Why Personal Branding for Entrepreneurs?
“Your personal brand is a promise to your client-a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.” – Jason Hartman
People buy from People. When people buy, they like to associate the product to a certain level of quality, to hold another person responsible for the quality of the purchase. That is the reason why in the B2C space organisations have “Brand Ambassadors” with high credibility levels to assure people of the level of quality they seek. In the B2B space, organisations depend on the assurance of the leader’s brands to sell.
The scale needs New clients with Predictability
A predictable stream of clients – needs you to go beyond Word of Mouth and Referrals. It requires a brand pull for unknown people to believe in you.
What does a brand do?
It reflects your thought process, image, behaviour and attitude helping you develop a differentiated identity. It helps an unknown person understand what they can expect from you. If their needs match, they will be pulled to you. Without a brand, even if you have the potential to meet their expectations, the knowledge and reassurance don’t exist for them to reach out to you. In high involvement purchases, this is why businesses do not scale – they, their brands, do not have the power to attract new customers on the scale.
For the Sales team, that translates into a more challenging entry and conversion. That translates into more time and more cost of acquisition of a new client. Makes sense?
- It effectively enables you to communicate your value systems and visions helping you earn repute in the community.
- Encourages adding more people to your professional network and maintain a healthy relationship with customers.
- Brands give your customers a sense of some security about the quality of deliverables
As an entrepreneur, you would develop plans on how to build and establish the brand of your company. You would work towards achieving high levels of customer satisfaction, worry about economic downturns, analyse the competition in the market and strategize to improve the finances. Changing with the constant evolution of the competition, trends and having a contingency plan for unforeseen times like the Covid-19 pandemic is almost a ground rule for all entrepreneurs. All this and more is done as customers before making a purchase go by the prior reputation of the brand and then bestow their trust in it. To garner an immovable position in the market, any company would require creating a personal brand by marketing to secure more clients. A company’s recognition is based on the brand awareness it can create for the offerings in the market. To further enhance the brand, it becomes essential to showcase your expertise and leadership position
As much importance is given to working on developing a personal brand of the company by an entrepreneur, the entrepreneur’s self-branding also forms a key element for the corporate brand. It is important to remember that one’s brand is just as crucial as the brand of the business:
Personal branding is the “Tip of the Spear”
To build an organisational brand, start with the Personal Brand. Human beings have a past, new companies don’t have the past, smaller companies don’t have the depth of brand value. As the company builds its track record, transfer the goodwill from the individual to the organisational brand. That is easier than creating an organisational brand without a personal brand backing it.
Personal branding plays a major part in differentiating, building a better network and securing new clients. It establishes a strong platform and enables access to a better network, ultimately increasing the level of reach and influence. When there is nothing much to choose between two offerings from two different companies, it is often the personal brand of the leaders or the Sales team which tips the decision in the favour of one company over another. Even in larger organisations, Salesmen and women perform at different levels as some can build a stronger personal brand and this helps clients to feel confident that they have a strong connection with the company. It also allows working with higher quality clients.
Personal branding gives more credibility to build an investor brand
Strategic presentation of the entrepreneur’s knowledge, skills and expertise expands the circle of influence and boosts credibility. It is also a well-known fact that investors invest in people rather than just ideas in isolation. An entrepreneur’s branding builds tangible trust in the audience and the investors.
Creating a relevant thought leader brand
RRelatable stories on multiple platforms, a clear understanding of the person’s career path, achievements, interest areas – this help to establish a long-term rapport with the target audience, improve the chances of favourable decisions and raising capital to gain more traction. Quality content sharing not just views, but also knowledge, having a point of view on important discussions – these are some elements that would actively promote the personal brand by creating a positive online presence and increasing the brand’s visibility.
We need to get an insight into the obstacles from COVID-19 and propositions to oversee our professional and personal brands. It is imperative to realise how personal brands must engage proactively, react and communicate with the consumers. Creating online personal branding strategies would help in positioning yourself in the industry, giving your ideas a structure and highlighting your USP.
An entrepreneur’s brand is a company’s asset which frames exciting opportunities for both the company and the individual. Constructing a personal brand is sure to pay dividends throughout the entrepreneur’s career and beyond. The more time and effort is put into honing these skills, the brighter windows of opportunity would open in the times to come. A good marketing strategy for a well-positioned personal brand is vital. To grow and gain success, you must halt, aim, focus, follow, position and at the end proclaim by being a positive influence during such uncertain times.
Aaroh is a leading global consulting firm providing SMEs a broad range of services to redefine their approach to their business operations. We enable SMEs to derive scale using the growth triad of Marketing, Technology and Finance.
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