You’d be forgiven for hearing the words ‘personal brand’ and dismissing them as yet another marketing fad that’s not worth your time and investment. If you spend any time on Instagram or TikTok you’ll probably have seen influencers sharing brand collaborations that have little to do with your world.
But unfortunately, personal brand is essential to anyone who runs a business. It’s how you differentiate yourself from your managed service provider (MSP) competitors, how you attract clients to you and how you find opportunities for collaboration and growth.
So What is a Personal Brand?
There are as many definitions for this as there are branding experts! For me, personal brand is the core of who you are. It’s things like:
- How you show up/present yourself to the world
- How you talk about your business
- The clients you work with (and how you choose them)
- What makes you different
- Your values and USP
- How you deliver solutions and outcomes
My friend Christine Gritmon, a Personal Branding Coach, talks about how having it clearly defined makes you more visible, helps people move along the customer journey from browser to client and helps others clearly understand what you do so they can refer you.
As more and more business owners become reliant on AI to help them write blogs, sales pages and even replies on social media posts, there’s a real risk that you sound generic.
And in areas like IT and tech, where people don’t always understand what you do, that’s only going to make it harder for them to choose you as their trusted partner. If you look and sound like everyone else, when they come to make a buying decision, they’ll likely pick whoever they see on their timeline first or who pops up first on Google.
So, having a clear personal brand enables you to stand out from the competition. Done right, it’s also an easy shorthand for summing up your ‘why’, your mission, vision and values and what’s important to you as a business owner.
And as the owner, there’s no real way to separate you the person from you the business. I don’t mean in terms of what you share online – you can and should keep some things private – but in what you do day to day. Let’s be honest, you think about your business when you’re on holiday, don’t you? I know I do!
Where Does Branding Come in?
You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned yet any of the things you might traditionally think of when you hear the word ‘brand’. Again, there are several definitions of branding, but for our purposes we’ll think of it as all of your visual assets.
These will help to make your personal brand more distinctive and easily recognisable. You might write a strapline that you display on your website homepage, social media profiles and email signature which sums up your values or your USP (unique selling point/proposition).
Combine that with a colour palette that reflects the tone of your business voice, a meaningful logo and typography, combined with some striking imagery (graphics and headshots) and you’re on your way to developing a personal brand that people remember.
If you’re considering a brand refresh, whether you do it yourself or not, spend some time thinking about all of the elements mentioned above. Don’t just pick your favourite colour! If you have a business partner or senior leadership team, get them involved too.
To get you thinking, I highly recommend Fiona Humberstone’s branding books . As a non-visual creative (I’m strictly a writer, not a designer!) I found her advice clear to follow and inspired me to really think about what I wanted my branding to represent about me and my business.
Do I Need to Work with a Branding Expert?
No, you don’t. If you feel confident that you can do it yourself, that’s fine. But make sure you do a lot of research into the elements you choose to represent your brand – don’t just pick colours you like or choose generic values such as ‘professional’ and ‘reliable’. All businesses should be able to be those things!
However, there are benefits to working with a graphic designer on the visual side of the brand. Not all graphic designers are branding experts, and vice versa, so decide what help you need and find someone accordingly.
If you’re having a big refresh because you’re changing your business model or expanding into a different country/niche/size, then it could be helpful to talk to someone like Christine to make sure that your personal brand still says what you want it to say about you when you’re not in the room.
Likewise, if you’re a big organisation with multiple locations, it can be a good idea to get some help to ensure each office is cohesive in the way it presents itself. Make sure you involve your employees in the process, too, as they’re the biggest ambassadors for your business – or otherwise!
So, what are your thoughts now? Do you already have a personal brand? Let us know in the comments!
