Founder-Led Marketing Works

Founder-led marketing is the future.

I used to think marketing was:

• Creating videos.

• Going viral.

• Promoting JUST the business.

I was an intimidated student of the craft and chased meaningless goals for years.

Then, I realized marketing wasn't about Hollywood quality Reels or mastering ads.

It's about telling an attractive story around the company through various channels.

And recently, founders are the ones telling it.

This is called founder-led marketing. And it works.

Here are some examples:

• Ben Wolff. Ben shares new project plans and progress updates on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn. This attracts investors to him as the founder.
  

• Issac French. Issac built Live Oak Lake in Waco, Texas before selling it for $7 Million.
  

• Brian Chesky. Airbnb’s CEO talks about new platform features on Twitter. This starts a one-to-one conversation with Airbnb fans.

People Trust People

Last February I went to Puerto Rico.

I was looking for places to stay and landed on a minimalistic cabin overlooking the ocean. The listing was decent but then I read the hosts bio.

She talked about growing up in the area and her passion for surfing that's shared with her two kids.

A small scale founder-led story about building a passion first life.

I related to it.

So I booked with her. Beating out more visually appealing properties.

Ben Wolff does the same thing on a larger scale.

Ben is the Co-Founder and CEO of Oasi. A company that builds unique stays for the modern traveler.

Ben shares new project plans and progress updates on Twitter (X) and LinkedIn.

This attracts investors to him as the founder.

Or little twiddly-wink marketers like me who want to watch and learn.

He is able to attract business to him rather than search for it.

That's why founder-led marketing works so well.

Here's how to start founder-led marketing. (It's very easy).

Missed My Interview With Ben Wolff?

I am very confident you will love it.

Founder-Led Marketing Is Building In Public

Share behind the scenes, your origin story or property journey in real time.

Similar to how I do it on my Instagram

Ben Wolff calls this approach Building in Public, which is a perfect way to sum it up.

You are building your business anyway, why not share the journey publicly online?

You might think a story about your cleaner oversleeping and missing work is vanilla.🍦 I get it. But that story is authentic and creates a valuable connection with your audience.

Sharing photos of your property on social media won't get many eyeballs anymore. There's so many property accounts these days.

The Modern Traveler likes new and unique and will pay extra for a one of a kind experience.

And every founders story is unique and creates that experience. No matter how vanilla you think it is.

The Modern Traveler Wants To Know Who They Are Buying From

And they are going to set the standard of hospitality in the coming decades.

The modern traveler doesn't care about free breakfast or complimentary robes anymore.

They care about people. They want to buy from people.

Why?

Because brands are hard to trust. It's much easier to trust a person than a brand with no face.

The quicker someone trusts you, the quicker they'll buy.

That means founder-led marketing will:

• Lower ad spend.

• Fill your calendar.

• Increase the top line of your rental business.

All because you:

• Built in public.

• Created content around what you're doing anyway.

• Invited guests into your story.

I think that's worth talking to a camera for 30 seconds a day. Do you?

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.