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Uncensored CMO
LinkedIn CMO on how to grow your profile, what skills are most in demand and B2B marketing strategies - Jessica Jensen
00:46:47
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- [00:00]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the uncensored cmo. Now, in this episode, we're going to be talking all about LinkedIn with somebody that really knows what she's talking about. Jessica Jensen is the CMO for LinkedIn. Now, I know you have lots of questions because I asked LinkedIn to tell me what they want to find out in this episode and I got a barrage of comments. Now, if you want to find out what's changing the algorithm, how to make the most out of the platform, what to do if you're a creator, what to do if you're an advertiser, and. And so many more questions, you are going to get an answer to all of those. Jessica's amazing. She's bubbly, she's informed, she's full of energy and she's very honest. I know you will love this episode. So let's get into it. Jessica Jensen, welcome to the show.
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B
Oh, this is a treat. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, so thank you so
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A
much and thank you for doing this because I've been really looking forward to this conversation as an avid LinkedIn fan.
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B
Thank you.
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A
Myself, I use it.
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B
I follow you closely.
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A
Do you? Thank you. That's good to know. Now, we must talk about your LinkedIn profile. Of course. You've had an amazing career and done loads of super interesting things. So just for anyone listening and watching, give a little sense of your backstory.
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B
Well, I've been around these Internet parts for a little bit of time. Yeah. I've been at LinkedIn for a year as CMO, but I have worked in large tech companies, Apple, Facebook, booking holdings for a while. Not always as a marketer. I started in strategy consulting with the Boston Consulting Group, and so I consider myself a business person who later on became a marketer. But I love, you know, leading teams to take new mountains of growth. And LinkedIn, I mean, working here, this, our mission is to help people all over the world achieve economic opportunity. So we get to connect 1.3 billion members to over 70 million companies and organizations every day. So it's a real honor.
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A
Love that. Love that. There's something really powerful about a marketer that hasn't necessarily come from a marketing background. I studied finance. Yes. I spent lots of time in sales.
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B
That's right.
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A
And it just makes you appreciate the business requirements as well, doesn't it, in terms of what marketing is there to do?
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B
Well, I agree. And I always tell people, you know, early on in their careers, if you've selected marketing, please go do Some time in production, in sales, in finance, wear a different jacket and learn other parts of the business because it'll make you a better thinker, but it will a thousand percent make you a better marketer.
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A
100%. Now, you've worked in lots of different sectors and you worked in B2C and in B2B. It's a perennial question everyone's always having a really big argument about. Is B2B different to B2C? You've seen both. What do you think?
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B
I believe in B2P business to people. I think that buying decisions are made on a fusion of rational and emotional factors. That's 1000% true if you're buying a car, a bag of doritos or a SaaS product. And so I really always try to say to people, you know, good old fashioned audience understanding what are the needs, the desires, the hopes and the dreams of the people you're selling to. And that's really the core of marketing. Now your message should be clear and you have reasons to believe and your creative is cut through and exciting. Certainly. Are there differences? Absolutely. But there's more similarity.
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A
Amen to that. I love that. I think that's probably the best answer I've ever heard to that question. So thank you for that. Now, talk about people as well. You've led lots of teams across lots of different businesses. Any insight into how do you build high performing teams?
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B
Well, as you know, it is a certain kind of alchemy if you're clear on what your mission is and who you are trying to help in what way. So LinkedIn help workers of the world find economic opportunity, help companies, governments and organizations acquire talent, grow their businesses, grow their economies. If you're really crisp and clear about who you're trying to help and why, you will be able to communicate that well. And then you will attract the best talent and because the best talent, as we know, wants purpose and great work and hopefully a great manager. So you're trying to construct the environment where those things are true. The purpose is clear. The managers are thoughtful, communicative, empathetic, expect and drive high performance, but they're not jerks. And an environment where jerks are, shall we say, removed to another pasture. I also am a huge believer in the value of feedback. And I think that most companies under index radically on feedback. I believe in radical candor and giving feedback up, down, sideways is how we learn and grow. So, you know, I have been very blessed to work in organizations that care about people and training and developing people and also having very High expectations for what we can deliver from a growth and impact perspective. I am at my age still learning how to be a good manager and leader. It is a journey with no end. But I've been very fortunate to get to work with some fantastic teams.
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A
Your final point is so true as well. Is it like dealing with people is a never ending task and the job is never done?
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B
Is it?
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A
And people always will present surprising challenges that you've never seen before?
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B
Well, and a lot of people say, I want to get into people management. And I always say, awesome, be careful what you wish for because you know you are not only responsible for your own work product, you're responsible for the work product of the people that work for you and the experience that they have working for you and with your customers. So yes, I mean, I've gotten bigger and bigger teams over time and it is complex and, and challenging and I get advice from people around me. I, I've recently received some feedback notes from people on my team that totally blew my eyelids off and I had to recalibrate the way I'm leading. So as long as you have an open mind and an open heart, you know, we can make it work.
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A
Love that. I love the humility of that. That's so important, isn't it? Now, of course, LinkedIn provides an enormous opportunity for people to find jobs all around the world. You must have so much data like the data you must have on what are people looking for, where are the jobs, what's changing? What can the platform tell us about? I think if I were to frame it maybe differently, everyone's thinking, what's the impact AI is going to have on the job market? So I just wonder what, what does your data tell us about the changing job market? What skills are being looked for? You know, what's happening?
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B
Well, if you like data on labor, bring a snorkel. We've got a lot. Yes. So we have an economic research group and they please seek them out if you don't know about them. On LinkedIn, they do phenomenal insights work based on our absolute rafts of data around the world. So we were recently at Davos and we shared our 2026 Labor Insights report. And I think a few things are quite interesting. Macro economies have been rather challenging over the last few years and due to multiple factors, hiring is at a lower rate than it has been in most sectors. Healthcare is an exception. India is growing. There are pockets of brightness. So an interesting falsehood that a lot of people believe and that has been shared by the media. Is that AI is eating entry level jobs. That is actually not true. So our data shows that AI is currently and always subject to change, creating more jobs than it's eating, and that there are many macroeconomic factors, primarily interest rates, that have driven the compression and the cuts that many companies are making. So does that mean we're out of the woods on AI? Absolutely not. But there are some falsehoods out there. And so I really encourage people to get into our data and understand it. I mean, another couple of interesting insights. The rate at which people are adding founder to their profile has increased, depending on the company country, over 60%. Wow. In the last year. So what does that mean? People are betting on themselves. They're saying there's an uncertain labor market. You know, maybe my job has disappeared, maybe my job won't exist. Maybe I want to do something where I have more agency and control and I can use AI tools to start and run a business at a rate that has never been possible before. So we're seeing a blossoming in entrepreneurship, which I think is really exciting. And then the last point I'll make, and then I'll shut up about it. Younger people are increasingly interested in trades, plumbing, electricity, et cetera, because those things won't be taken away by AI.
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A
How interesting is that?
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So they are seeing job security in many of these areas. I would say I would add parts of health care to that. And so young people are not dumb. They're paying attention. They're either starting a business, you know, becoming a plumber, maybe becoming a creator, and possibly all at the same time.
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Wow.
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So the explosion in types of work and type of types of jobs that we're seeing on our platform and that workers are embracing is, I think, a sign of the flexibility that we're going to see in the AI era.
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A
I wonder what is changing in terms of skill sets that employers are looking for as well. Are you seeing a change in the kinds of things employers are looking for when people are applying for jobs?
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B
Well, I think AI literacy and skills are obviously becoming table stakes. I mean, you know, you can't work in marketing and not be able to do, you know, copy production and image creation and video creation and all these things with AI tools like so definitely there is a level and same in law and many different fields, table stakes of AI literacy and capability. Also, in this wonderful world of AI explosion, the value of human creativity, human judgment, strategic thinking, clear writing, clear communication, the ability to collaborate with other human beings, the importance of those skills is growing. So things that we used to call soft skills are now becoming requirements. So when people come to me and say, you know, what should my 24 year old daughter do? Or you know, I'm a 35 year old marketing manager, like, how do I prepare for the future? Get down and dirty and use AI tools and build things and really bone up on your clear writing skills, negotiation, collaboration, strategy. Because those are skills that AI won't take, they can't replace.
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A
That's so fascinating, isn't it? You know that in a way AI is actually forcing us to become more human rather than less human.
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B
That is brilliant.
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Which is exciting, isn't it?
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That is exciting.
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And you could, because I think, you know, we're trading fear now for optimism because actually what makes us human will become even more valuable in the future.
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I love that. It will force us to over index on our human skills and talents.
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Exactly.
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And the value of those for people who do them well will increase exponentially.
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A
Last year I was actually hosting a CMO round table at LinkedIn actually, which is a lot of fun. It was so much fun. We covered loads of topics. But there's one topic that everybody had an opinion about and it really divides the room, not in a negative way, but in terms of different experiences, whether or not you can build a personal brand on LinkedIn while also working for a company. So some people's experience was like, oh, I wouldn't possibly share my opinions on LinkedIn or if I spend time on my profile, it's not really work through to companies that had a very open mind to it going. Of course, every individual should be building their personal profile and the personal profile benefits the company totally. I'd love to know your point of view and what advice do you give people.
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B
Obviously I am a passionate believer that people should and can build a personal brand and more importantly, have a point of view, share themselves on LinkedIn. Now, do different companies have different tolerances? For sure. I have worked for companies where if I went, you know, far afield into my personal views, that would have been unacceptable. LinkedIn is not one of those companies. So people have to use very good judgment, of course. But I firmly believe, and this is very true for us at LinkedIn, you as a worker, as a human, having experiences, a point of view, sharing your learnings, sharing your weaknesses, sharing what did an expert or somebody, a mentor, teach you builds your credibility as a worker, as a leader, and that accrues to your company brand, hopefully. Right? And so I say, and I'm probably zanier than the Average bear on LinkedIn I do a lot of videos wearing, you know, flamingo sunglasses and that's who I am. I'm from an improv comedy background. I'm a fairly silly person. I, I also think I'm a pretty serious business lady and so I share a lot about LinkedIn and about other things that I care about through my personality. I wish more people did that. And the best people on our platform and the leaders of companies that are themselves and are interesting and unique do the best for their companies on LinkedIn.
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A
I couldn't agree with you more. I've basically seen this play out the last set. So I joined coming to current workforce System One joined them seven years ago and intentionally created a strategy to build my personal profile and others in the team on LinkedIn. Obviously we invested in our corporate site as well, but we basically took a view of the more we can give away, the more information we give away, the more we can share online, the more we'll get back. And I've been blown away by the power of that.
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B
The value of that is incredible.
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So, like, from a recruitment point of view, we've hired people, I think like two or three levels above where we should be hiring because they've, they've got to know us.
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B
They know your culture, they know who, the vibe. It's so valuable.
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A
Yeah. And then from a lead generation point of view, it's been insane. Like I get. Well, I say I and other people in the team, it's not just me, but we get like inbound inquiries daily, sometimes multiple. And every time we, you know, share something useful on LinkedIn, it's, it comes, comes straight back in terms of lead generation. And I actually looked at the, I looked at the data as well, just to see how does our corporate site. And if I take my LinkedIn profile compare, which is fascinating because I've got about the same number of followers as our company site, 15 times the reach. So that just, just shows what a personal brand can do. But everybody that follows me personally knows who I work for and, and all those leads come in. But it's been incredible.
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B
Well, I meet with so many leaders from companies who say, you know, our CEO does a post a month and then our does an earnings post and I'm like, awesome, that's great. Those people should be sharing their point of view from their own personality at a much higher volume. And by the way, you have 3,000 other people.
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Yes.
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That you should be training, encouraging, supporting. And I get. People are intimidated. I get that, of course. But if you just teach people grab A phone takes three minutes. What are two things you learned? What's a customer that you recently had a super successful engagement with? If you get people in the mode of feeling comfortable, sharing and not making it some big art production, the value that that drives for them as professionals, for their career, long term, at your company and beyond, and for your company night and day.
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A
Now, going back to our human point as well, people sometimes feel they have to be super polished and professional. The best posts on LinkedIn. I mean, producer James is laughing because we were prepping for a podcast in LA yesterday. He took a photo of me writing my notes for the podcast, popped out on LinkedIn and got this crazy amount of engagement. Everyone wanted to know what I'd written in my diary, you know, what is John writing in it sort of thing.
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B
Because they want to see.
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They want to see behind the curtain. Exactly.
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My single most successful post on LinkedIn was me in a ball pit wearing a pink blow up flamingo.
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A
That's amazing.
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B
And I talked about legitimate marketing topics, but I was in a completely ridiculous setting. It was a can. So me talking out of the body of a pink flamingo. Let's have some fun. Let's mix it up, right? Like, just because LinkedIn is a professional network doesn't mean you can't be fun. So I just, I want, I want to bring the anxiety down and the, the meaning and the, and the human expression up.
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A
I love your improv comedy experience as well, because the people killing it on LinkedIn are comedians. There are so many amazing, like, kind of work comedians out there that absolutely nailing it, aren't they?
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B
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And we're now seeing a blossoming of sports figures on LinkedIn. Right? Like talking about, you know, their coaches and their team experience and, you know, even saying, you know, after this season, I'm open to work. Right. And I just think that's the kind of personality that we love to see blossom here.
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It is, isn't it? So if you were, if you were meeting someone and giving them, let's say, three top tips for building their personal profile on LinkedIn, what would the top three things be?
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B
Have a point of view. What do you stand for and what do you believe and what are you learning? Share that. Do it in short form video. Don't overthink it. Make it snappy, make it insightful. And from your personality, post it with captions and engage with the comments. This is probably the secret sauce that you've figured out. Most people post something and then sit there and watch what happens. The true Jedi engage with the comments that drives massive reach and engagement. And they are commenting on the posts of other people that they admire and they follow. And that networking effect is magical.
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A
So true. It might surprise people to learn. Some of my best LinkedIn posts have not being post. That being me commenting on some. Someone else's post. That will get tens of thousands of impressions. Exactly right. If you make an intelligent enough comment or a funny comment on someone else's post, it can blow up.
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B
Yeah. Don't write I agree or nice one. Put a moment of thought into it.
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A
Yeah. And the other thing, I love your phrase about taking the pressure away as well, because I find you can have an opinion or just bring a point of view or drop in a story. You know, you don't have to overthink it. You can just, you know, or celebrate, you know, someone's post. You know, it doesn't have to be. You don't have to write War and Peace.
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B
That's right.
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Just engage.
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B
That's right. Yeah.
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A
Now we must talk about the algorithm.
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B
Sure.
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Okay, so it seems that.
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B
How much time do we have?
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I know this is an entire podcast and it's saying, right, so much debate last year. The algorithm obviously changed in a big way last year, and people have seen reach going up and down. So any insight you can bring on what has changed, and I particularly want to understand what should people be doing more of now, given. Given where the algorithms are.
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B
The algorithm and the L feed is a living, breathing organism. Number one, we've had a 41% increase in posts in the last three years, which is a blessing. That means there's more content. And as we've seen with every social media platform, as content and people go up, organic Reach goes down. However, we are constantly adjusting the algorithm based on trends, behavior, topics, people's connections. So again, it changes all the time. And we are making many adjustments even now, particularly in the realm of AI. So unfortunately, a lot of people are using AI to write posts now, and they're quite noticeable. We believe that AI is a great writing tool and can help you, but that actually being a human with a voice and a pen matters. I just want people to understand, you know, these things flux and we make changes and then we adjust and we learn. That being said, what should people do? Back to what we talked about before, have a point of view, write or video, something meaningful and insightful. Commenting on yours and other people's posts is incredibly important to building your audience and to getting the best content served to you. I think AI can be a great assist. Don't over rely on it because it ends up all sounding the same and sometimes very silly. And I think building your network is key. So are you following experts in your field? Are you reaching? You know, let's say I saw a post from you. Did I reach out to connect with you? Did I? You know, I mean, so thinking strategically about who you want to be receiving content from and sharing content to.
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A
All right, all right. Sorry to interrupt this conversation. I promise you it's for a good cause. So I've just put a rather large deposit down on a very big venue in central London called the Outernet that can hold 400 people. It's an amazing venue. Now we're going to be doing the very first uncensored cmo, the Calling. Now what is the Calling? The Calling is your opportunity to join us live and be inspired by the world's best founders, the most inspirational CMOs and the best thought leaders. This is one day that will completely transform your career. I promise it will be well worth it. I'm so excited to be doing this and if you want to find out more details, please go to the Show Notes and check it out. And I really look forward to seeing you there. It's on the 21st of April, do not miss it. Now back to the show. Now, one thing I must ask you a big, big story. Last year post algorithm change was around gender. So there was a huge discussion, right? Huge discussion where lots of women were posting, they were seeing engagement down and there were some stories around. I think women were changing their gender on LinkedIn and seeing a massive increase. What's the truth behind that? Because there's a lot of people that want to know the answer.
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B
Yes, unfortunately there are people who think that there is gender discrimination on LinkedIn and I want to be clear. Gender, race, a number of different demographic factors are not factored into the algorithm. I will tell you that as an ardent feminist and someone who has fought for equal opportunity and voices for women in politics, business and the media, it is personally painful to me that people think that this exists on LinkedIn. It is not part of the algorithm. Some people have proposed that there are studies that compare, you know, various factors and changes back to what we were talking about in the algorithm. The algorithm is extremely complex and there are many different factors. So you can post one thing about one topic at one time and get a very different response at another time because people are commenting and sharing and the dynamics of the feed are changing at all times. But changing your name from A woman's name to a man's name is not one of those factors. So I just really hope that people will believe that that is not part of the deal. And I certainly couldn't work for a company that sponsored any kind of discrimination.
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A
I totally agree and understand something you said to me before as well that helped me understand is you can take the same post at two different times a day. Oh yeah, and, and the algorithm will respond differently to the algorithm. So there's an element of randomness about.
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B
Sure. There's demand happening at all times which changes by time and day and followership and comments and, and that's, that's, that's not a LinkedIn thing. That's true of, you know, any feed based social media.
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A
Now you're obviously very senior and public figurehead for LinkedIn and you've personally taken a lot of criticism as well, haven't you, around this topic. How does it make you feel?
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B
It's, it's heartbreaking to me. I mean, as I said, I act. If you go and read my stuff on LinkedIn, you will know where I stand on sexism, racism, all forms of discrimination. So yeah, I mean I have been personally attacked and that is painful. I, I support anyone who is fighting for equality. So I want to be clear that I respect people seeking the truth and equality. And I think there's some misbelief out there and it's painful to me because
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A
I think this is an important conversation, not just for the topic, but actually something I found. Building a personal profile is I put fairly. I mean there's nothing that controversial about anything I do. And yet you will attract some criticism. There will be people, absolutely. That whether you want it or not, are gonna seek you out and gonna make, gonna criticize you. They don't want good things for you. Right. And it's kind of a, it's a reality of building a.
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B
You have to have a thick skin.
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A
So what advice would you give somebody? I think a lot of people don't engage with LinkedIn as much as they could do because of the fear of that kind of reaction.
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B
Well, I think one of the huge benefits of LinkedIn is that people are their real self and your professional reputation is tied to your name. That generally helps people behave better than some other places. So I think it is a cleaner, safer environment, but also can be intimidating in that way. And so I think that, you know, a lot of the dialogue on LinkedIn is very respectful, very, you know, helpful and human and so jump into that, get in the swim Comment share. But, you know, it's part of life. It's part of. I get so much value out of what people share with me and say to me. I got an InMail today of feedback on some things illuminating and helpful, and I read and respond to every message I receive.
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A
Yeah, I do that too, actually. That's really good advice. And I think I found I used to get anxiety from the negative comments, and then I've learned to sort of almost treat them as funny now, talking about the changes on the platform as well. So what's new? What's new in terms of features on LinkedIn? What are the kind of things that people looking for jobs should be engaging with?
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B
Sure. Not surprisingly, we're bringing AI to bear to good result in a number of different ways. Let's be honest, the job market in many places is really challenging, and 50% of people are looking for a new job right now.
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A
No way.
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B
50.
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A
50%?
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B
50.
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A
Wow. How does that compare? Historically? That's a huge number.
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B
Much higher. Yes.
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A
Wow.
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B
So. And that is many different dynamics. Right. Macroeconomic decline, company downsizing, desire to change jobs, get new skills. So that's many different things. So we have copious amounts of learning resources for workers on LinkedIn teaching. You know, come learn AI skills with us, learn new crafts as marketers come. I mean, the raft of learning resources that we have available to companies and people is enormous. Also, we have launched something called AI job search. So before you used to be like finance manager, Los Angeles. Right. And now you can write in, I want to work in the environment. I have a graphic design background, and I used to work in banking. I just totally made up that fruit salad of terms. So you can express what you're looking for and combine a number of different elements with AI that then allow us to widen the aperture of opportunities for you. People are discovering new fields and jobs that they would never have found through traditional search. So that's super exciting. And then, as I said before, people are becoming creators, people are becoming founders, people are doing three or four different jobs at the same time and flexing up and down. And I think that that's really exciting. So, like, what do you want to build? Because AI will let you build things that you could never have done before and bring it to LinkedIn and promote it and get it out there and get people excited about it. So I think people are having to kind of shake the snow globe of their own conception of what is a job or what is work. And we're trying to help people on that path.
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A
It's so exciting. I mean, there's never been a better time in the whole of human history than now to create something new.
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B
I think that that is very likely true.
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A
Yeah. The speed to market, that's scary to
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a lot of people. Yes, very scary. So getting people comfortable with shaking off inertia and trying new things, I mean, what small businesses are able to build and deliver now is cosmic.
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A
Now, if we flip that from Jobseeker creator to the other side.
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B
Sure.
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A
Right. From a marketing point of view or an advertiser point of view, what are the new features on LinkedIn that will enable brands to sell themselves?
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B
Creators are blossoming and many are building their own successful businesses. I think you would probably fit into that category. So we have partnered with many creators. We have a program called BrandLink which allows you to buy advertising with some of the leading creator voices in the world. So that's super exciting. We have a thing called thought leadership ads. So people who create excellent content, a video on top three trends in AI and marketing, or, you know, insert topic here, you can promote your, your firm, your thought leadership, your insights. And I will tell you, those ads, I use them myself, they perform extremely well. We have a very, very rich events platform. There are 20,000 events hosted on LinkedIn every week. And so companies are promoting in person events or hosting events on LinkedIn, which allows you to do incredible audience building, lead gen, you know, all kinds of things. So those are just a few of the things. But, you know, we believe bring your best creativity to LinkedIn and we have a very wide variety of ways for you to reach and build an audience.
- [32:21]
A
Now talking about bringing your best creativity to LinkedIn. Yeah, yeah, I know we're gonna violently agree on this, right, this next statement, but B2B does not have to be boring. This has been the platform, of course, for you as LinkedIn. Absolutely doing it. I think my, my biggest reaching LinkedIn post ever was me reviewing one of your ads.
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B
Oh, really?
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It's the one with the forklift truck going into the meeting room. And I think I might have even said, finally There's a funny B2B hat.
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B
We're making progress.
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A
Finally we're making progress. We're bringing a sense of humor to the world of business, you know, but it's true, isn't it? Like, B2B doesn't have to be boring. And yeah, I mean, I did some work at System One about five or six years ago actually, in partnership with you guys, where we looked at 80% of B2B ads were on our system of one to five star, one star, they weren't generating an emotional response. This takes us right back to the beginning where you talked about people, people buying from people. Now, why is it that somehow when we're in a work environment, we think we have to be all very serious and dull?
- [33:24]
B
Yeah, well, that's. We could spend all day on that topic. I think that traditionally a lot of B2B marketing has been really product marketing. And it's like, you know, user need value prop, some product specs and some performance data. That's not creative. It doesn't appeal to human emotion. The people who buy technology, bank services, you know, cybersecurity, etcetera, they are actually human beings and you have to get their attention and grab their heart and their mind. Now, I will say it is a particular exciting challenge for a marketer to do the hard work of the, you know, why would you spend a million dollars on this software thing, et cetera. So there has to be some real. It's not Doritos, right? Like, you have to have the meat, but you have to deliver it in a way that opens people's hearts and minds and maybe occasionally makes people laugh. And so I have seen the earnestness level of B2B marketing decline A bit of late, which I am cheering. I see more humor and I also see more pathos and more empathy in some forms of B2B marketing. Now, there's still a lot that's like, buy this security feature and I wish them the best.
- [34:47]
A
Love that. One of the things I think you do really well, actually, LinkedIn, is your B2B institute, because you're providing some of the ammunition that people need to win the argument about how advertising should be done. And I think that's providing a really powerful service to people.
- [35:03]
B
Thank you.
- [35:03]
A
So, yeah, big, big fan of that. So here we are in San Francisco and the sun has finally come out after about five days of rain.
- [35:09]
B
I'm sorry, we should have done that.
- [35:11]
A
It must be me. I know I've clearly brought the London weather over. I've seen your AI billboards all the way from the airport to here, which is amazing. So you've taken over the town, which is great, but I love the sense of humor that you're putting on display. What's the thinking behind that?
- [35:26]
B
So if you've been here. So you know, if anybody has been to the Bay Area, it is the main freeway artery, is the 101 free, and it is littered with billboards about AI and most of them are impossible to understand. AI for security. AI grow your business. They're bland, they're unspecific, you don't know what they're selling and you're certainly not excited. So we decided to create a set of billboards that basically make fun of billboards. And so things like we don't understand these other AI billboards, but we can hire you a new copywriter, come to LinkedIn. So we're having a bit of fun trying to provide something specific and clear about what we can provide and also maybe, you know, just, just tip our hat to some other. Some other folks love that.
- [36:25]
A
Yeah, really, really. And very noticeable as well. Well branded as well. Very simple and well branded. So hard to miss on the journey here, which is great. I wanted to touch as well on how you build a good B2B kind of marketing strategy. So how are you building your strategy for LinkedIn and what advice would you give other people?
- [36:42]
B
Sure. Well, I mean a lot of it is back to good old basic, you know, what is the audience you're trying to reach? What insights do you have about what they're struggling with? What do they need? And I really, I am a passionate believer in specificity of message and having core message. We have a thing here that we use called song sheet. What is the core message for each of our audience segments that makes our value crisp and clear and exciting, not boring. And then you layer your reasons to believe and your proof points onto that. That sounds as easy as pie. The number of companies that do that well is very small. So starts with clarity of message. Then you're thinking about what is the wrapping, what is the creative that moves the heart and the mind and is distinctive? I mean, I think in B2B there's a lot of stuff that smells and looks the same. And so you better be driving a forklift into a meeting room or we recently did a small business ad where it was littered with vampires. You know, like, don't hire the office vampire into your small business. And people were like fashioning wooden stakes and dragging silver chains around. I mean like be, be different, be exciting. And then, you know, B2B sales cycles are longer. And so you are building trust and a relationship over time. And so the inner linkage between your marketing and your creative and your sales team and your customer service and making sure that all of those things are connected and flowing to build that long term trust is critical. And now we're in the world of LLM and Geo Sear and so people are having to completely retool, I think in smart and obvious ways their content development and distribution strategy to be successful in LLM search. LinkedIn happens to be the second most cited source for high quality content and LLMs, in some models, we're number one. So you have to be thinking about, am I getting my content out to all of the channels to drive that discovery, engagement, nurture, trust. Because you need these customers for years.
- [39:01]
A
Such a good. I love that. And you said something there which was very profound for me on my journey in terms of like LinkedIn, sorry, B2B strategy, which is the buyer journey can be quite long.
- [39:13]
B
Yes.
- [39:13]
A
And this is something, I think people just don't realize the importance of building a brand as well, because I think it's the Ehrenberg Bass Data point of 95.5. Like most people are not in market.
- [39:23]
B
That's right, that's right. That's right. And the average buying cycle is seven months.
- [39:26]
A
Yeah, right. Once you understand the average buying cycle and once you understand that most people are not thinking about buying you now, that product message you're ramming down people's throats is wasted on 19 out of 20 people. So, you know, it's so important to
- [39:41]
B
think the number of Companies who understand B2B branding and the interplay between branding and product marketing and performance marketing, marketing is very limited. It is an art and a science. So many companies rely on not just, you know, spots of product info. And that's not how you nurture buyers 100%.
- [40:05]
A
And to compound that, the other point you just said there as well, about distinctiveness is so important because when the buying cycle comes around, you need to make sure it's your brand that's on the consideration set. That's the other thing. So you need to build the fame in advance and make sure they remember you when they're sat around a table like this going, who should we get on our vendor list for this thing? We're going to buy next week. So, so important. Love that a lot. Now, I did a little LinkedIn post in preparation for this.
- [40:31]
B
Oh, yes, I saw.
- [40:32]
A
Which I know you saw.
- [40:33]
B
It developed into a tsunami of engagement. Thank you for doing that.
- [40:37]
A
Let's just say you're popular, but they
- [40:40]
B
had a lot of questions about LinkedIn, let's put it that way.
- [40:44]
A
Now, hopefully we've covered, yeah, a good number of those questions. I thought I'd just touch on a few that came up and I must apologize. Everyone listening, thinking that they're going to get an answer to every single question.
- [40:55]
B
I'm sorry, I'll go back and Put some more comments in your.
- [40:59]
A
Thank you. That's a lovely thing to. Thank you for doing that, by the way, because that'll be nice, rather than me getting the heat on. John, you didn't ask my question number 54.
- [41:06]
B
I'm here to shovel with you. Absolutely.
- [41:08]
A
We'll do this together. Okay. A few little questions that came up which, which I thought were interesting and adds to the conversation we just had. Nishma here was talking about as younger people enter the workforce the first time, you know, we talked about the changes in kind of the world of work. How is LinkedIn supporting younger people in particular to get their first start?
- [41:29]
B
So, first of all, you should focus on building a network. So you should be researching and following experts in your field, people that you want to learn from, reaching out to them, connecting. Building Your network on LinkedIn is the first thing. Well, build a profile and make it clear and exciting, but then build your network because a lot of jobs come through a network and you will learn so much from the people that you're connected with and following. Use our AI job search to explore more widely than you may have thought previously. Don't pigeonhole yourself into certain jobs. Share with us your interests, your experience, maybe even your dreams, and we will return more things to you. We have copious amounts of learning material, expert learning material available. Also know that, you know, I always tell younger workers, unless you win the lottery, you're going to work for a long time. So try a lot of different things. Throw your hat in the ring. I also say, you know, use AI tools to demonstrate your skills. Make an interesting video about, about a company or a brand or an insight that you've had. Share it on LinkedIn that demonstrates that you're an insightful thinker and a strategist and that you know how to use AI.
- [42:59]
A
I totally agree. My, my oldest daughter's at university studying finance and the thing I keep on saying to her is just document your journey on LinkedIn.
- [43:07]
B
Totally.
- [43:08]
A
Just anything you've learned in lectures, just share it. Anything that was surprising you've discovered, just put it out there.
- [43:13]
B
You're building a portfolio. You're building a portfolio on LinkedIn.
- [43:16]
A
Your future self is gonna thank you because there'll be a job in 10 years time you don't even know you're gonna get yet. That's right. But you'll get because you built that
- [43:24]
B
profile and the network.
- [43:25]
A
Yeah, and the network. Exactly, exactly. So it's super important.
- [43:28]
B
That's excellent advice.
- [43:29]
A
Now, coming to this, I thought was a lovely question. That came up as well. And I've seen this play out. I feel this myself. The slight stigma of putting the open to work banner.
- [43:41]
B
Oh, yeah, yeah, this was a cool comment.
- [43:43]
A
What a great comment. This is from Talia here. And she was suggesting maybe that could be flipped to make it a little bit less of a stigma and more of a challenge to, you know, future employers to almost pitch themselves.
- [43:55]
B
Yeah, I thought the idea was like, change that banner to open to triple your sales, open to drive EBITDA for your company. Open to, you know, I mean, like you could really put some creativity into that. I thought that was such a great idea. I'm going to take that up internally. I think it's a really cool one.
- [44:12]
A
Amazing, right? So Talia, you've heard it here first. Amazing, Talia.
- [44:16]
B
I'm working on it.
- [44:17]
A
There you go. Come on. You might get a job at this rate. Creator, a lot of questions came about. Again, I've got too many to kind of summarize in one go, but a lot of questions around creators that depend on the platform and they're building their businesses and they're seeing their reach, organic reach, decline. Any advice specifically for creators?
- [44:36]
B
Well, I gave it earlier. So the advice is have a point of view, know what you stand for and think, share your insights, learnings, advice, primarily in short form. Video. Use captions, use visual hooks in your video content. I tend to use ridiculous tropical bird sunglasses. You pick your own. Respond to comments on your posts, comment on other people's posts. And you know, the more you build your network, the better your, you know, your, your creator strategy will thrive.
- [45:15]
A
And I think as well, you referenced as well, there are partnership programs as well for creators that link creators to brands as well. So there are the support available behind the scenes as well.
- [45:24]
B
So reach out and make sure we're building more there.
- [45:26]
A
Yeah, go and find out because that's. Yeah, that's very exciting. I would love to continue this conversation.
- [45:32]
B
Oh my gosh. I really wish literally we could do like seven hours.
- [45:34]
A
In fact, we could do an entire episode just on the questions. Thank you everyone for leaving us those questions. Jessica, thank you so much.
- [45:41]
B
This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you to everyone who sent in questions. And we, we are constantly working to make LinkedIn work better for all of you and so keep the feedback and ideas coming.
- [45:55]
A
Brilliant. Thank you so much. Thank you for doing it.
- [45:57]
B
Thank you.
- [45:59]
A
So I hope you enjoyed that episode of Uncensored CMO as much as I enjoyed making it. Now, by the way, I've got a new newsletter so if you'd like to get my thoughts on the One Thing that I take out from each episode every week, then do subscribe to the One Thing newsletter. I'd really appreciate it. Also, I have another podcast just launched, Uncensored Renegades with the fabulous Corey Marchisoto. She is one of the world's best CMOS. She's an absolute rock star. Every week we pick one topic, spend 20 minutes trying to fix it. So check out that it's in your feed. Uncensored Renegades. And finally, I want to give a huge thank you to my sponsor, System One. They generously provide so much support for this podcast, it would not happen without them. So big thanks and lots of love to System One. I'll see you next time.