Personal Brand vs Business Brand

One of the very first questions you'll need to answer when thinking about a brand for your business is whether you want to build a personal brand or a business brand; and believe me there is a huge difference between personal and business brands.

A personal brand is built around you personally. It usually means you brand your business using your name. A business brand is built around an identity you create for your business. It usually means you need to craft a name for your business that's independent of your personal name.

There are pros and cons for each of these two approaches and we'll review them in this post.

o  When creating a personal brand works well.

It's easier than ever to build a personal brand; especially with the tools we have available to us online. Between personal websites and social media accounts, it may be easier to create a personal brand than a business brand. But simplicity in creating a brand isn't the only factor to be considered; read on to discover advantages and disadvantages of personal branding.

·      Personal brand pros.

1) Personal brands are flexible.

Personal brands typically use the business owner's name to brand the business, website, products and services. This means if your focus changes and you begin offering something different from what you offered to start, you can adapt your offerings without needing to change the name of your business.

2) Personal brands are ideal if you want to develop a speaking career.

It's a rather hard work to associate your name with your area of expertise, but once you've done the work, you'll be seen as someone who others want to hear from.

3) Personal brands are perfect for "one man business".

If you're an artist, writer, professional speaker, or coach, a strong personal brand will boost your business and attract new, interested prospects.

·      Personal brand cons.

1) Your company name won't state what you do.

You have to associate your personal name with what you offer. This can be achieved by creating a strong tagline that you use consistently in everything you do. You can also associate what you offer with your personal name by writing blog posts, doing interviews, creating social media posts, and booking speaking engagements around your area of expertise. You'll need to do this until people associate your name with what you want to become known for.

2) It's hard to sell a personally-branded business.

Usually when you're just starting out there is no thinking about selling. But if you suspect there's even a remote possibility this may happen in the future, you should reconsider creating a personal brand, and build a business brand instead.

o  When building a business brand is the best solution.

Business brands take more upfront work to create, because rather than use your name; you need to create one from nothing. Your business name must be meaningful and relevant to your audience.

·      Business brand pros.

1) Creating a business brand forces you to think through your plans for your business.

When it's time to come up with a business name, you will need to think about who your ideal customer is, what you'll offer, how you are going to offer your product or service and what your business will be known for. Going through this process will help you create a vision for where you want to take your business that goes way beyond your business name and tagline.

2) Business brands allow you to strongly position your business.

There are no limits on the words you use, so find a few that express what your business offers. Complement them with a tagline that builds excitement. And watch as your ideal customer grasps what you offer as soon as they hear your business name.

3) Business brands are easier to sell.

Almost every business has a life cycle. When you're ready to sell your business; because your interests have changed; you want to relocate; you want to start a new venture. It will be easier to sell it to someone else if you've built something that's not associated with your personal name. The fact is if the business is named after a person and that person is no longer there, it's not worth as much. But if you've developed a recognizable brand, this brand will be an asset people will pay for.

·      Business brand cons.

1) It requires hard work to build a business brand.

You have to create a brand name at a time when you may still be trying to decide what your business will offer, and who your ideal customer will be.

2) Business brands aren't as flexible if your interests change.

If for any reason you decide to change course and offer something completely different, you will probably need to start a second business. Usually you can come up with a name that describes the general field your products and services will fall into, and then you can get more specific with your tagline, which is easy to change. But if you change your field of interest completely, your name may not work anymore.

The important question now; is there a happy medium? I do believe there is a happy medium, and it's easier to pull off now than ever before. We can build our business brand and simultaneously work to establish our personal authority around a topic.

How to do that? You create a business brand, and then reach out to other business owners to help you spread the word about what you offer. You write guest posts, appear in interviews, speak, and personally spread the word about your business brand. As you answer questions and convey information, your personal authority grows along with the awareness of your business brand.

The later approach will be helpful to you especially if you can't decide between a personal or business brand; this approach may be the most flexible of all.

Which one works for you?

I'd love to hear how you've made this important decision. Do you use a personal brand or a business brand? What led you to decide the way you did?

Share your process in the comments so we can all benefit from your thinking.