The Best Marketing Comes from the Founder
We are personal storytellers for tech founders and top executives, and we help them transform their business knowledge into content that sells. Yesterday I took the stage at Dreamicon by Dreamups Conference in Chisinau and talked about how to use your founder story to generate leads on LinkedIn. You can see the recording here:
The reason I wrote this article is to show you how you can use your own story, using your own words, to build trust, awareness, and ultimately generate leads on LinkedIn.
But first, let me start with mine.
My Story
Chances are, you won’t remember anything from article. But if you do remember something, most likely you will remember this story 🙂
It’s April 2018, and I am in Croatia, in Rimini, attending my 4th MBA Module.
I’m sitting at a table with another 5 people. All of them were super chill and relaxed, enjoying the course, while I was very stressed, constantly checking my emails and going out to take calls.
Back in Romania, my team was opening our 7th branch. At that time, I wasn’t in tech. I had a cleaning company, and at its peak, we had more than 100 employees and a national presence across Romania.
One of the guys at the table approaches me during one of the breaks and asks me why I’m that stressed. And I told him about my business.
He tells me, “Wow, that’s so cool. We are also selling a software product in 20 countries.”
And, I asked that guy: “So you tell me that you have employees and offices in 20 countries??”
And of course he starts laughing, but that was my knowledge of software back in 2018.
However, the guy was very kind and explained to me that he has a team of 20, all of whom work from the same office, and they are selling this digital product.
And I was fascinated by this. I knew how hard it is to scale a classic business, and the idea of selling a product worldwide, from one office in Bucharest, or London, or whatever, just fascinated me.
That was the moment I decided to sell the cleaning business and start a software company.
I failed 3 products so far, so I haven’t found the software product yet, but with our services at The Simplifier, we have clients in 8 countries across 3 continents.
We work from everywhere, we can sell everywhere, and I’m living my dream.
Why am I telling you this? Because back then, I discovered the power of software. And after selling my first business, I started working as a marketing and sales consultant for tech companies. They needed me to explain and sell their complex technologies, and I needed to learn the industry.
The biggest click for me was when I discovered the power of storytelling.
Founder-Generated Content – The Best Stories Come from the Founder
At The Simplifier, we help founders turn their real stories into content that builds trust and sells. We believe that the best marketing comes from the founder. Because no one can promote the company better than the person who built it. Especially when you are in the early stages.
We believe in authenticity, and we believe that authenticity is the new premium, and we encourage founders to tell their story.
Use LinkedIn as a stage
Post at least 2-3 times a week because this is how you build visibility.
Visibility leads to familiarity.
When you’re familiar, people trust you.
And if they trust you, they buy from you. This is how it works.
Tell Your Story
So what stories should you actually tell?
1. How it started
Talk about how you started. Let people know the why. What’s the problem, or dream that pushed you forward. People always connect with beginings
2. How it’s going
Then, talk about how it’s going. Write about your daily work, wins, and failures. Share the successes, but also the failures, and how you overcome them. People love resilience stories
3. Social proof
You must always provide proof that your solution is truly valuable. You can show testimonials, case studies, and provide proof that your product actually helps people.
But not only this. Social proof can also mean sharing in public that you lost a deal. That you made a mistake and that costs you. This is also social proof. It’s the proof that you’re real. And when you also share the not so nice parts, people will relate to you and you will build trust.
Your Expertise Is Enough. You Just Need to Capture It.
You don’t need to become a master copywriter or a marketing expert. You already have everything you need: your experience, business expertise, and stories.
You just need a system to capture what’s already in your head and turn it into content that builds trust and drives results.
We put together the Founder-Generated Content system into a short course. This is a step-by-step guide that walks you through the full process, and each step is documented with clear instructions and resources.
This is the exact method we use to transform the 1-hour monthly interviews with our clients into high-impact LinkedIn posts. You can apply the same process today, on your own, and start telling your story on LinkedIn.
The Shortcut If You Need Help
If you have the time and want to do it yourself, go for it!
But if you prefer a shortcut, where we do all the heavy lifting and keep your voice 100% intact, you know where to find us.
If you want to learn more about the process, book a free call with us, and we’ll walk you through all the steps.
Thanks for reading, and keep showing up!