Confused if you’re a personal brand and business brand? Have you been using your name as your business but not really sure what your personal brand actually stands for? In today’s episode I’ll be providing you with informative information on what a personal brand and business brand is, so you can leave here knowing exactly what type of brand you’re business falls into. And what changes or improvements you should be making within your personal brand. If you’ve got a bit behind on doing laundry and need to catch up as well as improve your business listen to – episode 008 on >>Apple Podcast<< or >>Spotify<<
The importance of knowing what type of brand you are.
Time:00:36
Before launching a brand or online business it’s important to start on the right foot, and provide your people with the best first impression. When I first started I made some major mistakes and I’m not scared to admit that. I didn’t realise the amount of information decision-making actually went into a building a brand back then. So one of my mistakes was that I hadn’t decided what type of brand I was! This then had a knock on effect and has taken me a long time to build engagement, so do believe me when I say it’s crucial and critical to have a strong understanding what it is that your small business stands for. So if you’re a solopreneurs working on a business launch, you might have questioned whether a business brand or personal brand will be the best fit.
This is one of the first questions you should be asking yourself and that is deciding what type of brand will best fit your business model, your business goals and aspiration now and in the future. Plus the type of personality you have might also help determine which type of brand is best suited for you. I know that your seeing personal brands everywhere nowadays you can’t go on Instagram without it feel like 100 new small personal businesses have just started and everyone has a side-hustle. Even thought personal branding has increase by 10 fold it doesn’t mean that a business brand puts you at an advantage they both have pros and cons which I’ll be explaining in this podcast episode. So make sure you stick around so you can know exactly which brand type is the best fit for you and your small business.
The differences between a personal and business brand
Time: 02:12
So the main difference between a personal brand and a business brand is that a personal brand is built around you, essential you are the main focus, you’re personality, your habits, your lifestyle and your interests is your brand. This would mean your business is likely to be named after you. Where as a business brand is built around an identity you create for your business. And this will usually mean you create a new name.
The strengths and weakness of a personal brand
Time: 02:40
A personal brand can be easier for less business minded solopreneurs, we have all the tools to start a personal brand right at our fingertips. It’s super easy nowadays to connect through social media, build a website from a template and purchase a pre-made logo bundle. The other perk to a personal brand is that you have space to be more flexible. Your service or product offerings can evolve, maybe even change without it hurting you brand, and you wont need to change your name. A personal brand can also provide you with a range of speaking opportunities and other collaborations with other personal brands. A personal brand is a perfect fit for solopreneurs, ideal for artist, photographer, authors, coaches, speakers and so many more!
However it does unfortunately have some downfalls that I want to address these with you. With a personal brand it’s difficult for people to understand what it is that you do and will need some type of tagline to explain. This means it might take longer for your audience and new customers to make strong associating of your name with that product of service you are offering.
Another issue that some people don’t consider before choosing a personal brand is that you will need to show your face a lot online! If you’re more of an introvert it can be daunting to go onto IG stories and talk, but for personal brand it’s a requirement not optional. They are always and consistently interacting with their audience face to screen! We all have comfort zones and this might be one you’ll have to over come, don’t base you decision purely you don’t want to show your face. Because everything is like a muscle once you slowly start doing it should get easier and better about show up and talking everyday.
Dealing with imposter syndrome can be crippling for any solopreneurs, entrepreneur but specially if you have a personal brand. Imposter syndrome is when you feel that your experience and knowledge isn’t good enough and that you’re just a part of a façade. You start to question if you’re even providing useful and real valuable information. This has knock on effect with your personal brand because you’ll slowly quieten your voice and presence online, due to your insecurities and once you start that you can get loss online and loss momentum.
The strengths and weakness of a business brand
Time: 05:32
Business brands have a more complex process to build. This is because we craft an identity along side your business. A business brand will give you a better sense of who it is, because a business brand isn’t build around you, you’ll need to understand it clear to know exactly how to steer it and the decisions it that I should be making. A business brand means your keeping it separate from you and you technically could leave it in charge without someone else while you go holiday and it could still run without you.
The best perks about a business brand is that it is far easier to sell than a personal brand. If you decide that you want to move on from your business and sell this is easier with a business brand because the brand name will be associated with it’s product rather than the person behind it.
One of the major con’s to having a business brand is you are less flexible, and will have less room to grow and explore other avenues compared to a personal brand, personal brand can grow alongside your interest and your audience will love it.
With a business brand it can be harder to build trust with your audience online. Customers are more likely to purchase from people that they know, like and trust. We actually trust people who are like us because we believe they won’t steer us wrong! A business brand has to work hard on find way to be relatable to their audience without having a brand face or name.
Other downfalls with starting a business brand is that it can be harder to build an audience, it’s harder and might take longer for your target audience to connect. Every business has competitors but for business brand it might be consider harder to stand out from the crowd.
A fusion of both brand types
Time: 07:23
I believe that it’s perfectly expectable to fuse the personal and business brand qualities together. I’d go as far saying that actually it’s easier to do this now than ever before. By all mean you can create a business brand but still along side this have a blog, publicising yourself as the sole author. So that you are personally gaining authority, showing your views and knowledge. You could have a business brand but still be very visible online by showing your face on social media and interacting to your ideal customers and client like a personal brand.
Don’t be afraid to find what suit you and your small business and do keep in mind what would work best for your personality. Because although personal brands for solopreneurs and entrepreneurs does sound like the easier options. They still do take a lot of time effort, patience and confidence to build strong connection with your audience and level of recognition and hype around them. So definitely don’t be disheartened when you launch a personal brand or business brand and it doesn’t sky rocket, because strong brands really aren’t built over night.
Which brand type is right for your personality and business goals ?
Time: 08:36
What brand type is right for you? This is a tricky question to because I’m not speaking with you directly, so we can have a back and forth but here are few questions to ask to help you get started.
What type of service or product do you want to provide? So if you think in future you’ll change avenues, therefore you’re not 100 % set sure you’ll stick with you product or service that obviously would show a personal brand might be a better fit.
Are you a one-person business, if you’re a one person business or very small team of three or four a personal brand can still work however if your going more than that, then sometime a personal brand is a bit harder because everyone has a slightly different tone of voice and you need to make sure everyone on the same pages. That’s why we have larger corporation is why we use business branding to create a unified voice and brand.
Are you multi-passionate and think some day you would like to DIP your toe into other avenues? That kind of reverting back to the first question fi you don’t think you’ll stay in specific topic than a personal brand might be a better fit.
Do you like the sound of having a back sit in your business some day? This is looking into the future, but if you think someday you don’t want to own your business you want to build it, run it, profit from it and then eventually sell it one day than maybe a business brand is a better fit for you. If you have the intention of selling later on, then a business brands are far easier to sell because as again the name isn’t associated with the person but rather the product or service.
How comfortable will you be at show up and talking online everyday? This is something I struggle with showing up on IG stories very fearful of. If this is something you’re finding difficult maybe you need to think about how you can mix the business and personal brand qualities together. I definitely struggle within in this area of the personal marketing.
That’s a close people for both biz and personal branding
Time: 11:06
Right unfortunately we are coming to a close on this episode, I’m so happy you took the time to listen to me and now have gained a clear understanding on the real differences between a business brand and personal brand. You not only now know what they both include but their strength and weakness and how you can fuse certain element from both, to produce a brand type that will work best for you. It’s important to remember solopreneurs that, Yes, we are very closely connected to our small businesses, but that doesn’t not mean to say you have to be personal brand we still have options and decisions to make. If you haven’t build you brand strategy yet then go check out my >>Brand Strategy Step By Step<< guide, and start building your brand today.
With my 1 to 1 clients I’m dedicated to helping them build a brand that not only works for their business goals now and in the future but also a brand that work for who they are as a person. Because at the end of the day it’s the client that will be taking their brand and growing it online, essential they will become their own brand ambassador and have the responsibility to promote it. So if they truly don’t feel comfortable or motivated to do that with the brand I’ve build then I will feel like I have failed them. So I’ll leave you with just this last piece of advice you should also be taking into account who you are as a person, obviously we are all capable of growing and moving out of comfort zones but make sure your make a decisions on what type of brand that suits you and no one else.