When it comes to running a successful business, I’m of the mind that the more personal your branding, the better?

It’s not personal, it’s business …

Watch any cutthroat big business flick and you’ll hear some iteration of the quoted phrase above. For some reason, the only one that comes to mind right now is not so cutthroat, as it’s a rom-com. You’ve Got Mail. LOL!

The More Personal The Branding …

Personal branding. It’s one of those very buzzworthy, ever-so-clickable phrases we see scattered quite often through our social media feeds.

We hope to clear a bit of confusion attached to the phrase, if that’s okay with you. It’s very important that brands remember the following:

All Brands Are Personal Brands!

Brands aren’t just big business anymore. Even when a brand is built around a company, it’s got to be personal. The better the brand, the more they understand this.

Why? Because consumers do business with PEOPLE they know, like and trust. When real people are seen as part of a brand, it’s easier to build and maintain that knowledge, affinity and trust. The best brands maintain a personal relationship with their audience and clientele, individually and as a whole.

Making a personal connection amidst all the marketing noise is a must in order to stand out and stay on message.

Branding must personalize the experience for consumers and prospects.

Consider this, what do you want a potential prospect to remember upon hearing/seeing your name?

You want them to feel a connection to you, your company, your brand. You want any reaction upon hearing/seeing your name or company name to be positive. You hope that when a friend, co-worker or acquaintance mentions a product or service need, those that know your brand will readily share with whoever is doing the asking.

In order to leave that positive impression, you’ve got to personalize the consumer experience, online and off. Consider the following:

• Is your brand message cohesive across all digital real estate? This means your web site and all of your social accounts.
• Do you effectively and actively engage in discussion and conversation with your consumer audience online? Do you respond to comments on your blog, queries on your Facebook page and quick questions on Twitter?
• Do the images you share match your brand message in tone and appeal?
• Do you continue the conversation after the initial question is answered or discussion is over?
• Do you look at and possibly share or comment on what your followers are posting?
• Do you check back in to see if all’s still well a day later? A week later? Beyond?

The Best Branding Connects On A Personal Level

When your brand makes a personal connection with a prospect – another person, by the way, you’re more inclined to make a sale, or, at the very least, warm up a cold lead.

First impressions are incredibly important, especially online. If your brand comes across as robotic or automated in its online interactions, you might not get a second chance to make a good first impression. There are plenty of other brands who’ll get it right the first time.

Not sure if your brand’s actively connecting with prospects and current customers on a personal level? Give us a shout. We can set up a consultation or complete an interaction audit.

It requires boundless optimism to be an entrepreneur, almost to the point of being self-delusional. No one is disputing how important optimism is when branding and running a business. And no one is suggesting that moping or falling into a self-destructive funk is smart business. Okay?

Now that we’ve got that out of the way …

Have you ever considered looking at your personal brand through pessimistic glasses? It could do you a lot of good.

Branding issues resolved with the glass “half-full” approach?

Since we’ve been old enough to understand the concept, we’ve been taught, “think positive and good things will happen!” While this is true on some level, there’s a benefit to being a pessimist that people rarely talk about.

Pessimists go through life better prepared, with thorough plans in place in case of disaster. While an optimist sees only sunny days ahead, the pessimist is prepared for hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, and the apocalypse.

Ultimately, preparation is what turns mortals into superheroes. So, how does this relate to personal and business branding? What if we:

1. ASSUMED that no one in your target audience will get you and that no one will understand what it is that you do. You would have to make sure that your message is not just clear, but damn clear.
2. ASSUMED that your target audience wants no part of what you sell. You would need to go overboard with a brand with built-in defenses against sales objections and come from a point of persuasiveness.
3. ASSUMED that everyone in your target audience is going to take one look at what you do and hate your guts. You would make sure that your brand positions you as an irrefutable expert in your field, someone who transcends personality conflicts with the ability to straight up solve a problem.
4. ASSUMED that your brand will fall well short of reaching the number of people you need to reach. Well, then, you would just have to make sure that your brand converts at a higher percentage for the people you do connect with.

Be positively pessimistic

Keep the sunny disposition as you deal with people and as you make plans for the future, but plan as if everything that could possibly go wrong will go wrong.

The extra planning will bring you serenity in times of anxiousness. Trust me, this is coming from a compulsive worrier!

How does your brand stand up against the worst-case scenario? We’d love to talk about it.

Don’t feel like leaving your brand woes for all to see in our comment section? We understand. You can easily schedule a 15 minute complimentary strategy session to discuss and discover how your brand stacks up.