Why personal brands are no longer optional

Hello!

I hope your week is off to a good start.

Here at the studio, we’re celebrating some industry recognition (more on that soon). It’s a reminder that the success of any business boils down to the people within it.

As the demand for transparency grows, there’s a strong argument for boosting the visibility of key people within your organisation. So today, I’m going to share some insights about building personal brands.

Here’s what I’ve got for you:

Concept
💁 Why personal brands could be your biggest business asset

Resources
🤓 Material I’ve enjoyed in the past week

Tech of the week
🤖 Audiio

Studio News
📰 ACME wins at the CSSDA

💁 CONCEPT

Why personal brands could be your biggest business asset

I know what you’re thinking. Personal brands are for celebrities, influencers and CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies. You’re selling the business, not yourself… right? Not exactly.

Building personal brands isn’t just a strategy, it’s a must-have. People are searching for connection and deeper meaning – just look at the customer profile insights I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

To deliver that connection, you need an ecosystem centred around people, no matter the size of your business. Here are some ways to do that.

Visibile CEOs / Founders
Having a visible CEO or founder humanises your brand and promotes trust and transparency. As the leader of your business, they are the best person to communicate your origin story, your company’s vision and what you stand for. They can also provide more context on new products and services. Boosting their profile should be a key part of your wider marketing strategy.

• Create a content calendar for regular LinkedIn posts, with a focus on thought leadership pieces. Be sure to share these on the company profile.

• If they’re comfortable in front of the camera, create video content for social media, YouTube and LinkedIn.
  (If they’re camera-shy, faceless video is a good option.)

• Encourage them to engage in online conversations on LinkedIn, social media and forums.

• Line up interviews with relevant publications and podcasts.

• Explore opportunities to place them on expert panels.

Empowered employees
Having a visible leader is one thing, but everybody knows there’s no 'I’ in ‘team’.

Empower the wider team to find their voices and establish themselves as a force within their respective fields. Not only does this grow the profile of your company, but it also sets the employee up to further their career, whether that is within your business or in their next role. Win-win!

• Encourage employees to share company news on LinkedIn and their social channels.

• Encourage employees to share their own thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn. When appropriate share these via the company profile.

• Give employees keynote speaker opportunities at key industry events.

• If it’s right for your brand, highlight the people within your team on social. Two librarians from Adelaide just went viral thanks to their TikTok videos, significantly raising awareness of the City of Marion Libraries.

Not all social content needs to be silly – this is particularly true when it comes to promoting luxury brands. But you can draw on the experience of relevant people within the company to promote your products and services. Below are a few examples:

• Demonstrate how to style clothing or homewares.

• Create behind-the-scenes content for shoots and events.

• Show how to incorporate health and wellness products into a daily or weekly routine.

Get creative and remember people are drawn to people.

🤓 RESOURCES

Material I’ve enjoyed in the past week

📗 Read

Harvard Business Review—
A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand

Branding thought leader and professional dating coach, Jill Avery and Rachel Greenwald, get together to create a strategy for building a personal brand.

📺 Watch

Diary of a CEO–
The Man Who Followed Elon Musk Everywhere: 7 Elon Secrets

Regardless of what you think of Elon Musk, you can’t deny the impact of his personal brand. Steven Bartlett interviewed biography writer, Walter Isaacson, who followed Elon Musk for years. It’s a fascinating insight into what makes the creator of Tesla and SpaceX the man he is.

🎧 Listen

Huberman Lab–
Optimal Protocols for Studying & Learning

With technology and trends evolving so rapidly, the ability to learn is arguably the most important skill you can foster for your career. Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses the science behind learning, digging into the habits of the most successful learners while exploring techniques to limit distractions.

🤖 TECH OF THE WEEK

Audiio

Finding good music for your content is hard when you’re a brand. Once you have a business account on Instagram, the selection becomes incredibly limited.

Audiio is a great option for social content and podcasts. There are 3 tiers of subscriptions, starting at $14.99 USD / month—all of which give you access to a huge amount of music and sound effects.

If you like the look of the platform, you can get 70% off the Pro subscription using the link below. Happy creating!

📰 STUDIO NEWS

ACME wins at the CSSDA

This week is off to a great start with the ACME website picking up not 1 but 4 CSS Design Awards!

1. UI (user interface)

2. UX (user experience)

3. Special Kudos

4. Innovation

CSSDA is a web design and development award platform backed by an international panel of expert judges. The platform receives tens of thousands of daily visitors and is recognised by industry leaders around the world.

These awards are a testament to our team and our clients, Patrick Kennedy and Megan Wyper, who all worked so hard on this project. It feels good to see all work recognised. Congrats Team ACME!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the ACME site.

That’s all from me this week.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time.

Alex Murton
Managing Director & Co-Founder
Studio Almond