Business owners sometimes think they have to completely detach their personality from their business, but the reality is you just need to be yourself. You could have your systems in check and be really good at what you do, but nowadays, without a personal brand, your business might just fail. For this reason, Sophie Robinson from Moodi Marketing has shared her three reasons why you need a personal brand.
1. Approachability
Nowadays, people want to be able to relate to whatever business they are going to try out. If you’re using stock imagery and basic pictures and have created a completely faceless business, you’re only going to get so far. However, if you put a human personality behind your online business, people are more likely to be interested in your story.
Attaching a face to a business is a tale as old as time; it’s why so many brands have celebrity representatives and spokespeople because, in reality, a large percentage of people only buy that one perfume or that one pair of sunglasses because they are connected to a certain celebrity.
It doesn’t have to be just celebrities, though. Think of people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk and how they are at the forefront of their business to the point where everyone knows who they are. Compare that to any other smartphone or tech company that you can’t automatically link to a person and the difference is staggering.
You don’t have to be a big multi-billionaire to show your personality through your business, though, because social media is now a goldmine for promoting your business in a more personal setting. LinkedIn, especially, has become a way to let your personality shine and get more eyeballs on you and thus your business.
It’s Okay To Show Vulnerability
Some people are apprehensive about the idea of being in the public eye with their business out of fear of showing their vulnerability but the truth is, that is what’s needed. People want to relate to your story and to your business and if you are perfect all the time, well, that’s just boring.
You want people to comment on your posts or show up at your networking meetings and say, “Oh my God, I totally relate to that story you told on LinkedIn when you embarrassingly said Happy Birthday to the postman instead of thank you; I’ve done it so many times.”
That’s just a simple example, though. If you’re letting people know about your struggles, your journey, and your failures, they will likely think of your online presence as a safe space and be more inclined to check out your business. It’s even better when you interact with those same people and create a community around your relatability and personality.
If you think about it, even before the world of social media, business owners were doing this through phone calls and fax machines, but now it’s so much easier to simply post some relatable content on LinkedIn daily, or a picture, or even have a blog. The more you build a following around yourself, the more people will be attached to you and your product.
Be Your Own Brand Ambassador
We now see so many brands and businesses hire influencers, TikTokers, and celebrities to attach to their brand but while that may work for a massive multi-million dollar conglomerate, you don’t really need that when you have yourself. You can keep publicly advertising your small business to the point of becoming a mini-celebrity of your own.
Think of Steve Jobs once again. The image of him with the black turtleneck, jeans, and white trainers has become so iconic now that if he had changed that look at any point during his career, people would have had a meltdown. This is because he was so good at being his own brand ambassador that people genuinely treated him like a celebrity.
2. Authenticity
Many people now self-censor a lot online which can sometimes be limiting if you’re trying to come off as an authentic authority on a certain matter. The thing is, though, the more “real” and authentic you appear online, the more people will be inclined to join in on the conversation with you. Subsequently, the more conversations you have with people, the more you will be recommended by them when someone says, “Oh, I need a marketing person or an SEO person or a copywriter.”
You might not even be the best at marketing or SEO or copywriting, but because you seemed genuine enough for them, they will want to work with you or recommend you. Compare that to a massive, faceless business or business owners who come off as fake or as if they are just trying to put something on with a cheeky smile because people will likely be more wary of them.
Think of it like used car salespeople. There are so many out there who have perfected the cheesy smile and the handshake and the “I’m going to take care of you” but they come off fake and you know deep down they just want to overcharge you on a car. On the other hand, you’re likely going to choose to buy from someone you had a normal conversation with, someone who told you what they did wrong and what they did right with that car, and felt like a genuine person.
Balance What You Can and Can’t Talk About
“Perfect, so I just go on social media and talk about every aspect of my life, right?” Well, not exactly. You still need to curate what you’re talking about. You need to come across as human and relatable, but you can’t be dumping all your personal info. It’s one thing to share an interesting half hour of your day, but it’s another to constantly share every minute of what happened to you. Oversharing is still very much a real issue on social media.
What is very important, though, is that you share both the highlights and the lowlights. People love a success story, but they love it even more if it’s riddled with obstacles that you had to go through. Nobody wants to hear about a person who took a million dollars from their dad to start a company overnight, but they want to hear about a self-made business owner who had both successes and failures to get to where they are.
At the same time, if all you are sharing are struggles and difficulties, then you may be open to more judgement. It’s a thin line between coming off triumphant over difficulties and just projecting negativity.
Practice What You Preach Online
When you have amassed a certain following for your personal brand or business, people are going to be very hyper-critical about the work you do. For example, if you constantly preach veganism online but suddenly start working with a leather goods company, then you will be immediately called out for hypocrisy.
Once you are in that spotlight, you will have to be selective about who you work with. You will have to ask questions and know your prospects before you start working because if you don’t, you might find yourself hurting your personal brand more than anything.
Authenticity doesn’t have to only be kept to your online presence, though, because you can extend it to your in-person meetings. If you are in a networking event or attending a conference or convention, you can keep projecting that same personality you do online. If you come off as a turtleneck, jeans and trainers person, then you don’t have to wear the fancy suit when you meet the same people who follow you online.
3. Memorability
Once you have perfected your approachability and authenticity, you need to continue being memorable. Your personal brand and conversations with people need to continue being in the back of their heads at all times. For example, compare a deep conversation you had with a prospect about a marketing possibility to a blue and white advert that had some generic, AI-generated text. Once that same person needs something for marketing, they will most likely think, “Oh, I had this really insightful conversation with this person who seemed like they knew a lot about marketing, I’d better give them a call.”
Even if your conversations aren’t business-related, people are more inclined to remember people they shared a connection with. Think back to your school days; the most memorable teachers were often the ones with the most personality and the ones you could talk to, even if they weren’t objectively the “best” teacher of the subject. The same principle applies to business.
Summary
So, if you’re going to run a business, make sure to get yourself out there. Be approachable, be relatable, be human, be authentic, be vulnerable, and most importantly, be memorable. The world of business and professionalism can sometimes be bogged down by being too robotic or machine-like, and with AI almost taking over the world soon, we need to bring back that human element once more.
Last Updated on May 27, 2025
