What Brand Will You Build?

Here is my advice that will help you figure out how to get started.

As an entrepreneur running your business, how do you choose to run your social media accounts? Do you run them as yourself or as the company you feel you represent just as much? What do you do when you have a project that perfectly represents your passions and drives, do you make sure that project has a place online as well?

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This is something that everybody struggles with. I know I did (and still sometimes do). Am I Lea the entrepreneur or Lea the marketer?

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When I launched my first business, a marketing agency, I hid behind my business brand. I thought it would make it look more professional and deep down I felt that if I messed it up, I could still move on to the next big thing and no one would ever have to know it was me who was behind it. 

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The company name became my insecurity blanket. 

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Fast forward 8 years, the agency is still around, and luckily I learnt a whole lot about branding along the way.

In the next few paragraphs, I will share my thoughts on this well-thought-over question:

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Should I build a personal brand with the aim of capitalising on my name? Or should I launch my brand under a business name?

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You are still figuring it out 

If you are unsure what it is that you’d like to do, my advice would be to start thinking of building a personal brand first. This way you can tell your story through your personal brand which will help your audience really understand your message and what brilliance you’re bring to the table.

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Remember, people buy into people.

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We as humans are looking to connect with other humans, and connection only really starts when we get to know each other and our connections have an authenticity and realness attached to them. So personal brands, even within businesses, are extremely important. 

To give you an example, I'm an agency owner myself but I also work for UnderPinned. There have been times when I’ve talked to my clients and partners, and regardless of the situation or context I’ve repeatedly experienced that they love the fact that they’ve connected with me.

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Building a future-proof business

Have a product / service idea that you want to build into a business? In this case, build a business brand first but also make sure you simultaneously start building your personal brand authority in your chosen niche.

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Cross-promotion allows you to brand yourself and the company as well as leverage the company's brand to your brand. Like Elon Musk, and Tesla, right? Or, Chiara Ferragni and TBC.

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If you want to create a big business that you want to take to that next level (I'm talking about building a brand for the exit or IPO), then you've got to create a business brand and keep them separate because once your name becomes a business brand you risk losing control over it, like Kate Spade or Jo Malone

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If you are unsure how to approach this, here’s what I suggest you do;

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To give you a few more perspectives on this topic, here are some of the highlights from a Clubhouse room I hosted. I was joined by a panel of agency owners, entrepreneurs and freelancers. Here’s what they had to say about it.

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Albert Azis-Clauson, CEO of UnderPinned

Building a really good brand, whether you're a business or a freelancer, is about embodying personality, and then translating that through the conversations you have on an individual basis with the people that you're working with. I think that the attributes required to build a successful brand, whether it's business or personal, are about being able to create those personality driven connections. And ultimately, as a freelancer, those personal connections, that building of your professional network, is what will get your success.

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Karen Ftouni, Creative Strategist

Your personal brand is, in essence, the first impression people have of you. And obviously, if you're applying to a job, chances are that somebody is going to google your name, or look you up on LinkedIn, and try and look for your website. So I think having all those things built out around you, and showcasing who you are as a person, what your ambitions are, and telling your own personal narratives to people are super essential for that. 

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Koral Ibrahim, Founder & MD of The Ready House

A lot of brand owners ask if they should be leveraging their personal brands in order to get more work or to sell more products. I feel the answer is yes, but at the same time, there needs to be a mission for what that personal brand is looking to achieve. And I think this is where the two, business and personal brand have to coincide.

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Galina Skvorstov, Content Creator

I feel that what I have with my personal brand is all about an authentic individual, sharing a conversation with a community of people in a very real and very trustworthy way. And because as a creator you're building a community, these conversations bring certain kinds of thinking down to a more accessible level for others. And that's the goal. It's sort of like, having something to say, and hearing what other people can say back to that. So for me authenticity and honesty are the main takeaways in personal brand building.

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If you made it this far (high five!) I want to share with you The Public Narrative framework developed by Harvard’s Marshall Ganz that helped Barack Obama win his first presidential term. 

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Here’s the diagram:

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The framework was designed for leaders to instil passion and hope in their audience. 

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So, if you are serious about building your brand and authority within your niche, this strategic framework will work wonders for you too.

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Thanks so much for reading, especially if you made it until the end. I hope you enjoyed this article.

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Lea x

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