Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The intersection between personal branding and business success is becoming increasingly clear as we experience a resurgence in personal relationships. Traditionally, individual and corporate branding have been viewed as separate entities, each with their own strategies and goals, and sometimes it even seems as if they are in direct conflict. However, due to the growing demand for personalization, significant change is underway.
Companies are finding that they can achieve greater reach and awareness by leveraging their employees’ individual brand strengths. A staggering 81% of consumers admit that their trust in a brand significantly influences their purchasing decisions, with 77% preferring to buy from brands they follow on social media.
The impact remains robust across both B2B and B2C sectors. Interestingly, the reputation and credibility of a company’s CEO and employees influence the purchasing decisions of 65% of consumers. These statistics underscore a crucial point: a brand’s credibility plays an important role in sales efforts. For a corporate brand to truly resonate and produce tangible sales results, the personal brands within it must be strong and clearly defined.
I’ve been involved in communications since the late 20th century (and yes, I find it amusing to say that) and have witnessed many brand evolutions – from the advent of email to the rise of social media to artificial intelligence. However, in my view, no technological advancement can ever replace meaningful human interaction. It simply redefines what sales groups think makes sense. You can use AI to generate leads. But do they really count if they don’t fit or matter to your business? The key is having a strong corporate brand that invites people to be part of your journey.
Related: 5 Ways to Authentically Connect Your Employees to the Brand
There is a synergy between personal and corporate branding
The above concept is not new. We have all seen or worked with a “unicorn” employee. What makes her a unicorn? Your individual brand. When employees build strong personal brands, they add authenticity and a human touch to the company narrative, making the company more trustworthy and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers.
This synergy not only increases the company’s reputation, but also promotes engagement in the places where employees are active – be it at community events, on social media or with friends. Employees with strong personal brands naturally increase the company’s visibility and influence. They become “unicorns” that drive qualified leads to your company. A social selling study from LinkedIn even measured this phenomenon and found that 92% of B2B customers are more willing to engage with sales reps who are considered industry thought leaders.
Promote personal brand development without losing control
Many companies struggle with the idea of encouraging employees to strengthen their personal brand because they fear it will compromise the quality of their messaging or cause them to lose control of their company’s narrative. Before I share some tactical strategies for dealing with this problem, I want to emphasize that for this to be effective, your company brand must be solid and credible.
A strong corporate brand provides a stable background against which the brands of individual employees can shine. It provides a cohesive narrative that aligns with your employees’ personal stories. Before encouraging your employees to do their own branding exercises, it is important to conduct some company-level branding exercises. This ensures that your brand welcomes collaboration and inspires a sense of pride in everyone associated with it.
You want everyone to feel positive about being openly connected to your company. These characteristics are critical to the effectiveness of personal branding efforts. Otherwise, you could end up helping individuals build their personal brands, only for them to pass that strength on to another company that is already well-positioned.
Related: Beyond Logos and Colors – How to Create a Compelling Brand Identity
How to get the strongest individual brands without sacrificing consistency
The most fundamental way to maintain control of your company’s messaging while promoting individual branding efforts is to ensure a strong alignment between your company’s values and your employees’ personal values. Here’s how you can achieve this without compromising the company’s branding efforts:
Define clear guidelines This outlines how employees can align their branding efforts with the company’s values and goals. This ensures consistency and prevents potential conflicts or off-brand messages. That’s why it’s important for you as a company that your brand is already developed so that you can clearly communicate its characteristics and provide guidance.
Offer training programs that help employees understand best practices for social media and content creation, including workshops on writing, personal presentation, and online ethical considerations. These can be both educational and entertaining, giving people permission and confidence to share your brand goals.
Encourage your employees to become thought leaders in their respective areas of expertise. This can be facilitated through extensive speaking support, writing opportunities on industry blogs, and participation in industry and online panel discussions. Thought leadership strengthens both the individual’s brand and reflects positively on the company.
Highlight your employees’ achievements on your company channels. This will strengthen their personal brand and show that the company recognizes and values their contributions. One thing we have is an internal message board where examples of social posts accompany these announcements. We also send AI social content creation requests when we ask people to share our content.
Regular monitoring and constructive feedback are essential to ensuring that employee messages remain consistent with the company’s brand identity. Part of our town hall team meetings focus on the positive contributions individuals have made to marketing. The feedback here should be consistent and mostly positive. If redirection or negative feedback is necessary, it should always be done privately and one-on-one.
Related topics: 10 reasons why branding is important, even for startups
Integrating personal branding into your business strategy creates a win-win scenario: employees feel valued and empowered, which increases their loyalty and productivity. For the company, this alignment between individual and corporate brands leads to greater trust and better relationships.
As the lines between personal and corporate branding become increasingly blurred, companies that recognize and leverage the symbiotic relationship between personal and corporate branding are likely to experience the greatest growth and success. In fact, they at least encourage the building of better relationships and more defined sales leads.