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Empower Your Team to Amplify Your Brand
Authored by: Kelsey Blum – Partner Marketing Manager
“Personal brands outperform corporate accounts all day.” It’s a bold statement, but the data backs it up. People connect with people, not faceless logos. According to a 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer report, 63% of consumers trust individuals (like employees or CEOs) over corporate entities when it comes to brand messaging. So why aren’t more companies pouring resources into internal creator programs?
At Brand House Marketing, we’ve noticed a strange disconnect: businesses funnel budgets into glossy corporate campaigns, yet their internal subject matter experts (SMEs)—the authentic voices with the most potential—get little to no support for content development. Imagine the impact if companies flipped the script. What if tools, content team resources, or even freelancers were dedicated to building personal brands for internal SMEs? The potential is massive, and the data agrees.
The Founder Brand Blueprint
Early-stage founders often set the tone. They’re the original SMEs, wearing their passion on their sleeves, sharing unfiltered insights, and building loyal followings. We’ve all seen how well that works. Think of founders like Sara Blakely and Gary Vaynerchuk, whose personal brands have fueled their companies’ growth. Ascendant founders don’t just amplify a company, they scale it. But as companies grow, that founder energy doesn’t have to fade. Instead, it can scale by replicating “founder brand” programs across internal SMEs—employees whose roles and expertise mirror your end users.
Your ideal customer profile (ICP) doesn’t just want to hear from the C-suite. They want insights from the product managers, engineers, or customer success reps who live their challenges. Yet, too often, the founder gets the spotlight (and the budget), while these relatable practitioners get a “keep it up” at best. Encouragement is nice, but it’s not enough.
The Missing Piece: Support for Practitioners
Here’s the catch: these internal SMEs aren’t sitting twiddling their thumbs waiting for inspiration. They’re busy doing their jobs. To explore their potential as creators, they need more than a LinkedIn login and a vague “post something.” They need processes, tools, and real support for ideation, production, and distribution. A 2022 LinkedIn study found that posts from employees get 8x more engagement than brand posts. That’s untapped potential sitting right under your nose.
Picture this:
- A content team that collaborates with SMEs to brainstorm topics tied to their area of expertise.
- Tools like Canva, Descript, or even AI assistants to streamline creation.
- Freelancers or dedicated staff to handle editing, scheduling, and analytics.
When you give employees the resources to shine, you’re not just building their personal brands, you’re amplifying your company’s voice. Every post, video, or thread they share becomes a touchpoint that extends your reach into new networks.
The Ripple Effect
The math is simple. When your employees grow their audiences, your company expands its reach. An SME with 5,000 engaged followers isn’t just a person, they’re a channel. Multiply that across a team of internal creators, and you’ve got a decentralized marketing engine that’s authentic, scalable, and cost-effective. Plus, it’s a win-win—employees build their professional profiles while the company reaps the rewards of trust and visibility.
So why aren’t more companies doing this? Maybe it’s inertia. Maybe it’s a fear of losing control. But the brands that figure this out—investing in their people as creators—will leave the competition scrambling to catch up. At Brand House Marketing, we’re betting on the power of personal brands. It’s time to stop sleeping on your SMEs and start building the internal creator programs your audience is waiting for.
