Know-How Exchange : Branding

Depends on what your positioning is. Are you hoping to build a professional service company or are you basically planning to be a lone-wolf consultant?

Figure out what your unique positioning benefit is, what your clients should expect, why they should hire you instead of one of the other hundreds of coaches ... and then build your whole marketing program around that positioning platform.

And step one in the positioning process is defining your primary target audience. Who is your ideal client?

Part of it also goes with the size of the firm. If the firm is you, and no plans to ever grow beyond you, then they likely will become synonymous. But if you have more than 1 person, or hope to grow to more than 1 person, then you likely need to focus on the firm's brand.

On the other hand, as a start-up you need to also work with what will bring the money in. if the thing that brings the money in is your personal brand (you already have brand equity), then you may want to start with that as a focus.

Dear Alfred,

As for "worry", one ought to never worry about one's brand. And in this case, if your clients are dealing with you, one-on-one, you are your brand because you are the one your clients will be dealing with when it comes to meeting their needs.

My take on this kind of issue is to be what you do and to
be consistent across a range of outlets. My name on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook is the same: Gary Bloomer. Likewise here on Marketing Profs.

As for Facebook, you may want to direct people to a business or group page (a personal Facebook page restricts you to 5,000 friends, a group or business page does not—there's no limit).

There's no "should", it's what you want your clients to recall about you. Will those people be dealing with you, or will they be dealing with your business name and members of your staff, staff that will be speaking on your behalf? But either way, brands are built in people's minds (NOT ON PAPER), when services and goods connect with the desired benefit
and values.

As for which is more important—your name or your company name—it depends which one you want people to connect with their desired outcome.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
The Direct Response Marketing Guy™
Wilmington, DE, USA

You don't need to choose between branding yourself or your company. You can do both. We work with several companies with strong executive personalities, and this approach has been very successful. Make a plan for how you will promote both. For example, you can grow your personal brand by being visible in the media, providing insight and commentary about your subject expertise. You can build your corporate brand by producing research and other intelligence that is created under the company name. It's important to remember that employees can come and go, but the brand remains. Therefore, do both!