Building a strong personal brand can be a game changer for salespeople in technical companies. A strong personal brand establishes you as authoritative and credible and helps you stay top-of-mind with your key audience.
I invited Chris Luecke, Founder and Podcast Host of Manufacturing Happy Hour on the podcast to share how he built his personal brand, how it benefited him as a salesperson, and how to get started.
Chris was generous enough to share how he got started building his personal brand. It all started when he needed to reach a new audience of technical buyers in his role as an account manager selling industrial automation solutions and software. Chris needed a way to reach a new audience, including millennials who were starting to be promoted into decision making roles. He wanted to share his solutions in a simple, casual way like you would if you were out having a beer someone. The venture grew from campy videos he would store on YouTube and include in his personalized sales newsletter to popular LinkedIn videos that grew his reach and personal brand exponentially.
In this episode we discuss the challenges B2B brands have with utilizing the personal brands of employees within the company including less control of brand standards and messaging, and use of standard marketing materials. Ultimately their is a strategy that includes merging company and personal brands together so everyone wins.
We also discuss the fear and workarounds of getting in front of a camera and growing your audience if you're just starting out.