Michelle J Raymond: Now, if you are someone that's a high achiever like me and likes to just keep pushing and never really happy with the results, always trying to be the best, always trying to come first. I totally get it. I hear you, but I have one request as we start the show today. I want you to take a moment and celebrate those wins of 2023.

[00:00:46] Michelle J Raymond: It wasn't an easy year. We saw the onslaught of ChatGPT and AI in general. The platform reached a billion members. It was crowded and hard to stand out. We saw 160 odd new features come. We saw some others disappear.

[00:01:02] Michelle J Raymond: This is all on top of LinkedIn is one piece of what you need to do to grow your business. And I know all of you out there who are listening and managing this as one piece of a much bigger puzzle. So take five minutes, write a list down and just be mind blown at what you actually achieved. Because if you take that mindset of, I have achieved so much into this new year, rather than I've got so much more to do.

[00:01:32] Michelle J Raymond: That is hardly inspiring. So for me, I've taken a bit of time out. I've set some goals up for 2024 about what I want to achieve. And sometimes it's like follower growth, sometimes it's listeners, , it could be all kinds of different goals, financial goals. Of course, we always want to grow our business. But please just take some time out for yourself to set you up for success in 2024.

[00:01:58] Michelle J Raymond: Now that we've done that, it's time to have a look at what actions are going to make the most difference if you want to grow your business using LinkedIn going into this year.

[00:02:07] Michelle J Raymond: One of the things that, listeners that have been listening to the show for a little while, you know, that I undertook what I affectionately call Operation Rebrand. So when I think about Operation Rebrand, I can't believe that I literally torched my business almost, and it had everything from a new name to new colors and visual branding to, I relaunched the podcast, like you name it, I even rewrote Business Gold because ultimately I wanted people to really get the best of me in a way that I have discovered that I can best help businesses grow using LinkedIn.

[00:02:47] Michelle J Raymond: And so it's been a pretty big journey, not going to lie. I never understood how big the ramifications of changing a business name would be, and that went from having to change email addresses and every log on unsubscribing to a million newsletters. It was crazy. But there's a lesson that I learned out of all of that, that I want to share with you listeners, because I discovered how many places hadn't been updated across the board with all the changes I've made over time over the last few years of having my business. It is something that I'm going to spend some more time to go across, not just LinkedIn, whether it's my profile and company page, but also my YouTube channel, my podcasts. Anywhere that my name or photo shows up, I want to make sure that my right branding is there and that's going back to old newsletters, blog articles. Now I'm a little bit crazy. I'm doing this to the, extreme levels, but it has paid off for me.

[00:03:49] Michelle J Raymond: Already people are reaching out saying everything looks so much better. They can find things easier. And this is why I'm doing it. I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for those people who are my potential clients and customers that are out there in the world searching for the best LinkedIn trainer, and I want to make sure that everything I put out there marries up with this.

[00:04:11] Michelle J Raymond: So what I discovered, there were so many hidden places within my profile, in YouTube descriptions, like you name it. It was just crazy how many little nooks and crannies there are when it comes to branding. So take some time out again. I'm going to say those words a few times in this episode, but it is so important.

[00:04:30] Michelle J Raymond: What I'm going to be doing over the next week or so is working on my business and not in my business. And it's not something that I've ever been really good at, if I'm being completely honest. I'm one of those people that wants to just keep taking action, action, action, and I'm really busy and I achieve a lot, but it's not necessarily the most strategic use of my time.

[00:04:53] Michelle J Raymond: I was asked the other day what my words of the year would be, and I think they're planning and accountability and with planning and accountability whilst they don't sound that inspiring, I know that they are the key to me achieving the big goals that I want to do for the end of the year.

[00:05:11] Michelle J Raymond: Part of this process is doing my brand audits. I'm going to go across anywhere where my name and my business shows up and just check and make sure, have I updated everything? Have I missed anything? And, invest in my business. I would do it for my clients without even a question. So it's important to make sure that you do it for yourself and your business.

[00:05:34] Michelle J Raymond: If you're out there and you're someone that's responsible for managing a team, you might want to do an employee brand audit as well and look for opportunities that you can really help them level up.

[00:05:45] Michelle J Raymond: Now, if you're not sure about all things, LinkedIn branding, don't forget that I wrote The LinkedIn Branding Book with Michelle Griffin, and it is the perfect tool for you to brush up on how you can implement LinkedIn branding across your profile and your company page. And even better, there's a bonus 50 page workbook, which will step you through the Brand Squared System. Which is our way of teaching you how to get more out of LinkedIn. If you haven't bought your copy, go and grab one now, because branding really is the foundation of every other actions that we take on LinkedIn.

[00:06:23] Michelle J Raymond: It's an investment of your time. It's not distractions. The more that you have a solid brand, the more that you're going to attract the right clients, you're going to repel the wrong ones. And what does that mean? Cha ching, it means more opportunities that you have a greater chance of closing those deals.

[00:06:43] Michelle J Raymond: And that's what we're all about when it comes to business growth. That's what I'm here for. How do you connect the dots between LinkedIn and business growth and branding is absolutely one of those.

[00:06:55] Michelle J Raymond: When we talk about branding, it's easy to think that it's some airy, fairy, fluffy stuff. And it really isn't when it comes to LinkedIn. Implementing it across your LinkedIn profile, across your company page. There are so many opportunities to make sure that these two things are in alignment. Whether you're a manager, whether you're a business owner with employees, whether you're a solopreneur, it doesn't matter. We've got to make sure that all of these things are in alignment.

[00:07:27] Michelle J Raymond: I have been running a 30 day challenge over on YouTube. It's a LinkedIn profile, 30 day challenge, and in 30 days you will get all the tips you need to update your LinkedIn profile and align it with your brand. If you're not subscribed to the YouTube channel as yet @LinkedIn orB2BGrowth, the details will be in the show notes, but that's all you need to do to get access to the full 30 days worth of videos. Now I've already had feedback from the few videos that have gone out already that people are thinking that I'm a little bit crazy that I'm giving this all away for free.

[00:08:04] Michelle J Raymond: So jump in now before I change my mind after it finishes and take it off the channel because ultimately, I am giving you everything you need, but I can't take that action for you. That is the one thing that I can't do. I can give you all the knowledge. You can listen to me on this podcast, but if you do not go away and take action, basically it's just entertainment and we want more then that for you and your business.

[00:08:29] Michelle J Raymond: The other thing that you can do, the second edition of Business Gold just went live just back in November. This is how you can get your company page brought up to speed. I know that company pages can be tough. I know that they're a little unforgiving, but that doesn't give us the reasons to actually neglect them and just ignore them and not worry that they're not important. Because you know what, we're all doing our research about businesses that are out there. And I can assure you, giving your competitors a head start is the last thing you want to do. Even with my expert help, it is very hard to catch up to an established company page that's growing followers and really building a community around it if you come to the party late. So for those of you who have been sitting back going, LinkedIn's a waste of time. It's just a bunch of people bragging. Maybe you don't like the content that you see. That is not your excuse for holding back your business. I want to take that off the table going into 2024. No more.

[00:09:30] Michelle J Raymond: It's time to stop putting your personal opinions about social media and we know that. Close to 97 percent of people are not active on the platform. You just log in, take a look around and disappear again. Now going into this new year, if you want different results, you can not be sitting on the sidelines, watching everybody else take your opportunities.

[00:09:52] Michelle J Raymond: I won't stand for it. I'm here to teach you how to take actions. Actions that matter and actions that are of substance. It's not all about pointless selfies or AI prompts. Geez, we don't need any more AI prompts posts out in the feed.

[00:10:09] Michelle J Raymond: So there's a couple of things you can do straight up. You can grab The LinkedIn Branding Book and go through the workbook to set up your brand. You can join in the LinkedIn profile transformation challenge over on my YouTube channel, which is free and also grab a copy of Business Gold to make sure that your company page is updated. The other thing that I would love for you to do is consider buying a ticket to Social Media Marketing World.

[00:10:35] Michelle J Raymond: We have options at Social Media Marketing World. You can come in person, which is in San Diego in the USA. And yes, I'm speaking at the event or you can buy a virtual ticket. So it doesn't matter where you are in the world. You can catch what I'm sharing. And there's an array of amazing guests that are coming to speak at this event. You don't want to miss it. And I certainly will not just be speaking, but I'm going to go and check out so many other great people. The names are just the best of the best in the business. So Mike Stelzner and the team put on a great event.

[00:11:09] Michelle J Raymond: I'm off to the USA and I can't wait. So if you're a listener and you're going, please reach out and let me know. I would love to meet up with as many people as I can.

[00:11:18] Michelle J Raymond: The other piece of this puzzle when it comes to LinkedIn, so let's just say we've got our profiles sorted. We've got our company page sorted. Our brands are aligned. We've done the work on that. The other piece of this puzzle is going to be LinkedIn content to plan or not to plan. That is the question. Now, this is something that for my clients, I a hundred percent always plan their content out. But when it's come to my own, what do you know? Sometimes it takes a backseat. I wake up and think, what will I like to write today? And there is an element of me that enjoys writing what I feel like on that day, but here's what happens. And maybe you can relate. And if you can let me know. Some days I wake up with the best intentions, but then my day gets sidetracked.

[00:12:04] Michelle J Raymond: My client work comes first and then things that just crop up in life as they always do. Maybe I get a new inquiry that I need to handle. These are the kinds of things that then distract me. And then what do you know, the day disappears and maybe I'm rushing to do a post at the end of the day. And that post is typically going to be something that's easy to write, top of mind, and not necessarily always the most strategic.

[00:12:31] Michelle J Raymond: Plan for this year is go back and identify what pillars do I want to write about? What do I want to be known for? And this is the work that's done in The LinkedIn Branding Workbook. This is why we wrote it so that you could do this work, which would make things like writing your content much easier I am also doing that for my company page. I need to work out how do I distinguish what's suitable for Michelle J. Raymond post and what's suitable for B2B Growth Co posts. And without sitting down and planning this, there is no way that I'm going to make it happen.

[00:13:07] Michelle J Raymond: I've got some pretty big goals for this year, including financial goals that I want to achieve. And if I am not using my content to drive my audience towards those goals, it is going to be so much harder for me to achieve those goals. And again, I am out to do things differently this year to what I did last year.

[00:13:27] Michelle J Raymond: There's so many different ways that you can plan your content. One of the ways that you could do is write down a list of ideas of topics that you want to talk about underneath that sub topics. And this is a great use case for ChatGPT. This can actually help organize your thoughts. It can help you brainstorm.

[00:13:45] Michelle J Raymond: This is one of my favorite ways to use ChatGPT. So just go over there and start to prompt and workshop, especially if you work by yourself, it's a really great tool to brainstorm when you may not have other people around you that can help. So write down those lists and then start to plan it out on a calendar.

[00:14:03] Michelle J Raymond: It doesn't always have to be complicated and fancy and driven by tech. For some of you might like to schedule your posts in advance, which I think is a great idea. And you can do that on LinkedIn now and if you're not sure how reach out, I've got videos on YouTube, which will step you through it and show you just how easy that is.

[00:14:20] Michelle J Raymond: I find when posts are scheduled, that is the absolute antidote to your day, getting away from you and stopping you from not writing content that is strategic. So I'm putting it out there, listeners hold me to accountability please. Make sure that I'm sticking to my word here.

[00:14:37] Michelle J Raymond: It's going to be tricky for me. Not going to lie. New habits take a bit of time to form. Just like back in November, I decided to, get back into the gym and start swimming again. Now that was hard. And every time that I went in the beginning, I was wondering, why am I doing this? What's the point in pushing myself? And here I am eight, nine weeks later, and I'm wondering how I never did it.

[00:15:01] Michelle J Raymond: And so there's been a process that I've been through that's been really uncomfortable. I've had to embrace being a beginner, which as someone who does not like coming second in anything. It's been horrendous to wrap my mind around that. But ultimately by being persistent, which is my favorite word when it comes to LinkedIn, by being persistent at the gym and the pool, things are paying off and it's only getting easier and will continue to get easier as this becomes a part of my lifestyle.

 I want to keep this episode short and sweet today because the last episode that I did for the end of 2023 is my views and what's going to happen in 2024 on LinkedIn, and if you missed that one, I want you to go back and listen to it because it's a cracker and it's really going to set you up for success in 2024.

[00:15:51] Michelle J Raymond: So everyone, it is game on, on LinkedIn. Take action that your competitors are still relaxing, still easing their way into the new year. If you need help, I'm here. That's why I'm Coach Michelle. I have LinkedIn profile writing services. I do audit and content strategies. I can also teach your business how to get your employees active to start social selling on LinkedIn to help you grow your business. This is how I work with companies. And I also work with consultants and solopreneurs. You're not left out. Don't ever want people to think that they're left out. But ultimately I want you to be in the mindset that you want to be a winner, you want to be the best and you're willing to do the work to make it happen. If that's you, please don't hesitate to reach out.

[00:16:37] Michelle J Raymond: So every show, I always make sure that I ask for an actionable tip from my guest. And given it's me today, I want to make sure that you don't miss out. I think the most important thing is to celebrate the wins of 2023. Take time out for as long as it, maybe it takes you morning coffee and write down the things that you're most proud of that you achieved and take that mindset into the other actions that we've discussed today.

[00:17:02] Michelle J Raymond: I've got so many amazing guests that are lined up and I appreciate all of you for listening. If this is a podcast that you think would help somebody else, please don't hesitate to share with them.

[00:17:11] Michelle J Raymond: As always, if we are not connected on LinkedIn, don't forget to reach out. Let me know that you're a listener. It's Michelle J. Raymond. The details will be in the show notes and I hope everyone has an awesome week. Cheers.