Colton Briner
Forget about trying to be a thought leader to attract right-fit B2B clients with a podcast.
You know what’s cooler than trying to be a thought leader with a podcast? Be a thought follower with a YouTube TV show. The cost of going video is marginal.
“Today every business is in the video business,” says Colton Briner, owner of the marketing agency Scrappy AF Solutions.
Before he formed his agency, Briner used video thought followship as chief marketing officer at Ensemble Health Partners. Ensemble works with more than 280 hospitals across the United States to improve financial outcomes through efficient outsourced billing, collections and payment recovery.
Simply put, Ensemble worries about the money so the health systems can spend more time worrying about helping patients not die and live longer. That is Ensemble’s purpose.
One of the first things that Briner did as marketing chief at Ensemble was to take a mobile video studio on the road to interview the CEOs of the health systems his company was supporting.
“I got to hear from the CEOs of these health systems about what it is that they are able to do when they have a high-functioning, well-performing revenue cycle,” said Briner.
On the surface, billing and collections is not an exciting topic. But the financial resources Ensemble helps deliver allows providers to focus on improving outcomes and reinvesting in patient care, which results in engaging stories. That stated purpose was a growth driver for Ensemble and fueled its thought followship outcomes.
With thought followship, it’s not about you but about the leaders you are following.
“The stories that I heard from the CEOs of health systems were touching,” said Briner. “These were real stories of lives being impacted, health being improved in communities and hospitals expanding to create better access.”
The success of the thought followship helped result in private equity companies making significant investments in Ensemble Health Partners, which sources said the company grew from a valuation of $60 million in 2019 to north of $2 billion in 2022.
Briner thinks thought followship is best for B2B companies that offer a high-ticket solution, have extended sales cycles, a narrow addressable market of less than 5,000 targets and complex relationship selling. In my opinion it also works well for agency owners, strategic consultants that focus on a B2B niche.
This is not a video only play. For my thought followship TV show on YouTube, “Agency Rainmaker TV,” I also offer the audio portions of the show as podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.
Here are Briner’s tips on how to get the most out of thought followship video campaigns.
Energize the conversations. Pick a theme/purpose/mission for your critical conversations that has some energy in It. Choose an urgent industry problem/threat, controversial challenge, or timely opportunity.
Have lockstep coordination between sales and marketing. Business development teams need to be paying attention. Interviewees will be sharing everything the sales team needs to know to build strong relationships.
Give interviewees support to shine as experts. Learn their strength areas and ask questions they will hit out of the park.
Share, share, share. Atomize the content and guide your staff on how to engage with and share content for greater visibility. Tag your interviewees and their employers in posted content.
Commit to the basics. Thought followship creates a strong start, but effective follow up and nurturing are critical for success. Don’t own the campaign—sponsor it. Keep it at arm’s length for better credibility and higher participation rates.
Briner will share how purpose and thought followship can be a competitive edge at the third annual Growth Summit at UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation on August 10, 2023, presented by the Executive Next Practices Institute. Briner will be joined by about 100 California CEOs (myself included) discussing how to grow in this challenging economic climate.
Briner’s bottom line: Thought followship is about building the client relationship, learning their challenges and helping solve their industry problems. And this especially needs to be a non-selling zone.
As Briner says: “Whatever you do, never sell.” That is the ultimate thought followship selling secret.
