Michelle J Raymond

Company pages are active, content is published, employees are asked to engage, leaders are encouraged to show up, and sales teams use LinkedIn in their own ways — but not everyone follows one game plan.

• Their answer is a two-way system: use the brand to amplify employees, and employees to amplify the brand.
• This isn’t a case against personal brands; alignment matters more than choosing one side.

They point to a B2B marketing event promotion that lists speakers by employer brand rather than personal name — Google, Westpac, SAP, Xero, Salesforce, Lenovo, Docusign — to show how B2B brands still create recognition, trust, and credibility. Buyers remember messages repeated by several trusted sources.

They describe applying the same focus to their own channels: updating their LinkedIn profile, YouTube channel, podcast descriptions, website home page, and connection list around global B2B marketing teams, knowing a narrower audience may reduce reach. The posts frame this as a business-growth strategy, not a reach play.

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If buyers have seen plenty of content but still don’t trust the brand enough to move forward, the credibility gap and influence on buying committees matter more than publishing more.

In a post about the Social Media for B2B Growth podcast, they describe an episode on the credibility gap in B2B marketing, why buying committees are getting harder to influence, and how brands, employees, creators, and video can work together to build buyer confidence.

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Launching only because newsletters are said to earn AI citations is a weak reason; so is starting without a defined topic, audience, and point of view, or the capacity to keep publishing after the excitement fades. Address those three gaps, and a newsletter can become a strong authority-building asset in B2B marketing.

They share their newsletter figures: 11,500 LinkedIn newsletter subscribers, 139 editions, an average open rate of 38-40%, and 6,522 engagements over the previous 365 days. They also mention a paid LinkedIn Newsletter Growth Lab session for people seeking help with strategy and best practices.

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Most companies say they want that, but few commission it, ship it, and bet a launch on it.

• Their test: is the brand work itself impressive enough to stop someone scrolling, rather than simply offering a longer feature list?
• The post includes a partner hashtag; ask whether the launch was paid or sponsored.

They describe a B2B software launch by Conversion that included a personalised gift box sent to individuals rather than a mass list, and a two-minute office-style mockumentary launch film with talking heads and a protagonist. They contrast it with the expected 15-page lead magnet and report the launch’s engagement at the time of writing: 667 likes, 457 comments, and 63 reposts.

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They argue that personal brands may get too much credit and company brands not enough. In practice, alignment and consistent repetition from multiple trusted sources matter more than one person going viral.

They revisit the event promotion listing speakers by employer brand — Google, Westpac, SAP, Xero, Salesforce, Lenovo, Docusign — and contrast brand recognition with post impressions as a measure of success.

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Michelle J Raymond uses a B2B marketing event promotion to challenge the idea that personal brands are everything: the speaker line-up is presented by employer — Google, Westpac, SAP, Xero, Salesforce, Lenovo and Docusign — rather than by individual name.

• The post argues that brands still create recognition, trust and credibility in B2B, without making employee brands less important.
• The practical answer is alignment: the brand amplifies employees, and employees amplify the brand.
• Buyers remember a message that keeps showing up from several trusted sources, not one person who went viral.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this framing to test an employee advocacy engagement: a programme that treats company and employee brands as a trade-off misses the point. It supports a workshop built around one shared position for the company page and employees to publish, and gives the session a concrete visual to open with.

Start here to see what an engagement would fix.

Michelle J Raymond describes reworking their profile, YouTube channel, podcast descriptions and website home page to target global B2B marketing teams, accepting that narrower targeting will reduce reach.

• They argue this is what growing the business requires.
• The diagnosis of client organisations follows: these companies do not have a LinkedIn problem; they have a team problem.
• The company page is active, content is being published, employees are asked to engage, leaders are encouraged to show up and sales teams use LinkedIn in their own way — but everyone is playing from a different game plan.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for scoping an engagement: the post argues the fix is coordination across the page, leaders, employees and sales, not more content. An agency can cite it to position its proposal around alignment rather than publishing volume, and use it to test whether a prospect's symptoms fit.

Michelle J Raymond argues most people should wait before starting a LinkedIn newsletter: don't chase AI citations, don't start without a topic, audience and point of view, and don't skip the commitment to consistency past the third edition.

• The post gives their operating numbers — 11,500 LinkedIn newsletter subscribers, 139 editions, an average 38–40% open rate and 6,522 engagements over the previous 365 days — and calls the format one of the strongest authority-building assets in B2B marketing.
• It also mentions their paid LinkedIn Newsletter Growth Lab session.

For brands planning a campaign

If a client wants to launch a newsletter, this is the argument to have first: the format can work, but it needs a defined topic, audience and commitment beyond the novelty phase. The published numbers offer a concrete benchmark for a client's expectations, and the mention of a paid session shows the topic is also a commercial service.

It is the shortest entry point to the buyer-confidence framing behind the other posts.

A podcast episode post built around a statistic from Vita Molis at The B2B Institute: 40% of B2B deals do not go to a competitor; they go nowhere.

• Michelle J Raymond argues the problem may not be how much content buyers have seen, but whether they trust the brand enough to move forward.
• The episode covers the credibility gap in B2B marketing, buying committees that are getting harder to influence, and how brands, employees, creators and video can combine to build buyer confidence.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the why-now argument for employee advocacy and brand work: if deals stall at trust rather than awareness, named human voices publishing consistently are part of the answer. The post also shows how the podcast reaches B2B marketers directly, which matters when a client is weighing a talk or workshop.

Read it to see the standard Michelle J Raymond sets for B2B marketing.

Michelle J Raymond describes a B2B software launch they found genuinely different: a personalised gift box sent to individuals rather than a mass mailing, and a two-minute office-style mockumentary launch film with talking heads and a protagonist, rather than a lead magnet.

• The post credits the brand work rather than the product, says most companies claim to want this kind of personality but few commission it, and reports the launch's engagement at the time of writing: 667 likes, 457 comments and 63 reposts.
• It also points to newly launched Agents aimed at automating routine marketing work.

For brands planning a campaign

Show this to clients who say B2B marketing cannot be entertaining: it features a real launch, a named format and visible engagement numbers.

• The post uses a partner hashtag, but the text does not confirm a paid relationship.
• Treat it as a case the creator chose to write about, not a disclosed sponsorship.

Company pages are active, content is published, employees are asked to engage, leaders are encouraged to show up, and sales teams use LinkedIn in their own ways—but not everyone follows the same game plan.

• The recommended approach is a two-way system: use the brand to amplify employees, and employees to amplify the brand.
• In one post, an event promotion listed speakers by employer brand—Google, Westpac, SAP, Xero, Salesforce, Lenovo, DocuSign—rather than personal name.
• Raymond uses this to argue that B2B brands still create recognition, trust, and credibility.
• Personal and employee brands remain important; the missing piece is alignment.

Raymond describes updating their profile, YouTube, podcast, website, and connections around a target audience of global B2B marketing teams, accepting lower reach in exchange for a sharper audience.

Raymond says personal and employee brands are not less important; alignment matters more than choosing one over the other.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand can evaluate Raymond for employee advocacy, company-page strategy, or a workshop aligning leaders, marketing, and sales around one LinkedIn plan. A practical starting point is a team diagnostic: who posts, what they repeat, and how company and employee messages reinforce each other.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Their advice is to fix those three issues first.

• Raymond cites first-hand newsletter results—11,500 LinkedIn newsletter subscribers, 139 editions, an average open rate of 38–40%, and 6,522 engagements over the last 365 days—and says they have helped clients launch newsletters.
• They also offer LinkedIn Newsletter Growth Lab, an hour-long session to sort strategy, understand best practices, and build a standout brand for a person or company page.

Define the topic, audience, and point of view; commit to a consistent publishing schedule; treat the newsletter as an authority-building asset rather than a one-off button press.

Raymond does not say newsletters are bad. Their warning is conditional: most people should wait until they have closed three strategy and consistency gaps.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand considering LinkedIn newsletters can evaluate Raymond for a strategy session, launch plan, or ongoing editorial review. Before launch, the brand should be able to name its audience, topic, point of view, and publishing cadence.

Examples: Source 1

The post asks whether buyers have seen enough content or do not trust the brand enough to move forward. In a podcast episode of Social Media for B2B Growth, Raymond discusses the credibility gap in B2B marketing, why buying committees are getting harder to influence, and how brands, employees, creators, and video can work together to build buyer confidence.

Translate a marketing-research statistic into a practical diagnosis: buyers may not trust the brand enough to move, so the campaign should build credibility across brands, employees, creators, and video.

The statistic is attributed to The B2B Institute, not presented as Raymond's original research.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand can evaluate Raymond for research-led content, a podcast appearance or episode sponsorship, or a workshop on buyer confidence and buying-committee influence. The useful angle is not more content, but the trust signals that help a buying committee advance.

Examples: Source 1

The launch included an office-style mockumentary, with talking heads, a protagonist, and a punchline—a two-minute comedy that Raymond says would hold up as a Netflix short.

• They contrast it with the expected 15-page lead magnet and argue that B2B marketing rewards brands that understand who they are for and are not afraid to show personality.
• The post also points to Neil Tewari's profile for the video and mentions Conversion's Agents for Marketing Ops.

The post includes a partner hashtag for Conversion, but does not establish whether the work was paid or sponsored. Ask Raymond directly about the partnership; their public praise and analysis of the launch are visible in the post.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand can use Raymond as a reviewer or advocate for a creative B2B launch, especially when the goal is to stand out in a category that defaults to feature lists. A campaign brief could ask them to closely assess the work and recommend what to commission next.

Examples: Source 1

An event promotion listing speakers by employer brand—Google, Westpac, SAP, Xero, Salesforce, Lenovo, DocuSign—prompts the argument that B2B brands still create recognition, trust, and credibility.

• They say this does not make personal or employee brands less important; it makes alignment more important.
• The post asks whether B2B measures brand strength properly or just rewards visibility and impressions.

Use a real event promotion as a concrete example, then reframe the issue from personal brands versus company brands to alignment and measurement.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand can evaluate Raymond for a debate, panel, or strategy session on balancing company and employee brands and measuring brand strength beyond reach. A useful output would be a measurement model connecting employee activity to brand recognition and buyer trust.

Examples: Source 1

In one, they update a LinkedIn profile, YouTube channel, podcast descriptions, website home page, and connection list for a target audience of global B2B marketing teams, knowing a narrower audience may lower LinkedIn numbers.

• In another, they publish newsletter subscriber, edition, open-rate, and engagement figures.
• They show the work, name the tradeoffs, and invite readers to apply the same standard.

Use first-person experiments, published metrics, and explicit tradeoffs to teach a B2B marketing method.

The metrics are self-reported; ask Raymond for supporting evidence before relying on them.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand can evaluate Raymond for a workshop or consulting engagement grounded in transparent practitioner evidence rather than generic advice. The practical ask is a before-and-after plan: what to change, what to measure, and what reach or engagement the brand is willing to trade for a sharper audience.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The post carries the #ConversionPartner hashtag but gives no commercial terms; ask what arrangement, if any, sits behind the tag.

Original disclosure

#ConversionPartner

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They also report their own newsletter record: 11,500 subscribers, 139 editions, a 38–40% average open rate, and 6,522 engagements over the past 365 days.

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A post describes an episode built around research from a guest at The B2B Institute on why buyers stall and how brands, employees, creators and video can build confidence. Ask whether they own the show or are paid for their role on it.

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Mazurek asks why brands hand a retail partner one photo and hope for the best, then give Instagram the same treatment; Raymond asks why B2B teams leave company and employee voices unaligned. Both push back on industry defaults, whether calling a channel "just our Instagram" or crediting personal brands for everything.

Mazurek works in DTC and ecommerce social media, including how social media managers are paid and valued, and calls out the shortage of women teaching AI for marketing. Raymond works inside complex B2B organisations, where the questions are employee alignment, LinkedIn newsletters and buyer confidence—not consumer retail and creator economics.

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Dodd walks through the buyer journey from a post to a name click, a profile scroll and a conversation, arguing that a company page alone is not enough; Raymond makes the same case for companies and employees amplifying each other. Both teach specific LinkedIn mechanics rather than general branding.

Dodd focuses on outbound client acquisition and pipeline, built on humanised outreach and AI-assisted SDR work. Raymond focuses on brand strategy and newsletter-led authority, with outbound sales as one part of a wider team plan.

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Raymond turns a research statistic about stalled deals into a credibility problem; Bondareva calls trust the word of the year and builds a conference and a plan around it.

Bondareva lays out a broad taxonomy of trust mechanics, including ABM community building, analyst relations, events, partnerships, PR and B2B influencer marketing. Raymond focuses on LinkedIn practice: team alignment, newsletters and close readings of brand work in a category.

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Mazurek argues that a brand's social account should be treated like a retail partner, with merchandising, education and campaigns built around it.

• They also argue that social media managers build front-facing brand equity every day and should be treated and paid like top-line marketing managers.
• For an agency whose client sells to consumers and wants to reposition the social function internally, that framing is a closer fit than a LinkedIn team-alignment workshop.

Mazurek covers consumer and ecommerce social, not LinkedIn employee advocacy.

• Their posts do not address company-page and employee-message alignment, buying committees or the credibility gap at the heart of Raymond's workshop.
• The one-position publishing sprint would need to be rebuilt around consumer channel strategy.
• Mazurek's material also raises social hiring and valuation questions that a LinkedIn brand-strategy engagement would not answer.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Dodd treats LinkedIn as a client-acquisition channel: humanising outreach so prospects reach a call as warm as a referral.

• They argue that buyers message people rather than company logos, citing a figure that 73% of LinkedIn members are more receptive to posts from real people than from company pages.
• If the agency's client mainly wants to improve its sales team's profiles and reply rates, that is the direct match.

The focus is the individual seller and the pipeline that traces back to one person, which can deepen the very pattern Raymond diagnoses: sales teams using LinkedIn in their own ways without a shared game plan.

• Expect less on company-page strategy, employee advocacy as a coordinated programme, newsletters or brand recognition with a buying committee.
• The tradeoff is tactical depth on outreach versus an alignment mechanism that treats the page and employees as two halves of one position.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Bondareva organises trust-building into three groups: building relationships (social selling, community building inside account-based marketing, event networking, long-term nurturing); building your own authority (brand building, thought leadership, senior managers' personal brands, employee advocacy, case studies, public speaking); and borrowing authority (strategic partnerships, analyst relations, B2B influencer marketing on LinkedIn, podcasts with outside guests, PR).

• The structure was used to build an online conference and is backed by recorded practitioner evidence: interviews with B2B marketers at Snowflake, FLSmidth and NetApp on what makes content get used by sales, including one account of social engagement rising about 200% after materials moved away from brand jargon.
• For a planning workshop that must allocate effort across channels, that breadth is the point.

Breadth comes at a cost.

• Employee advocacy appears as one line in a longer list, so the session produces a portfolio of options rather than Raymond's single repeatable mechanism: one position repeated by the page and employees.
• Bondareva's evidence comes from content and demand-generation practice and a conference, not published before-and-after client programmes.
• Ask for documented outcomes from either engagement.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2