Join the power duo #MichelleSquared as they discuss the power of building strong personal and business brands on LinkedIn. Whether you are a Founder, employee or out on your own, a powerful and unique brand will attract the right fit opportunities to grow your business.
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:15 - Michelle B Griffin's LinkedIn Journey
00:03:21 - The Brand Squared System
00:04:04 - The Role of Mindset in Personal Branding
00:05:34 - Knowing Your Why on LinkedIn
00:11:53 - Understanding Your Target Audience
00:12:29 - Power Partnerships
00:13:49 - The Importance of Personal Branding
00:14:19 - Aligning Your Brand Across Platforms
00:19:30 - Leveraging Business and Personal Brands
00:24:29 - The Importance of Building a Brand
00:25:12 - Personal Branding Evolution
00:26:10 - Power of Branding
00:26:50 - Actionable Tips for Improving Branding
Connect with Michelle B Griffin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellebgriffin/
ABOUT MICHELLE J RAYMOND
Michelle J Raymond is an international LinkedIn B2B Growth Coach. To continue the conversation, connect with Michelle on LinkedIn and let her know you are part of the community of podcast listeners.
Connect with Michelle J Raymond on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellejraymond/
B2B Growth Co offers LinkedIn Training for teams to build personal and business brands and a LinkedIn Profile Recharge service for Founders/CEOs.
Book a free intro call to learn more - https://calendly.com/michelle-j-raymond/book-an-intro-call-15mins
Social Media for B2B Growth Podcast is a fully accessible podcast. Audio, Video, Transcript and guest details are available on our podcast website - https://socialmediaforb2bgrowthpodcast.com/
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@MichelleJRaymond
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TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Michelle J Raymond: Welcome everybody to the LinkedIn for B2B Growth Show. I'm your host Michelle J Raymond, and this week, this episode is powered by Michelle Squared. Welcome to the show, Michelle B Griffin.
[00:00:10] Michelle B Griffin: Oh, it's good to be here. Michelle J Raymond, the other half of Michelle Squared. Thanks for having me.
[00:00:16] Michelle J Raymond: I can never really get enough of our conversations because I know that they help people so much. And why do I know that? Because you've helped me so much with our brand therapy sessions. So gonna expand it to this audience, and we're gonna talk about branding tactics today.
[00:00:30] Michelle J Raymond: Branding to me, I'm gonna confess Michelle, you know, I always think it's bit airy fairy, right?
[00:00:35] Michelle J Raymond: But this time I wanna get practical tips. But tell me why it's not airy fairy.
[00:00:40] Michelle B Griffin: As in the words that Tina Turner says, with parody, what's brand has to do with it? Everything. It's your touchpoint connection and every little impression, good or bad that we have. So we wanna be favourable, we wanna be top of mind. We wanna attract the right people to us, right?
[00:00:55] Michelle B Griffin: And so our brand carves all that out for us. Intentionally, strategically, foundationally, right? We're all about foundation here. It's how you and I build our businesses. Why we wrote the LinkedIn Branding Book. We saw the need for all that. So we're gonna get as concrete as we can today because I know it's one of those things like you can't see it, but you know it when you have it and you know it when you don't have it.
[00:01:17] Michelle J Raymond: I certainly know when I didn't have it which I'm sure will come up throughout the episode, but every week when the guests come on, I always say to them, what's your journey on LinkedIn been like? And I know yours was completely different to mine, and I know that there'll be so many people out there that can relate to your story.
[00:01:35] Michelle J Raymond: So can you share a little bit about that?
[00:01:37] Michelle B Griffin: Absolutely. Well, I was one of those people, like in 08, we put up our profile and kind of use it here and there. So it wasn't until I fast forwarded to, I put my resignation in summer of 2019. I got on, checked it out, but it wasn't until Michelle really, March of 2020 when I started noticing all the traction that people who are putting themselves out there on LinkedIn, and I mean posting, commenting, getting out there and active, those are the people that were winning on LinkedIn and they weren't just like people who were in high up places. It was truly a level playing field.
[00:02:07] Michelle B Griffin: But it was something that I couldn't even get on the field, Michelle. So for nine months I sat on the sideline. I was quite depressed about it. What is wrong with me? Why can't I just do it?
[00:02:16] Michelle B Griffin: Like it was this big roadblock and it wasn't until you and I met in December, 2020 that the world changed, at least for us, at least for me, right? And so, um, it wasn't until I started putting myself out there on LinkedIn, that I finally got the clarity, the confidence, the direction, the community.
[00:02:34] Michelle B Griffin: It's a very long story, we wrote it really well in the LinkedIn Branding Book and if anyone wants to read it, I think I'm called the Deliberate but Delayed Entrepreneur. And you're the Accidental Entrepreneur.
[00:02:46] Michelle J Raymond: Absolutely. I had absolutely no plans whatsoever to be a business owner until the Big Bang, the big blow up, and that whole event that happened that caused me to quit on the spot, never wanting to work for anyone else again. Fast forward and here we are today, and I don't think anyone would believe that someone like you was scared to post and then went to posting every day and now helping other people, get the most out of LinkedIn. So thank you for sharing that story.
[00:03:16] Michelle J Raymond: But we're gonna jump into what we call in the LinkedIn Branding Book, our Brand Squared System, because we've worked with clients in different ways.
[00:03:24] Michelle J Raymond: Obviously I help with clients building their LinkedIn profiles, their LinkedIn presence, their LinkedIn brands, and then you are helping them build their personal brand.
[00:03:32] Michelle J Raymond: Now I did it the other way around. I was a bit of the cart before the horse but we're gonna flip it around and make sure that everybody doesn't make those same mistakes that I did. But the Brand Squared System has four steps and that is Mindset, Foundation, Fusion and Multiplier. And when you go through each of those steps in a slightly different way today just to repeat it to people, cause it's so important, Michelle, and it can save people so much time and money.
[00:03:57] Michelle J Raymond: But let's start at the first place. What's mindset got to do, got to do with it? What's mindset got to do with personal branding?
[00:04:07] Michelle B Griffin: Oh my God, it's everything, right? It is Tina rest her soul. But she is truly the motivation of what's brand got to do with it.
[00:04:14] Michelle B Griffin: You know what I coined that phrase like two years ago because it's everything. It truly is everything. Mindset is even more important than personal branding because you can think and do all the bells and whistle, but unless you know that you have a mission, a message, expertise, you belong out there, your message, your voice matters, you actually do it, then it's everything.
[00:04:33] Michelle B Griffin: That's why we created the whole system because we put mindset first because we're not gonna teach you all that. You teach your clients that, but if they don't have the gumption to know, I can do it. I need to do it. I'm gonna do it. I belong out there, then what good is it?
[00:04:47] Michelle B Griffin: So mindset to me is something that we almost need to take, I've said this so many times, a daily mindset vitamin, because especially if you have your own business or anybody really, our minds play tricks on us. One day we're on top of the world the next day, ugh.
[00:05:00] Michelle B Griffin: And you know, don't let LinkedIn posts be the judge of what you are. Like, don't let LinkedIn define you. But mindset is truly the driving force of your success in life and on LinkedIn.
[00:05:12] Michelle J Raymond: It is everything. That's the one thing that I can't change people's minds about. If they don't think that they're worth it. They don't think that they've got a place on LinkedIn. They don't think that anyone wants to listen to them. That is the one thing that no matter how much I can share all the bells and whistles on LinkedIn and proven selling systems and all the things that I do, there's just no way that it's gonna work.
[00:05:34] Michelle J Raymond: And knowing why people are on LinkedIn in the first place is really important. And I share in my journey that there's no way I knew what I was doing when I quit on the spot, woke up the next day and decided to be a business owner. No way, I knew why I was doing that. That came over time.
[00:05:51] Michelle J Raymond: I feel like now I'm just starting to get really clear about my reason for doing this. It's always been good business with good people, and that's always been floating in the background and that's never gonna change. But as you know, I'm kind of going through a bit of an evolution right now, and I think the thing that I'm finding is going back, doing these foundational steps, which we all know I skipped over in the first round.
[00:06:15] Michelle J Raymond: It's really made me stop, think and go, yes, that's what I wanna do. I think I know what I wanna be when I grow up now. It's what it feels like.
[00:06:27] Michelle B Griffin: You did it, Michelle. You did it though. Give yourself grace and space because you could have been like me for five years, I sat in my job wanting to go solo and then nine months on LinkedIn, but you got out there, you just dove right in.
[00:06:39] Michelle B Griffin: We have to give ourselves more credit than what we are doing. Case in point. Yesterday I got this email from Canva, okay. And they're like, sorry we're changing up our Canva Pro affiliate program. So if you're not a creator, you're out. They weren't like that cause they're great.
[00:06:53] Michelle B Griffin: And I'm like, oh no. Uhuh. First of all, they said you have to be on TikTok, Twitter or Instagram. I'm like, they're missing out on LinkedIn. Anyway, so I wrote 'em this whole thing, why I should be considered, and then I wrote my entire thing of what I've been creating for the last three years. I'm like, Michelle, I've really been creating stuff. Putting myself out there, it just, snowballed.
[00:07:14] Michelle B Griffin: From being scared to just one thing after another, leads to the other. Just like you're saying in your journey. Same if you get on LinkedIn, you're gonna meet the right people. The right post is gonna connect you with someone and you're just gonna say, I belong here. I am here for a reason.
[00:07:29] Michelle B Griffin: So that's my biggest saying is, you did something then Michelle, and look where you are now. You have a highly successful business because you took action. And that's the first step in mindset.
[00:07:39] Michelle J Raymond: Yeah, I did action and I got better and you and I were laughing just this week because you mentioned Canva and back when I was creating, I hated Canva with a passion.
[00:07:49] Michelle J Raymond: There was no ifs, buts or maybes. I would whinge and moan about it to you all the time. You're like, Michelle, I love it. It's so amazing. And I'd be like, That's good for you, Michelle, but I hate it. And they just sent me a certificate cause I've created over 2000 designs in Canva now in the time that we've known each other.
[00:08:06] Michelle J Raymond: And I just think that's crazy. The thing that I thought I hated, I couldn't do, and I'm still not brilliant, but I certainly get by. But it's just amazing how far you come from when you start and it's this constant iteration, experiment, trying new things.
[00:08:23] Michelle J Raymond: Let's just say that people have finally figured out their why as Simon Sinek would say. They know that they can. The next thing that I think people do is jump to LinkedIn. But you don't want them to do that. Tell me, what are the foundations of a standout personal brand? Not just personal brand that's, I've got a ghost writer on LinkedIn that's not personal branding people like I'm gonna let Michelle have a rant on that one, but, What is the foundations of it?
[00:08:50] Michelle B Griffin: Of course, you know, since I started putting personal brand on in 2021, I picked that up. it just blew up, right? And it's the hashtag dujour. So it's not being ghostwriting, it's not social media. Those are parts of it, right? But a true brand is the essence of who you are, the promise, the connection you made. So you don't know that until you define it and you uncover it, really.
[00:09:11] Michelle B Griffin: And so a standout personal brand, I'll tell you the way I practice it, because if you look up brand or branding, as you know in our research in the book, there were so many definitions. There's not a uniform definition, but to me it's the strategic and intentional way of carving out who you are, what you wanna be known for, how you help people.
[00:09:29] Michelle B Griffin: I don't like that Jeff Bezos quote, absolutely hate it. What people say about you, it's really what they think about you. The connection, the promise, the feeling, the good thing. that's why it's so intangible. So a standup personal brand is for my framework, the perspective of you, your why, your purpose for being, your point of view, all those things that make you unique.
[00:09:47] Michelle B Griffin: Now it's not manufactured, it's not made up, it's not all those fake things that, again, there's another whole side of that personal branding space that thinks personal branding is that. And there are people who do that but that's not why we're here, Michelle, right? Absolutely not.
[00:10:00] Michelle J Raymond: No, we're definitely not gonna be fakers. That's not what branding's about. And for me, there was an element in the beginning where I thought, this feels a bit manufactured, if I'm being totally honest.
[00:10:13] Michelle J Raymond: But what I realised is I was actually manufacturing myself the other way around. And I, what I mean by that is I was adding on things, trying to be a LinkedIn trainer, you know exactly what I thought a LinkedIn trainer should be and it wasn't me. It wasn't my style. It didn't fit. It felt uncomfortable. It was draining.
[00:10:34] Michelle J Raymond: There's so much downside to that whole year. I discovered a lot about myself, but what I found is my personal brand was not about what I was trying to create. It was just me being me. And that's the thing that I've discovered over this journey is it's not about faking something or constructing something.
[00:10:52] Michelle J Raymond: It's about being really clear around who you are as a person. And that's what I love about your framework. When we go back to step one and not skip to, what do I always skip to? Four or five?
[00:11:03] Michelle B Griffin: Four, yeah.
[00:11:03] Michelle J Raymond: Four or five outta seven is where I typically skip to which I'm not this time round. Just for the record. But what are the other things that people should consider about their foundation? What kind of, things make up the foundation?
[00:11:15] Michelle B Griffin: Okay my foundation of my BrandGPS Roadmap, the first three are my brand Clarity trifecta because you have to know you, uncover you, discover you're not manufacturing
[00:11:25] Michelle B Griffin: you, you, you understand what makes Michelle J Raymond or Michelle B Griffin, tick, right? You're aligned and all that. but then there's a whole camp on LinkedIn that says, just be you.
[00:11:34] Michelle B Griffin: That's great, but why are we here? Business is here to solve problems for people. So you have to be dialed in internally. Then you go external.
[00:11:42] Michelle B Griffin: Who are you here to serve? Your reader, your client, so we have to get so granular on the person we're here to help, right? So when you're a personal brand, you're the service. You're the person here to help that person. So we have to get to know all the things that make them tick good and bad, get clarity on all them because you're here to solve their problem.
[00:12:00] Michelle B Griffin: When you lead with problems and all the pain points they need, they're gonna pay attention to you a lot faster than you talking about yourself all the time. So that's step two, external clarity on who you are here to serve. So I get so granular in that it's a little nauseating probably because I go real hard. I go, I go like old school, like I'm doing a real brand. I'm foundational. My whole thing is I don't give you a fluffy brand.
[00:12:21] Michelle B Griffin: Also, can I make a caveat because you're one of them. In my people phase, it's your persona, that one person, but also your power partner. We can't grow our brands alone. We can, but we're gonna go super slow versus if we have someone here to cross pollinate, align with, like-minded people.
[00:12:38] Michelle B Griffin: Case in point, we are power partners. We became power partners and then eventually just started calling it Michelle Squared as part of the brand. But we have, from the day we met, we just hit it off. We have aligned values. And, then we started referring business but we truly have each other's back.
[00:12:55] Michelle B Griffin: And some days we're a cheerleader for each other, and some days we're, bootcamp instructor, but you're here to help each other and we're growing each other that way. So I thank you for that.
[00:13:05] Michelle J Raymond: Look I've said it a billion times. I'll say it one more time, is that my brand wouldn't be what it is today, whether that is the moment you told me to just keep going with company pages and be known for that one thing, or actually how to build a foundational brand. And all the steps back at the beginning.
[00:13:23] Michelle J Raymond: And it's not easy. I actually am gonna say it's probably the hardest part, the part that I put off most in my business. And that's before we even get to the visual brand bit.
[00:13:33] Michelle B Griffin: Absolutely.
[00:13:33] Michelle J Raymond: Let's just park that for a minute cause we are talking, way back at the personal brand side. But it's been something that for me, I'm still figuring this stuff out. I feel much more confident right now.
[00:13:46] Michelle J Raymond: I feel like I've grown into the next phase, which has been fun. But it wasn't fun for the six months before. But if anyone wants to hear about that journey we share about it on the LinkedIn Branding Show podcast. So go over there. I talk about it in depth.
[00:13:58] Michelle B Griffin: One thing real quick, you gotta do the professional clarity, which is your positioning. How do we position you, the brand, internal, external, and then the professional clarity on who you serve.
[00:14:08] Michelle J Raymond: I wanna move on to the next step in our Brand Squared System. But Fusion was one that I think for me was, a big part of this is about how do we actually bring the brand to life.
[00:14:19] Michelle J Raymond: So we've set up our foundation and then, like you mentioned, we're often on other platforms, it might be Instagram, might be TikTok, YouTube, podcast. When I did a brand audit, I had bits of pieces of stuff everywhere. And one of the things that I didn't do so well was keep them all in alignment.
[00:14:34] Michelle J Raymond: And I think that's why it was important to me that we mentioned that in the fusion part it's about aligning your brands so that no matter where you show up, it's all the same. But what do you see is important on how people can establish their personal brand on LinkedIn? What kinds of things should they be thinking about and doing?
[00:14:53] Michelle B Griffin: In addition to those social alignments, I wanna say, if you have a website, there've been plenty of people I've seen their LinkedIn presence, I go to their website and it's completely a) not there or misaligned and it's just so off.
[00:15:05] Michelle B Griffin: It's one little notch against you. like, huh, well that's weird, you know?
[00:15:08] Michelle B Griffin: But anyway, that's another point that I'll make another day. In my community I launched something, I'm still working on it, but I call it the SSI index. Your standout score index. You and I talk about this all the time in the LinkedIn Branding Show. There's like seven key areas that I say that if you can get those kind of nailed, you're gonna really have an authority focused profile, because we have to look at LinkedIn's profiles, Personal and Company Page as the new website.
[00:15:32] Michelle B Griffin: So those are the things that people are neglecting. These little things that add up for credibility tokens, trust tokens, visibility tokens. We get really granular on all this, if you're interested, in the LinkedIn Branding Show, but these are the areas that when I have a first impression factor of you, it's gonna one up you in one column or one against you in the other.
[00:15:53] Michelle B Griffin: So those are the things that people don't realise. Every impression is a brand impression, right? So we have to be completely dialed in and our book does help you fuse the two together.
[00:16:04] Michelle J Raymond: I think for me recently I've been doing a lot of business owner or Founder LinkedIn profiles. And they don't need to go for a job, they're already very well established in their businesses, successful, have had great careers in their businesses.
[00:16:20] Michelle J Raymond: And then I have a look at their LinkedIn profile and there's just such a huge disconnect. And these people that I have the pleasure of working with are absolutely brilliant at what they do, the impact they're having and the changes that they're having out in the world.
[00:16:36] Michelle J Raymond: And then you look at the profile and at best it's half completed, at best. That's probably being fairly generous with most of them because, as a Founder, as a CEO, are you really thinking about your LinkedIn profile? Probably not. But everyone else out in the world is coming there to take cue from you about what that business stands for.
[00:16:57] Michelle J Raymond: And even if you're just starting out, like you might have investors that you are looking for, that are doing their research, they're Googling your name, they're coming across the LinkedIn to find where you are and what you look like on the professional platform and then it's just letting the side down.
[00:17:12] Michelle J Raymond: So for me, it's just such an important piece of the puzzle for your professional credibility. To make sure that you go back and invest and update your LinkedIn profile. It may sound boring. It may sound like the last thing in the world that you want to do, but it's just so important.
[00:17:30] Michelle J Raymond: I've just recently wanted to go and endorse some people for skills, for instance and the skills that they have listed are for five, 10 jobs ago. And I'm like, I can't endorse you. I want to, but I can't.
[00:17:42] Michelle B Griffin: It doesn't even make sense anymore. One quick actionable tip because you know I'm all about that. At the very minimum, go make sure your experience section, the first thing your experience, dials in exactly who you are. It's not VP, cause that could be anybody.
[00:17:54] Michelle B Griffin: Make sure it's granular, it's keyword search terms because Google and LinkedIn love each other and so when someone Googles your name, you're gonna be way up there on the top of Google.
[00:18:02] Michelle B Griffin: So I have seen so many amazing people, their profile, when I Google 'em, it just falls flat. So at the end of the day it'll probably take a day or two for it to index. You will have a much better Google presence just by changing that first one section, not the headline so much.
[00:18:17] Michelle B Griffin: That's good too when you're in LinkedIn but Google pulls that experience section cause that, that's an actual thing, Michelle, because we might be in LinkedIn seeing you but the whole world sees you on Google, right?
[00:18:29] Michelle J Raymond: That's the thing. And we're all looking around and we're all trying to find out, you know, it's often the person that people go to for media inquiries.
[00:18:38] Michelle B Griffin: I was gonna say PR and media is huge. They're gonna be checking you out for sure.
[00:18:42] Michelle J Raymond: And what kind of opportunities are the business missing out on? Cause I almost feel the CEO, the Founder, they set the standard and it's only gonna get worse the further down the business you go. And so I think that, if you are a business and you wanna stand out in an industry that's probably competitive, there are very few true monopolies left in this world.
[00:19:03] Michelle J Raymond: They last for about five minutes while everyone and their dog comes and creates a clone of it. So from that perspective, it's just really important. You've gotta lead from the front. And this is what, for me, a brand is, it's your way of standing out, leading from the front and attracting the lion's share of opportunities.
[00:19:21] Michelle J Raymond: We move into the fourth step in the Brand Squared System, which is all about the multiplier effect, is what we call it. The power of two. It's on the front of the book, it's business and personal brand, but how should people leverage these two together to get more outta LinkedIn?
[00:19:38] Michelle B Griffin: First you're gonna find your partners and build community. I think for moving forward in the age of AI and all the things coming on, we need more personalisation, connection, and community.
[00:19:48] Michelle B Griffin: So I know in the B2B community space, that's a big area that's growing. B2B creators are growing. So go and align and multiply yourself with these people.
[00:19:58] Michelle B Griffin: But community is a big thing and I know you're a real advocate of it, but, going back to that comment you just made, there's very few true monopolies and then, give it some time. There are people up and coming. When you grow that community, those brand fans, you're gonna have a loyal base if you're doing it all right?
[00:20:14] Michelle B Griffin: So get in there now, start building the community. And for any company listening to this, LinkedIn is truly a goldmine of opportunity. I cannot tell you how many times I'm online researching, especially in the Tech space or the B2B consumer space. They alienate LinkedIn. They don't realise the wealth, the buying power, the fluence that's on LinkedIn.
[00:20:35] Michelle B Griffin: Get in now, especially in the company brand side, which is just growing leaps and bounds in the last two years, Michelle, since you leapt into that space. Can you imagine how much those Pages have evolved in two years?
[00:20:47] Michelle J Raymond: It is mind blowing to the point where, Business Gold, the book we wrote on Company Pages, we have to go back and redo that sometime really quickly because so much has come through that it's almost like a whole new thing altogether. Doesn't even resemble what's in the book which is crazy.
[00:21:03] Michelle J Raymond: But the thing that you and I have always been in agreeance on since day dot, is that it's not about, You can build a business brand on LinkedIn, and that means you can't build or invest in personal brands and vice versa.
[00:21:18] Michelle J Raymond: What we are all about is the power of two. Bringing these multiplier effects, personal and business brands together. You get better results.
[00:21:28] Michelle J Raymond: So for me, get that executive brand, the enterprise brand, and the employees brands, get them all present on LinkedIn, build them up and you get better results. But for some reason, people on LinkedIn seem to think that if you invest some time over in Company Pages, that's a waste of time because what about personal brands?
[00:21:48] Michelle J Raymond: And they confuse the reach of posts and showing in the home feed. That's not building a brand. I'm gonna shout it from the rooftops. It is the thing that presses my buttons and I'm trying to like, keep this in right now, but it's not the same. Building a brand is not the same as what likes and comments you get on a post. Can we just say that one more time?
[00:22:10] Michelle B Griffin: No, we're not gonna get 'em. You're building the presence. I've already told you how many companies that when I research and I don't see that little LinkedIn Company Page or the inclusion of LinkedIn, it's already like a notch against them.
[00:22:21] Michelle B Griffin: You're building a brand on LinkedIn, so I wanna see your presence there. That means something to me as a buying consumer, right? And you take that brand and you bring it to the personal brand. They just work hand in hand.
[00:22:32] Michelle B Griffin: And don't worry about the reach. Don't even worry about the reach in a personal brand. Just get out there and you are gonna own LinkedIn. If reach is down, it doesn't matter, Michelle, right? That doesn't affect my DMs. That doesn't affect your DMs. We have built brands the last three years that have evolved over that, so that's the power of brand, right?
[00:22:50] Michelle J Raymond: The brand just opens up so many opportunities and for me, as a salesperson at heart, That's what I'm looking for. The right fit, good opportunities. And then for me, the branding has always been, I want a premium brand and a premium product and a premium price. I'm unapologetically going down that path and growing to make sure that I can deliver on all of those things for my clients.
[00:23:12] Michelle J Raymond: But for me, the brand is the thing that opens up those opportunities that I may not have known about. Cause most of my business on LinkedIn, the opportunities, if I look at 'em, I would say eight outta 10 come from people, I don't even know are watching my stuff. They have discovered me either LinkedIn search, maybe some of them are coming from the podcast, some are coming from YouTube, but I don't know them personally. That's not where my business is growing, but there are so many people watching and I think that's what people miss.
[00:23:42] Michelle J Raymond: They go likes and comments over here versus business growth. And I'm all about what things do you do to grow your business? And I am 1000% confident that building a strong brand personally and for the business is just where it's gonna happen.
[00:23:55] Michelle J Raymond: Let's go the other side and, we'll have to keep this one short because I think we could talk all day about it.
[00:24:02] Michelle J Raymond: What are the biggest mistakes that you see with people building their brand on LinkedIn? If you had to give your top three, we'll narrow it down, what would you say they are?
[00:24:11] Michelle B Griffin: First of all, they think they're building their brand, but they're not. They're just putting stuff out on LinkedIn and it has no rhyme or reason or cohesion.
[00:24:20] Michelle B Griffin: So other mistakes people they're not staying in one lane. Michelle, how many times do I talk to people and they don't want to narrow down? They don't, Michelle and you're the case study of it. You just did a post, this morning or yesterday about people ask them, what made you stand out? And I'm reading this going Company Page, Company Page, Company Page. It was across the board. And then of course your personality and all the things, but that's what got you noticed.
[00:24:46] Michelle B Griffin: So narrow down your lane and then give it enough time. You don't build a brand overnight. You do not. And so the people who just want the quick win, you're not building a brand. You're just looking for a quick sale, a quick win, and not building relationships.
[00:24:59] Michelle B Griffin: So those are some of the key areas that I see people falling flat.
[00:25:03] Michelle B Griffin: But when you do it right, and even if you have to come back and do it again right, Michelle? But you had a brand, you might have not have been as intentional and you didn't start it right. But the mere fact is you did have some kind of a brand.
[00:25:15] Michelle J Raymond: I certainly did because I think the personality part of my brand was always gonna be super strong cause I'd been building a community in the beauty industry for six years by the time I quit my other job. So from that perspective, I knew what it was like and what I had to be known for.
[00:25:31] Michelle J Raymond: I'd narrowed that down over time. But now I don't feel like I'm throwing away my brand. I feel like I'm just refining it and it's evolving. I call it, I've been through my baby and my teen phase and now I'm like, heading into that young adult cause I've got energy, I'm ready to party, I'm ready to just do this.
[00:25:51] Michelle J Raymond: I feel really alive with what's about to happen and I'll share more of that on the show over the next few weeks about what's happening and how it's all come together because, I never thought I'd get here at some days, that's for sure.
[00:26:03] Michelle J Raymond: But the power of branding, even for someone like me, 20 years in B2B sales, I get it. Now, if you don't get it and need to be convinced, I am going to ask you to buy the LinkedIn Branding Book and have a look for yourself at all the different ways that you can learn the power of branding and why it's so important.
[00:26:24] Michelle J Raymond: Short cutting timeframes. Increasing your results. For me, that's a no-brainer.
[00:26:30] Michelle J Raymond: Michelle, I love a good actionable tip and I always end this show and we always end our show with actionable tips cause I, don't wanna talk about this like airy fairy. What is one thing that you think that somebody listening into this show that needs to, maybe improve their brand game, what's one actionable tip that you could give them today?
[00:26:49] Michelle B Griffin: Great question. So I think we need to examine our brand right now. Do a brand audit. Am I really clear? When I introduce myself, can I talk about what I do? Go and look and say, am I comfortable in my brand? Does my brand really communicate? Maybe even ask someone, does my brand make sense?
[00:27:05] Michelle B Griffin: Because we can think our brands are clear, but essentially you might be completely alienating the people you're really trying to resonate with.
[00:27:12] Michelle B Griffin: If you wanna recheck on what your strengths are, I love those three assessment tools, the high five.com, 16 personalities.com and the Enneagram. That gives you clue on yourself because we have to start inward, then go outward and then the professional clarity.
[00:27:27] Michelle B Griffin: Another actionable thing, if we're gonna buy the book, let us not forget that there's a 50 page workbook that you can go through very much core branding exercises.
[00:27:36] Michelle B Griffin: So take that reset. Get really clear and then you'll find some answers because in the end, Michelle, we know when we're off. You knew when you were off completely. I knew when I was off.
[00:27:48] Michelle J Raymond: Yeah. It's the worst feeling in the world, and it just holds you back, holds the results back. Just takes up your whole mind. It's just the worst place to be in.
[00:27:58] Michelle J Raymond: But I love the workbook that we created because I've done it myself. It's not something that you and I wrote so that other people could do it and it wasn't good enough for us. No. This is actually the same process that you and I follow. And I'll probably do it again now that I've actually got some more clarity around where I'm headed and what I'm doing and who I wanna serve.
[00:28:15] Michelle J Raymond: As always, I'm super thankful that you came on the show today so that we can talk about it.
[00:28:20] Michelle J Raymond: Some people may think, do these two ever get sick about talking about LinkedIn and branding? Not that we found yet. Is there always something to talk about? Yeah, pretty much.
[00:28:29] Michelle J Raymond: So I thank you for coming on My Power Partner. Oh, I hope that this has helped everyone that's been listening in this week, because I know that the results will come if you invest in this part of your business.
[00:28:42] Michelle J Raymond: This is the secret to growth, hands down, and even as a salesperson. Like it kills me sometimes to say that branding might actually be the secret to getting started. So I'm gonna stop here before I say something that keeps getting thrown out in other quotes in the future.
[00:28:58] Michelle B Griffin: No, I love it. Thanks for having me.
[00:28:59] Michelle J Raymond: Cheers.
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