Have you ever stopped to consider the impact that companies have on our lives? Fast food chains, insurance companies, and even cereal brands have jingles, slogans, and commercials that are meant to grab our attention. If a few come to mind almost immediately, then these companies have effectively achieved their goal. Branding is a subject that we have touched on previously in a blog entitled Why Branding Matters. To quote the blog:
Branding is every single thing about your company. To put in simple terms, your brand is literally your company. Everything that the world knows about your company is part of your brand. Your logo, your products, your slogans, everything. And branding doesn’t just end with marketing, it’s all about your company’s personality and background story. These aspects are all part of your brand.
Something we didn’t touch on are the approaches and fundamental differences between personal and business branding.
Business Branding
Business branding is exactly what it sounds like. It is a series of strategies meant to attract a target audience, create loyalty, showcase consistency and creativity, but also set the business apart from others in related fields. This can be exhibited by verbiage, color choices, font usage, content, rewards, patron outreach, and much more. Business branding requires an approach that distinguishes you from competitors, but also situates you as both the authority and expert. Businesses must establish their areas of expertise and advertise them as such, in order to receive the targeted patronage.
Business Branding Components
As stated previously, we have covered the topic of branding, but listed are some thinking-points for developing the brand for your business. Keep in mind that business branding is about establishing an identity that will speak for the company as a whole without blatantly stating anything specific.
- Develop a brand strategy
- Create a logo
- Establish a voice
- Integrate your brand
- Develop standards
Strengthening these points is vital to your operation, as it establishes a strong foundation and meets the minimum requirements for a business that is finding its feet.
Personal Branding
Personal branding is what happens when the impetus is placed on a person, rather than a business. This allows for a person to act as an influencer of sorts or a walking personal statement. The person, based on their reputation or following, becomes the go-to person and attaches themselves to projects that fit their brand and overtime, curated opportunities are brought to them. Unlike a business though, it is more complicated to create a personal brand. This ties in greatly with a previous post we made, discussing the term “aesthetic”, which plays a large role in personal branding. Unlike in business branding, personal branding alters an opportunity in order to paint the advertiser into a picture that is already established and rebrand it to suit the desired aesthetic. This can be the tricky part of personal branding as branching out can be harmful to the brand, so alterations must be cohesive when weaving a larger web.
Personal Branding Components
Establishing a personal brand comes with a set of challenges which are significantly different from those that arise from business branding. Personal branding is centralized around a person’s integrity, personality, and authenticity, which requires a more involved and individualized approach. This isn’t to say that business branding isn’t intricate or personal, but personal branding requires a much more solid and specialized set of fundamentals to work, especially in a grassroots stage.
Research, research, research is vital
Establish your preferred channels or M.O.
Outreach and engage with your audience
Monitor and reflect on yourself and your brand
Abstractly, branding seems like a simplified formula, however when it comes to putting these strategies into practice, it can be overwhelming. If you don’t know where to start or even what a mission statement is, make a call or email us today at LRM RiverValley Marketing and we’d be happy to help you grow and gain traction!
Used Sources:
https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/marketing/business-branding/
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/personal-branding
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/77408