This guide features insights from Chris Donnelly—business owner, LinkedIn creator, and co-founder of Searchable.com—and explains how he uses personal branding as a measurable, strategic growth channel rather than a trend or vanity metric.
Personal branding has become one of the most talked-about growth strategies on LinkedIn—and one of the most misunderstood. For many founders, it feels like a trend meant for full-time creators, not busy entrepreneurs running real companies.
But for business owner and LinkedIn creator Chris Donnelly, personal branding isn’t about going viral. It’s a strategic traffic engine—one that drives qualified, high-intent attention toward every business he runs. And the reason it works is simple: he measures what actually drives results.
Personal branding is about controlling your reach and traffic
Chris recently received a message from a founder in the AI automation space. The company had hit USD 1 million ARR in just 18 months, but the founder felt stuck on how to grow beyond that milestone. Everywhere he turned, people were talking about personal branding—especially on LinkedIn—but he wasn’t sure if it was worth the effort or just another passing fad.
Chris reframed the conversation entirely.
In business, there are only two growth levers you can directly control: traffic and conversion. Most companies pay for traffic through ads, sponsorships, or outbound marketing. But a personal brand gives you something far more powerful—free, relevant, trust-driven traffic from people who already believe in your expertise.
I’ve always been a business owner first. I just use my personal brand as a way of driving traffic and awareness toward my business.”
But attracting attention is only the beginning. The real advantage comes from knowing where that attention is coming from and which messages actually move people.
Using Bitly to track what actually works
That’s where Bitly comes in. Chris uses Bitly to turn personal branding from an intuition game into a measurable, predictable growth system.
If I don’t have that data, I’m effectively shooting in the dark.”
Bitly gives him a streamlined way to track every link he posts across platforms—without adding any complexity to his workflow. Instead of guessing which posts resonate, he can see performance in real time.
Chris relies on:
- Branded short links that look clean and credible on LinkedIn
- A simple analytics dashboard that shows exactly which posts drive traffic
- Performance insights across content type, channel, and audience location
- Trackable QR Codes for events and in-person moments
When he speaks at events, Chris often includes a custom Bitly QR Code on his slides. He instantly sees how many people scan it, which messages spark the most interest, and which parts of his talk drive true engagement. The same clarity translates to his online content.
I like having clean branded short links on my social media and then seeing which individual pieces of content are working best.”
Patterns begin to emerge—certain themes convert better, particular hooks spark curiosity, and specific stories consistently bring in qualified traffic. With that visibility, he can double down on what works and refine what doesn’t.
The founder’s playbook: keep it simple and measured
Chris’s philosophy is straightforward: founders should treat personal branding the same way they treat product or marketing—make it measurable and keep it repeatable.
The more he understands what resonates, the more intentionally he can scale the content that drives results. With Bitly short links, QR Codes, and the Analytics dashboard, he gets clarity across the full spectrum:
- Content strategy: Which ideas and stories attract the right audience
- Channel prioritization: Which platforms deserve more focus
- Messaging insights: What resonates with prospects and customers
- Offline engagement: Which in-person interactions translate into action
This gives Chris a clear, data-backed feedback loop—one he can use week after week, post after post.
Why measurable personal branding drives better results
Personal branding is all about building a predictable, high-intent source of traffic that you don’t have to pay for. When founders can measure what works, their entire approach shifts. Instead of guessing which posts resonate or hoping the right audience sees their content, they can make decisions grounded in real behavior. That clarity reveals which ideas attract the right people, which stories convert, and which messages deserve more attention.
Understanding what performs also helps founders diversify where their traffic comes from. They’re no longer relying solely on paid ads or outbound tactics and instead building an owned channel powered by trust.
Branded, secure links reinforce that trust by showing audiences exactly where they’re clicking, which increases engagement and confidence. And because Bitly tracks both digital activity and offline moments like QR Code scans, founders get a complete picture of how people interact with their content across every touchpoint.
The goal is to keep everything simple and keep everything tracked.”
With that mindset, personal branding becomes less of a creative experiment and more of a measurable growth engine—one that founders can depend on to drive awareness, authority, and consistent inbound traffic.
Ready to start using your personal brand on LinkedIn to drive high-intent traffic? Get started with Bitly for free and track what actually moves your business forward.