Michelle Griffin is the latest guest on B2B Podcasting. She is the founder of BRANDthority and host of “The Business of You”, a LinkedIn Live Show. 
If you’re stuck in the process of building your personal brand, THIS is the episode for you! 
Learn the power of a personal brand for your company Discover your niche expertise and how you can build your brand Get the results you want when you invest in your personal brand A podcast can augment your messaging and expertise Repurpose your thought leadership for all digital platforms
00:00-05:09 | A personal brand is vital for your company 05:09-10:44 | Discover Michelle’s 7-steps to help brand leaders 10:44-17:21 | What are the quantitative results to building a brand for yourself? 17:21-21:21 | Learn how a show or podcast can help your message increase 21:21-25:43 | Featured guests increase the ROI for your show 25:43-29:52 | Learn how to repurpose your content for digital platforms 29:52-34:12 | A consultant can help you find your niche message and expertise
“We need to be visible, because at the end of the day, it's trust—we need to have that trust and relatability.” - Michelle Griffin “Brand leaders need to be more visible and the way to do it is with a really well-defined personal brand.” - Michelle Griffin “You don't need to be a solopreneur and entrepreneur to build your brand.” - Michelle Griffin “When you have a personal brand, you differentiate on your point of view because everyone can be differentiated—everyone has a different point of view and perspective.” - Michelle Griffin “B2B needs more personalization and humanization of our brands.” - Michelle Griffin “Clarity is priceless beecause thought leaders are solving problems that people don't have the language for, so helping them see clearly brings confidence that helps them sell their product at a higher level.” - Kap Chatfield “In the world of digital marketing you can't just put out one video to rule them all and hope that one video will last you a few years—it's this consistent game of showing up, bringing unique perspective, but also having it be streamlined around one narrative.” - Kap Chatfield “When you build a brand, your marketing is just getting out there consistently.” - Michelle Griffin “Your brand says everything about you and you're gonna have to have a clear focus and be differentiated so you speak to the right people.” - Michelle Griffin “When you're speaking to the exact pain points of the people you're helping, they're going to hear you so make sure you're positioned and clear and focused and you will pop out.” - Michelle Griffin- Rveal’s website: rveal.media
- Rveal’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rvealmedia/
- Rveal’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC69p14R2ccMdyUbbmdlWCEw
Full Transcription:
Kap Chatfield 00:20
Hey gang, welcome back to B2B Podcasting, the show for B2B CEOs, brand leaders, marketers, and sales leaders to help them skip ads and be the show. I'm your host Kap Chatfield, the CEO of Rveal Media. And today I have Michelle Griffin. She is a personal brand strategist, really a personal brand mastermind. You got to follow her on LinkedIn and see all of her content. She's the founder of BRANDthority and she's also the host of a LinkedIn show called The Business of You. And I just discovered today that she's actually she's an alumni from Florida State University, which we won't hold against her because I'm a University of Miami hurricane. We're actually playing this weekend, biggest, one of the biggest rivalries in college football. So we'll put that aside, we'll put the animosity aside. And I really just I'm super excited to have you on the show today Michelle, thanks for jumping on.
Michelle Griffin 01:07
Oh, my goodness, I won't hold it against you either. But it's so good to be here. No, it's seriously good. You know, we're all good, all the state of Florida people need to bond together. But I am thrilled to be here to talk my favorite thing and that's personal branding for B2B professionals, so let's do this.
Kap Chatfield 01:23
Let's do it. Let's jump right into your story behind this. I mean, there's a million a million bajillion different routes you can go into when it goes to consulting and coaching. And I love that you've really doubled down on the power of personal brand in the b2b world. I feel like that's almost like a taboo thing, because in the B2B world I feel like a lot of people are like, "it's not about my brand, it's about the company's brand". But here you are coaching people about the power of personal brand. What, why did you become passionate about that?
Michelle Griffin 01:54
Oh, great question, good question. Because we need it in B2B, we need to be personalized, and humanize our brand. And that's a space I lived in in my marketing career. I was in the insurance and legal professional services space for years. And so my dream after five years was to have my own consultancy, so I finally made that happen. 20, in early 2020. And there I went, realizing I went from one one industry in professional services to another. And where I had recognition visibility there, I realized one of the faux pas that I and I like so many people, we just weren't as visible as we needed to be. And I realized B2B needs that. We need to be visible, we need to show our authority because at the end of the day, it's trust, right? We need to have that trust, relatability. And so I realized that part of marketing is what I really wanted to focus on. Because I see so many of the best and brightest people, I don't care if you're a CMO, a sales leader, you're on consultant, they need to be more visible. And that's the way to do it is with a really well defined personal brand. And here we are today to talk about that.
Kap Chatfield 02:58
So how long have you been doing this personal brand coaching in the B2B space?
Michelle Griffin 03:03
Oh, two years now.
Kap Chatfield 03:04
Mm hmm. Okay, so yeah, so you weren't doing this before the time of, you know, digital, the digital landscape. This is?
Michelle Griffin 03:13
Well, yeah, personally, to niche down, I was working with companies. So I decided I just really love working with the thought leaders, the, the, you know, the CEO, you know, all the leaders, directors who could make change happen and doing that with them one on one is just so that's what makes me tick, you know? So, but I realized that's the way to a brand is having that person out there, where people could relate, you know? It's the clutter field is just so hard with all the marketing out there. When you become a relatable brand, people are going to pay attention. And so getting out there is the first step. But I've been in branding and marketing, and actually in PR, I have a master's in PR, so I was doing that for a while too. So this is a culmination of all that and that's actually a little bit of what I mix in my secret sauce when I work with my clients.
Kap Chatfield 03:57
It's it sounds like you kind of burned the boat, so to speak. You, but you said you had experience actually working with companies building their brands. And then you said that you you started to discover that you really like to work with a thought leader of the organization. Why did you discover that that was where you felt like you needed to double down personally, but also it was in the best interest of the company?
Michelle Griffin 04:20
Because those are the people they realized they needed to be out there and they wanted to go farther and deeper, you know? They had that recognition and that area where they can do that, you know, they had the authority to do that, but they just didn't know how. And so I help and guide them to be that relatable brand. And and so and through doing that they still build their company. So it's not really about them. I mean, it is, but it also all roads lead back to the company too. That's why I want to really caution you. You don't need to be a solopreneur and entrepreneur to build your brand. I mean, it's so important for everyone especially thought leaders and executives, CMOs all those people, we all need to be out there. I mean, we can probably tick off, I'm not going to mention names, all the great people on LinkedIn, who are the forward facing people in their company in this space, right? We know and probably right off the top of our heads, I think some have been on the show too.
Kap Chatfield 05:09
Some of them, yeah, we have a, I'm pretty grateful for the amazing list of people, you would definitely be on that list of really interesting and clearly competent and authoritative people in the space. So thanks again for for joining that list of amazing cast of characters. I'm curious, just in the this persona, this thought leader, this show exists really to help those thought leaders understand that, you know, building brand, content creation, and all of those things come together. And we'll talk more tactically about how you're doing that for your own brand, later in the show. But I just see a lot of hesitancy from B2B thought leaders. I want to ask you, what do you think is the biggest objection that B2B brand leaders have from building a personal brand?
Michelle Griffin 05:56
Oh, it's multiple reasons. On a personal level, I think I just did a post about this a couple days ago. You know, the personal level, I don't think they have, and it's an interesting thing, because I've worked with CEOs, physicians, lawyers, I mean, a lot of people, they still get that imposter syndrome, I don't care at the top of your thing, that's one thing. Another thing, they have pushed back from their company, which that's actually a company thing, you can't do about. But I guess they just think "who am I? Is there anything new to say?" And I say yes, when you have a personal brand, we differentiate you on your point of view, because everyone can be differentiated. Everyone has a different point of view and perspective. And that's what is so needed out in that copycat world out there, right? Something so refreshing and behind the scenes, so I just maybe they think B2B isn't the space but I say it actually should be this space. We need more of that in B2B and we need more personalization and humanization of our brands. And what better way to do that, than being out there and building that trust.
Kap Chatfield 06:50
Ah, you were starting to get into what, how you actually help them do that. You mentioned that you differentiate, you help them differentiate their point of view on their industry, on their expertise. Could you unpack for us, like, what's that process look like? You have a B2B brand leader who's in that position where they're like, "You know what? Michelle, I'm in, I believe in it. I know I need to do it. I have no idea where I need to start." What's the journey that you take them on look like?
Michelle Griffin 07:16
Oh, I'm so glad you said that. I have my own signature seven-step program I call "the visible authority blueprint". One of the, it incorporates a lot of the things I mentioned with brand and marketing, messaging and copywriting. But I see as you know, people just get out there on LinkedIn or they start branding their business without that foundation. So because it's a personal brand, we start with, I have seven steps and they all start with P. So the first one is perspective, I need to know all your views, personally, professionally, what makes you tick. I take my clients through this pretty involved deep dive, okay? It's like a baseline. And I get really, really deep. And so they they encounter things they didn't even know, when we put things, it's basically taking 1000 piece puzzle, dumping it on the table, finding the golden thread in the pieces and that's where we connect the dots for you. The second one is we're going to really define your people. Who is it that you want to impact? Who is it that you want to make it impact and transcend and I call it your people. Now I know in marketing, we have one avatar, one ICP, but I call it people for two reasons. First, it's your ICP. It's the person you're there to help and transform, but it's also your partners. We need partners, a community to build up our brand, our business, referrals, collaborate all those things that's equally important to lift our brands up. The third one is the purse, the positioning, differentiation, exactly finding your steak and place in the market. And that's exactly that's one thing people say how "I'm not unique, what I do is not unique". And I always say well, "what you do is not unique, your job titles not unique, but you are, there is a way to differentiate you." And I promise you I haven't, I've never failed yet trying to find that place in the marketplace. I do a deep deep dive. And then the fourth one is packaging, we package you up. Now I have to maybe we'll put in the show notes. I kind of got really annoyed by the word packaging because there was an article four years ago that quoted Sheryl Sandberg that said people shouldn't package themselves up. And I sort of took offense on this because that's one of my steps but it's there, that article was all about personal branding just being the me me me influencer and that's exactly not what we do here. Packaging up is showing you who you are, we find your messaging, we do your website, we do your differentiation, your offers all those things. And now offers obviously as if you were a consultant, but we work on all the things you do as in house too. The third one is I'm sorry, the fourth one is publish. You cannot become a thought leader and a brand, it's the fuel for your brand. It starts the trust, the relatability so we work on your content, becoming that content marketing machine. Now the sixth one is promotion. Now, once you start getting out there on LinkedIn and getting that consistency, we're going to look for other ways to keep amplifying you, keep growing your brand, and that could be with speaking, starting to podcast, starting a LinkedIn live show. Something that gets you out there and keeps media mentions all the things. And then the seventh step is propel, we're going to keep propelling you and grow you. Your brand is not a one and done thing, it's compound interest, you invest every day. So when we we work on those seven steps, it just keeps growing, growing, growing and propelling you to be that brand, to be I'm very big about people, people first, customer centric type, type brand as well. And so when you're doing that for your b2b brand, as the head of your company, or your department or division, that's going to be huge for you as a person, because your brand is you, but plus your company. So hopefully that a quick overview made sense on my journey.
Kap Chatfield 10:44
Beautiful, that makes complete sense. I'm a huge alliteration fan too, makes things make things streamlined, but more than the alliteration, it's it's not so much just about having it cute but having it be clear. And this is extremely clear, I can see the journey. I want to ask you a question, just maybe on behalf of the audience. Perspective and positioning, I think a lot of a lot of business owners, business leaders, they might confuse those two. How, could you help us differentiate, like, what's the difference between having a perspective and then creating positioning for your brand?
Michelle Griffin 11:18
Yeah, okay. Well, the perspective phase is more like, "I need to know your views and your vision". Like who you are, like, you know, they'll my clients will tell me stuff that I was like, "Oh, I already see something that I can position you with later". But I need to know everything about them personally, what they think and what they feel, because that's what a brand helps people do. And then I need to know the professional perspective. So perspective is all about you internally, it's more like your internal self what we carve out and we figure out. Now positioning could be differentiation, how are you going to differ? How are you different? Why should I do business with you? Why should I buy from you? All those things, we can't be a commodity, and that's what a personal brand helps us not be, is a commodity, you know? We're finding our unique place in the market to be of service to our audience. So does that give you a little bit more clarity there?
Kap Chatfield 12:05
Love it. I think the simplest way to describe it was the internal versus external, right? The internal is like, what makes you tick? How do you see the world? And then the positioning is like, "Well, where do you really stand amongst your competition and what the markets really asking for?" And that's really, really brilliant. I'd love for you to share, I'm sure you have a lot of case studies that come to mind that are really fun for you to you know, to share about like, "Hey, this is, this is the transformation I'm looking forward to do with my clients all the time". Is there, is there a case study that comes to your mind of you had a client come to you, and they needed, they needed to create this BRANDthority, and you kind of gave them the Cinderella story? Anything coming to mind?
Michelle Griffin 12:48
Yeah, I mean, I see a lot of, I really work a lot with professional services. And I and I call them they're hidden gems, best kept secrets, because I, I meet them, I'm like, "How are you not out there?" You know, and it's, it's a lack of clarity on them. And lack of focus, or lack of positioning those three areas they fall into. So what I do, I don't want to mention any names or anything I'm not trying to, I'm trying to, you know, because I I've done that before in posts and people don't like me to like, they're like, "did you talk about me?" And it was all good, oh, of course. But I you know, confidentiality. I'll talk about let's see, I'll talk about like, I'll talk about like someone who became a fractional marketing director. Okay, so they had this amazing experience. They're based in the not in the US, but they had this amazing experience. And they were tired of being in their marketing. So they decided they want to be a consultant, but they just didn't know how to stand out. And so we defined them, you know, and one of the things I really get to do is work on, if you're a consultant, how do you want to show up with your business model and your revenue? How are you going to your offers? Because that's another place where people realize they don't have, and this is for the consultancy side, not so much the in house. How are we going to show up and how are we gonna make money? So what I do is just them to that process, and the clarity that these people go to when I when I change the messaging, on what they're putting out there, they suddenly had more of higher quality people, the people that they really want to serve, get to them. So within just a matter of a couple of weeks by switching out the the messaging, those probably after when we got to that packaging phase, you know? I do take like, it takes a good three weeks, because we work weekly, usually. So it takes that it was probably like a month or so into it. Just some small little tweaks, they started getting leads. And then I helped them really get on LinkedIn. Like a lot of us are just apprehensive about getting out on LinkedIn. And I don't know you probably see that too, but we all know we should. So another thing too, I worked on a couple of clients. "I'm like you are so good to talk. You need to get a podcast." So we're working on some to get podcasting and some to maybe just do videos. So I find what's unique that internal and help them get out there because LinkedIn is great, right? But you just can't always be on LinkedIn. You got to keep expanding that. So so I would say that was just one example, you know, many that that just needed some internal support and some actually need confidence, you know? They just need that mindset, coming from the corporate world, after being told what to do for so long, how do I get out there and do it? So those are just some of the examples and hopefully that gives you an illustration,
Kap Chatfield 15:22
The two things, I'm going to throw some alliteration back at you, two of the things that I think are major value proposition for what you what you bring to the table, is you bring clarity. Clarity is so priceless, I've seen in the B2B space, especially when you're working with consultants, professional services, and they, you know, sometimes they're solving problems that people don't even necessarily have the language for, like how to how to communicate their own problem. You're helping them see clearly like, this is what I'm after, this is the value that I bring. And that brings confidence, that helps them sell that product at a higher level.
Michelle Griffin 16:03
Absolutely. Those are the words I use, actually, when you get the clarity you get the clients, I mean, the clot the confidence and the client, all the stuff. Or they overcompl, because I've been in the B2B world or the corporate world, they overcomplicate the way, they talk about themselves, right? That jargon comes up and I'm like, "oh, no, we need to make this for a 10 year old." So, and a lot of them just have too many ideas and we're all stuck in our own brains. And I've been there done that myself. That's why I do what I do. I mean, partly because I love helping people go make change. But also because I've been there done that too, you know? I was stuck. So just a little tidbit, this whole process came about, back about in 2019, I wrote this whole thing because I was asked to speak and they're like, "Well, what do you want to?" They just wanted me to speak on anything, was a bunch of tech people. And so I made, it was originally called Own Your Message, how to stand out and succeed. And because I noticed so many times so many of the best and brightest. I don't care if you work in house or your own boss, they can't clearly articulate what is it they do. And that's right, in our busy world. If you can't do that, no one's gonna pay attention. So that's that's probably the first step.
Kap Chatfield 17:11
I'm curious, because you've done such a great job of building your own brand. And you're almost like serving your, you are your own customer, in a sense, like,
Michelle Griffin 17:20
Absolutely.
Kap Chatfield 17:21
I'm curious. Um, because you're the host and the producer of this show, called The Business of You, that's a LinkedIn show. It's a live LinkedIn show. What problem were you trying to solve for yourself by starting this show?
Michelle Griffin 17:37
More visibility, right? The more you put yourself out there, that's why you see that tagline behind me, the more people are going to get to know you. And I want to clarify, because there is some misunderstanding on LinkedIn. This isn't about me. This is just me putting myself out there to be of service to help others. So this isn't Michelle seeing herself on camera. No. It's about highlighting subject matter experts, and helping subject matter experts get themselves out there. So I for the longest time I do a podcast and then I got approved for LinkedIn Live early last year and I said "I'm doing it". And so I wanted to name my show kind of like how building a brand will help your business. If you're in house or out it will boost your business. And that's kind of the tagline for it. So I started last year, last summer, I said, I did 13 straight weeks all last summer, I did one weekly, and it was amazing. And then now I'm going to monthly because I'm going to be bringing a podcast out early next year, I'm working on. So I just needed that space. But I have one monthly and I repurpose all that content, I think we're going to talk about that little bit later. So I won't jump ahead.
Kap Chatfield 18:38
Let's go right into it. Actually, let's do it. Because, because you mentioned I mean, one of the P's that you mentioned was packaging, obviously and then publishing. So really like how do you how do you create a clear, streamlined message and also a content vehicle? How do you, because we know that in the world of digital marketing, excuse me, in the world of digital marketing, you can't just put out one video to rule them all. And hope that that one video will last you a few years. It's like this consistent game of showing up, bringing unique perspective, but also having it be streamlined around one narrative. And so having a system in place to do that. So why don't you share with us like the strategy and the tactics behind how you're leveraging that core marketing initiative, that show and now this new podcast coming up to help you package and publish your expertise at scale?
Michelle Griffin 19:31
Absolutely. Well, that's so um, thank you for asking. I can I be a little honest, the reason why I did a podcast and the show is because a blog to me is amazing. But I like to write I'm a pretty decent writer but it just takes me too long. I'd rather talk to someone all day and that's what I tell my clients, "hey, you're a good talker, you know, whatever, let's get you out on audio or video or both". And so I said you know what, I can make a bigger impact. That was my strategy, to get more people out there, two fold for me and for them by just showing going up and talking. And we learn and connect with people too, the amount of people I connected with through just booking clients and reaching out or booking, you know, guests was huge. So I knew I wanted to have, I found the strategy I want to have this show that's helping people build their brand and a really, you know, businessy way. It's not fluffy, I always say I'm not a fluffy personal branding, you know? I build you the right way foundation. It's like a marketing strategy, a brand strategy. So I went and did my strategy on that. And I outlined the people who would help benefit and best communicate that, so I lined up my guests. I went really deep, I you know, made a guest form, I branded everything, maybe guest form did all the graphics. So I made templates for everything, so I systemized and you know that to make save time, I was doing it weekly. And also have a whole content repurposing strategy on that. And so I would just find the people, interview them. And then it's when you have a LinkedIn live show, you got to promote it. And this is where I see a lot of people fail is they, they just put it up there. Got to have an audience, you got to nurture them. Got to have content around it, not just sharing the event page. Tell them why it matters. That's why I'm on my content. It's like, what, why does this matter to you? Why is this how this can help you? And so that's how I always tried to put my posts out to promote what I do. And it all has a theme of helping you build your brand to grow your business.
Kap Chatfield 21:21
Simple. Love it, how do you choose the featured guests that you bring on your show?
Michelle Griffin 21:27
Okay, so yeah, so I ended identified, what I did was identify the core problem areas where I see a lot of my clients needing help not only just my clients with people on LinkedIn, and my demographic and, and I went to town on that. So I had stuff like, you know, content was huge. I had, you know, thought leaders and storytelling, video, media, I'm just trying to think I just kind of blanked out, I even had someone in recruiting. You know, how to, I did one on, you know, how to build your brand for for job seekers. That was a little bit that was really helpful. LinkedIn help. I can't PR, SEO kind of covered some of the things but built it around a personal brand, because I realized some of the topics of personal brand, were just like, "build your brand", but I tried to tie it to an ROI. Okay, that's why I do what I do. So that was the that was the strategy and it came out well, you know, they were they got a lot of viewership. You know, for me for just starting out, you know? And, and I think since then LinkedIn is now going to be giving more preference to to LinkedIn Lives, which is even better for us, right?
Kap Chatfield 22:31
Absolutely. Yeah, that's, that's a content creators dream right there. LinkedIn has really, they're stepping up their game. They've been kind of slow to the party with all the content creation tips or features, but there's so much opportunity, I hope they, they, instead of just kind of replicating what they're seeing other platforms doing, I would love to see them create something new and unique that other platforms aren't doing for the B2B conversation. You made a comment, I want you I want to go deep on it for your show specifically, you said, you want to tie what you're doing to ROI. I'd love for you to share, if you have anything that comes to mind comes to your mind, quantitative or qualitative results, positive results that have come from you doing this show.
Michelle Griffin 23:18
Oh, well, first of all, I wish we had analytics on LinkedIn Lives, right? You know, other than just views and stuff. But a lot of the stuff when you build a brand your marketing is just getting out there consistently. But I've had people absolutely land in my DM box, you know, almost every week, like, "Hey, I saw your live, I liked your live." Or I've actually had guests land podcast experiences being on my Live. So cross pollination there. So yeah, I mean, the qualitative is huge. People will tell me, you know, I really like it, I was able to take that information and repurpose it and bring it to a wider audience. So that that helps too, so I think I'd be able to track it even more if I would have stayed weekly. One of the things too, I got a brand partnership deal out of that, so that was cool. Yeah. And so yeah, so it definitely pays off to be visible, you know? And can I just say about LinkedIn lives, people, like people think it's ridiculous. "Like, why would you ever go live?" And my thing is, "why wouldn't you not?" Because I personally, it's like talking on a zoom call. I think I mentioned that to you when we first talked. I can chat all day. But you know, the thought of doing recorded video over and over again, it's terrifying, right? So why not just be yourself and LinkedIn, or lives help you get to be real and relatable, faster, I think for your audience.
Kap Chatfield 24:35
I love that. And I also think that what's interesting about live is it allows you to build this, this, this other dimension of your audience, and that's the community element of it. Where it's like, not only are they are you just a one way channel of communication, but now you're creating a two way channel where people can actually be a part of the experience. They can share feedback, leave questions And I think that's what really as far as brand goes, that's what really helps accelerate brand is having other people feel like they're a part of your brand.
Michelle Griffin 25:10
Absolutely. This is it's a two way broadcast, like you said. You know, it's not just you talking and you see them, you hear them, you interact. I mean, what more can you want? And one of the things I tried when I went monthly is I started having two guests. And that was fun, it was like a talk show. And that's what I'm actually trying to make it. And that even makes it even more laid back, but friendly, we give a lot of tips, and it just makes people feel they're really part of the conversation, you know? Join us, we're all hanging out together. So it's a great feel. It's a great vibe to de personalize your brand. Humanize your brand, for sure.
Kap Chatfield 25:43
So tell us about this new show that you're starting. How are you doing that differently than, obviously production wise, it's gonna be a different experience. But what's going to be the narrative behind that? What's the purpose behind that new show?
Michelle Griffin 25:55
Okay, so my new show, I'm not gonna, I'm working on some things behind the scenes now, so I don't want to talk about it, but it's a podcast. Like I kid you not, a year ago, I wanted to do a podcast and I just, you know? That's one thing, can I be honest, when you put yourself out there one thing I have to caution, you can't do too much. I learned that right. I was doing too much here and there I was, you know, clubhouse was big all last year, I was in clubhouse, like three hours a week, and I was doing all the things I was burning myself out. So I was like, "Okay, I'm going to put my podcast on hold. I'm going to do my LinkedIn live show". But now as I got more clarity, I realized, as we know, the more niche you go, so I'm going to bring out a more niched podcast, talk more specifically to my audience, but still have my LinkedIn live show, because that's where a lot of my audience is too, and they need that. I think both, having both now do I recommend having both? You can do both. Because you can make your LinkedIn live show your podcast too, which is, which is really good. And then can I tell you that about a third of my podcast episodes that I take audio are going to be put under The Business of You, but the majority of them have come, I've used I repurpose my LinkedIn lives are going to be the podcast version of The Business of You. So yes, do I do too much? Yes, but it's been great.
Kap Chatfield 27:05
But at the same time, you're, you're, I want you to kind of help other people understand this too, because I'll just share a quick story, can I share a story?
Michelle Griffin 27:13
Yeah, absolutely.
Kap Chatfield 27:15
But I do want to share this, because I'd love for you to speak into this. I have a lot of my own clients that are in the position where, you know, they're not really used to the digital marketing universe, the digital marketing ecosystem, it's like it's not, you can't pin it down. It's not this tangible thing that you can say like, "here it is on a piece of paper, or here it is, in like the world that you can touch and feel". It's, it's you have all these different avenues, all these different places where people learn, you know, get their information and interact. And, and it can feel super nebulous. And so the challenge I feel like a lot of people have is a lot of businesses have is, they feel like they need to create one a unique strategy for all of these different channels, all of these different methods of communication, email, LinkedIn, website, landing pages, social, paid social, organic, social, all that stuff. And I feel like doing a show becomes a really, you know, a really powerful way to streamline all of that, so that you don't have to recreate the wheel from all these, all these different areas. So even though you think that you're doing a lot, you've actually been very resourceful, and strategic, so that you're not, you're you're very effective, and you're efficient in reaching all these different platforms. But you're focusing on one marketing initiative that really works. I'd love for you to talk about how that's working for you.
Michelle Griffin 28:39
Oh, that's such a good topic, because I actually I'll give it to you to put in the show notes, I have a whole 10 steps on how to take a live stream to 10 different forms of content. So I'll share that. Yeah, that's exactly that's one of the strategies I had, you know, I told you too, it's like, I don't want to do a blog. So I'll just do a podc, I'll just do my LinkedIn live. Then I have the video and the audio and it just goes downhill. So it's your top level stuff that just keeps going and it can be a blog, it can be you know, smaller videos, it can be social content, email, everything you mentioned, you can have a LinkedIn newsletter, LinkedIn newsletter, which is everyone's going to have basically now as of last week, and repurpose all that. So yeah, you you interview, you go and identify who the topic and the the guests that can best help you translate that vision and that strategy, that whatever to communicate that and then just interviewing, get to know them. Not only that, when you interview them, they'll give you other connections to people, you know, they'll, they'll help you out. I mean, there's some backend stuff that really helps there too. And so I never have to reinvent the wheel. It's just it's made for me it's, you know, content in a box, you know? So, yeah, from top to bottom, and I'll share that because when I share the list, I think it's going to exactly detail all the ways.
Kap Chatfield 29:52
You what's interesting about the position that you're in, because you're a consultant that helps these b2b leaders really understand, like who they are, what's their vision, what what makes them unique. And this strategy of like this this show, I mean, a lot of people are doing this, we've had a lot of people on our show, who do who are doing their own shows. And a lot of them are deploying a, you know, a very similar version of the same strategy. Take a, take a show, get a clear message around it, cut it up, repurpose it in all these places. I'd love for you to speak into this, someone's hesitation might be, well, if everybody's doing that, what what, what makes one person's content or you know, content strategy, different or more valuable from another person's? I feel like it comes down to brand, but I want you to speak into that.
Michelle Griffin 30:43
Well, yeah, your brand says everything about you and you're gonna have a different you know, we're, if you are different, if you're a clear focus and differentiated, it's not gonna, you know, you're going to speak to the right people. Like, if you're just blending in and sounding like everyone, then of course, you don't want to do that. But that's why you've got to do the deep deep work, you know, with me or someone else, or, you know, I find it super hard to do it on your own. So get help any way you can. But you're going to exactly talk to the right people. And when we do my work together, 100% like in marketing, we go so deep on the customer, your client, your avatar, you've got to. So when you're speaking to the exact pain points of the people you're helping, they're going to hear you so that's all that's all it is, make sure you're positioned and clear and focused and you will, you will pop out. And you won't have to worry, there's no your competition is irrelevant at some degree when you're differentiated like that.
Kap Chatfield 31:33
That's amazing. Michelle, we're coming to the end of our episode now and I want to I want to ask you like a lightning round set of questions, okay? So I want you to not try to overthink it just say really what comes to mind, the first thing that comes to mind. The first question is as a consultant, what is a question that your clients typically ask you, that when they ask you, you think "that's not the right question you should be asking?"
Michelle Griffin 31:57
"Can I help everyone? Why why can't, why do I have to niche down? Why do I have to help this one avatar?" They don't get that.
Kap Chatfield 32:05
Yeah, making it like, well, "I sell, this product is for everybody". It's not yes, let's cut it down.
Michelle Griffin 32:10
And you would think it's so simple, but I it happens all the time. Or they think they're gonna you know, not they're gonna lose business that way. But essentially, they're they're actually going to help their business.
Kap Chatfield 32:19
It's amazing. That's, I've seen that all over the place. Okay, lightning round, got to say to stay on the script Kap, yes. Second question, is what's one question that you wished your client asked you more?
Michelle Griffin 32:35
Oh, my gosh, pass. I can't think I feel like I'm on that show. I got, I, can I tell you? I'm horrible thinking on my feet. One question. My, I wish my clients would ask me? Oh,
Kap Chatfield 32:50
Let me reframe the question for you. My,
Michelle Griffin 32:51
Okay, thank you.
Kap Chatfield 32:52
What's your, what's your favorite question to answer for your clients?
Michelle Griffin 32:57
Oh, "how is this gonna make a difference? And how do I make a difference?" And I say I we've, definitely thought you have a way to make a difference. So that, does that help?
Kap Chatfield 33:08
You nailed it! That's, look, you got it. It's in you. I knew it was in you.
Michelle Griffin 33:12
Okay.
Kap Chatfield 33:13
Michelle, this has been such a great episode, you clearly you're you're really good at what you do, at mining people, mining the gold out of people, helping bring that unique perspective, that unique value, making it clear the seven P's we're going to make that a micro video, so that people can digest that, and understand how you approach serving people. Everybody listening, if you want to follow Michelle Griffin, you should, go check out her LinkedIn profile, we'll put her LinkedIn profile link in the show notes and the description of this episode, as well as her website for BRANDthority and as well as the link for The Business of You show. Michelle, thanks so much for joining us on B2B Podcasting today.
Michelle Griffin 33:52
Oh my god, it's been so much fun. Thank you so much. You're a great host and I've had a blast. I appreciate it.
Kap Chatfield 33:58
You bet.
