Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!
On my podcast, ‘The answer is brand’ I had this rather insightful question from one of my listeners…
Should I brand myself or my company?
As this is a question dependent on the style of your business, I’ll outline the pros and cons of personal/company brands.
Personal branding
- It utilises your name.
- It’s flexible in its approach.
- Whatever your services manifest as it’s ultimately connected to you.
- For one person industries (artists, authors, coaches etc.) a personal brand can help you shine.
- Unfortunately, your purpose and operations are harder to discern…What is it you do? Unless your name is a staple in the industry, people won’t know.
- To avert this, you can use a tagline to represent your occupation.
Business branding
- You state what you do, and (conditional on how clear your name is) people will be quicker to connect your brand to the chosen industry.
- You’ll have more opportunity for planning and specialisation.
- You have good opportunities to offer more products.
- You can position yourself in terms of your visual brand.
- This can be replicated via team/staff across your entire enterprise.
- It’s difficult to change your customer base, as the size of your brand could restrict you from changing direction. However, this didn’t stop companies like amazon…
You can take me as an example for this.
As one individual I’m Danny Matthews, however I’m part of Danny&co.
The company name signifies not just me but the many individuals that join to make the ‘co’.
Outsourcers, team/employees, clients, suppliers…They all represent the ‘co’ of our company.
In this way, I’m able to represent both sides of the ‘coin’, having elements of personal and business branding.
Ultimately, regardless of whether you choose personal or business branding you have to ask yourself a few questions…
- What’s the purpose of this company?
- Where will this enterprise be 5 years down the road?
- Do you wish to sell it eventually?
It’ll be that much harder for a prospective buyer to purchase your company if it’s a personal brand.
They’re buying into your intellectual property, a business saturated with your personality, and prior business decisions.
I do hope I’ve answered the listener’s question, and any queries similar to this.
If you have a question about starting, growing, or scaling your business head here to record and send your question in. It’s not only a great way to promote your business, but it also helps other businesses who might be encountering a similar situation.
