Make the Connection With In-House Agency Controls Vol. 6 Part 2

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." – Michael Jordan

Many businesses do not have their executive teams or team at all firing on all cylinders promoting themselves as individual brands within the company brand. There are several reasons for this.

It can be one of the following reasons:

• They don’t know how,
• They don’t want to,
• They can’t manage the time/create a process for it,
• They are afraid of looking ridiculous, and/or fear,
• Leadership is uncomfortable with it.

Working internally with the marketing team is a great way to scale personal brands that are aligned with the company. That being said, the internal agency or marketing team isn’t always working in tandem with the executive team on this either. Involving the marketing team builds morale and this will help them feel they are a part of the process and in the trenches with you.

Marketing may not be involved due to one of the following reasons:

• It’s not their “role” to help promote the team,
• No time / overloaded with other projects / staffing,
• Team isn’t identifying industry opportunities, and/or
• Leadership or sales doesn’t communicate effectively what their goals are as a company. (or at all)
• Etc.

So how do you work through this as a company? What are some ways you can create in-house controls around building individual brands?

There are some ways to help bridge the gap internally between your marketing team and the company when creating personal brands. This will help with your messaging, branding, and promoting the business, creating culture, humanizing the business, and getting everyone on the same page with the company marketing initiatives. It all starts with communication, planning, and strategy.

Create regular conversations and an internal communication flow with the marketing team about all opportunities.

Set a meeting either 1x a week or 1x a month ( or whatever flow is best for you and your team) to review opportunities. Opportunities can mean interviews, podcasts, philanthropic events, IG lives, speaking engagements, panels, other type of in person events, etc. (If you don’t have an event calendar – time to make one) Create a monthly communication plan for each executive on the team you are looking to promote.

• This is a great way to create community,
• Cross collaborate,
• Create content,
• Get ideas from other marketing teams,
• Showcase talent within your company,
• Build your content library,
• Etc.

Many times, marketing is left behind and not included in these conversations or plans. Don’t forget to promote the event post-event and incorporate the event into your content calendar for the month.

Identify all the industry podcasts, industry conferences or speaking engagements, social media lives, clubhouse rooms, and trade publications.

Step 1 – Create a spreadsheet including all the above. You can list everything on one sheet, or have tabs at the bottom of each page.

Step 2- Make a list of all opportunities that are paid and unpaid by listing the options and costs. It may be worth investing in the paid ones. Find out who their audience is, what the demographics are, who the distribution is to – if any – and what kind of social following they have, who else advertises, etc.

A lot of trade pubs have webinars, as well as virtual and in-person speaking opportunities and podcasts. They also love content i.e. contributing writers.

A great way to advertise if you have a budget is on podcasts. This helps with getting your message out to the right audience. You can also negotiate to have some of the executive team leaders in an episode or two supporting your brand and highlighting their expertise. It's also a great way to have the leaders practice their public speaking.

Clubhouse is an audio-based social media app. Some of the rooms on Clubhouse are so popular that there are hundreds of attendees. If there is a popular Clubhouse room in your industry, this is a great way to get in front of them.

Researching and executing on the above will help you with creating visibility within your industry for both the company and the exec team.

Create a company live or podcast for your company and have the executive team host it.

Live streaming is?a social media feature on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram that invites brands and users to share unedited, raw footage in real time.

Using the live and podcast platform(s) as another way to position your business as the subject matter expert. Make sure that your entire team is aware, and incorporate it in your email marketing, advertising, and social posts. If you have active social media accounts, podcasting is great for your customers and followers who want to have a deeper connection with the company.?Make sure the podcast or live is interconnected with your business goals for the month, quarter, and year. This is another way to create multiple forms of content. Select a few members of the executive team to help host and promote in addition to what you are doing as a company. Encourage them to talk about life or human stories in addition to business.

Identify other businesses within your target market or selling area that align with your company mission and values for cross collaboration.

Knowing your backyard applies to all businesses in most industries, and almost all businesses have a market they work within. Identify businesses in your market that you can partner and team up together with that align with your company. Have an internal champion for this, and as the point of contact for those initiatives. Ask your team if there is a local business they want to support or if they are involved with a local cause. You never know which one of your customers supports another business or cause, and it will create a connection with that team member (and with the company). This will help you within the community as well and those personal connections to highlight your brand(s).

Bottom line – Communicate, identify new opportunities, and create new avenues as a team to become the trusted advisor(s) in your industry.

?I hope you enjoyed this newsletter today. If you want help building your brand or need help creating your own in-house agency, please visit my?website?to set up a call.

I am very excited to announce that the “Make the Connection” newsletter became a podcast. Make the Connection with Melanie Borden, is a weekly podcast featuring a curated network of global business leaders. We will connect you to marketing, business strategies, and trends that you can apply to your business. We are just about to wrap up the first season and I have had some unbelievable guests to help make the connection with strategies for your business.

You can listen to the first episode of ?here, and my recent episode talking through some other important agency controls you need for your business?here and here.

Want to check out my other socials? You can also find me on?Twitter,?Instagram,??YouTube, and?TikTok.?

Your Marketing Consultant,

Melanie