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The intersection of non-public branding and corporate success is becoming more apparent as we experience a revitalization of interpersonal relationships. Traditionally, individual and corporate branding have been viewed as separate entities, each with their very own strategies and goals, and sometimes it could possibly even seem to be they are in direct conflict. However, a significant change is happening due to the growing demand for personalization.
Companies are finding that leveraging the strengths of their employees’ individual brands can provide greater reach and awareness. An astonishing 81% of consumers say they trust a brand influences significantly their purchasing decisions, with 77% preferring to buy from brands they follow on social media.
The influence stays strong in each B2B and B2C sectors. Interestingly, status and credibility the company’s CEO and employees influence the purchasing selections of 65% of consumers. These statistics highlight a key point: brand credibility plays a significant role in sales efforts. For a corporate brand to truly achieve success and translate into measurable sales results, the personal brands it comprises should be strong and clearly defined.
Having been involved in communications since the late twentieth century (and yes, it’s funny when I say that), I’ve witnessed many brand evolutions – from the advent of email to the rise of social media and now artificial intelligence. However, in my opinion, no amount of technological advancement will ever replace meaningful human interaction; it merely redefines what sales groups consider meaningful. You can use AI to generate leads, but if they don’t seem to be relevant or relevant to your corporation, do they actually matter? The key lies in a strong corporate brand that invites individuals to join its journey.
There is synergy between personal and corporate branding
The above concept is not recent. Each of us has seen or worked with a “unicorn” worker at some point. What makes them unicorns? Their individual brand. When employees create strong personal brands, they bring about authenticity and a human touch to the corporate narrative, making the company more credible and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers.
This synergy not only strengthens the company’s status, but also increases engagement in places where employees are lively – whether at social events, on social media or among friends. Employees with a strong personal brand naturally enhance a company’s visibility and influence. They develop into “unicorns” who direct qualified leads to your organization. LinkedIn’s Social Selling Study even measured this phenomenon and found that 92% of B2B customers are more likely to engage with sales reps who are recognized as industry thought leaders.
Encouraging the development of your personal brand without losing control
Many corporations struggle with the idea of encouraging employees to strengthen their personal brand, fearing that it can reduce the quality of their message or they’ll lose control over their company’s story. Before I share some tactical strategies to solve this problem, I would like to emphasize that your organization’s brand should be solid and credible to be effective.
A powerful corporate brand provides a stable background against which individual worker brands can shine. It offers a coherent narrative that aligns with the personal stories told by employees. Before you encourage employees to engage in their very own branding activities, it is vital to conduct some branding exercises at the corporate level. Thanks to this, your brand will likely be open to cooperation and will create a sense of pride in everyone associated with it.
You want everyone to have a positive attitude about openly connecting with your organization. These characteristics are essential for your personal branding efforts to be effective. Otherwise, you could help individuals build their personal brands and they’ll pass on that strength to one other company that is already well established.
How to acquire the strongest individual brands without sacrificing consistency
The most fundamental way to maintain control of your corporate message while promoting individual branding efforts is to ensure strong alignment between your organization’s values and your employees’ personal values. Here’s how you possibly can achieve this without jeopardizing your organization’s branding efforts:
Set clear guidelines that describe how employees can align their branding efforts with the company’s values and goals. This ensures consistency and prevents potential conflicts or off-brand messaging. Therefore, it is vital that your brand is already developed to have the option to clearly convey its characteristics and provide guidance.
Offer training programs that help employees understand social media and content creation best practices, including workshops on writing, personal presentation, and online ethical considerations. They will be each educational and fun, giving people the permission and confidence to share your brand goals.
Encourage employees to develop into thought leaders in their fields. This will be facilitated by full support in terms of speaking, the opportunity to write on industry blogs and participate in industry and online panel discussions. Thought leadership each enhances an individual’s brand and reflects positively on the company.
Highlight your employees’ achievements on company channels. This will strengthen their personal brand and show that the company recognizes and values their contribution. One of the things we have is an internal discussion forum where announcements come with examples of social media posts. We also send AI prompts to create social content when we ask people to share our content.
Regular monitoring and constructive feedback are mandatory to make sure that worker messages align with the company’s brand identity. Some of our team’s town hall meetings focus on the positive contributions that individuals make to marketing. Feedback ought to be consistent and mostly positive. If there is a need for redirection or negative feedback, this should all the time be done privately and individually.
Incorporating personal branding into your corporation strategy creates a win-win scenario: employees feel valued and empowered, which increases their loyalty and productivity. For the company, this alignment of individual and corporate brands leads to increased trust and higher relationships.
As the lines between personal and corporate branding proceed to blur, corporations that recognize and leverage the symbiotic relationship between personal and corporate brands are likely to experience the biggest growth and success. Indeed, they’ll at least encourage higher relationships and more defined leads.