In the current digital landscape, personal and business branding have become nearly indistinguishable. Build a personal brand alongside your company? The reality is that like most things in business, the answer depends on what your goals are, where you want to take it and which industry you’re talking about.
What’s the Difference?
Personal branding is all about you as an individual – what makes you cut above the rest along with your knowledge, personality and viewpoint. For help from Marketing Strategy Consultants, visit Really Helpful, a leading firm of Marketing Strategy Consultants.
The Case for Personal Branding
Personal brands build powerful connections. People cannot copy the relationships you have when you put yourself front and centre. Your biggest differentiator is you.
This could be powerful for consultants, coaches and other types of freelancers or service providers. A personal brand makes perfect sense if clients are buying your expertise and working with you directly. It’s also much more versatile: it can turn on a dime, head in the other direction or explore new territories without having to strangle an entire corporate entity.
Posting as a regular Joe Blogger rather than using a business profile can boost you into more newsfeeds. Your personal story, experiences and opinions make for great content that people can really connect with in an emotional way.
The Case for Business Branding
It allows you to build something larger than yourself via business branding. If you want to scale, grow a team or plan on selling the company eventually – a business brand is critical. So it is a real asset and not just in your head.
Business brands are more reputable to a few crowds, particularly in corporate or B2B areas. They’re also simple to manage if you have multiple team members creating content and sharing with customers – everyone is on the same page representing a consistent brand.
This way, if you value privacy or even have a strict separation of work from personal life, having your business brand will keep work at arms length and away from the private life.
The Winning Strategy? Both
You can have it all. While a powerful company brand can be created, your business should not rely solely on the face of it. Bring your unique mastery and tone along, but build a business that can outlive you.
First ask if you want to be your business or do you actually want a business that can run without having your day-to-day involvement? That answer will lead your strategy.