Personal branding trumps business brands for maximizing ROI

Bill Gates has a larger following than Microsoft.

Mark Zuckerberg has a larger following than Meta.

Elon Musk has a larger following than Tesla or Space X.

This theme is extremely common for the most successful people in the world and they themselves are one of the most powerful assets for their marketing strategy.

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Why?

Because businesses have no face and it is impossible to trust something that isn’t a real thing such as a person, animal etc.

Every post or ad by a company is created by somebody or a team, but who was it? Nobody knows. It is just another piece of marketing and we all know it so we do not engage. This means that the majority of business posts go unread, unwatched and unspoken of.

However, now let’s say that same piece of marketing is now delivered by a person and we can put a human name to them, and we feel like we have an idea of who they are. That message is now one we can interact with and we can feel something.

Maybe it is how it is written and you can see the tone of that person coming through, or how they speak or behave on camera, but there will be something that either helps us love them, hate them, become intrigued by them or whatever else. Leaving someone with any thought, feeling or action is better than them ignoring you.

When large organizations like Microsoft delivers a message we don’t really care, but if Bill comes out with his thoughts on it then people will jump all over it. This behavior isn’t reserved for the richest or most successful, it is the same strategy for solopreneurs and small businesses too.

Clients, customers, patients or whoever else is in your audience, want to know who you are, they want to see your face and identity behind your content. You are the voice they can follow and decide if they want to engage with you/your content or not.

When a founder talks to their target audience via any platform including live events, they have the chance to show who they are and what they have created, this then gives them an opportunity to build a trusted relationship with their audience. They are not only able to sell the business, they are selling what is powering it with absolute conviction and a fan base who will support them as a reward for their efforts.

Having a personal brand is a priority over business branding because that voice is the single most powerful asset to have to push a company, it is also the driving force behind it all. You cannot put trust in a business, you have to put trust into the leadership of that business which means people must know who these people are. It is also organic marketing which gets a much larger hit rate and it costs nothing except time.

Using this method and spreading it around early-stage startup teams not only grows everyone’s brands which helps make the company look better, but it also pushes the business in the most cost effective and powerful way too. It is an absolute no brainer.

Some examples of the power of having a personal brand are here, starting with Elon Musk. A video showing Elon smoking marijuana on a Joe Rogan podcast, as well as two execs quitting Tesla on the same day, resulted in the stock dropping around 8%, the same result happened when he failed to discuss Tesla growth or when it was felt he was distracted buying Twitter. It didn’t matter that he hired thousands of people and had tons of execs within the companies, all eyes were on him solely.

His public behavior influenced the business in such a dramatic way that it caused panic and the ripple effect was very damaging for the company. He has always influenced the direction and valuation of his companies, and he also influences future markets too. That is the strength of a personal brand and how it can affect everything, both good and bad.

Now look at another very influential individual, Warren Buffet. If he says a stock is good, or people see what he has invested in then a ripple begins with others putting their money in. These people buying stock after him, then helps push the valuation up of that company, meaning that when he sells the stocks he bought at a lower price, he has pretty much guaranteed himself a very nice return.

The power doesn’t come from Berkshire Hathaway, it is Warren. He is the one they quote and speak about because he has the power to influence others into doing what they want them to do.

This effect isn’t just business people either. Most recently Taylor Swift used her personal brand to endorse Kamala Harris in the presidential election. It wasn’t her record label that she stood behind, it was her. She has reached the highest heights off the back of her personal brand and now has the power to influence other businesses including politics and movements.

This tactic is used by solopreneurs and small businesses but not as often as those at the top, even though this same method works so well and increases their ROI. The people within the business are the only ones who can influence and convince people that they are the right people to engage with, yet they often have no idea how powerful their voice can be so they don’t put in the effort to grow it.

Those who have sought out expert guidance about this specifically and built themselves up, have been able to acquire opportunities and sell more than those who didn’t, whilst also saving money on paid ads and unnecessary marketing spend in the early days.

I have helped so many people build personal brands as well as their companies, most specifically physicians who have quite unique branding needs and every single one of them has seen significant growth both for themselves and their business. However those who have hidden behind their companies are finding it more difficult year on year due to the level of competition out there now and the increased difficulty securing funding.

This is predicted to become even harder as the years pass so it is already clearer to see how important personal branding will be in the near future and how businesses will need to have a marketing strategy that involves at the very least a plan for their leadership teams to grow their personal brands.

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Contact VB if you want to know how to build your personal or business brand with winning strategies for long term success.