7 Organizational Benefits of Personal Branding in the Now Normal

Yes, I am referring to the personal "brand of you" connected to the employees in your company. These clever personal brand champions can support your employer and corporate brands in the "now normal" of business operations.

In a flurry of corporate restructuring and rethinking, it has never been more important for individuals to know who they are, what they do, and what they desire to accomplish in your business.

When this happens, leaders know exactly how to develop and support people responsible for the success of your company. 

The ground is shaky. People are out of work. Employees fear the future of work and their ability to adapt. Others are shifting to needed roles in an era of disruption that leaves companies languishing with uncertainty.

The cry for reform and racial unrest continues as organizations scramble for words and policies. The COVID virus lurks in the crevices of your re-entry to the business world and the newly formatted workplace.  

Digital transformation is the start of a much larger picture of needed change. Smart adaptable organizations will harness the benefits of positive personal brands in their midst as a stabilizing force to increase the value of their employer and corporate brands.

How does this work? 

Personal, Employer, and Corporate Brands Band Together as a Positive Force

Like collaborative teams yielding a more noticeable and timely result than one person working solo, a significant personal brand increases in value when combined with employer or corporate brands.

a significant personal brand increases in value when combined with employer or corporate brands. Employer and corporate brands expand their worth when integrated with smart personal brands.

In a meaningful view of this equation, employer and corporate brands expand their worth when integrated with smart personal brands.

Let’s take a closer look at the relationship between the three types of branding in the workplace. 

Depending on your perspective, the three types of brands appear to have different goals, yet offer overlapping audiences and markets. There are unmistakable benefits for companies who embrace personal brand champions among their ranks.

7 Advantages of Personal Branding Within Your Organization

Formerly perceived as threats, career branding habits and actions by employees are transformed into opportunities for companies. Following are seven examples:

1. The Corporate Advocate Promotes the Organization

A worker who speaks on behalf of his company at an industry conference initiates a set of complementary branding results.

He reinforces his business expertise across a broad group of industry participants, increasing his value as a thought leader. He also expands positive company awareness, strengthens the corporate brand, and attracts potential employees who may be in the audience.

A solid win for all three types of branding.

Trends and industry breakthroughs discovered at these gatherings while attending or speaking at a conference offer new perspectives and serve to stimulate corporate innovation. Innovative thoughts and fresh thinking are impressive returns on professional development when it is seasoned with the bonus of personal brand activities.

2. Satisfied Employees on Social Platforms Influence and Attract Job Candidates

Today’s job candidates are rigorous researchers, an important behavior impacting employer brands. Job seekers have access to the largest database of online information via their browser when vetting a potential employer. 

Leaders who support and encourage personal brand activities via social media will reap the rewards of positive searchable content about their businesses.

A satisfied employee who affiliates with his company across social platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter expands positive exposure for the enterprise. Discoverable through online search, this content can cultivate conversation and awareness. 

These accessible forms of content contribute to informative nuggets in the job search universe, enabling job candidates to engage with existing employees of their target employer.

3. Understanding What People Want Enables Companies to Help Them Grow

According to Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni, authors of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, understanding what is important to employees happens through career conversations. Employees who receive attention and guidance as they add to the portfolio of accomplishments in their professional brand are likely to stay and flourish.

They are happier and more satisfied. The practice of personal branding within organizations is the ally of professional and personal development.

Leaders in organizations who endorse this practice inside their doors are better equipped to manage the flow of constructive information about their company. Supportive employee development behavior inspires positive comments on sites like Glassdoor, a company review site.

4. Knowing Who's Who and What They Love to Do Leads to Best Use of Talent

An additional internal benefit of personal branding within a company is you can better understand the capabilities of workers across an organization. Wouldn’t it be great to have a database of employees sorted by their succinct offerings and position statements? 

When you have a need for a program, you could request a team member for a project based on what the individual cares about, rather than referencing a job description or list of skill sets.

5. People Who Publish Content Amplify Marketing and Recruitment Efforts 

Employees are prolific publishers of content like speeches, industry blog posts, white papers, technical briefs, presentations, and videos. Much of this content is produced in alliance with corporate or product marketing departments, yet the author signature and your corporate logo reflect the employer, company, and personal brands. 

A well-written white paper or a speech with significant industry reach will bode well for the individual and the company. Businesses who inspire personal brand building by encouraging creation of useful industry content by employees will fortify their market awareness.

Published white papers and other written assets will recruit top job candidates who uncover employee-generated content while conducting research.

The digital footprint is the first impression between job candidates and people working within the company. The 24/7 content serves as a prelude to the first handshake or direct eye contact in the talent recruitment pipeline.

6. Professional Biographies Attract New Business

When I worked as a brand strategist for global law firm clients, there was an obsessive focus on website information by partners within the firm, especially biographies. The expertise of 1,200 partners in one hundred countries, nine industries, and fifteen practice areas was critical to the success of the corporate brand.

We learned the most powerful marketing content on many professional services firms’ websites was the partner biography section. The data analytics indicated users spent most of their time in this area, rather than the home page or the “about” section.

People and companies hire lawyers, not just law firms. This was my first indoctrination into the brand value of precise individuals within firms. With better positioning within their biographies certain partners were in higher demand than others.

7. Personal Branding in the C-Suite Attracts Customers and Job Prospects

The leaders in the C-suite bear a responsibility to corporate and employer brands. The burden of correct commentary and appropriate responses is significant. Online access by customers and investors to videos, speeches, and quotes in the media represent influential data points for a company brand.

Media training and coaching are essential parts of brand management for executives. A CEO’s personal brand and her public interaction with customers is an extension of the corporate public persona.

Let's review some examples of how this works in real life.

Personal Brands Who Reflect Positive Corporate and Employer Brands

There are many examples of people who have mastered brand integration by courting their markets with dexterity and ease. What they have in common is they attract people to their mission, values, and products. Here are a couple examples: 

Richard Branson. As a leader of more than four hundred companies within Virgin Group, Branson’s brand is synonymous with a number of positive attributes like: anything is possible, taking risks, and thinking big.

Oprah Winfrey. As a trailblazer who emerged from a challenging childhood, Oprah represents values like: resilience, dreaming big, access to education for all, willful optimism, and giving the disenfranchised a voice.

Sara Blakely. When Sara founded her company, she sold the "problem" of undergarment lines in pants and skirts to her investors as she presented her seamless solution. The principles of the Spanx organization reflect Sara's perspectives like: asking good questions, sharing failures for future success, and breaking some rules.

While well-known entrepreneurs are an effective way to demonstrate how the integration of branding efforts succeed, the best way to learn the impact is to take a look around at your business environment. Write down names of people who are visible and memorable within your own network or organization who are ambassadors for your company. You might notice some of the following behaviors:

• Enthusiastically presents company and product concepts within the organization and at conferences. They are often associated with these topic.
• Demonstrates consistent and reliable behavior. The consistency makes them more top of mind than others within the organization.
• Behaves in a memorable way. Commonly known for one attribute over others like "he always exhibits calm under pressure during tough customer situations," or "she consistently comes up with creative solutions in the moment."
• Is the first person who comes to mind when you think "ambassador for your organization." 
• Become masters of their craft within the company, rising to the height of performance.
• Are prolific and productive at what they do (writing, product design, successful work product, etc.)
• Communicates their personal positioning and reinforces it through behavior.

The Bottom Line on Triple Brand Integration

In the past, organizations looked upon personal branding with concern. However, the interlocking gears of businesses, individuals, and information create a compelling brand equation.

The results include the optimization of individual contribution and increase in company value. The triple brand value created is larger than when viewed separately.

 If you want to learn more about my work, visit martikonstant.com. You can also download the 28 pg. Happy Profitable Employees white paper.

Ask me about my agility and adaptability workshops that will help you, your teams, and your organization rebound in a time of a change and disruption. Available for teams, managers, and senior leaders.

Everything has been converted to virtual delivery. Looking for a keynote, workshop, or training on the topics of agility, change management, personal branding, or future of work for your organization? Send an email: [email protected] and we will schedule a call. Check out topic ideas for speaking and training. 

?Konstant Change, 2020