As the CEO of a growing business, having a personal brand matters. It is nothing new but as the competition is becoming aggressive, people and businesses are focusing more on this aspect. People don’t buy from brands. They don’t buy products. They buy the people behind the products. Thus, CEOs must work on personal brand as it will help company’s brand alongside. There are CEOs who may already have a personal brand. Your personal brand as a CEO is your identity, reputation, or distinctiveness as a leader such as Steve Jobs, Jack Welch.
In the last couple of years, Personal branding has become a serious trend and CEOs are very much into it. This is because pulling out a brand in them will surely help them do well in future even if they quit from their present company. Even professionals are doing the same, they are building a brand on themselves which brings far more business opportunities than anything. In case you have a LinkedIn profile, then congratulations, your first step to having a professional voice has already been done. However, the real question is, how will you build that personal brand into something huge?
Importance of being a Power Brand for Your Company
Being a CEO, it is important that you should focus on building your visual personal brand on a regular basis. It is a matter of trust as well since your employees trust you, believe in you, and follow your lead. It is you who defines the vision for the business; you make strategic decisions, you are the one who keeps everyone aligned and you are the one who gets everyone moving in the same direction. In a nutshell, your brand and reputation can ultimately have a massive effect on every aspect of your business.
As per the statistics revealed through a study conducted by Weber Shandwick (The CEO Reputation Premium), global executives attribute nearly half (45%) of their company’s reputation to the reputation of their CEO.
Other significant benefits of positive CEO reputation include:
- Appealing to investors (87%)
- Gaining positive media attention (83%)
- Crisis protection (83%)
- Attracting new employees (77%)
- One out of every two executives (50%) say
- that their CEO’s reputation impacted their decision to accept the position, and even more i.e. 58% say it keeps them at their current company
Benefits of a Strong Brand
CEO is the face of the company which implies that potential customers, prospects, investors, partners, job candidates, and the media research you online. Hence, building a strong online presence will help you put yourself in the driver’s seat, giving yourself the power to share your story directly to stakeholders and:
- Build awareness – When you are active on social media, you attract prospects and partners who need the solutions your company offers.
- Gain media coverage – With an ample social presence, editors, reporters, and bloggers can more easily find you, identify you as a quotable resource, and reach you in time to meet a deadline.
- peed funding – Make your traction visible to investors and allow them to see how well connected and respected you are.
- Recruit key players – The best people want to work for companies that are ahead of the curve. Thus, it is important that you should utilize social media effectively to make visible your vision and leadership skills more.
Creating Your Personal Brand