The Business Case For Personal Branding

16 May

If you thought personal branding was just a vanity metric activity, think again, because this blog post is a mini masterclass in the financial side of investing in your brand. Get ready to uncover the equations, formulas, and frameworks that demonstrate the tangible value of investing in your personal brand.

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“Why should I spend time, money, and energy on creating content, building my digital footprint, and establishing myself as an authority in my field when I could be focusing on getting the work done and delivering results in my work?"

This is a question I’ve heard one too many times and since I’m a nerd and always focus on data-driven decision-making, let’s get super nerdy and uncover some of the most compelling reasons why investing in your personal brand makes financial sense.

First, let's address the misconception that personal branding is merely about vanity metrics. While it's true that building a personal brand often involves creating content, building a digital presence, and positioning oneself as an authority, these activities have real financial implications and are not the end result but the trigger to getting opportunities.

Think of it this way: investing in your personal brand is like investing in insurance. It’s annoying until you need it.

Same goes for your personal brand - it’s an investment in your future earning potential. A strong personal brand can open doors to new career opportunities, attract high-paying clients, and justify premium rates for your products or services. In essence, it's an investment in your professional reputation, which directly impacts your bottom line.

In the end, everything is a trade off and as the saying goes: Do the hard things now so it gets easier later. Same goes for your personal brand. You may not see something significant straight away but it’s a cumulative result and every effort, every asset, every interaction builds on each other until it becomes this flywheel.

The question is; how long can you delay gratification because to be honest- that determines your level of success. There’s often the misconception that you post on social media like crazy for a month and expect all the deals and offers to just come in. As much as I’d love to say this is going to be the case, it won’t be.

In fact, it takes longer nowadays to even consider investing in something or someone. Google conducted a study around decision-making which turned into the 7-11-4 Rule.

Google found that it takes approx 11 touchpoints before someone purchases what they were looking for. So that could include the website, comparison sites, reviews, blog posts but also referrals, speeches etc.

Decision makers also spend an average of 7 hours consuming a variety of content to assess brand credibility and understand the point of difference. This is why it’s so important to have diverse content out there and be smarter with content creation. Everyone has a different learning style so creating and publishing a mix of short and long form content, written, audio and video content as well as a mix of photos and graphs ensures that people can get to know you before engaging with you which gives them power of their decision

Lastly, people are researching across 4 different locations which it’s why it is so important to build a multi-channel presence which could include your personal brand's website and social media channels (a necessity), but also third party channels where you were a podcast guest, a speaker at a conference or where you contributed to an industry publication. This is also social proof.

Now, let's dive into the numbers. Personal branding isn't just about perception—it's about profitability.

When you strategically position yourself as an authority in your field, you become more visible but also more valuable to potential employers, clients and collaborators. Higher visibility translates into tangible financial returns, whether it may be through higher salary offers, increased business opportunities, or elevated rates for your services.

One of the key equations to consider is the Return on Personal Branding Investment (ROIPBI). This formula calculates the financial return generated by your personal branding efforts relative to the resources invested. It takes into account factors such as increased client acquisition, higher rates for your services, and expanded business opportunities.

ROIPBI = (Revenue Generated from Personal Branding - Investment in Personal Branding) / Investment in Personal Branding

Over the last years, I’m working with a lot more partners at professional services firms which doesn’t surprise me given these are senior professionals who’ve been promoted due to their high level of competence in their area of expertise but hardly anyone tells you that as a partner, a big part of your role is to generate business for the rest of the department or firm, depending on the size. So all of a sudden, there is the move from being the best at what you do to shifting the focus on getting clients to realise that the team is the best.

For one of my clients, we developed the visibility strategy of speaking to selected audiences, in this case it’s family lawyers and a very particular audience. So we developed 2 signature keynote topics and assets around them (which is a 1-pager media kit and the actual keynote presentations) and simply pitch these topics to relevant firms and conferences and guess what? This pays off big times because it’s a value exchange- she speaks for free but in return, she gets in front of decision makers whilst positioning herself as the Go-To, the Trusted Authority on the topics associated with her authority positioning. So in terms of the value equation- investment doesn’t necessarily just mean financial investment. It may also be the time or the resources you invest in building the relationship and/or presence that gets you in return for commercial opportunities.

Another important framework to explore is the Personal Branding Value Proposition (PBVP). This framework outlines the unique value you bring to your audience and how it translates into financial gains. By identifying your niche, defining your expertise, and articulating your value proposition, you can attract higher-paying clients, secure lucrative partnerships, and command premium rates for your services.

**PBVP = (Expertise + Unique Selling Proposition) * Market Demand**

One of my other clients is a senior marketing executive with extensive experience in the financial services industry. Not only that- she’s worked on developing recurring revenue models for a traditionally one-off investment industry. Now I’m not sure how much you’re following brands and their revenue models and evolution of it but BMW is changing the way of their customer journey to purchasing a car being the start rather than the end and introducing monthly subscription fees for their heated seats being the answer. Now if that is going to fly especially in tropical QLD is questionable but that’s not the point. How we positioned her is that she is the Go-To for traditional and heavily regulated industries who are looking to turn their revenue model into recurring models. See how specific but also highly valuable this is for a particular audience?

Not for everyone but for those who’re facing the challenges of highly regulated as well as very traditional and with that, usually quite risk averse.

So when you are assessing your PB value prop you want to do some research and look out for trends and where the puck is going in terms of your area of expertise rather than where it’s now. What are trending topics your industry or even associated industries are already talking about? How can you apply lateral thinking and connect the dots on how your approach and area of expertise can bridge the gap between the now and then.

Lastly - a formula I’m mostly passionate about is the ripple effect of your systemised and packaged IP when you leverage it through a portfolio career. In the end, being able to articulate how you can create the results and outcome you want to be known for is the biggest difference between an expert and a trusted authority. Having your expertise turned into a repeatable process that has tools, methods and activities included, enables you to build a wider impact and influence as people can access you and your expertise through various channels, programs or engagements.