Should You Spend Time Building a Business Brand or a Personal Brand?
Updated: Aug 31, 2022
As a professional, you have the option to either create a corporate brand or a personal brand, but what are the differences exactly? This blog post will help you decide where to spend your time.
In this blog, we will help you decide where to spend your time.
Corporate Brands: The Basics
In a nutshell, a corporate brand is based on an identity that you create for your business – it’s separate from your personal name.
Pros
- Keeps your name and business separate. If you don’t mind linking your face to your business but you don’t necessarily want to get too personal with potential clients, a corporate brand is a better fit for you.
- Highly focused. When you build a corporate brand, you are forced to have a solid plan, vision, and goals in place right from the start.
- Easier to sell. If you ever choose to sell your brand, selling a corporate brand is a lot easier because it’s not linked to a specific person.
Cons
- Not as flexible. When you create a corporate brand, it’s not as easy to alter things should your interests and expertise change.
- Harder to build. Building a corporate brand generally takes a lot more work. With a personal brand, you’re only asking people to trust one person. With a corporate brand, you are now asking people to trust a brand name, where it’s not always clear who’s behind it.
Personal Brands: The Basics
A personal brand is all about you and is based on your personality and lifestyle – you would brand your business using your name.
Pros
- Great for one-person businesses. If you are a professional speaker, coach, author, or artist, it makes more sense to spend time building a personal brand. That’s because your services are directly linked to who you are as a person.
- Greater flexibility. When you have a personal brand, you get to decide what you want to do and specialize in at any stage.
- More personality. While a corporate brand can be fun, it’s much easier to have fun with a personal brand because you get to incorporate your interests and personality.
Cons
- Harder to establish yourself. Because a personal brand is based on one person, it can be more difficult to establish yourself and build trust within your industry. This is why it’s important to promote yourself using the right tactics.
- Difficult to sell. If you ever want to sell your brand or business, it’s much harder to do when it’s linked to a person’s name.
How to Spend Your Time
Now that you understand the key differences between a personal and corporate brand, you probably have a better idea of how you want to spend your time. The good news is that there’s also the option of finding a happy medium where you build a corporate brand but also your personal brand as the owner of the business.