How your Personal Brand benefits your Business Brand

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression

This is a truth that applies to you and your business

It takes less than 7 seconds for someone to form an impression of you and if you’re a small business owner your Personal Brand is going to influence your Business brand hugely, because when you are starting out, first and foremost, customers will buy YOU

So you might have a logo and/or a website but the awareness of your business brand will take a long time to build even if you have significant budget to invest in SEO and digital advertising (PPC)

And that’s another reason Personal Branding is so important, with a compelling, differentiated Personal Brand your personal reputation becomes more valuable than any amount of broad brush digital advertising. So guess what, it even saves you money

For Professional Service providers, like me, who don't have a retail 'product' and operate in a competitive space it is even more crucial. To stand out and reach your ideal clients, you need to spend easily as much effort understanding, developing and amplifying your Personal Brand as you do worrying about your logo design

By integrating your Personal Brand with your business brand, you’re much more likely to connect with the right people and be able to turn strangers into customers

Personal branding is critical for business people of all genders, but the reality is that women are often conditioned to be less ‘out there’. Self-promotion and talking about ourselves and what we do in glowing terms doesn’t come so easily. But the beauty of a Personal Brand is, it does the selling for you

Why You Need a Personal Branding Strategy ?

I recently read a post (on LinkedIn) which suggested that Coaches don’t need an accredited qualification to be successful, but they do need to be able to market themselves

I’d argue that anyone setting up a business needs to know the fundamentals of marketing and the thing about Personal Branding is that it is based on the exact same principles as commercial marketing so as a solopreneur it's easy to conflate the two

• Define your target audience and niche down as tight as you can
• Uncover their pain points and create products to solve them (not the other way around)
• Find your unique point of differentiation & expertise and build your Brand (Personal and Business) around that platform
• Be clear on your offer and how it benefits your audience (Value Proposition)
• Consistently communicate that proposition so you become known for ONE thing

Sounds easy? It isn’t.....which is why, I guess people resort to cold DM ??

Branding takes work and effort. Patience and bravery

This is the mistake many business owners make in Year 1

They don’t niche down. They spread the net wide in an effort to talk to as many people as possible for fear they might miss out on a customer

For the same reason, they want to say lots of things all at once, which only serves to confuse

It’s an advertising maxim. Throw 3 messages out there and only one will be caught but it might not be the one you want to land. The same goes for your Personal Brand

Niching takes bravery, but it is the most efficient and effective way to create a brand as a small business. If forces you to focus your energy and expertise on those who will yield the greatest return in the first instance. And once you've established yourself, then you can go a little broader

Creating A Personal Brand as a Business Owner

1. Know that in the first instance only your ideal client matters so get clear on who that is, what problems they need solving and how you can help. In the commercial world this is Customer Research. It’s critical, because you might find that they have no need for your product or those who do might not be there in sufficient numbers to make your business viable
2. Serve don’t Sell. What does your brand personally offer that audience? Demonstrate your expertise, give away value before trying to close. Build a compelling, stand out, relevant Personal Brand and your audience will come to you
3. Build relationships and community not quick wins. Trying to convert a sale, before any meaningful interaction will damage both your Personal and Business Brand. Random, poorly researched pitches are the biggest turn-off. Sure you are in business to sell your product but at least do your homework first ?
4. Know, like, Trust. Remember at the moment they are buying YOU not your logo, you have to be credible, and demonstrate recognised expertise in the specific area: ?This is what engenders ‘know, like and trust’. To the above point. If your audience haven't a clue who you are or what you do, why would they buy from you? And by the way offering a 'Free Guide' isn't going to sweeten the pill
5. Trust requires honesty, integrity and authenticity, yes that word, but it’s true, your Personal Brand has to be transparent and represent you, not some manufactured persona of someone you'd like to be
6. Own your personality. So showcase what makes you unique, and don’t be afraid to share it with your audience. If some are turned off by you and don’t embrace your Personal Brand then they are unlikely to buy your product so don’t fret about the haters and demoters, save your energy for your advocates and potential clients
7. Have absolute clarity on who you are and what you have to offer. Can you articulate what you do, who you do it for and how they benefit in one or 2 sentences? If not, you need to work on defining your Value Proposition. Another advertising maxim. If you have to explain it, you've not got it right. Here’s mine

“I build powerful personal brands for female founders, professional women and emerging female leaders so they can fulfil their true potential because we need more women leaders to secure a seat at the table if we are ever to achieve equal gender representation”

It says what I do. Who I do it for. The benefit. And my ‘why’ or my professional purpose

Sometimes I leave out the last part depending on the audience and format but fundamentally that is how I communicate my value proposition

Branding Tips for Solopreneurs

So once you’ve got a little clarity on your Personal Brand, what comes next? Here’s are 3 fundamental strategies for building your Personal Brand

• Create Content
• Establish Credibility
• Build your Network

Content is king ?

No surprise that well-written content is one of the most important elements, be that for your website or social media posts

Ultimately, the goal of all content should be to showcase your brand, appeal to more clients, gain conversions and, ultimately, increase business

• Write for people who have never seen you before, about the things which are of interest and matter to them
• Pick up to 3 content themes that comprise your brand platform and write about those. Go deep not broad. This will bring recognition, credibility and demonstrate expertise
• Always answer those who comment on your posts, the point is to start a conversation and ignoring people who have taken the time to respond is simply rude

Establish Credibility

Social proof by way of referrals and recommendations are business gold. Customers will no longer accept what a Brand tells them when they have the power to research and form their own opinion

It doesn’t matter how much you invest in paid advertising your audience want proof you are legit, ideally from an independent source

So sometimes it’s necessary to give to gain:

If you don’t have many 5 star recommendations then the best way to build credibility and awareness is to give away value. Some would argue that free-to-attend webinars and intro chats devalue your Brand. But if you don’t have any other way to demonstrate expertise then a freebie webinar is a good way to do that. I’ve run quite a few, especially when I started out and I always secured at least one paying customers as a result.

The paying customers then wrote recommendations.....etc etc

To this day I offer 20 minute intro chats completely free of charge to share the message and learn about my audiences pain points.

Find your tribe

• Surround yourself with your target audience. Exist in their space. Speak to them, engage with them. That way, you focus your energy on those who are more likely to respond to your Personal Brand and ultimately buy from you
• Invite like-minded individuals to connect
• Be seen by those who you want to influence and turn to customers

By placing yourself in the right setting and letting your authentic self shine you will attract your ideal clients without trying to sell hard or randomly spamming on LinkedIn messenger.

Integrating Your Personal Brand with Your Professional Brand

So now you have your Personal Brand set up, you can go ahead and build out your Business brand. I chose FirstWoman as my Company brand name because it embodies my purpose

Whether it’s ‘First Woman to’ or we are ‘Women First’ or ‘Women are in first place’?the sentiment is the same. You can be in no doubt my business is first and foremost about empowering women and the female cause

Work With a Branding Expert

If you’re an entrepreneur, I have no doubt you are good at what you do. But that may not include Branding and Marketing

Personal and professional branding takes time and effort. It can also be a little intimidating and prone to silver-bullet sales techniques....."I can find you 40 new leads tomorrow etc etc"

You’d outsource your accounting if numbers make you glaze over, and you’d outsource your admin if you were swamped for time

Similarly, if you’re not a Marketing expert it’s worth investing in someone who can help you develop your Brand strategy before you waste time and budget on websites and logos ?

You’ll find plenty of those on LinkedIn but if you are a founder and solopreneur then your Personal Brand strategy should lead your business brand, not the other way round and don't be persuaded otherwise!

Mel Stanley is ex Advertising Agency and Marketing Director specialising in building powerful Personal Brands for female professionals and founders. I can be contacted at [email protected] or here on LinkedIn as long as you're not spamming me!