As a self-employed entrepreneur, it’s not always easy to draw a clear line between the personal and the professional. Your own personality can have a significant impact on the look and feel of your business, and your business might equally exert an influence over your personality. But Brand Strategy is all about defining and maintaining the personality of your brand, so it’s important to understand the differences between a business brand and a personal brand.

When we say personal brand, we’re talking about a business that is essentially defined by the face and name of its owner. Walk into Ray’s Barber Shop, say ‘hi’ to Ray, sit in his chair, and have him cut your hair.

A business brand, on the other hand, uses a made-up business name and takes on its own identity independent of the owner or manager. Go into a McDonald’s and every employee has a big yellow ‘M’ on their shirt and the name McDonald’s on their hat. But you’d be shocked if any of them were actually named McDonald.

Deciding whether you want to build a personal brand or a business brand is tricky. It’s not as easy as choosing whether you want to be the next Ray or the next McDonald’s. In fact, each strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages. And that’s what we’re going to look at in the following article.

Pros and Cons of Personal Brands and Business Brands

In some cases, it could be an easy choice. If your name is Zbigniew Brzezinski and you’re opening a pediatric office, you’re not going to call it the Zbigniew Brzezinski Clinic. At least I hope not.

But there are plenty of other factors to consider, besides whether or not your name is impossible to pronounce. So let’s examine some of those features.

Personality

The single biggest advantage of the personal brand is the element of human interaction. When you go to Miss Riley’s Ice Cream Parlor, you look forward to seeing Miss Riley’s smiling face almost as much as you look forward to her ice cream sundaes. Miss Riley is a member of your community, and you feel like you’re supporting the community when you spend your money there.

As a business owner, it may be easier to build relationships that way. Customers think of your service and they think of you. But keep in mind, you don’t actually have to put your name on the sign to qualify as a personal brand. If yours is the face that greets them almost every time, wearing one of your unforgettably zany neck ties (or some such accouterment), then you might be operating as a personal brand.

But defining your brand according to one individual can have drawbacks. Humans have limitations, and as the business owner, your unique personality might not be the best for every professional situation. When you develop a business brand, you’re building something from scratch, creating the ideal persona designed to exude a specific set of traits and attract a carefully targeted audience.

Personal brands are ideal for individual industries, like talk show hosts and coaches. But if your name is Jack White, rather than, say, Oprah Winfrey, your name might not carry a lot of weight or meaning.

Growth

One of the most significant drawbacks of a personal brand surfaces when you decide to expand your business. If clients come in expecting to see Dr. Brewster, like they always have, and like the sign in the window proclaims, then an appointment with Dr. Langston might come as a bit of a disappointment.

It’s terrific to establish that reputation and build those personal relationships in the community. But it also sets some pretty specific expectations. And the time may come when you’re no longer willing or able to fulfill those expectations.

If you get to the point where you want to open more clinics and play more of an executive or managerial role, you’re not going to be able to staff those offices with more clones of yourself. You’ll need to hire new associates.

This is one of those areas where brand strategy becomes crucial, and having a business brand will give you a lot more flexibility and control. Patients seeking Dr. Brewster won’t find him. But patients counting on the same satisfying experience they’ve always had from the Breakthrough Clinic can still get that, no matter which office they walk into.

But to guarantee that consistent experience, you need strategy. Visit any Burger King anywhere in the world, and you can count on a virtually identical experience. That doesn’t happen by accident or coincidence. That’s a carefully crafted and thoroughly executed brand strategy.

As a business brand, your clients don’t need to see you every time. But if they still see a smiling face with a classic Hawaiian shirt, and they’re greeted with an ‘Aloha’, and they detect that subtle trace of papaya in the air, then their expectations are fulfilled. THat’s consistency and dependability. Yes, it takes a bit more work, but it also allows a lot more control.

See our recent article on Branding with the Five Senses.

Legacy

Opening a few new offices is one thing. But what about your exit strategy? What happens when it’s time to sell your practice, or retire, or worse? Will your brand live on? You might be the next Ford or the next Westinghouse. Anything is possible.

But creating a business brand that’s not attached to your name and your personality is almost certain to result in greater longevity. Think about selling a business with your name on it. Of course, the business still has great value. But the new owner will probably want to change the name, which means reprinting all the signs and stationery, and losing a significant amount of name recognition.

Conversely, the brand strategy associated with a deliberately crafted business persona is a valuable asset, and something easily transferred to a new owner. That’s the whole idea behind a brand strategy. You can implement it in every office with every staff member, in order to create that same, reliable customer experience. And in this sense, you are adding to the resale value of your business rather than detracting.

Conclusions

If you’re the boss, then ultimately, the choice is yours. If you’ve spent 28 years in school earning your license, and you want your name on the front door, then go for it. But if you have expansion plans or an exit strategy in mind that involves keeping the business running without you, then you’ll probably be much better off with a strategic business brand that can be shared and replicated.

Put your best face forward

Need additional guidance? The Brand Strategy Workbook will give you a good starting point to answer some questions regarding your brand. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out for a Discovery call or join our online community. It looks a bit confusing and overwhelming, but if you take it one step at a time, it all makes sense in the end. You got this! 

• Schedule a Discovery Call with Pacha
• Join our brand strategy Facebook Community: Balanced Brands
• Get professionally designed and curated content for your social media channels: Sign up for Social Stream

Dive deeper and take a look at these related articles.

• An Introduction to Brand Archetypes
• Adopting Brand Personas
• Speaking with Brand Voice