Founder Brand: Turn Your Story Into Your Competitive Advantage

by Dave Gerhardt

Overview

You're part of an elite group of builders, creators, and innovators who have accomplished something few can claim: you've founded a company. Now the challenge of standing out in the crowd begins—and how you differentiate yourself counts. Building a brand and growing a business can be expensive and time-consuming. But you have a key advantage and secret strategy, one that will set you apart no matter your industry, product, or company size. You have a story, and it's one of your most valuable assets. In Founder Brand, marketing expert Dave Gerhardt reveals how to build your brand by positioning yourself as the story, heart, and soul of your business. This is a tactical guidebook that first shows you how to tell your story, then how to put your story to use as a marketing strategy. You'll learn how social media provides a bridge between you and your customers, the platforms that are appropriate for your business, and how to measure results to truly determine value. This book is the ultimate resource for founders, CEOs, and marketing teams trying to find their company's niche, strategize for the future, and create brand awareness that establishes the credibility and trust your products deserve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781544523422
Publisher:	Lioncrest Publishing
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

One of the top marketing minds in the country, Dave Gerhardt helps businesses with brand building and marketing strategy. Dave is the founder of DGMG, his marketing consulting firm, and was Chief Marketing Officer at Privy and Chief Brand Officer at Drift. A guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Dave has traveled the world speaking and coaching marketing teams and startup founders. He lives with his family in Burlington, Vermont. Learn more about working with Dave at davegerhardt.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Attention modern marketing leaders: this is the one book you want your marketing team to read this year."

- Sara Varni, CMO of Twilio

"In the year 2063, founders will still be reading Dave's work in marketing. This book is one for the decades and should be a part of every founder's marketing tool kit."

- Ross Simmonds, Founder and CEO of Foundation

"This playbook helped Drift create a movement and become one of the fastest-growing SaaS businesses of all time."

- David Cancel, Founder and CEO of Drift

"Dave is the savviest marketer I've worked with, and Privy's success these last few years has so much to do with embodying his approach to founder-led marketing. Read this one."

- Ben Jabbawy, Founder and CEO of Privy

"Dave's built a reputation as one of the leading brand builders in B2B marketing. Now he's sharing one of his top recipes and teaching you how to build a brand for the founder."

- Bill Macaitis, former CMO of Slack and Zendesk

From the Publisher

2022-03-09
A book for entrepreneurs and marketing specialists that encourages company founders to maximize their brand by telling their own stories.

Gerhardt wants readers to understand the power of their brand when marketing their company, arguing that “people buy from people.” When consumers feel a connection to a person, he asserts, rather than a company, they’re more likely to become customers. The author’s first step in building a founder’s brand is to help make them into a storyteller, and to that end, he provides a series of questions to lead founders through the process of identifying and articulating the narrative of their lives and businesses. He encourages them to be personal and vulnerable, sharing details of their lives that will help others connect with their struggles and triumphs. He continues by asking founders to identify exactly who their customers are and to show what problem the company is fixing for them. These steps culminate in an “explainer,” which briefly and succinctly tells prospective customers the who, what,and whyof one’s company. Gerhardt also wants founders to figure out who their role models, mentors, and “anti-role models” are so they can follow the successes and avoid the challenges of those who’ve come before. The second part of the book effectively focuses on how to get a founder’s brand and story out to potential customers, using detailed examples of how to use social media podcasts and speaking opportunities to stand out from the crowd. Overall, this is a well-structured and encouraging book made specifically for those who are just starting down the path of building a business. Gerhardt generously shares what he’s learned from years of experience and expresses hope for others’ success in a genuine manner. He does tend to lean heavily on instances from his own career, but he also incorporates examples from the experiences of well-known figures such as Spanx founder Sara Blakely and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Savvy founders hoping to avoid the pitfalls on the road to success may benefit from this book’s engaging tips.

Kirkus Reviews