Rainmaking Problem #18: Brand the Person or the Firm?
(This is another of our posts from one of our readers seeking advice. Please feel free to submit questions that you would like help with.)
Ian Brodie, a smart man and rainmaking expert, sent in the following question:
I’m currently puzzling over the question of whether to focus on building a personal brand (my name) or a company brand. I know a couple of local associates who are in a similar position too.
When I first set up my practice a year or so ago I selected a “corporate” name for the business. At that stage I (perhaps lacking in confidence in my own reputation) wanted to give the impression of being an established business rather than just a “one man band”.
However, over the last year it’s become clear that no matter what the name of the business, my clients are hiring me personally – not a company.
With that in mind, I am now wondering whether it would be better to rebrand the business under my own name. That would make it easier for clients to remember and find me (by searching for my name rather than having to remember the name of the company) and also to refer me to others.
Over the long term, I also intend to publish a number of articles, and perhaps a book. This would obviously be under my name rather than under a company name.
A lot of the people I admire in consulting run their businesses under their own name: Yourself, David Maister, Andrew Sobel, etc. Others, however, have a company brand: Charlie Green as Trusted Advisor Associates; Suzanne Lowe as Expertise Marketing.
So the choice doesn’t seem obvious to me. At the moment I’m tending towards rebranding under my name. There would be a degree of administrative pain involved initially, but I guess better to go through that now than in 5 years time.
Any guidance?
June 10th, 2009 at 8:01 am
This is an ongoing issue for many firms, but particularly for professional services firms, where often the ‘product’ is an individual.
First, an observation - you can make anything a brand if you invest enough - look at Arnold Schwarzenegger (my point is that many actors have changed their names presumably to appeal better to their audiences).
But to your question. I think the answer largely depends on where you want to be in 5 years. Are you going to be a sole proprietor? Or do you intend to build an organization around you? Another question is how much overlap do you want (can you stand) between your personal and your professional life? Branding your name will increase the overlap, branding an organization will reduce it (but not completely…).
But whatever you decide, then do it full force, i.e., if you decide to focus on a company name, then you need to associate that with your articles and books (Ian Brodie of Lighthouse Business Consulting).
June 10th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I think the answer to your question depends upon the future of your company. At present I own my own firm, Wireless Logistics, Inc., and am employee number 1 of 2. Yet I continue to build my company name because eventually I want this company to become larger then me. And I want the name of my company to become synonymous with excellence in the delivery of inventory management solutions.
Right now most of my business comes because of me…my industry reputation, expertise, knowledge, etc. But over time (say 5 years) I want people to think of the name Wireless Logistics. By then I hope to have a number of other employees that are increasing the value of the Wireless Logistics brand.
Either way, though, I wish you the best.
Martin Stockdale
Wireless Logistics, Inc.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:22 am
This is an interesting post. One I’ve been discussing with clients lately. I personally lean toward Branding the person. People buy from who they trust. Companies are already moving toward personalizing their message. The idea that your already planning on writting books definately pushes the concept further in that direction for me. Another issue is that just because you love what your doing now doesn’t mean you might not tweek it or even change direction down the road. A company would loose steam if it changed direction but a person just gains momentum, your experience follows you and so does your reputation thus allowing your clients/customers to follow also. The key to any decision is not what everyone else is doing though. The key is what will make it easier on my clients to follow me forward.
One added thing to note. David Meerman Scott didn’t always go by his full name. But when he decided to Brand himself he he chose to use his full name so as to set him self apart from all other David Scotts. If you google Chuck Franks you will find me and a up and an coming football player in Alabama. I grew up as Charlie….. quickly rebranded myself as Chuck when I went to college. Going forward I am debating going to Charles Lawrence. Think beyond today, Think beyond geospecific. What makes you remarkable and what will make you easily findable on the internet. A book can be translated into other languages. Don’t limit your future. Think big.
I’m a business relationship coach. The most important relationships you have in business are your reputation and your relationship your client has with you.
@CoachChuck
June 10th, 2009 at 11:06 am
I agree with Martin. In fact, I own my own business as well — started in 2002 and continue to grow in both reputation and staff. My goal was always to build something bigger than me. As such, corporate branding was critical. My corporate brand feeds my personal brand and my personal brand supports my corporate brand. Other alliance partners and senior staff have strong brands that support the corporate brand as well. You need to think about the brand promise in the context of the brand hierarchy and your core business proposition and operating model.
Bottomline, I think you need to visit your business plan and think about how easy or difficult it would be to execute based on a personal brand versus a corporate brand.
Good luck! Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Ian:
David, Martin, Chuck and Anne have provided an array of compelling arguments. It is probably easier and faster and cheaper to brand the person, rather than the firm, so your horizon and budget are relevant factors, too.
Ford Harding
June 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Brand both.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having multiple brands.
In fact I have three:
1. Ric Willmot
2. Executive Wisdom (my company is Executive Wisdom Consulting Group)
3. “The Strategist” (this has been refined down from “The Strategist to the Professions”)
The brand is a motive force in generating action in the market to purchase. So why limit this motive force?
Would you only network at one Association meeting per year?
If you advertise, would you only advertise in one magazine per year?
Identify exactly which buyer you want to attract and use your brand that makes the most sense in that instance. This is the very reason why having multiple brands is compelling for those of us in, or marketing to the professions.
With that in mind, your brand should also help you to filter out those prospects you do NOT want to attract. Effective brands are elite, selective, and smart. Possibly, one brand cannot do all of that for you. And, so multiple branding makes a lot of sense.
Position your brands so that they put you in the best position to thrive!
Rgds,
Ric
June 10th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Many thanks all for such thoughtful replies.
In terms of where I see myself in 5 years, I originally thought I might grow an organisation - but over time have realised that what I enjoy most is personal, face to face work with clients, and on developing my own knowledge, capabilities and intellectual capital (and, of course, getting out and selling!).
So I have no great desires to “build an empire” - or even an organisation bigger than myself. In fact, although I love working with others, I don’t really enjoy the administrative aspects of managing people and organisations.
So overall, I feel greatest affinity with Chuck’s position.
But I must also admit, David’s point about the separation of personal and professional life (or lack of if you are brandign yourself) just hadn’t occured to me. It’s an important one I need to consider.
Thanks again all
Ian
June 10th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
THis is a relevant question especially given the tools we have available to brand ourselves. Twitter, Linked In and Facebook allow us to create an image of what we want to project to prospects, clients and referral partners. My sense is branding yourself is the best bet. In professional services it is a relationship sale and if the prospect but does not know your brand, the firm brand will have little impact.
Best of luch sir!
June 12th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Difficulties Posting Comments
Mike Spack kindly informed me that there is a problem posting comments on this blog. Until I get it fixed, if you have difficulty, please email me your post in I will publish it for you (fharding@HardingCo.com).
Mike’s comment follows:
I re-branded myself using my name. It has added clarity to my marketing, but I am not necessarily looking to become a large firm. I would add Harry Beckwith to the list of marketing gurus discussed above. He advises defaulting to your name as your brand, unless you can come up with a very strong reason against it.
A slight twist - you could keep the generic company name and blog under your name. This allows the company to go on (if there are good reasons for that), but it would also allow you to develop the personal identity within the larger company.
Good luck!
Mike
June 15th, 2009 at 4:08 am
I used to work as a consultant for the ‘Big5′ and then for a global strategy firm so have had experience of selling consulting with big brands behind me and then setting up my own company and relying on my reputation. Whilst the big brand does open some doors, my experience is that most clients still buy because they like and trust the individual they have the relationship with.
Since setting up my own company, I feel much closer to my company brand and though my clients buy because of their relationship with me there is a lot of crossover. I have found it valuable to use the corporate brand to differentiate myself from ‘day rate’ contractors and compete alongside other consulting firms bringing new ideas and solutions to clients.
Of course alignment is critical; this approach will only work if you can actually compete with the knowledge leadership, research and quality of deliverables from the bigger consulting firms. If not, my advice is: Find a really specific niche, brand yourself and get very good at what you do, plenty of other people have done this and make a pretty decent living out of it.
I hope this helps with your thinking
Andy
June 15th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Andy
An excellent summary.
Ford Harding
June 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Thanks too Andy,
Although I’m not sure I agree with your point about using a “corporate name” to compete with the bigger firms and differentiate from contractors. I’m sure Ford and David Maister are well differentiated from contractors and easily compete with big firms even though their businesses are named after them.
Best regards
Ian
July 10th, 2009 at 2:09 am
All very good arguements and opinions. One area not explored is succession. It’s very difficult, but not impossible to sell your business if it’s goodwill and reputation is based on your good name and personal skills. Examples of these are often more creative enterprises: chefs, photographers, designers. If your success is going to be based on your individual genius then go with your name because the two can’t be seperated even if you do use a “corporate” moniker. But what if your success over the next 10 years or so is based on a systematic approach to how you do your thing? If you’d like to sell your business/system then a name that encompasses your market advantage (eg. “Faster Finance”) would be easier to sell.
Having said all that Dick Smith, an entreprenuer here in Australia sold his business (Dick Smith Electronics) for many millions some years ago and then went on to start more businesses. I would assume though taht he sold a very good business system underpinning his success.
All the best
Glenn Mickle
Marketing Consultant
Morse Group
Australia