Hey Everyone
Last week's newsletter about B2B Influencer Marketing was quite a hit (thank you for all the positive responses), so I decided to follow up here with a very practical one. We know that going into 2025, leveraging founder and CEO brands will be a major play, but how do we create a content for them? What does that content strategy look like?
I've reached out to a long-time connection of mine, Sam Browne, who is probably one of the biggest names in the business of building founder brands. Sam was kind enough to share a breakdown of his winning content playbook.
Enjoy the read.
Stefan
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How marketing teams can create LinkedIn
content for founder-led marketing.
by Sam Browne |
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I started posting content on LinkedIn in January 2022.
I didn’t have a strategy. I had never heard of a “personal brand”. I had no idea what would happen in the months and years to come.
I just felt a strong desire to take all the lessons I’d learned from nearly 20 years as a founder, and share them with other people.
Two years and more than 500 posts later, I hit 100,000 followers.
My LinkedIn profile has become my primary income source, connected me with a global network of extraordinary people, and given me an unfair advantage as a founder and business leader.
My goal today is to distill the lessons I learned over those two years, and break down how marketing teams can use LinkedIn for founder-led marketing.
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The 3 Pillars of LinkedIn Content
LinkedIn content typically fits into one of three categories - Authority, Personal and Sales content. Let’s look at each in turn.
Authority Content
Authority content is about educating your audience, and becoming a trusted authority in your niche. For most content creators on LinkedIn (founders, CEOs or otherwise), this will make up the lion’s share of their content. I suggest around 65% of your content should be authority content.
Authority content can include:
- Quick Win - Share a single action your followers can take to achieve a quick win in less than 15 minutes.
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Pain Point - Address a pain point your audience faces, and share the solution to solve it.
- FAQ - Answer a question your clients often ask you.
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Step by Step Guide - Give your audience a simple, step by step process to achieve a desirable outcome.
- Myth vs. Fact - Bust a common myth, and provide the truth.
How to Extract Authority Content from Your Founder:
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Conduct a 30-minute Q&A: Ask the founder about recurring questions from clients or insights they share in meetings. Use prompts like, “What’s a quick tip you always share that people love?”
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Review their emails and decks: Founders often create great content in the form of email responses or presentation slides. Turn these into bite-sized LinkedIn posts.
- Audit their wins: Ask about recent breakthroughs or wins in their field—then reverse-engineer the process to create a postable content.
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Monitor FAQs in sales calls: Record sales calls or ask for feedback from sales teams on common customer questions that align with the founder’s expertise. You can use AI to analyze call scripts to speed this up.
Example: “Struggling with low conversion rates? Try this 10-minute fix to boost your landing page performance.” |
Personal Content Personal Content is about sharing stories and experiences that are unique to you.
Personal content is great for showcasing your personality, values and goals, and creating alignment and trust with followers who relate to you. I recommend around 25% of your content should be personal content.
Some tried and true personal content topics include: - My Journey to Success - Share your before and after story, from where you started to where you are now.
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Things I Learned The Hard Way - Share some “school of hard knocks” lessons you’ve learned along the way.
- How I Made It Through - Share a story of a challenge you were faced with, and how you overcame it.
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Behind the Scenes - Sharing what things actually look like behind the scenes makes you more relatable and more “real”.
- Lessons from Failure - Discuss a time when you failed, and what it taught you.
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Milestone Reflection - Share a recent milestone you’ve achieved in business or in your personal life, and the road it took to get there.
How to Extract Personal Content from Your Founder: -
Host a “Story Session”: Dedicate a session to digging into their journey. Use prompts like, “What’s one mistake you made early in your career that changed everything?” or “What’s a recent behind-the-scenes moment you’re proud of?”
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Dig through milestones: Identify moments from the founder’s career (promotions, launches, or pivots) and have them reflect on the lessons learned.
- Interview their peers: Sometimes, coworkers or team members remember better stories than the founder themselves.
Example: “In 2019, I almost shut my business down. Here’s how I turned it around (and the 3 lessons I learned the hard way).” |
Sales Content
The final 10% of your content is sales content. This is content that fills up your inbox with ideal fit clients.
The key with sales content is context. It really only works after you have laid the foundations with authority and personal content, and built trust.
Here are my two favorite frameworks for sales content: 1.) Proof Post
A proof post is like shrinking a landing page down into a LinkedIn post. It has all the ingredients of a successful landing page. -
Define Your ICP + Desired Outcome - Specify who you help and what you can do for them.
- Social Proof - Include testimonials that highlight tangible results. Use real quotes to back your claims. I recommend using between 5 and 10 testimonials.
- Featured & Benefits - Concisely outline your process, deliverables, and benefits. Keep it practical and actionable. Focus on the outcomes, not how you do it.
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CTA - Provide one or two simple ways for people to take action (e.g., link or DM).
2.) Client Success Post A client success post is a case study that focuses on a successful customer journey. - Before - Introduce the client, and the pain points they are experiencing before they work with you.
- Bridge - Describe the work you did with the client, and how it addressed their pain points.
- After - Share their successful after state, and how their pain points have been removed.
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Testimonial - Share the client’s own words about their experience working with you, and the return on their investment (money, time, happiness, skill). The more specific, the better.
- CTA - Let readers know how to take the next step towards working with you, and become your next success story.
How to Extract Sales Content from Your Founder:
- Ask for case studies: Founders often have direct insights into standout client success stories. Ask them to describe a specific client journey.
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Mine testimonials: Review testimonials and highlight those with quantifiable outcomes. Present them in a narrative format for LinkedIn.
- Compile ICP insights: Founders often have a clear vision of their ideal customer profile (ICP). Use this to frame posts that appeal directly to that audience.
Example: “We helped [client name] grow from $2M to $5M ARR in just 6 months. Here’s how we did it—and how you can too.” |
Final Takeaway
Founder-led marketing is hot right now on LinkedIn. By blending Authority, Personal, and Sales content—and tapping into your founder or CEO’s unique insights—you can create a brand that drives trust, builds relationships, and generates consistent leads via their personal profile.
Start small. Post consistently. And remember—your founder or CEOs LinkedIn profile is one of your most powerful distribution channels. |
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