Personal Brand or Business Brands? Which is the best?
Whenever you see the word ‘brand’, what comes into your mind? Maybe it is international brands like Apple, Amazon, and Uber or may be local ones like Safaricom. If you dig deeper into this topic, you will find other brands like Neil Patel in the digital marketing world, Tony Robbins in public speaking and others who are in the political arena and celebrities alike. The first few examples were business brands while the last ones are personal brands. What are the major differences between the two?
A business brand. You create this around the identity that you want to portray for your business. The brand name will be independent of your name.
Pros
Easy to create long-term plans. A business brand makes you think outside the box. You ask yourself questions like who your target customers are and where you see your business in the future. It is such questions that will make you create a vision and mission that will guide your business.
Easy to sell a business brand. All ventures have their cycles and you may reach a point where you want to sell your business. You may be in need of quick cash or just need to venture into another world. Facebook, for instance, has acquired several businesses such as Instagram and WhatsApp in the recent past. It was easy to buy them because they are not tied to someone’s name.
Disadvantages
Inflexibility. It might be hard to change from one business to the other when you have such a brand. Imagine big brands like Apple deciding to shut off their technology products and decide to offer banking services. There will always be something that people associate you with every time they hear your brand name.
Personal brands. This revolves around your name and personality. It mostly fits those in the art industry, motivational speakers, and the likes. Marketers like Neil Patel have also built powerful brands along this line.
Pros
It is flexible. You can change from one industry to the other and people will not take a lot of time to adapt. You can change careers from a writer to a performer and people will still appreciate what you do.
Perfect for one-man show business. If you want to do music professionally, then a personal brand is all you need. You can also perform as a band but people know each and every member individually.
You have control over your brand. You may have some control over what gets to the outside world as a personal brand.
Cons
Difficult to sell. Most businesses with personal brands end up being family run businesses because most people shy away from them. Not most people will be willing to buy a business named ‘John and Sons Limited’ unless the prospective buyer is a John as well.
Does not offer continuity. Steve Jobs passed away but Apple is still running because it is a business brand. What about Michael Jackson as a brand? We still listen to his music but we cannot get fresh music from him because he is no longer alive.
The question of whether to create a business or business brand will always have varying views. You just have to evaluate your industry and see what fits you best. There are some brands that are trying to find a balance between business and personal brands as well.
