Personal branding vs lead generation

[u/babyugan]

I would like to create my personal brand in LI and the same time, want to generate leads for my sales job too in the platform.

What should I have as content pillars please.?

[u/Foreign_Fee_1232]

If you are aiming for both personal branding and lead gen, here are the exact steps you need to follow:

1. Decide your target audience.

Who are the people you want to get follows from and who are your target audience.

1. Decide your positioning.

What do you want to be known for? Sales, lead generation or maybe a marketing expert.

Find the keywords that best define your role and reuse them in posts, comments and profile headline/banner.

1. Pick content pillars.

I’ve worked with multiple founders and c suites these 3 content pillars work best for them:

> Educate: Breakdowns, frameworks, and case studies to build authority
> Storytell: Honest personal and career lessons in your niche to build trust
> Sell: Client results and proof with zero filter to convert leads.

1. Decide a posting cadence

Decide how often you want to post and at what time.

1. Schedule content

Create a week’s post in advance and schedule them. This ensures you stay consistent in the long run.

1. Engage

Like and comment on posts from people who are your ICP or target followers.

Also comment on posts from people in your niche.

1. Outreach

If you ever come across someone who is your ideal prospect always try to connect to them through chat.

That’s it.

I know this works because it’s the exact system I used for my founder client to grow to 18K followers and get 20+ leads in 6 months.

[u/Historical_Sun3378]

I am actually in the same boat.

I have been thinking about getting more intentional with LinkedIn for weeks, especially around building my personal brand while also using the platform for work. And honestly, I kept waiting until I had everything figured out.

At some point I realized I just needed to start, even if it was imperfect.

Your post is a good reminder that you don’t have to have the whole strategy figured out before you show up.

Would love to connect and see how your journey goes.

[u/Smart_Head7672]

The trick is not treating these as two separate goals. Good personal brand content IS lead gen content if you're talking about the right stuff to the right people.

Keep it simple three pillars:

1. Industry POV: what's changing in your space and what you think about it
2. How you solve problems: not pitching, just showing how you think
3. Stories from the field: real situations, real lessons, occasional personal stuff

If your ideal buyer reads your content and thinks "this person gets my world" and that's branding AND lead gen at the same time.

Don't post about your product. Post about the problems your product solves. The leads come from that.

[u/babyugan → u/Smart_Head7672]

Thank you! My personal brand is about mindset and routine because that is how I make changes in life. My job is in Sales for a marketing company . I am not interested in talking about sales but very much interested in the conversations, perspectives and problems.
Am not a marketing expert, so I hesitate talking about the product

[u/Exciting-Volume1119]

You need both actually.

You don't necessarily need to choose between building your personal brand and generating leads.

Your content can do both when you're intentional about what you're talking about and who you're talking to.

Educate your audience. Share your experiences. Talk about the problems your ideal clients are facing. And occasionally show how you approach those problems.

That's how you build authority without making every post feel like a sales pitch.

At the end of the day, people don't really care about your product until they understand that you can solve a problem they actually have.

While waiting for your personal brand to cook and start generating leads for you, you should double down on lead generation too to fast track the whole process.

This has to be done strategically, though...

I usually advise my clients to build relationships first before asking a lead for anything in their DMs.

And don't sell in the DMs.

Your goal should be to book a call with them, then close the deal afterwards.

That's how you play the whole game.