An Introduction to Personal Branding for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

Jennifer Yen - Graphic Designer, West East Design

In the last decade the concepts of Personal Brand and Personal Branding seem to have become extremely popular with business owners, experts and entrepreneurs in all kinds of industries. From professional photography, to coaching, to marketing and PR, from conferences and training to social media - the two interlinked terms appear to among the trendiest topics out there.

And while the expert crowd and the wider public now tend to recognise the amazing benefits of building a brand, there’s also little agreement about what it actually represents, a universally accepted definition for both personal and business brands.

Working as personal brand photographer over the last couple of years I’ve come across many nuances of this concept. Some people immediately think of a company’s name and logo, some may include the visual elements that form one’s identity (like colours, images, graphics, typography), some think of reputation, market leadership and promised benefits, while others emphasise the mental images, feelings and perceptions that an audience gets from interacting with a brand.

Quite a difficult argument to make, choosing one school of thought over another, but a great opportunity to discuss these interconnected notions of Brand - Branding - Personal Brand, and the link to Personal Branding Photography for everyone with an interest in this topic, marketing and business specialists, potential clients and collaborators.

Elena Chimonas - Managing Director, Camden Image Gallery

What is a Brand?

If we look at the concept of a brand from a traditional marketing perspective, one of the first definitions was given by the American Marketing Association as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”. A bit sterile, don’t you agree?

This points to a visual representation or image that people have in their minds when thinking about specific services or products, and what differentiates them from one another. The emphasis tends to be slightly stronger on practical, physical attributes, but there is also a very significant emotional component involved, one that I’m very keen to explore further.

Seth Godin, a marketing guru and author of many best-selling titles, defines a brand with a bit more focus on the emotional and how it’s influencing buying decisions: “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another”. It’s highly personal this time, and it touches on the concept of brand value, i.e. the financial significance of having customers pay more for a particular brand based on its reputation.

Marty Neumeier, author and speaker on all things brand, shares a rather different view in his book The Brand Gap: “A brand is not a logo. A brand is not an identity. A brand is not a product.” For Neumeier “A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organisation”. But more importantly - and I personally love this bit - “Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what THEY say it is”.

Or in some other famous words, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” according to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO.

It sounds pretty straightforward at this point. If you look at the sum of emotions, perceptions, expectations a business entity is known for, along with physical attributes that define its visual identity, you’ve got a BRAND.

What about branding then, and the relationship between the two concepts? Ashley Friedlein, the founder of leading digital marketing blog EConsultancy, sums it up in a nutshell for us:

“Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives a particular organization. Branding is about shaping that perception”.

So there are a whole lot of aspects to take into consideration: brand personality, voice, values, trustworthiness, reputation, customer loyalty, brand evangelism - some must be conveyed strategically in a consistent message to your audience, while others need nurturing as invaluable relationships - this is where the process of branding comes in.

Personal Brands vs. Business Brands

Simmi Woodwal - Life Coach, Inner Woman

Personal Brands revolve around people and their personalities, often using the founder’s name to brand the business, the website, the products or services. There is no magic formula for someone to become known within a certain field, and to be instantly associated with an area of expertise.

You need to come up with a distinctive identity that is true to yourself, live and breathe your brand, put in the hard work, and then you will start reaping the benefits of brand recognition - i.e. being seen as knowledgeable and trustworthy, the ‘Go-To’ person in your niche or in your industry.

People buy from people they say, and when you are the face of your business, nurturing a powerful personal brand is the best thing you can do for your business.

Personal brands are therefore ideal for solopreneurs, founders and for ‘one-person industries’. So you should definitely consider investing in yours if you happen to be a public speaker, a consultant, a coach, an artist, a therapist, a stylist, a chef, a designer etc.

A strong personal brand helps you rise above your competitors, and does wonders in boosting your professional profile and your business!

Business Brands are built around an identity a company develops for their business. You need to think everything through from the start: who your ideal clients are, what they respond to, what problems they face and how will you solve them, what your business will be known for etc.

By using of a certain logo, photography, colours, typography, tone of voice and so on, a business brand consolidates market positioning from the very beginning, as all these attributes typically attract a certain type of customer.

Business brands however are less flexible in regards to changing up an identity, or an established offer that’s been out there for some time. Think multi-million dollar companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Coca Cola, Disney, Converse, Levi’s and so on - they all have highly recognisable brands, well known around the globe for certain products and services. But if let’s say Coca Cola was suddenly starting to manufacture and sell laptops, would you still see them as a market leader and jump to purchase their new offering? Probably not, as the company would not have the trusted status as it currently has for its soft drinks.

What Makes a Strong Personal Brand

A Personal Brand is a powerful mix of tangible and intangible elements revolving around who you are and what you do for your audience, your why, your mission and values, your unique skills and competencies (that make you stand out and set you apart from your competitors), and most importantly your target clients and the connection you want to achieve with them.

This is why a having a Branded Image / Brand Identity is paramount in articulating your personal brand vision. In brief, a brand identity includes your logo, your strapline, the professional brand photography used on your website, your fonts, colours and all the other elements that visually represent your company.

When you consistently deliver on your brand promise, provide value to your audience, and show up frequently using your branded image, you are much more likely to build trust, win clients over, gain credibility, earn fans, followers and so on.

Here are my top areas of focus when fine-tuning your process of personal branding:

1. Who You Are as a Business

Defining your brand should be a thorough journey of self-discovery. Start by thinking about everything that makes you YOU: your unique qualities, experience, education, personal values and beliefs, and how all these aspects come across in your business.

Then find the right ways to communicate them to your audience (through your website, your social media posts, your photography, podcast and interviews, expert contributions and articles, marketing collateral and so on).

2. What You Do and Who is Your Audience

Think about putting together a compelling, distinctive offer, a product or service that will help your clients and make their lives better. Articulate your Unique Selling Proposition in a way that will help you attract your ideal clients and clearly speak their language. And most importantly, focus on finding your industry niche and serve it brilliantly!

3. How You Do It

We all have different abilities, experience, know-how, styles of execution/delivery of our products and services. Taking all of this into account, think about how are you positioning yourself on the market.

Are you aiming to be seen as the most knowledgeable, the most efficient, the most creative, the most empathetic, the friendliest or perhaps the most expensive amongst your niche? Play on your strengths and start shaping your brand in the way you want your audience to perceive you.

Stuart Ritchie - Managing Director Ritchie Phillips Accountants

4. How You Look

What are your brand identity assets and visual attributes that consumers will associate you with?

Personal brand photography is one of the most powerful tools out there because of its storytelling ability. Creating connection, sharing your values, building trust, sparking curiosity, getting clients to Know, Like and Trust you - there are so many benefits of having really strong branding visuals!

Equally important is your brand design - this needs to be aligned with all the other elements and to help consolidate your brand message, mission, vision and values. From logo to colours to fonts and other graphics, the visual elements used on your website, social media, marketing collateral etc. must be consistent, and totally capture your business essence.

How your brand looks online and offline has a huge impact on your potential clients, and it could be responsible for either zero interest in your product or service, attracting the wrong audience, OR gaining masses of passionate followers, happy customers and loyal fans!

5. What Other Say About You

Are your testimonials and reviews, feedback from your followers and general fan base reflecting your own perception of the brand? If the answer is not yet, look for ways to improve your offer, your delivery, your customer service, your client experience.

Client feedback, reviews and recommendations are all extremely important for every business owner and entrepreneur. And certainly a huge part of your personal or business brand, so do encourage customers to provide testimonials based on their own experiences of working with / buying from you.

© Andreea Tufescu Photography - Client Recommendations on LinkedIn

© Andreea Tufescu Photography - Customer Reviews on Google My Business

One’s business image and reputation can make or break their professional career and success. Motivational speaker J. Danzie articulates this point beautifully: “Your smile is your logo, your personality is your business card, and how you leave others feel after having an experience with you becomes your trademark” (your brand). So make sure you’re building a brilliant one!

If You Think You Need Branding and Personal Brand Photography, You Probably Do

Priya Gill-Liaudet - Family Lawyer London

Branding may have started out as a marketing process, but these days it’s way more than that.

It’s not just for big companies anymore, and it’s certainly not just marketing and promotion - business owners, freelancers and entrepreneurs use personal branding successfully to become more than a simple name in their industry, establishing themselves as legitimate experts, with their own unique style that stands out from their competitors’.

Regardless of your field of expertise, as a professional you already have some kind of personal brand (Remember? It’s what others say about you and your business). But if you look at the bigger picture I outlined earlier, a brand goes way beyond all that!

Therefore your personality, reputation, skills, qualifications, credibility, service delivery, professionalism, brand photography, overall look and feel of your website, social presence etc., all become part of your trademark. The key mission is aligning this trademark (i.e. who you want to be as a business and how you want to be perceived), with your audience’s current image and opinion of you.

Grace Ong - Career Coach, Go Women Leaders

If we can’t ever really control what others say about us, the best strategy is to shape and guide what people think by using the super power of branding.

So whether you are the face of your business or starting a company that has its own brand, personal branding has lots of benefits: a more relatable human aspect, a position of trust and authority, more clients and followers, better promotion opportunities. Bill Gates (Microsoft), Richard Branson (Virgin), Elon Musk (Tesla) are perfect examples that show how building an audience for your personal brand can help increase exposure for your company.

A brand shouldn’t be anything you’re not, what is in trend, or what your competitors seem to be. The aim is to play on your own strengths, be true to your brand values, your mission and unique abilities.

This is why building an authentic, distinctive personal brand is paramount for attracting your ideal clients and for achieving the success you desire for your business. Conveying a personal message that resonates with your audience, while having a brand image that speaks their language, will capture the hearts of customers who truly value you, your unique offering and are happy to pay what your worth to be working with you!

And Personal Brand Photography is one of the best ways to achieve this - visual storytelling can instantly grab attention, create an emotional bond and encourage audiences to connect with you and your business. If you want to learn more about it, stay tuned for my next post where I’ll be covering what personal branding photography is all about, and how it can help you elevate your business.

Final thoughts? Branding plays a fundamental part in the life of every successful business venture. Plan and execute it strategically, and you’ll be reaping long-term benefits for years. Miss the branding plot, and you may face one of your most expensive business errors to date. So make sure the process of creating an exciting brand, and consequently managing its growth and evolution, stay at the forefront of all your business endeavours! Happy branding!