Corporate Brand Identity vs Personal Brand Identity

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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of Image Group International and an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies, and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques, and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image, and reputation.

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Hello, everybody. And it's great to have you back with us here today. Our chat today will be around corporate brand identity versus personal brand identity and only explain the differences as we go through. So let's get started. Every organization and individual is unique. And the identity must spring from its own roots, which I call values, of course, their personality and their vision. This is true of the modern global corporation, as has been for any other institution in history, from the Christian church to the nation-state, the identity of the corporation or individual must be so clear that it becomes the yardstick against which its products, services, behaviours and actions are measured. This means that the identity cannot simply be a slogan, a collection of phrases, it must be visible, tangible, and embracing Yes, embracing it must be also relatable. So by that, what do I mean? Well, if you have a look at some of the most trusted brands right now. And if we use some of the lists out in reference to trusted brands, we know, you know, and I'm going to localize it today with some of the local brands. In Australia, we know that some of the trusted brands are Bunning's budget, Specsavers, you know, when you go into most of those businesses, most of the time, you will at least get some sort of relatability in reference to the service. That's of course reflected via the brand positioning, and even non for profits. We know that, for instance, the top three most likely non for profits would be charities would be Royal Flying Doctor Service, the guide dogs, and of course, our SPCA. So basically, the aspect of brand matters for everything in our marketplace. At the same time though. Some organizations, of course, also have what we would call his personal brand, leadership, meaning the leader, senior management team, the board, and team members reflect that brand. And no better example of that, I would have to say is a previous brand that we've spoken about, of course, is Richard Branson, and Virgin. So what can I say about Richard Branson and Virgin? Well, I will say, sex, money and power, with fun thrown in, to balance the whole tone. See, if you study that whole positioning of Richard Branson and Virgin, you'll see that it's a very powerful and wealthy organization. And of course, Richard Branson, himself a billionaire, he throws in subtle sexing as part of his marketing, very subtle, you know, nothing too much in your face. But definitely there in sort of the background and sometimes not in the background. If you do a quick Google search, you'll, you know, under some of the images, you'll see interesting shots, but it's fun, and it's embracing, and it's relatable. And people feel really good about him and the brand. In most cases, of course, even when he's had a crisis, because of the brand positioning, he's been able to sort of fly through that whole scenario, because its positioning was so strong in the marketplace. So everything that an organization or individual does must be an affirmation of its identity. If it's not, then obviously, there's an identity problem. So the products and services that the company produces markets and sells must projected standards, and of course, its values. And this is easier said than done. You know, and as we've sort of mentioned previously, talk is cheap, and gigantic actions speak louder than words. And this is where specifically the leadership in this case of personal branding Lincoln ending with the corporate brand, must be congruent. Once and very solid and courageous to put themselves out there, because that's going to be also part of the image of the individual, of course, and the organization. Remember, this personal brand leadership of a company, though, also helps to elevate its corporate image, and set the culture in the company. So a strong personal brand, like the example is Richard Branson I've noted, but Elon Musk is another example. Or Steve Jobs, you know, while building apple. But the interesting thing about a personal brand is even Steve Jobs now that he's gone, and he's been gone a while, his name, his positioning, you know, as a personal brand is still associated with the brand, the corporate brand called Apple. So there are a lot of upsides in reference to what we're talking about. But I'm also going to mention some of the downsides. And the biggest downside. So you know, if you do a search on Google, you'll sit downsides as well. And what the downsides at times do not communicate is yes, there is a downside, there is a downside if the leader is incompetent, toxic, fraudulent. And in that case, yes, the corporate brand will also suffer reputational damage in any crisis. So of course, in that case, you know that you're going to have all sorts of problems. So in my opinion, though, is in strong leadership, and real leadership that has values as one of its core bases, it should deal with these leadership issues become, before they ever become a crisis, and should be corrected way before. So for me, there's no excuse. That's why the personal brand works. And a further conversation would be, you know, people ask me, John, should I focus first on my personal branding or my business branding. And really, it's a combination, possibly of both. But I'm going to explain that to you a little bit more, we know that they both matter. We know that. And I've given you many examples. And if you look at successful companies, you'll also see a leadership, that's in most cases very strong. Having said that, there is also a third option. So it's, you know, you got a personal brand, by itself, you've got a corporate brand by itself. And the third option is a hybrid model of all two together, so we get personal brand corporate brand together. And I believe that is the most effective way you can do it. So you build a hybrid model. This is even more. So if you're running an entrepreneurial company, even if you have an intention to sell it down the track, and you know, and get a payout. The thing is, basically your brand is going to be your personal brand new leadership brand is going to be part of your pitch anyway. So you're already building your personal brand, sometimes you just not doing it, you know, intentionally from the point of view of being, you know, strategic, sometimes just happen by osmosis. So the personality-driven, personal brand leadership, together with a strong business brand is a good middle ground, you know, a hybrid model between the two other options, as we noted earlier, and keep in mind, you know, that we are living in less trusted times in living memory. So what does that mean, people, want to do business with other people, okay? And that means specifically, in most cases, you want to, you want to basically deal with, you know, a human connection. And we know that the human connection has gone down dramatically, especially since pre-COVID. And that creates another sub sort of problem for human beings, including, you know, lack of faith, trust, and of course, a connection that is essential for positive human health. So by elevating your personal brand, leadership or your personal leadership brand, because they that, that sounds similar, but there have got some distinctions in them. You're enabling your team, your clients, and your stakeholders, to reach out to you. So you're building serious trust, you get to be relatable by solving their challenges, and also making a real difference in their lives. And by that, what do I mean? Well, simply when people have access to somebody that can help them and by access that means every man and his dog that sends you a message, you're going to spend a half an hour on the phone with them or, you know, writing a thesis back in reference to responding to a query. I don't mean that okay, because also you have a life and you need to balance that as well, what I mean is, you're building a positioning that people can trust from the point of view that you're always going to respond, you're always there. And you're certainly not running away from problems, you know, you're there to, you know, to make a difference. Certainly, that's how we run our business. And I suppose, in today's world with customer service, and the whole concept of AI is taking over including the human connection, I think that's a great differentiator in the right in the way we run our business. And certainly, we would recommend that to anybody, including big corporations, you know, that a second all their calls, centre staff and the customer service staff and putting robots in there, that might be a profitable model. In the short term, I think long term, it's a disaster, when you haven't got human beings involved anymore, you know, so So and this is, this is going to probably fly as a controversial for a lot of people. But certainly, I believe the human connection is everything. And once we lose the human connection, we've lost humanity. So this is clearly overall an exciting subject of personal and business branding that produces real results. And anyone that says otherwise is specifically not understanding how effective this could be okay? Because all sales, what they are, is personal branding, corporate branding, is really, if you're looking at sales in st sales, sales, sales, and you know, if you're on LinkedIn today or any other form of medium, it's constantly you've been bombarded with sales messages, you know, buy this, buy that, use me use that, et cetera. So that sales, that's the end result, what branding does personal, it actually is the pre-sales, you're creating a pre-sale, specifically for trust, and relatability. And without that, you know, you're sort of pushing uphill, to create results, where really, it's, you know, life can certainly be a little bit more downhill at times, because, you know, there are already so many challenges across the board. So it's, you know, clearly, it's, it's something that produces real, real, real results, but you need a plan, and you need to do it, right. And by doing it, right, I'm talking about a positive efficacy, okay, as something that's gonna give you a negative efficacy. And there are also a lot of examples out there that specifically are not doing it, right. And it's, you know, associated more with, oh, I want to get all these likes on Facebook, or, or Instagram, but really, the real connection is not there. So I'm not talking about the condition model here. I'm talking about the real-world service, especially for business. And if you're still unsure about this, you know, how effective it can be for you, especially if you're an introvert. And by the way, introverts have been some of our most successful clients, then send me an email. And I will be happy to chat with you and see how we can help you. The email is on the description at the bottom of the episode. Well, that's all for today. If you liked this episode, I kindly ask you to rate the show on Apple podcast. And if you do, please send me an email confirmation. And if you do that, we will send you a free ebook, The Real World Guide to authentic personal branding. You can find me on social media. My Twitter is John underlined, Michael, my LinkedIn is John Michael. And on Facebook, you can find me as image Group International. I want to thank you all and I look forward to seeing you next time with all of that have a great week. And cheers.

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass" Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists, based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world.   To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.