Personal Brand, Meet Business Brand: How Small Business Owners Can Make Them Work Together

Building a unique, authentic brand is essential for any business. A strong identity helps customers understand who you are, what you do, and why you do it.

But many founders confuse their business brand with their personal brand. And while combining them may work for a select few, it’s not the right approach for most.

In my experience as a creative, brand strategist, and coach for small businesses and startups, separating your personal brand from your business both strengthens your business and allows individual autonomy and professional growth.

If you have a public persona of any kind—and if you’re a small business owner, you likely do—I highly recommend creating an entirely separate business brand, and using a “personal professional” brand platform to share insights into your life.

Here’s why:

You’ll have freedom to grow beyond your business: Many entrepreneurs end up writing a book, becoming a public speaker, or starting a new project or venture. Your personal professional brand is a perfect platform for sharing and promoting this type of work while still allowing the business to continue to operate as normal.
You can better hone your business brand: Separating all of your professional interests from the main aim of your company strengthens your business’s brand by allowing it to be more focused and intentional.
You’ll optimize your brand for growth: Even if you feel like you are your business in the beginning, if you have visions of growing a team or perhaps getting acquired, you want the business brand to stand on its own, without you. Your professional success shouldn’t hinge on your business’ success.
You are more than your business: Employers, clients, and partners often want to experience a more dimensional understanding of who you are. What causes do you stand for? What other professional groups are you a part of? What creative endeavors or interests round out who you are?

Convinced? Great. Now, here’s how to do it:

Creating Your Personal Professional Brand

I like to think of your personal professional brand as an expanded Linkedin profile. It's a work-related online identity that goes beyond your business or company.

Source:

A post shared by Ariana Wolf (@simply_ariana)

My Instagram showcases my photography—a creative habit that relates to my business but that’s also uniquely my personal professional brand.

Speaking of social media, a quick note on LinkedIn. While many people default to “Owner of Company” in their title, it’s worth adding a few other descriptors about who you are and what you’re best at to your title. That way, if someone is searching for an expert or speaker and comes across your profile, they’ll get a sense of who you are outside of your business.

Build Your Thought Leadership

Finding opportunities to share your expertise, like writing articles or appearing on podcasts, is a great way to get visibility for both your business and your personal professional brand. When you have these opportunities, you can and …read more