Personal Branding vs Business branding. Which should I focus on? This blog has solution to your every question.

Every brand provides services to its customers to earn their trust while creating a branding image. For that, the brand must keep its representation in sync with its goal. If individuals want personal branding for the business, it must focus on their interests to make connections. Otherwise, the brand may opt for business branding to create an entity to deliver products and services.

However, people have different opinions on this, which further creates confusion. Thus, several businesses cannot pick the correct strategy. As a result, the brand loses its value and customers. 

Now you can imagine how essential it is to choose and strategise the proper branding.

So everything boils down to one thing: the goal. If an individual is clear about the brand purpose, then any strategy will pay off in the end. 

You may have seen some brands changing their names and appearance for some reason. It also depends on the goal they have set for their brand. If the goal changes, so do the strategy and representation of the brand. 

Also, it is okay to change the goal according to the current environment. Some people or entities lose their business for not adapting to the ever-changing world. It also depends on multiple factors of branding. 

Similarly, it is not a one-way strategy. The customers also play a significant role in branding. But how?

Let’s learn it structurally. You will discover more about personal branding and business branding in this article. You will also see advantages and examples of these branding to have a clear view for making a correct choice.

Besides, there is a digital marketing course by Henry Harvin that helps learners to get a better sense of branding, marketing and much more. We will discuss it further in detail as well.

What is branding? 

So, it goes back to thousands of years ago as per the belief. Like, when branding one’s personal belongings to avoid theft and illegitimacy was common in those days. For example, ancient Egyptians used to burn symbols into their animals’ skin for branding purposes.

This process further developed and flash-forward to now, we see brands everywhere. From a matchbox to luxury cars, several brands have surrounded us.

Nowadays, a brand acts as a symbolic representation of an entity or a person. E.g. Like a design, symbol or term. So, it differentiates the services and products of a particular seller from other ones. 

In addition, it also represents the promises and values assured to the customers by the brand.

However, branding is not what we exactly think it is. Like, the things mentioned above tell the gist of what branding is. But on thinking deeply, it comes out as somewhat intangible.

As discussed earlier, branding should start with a goal in mind. If the goal is clear, then you will get the result. Can’t that result be the branding itself?

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So, branding is ….?

From what author Marty Neumeier says, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.”

A brand delivers the services or products and gets the customers’ response as a result. That result is often the gut feeling of the customers. If they get a positive gut feeling, the brand will have a good reputation in the market and amongst the customers. Also, any person connected to the brand can affect its reputation easily. 

So, branding is the result and reputation a brand receives from the customers.

Hence, in this way, the customers play a significant role in branding.

We still have several questions like this to answer. So, let’s head for personal branding and business branding!

Personal branding: 

To put it simply, personal brands are the individuals who express their professional self and market it as a product to others.

In any industry, individuals create personal branding intentionally to influence consumers. So, this allows the brands to position themselves as an authority in their industry. 

Also, by doing this, the brands separate themselves from others to improve the reliability in consumers’ eyes. Thus, it results in a broader crowd base for the brands with a comprehensive reputation.

Personal branding has seen a surge since the increase in online activities due to the internet and social media.

Besides, the main objective of personal branding is to create strong engagement with the consumers while aiming to gain monetary profits.

Objectives of personal branding:

The individuals want to grow their brand to share their life experiences with others. So, it improves the consumers’ chances of achieving their goal with the help of a personal brand.

Similarly, personal branding has various objectives to follow and achieve success in their interest fields. So, the following are some objectives of personal branding:

1. Understand the ultimate goal:

A personal brand should have a clear goal to obtain desired results and responses.

To clarify, individuals have to connect with the consumers frequently and for a long time. As the brand revolves around the person, it needs regular attention. So, if your goal is to hand the brand to someone else after a certain point, nothing will make any sense. 

Personal branding grows as individuals grow in their life. Besides, changing the person from the brand will disrupt everything. The brand has been built around that person and for particular consumers.

Hence, only creating the personal brand is not the goal. You will also have to manage the brand forever to grow with it to impact the consumers significantly.

2. Better consumer relationships: 

So when we say that the consumers are the ones who help a business to become a brand, it is more evident in personal branding. When marketing oneself as a brand, several aspects are vital to improving consumer relationships.

Your business can successfully develop itself as a personal branding when you are evident with your values, interests and beliefs. Because only then, the people with the same traits connect to your brand. 

Therefore, the brands can create several consumer relationships that result in several opportunities for your brand to grow further.

If there is no connection between the brand and the consumers, it is hard for your brand to sustain for a long time as personal branding.

As a result, the trust in an individual, a brand, can decline anytime in the consumer’s mind. Also, it can lead to the downfall of the brand and the individual’s social image. So, the consumers will not perceive that brand as much authentic.

Nowadays, social media has become a powerful medium to boost personal branding the way individuals want.

3. Being personally honest brand:

Rather than just displaying honesty to the consumers, why not try to be an actual honest brand?

Personal branding should influence consumers with its genuine traits. The brand should also introduce those traits clearly when strategising a plan. So that way, it will mark one of the first signs of honesty.

So, the personal traits include:

• Passions
• Personality
• Values
• Beliefs, etc.

If individuals have different traits than what their brand poses, no strategy will work out in the end. Furthermore, the foul play in the approach would not bring the results brands generally expect from the consumers.

Also, it is significant that brands remain honest with themselves. However, sometimes the brands make mistakes of which they are unaware. As a result, it leads consumers to believe in dishonest practices that may not be true.

4. Identify your passion:

The services you want to provide with personal branding should first interest you. When you take the help of your passion in turning yourself into a brand, people will attract and connect with it profoundly.

Further, it also shows your confidence and understanding about that field of your passion.

So, this goal mostly depends upon the result out of your introspection. If you are interested and invested in your passion field, it will kick start your branding journey effectively.

Also, you should make sure that your passion and goal complements each other comprehensively. As a result, you will achieve your goals through your passion and live your passion while working toward the goal.

5. Know limits of self-promotion:

While building your brand, you want to have a unique voice that suits your views and personality. So when you put yourself out there as a genuine and integrated brand, every consumer will want to continue to be part of that connection.

However, if you overdo the self-promotion, it may lead to the self-destruction of your brand. It is alright to talk about yourself as you are the central point of your brand. But, it is wrong to display yourself as unique from others by exaggerating your goals and achievements.

Self-promotion is the key to letting your audience know what you are up to in your life. It further bonds the brand and consumer on every level to enhance the experience for both parties. But fabricating the facts will do no good for anyone.

Hence, understanding the limits of your goals and achievements and being conscious about them will only improve your reputation.

Advantages of personal branding: 

Personal branding has the personal benefits that will make you lean more toward it. Also,  it works on an emotional level for the customers as well. As a result, personal branding has a lasting impact on the customers.

The advantages mentioned below will give you more confidence in choosing the personal branding for your business.

1. You keep it your way: 

Personal branding allows individuals to follow their processes in creating and maintaining the brand.

So, there will be no interference for the individuals in the planning and decision-making process. When you work from start to finish in your way on a project, it gives you confidence and satisfaction. Besides, no one wants to have a boss. 

Hence, you get to be your boss to build and succeed your brand without anyone to control you.

2. You promote your skills: 

The main perk of personal branding will be to display your skills in your interest field. It also promotes you and your work to the people with the same interests. Also, you earn money from what you can do.

Similarly, you gain more customers and increase the opportunities to expand your brand everywhere.

When you grow with your brand, your skills and prospects become better, which gives you the happiness you aimed for at the start.

3. You achieve goals, confidence, and recognition:

 By creating personal branding, individuals can achieve their goals just the way they want.

Also, it happens to be a more profound experience for the individuals when they achieve their set goals. Further, it boosts their confidence to do better in the future for themselves and their customers.

It also helps individuals gain the recognition they deserve from the people of the same and different fields.

Examples of personal branding: 

There are several successful personal branding examples out there that will inspire you profoundly. Those examples help you understand the processes and steps to achieve success.

So, here are some examples of personal branding around the globe:

1. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is the most reputed name in the world of personal branding. She is famous for her talk show ”The Oprah Winfrey Show”, which aired between 1986 to 2011.

Above all, she has influenced several people across the globe with her intention and consistency in being a brand. 

Besides, she understands her influence on people from her consistent behaviour in addressing certain things. However, it is also significant for her to be true to her intentions while being consistent.

So for her, true intentions are essential in sustaining successful branding. Also, her messages and gestures toward humanity leave an everlasting impact on the people.

As a result, you see a dynamic image and personality on hearing only her name.

2. Neil Patel 

Neil Patel is an entrepreneur and internet personality from London. He is also a co-founder of Neil Patel Digital, Crazy Egg, and Kissemetrics. 

Besides, he is famous for founding a popular SEO tool called “Ubersuggests”. He also received valued recognition by working in digital marketing and social media.

He has created a powerful personal brand out of his invaluable passion, knowledge and skills in digital marketing. Also, as a New York best-selling author, he is keen to teach others to become influential across the internet for potential growth.

Neil Patel Digital enables people from all over the world to create their websites. It also teaches them the current marketing skills from his marketing school and detailed online marketing blogs.

Business branding: 

When considering both brands, you will find similarities between personal and business branding. Also, we know that personal branding revolves and evolve around a person. It also helps the brand to be more appealing to mass customers.

Similarly, business branding builds around an entity or business which provides services and products to its customers. Its objective is also to attract more customers of the same interest.

However, the goal of business branding is to promote the brand name of the entity, unlike personal branding.

So, the entities have to build business branding from scratch as it is not a person who has been existing since birth. Hence, the entity has to create the brand and promote it to gain its brand name a reputation.

Business branding also has to target the correct customers to improve the brand image and profit. 

Besides, several entities are trying to turn themselves into a brand in the market. So, every entity has to be unique with its appearance, products, and services.

Objectives of business branding:

Planning and implementing business branding objectives is not an easy task. However, it should happen correctly to increase the credibility of the brand. Also, achieving the goals will bring several opportunities to improve the brand’s public perception.

The people working for and with the brand also affect its value and reputation. Similarly, various aspects validate business branding on every distinct level. 

The following are some of the objectives of business branding:

1. Know what your customers need:

It is easy for customers to avoid the business brands than the personal ones. Personal branding creates a strong connection with the customers with life stories and human emotions.

However, business branding has to focus more on the customers’ needs. If customers don’t get what they want from your brand, they will shift. 

So, understanding what and how the customer wants a product or service is a priority for the business branding.

2. Differentiate your brand from others:

Your brand should deliver its products and services to the customers in a unique voice. As a result, the customers will find it easy to identify your brand from the others.

As several businesses try to convert themselves into a brand, this objective turns out to be essential for them. Besides, it helps get more customers out of the brand’s working field. It also keeps the customers interested in the brand for a long time. Then, the brand can introduce its newest products to build more reputation in the customers. 

However, sometimes brands overdo differentiating themselves in the competition with other brands. It also leads to having a toxic environment in the field.

Hence, business branding should happen within certain limits to maintain the dignity of the brand and the customers. 

3. Clear message about services and products: 

Some businesses deliver the products and services most uniquely to their customers. However, they fail to share the essence of their brand from the start.

As a result, the brand finds it hard to communicate better with its customers. Hence, it is essential to have a positioning statement of your brand.

A positioning statement declares what your brand is and what values it holds for which specific group of people. The following aspects should come into your brand’s positioning statement:

• Name of the business
• Category of your business
• Target customers
• Characteristics of customers
• The uniqueness of your brand
• Proofs of credibility

Your brand can draw any customer with a clear message regarding your brand’s workings. If any customer has a doubt, a clear message will solve it in the first meeting itself.

4. Online presence:

It’s not a secret that this century has seen incredible advancements due to the internet and social media. It is also essential for business branding to grow like personal branding. 

The presence of people on the internet and social media platforms has encouraged famous brands to use it for promotional purposes. Hence, the brand’s presence on the internet can reach and impact anyone in this world in the same manner.

For example, your brand can have a website for potential future customers with detailed information about the brand. 

So, the customers will have a deep understanding of the brand. Also, the brand’s contact details on the website will shorten the communication gap between both groups.

Hence, the online activities from the brand and the customers keep the communication effective and fruitful.

Advantages of business branding: 

Business branding helps every business to shine in the market against their competitors. Also, the brands try to bring the human characteristic at the front to match the emotional level of their customers. So, it helps them win customers’ trust to earn a reputation and achieve success.

The advantages of business branding are:

1. You can sell your business:

Unlike personal branding, businesses can sell themselves to someone else after a certain point in business branding. So, this makes business branding a valuable option for different companies.

Besides, the main goal of business branding is to make a business profitable to have a name of its own in the market. Then, the brand name signifies anything connected to it and amps its value.

As a result, individuals connected to the brand can venture to make their brand, i.e. personal branding.

2. You can hire without any hassle:

Business branding enables a business to hire personnel to divide the workload. 

Besides, several candidates aspire to work for a renowned brand to grow in their careers. So, business branding helps businesses to be efficient and grow their reputation by hiring and producing the best personnel in the market.

3. Introduce new services and products with ease:

When a business converts itself into a brand, it is easy to present something new in the market. As it will have a customer base already, a brand will not have to look for a new customer base every time they release something latest.

Hence, existing customers do the brand’s publicity out in the market. So that way, the interested customers get attached to the brand without much effort from the brand.

Therefore, business branding provides several opportunities to businesses to constantly build a customer base and reputation.

Examples of business branding: 

You see several brand advertisements on the internet and television marketing their products and services. So, it’s one of the ways to market your brand to attract and influence customers.

However, some brands do not require excess marketing to earn credibility from the customers. So, several brands find several ways to be the brand that customers imagine and aspire to have. 

Hence, below are some business branding examples for you to know and get inspired.

1. Amazon 

Amazon has created a vibrant image as the most significant online retailer. So, by only hearing the name, you can feel the warmth of trust and credibility.

Besides, Amazon understood the pattern customers follow when buying any item from the market or online. Hence, even after purchasing something on Amazon, you get suggestions to check out similar products that others have bought. So that way, Amazon tries to hold the customer’s hand by offering new and latest things for the purchase.

Also, Amazon has now expanded their business in the entertainment business by launching Amazon Video and Amazon Music. It further increases the connection time of Amazon with its customers.

2. Apple

No one in the world would believe you if you say you haven’t heard about this brand. Apple’s impact on its customers and non-customers say several things about their high-end devices and reliable service.

Also, Apple entered the smartphone market when Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone in San Fransisco. Since then, the smartphone launching tradition for their products has never ceased. It also increased the sense of closeness with the customers.

Besides, the Apple logo makes people believe in the same quality of products around the globe. 

Apple also gives a sense of hope and liberty through its products to users anywhere in the world. It also provides several opportunities to the professionals to join and enhance their and the brand’s reputation in the market.

Similarly, Apple has always had the goal of giving customer loyalty the highest preference. And undoubtedly, it has been managing it perfectly since the start.

Personal branding v/s Business branding: Which is suitable? 

Until now, we have discussed personal and business branding in detail. We have also considered the advantages and examples of mentioned branding to understand it better.

Both brandings help the businesses attain the values and reputation they deserve in the market. They also benefit the customers to connect with credible individuals and entities.

However, the question remains: which branding is suitable?

Firstly, you can choose personal branding if the following points match your business criteria:

• Want to continue with the brand forever
• Need a brand around yourself
• Want to have a total control
• You want your name to be the brand name

If all the mentioned points match your business criteria, then it is reasonable for you to continue with personal branding.

Secondly, you can opt for business branding if the following points match your business criteria:

• Will sell the business afterwards
• Need the brand around your business
• Want to contract out some of the work

So, these points represent the business branding criteria. If it matches your criteria, nothing stops you from going for it.

Therefore, understanding the intention of your business will give you a clear direction in deciding the branding.

Learn and improve branding with Henry Harvin:

It is helpful to learn anything from a credible source. It also increases the value of knowledge and skills you attain through that source.

For example, you will learn branding, digital marketing, their strategies in an excellent manner from Henry Harvin’s digital marketing course.

Also, this course includes topics like:

• Digital marketing trends
• Media marketing
• Marketing strategy
• Landing page design
• SEM 
• Google ads
• Keyword strategies
• SEO
• Social media marketing and many more

In addition, more than 18,000 learners have already learnt different marketing and branding strategies from this course. This course also provides certification after completion, validating your skills and knowledge.

Conclusion: 

So, individuals and business should understand their intentions and goals before making any branding decisions.

While every business deserves to be a brand, it also depends on its approach. Besides, the competition in the market for businesses makes it even harder to achieve that status. However, it is not impossible to fulfil your dream of branding your business.

The advantages and examples will give you a complete overview of personal and business branding. It will also make you ask questions to yourself about your business and the idea of a brand. Besides, it is the purpose of this whole article.

Introspection is essential in personal and professional life. It also helps you find your thoughts in your voice to set you apart from the others. Which ultimately directs you to a better life.

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