Building a personal brand

Creating a personal brand isn’t for everybody but in today’s competitive business landscape, establishing a strong personal brand can be an important component of a successful marketing strategy. Building a personal brand not only helps entrepreneurs and professionals stand out from the crowd but also enhances their credibility, expands their network, and drives business growth. In this blog post, we will explore the significant benefits of building a personal brand and how it can positively impact your overall marketing efforts.

A Personal Brand Can Establish Credibility and Trust

When you build a personal brand, you showcase your expertise, knowledge, and unique qualities to your target audience. By consistently delivering valuable content, sharing industry insights, and engaging with your audience, you establish credibility and gain trust. Customers are more likely to choose a business associated with a trusted personal brand, which can significantly impact their purchasing decisions.

Building a Personal Brand can Differentiate in a Competitive Market

In today’s crowded marketplace, differentiation is vital. Building a personal brand allows you to highlight your unique value proposition and stand out from competitors. By focusing on your individual strengths, passions, and expertise, you create a distinct identity that sets you apart. Customers are drawn to authenticity and are more likely to choose a business that embodies a compelling personal brand. Great examples of this can be seen in Gym Shark, Innocent Smoothies and many more.

A Personal Brand can help Enhance Networking Opportunities

Building a personal brand opens doors to valuable networking opportunities. As you establish yourself as an industry expert and thought leader, you attract like-minded professionals, potential clients, and collaborators. Engaging with your target audience through social media, industry events, and online communities helps expand your network, leading to potential partnerships, collaborations, and business opportunities.

Your Personal Brand helps Amplify Your Marketing Reach

Your personal brand can serve as a powerful amplifier for your business’s marketing efforts. By consistently sharing content and insights across various channels, you increase your visibility and reach. Your personal brand can attract a broader audience, which in turn generates more awareness and exposure for your business. Moreover, satisfied customers who resonate with your personal brand are more likely to become brand advocates and refer others to your business.

Humanising Your Business through your Personal Brand

A strong personal brand adds a human touch to your business. By showcasing the person behind the brand, you connect with your audience on a deeper level, fostering trust and loyalty. People are more inclined to engage with businesses that demonstrate a human element, empathy, and a genuine connection. Building a personal brand humanises your business and helps forge meaningful relationships with your customers.

Personal Branding helps to Drive your Business Growth

Ultimately, building a personal brand positively impacts your business’s bottom line. As your personal brand gains recognition and trust, it creates a halo effect, boosting the reputation and credibility of your business. Customers who resonate with your personal brand are more likely to become loyal customers, leading to increased sales, repeat business, and referrals.

Which Social Media Platforms are best for Creating a Personal Brand?

LinkedIn is in our opinion the most effective social media platform for building a strong professional personal brand. With over 722 million users globally, LinkedIn provides ample opportunities to establish yourself as an industry expert. The platform allows you to craft a detailed profile showcasing your background, skills, accomplishments, and expertise. Engaging content such as published articles, videos, and presentations can be shared to demonstrate thought leadership. LinkedIn also facilitates connecting and networking with professionals in your field through features like groups, events and messaging. By actively participating in the LinkedIn community, you can organically grow your network and relationships. The platform gives control over your professional brand and image, unlike other social networks.

Beyond LinkedIn, other social platforms can assist in developing a personal brand when used strategically. For creatives and influencers, Instagram is ideal for establishing a unique visual brand through high-quality photos and videos. Carefully crafted captions and consistent engagement with followers allows creators to build an authentic community and following. Great examples are Mrs Hinch, Stacey Solomon, Gabby Logan and many more.

X (formerly known as Twitter) can also be leveraged by regularly tweeting insights, ideas and content related to your expertise. Though limited in length, compelling and valuable tweets can reinforce your knowledge and perspectives. Facebook provides opportunities to build an engaged community around a brand through Groups, Pages and Live video. A thoughtful content strategy tailored to each platform is key to developing a multifaceted personal brand on social media.

Which business leaders have established a good Personal Brand?

There are lots of great business leaders out there with great personal brands but here are a few of the ones we follow.

Ben Francis, Gymshark

Ben Francis and the Gymshark brand is a notable example of building a personal brand around a business. Ben Francis, the founder of Gymshark, has played a pivotal role in shaping the brand’s identity and success. By sharing his fitness journey, entrepreneurial story, and passion for health and fitness, Francis has effectively built a personal brand that resonates with Gymshark’s target audience.

Through social media platforms, Francis has engaged with his followers, documenting his own fitness progress and providing motivational content. His authenticity and relatability have helped him cultivate a loyal and enthusiastic community of supporters. By embodying the Gymshark brand values and actively participating in the fitness community, Francis has become an influential figure in the industry.

The personal brand of Ben Francis has significantly contributed to Gymshark’s rapid growth and success. His presence as a recognisable face and voice of the brand has helped establish trust, credibility, and a strong connection with customers. The personal brand of Ben Francis has played a crucial role in Gymshark’s marketing strategy, generating brand awareness, driving customer engagement, and fuelling the brand’s overall growth.

Mary Portas, House of Mary

Mary Portas has become one of the most prominent figures in British retail through her powerful personal brand. Portas carved out a reputation as the “Queen of Shops” based on her retail expertise from revamping department stores like Harvey Nichols in the 1990s. She leveraged her signature style of fashion consulting and television shows to establish her brand as a leading voice in retail.

Portas is outspoken in her advocacy for reforming British high streets and retail, frequently appearing in media and publishing reports that cement her authority on the topic. She has expanded her brand through new initiatives like House of Mary, which promotes British artisans. Throughout her career, she has maintained a consistent personal brand emphasising her straight-talking insight, fashion knowledge and belief in the importance of vibrant local retail. This clear and focused personal branding has enabled Portas to become one of Britain’s most influential retail gurus.

We were lucky enough to hear Mary speak recently and she’s hugely inspiring and knowledgeable.

Steven Bartlett, Diary of a CEO

Steven Bartlett has become renowned as an entrepreneur and author by cultivating a compelling personal brand. Bartlett founded Social Chain at age 22, building a disruptive social media marketing agency. He leveraged platforms like YouTube and Instagram to provide raw insight into entrepreneurship, establishing his brand as an approachable but knowledge leader. Bartlett expanded his brand’s reach significantly as the youngest investor to join BBC’s Dragons’ Den. He is outspoken about diversity and mental health, distinguishing his brand. Bartlett authored the bestselling book Happy Sexy Millionaire at 28, cementing his brand as a young success story.

Through podcasts and public speaking, he provides blunt, unconventional advice to young entrepreneurs. This maverick, straight-talking yet inspirational brand has propelled Bartlett to be seen as the voice of a new generation of business leaders.

Gary Neville, Pundit & Business Owner

Gary Neville, the former Manchester United defender, has cultivated an authoritative and respected punditry brand. Since retiring from football in 2011, Neville has become one of the most prominent English football voices through his analyst role on Sky Sports. He is often outspoken and critical in his commentary, establishing a candid pundit style. Neville expanded his brand as co-owner of Salford City FC and by developing the iconic Hotel Football. His stake in Salford City enhanced his brand as a football businessman and investor.

The Overlap – The biggest names in football, politics, business and world sport share real stories with Neville, reflecting on their careers & vulnerabilities.

Gary also co-owns a hospitality company, GG Hospitality, which has a portfolio of hotels and restaurants including Hotel Football and The Stock Exchange Hotel. Gary is currently working on St Michael’s, a £200m development project in Manchester city centre.

Neville maintains a constant social media presence, providing unfiltered opinions on football news. Between his uncompromising punditry, business ventures and social media, Neville has built a straight-talking personal brand grounded in football expertise.

How can Piece of Cake Marketing help you build a Personal Brand?

At Piece of Cake Marketing, we specialise in helping entrepreneurs and executives develop strong personal brands. We excel at identifying your differentiated experience and strengths to formulate an authentic brand platform. We help create consistent messaging and narratives across your online profiles, website, and content to align with your branding. We assist with expanding your professional reach through targeted social media, SEO, and thought leadership articles. Our designers develop sleek, stylised visual assets that represent your brand aesthetic. For public figures, we provide media training and speaking engagement coaching to polish presentation skills.

We guide clients through brand collaborations and partnerships for increased visibility. With our combined expertise in brand strategy, content marketing, and publicity, we enable clients to build authoritative brands that elevate their professional profiles. Our services are tailored to help build influential personal brands.

If you’re ready to establish your personal brand, let Piece of Cake Marketing be your secret ingredient for success! Our marketing consultancy based in Coventry and Warwickshire is here to help you craft the perfect recipe for your business growth.

Whether you need strategic planning to define your marketing goals, branding and positioning to stand out in the market, digital marketing to boost your online presence, or measurement and optimisation to ensure maximum results – we’ve got you covered! We know the region well and we love nothing more than being able to work in our local area and make a difference.