Why does a CEO need a personal brand?

In today's dynamic business world, where competition is getting tougher and information noise is growing, creating a strong personal brand is becoming not just a desire, but a necessity for CEOs. Many people think that a personal brand is only needed to sell success courses. Let us tell you why this is not the case.

What is a personal brand for?

We know that the phrase "personal brand" evokes a gag reflex, but we use it to make it clearer what we are talking about. That's why we'll do without the unpacking and so on.

A personal brand is an image that we show to people around us online and in real life. Personal branding can be developed by creative people, as well as freelancers, doctors, and entrepreneurs, for example. Why?

• To inspire trust. For example, the CEO shares expert content, case studies, and company storytelling on social media. This often gains more reach and trust. Why is this so? The CEO can reveal the essence of the product/service in the best and most organic way.

• Attract investors to launch a new project or business line. Thus, publications with the CEO's ideas can be seen by potential partners and get them interested.

• Reduce advertising costs. For example, the large reach of stories allows you to place ads on your CEO account instead of buying them from bloggers.

Your personal CEO brand is crucial to helping you achieve your goals, as it determines your ability to motivate and inspire people to take positive action. The CEO's personal brand does not stand alone, but is aligned with the organization's brand. Thus, the CEO represents his personality as a leader and the company's reputation. Examples of such figures are Steve Jobs or Jack Welch.

6 strategies for building a brand CEO

The key factors for CEO success are strategy, execution, talent management, and personal branding. I emphasize the importance of the CEO's leadership brand, so I offer practical strategies for combining personal and organizational brands to achieve positive results.

It is important to know that CEO success is divided into 70% related to strategy, execution, and talent management, while the remaining 30% is influenced by factors such as brand leadership, appearance, physiology, and emotional intelligence. Recalling Pareto's law, which states that "20% of the effort produces 80% of the result, and the remaining 80% of the effort produces only 20% of the result." Let's conclude that betting on external promotion of the company's brand in general and its positioning through the CEO's personal brand is the right decision to maximize the results and profit of the organization.

So let's look at six strategies to help you build your personal brand:

1. Identify the key outcomes you want to achieve in the next 12 months in your professional life.

1. Identify the main results you want to achieve in the next 12 months in your personal life.

1. What are the six words that describe what you would like to be known for as a leader?

1. Develop a brand CEO statement: "I want to be known... so I can deliver results... at work and... outside of work."

1. Be transparent and share your brand statement with key internal and external stakeholders and ask for their feedback.

1. Focus your time, behavior, and communication (internal and external) accordingly to your brand CEO.

By investing time and money in promoting your CEO brand, you strengthen the foundation of your company, expand your customer base by attracting an audience interested in personal brands, and strengthen your company's reputation.

Determine the goals and direction of personal brand development

Before you start implementing your personal brand, you need to determine the goals and directions of its development. To do this, follow these recommendations.

Before developing your own brand, CEOs need to answer the question:

• Why do I want to do this?
• Am I ready to invest time and money?

Because developing a personal brand requires investment. And if you don't decide why you need it and what you want to get in the end, the process will look like a waste of money and effort (especially if you shoot video).

Set a goal. Developing your own brand begins with setting a goal. It is best to write it down using SMART technology or you can choose another technique:

Specific - specificity. The goal contains a clear action and is aimed at one result: "Rank in the first 7 lines in Google for the topic - expert in investment real estate in Poland".

Measurable - measurable. The result of the goal is measured by the number of queries and the fact of appearing in the search results.

Achievable - achievable. The selected number of inquiries can be achieved within the specified period.

Relevant - significant. For example, it can bring the company from 100 new clients per year in the real estate sector.

In other words, in order not to waste your budget and nerves, you first need to set a clear goal. And do not forget about it.

Conduct an information audit. Look at what other experts write or shoot, what the reputation of the person and their business is. These are the questions you can ask your environment:

• What kind of person do you see me as?
• What are my strengths?
• What character traits do I need to work on?
• Am I easy or difficult to get along with?

Based on these answers, the CEO learns the image that he or she unwittingly conveys to people. And then the actions depend on the purpose of the personal brand.

For example, the CEO of a platform that provides services for finding balance in life (balance wheel, etc.) is developing a personal brand. He is a specialist, he has education and understanding of the topic. For his audience to think: "He's a pro himself, so there won't be any typical information on his platform," then the media should position the CEO with the experience of a practicing psychologist in the past.

Choose where to promote your own brand. The platform or channel for positioning and promotion is selected according to the goals of the personal brand.

Examples of well-known platforms for personal brand development:

• instagram / facebook / youtube / tiktok / linkedIn
• media outlets for publishing articles
• podcast platforms
• closed or open clubs

You can use them to promote your platform and attract an audience:

• Seeding is the placement of your posts in channels that are similar in topic. This way you can attract a new audience.

• Cross-posting is the reuse of content, but in a different format. For example, a CEO has published a great article on a networking site. You can shorten this article and publish it on your blog or make a post for Facebook. This will reach more people.

• Tell about your blog at the end of the post or video. For example, publish an article on netiquette, and in the last paragraph, offer to go to a thematic article on the blog.

About "should I publish personal information"? In practice, there is no ideal ratio of professional and personal content. It all depends on the person - it's called a personal brand for a reason. And everyone decides for themselves what they want to say to the audience - you can't copy other people's topics endlessly.

A selection of CEOs worth following:

→ Andriy Fedoriv https://www.instagram.com/andriyfedoriv

→ Slava Balbek, architecture https://www.balbek.com/slava-ua

→ Mikhail Rogalsky https://forbes.ua/profile/mikhaylo-rogalskiy-1257

→ Yulia and Dasha Burkovsky https://www.youtube.com/@sistersaroma/videos

→ Artur Lupashko, hotel business https://visitukraine.today/ru/blog/3164/ribas-hotels-group-artur-lupashko-on-success-factors-innovative-approaches-and-international-hotel-business-abroad

→ Andrey Burenok https://www.youtube.com/@andrey.burenok_business/videos

Go to the media. The easiest way to find out something about a person is to type his or her name in a search engine and see what comes up.

If you want to be published in the media, you need to choose a publication that fits your desired topic. For example, to talk about business, you can turn to RBC, about life - The Village, and about IT news - dev.ua . But how do you contact the media?

1. Go to the publication's website and look for contacts.
2. Send an email introducing yourself as an expert, describing your regalia, adding links to other publications and a list of potential topics.
3. Then wait for a response. If you get a rejection, try other media outlets.

Alternatively, you can hire a PR person and not bother with your own media search.

Checklist on how to run a personal brand on your own

Before we get to the checklist, I want to emphasize the importance of maintaining a personal brand. There are multiple but compelling reasons why it's important for you to maintain a personal brand:

• It helps you stand out from the crowd. In a world where millions of people are competing for attention, a strong personal brand can be your key to success. It helps you demonstrate your unique value, knowledge, and expertise, making you more visible and in demand.
• It increases your credibility. When people know and trust you, they are more likely to ask you for help, buy your product or service, or recommend you to others.
• It opens up new opportunities. A strong personal brand can help you attract new customers, partners, and investors. It can also open doors to new career opportunities.
• It helps you make an impact. If you have a well-defined personal brand, you can use it to share your ideas, values, and experiences with others. This can help you make a difference in the world.

After we've defined the importance, let's take a look at the steps on how to develop a personal brand yourself, using the example of a CEO:

1. Define your goals and objectives. Our CEO wants to attract investors to his project. To do this, he needs publications in the media and speeches at conferences to increase his visibility in the eyes of potential partners.

2. Gather the necessary information. Create an expert card, prepare a letter and send it to the relevant thematic media.

3. Remind yourself. Don't hesitate to remind the editorial staff about yourself if there was no response.

4. Prepare the article. Do it yourself or find a specialist to write the article for you, you may have to pay for the publication.

5. Get support. Ask your friends to support the article and share the news on their social networks.

6. Look for specialized conferences and events. If it doesn't work out, go as a visitor to meet the organizers and participants, take photos, and post them on social media.

7. Promote yourself. Buy ads for greater reach and continue to develop your personal brand. Over time, your brand will work for you better than any advertisement.

What you need to know about money...

You can't run your own brand for free. You can do without agencies and PR managers, but only up to a certain point. For example, if you need to shoot expert videos for YouTube, you won't be able to do it on your own.

• The composition of the team depends on the tasks to be solved.
• Write texts and look for ideas for them → creative copywriter.
• Establish contacts with the media and organize speeches at conferences → PR manager.
• Manage social media and respond to readers' comments → SMS manager.
• Shoot a video for YouTube → a creative copywriter for the script, a shooting team, and an editor.

But you can't delegate all the work to someone else. The audience quickly senses insincerity and trust is lost. Therefore, you still need to write or speak something yourself. For example, Leeloo.ai CEO Vasyl Rii is involved in creating content for social media, developing advertising creatives, etc.

Personal brand development is hampered by the mistakes of "everyone has already said it before me" and "I have nothing to say to people." This problem is well solved by people from the outside, for example, a PR manager. He comes and says: "Let's write about how you have halved the amount of waste in your production."

To get started, you need to take the first step

Today's CEO is not just a manager, but a leader, a visionary, and an influencer. To be successful in this role, it is necessary to create a strong personal brand that shares knowledge and experience and is perceived as an expert in the field,

attracts investors, and reduces advertising costs. A strong personal brand allows you to reach a large audience without advertising, strengthening your company's brand. Use this article as a guide to help you define and develop your personal brand!