Small Brand, Big Impact: Marketing Science for Solopreneurs
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00:00:00 [Gabrielle] Hi everyone. I want to take a minute to welcome you all to the first Lettuce Solo Summit. I'm Gabrielle Tanaglia. I'm Lettuce's head of marketing and an S-corp owner. At Lettuce, we are on a mission to help solopreneurs like you keep more of what they earn by automating your taxes and accounting. But we're here for more than just tax savings. We want to help your solo business grow and thrive so you get all the advantages of running your own business. For the next two days, we're excited to bring together ambitious solopreneurs and industry innovators to uncover what truly drives success. We've gathered an extraordinary group of speakers who understand exactly what it takes to build and scale a successful solo business, and we're thrilled to have you join us. As you attend sessions today, please ask questions, comment in the chat—we want to hear from you. Connect with each other using your LinkedIn profiles and check the handouts tab in each session for offers from our speakers and from Lettuce. To kick off our summit today, we have a speaker who knows how to help small companies make a big impact. I've learned a lot from her work as director of market engagement at LinkedIn's B2B Institute. She's going to tell us today how you can apply the marketing principles that help global brands grow, but without the big budgets and large teams. Through her work at Google, IBM, and LinkedIn, she has developed practical strategies that help independent professionals command attention. Her influence extends beyond marketing. She serves as president of LinkedIn's Black Inclusion Group and co-founded TransformHer, LinkedIn's premier event for women of color. Today, she'll show us how to build remarkable brands for our own solo businesses. She is also going to give away two LinkedIn premium accounts during her session. Please welcome our opening keynote speaker, Ty Heath.
00:01:55 [Ty] Thank you so much for the warm welcome, Gabrielle. Hello, everyone. Let me say a little more about myself and the B2B Institute. I'm so excited for your participation in the chat today. When I talk about community, I mean it—please feel free to connect with each other and with me. I would be remiss not to say that since I work for LinkedIn. Pleasure to be here. At LinkedIn's B2B Institute, our mission is to help build famous brands, collaborating with academic and industry experts to cultivate household brands. Our research shows that brand building is often the prime opportunity to get from small to big. This is Small Brand, Big Impact—understanding the marketing science of how small brands grow. We're going to do science today—I'll show you why I'm saying what I am. It's an ambitious agenda. If you have thoughts or questions, please ask in the chat. I'll try my best to keep an eye out and respond in real time or later during Q&A.
00:03:13 [Ty] Let's start with science. There are laws of physics, and there are laws of marketing. These explain how brands grow, B2C or B2B, revealing how advertising works and challenging old notions. We work with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute—a group that's revolutionized marketing with fundamental principles. However, if you study marketing at university, often these fundamentals aren't taught. We're going to cover them today.
00:04:22 [Ty] Everyone loves an underdog story: Rocky, Karate Kid, Bend It Like Beckham. These stories celebrate tenacity and clever strategy. Small businesses are the ultimate underdogs and face classic challenges: cash flow, limited resources, lack of brand awareness. Small brands start on first base; big brands start on third. How do you close that gap? You need to know the game—advertising is a competitive sport. At the heart of it: memory is the game. Marketers are in the memory business. The brand that's remembered is the brand that's bought.
00:05:35 [Ty] Let me know in the chat if you're from Bachelor Nation. In The Bachelor, the First Impression Rose is strong: 50 seasons, and recipients of that rose almost always make it to the finale. That's not luck—it's early information bias, the availability heuristic. In business, if you're the last-minute scramble, you miss out. The real power is being memorable up front. Out of 23 "first rose" winners, over half made the top four and stayed longer on the show. The same applies to your business—it's not just luck but the power of a strong first impression. We want to be the front runner.
00:07:05 [Ty] People use their minds as a search engine. Over 86% start with a shortlist—usually just three brands. 92% pick from that day-one list. If you're not on that list, you're not in the game. The competition is before purchase. At B2B Institute, we love mental models: the 95:5 rule. For B2C, it's more 80:20. It means that 95% (or 80%) of your buyers are not in buying mode. We often focus on the visible 5% or 20%—but we should build brand during "quiet" moments.
00:08:41 [Ty] This is about the long-term journey from startup to scale-up. Most businesses wait too long to build brand, focusing only on today's buyer and ignoring future buyers. If you chase just the buyers of the moment, costs keep climbing. But if you invest in brand early, you get a momentum effect: future marketing is cheaper, your reach grows, and you're not always hustling for the next customer. It takes time—like Serena Williams building her skills. There's a fallacy called "product-led growth"—just building the best product isn't enough. People must remember you.
00:09:54 [Ty] Now for the first law: Double Jeopardy. It describes the relationship between brand size and loyalty. It's not enough to create an exceptional product—brands grow by acquiring new customers, not just by retention. Penetration (reach) matters. Take CRM companies: the big three—Adobe, Salesforce, Microsoft—have high penetration and high retention. Smaller brands like monday.com and Freshworks have lower levels of both. If more people know you, more people trust you and stay. Big brands benefit from this cycle, but you can break it by investing in brand early.
00:11:32 [Ty] Would you rather reach 1 million people once or 500,000 people twice? The first exposure is the most powerful—after that, effects diminish. Best to maximize first exposures (reach) to grow. You want relevant reach: as many as possible for your budget. If people don't see you, they can't remember you or buy from you. Every growth journey starts with reach.
00:13:06 [Ty] Without a big budget, use your voice and organic platforms—like LinkedIn. Break your strategy into three stages: Crawl, Walk, Run. If you have a team, use their networks—your team's collective network is 12x your company’s following. People trust people over companies. Authenticity from your team has impact. The main growth strategy is new customer acquisition—expanding your base.
00:15:14 [Ty] Law 2: Brands grow by new customer acquisition, not just retention. Consumers use multiple brands. Example: Amazon—54% of their customers also use Google; 23% also use Oracle. Big brands do not have an exclusive lock. This is good news—you can compete! Steal customers from leaders. Defend your own customers. Win new customers in the category. Brand is your tool. Think: Netflix "ta-dum," Tiffany blue box, M&M characters—build consistent and memorable brand assets.
00:16:44 [Ty] To stand out, be distinctive and consistent. Brand cues like color or mascots work—example: IBM's blue, Spotify's green, Geico's gecko. These devices create instant recognition. Most ads that work feature stories, characters, sounds, or emotion. Overkill is underrated—use brand devices creatively.
00:18:01 [Ty] We played a game identifying IBM blue among several hues. Conclusion: color alone isn't enough. Memory is strongest with multiple cues (color, character, sound).
00:19:28 [Ty] Being remembered is not enough—you must be remembered in context. Example: Coffee game. On your way to work, you think Starbucks (location). On your couch, you might think Folgers or Lavazza. There are millions of consideration sets. Small brands can win in specific situations by understanding customer triggers and context.
00:21:58 [Ty] Most brands rely on many light buyers, not just a few heavy users. Big brands simply have more customers overall, so expand your appeal. Think Skittles: you must buy the whole bag to get the red ones. To grow, attract and serve all types of customers, optimizing for many light buyers.
00:23:55 [Ty (Q&A)] If you're a solopreneur, is it okay to focus on just 1–2 clients at a time? Yes, for specific stages or small projects, that's sufficient. But if you want growth, you'll need to expand your pool of clients—think in terms of broadening your reach. Serving a wide spectrum attracts diverse opportunities and more long-term stability.
00:25:20 [Q] How should solopreneurs sequence their branding investments?
00:25:40 [A] Start with organic strategies (own voice and network), then move towards more scalable systems like content, communities, and partnerships. Once you have a strong organic foundation and clear understanding of your buying situations, you can begin layering on paid reach and more advanced branding investments.
00:26:10 [Q] What's your #1 tip to become memorable as a small brand?
00:26:30 [A] Pick one or two consistent, distinctive brand assets—a color, mascot, tagline, or sound—and use them everywhere. The repeated, consistent use is far more powerful than trying to be clever and different in every campaign.
00:26:50 [Q] As a solo professional, how do I "punch above my weight" against big brands?
00:27:10 [A] Focus on identifying and owning specific buying situations (niches) where the big players aren’t dominant; be memorable in the moments that matter to your target audience. Leverage your agility as an individual to build meaningful relationships and authentic connections.
00:27:30 [Q] Any advice for nurturing a team’s collective brand for solopreneurs with a few employees?
00:27:50 [A] Encourage every team member to participate as a “brand ambassador” on their own channels—amplify your reach by pooling your networks and each sharing authentic, value-driven stories about your business.
00:28:10 [Q] When is the right time to start investing in paid marketing?
00:28:30 [A] Only after you’ve fully built up your own organic channels and know exactly which audiences, channels, and buying situations deliver the best results. Otherwise, you risk spending money inefficiently.
00:28:50 [Q] LinkedIn tips for beginners?
00:29:10 [A] Polish your profile with a clear headline and authentic summary. Share or comment on at least one post per week. Join groups and communities in your niche. Consistence matters more than perfection. Don’t overthink—get started and adjust as you learn what works.
00:29:50 [Ty] Thank you for participating, for your energy, and your questions. Remember: marketers are in the memory business—being memorable and distinctive, in the right situations, is your best asset for growth. Build your brand patiently and intentionally, and your future self will thank you. Connect with me and with each other on LinkedIn. Good luck!
The science of marketing that helps global brands grow can be adapted to help solopreneurs thrive. In this workshop, Ty Heath, Director at LinkedIn's B2B Institute uses brand and behavioral science fundamentals with a LinkedIn lens to teach the principles required to build your brand, drive influence, and invest in relationships long after the live conversation is over. You'll discover how to leverage your individual story, command attention in your market without a big marketing budget, and grow your business without trying to mimic big corporate playbooks.
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Ty Heath |
Smart Taxes for Smart
Solo Businesses.
At Lettuce, we’ve built an automated tax and accounting system so your business-of-one can thrive. If you're making $100K, you could be overpaying by $10,000.
Without an S Corp, you’re overpaying your taxes
As a business-of-one, by default your self-employment taxes–which covers things like Social Security and Medicare–are twice what they would be as a W2 employee.