Personal Brand vs. Business Brand

Do you find yourself second-guessing your decision to build a personal brand?

Many emerging personal brands wrestle with their value and influence. Specifically, they worry about the influence of their personal brand and what that has on the businesses they are building and planning to sell.

You are not alone.

Do you get confused asking yourself a million different questions?

Am I the brand?

Is the total brand value directly tied to me?

Will my business be sellable if my personal brand image is stronger than the brand I want to sell?

Are they the same?

How does my personal brand affect the business brand?

Here's the truth.

People run and operate businesses. Behind every business brand, there are real PEOPLE who advocate, envision, and lead the business toward success. Sometimes your personal brand takes a backseat to the business venture you are building to sell.

Adopt a people-first mindset.

When you adopt a PEOPLE first mindset, it helps you set boundaries between the personal brand the business brand. It helps bring clarity and focus on the brand and with your personal brand. It also helps you understand whether or not your personal brand is overshadowing the business brand which can make selling a brand more challenging.

Can the brand exist without you? Are there systems and a process in place that is duplicable and anyone trained can take over? If you are the only one who can deliver the value and promise then your brand may be difficult to sell in some situations. Business is nuanced and so is branding.

Your personal brand contributes to the success of the business brand.

It's important to distinguish in your mind that brands aren't actual people but rather a set of known traits or characteristics that people understand and connect with.

Brands are influenced by people through buyer perceptions, fan interactions, collaborations, or brand partnerships. Buyer opinions influence both the brand and the business.

If your thoughts lead you to question how much the value of your business is tied to you? Depending on your answer there might be something fundamentally missing in how your business entity operates or how much your business relies on the founder's personal brand.

Where does brand value exist?

Brand value is within how successful are you with giving people what they want? How much value are your delivering or overdelivering?

Here is a better question to ask about your business.

If your personal brand or your personal influence was no longer connected to the brand would that change the value or experience buyers receive or perceive?

If you find yourself answering yes or maybe... then you know that is a clue that you have some work to do!

Think of yourself as a brand ambassador.

When managing both your personal brand and a business brand it's important to know that your personal brand and your business brand are NOT the same entity. The value is not the same and it isn't always transferable. A personal brand is not who you are as a person but the perceived value and perception of you. Often you might hear it described as what another person might say about what you do and how you do it.

Business brands are built on the intersection of promise, value exchange, and the perceptions of the experience of the people who buy. When you ask yourself these important questions you will be able to see the different approaches you can take when creating both a business brand and managing your personal brand.