What’s the difference between a personal brand and a company brand?

It seems simple enough; entrepreneurs should focus on building personal brands and businesses should focus on building company brands. However, as a solopreneur building a small business, things aren’t this black and white. You don’t have the luxury of a team to focus on the company brand while you work on your own. So, is it a case of choosing which one to build over the other?

Not at all. Instead, you need to understand the difference between them, the different kinds of results they produce so that strategies you use to build both align and don’t double up the time you spend on them.

Why do you need a personal brand?

Personal brands do exactly what they say on the tin: connect with your prospects on a personal level. These brands are all about direct communication and individual engagement, putting yourself in your prospects shoes and proving to them that you have their best interests at heart. 

Even though it’s called a “personal” brand, it’s your prospects that are very much at the core of it. Every post you share or update you make to your profile should benefit them in some way. Whether it’s drawing attention to a pain they didn’t know they had, sharing parts of your journey to invite them behind the scenes or breaking the ice with a personal anecdote, every effort you make with your personal brand is about building these personal connections.

Why do you need a company brand?

On the flip side, company brands are much more about a company’s identity and where it stands in the market. While company brands should still be built with prospects’ interests in mind, it’s much more about boosting awareness for your business. You want to be using your company brand to establish brand authority and showcase its expertise.

However, this doesn’t mean that things need to be rigid and regimented compared to personal brands. Employee advocacy is a great way to still share a peak behind the current and humanise your brand.

Which brand should you focus on building the most?

There will be overlaps between personal and company brands but this is a good thing! It makes it much easier to align the strategies between them. Your personal brand shouldn’t stand for one thing and your company brand for another. There needs to be a clear harmony between the two. 

However, when it comes to which one you should focus on building more, your personal brand will always win. It’s not just because people respond to personal connections much more these days, but because your personal brand can be used to help build up the company. Once you understand how to connect with your prospects on a personal level, you can use the company brand to boost this further. 

It’s also worth remembering that a lot more goes into building your personal brand and that’s why it will often take priority over a company one. However, don’t forget that if you want to get your time back while still building a strong personal brand, the PINAKL team is here to help.