The power of personal branding
Experts chime in on the dos, don'ts and hows of leveraging this rising trend to boost brand growth and build trust among consumers
Personal branding has become crucial for companies these days, emerging as the latest trend in the industry. Brands that have dabbled in the trend have seen a steep rise in their engagement across social media platforms.
Consumers could relate more to the brand when the Founder and CEO of the companies start appearing in the brand’s advertisement. The brands like Sugar Cosmetics have initiated such trends after launching campaigns in which the CEO of Sugar Cosmetics are backing the product. Here's what experts have to say about the concept.
Brand-comm public relations, Founder CEO, Sridhar Ramanujam said, “The company MD or the CEO is appearing in advertising as the spokesperson for the brand is not a new thing.”
He cites the example of visionary automobile executive Lee Iacocca who famously appeared in the commercials of cars, personally ensuring the quality of cars to assuage customer distrust.
“Even in Chennai, it's very common for retailers like Vasant and Co and Balu Jewelers to feature in their advertising. The strategy helps brands send out the strong statement that ‘I am backing this product and guaranteeing you.’ It’s an interesting strategy and it stands out from all the other ads that feature models,” he adds.
Social media influencing personal branding
Social media has been instrumental in democratizing personal branding unlike television, believes MadHawks Founder and CEO Ravi Kumar.
“The Dogecoin episode in 2021 and Elon Musk's recent takeover of Twitter are two of the most powerful examples of social media power. Musk's brand campaign has been one of the most successful to date. His success has been greatly aided and amplified by social media, which also allows brand personalities to interact with customers and gauge their feelings about a product,” he states.
He adds that the customer success a brand achieves can be amplified further by social media engagements, which can provide organic publicity.
Kumar points out, “Before social media and personal branding became popular, many big and small-screen celebrities would open their own personal branded clothing, cosmetics, and other businesses. This reverse personal branding made use of the market value of a human face. There are numerous examples of such brands on the market. In India, consider Kay by Katrina Kaif, MyGlamm by Manish Malhotra, Arias by Lara Dutta, and so on. Almost all Hollywood celebrities have a consumer brand, including Kim Kardashian's Skims, KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance, Jessica Alba's The Honest Company, Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty, and Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman's Laughing Man Coffee.”
Personal branding widens the target audience across the media platforms
Ramanujam also shared his thoughts about how personal branding could probably help brands in expanding their target audience, but there needs to be a strategy in place.
“While personal branding is a powerful tool, relying solely on it to sell a product or service is still a stretch. Thought leadership can often lead to rapid growth for established brands. But, in the end, it all comes down to who the customers are and what they want. It should continue to focus on resolving consumer issues and answering their questions. Simultaneously, the message must be reinforced through all other organic and paid assets, such as blogs, videos, website pages, advertisements, and so on,” he avers.
