As founder of iClick Solutions I have been thinking about my business brand. How or should I differentiate between my personal and business online personas? Do I keep my business profiles professional and use my personal accounts for more controversial topics so I don’t risk damaging my agency brand identity? Not that I am that risky or anything.
All these questions made me realize that it is time to go through a formal branding exercise for both my business and personal brand. Understanding your brand is critical when trying to create the strategy on how best to connect with customers.
I started the process with the understanding that your brand is what people say it is and not what you say it is! Check out BrandTags as a great way to see this in action. When it comes to your brand, you can and should give it personality to try and help shape your brand. Figuring out that personality can be an interesting exercise.
How iClick Solutions works with clients and how we deliver results are the main drivers behind our brand. We are honored with each and every client that hires us and that respect comes out in our recommendations. We have earned trust by taking the time to ask relevant questions, and present great ideas on how to solve the problem at hand. We explain how best to connect with customers.
There is no man behind the curtain with iClick Solutions and that is what our clients like most! We take the time to educate both our current and prospective clients on what online possibilities make the most sense for meeting both the objectives of their business and their customers’ needs. This all comes out in our personality and is shaping what our brand is. Yes, we know there is work to be done and that will be discussed in a later post as we started that process this week.
With my personal branding, that experience also started this week with a photo shoot. I have a few upcoming speaking opportunities and have been requested to supply a bio and photo. I was surprised at how few personal pictures I had and wanted to thank Michael Barber for his introduction to a local photographer Tyson Crosbie.
I met with Tyson this week to create my personal avatar and you can see the soft edits on Flickr. Tyson has such a unique way in how he captures your true essence through photography. I asked Tyson during our photo shoot for his opinion if people should be consistent with their image across all their online profiles or use a different profile based on the platform.
I agree with Tyson’s perspective and rather that butchering I wanted to quote him, “The most powerful thing about an avatar online is it’s ability to become language and speak far beyond what is in the square. It becomes a symbol that can contain abstractions of who you are, it can contain a first impression all the way through the memory of all you’ve said or done under that flag. In it’s continued and consistent use it becomes a representation of you that if unique is immediately recognizable. The fascinating thing about an avatar is that it is more than just a photo of you.”
So this week we started both the business and personal branding exercise. I thought it would be an interesting experience to rely on my community of friends and business partners to see what image you think best represents my personal brand. Definitely check out the Flickr photo gallery and after signing into Flickr please comment under each image. I have thick skin so comment away. Once the final image is selected I will update Facebook, Twitter and my other social profiles so I create a consistent theme.
So what is your opinion on this branding topic, especially those that own a small business? If you agree with this post, how do you differentiate your personal brand from your business brand? If you don’t agree, I would love to read your viewpoint. Either way comment below and let’s learn from each other.
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