• 4 min read

🔥 The argument against niching your personal brand.

Everyone told me that I had to niche down when I started Backroom (and they still do 10 years later) but it never felt right to me!

I stayed true to my generalist nature for both my agency and my personal brand, and have seen consistent 25% YoY growth for over a decade, any my personal LinkenIn brand continues to generate about 80% of our revenue.
My take? Sometimes standard business practices just aren't the vibe and that's what I think makes marketing and foundership so interesting. We get to experiment with new things to see what works for us.

I wrote about this on LinkedIn last week, making the argument against niching.


We are told we should be super specific in our personal brand and social content. The idea is that we teach the algorithm and followers what we're all about to make it easy to grow and ultimately convert.

But we’re humans. And most of us have a lot going on, not just one value to offer. For example, I talk about:

  • marketing tips
  • my life as a founder
  • leadership
  • remote work & 4-day work week
  • emotional intelligence at work
  • community building

There are SO many topics I am passionate about, want to be known for, and can teach people. I am actively trying to change leadership norms and empower my followers with tips to level up their lives.

Competition is also fierce on social. (Seriously.. how many marketing influencers do you know already? How many influencers in leadership?)

But combine those interests and experiences, it makes it harder to find people just like you. More variables = more differentiation.

Some examples:

  • Faryl Morse is a founder, shoe designer, and workplace fairness advocate.
  • Jack Appleby is a social strategy expert and also shares his journey in basketball.
  • Jay Baer is a CX strategist, researcher, and author. He also educates about tequila!

This cross-pollination of topics makes them more human and more interesting. Two things the internet needs more of.

So what do you want to be known for? What makes you unique?

💡
(If you want me to help you, I am running a $200 hands-on LinkedIn Cohort in August to help 30 people. Live instruction from me + a peer community.)
Reserve Your Spot

What to Know This Week

🎙️ Ya girl is currently featured on The Marketing Millennials podcast. Pinch me!!! You can listen on Apple or Spotify.

🤓 The next monthly cheat drops next week. If you haven't subscribed, get in here, cancel any time.

📈 Remember my post from last week that went viral? It now has over 14M views (I had 6.5M annual views before this post went live 🤯). More importantly, I have $175,000 in proposals out from leads who came from that post (and 3 more intro calls booked for next week).

A screenshot of post analytics: 14,159,807 impressions, 128,143 reactions, 6,897 comments, 2,492 reposts.

🔥 I'm launching a cohort August 1 to teach up to 30 people how to build a personal brand on LinkedIn to build pipeline, get a job, or launch a business using the strategies I've learned. And yes, this includes live instruction and access to me so I can give you hands on help all month. Learn what we're covering and sign up here.

🚀 Launching a startup? My friend, former client, and current partner at BLU Ventures Ted Olsen co-authored an article last week on the foundational elements you need to get going. (Ted and I have worked on 2 of his startups together, one of which was acquired by a global company).

🤦‍♀️ I messed up a LOT setting up our new and improved private community this past week but am so grateful for those of you in there calling out what I've missed so I can fix it! In it together.

Want to learn how to build a LinkedIn brand for growing a business or your career? Use PEOPLEFIRST on any course for 25% off!

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A LinkedIn post that says: Internets: "Hunger and determination are what you need to land a job these days. Ew, but not the Open to Work badge, it makes you look desperate." with a picture of a puppet with neutral face.

✌️ Kara

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