May 5, 2025 • 20 mins
In this episode of the B2B Brand180 podcast, Linda discusses the development of Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) with Chris Fox, founder of Ideas-Led Growth. Chris explains the process of identifying and refining a USP, starting from understanding the fundamental change a product or service brings to the world. He emphasizes taking a step back from traditional marketing approaches to focus on the underlying passion and unique value that drives a business.
The episode also covers strategies for breaking down the USP into actionable marketing plans, including thought leadership content and targeted communication efforts.
01:42 Understanding Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)
04:51 Breaking Down USPs into Strategies
09:45 Implementing Thought Leadership in Marketing
17:04 Rapid Fire Question
More on Chris:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophergfox
Linda's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindafanaras/
Millennium Agency: Brand Strategy | Marketing | Web Design: https://mill.agency
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mill.agency/
Linda's Books:
Claim Your White Space
https://www.amazon.com/CLAIM-YOUR-WHITE-SPACE-CRITICAL-ebook/dp/B0CLK8VLYV
Passion + Profits: Fueling Business And Brand Success
https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Profits-Fueling-Business-Success-ebook/dp/B0CLLDDSNX/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the B2B Brand180 podcast where we discuss branding and marketing tools for business. My goal today is to provide transformative, innovative approaches that can help you make a 180-degree shift in your marketing efforts or complete reversals in brand strategies. Hi, I am Linda Fanaras and I'm the owner of Millennium Agency, a branding and growth strategy firm, and the host of the B2B Brand180 podcast. Today I'm bringing in Chris Fox, founder of Ideas-Led Growth. Chris is focused on amplifying voices. He's a ghost writer, mentor, does strategies, and he is skilled in developing messages that influence and inspire. Prior to his corporate world career, Chris taught literature and culture at the undergraduate and graduate level, and he holds a PhD in French literature from the John Hopkins University. So in this episode, you'll learn a few things. You'll better understand how to determine a unique selling proposition. Why is thought leadership still relevant in the world of B2B content and what are the best strategies or approaches companies can use to publish thought leaders? Those are just a couple of the topics that we'll be covering today. So now with our conversation with Chris, welcome Chris. It's great to have you here today.
Chris Fox (01:23):
Great, Linda.
Thank you.
I'm, I'm really looking forwardto the conversation.
And I guess, uh, since we're onvideo, the audience has already
met one of my best interns andwe had a little animal visitor
over my shoulder.
That's great.
But, uh, I've, I've sent himoff to go do some other tasks
and we can, uh, focus on ourconversation.
Linda Fanaras (01:39):
Fantastic.
So we'll just get started.
So let me ask you, Chris, sohow do you determine, how do you
determine a value propositionand what is the actual process
that goes with that?
Chris Fox (01:51):
Yeah, so I, I think that's a great question because
there, there's a lot of topicand talk about this, this idea
of generating a, a, a valueproposition or, or a USP and.
One of the ways that I like towork with clients is, is let's
kind of put all of that asideand take a further step back and
(02:12):
use that as your startingpoint.
And that step back is, and I,and I really believe this, I've
seen this from very large B2Borganizations that I've worked
with that are established andthey've been in business for
decades to startups that havejust gotten the ball rolling.
There's something reallyspecial that can anchor a USP.
(02:33):
That is, I believe that anyproduct or service is based on
an idea about change.
And what I mean by saying thatis that business owners or
product leaders just don't spendall of the time and energy and
all the intensity of developinga new product or a service
(02:55):
unless they really believe thatit's going to do something
better somehow.
And so the first place to starton that USP is take a step back
out of building mode and eventake a step back out of
marketing mode and think about,I am committing to this idea
because I believe that a changeis necessary in the world and it
(03:19):
can be a very microscopicchange.
So I devote my business ideasled growth to changing the way
financial institutions.
Do their thought leadership.
Now, if you look in the worldaround you, that's not a really
huge niche, but it works really,really well.
And a lot of the clients that Iwork with, they're developing
a, a very specific B2B productto help hedge funds do their
(03:43):
accounting or to help portfoliomanagers run their investments
or these often very, very nichetopics.
Chris Fox (2) (03:51):
Mm-hmm.
Chris Fox (03:52):
But underneath that, the reason why they're
dedicating all this time andenergy is because they believe.
A, that something needs to bechanged, and B, that they have
a, a set of tools and approachesand solutions for making that
change happen.
So when I start with clientsand when I would really talk to
anyone about A USP, I alwaysstart there as put everything
(04:16):
away for now, and let's talkeven on just an emotional level.
Why do you care so much aboutthis thing that you're building?
And that's often the.
The most valuable thing becauseeverything else can be
replicated in the market.
But that underlying passion inthat I have an idea for change
and making something better isvery difficult to replicate by
(04:39):
any other company.
Linda Fanaras (04:41):
So when you go through the process or when a
company determines what theirunique selling proposition is,
what is the next step for them?
What do they do with that?
Chris Fox (04:51):
Yeah.
So then I think that's when itstarts to break down into some
areas that are a little bit morerecognizable as traditional
marketing or traditionalstrategy.
So let's say, I mean, it's,it's really easy to use my own
example and I think it's maybemore approachable than some of
the very obscure institutionalfinance stuff that I do with
clients.
So I, so I will talk about myown business, but only as an
(05:13):
example.
'cause I, I think it will behelpful to listeners.
So, you know, I, I, I startedoff with this idea.
That I have about a better andmore impactful way to do thought
leadership in the financialindustry.
Right?
So you take that, that's myidea about change.
And then I decompose that into,what does that mean
(05:36):
strategically?
It means I need to work with asolid mixture of.
Top tier and establishedcompanies and startups because I
have to understand the fullcycle of innovation in the
industry and it means I have tounderstand what marketing teams
(05:56):
within these companies, orsometimes a smaller company,
what the founders, how are theydoing it now?
Mm-hmm.
Breaking it down into thatsense of like, alright, so my
strategy is a lot of thesecompanies.
Have internal writing teamsthat struggle to handle the very
complicated and technicalfinancial ideas, or they've
(06:17):
worked with content agenciesthat are great at doing things
like SEO content or ad copy orsome of these other things, but
they really struggle if you'retalking about something complex
around regulation or.
You look at like a hedge fund,and there are these real, these
obscure financial instrumentsthat they trade in.
(06:38):
That's what the product leaderswant to talk about,
Linda Fanaras (06:41):
right?
Marketers.
Chris Fox (06:42):
Marketers are great at marketing sometimes when
you're talking about a verytechnical field like fi,
finance.
Uh, early in my career, I hadsome experience with this in
healthcare as well.
The, the things that the peoplebuilding the product or service
care about and the things, themarketing care.
Team cares about don't alwayscome together.
Chris Fox (2) (07:03):
Right.
So that
Chris Fox (07:03):
was another element of like, if I believe that's the
change, then break it down andfigure out, well, I have to get
inside that mix.
I have to be able to stepbetween the marketing team and
some of the content agenciesthat they've been using to show,
like when you're doing thethought leadership, there's a
better and different way insteadof like multiple and multiple
drafts and.
(07:24):
Executives and subject matterexperts get frustrated.
Oh, it's still not right.
It's still not right.
You're not getting it.
You're not getting it.
It's because they don't havethat expertise.
So what I'm really saying isbecause I understood the change
that I wanted to create, then itwas looking for those strategic
opportunities.
Like I have to position myselfas a top tier strategic advisor
(07:48):
to some of these largeinstitutions.
Now, my company is very small.
I have eight.
Team members.
I'm sometimes dealing withcompanies that are 50, 60,000
employees.
So the, the breaking down theUSP into figuring out well how
to get to be part of thoseconversations with my clients, I
think that kind of model worksreally well for other businesses
(08:11):
too, where once you know whatchange you want, you have to
figure out, well.
Who delivers that change?
How?
How are things working now andhow can I intervene and create
some space for myself in therethat then I start to build up
the credibility.
My, my industry is very word ofmouth based, so my strategy
(08:34):
from a marketing perspective aswell, now I have to create all
that word of mouth throughrelationships, through client
work, all of those differentaspects, right?
And so that's what I mean abouthow you start to break it down
into.
Pieces, like, okay, if I say Iwant to change the world of
thought leadership, you have tobreak it down to say, okay,
well, what that means is I haveto be in the conversation when
(08:58):
they're doing the planningaround their product launches.
And in order to do that, I needto know these people and have
them aware of what I offer.
And in order for them to beaware of what I offer, I have
to, I have to run a certain setof marketing campaigns that gets
that messages out there.
And so that's really what Imean about like.
It sounds like, oh, wow.
(09:18):
Like you're, you're talkingabout these big philosophical
things, but that's what you do.
You start to break it down intolike, well, how would I do
that?
How would I get there?
How would I get there?
How would I get there?
And by the time you're likefive or six levels down, you
have some very specific andactionable things about, all
right, well, that means I needto be.
Posting on these four topics onLinkedIn on a weekly basis.
(09:41):
And I have to make sure thatI'm following these types of
people with this profile.
Linda Fanaras (09:45):
Yeah, and I think, you know, from our
audience's perspective, to givethem a little bit of context
around this let's take atechnology firm as an example,
or manufacturing firm.
When they're developing theirunique selling proposition or
their value proposition,whatever you wanna call it,
they're determining either someuniqueness or emotional factor.
(10:06):
That really helps differentiatethem in the market.
So let's say manufacturer'smaking widgets while they have a
certain process that they usethat is so unique and different.
And then all the othercompanies out there, they can
stand on that and and use thatto position themselves in the
market.
The beauty about something likethat is they're able to take
(10:27):
that topic and if they candevelop some strategy or
abstract or concepting aroundhow they can bring a subject
matter into the market aroundthat point, can help them
elevate themselves as a thoughtleader.
In the market.
Yeah, and I think to yourpoint, you know, if you take,
(10:48):
you figure out, okay, how am Iunique?
like these companies, let'ssay, let's say our audience, for
instance.
For example, technology firms,manufacturers, whatever,
architectural firms, how arethey unique?
Why are they different?
It's not like we're great, butmaybe they have a unique
offering.
Maybe they're different mm-hmm.
In some sort of capacity.
But taking that differentiatorand being able to connect it to
(11:08):
some sort of.
Thought leadership perspective,which then allows them to build
content around that.
And then to your point, buildmaybe LinkedIn posts around
that, especially on the B2B sideand being able to create a
strategy or PR strategy to getsome of the material published.
Through publications or mm-hmm.
(11:29):
Other, other ways to get theirname out there, white papers.
It could, that could, it could,it could be everything.
It could be all of those.
Some of those or all of those.
So are there any strategiesthat companies or maybe a, an
approach that companies can useto publish the work that they
do?
They have to have credentials,right?
Can't just jump up and be athought leader.
(11:50):
You can on the internet if youwant, but to actually have some
legs.
You wanna make sure you havesome cred credentials behind
you.
So can you speak to that alittle bit?
Chris Fox (12:00):
Yeah.
I like your example because it,it might show something a
little unexpected.
So if, if you're in themanufacturing space and you have
a better widget, maybe it's acertain.
Piece of a machine that runs ona production line, but you
believe that your piece is, isfaster to produce, that it has
fewer failure rates, that itprevents the, the, the assembly
(12:23):
line from stopping as often asit does, or it reduces accidents
or, or some, like, all of thesedifferent things that are the
benefit of your new widget oryou, your new part.
Or you're adding a specialguard that reduces injuries that
that are, that are possible ona manufacturing line or
something like that.
Chris Fox (2) (12:43):
Mm-hmm.
Chris Fox (12:44):
Your thought leadership, like, yes, you want
to talk about the benefits ofyour product, but you might also
wanna help those manufacturersunderstand, well, what are the
causes of breakdowns on their,on their manufacturing line?
What are some of the causesaround injury rates?
And things like that where youcould then say that becomes one
(13:06):
of those things that you talkabout.
So you're not just educatingyour customers about the thing
that you make, but you'rehelping them understand the
problems that they have in adifferent and more fact-based
way.
Right?
So like that example that, thatwe're talking about with, you
know, let's say it's somethingthat improves the it, it lowers
(13:28):
the error rate on.
Different items that are beingpassed through, let's say, like
a stamping grid mm-hmm.
On a manufacturing line.
So one of the things that youmight want to educate plant,
plant executives about would bethings like what causes those
flaws and what are the costs of,you know, if, if you are
(13:48):
turning out.
One out of every 10,000 itemsneeds to be rejected versus one
out of every 4,000.
That's a pretty big improvementfor something that has a lot of
throughput.
So just helping peopleunderstand the costs of letting
things be the way they aretoday, so that you can then
(14:10):
create that excitement andenergy around the change that
you're delivering.
So then you break it down andsay, all right, well if this,
you know, if we've done someresearch, maybe we've done some
of our own studies, we have somecase studies with our
customers, uh, we have all thesethings, then you can block
those out on a, on a, I mean,literally on a calendar and say,
(14:31):
well, week by week we're goingto talk about these things.
And, and it's, you know, nowit's April, right?
And our theme of the month isgoing to be, uh, reducing safety
incidents.
And we're gonna do that bymaybe publishing one longer
article that really talks aboutthe whole thing and 15 LinkedIn
posts that highlight differentaspects of it.
(14:53):
And maybe a graphic that showsthe data and you know, other
social media if you're using it.
And if you have, if you haveemail capability, you're gonna
send that email out to all ofyour clients and prospects.
Around this, you know,potentially new or unique way to
look at manufacturing failures.
(15:13):
And you make that your anchor,uh, that's your anchor for the
month or for the quarter.
And everything you do is aroundthat one topic, right?
And then the next one you moveon.
So maybe one month or quarter,the theme is health and safety.
The next month or quarter it'serror reduction.
Chris Fox (2) (15:30):
Mm-hmm.
Chris Fox (15:30):
And you, you kind of go from there.
But the thing is, and why Ikind of went on a little bit at
length about the whole, likewhat's the idea for change?
Is that if you don't know youridea for change, you don't
really know which of thoseangles you should be talking
about.
Linda Fanaras (15:43):
To just, I think summarize for the audience, I,
what we're really talking abouttoday is companies should all
have a unique sellingproposition or a value
proposition, and I am all aboutthe perspective of having it
from the emotional.
Viewpoint, not just this iswhat we like, we have a great
product because of X, Y, Z.
That doesn't really resonatewith the markets like an
(16:05):
emotional connection would usinga value proposition.
And once you determine whatthat is, maybe start to think
about how you could craft somemessaging around that and maybe
an article or some sort ofabstract that would help.
Push that out into themarketplace.
So to your point, Chris, if youhad a company, they had a
unique selling proposition, theydid something differently, they
(16:26):
were able to build out athought leadership piece around
that and use that as maybe along form piece.
And then from there, start toextrapolate that out into
different marketing messages orstrategies, being LinkedIn.
You know, social media posts.
It could even be an email whereyou're allowing them to
download this piece.
(16:47):
Or it could be paid search orother strategies where you have
it as gated community.
So it's a great way to figureout why are we different, number
one, and what can we buildaround that that's different?
So I think that's what we'reexplaining to our listeners
today.
I'd love to ask you a couple, afew more.
Questions real quick?
(17:08):
Sure.
I think it's helpful.
You know, I call 'em rapid firequestions, which means that,
you know, if you can kind ofanswer in a few few sentences,
that's, that'd be helpful.
Chris Fox (2) (17:18):
Absolutely.
Linda Fanaras (17:19):
Keep them short and sweet and then, and then we
can give our audience some greattakeaways.
So tell me what you think thenumber one communication mistake
is from businesses.
Chris Fox (17:29):
The number one communication mistake for
businesses is.
Just going by the playbook withwithout, without really putting
it in terms of those thingsthat really matter the most to
your business, whether it'sproduct, service, aftermarket
service, how the, you buildclient relationships.
If it's not based on that, it'sjust generic content and
(17:51):
everyone else is already doingit.
Linda Fanaras (17:54):
And then what would you say the biggest
communication strategy thatgives businesses the biggest
ROI.
Chris Fox (17:59):
I would say it's focusing on narrow casting.
I think any business at anypoint in time, there are maybe
like 10 or 15 clients that wouldchange the quarter or change
the month in terms of sales.
Figure out how to focus just onthose instead of focusing on
getting a hundred thousandimpressions on your website.
(18:22):
And maybe one or two of themare the right people.
Right.
Just focus on those rightpeople and come up with ways to
get things in their hands.
Linda Fanaras (18:29):
That's great.
And then do you have one pieceof advice to A CEO or a CMO or a
top marketing leader?
Chris Fox (18:36):
Yeah, the, the one piece of advice I would say is
that we're at a point right now,especially with.
Artificial intelligence thatlike the wave is still coming.
There's this massive wave ofcontent.
Slop people aren't even less,there's already way too much
content out there in the world.
Imagine that a hundred or athousand times these machines
(18:56):
that can produce, produce itinfinitely.
The thing that I would say isyou really need to emphasize a
strategy like, you know, I'mdescribing it as a wave.
You have to be a good surferand figure out how to ride that
wave and be on top of it, notswamped underneath it.
Linda Fanaras (19:12):
Well, that wraps it up.
Well, thank you, Chris.
I appreciate all of thevaluable information you have
shared with us today.
Again, you are Chris Fox, thefounder of Ideas LED Growth.
I would love for you to tellthe audience how they can get in
touch with you.
Chris Fox (19:28):
Great.
Really, two, two things.
I, I love connecting withpeople on LinkedIn, even if
you're not in my industry, ifyou're just generally
interested.
Find me on LinkedIn,Christopher Fox, and if you're
watching the video, you'll seemy face on my LinkedIn profile.
The other thing is our website,ideas led growth.com.
You go to the website, there'sactually a sign up for a weekly
newsletter.
Uh, I write every week onsometimes very specific and
(19:52):
sometimes more theoreticalaspects of the whole process of
marketing content, thoughtleadership, and how to get your
message out there.
Great. Fantastic. Well thank you for listening to the B2B Brand 180 podcast today. And if you like what you heard, we'd love for you to share or subscribe, and if you wanna connect with me directly, you can go to LinkedIn or visit https://mill.agency/ or https://lindafanaras.com/. Thank you for listening today.
Welcome to the B2B Brand180 podcast where we discuss branding and marketing tools for business. My goal today is to provide transformative, innovative approaches that can help you make a 180-degree shift in your marketing efforts or complete reversals in brand strategies. Hi, I am Linda Fanaras and I'm the owner of Millennium Agency, a branding and growth strategy firm, and the host of the B2B Brand180 podcast. Today I'm bringing in Chris Fox, founder of Ideas-Led Growth. Chris is focused on amplifying voices. He's a ghost writer, mentor, does strategies, and he is skilled in developing messages that influence and inspire. Prior to his corporate world career, Chris taught literature and culture at the undergraduate and graduate level, and he holds a PhD in French literature from the John Hopkins University. So in this episode, you'll learn a few things. You'll better understand how to determine a unique selling proposition. Why is thought leadership still relevant in the world of B2B content and what are the best strategies or approaches companies can use to publish thought leaders? Those are just a couple of the topics that we'll be covering today. So now with our conversation with Chris, welcome Chris. It's great to have you here today.
Chris Fox (01:23):
Great, Linda.
Thank you.
I'm, I'm really looking forwardto the conversation.
And I guess, uh, since we're onvideo, the audience has already
met one of my best interns andwe had a little animal visitor
over my shoulder.
That's great.
But, uh, I've, I've sent himoff to go do some other tasks
and we can, uh, focus on ourconversation.
Linda Fanaras (01:39):
Fantastic.
So we'll just get started.
So let me ask you, Chris, sohow do you determine, how do you
determine a value propositionand what is the actual process
that goes with that?
Chris Fox (01:51):
Yeah, so I, I think that's a great question because
there, there's a lot of topicand talk about this, this idea
of generating a, a, a valueproposition or, or a USP and.
One of the ways that I like towork with clients is, is let's
kind of put all of that asideand take a further step back and
(02:12):
use that as your startingpoint.
And that step back is, and I,and I really believe this, I've
seen this from very large B2Borganizations that I've worked
with that are established andthey've been in business for
decades to startups that havejust gotten the ball rolling.
There's something reallyspecial that can anchor a USP.
(02:33):
That is, I believe that anyproduct or service is based on
an idea about change.
And what I mean by saying thatis that business owners or
product leaders just don't spendall of the time and energy and
all the intensity of developinga new product or a service
(02:55):
unless they really believe thatit's going to do something
better somehow.
And so the first place to starton that USP is take a step back
out of building mode and eventake a step back out of
marketing mode and think about,I am committing to this idea
because I believe that a changeis necessary in the world and it
(03:19):
can be a very microscopicchange.
So I devote my business ideasled growth to changing the way
financial institutions.
Do their thought leadership.
Now, if you look in the worldaround you, that's not a really
huge niche, but it works really,really well.
And a lot of the clients that Iwork with, they're developing
a, a very specific B2B productto help hedge funds do their
(03:43):
accounting or to help portfoliomanagers run their investments
or these often very, very nichetopics.
Chris Fox (2) (03:51):
Mm-hmm.
Chris Fox (03:52):
But underneath that, the reason why they're
dedicating all this time andenergy is because they believe.
A, that something needs to bechanged, and B, that they have
a, a set of tools and approachesand solutions for making that
change happen.
So when I start with clientsand when I would really talk to
anyone about A USP, I alwaysstart there as put everything
(04:16):
away for now, and let's talkeven on just an emotional level.
Why do you care so much aboutthis thing that you're building?
And that's often the.
The most valuable thing becauseeverything else can be
replicated in the market.
But that underlying passion inthat I have an idea for change
and making something better isvery difficult to replicate by
(04:39):
any other company.
Linda Fanaras (04:41):
So when you go through the process or when a
company determines what theirunique selling proposition is,
what is the next step for them?
What do they do with that?
Chris Fox (04:51):
Yeah.
So then I think that's when itstarts to break down into some
areas that are a little bit morerecognizable as traditional
marketing or traditionalstrategy.
So let's say, I mean, it's,it's really easy to use my own
example and I think it's maybemore approachable than some of
the very obscure institutionalfinance stuff that I do with
clients.
So I, so I will talk about myown business, but only as an
(05:13):
example.
'cause I, I think it will behelpful to listeners.
So, you know, I, I, I startedoff with this idea.
That I have about a better andmore impactful way to do thought
leadership in the financialindustry.
Right?
So you take that, that's myidea about change.
And then I decompose that into,what does that mean
(05:36):
strategically?
It means I need to work with asolid mixture of.
Top tier and establishedcompanies and startups because I
have to understand the fullcycle of innovation in the
industry and it means I have tounderstand what marketing teams
(05:56):
within these companies, orsometimes a smaller company,
what the founders, how are theydoing it now?
Mm-hmm.
Breaking it down into thatsense of like, alright, so my
strategy is a lot of thesecompanies.
Have internal writing teamsthat struggle to handle the very
complicated and technicalfinancial ideas, or they've
(06:17):
worked with content agenciesthat are great at doing things
like SEO content or ad copy orsome of these other things, but
they really struggle if you'retalking about something complex
around regulation or.
You look at like a hedge fund,and there are these real, these
obscure financial instrumentsthat they trade in.
(06:38):
That's what the product leaderswant to talk about,
Linda Fanaras (06:41):
right?
Marketers.
Chris Fox (06:42):
Marketers are great at marketing sometimes when
you're talking about a verytechnical field like fi,
finance.
Uh, early in my career, I hadsome experience with this in
healthcare as well.
The, the things that the peoplebuilding the product or service
care about and the things, themarketing care.
Team cares about don't alwayscome together.
Chris Fox (2) (07:03):
Right.
So that
Chris Fox (07:03):
was another element of like, if I believe that's the
change, then break it down andfigure out, well, I have to get
inside that mix.
I have to be able to stepbetween the marketing team and
some of the content agenciesthat they've been using to show,
like when you're doing thethought leadership, there's a
better and different way insteadof like multiple and multiple
drafts and.
(07:24):
Executives and subject matterexperts get frustrated.
Oh, it's still not right.
It's still not right.
You're not getting it.
You're not getting it.
It's because they don't havethat expertise.
So what I'm really saying isbecause I understood the change
that I wanted to create, then itwas looking for those strategic
opportunities.
Like I have to position myselfas a top tier strategic advisor
(07:48):
to some of these largeinstitutions.
Now, my company is very small.
I have eight.
Team members.
I'm sometimes dealing withcompanies that are 50, 60,000
employees.
So the, the breaking down theUSP into figuring out well how
to get to be part of thoseconversations with my clients, I
think that kind of model worksreally well for other businesses
(08:11):
too, where once you know whatchange you want, you have to
figure out, well.
Who delivers that change?
How?
How are things working now andhow can I intervene and create
some space for myself in therethat then I start to build up
the credibility.
My, my industry is very word ofmouth based, so my strategy
(08:34):
from a marketing perspective aswell, now I have to create all
that word of mouth throughrelationships, through client
work, all of those differentaspects, right?
And so that's what I mean abouthow you start to break it down
into.
Pieces, like, okay, if I say Iwant to change the world of
thought leadership, you have tobreak it down to say, okay,
well, what that means is I haveto be in the conversation when
(08:58):
they're doing the planningaround their product launches.
And in order to do that, I needto know these people and have
them aware of what I offer.
And in order for them to beaware of what I offer, I have
to, I have to run a certain setof marketing campaigns that gets
that messages out there.
And so that's really what Imean about like.
It sounds like, oh, wow.
(09:18):
Like you're, you're talkingabout these big philosophical
things, but that's what you do.
You start to break it down intolike, well, how would I do
that?
How would I get there?
How would I get there?
How would I get there?
And by the time you're likefive or six levels down, you
have some very specific andactionable things about, all
right, well, that means I needto be.
Posting on these four topics onLinkedIn on a weekly basis.
(09:41):
And I have to make sure thatI'm following these types of
people with this profile.
Linda Fanaras (09:45):
Yeah, and I think, you know, from our
audience's perspective, to givethem a little bit of context
around this let's take atechnology firm as an example,
or manufacturing firm.
When they're developing theirunique selling proposition or
their value proposition,whatever you wanna call it,
they're determining either someuniqueness or emotional factor.
(10:06):
That really helps differentiatethem in the market.
So let's say manufacturer'smaking widgets while they have a
certain process that they usethat is so unique and different.
And then all the othercompanies out there, they can
stand on that and and use thatto position themselves in the
market.
The beauty about something likethat is they're able to take
(10:27):
that topic and if they candevelop some strategy or
abstract or concepting aroundhow they can bring a subject
matter into the market aroundthat point, can help them
elevate themselves as a thoughtleader.
In the market.
Yeah, and I think to yourpoint, you know, if you take,
(10:48):
you figure out, okay, how am Iunique?
like these companies, let'ssay, let's say our audience, for
instance.
For example, technology firms,manufacturers, whatever,
architectural firms, how arethey unique?
Why are they different?
It's not like we're great, butmaybe they have a unique
offering.
Maybe they're different mm-hmm.
In some sort of capacity.
But taking that differentiatorand being able to connect it to
(11:08):
some sort of.
Thought leadership perspective,which then allows them to build
content around that.
And then to your point, buildmaybe LinkedIn posts around
that, especially on the B2B sideand being able to create a
strategy or PR strategy to getsome of the material published.
Through publications or mm-hmm.
(11:29):
Other, other ways to get theirname out there, white papers.
It could, that could, it could,it could be everything.
It could be all of those.
Some of those or all of those.
So are there any strategiesthat companies or maybe a, an
approach that companies can useto publish the work that they
do?
They have to have credentials,right?
Can't just jump up and be athought leader.
(11:50):
You can on the internet if youwant, but to actually have some
legs.
You wanna make sure you havesome cred credentials behind
you.
So can you speak to that alittle bit?
Chris Fox (12:00):
Yeah.
I like your example because it,it might show something a
little unexpected.
So if, if you're in themanufacturing space and you have
a better widget, maybe it's acertain.
Piece of a machine that runs ona production line, but you
believe that your piece is, isfaster to produce, that it has
fewer failure rates, that itprevents the, the, the assembly
(12:23):
line from stopping as often asit does, or it reduces accidents
or, or some, like, all of thesedifferent things that are the
benefit of your new widget oryou, your new part.
Or you're adding a specialguard that reduces injuries that
that are, that are possible ona manufacturing line or
something like that.
Chris Fox (2) (12:43):
Mm-hmm.
Chris Fox (12:44):
Your thought leadership, like, yes, you want
to talk about the benefits ofyour product, but you might also
wanna help those manufacturersunderstand, well, what are the
causes of breakdowns on their,on their manufacturing line?
What are some of the causesaround injury rates?
And things like that where youcould then say that becomes one
(13:06):
of those things that you talkabout.
So you're not just educatingyour customers about the thing
that you make, but you'rehelping them understand the
problems that they have in adifferent and more fact-based
way.
Right?
So like that example that, thatwe're talking about with, you
know, let's say it's somethingthat improves the it, it lowers
(13:28):
the error rate on.
Different items that are beingpassed through, let's say, like
a stamping grid mm-hmm.
On a manufacturing line.
So one of the things that youmight want to educate plant,
plant executives about would bethings like what causes those
flaws and what are the costs of,you know, if, if you are
(13:48):
turning out.
One out of every 10,000 itemsneeds to be rejected versus one
out of every 4,000.
That's a pretty big improvementfor something that has a lot of
throughput.
So just helping peopleunderstand the costs of letting
things be the way they aretoday, so that you can then
(14:10):
create that excitement andenergy around the change that
you're delivering.
So then you break it down andsay, all right, well if this,
you know, if we've done someresearch, maybe we've done some
of our own studies, we have somecase studies with our
customers, uh, we have all thesethings, then you can block
those out on a, on a, I mean,literally on a calendar and say,
(14:31):
well, week by week we're goingto talk about these things.
And, and it's, you know, nowit's April, right?
And our theme of the month isgoing to be, uh, reducing safety
incidents.
And we're gonna do that bymaybe publishing one longer
article that really talks aboutthe whole thing and 15 LinkedIn
posts that highlight differentaspects of it.
(14:53):
And maybe a graphic that showsthe data and you know, other
social media if you're using it.
And if you have, if you haveemail capability, you're gonna
send that email out to all ofyour clients and prospects.
Around this, you know,potentially new or unique way to
look at manufacturing failures.
(15:13):
And you make that your anchor,uh, that's your anchor for the
month or for the quarter.
And everything you do is aroundthat one topic, right?
And then the next one you moveon.
So maybe one month or quarter,the theme is health and safety.
The next month or quarter it'serror reduction.
Chris Fox (2) (15:30):
Mm-hmm.
Chris Fox (15:30):
And you, you kind of go from there.
But the thing is, and why Ikind of went on a little bit at
length about the whole, likewhat's the idea for change?
Is that if you don't know youridea for change, you don't
really know which of thoseangles you should be talking
about.
Linda Fanaras (15:43):
To just, I think summarize for the audience, I,
what we're really talking abouttoday is companies should all
have a unique sellingproposition or a value
proposition, and I am all aboutthe perspective of having it
from the emotional.
Viewpoint, not just this iswhat we like, we have a great
product because of X, Y, Z.
That doesn't really resonatewith the markets like an
(16:05):
emotional connection would usinga value proposition.
And once you determine whatthat is, maybe start to think
about how you could craft somemessaging around that and maybe
an article or some sort ofabstract that would help.
Push that out into themarketplace.
So to your point, Chris, if youhad a company, they had a
unique selling proposition, theydid something differently, they
(16:26):
were able to build out athought leadership piece around
that and use that as maybe along form piece.
And then from there, start toextrapolate that out into
different marketing messages orstrategies, being LinkedIn.
You know, social media posts.
It could even be an email whereyou're allowing them to
download this piece.
(16:47):
Or it could be paid search orother strategies where you have
it as gated community.
So it's a great way to figureout why are we different, number
one, and what can we buildaround that that's different?
So I think that's what we'reexplaining to our listeners
today.
I'd love to ask you a couple, afew more.
Questions real quick?
(17:08):
Sure.
I think it's helpful.
You know, I call 'em rapid firequestions, which means that,
you know, if you can kind ofanswer in a few few sentences,
that's, that'd be helpful.
Chris Fox (2) (17:18):
Absolutely.
Linda Fanaras (17:19):
Keep them short and sweet and then, and then we
can give our audience some greattakeaways.
So tell me what you think thenumber one communication mistake
is from businesses.
Chris Fox (17:29):
The number one communication mistake for
businesses is.
Just going by the playbook withwithout, without really putting
it in terms of those thingsthat really matter the most to
your business, whether it'sproduct, service, aftermarket
service, how the, you buildclient relationships.
If it's not based on that, it'sjust generic content and
(17:51):
everyone else is already doingit.
Linda Fanaras (17:54):
And then what would you say the biggest
communication strategy thatgives businesses the biggest
ROI.
Chris Fox (17:59):
I would say it's focusing on narrow casting.
I think any business at anypoint in time, there are maybe
like 10 or 15 clients that wouldchange the quarter or change
the month in terms of sales.
Figure out how to focus just onthose instead of focusing on
getting a hundred thousandimpressions on your website.
(18:22):
And maybe one or two of themare the right people.
Right.
Just focus on those rightpeople and come up with ways to
get things in their hands.
Linda Fanaras (18:29):
That's great.
And then do you have one pieceof advice to A CEO or a CMO or a
top marketing leader?
Chris Fox (18:36):
Yeah, the, the one piece of advice I would say is
that we're at a point right now,especially with.
Artificial intelligence thatlike the wave is still coming.
There's this massive wave ofcontent.
Slop people aren't even less,there's already way too much
content out there in the world.
Imagine that a hundred or athousand times these machines
(18:56):
that can produce, produce itinfinitely.
The thing that I would say isyou really need to emphasize a
strategy like, you know, I'mdescribing it as a wave.
You have to be a good surferand figure out how to ride that
wave and be on top of it, notswamped underneath it.
Linda Fanaras (19:12):
Well, that wraps it up.
Well, thank you, Chris.
I appreciate all of thevaluable information you have
shared with us today.
Again, you are Chris Fox, thefounder of Ideas LED Growth.
I would love for you to tellthe audience how they can get in
touch with you.
Chris Fox (19:28):
Great.
Really, two, two things.
I, I love connecting withpeople on LinkedIn, even if
you're not in my industry, ifyou're just generally
interested.
Find me on LinkedIn,Christopher Fox, and if you're
watching the video, you'll seemy face on my LinkedIn profile.
The other thing is our website,ideas led growth.com.
You go to the website, there'sactually a sign up for a weekly
newsletter.
Uh, I write every week onsometimes very specific and
(19:52):
sometimes more theoreticalaspects of the whole process of
marketing content, thoughtleadership, and how to get your
message out there.
Great. Fantastic. Well thank you for listening to the B2B Brand 180 podcast today. And if you like what you heard, we'd love for you to share or subscribe, and if you wanna connect with me directly, you can go to LinkedIn or visit https://mill.agency/ or https://lindafanaras.com/. Thank you for listening today.
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