“We don’t want to be a personal brand – we want to show up as a business.”

↑ NOT what a self-proclaimed personal brand designer wants to hear on a new client call

“Here’s the thing,” – I explained – “As the faces & founders of your 1:1 services & offers – you already are a personal brand – even though you have a business.”

Personal brands are ALL the hype right now (for good reason).

People want authenticity.

People want to work with people.

More specifically, people are more willing to work with, buy from, and engage with people they connect with personally.

When I started working with Remy & Vanessa, they had been in business for about two years. They had been offering 1 service (their one-on-one consulting) and got most of their clients from referrals.

But now, they were scaling, and their brand needed to position rāv as a thought leader in their industry.

That meant they needed to start marketing their brand more intentionally and finding ways to leverage their personal brand in their business.

This shift in how you show up for your brand can come (rightfully so) with a lot of apprehension

• Maybe you are like Remy & Vanessa and consider yourself a pretty private person on social.
• Maybe you are like my client, Mae, and want to separate your sense of self from your business.
• Maybe you are like me – and want to create personal content and still be present in your life off-screen.

As entrepreneurs – we know we need boundaries, and this shows up in how much of our personal life we let seep into our personal brand.

Leveraging your personal brand doesn’t mean you have to share personal matters in real-time or advertise every single part of yourself as part of your personal brand.

Your personal brand should complement your business. People want to connect with you, not just your business.

In this blog, I’ll break down

• Just wtf it means to have a personal brand (and why it matters)
• How to craft a personal brand that looks, feels, and sounds like you.
• Strategies for balancing your personal brand and business

Just WTF is Personal Branding anyway?

Personal branding is the process of influencing how others view you and establishing yourself as an authority in your field. Personal branding traces its origins to the 1997 essay “The Brand Called You” by the management expert Tom Peters. Nowadays, with the rise of easy-to-use social-media tools has, one-person brand management become practical.

Having a personal brand does NOT mean you want to be an influencer. Creators & business owners need a solid personal brand to build trust and authenticity with their audience.

Personal Branding Matters when it comes to marketing your brand online

In an economy where time is money, personal branding is often the first indicator of trust.

Therefore, an authentic personal brand not only builds credibility but also fosters a sense of authenticity and connection with your audience.

Aka. Your personal brand & actually connecting with your audience means more conversions, more successful launches – and, dare I say, more fun.

This trust sets the foundation for long-term relationships and repeat business.

3 Places to Let Your Personal Brand Run Wild

Getting Personal with Your Brand Voice

In the simplest of terms, your brand voice is the way your brand sounds. And you guessed it—as a personal brand, it should sound like you. If you want to let your personal brand run wild in your brand’s voice, practice removing the invisible wall between how you would say something to your best friend and how you write copy and content for your brand.

One of my favorite places to let your brand voice run wild is in microcopy. Microcopy is the tiny bits of text that guide users through your website or content, including:

• Buttons
• Labels
• Eyebrow copy
• Error messages.

By making these elements clear, concise, and aligned with your brand voice, you can create a more engaging user experience. For example, instead of a generic “Join Now” button, you might use “Okay, I so need this!” to match your friendly and enthusiastic tone.

On the other hand, a newsletter is another prime opportunity to connect with your audience on a personal level. Newsletters feel more personal because even though you write them for a list – it is delivered in a 1:1 way. They are a great place to tell stories, share best moments, and dial in your uber-personal brand voice. This way, you get to build an even more personal connection with the most engaged members of your audience.

Creating Personal Content for Social Media

One of the best ways to let your personal brand run wild is through social media content. Community-based platforms like Instagram are ideal places to share personal stories and behind-the-scenes glimpses that make your brand relatable and build connections with your audience.

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a no-brainer way to share snippets of your daily life as the founder of your brand. These short, super casual posts allow you to showcase behind-the-scenes moments, sneak peeks, and day-to-day activities that add a personal touch to your brand. The character count and time limit on Stories encourage you to be genuine and spontaneous, making them perfect for practicing more personal engagement.

Instagram Threads

Instagram Threads let you dive deeper into specific topics or share a series of connected thoughts. This format is ideal for storytelling and offers a great way to engage with your audience. Threads are a playful and spontaneous way to reflect your personal brand, allowing you to share random thoughts and start conversations. You can infuse your unique voice and personality into each thread, making it an engaging way to connect with your audience and show different facets of who you are.

Instagram Reels

In a similar fashion, Instagram Reels are a great place to showcase your personality. Reels where you are talking to the viewer 1:1 help you connect with the viewer organically. B-roll style reels with more personal content allow you to give people a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what your life looks like (and honestly – we’re all nosey AF and love the idea of seeing what goes on behind closed doors). Whether it’s a quick tip or a more polished piece of content, videos allow you to connect with your audience visually and audibly. This multifaceted approach to social media content helps create a more authentic and relatable connection with your audience, reinforcing your personal brand.

Why I Think Your Personal Brand Should Inspire Your Brand Identity

Feeling uninspired or boxed in by your brand identity? This is a tell-tale sign that your personal brand and business are out of alignment.

Many people design their brand identities to attract their ideal audience. While this strategy makes sense for product-based brands, if you are a service provider, coach, or creator, your business’s brand identity should align with your personal aesthetic.

Honestly, creating content for your brand is so much easier when your brand identity reflects the world around you, from the clothes & colors you already wear to the aesthetic of your home.

When it comes to selling your services and intellectual property, YOU will attract your audience more than your logo or brand colors ever will. Your brand identity should reflect your personal aesthetics and inspire you to create

One of my favorite places to get creative & let your personal brand run wild is in your brand photography. Think about the locations, outfits, and even the mood you want to portray in your photos; they should all resonate with who you are.

A brand identity that looks, feels, and sounds like you – is a brand that is memorable and easily identifiable by YOUR people.

Strategies to Balance Personal branding with your business

Set Clear Boundaries: Define what aspects of your personal life you are comfortable sharing and what should remain private. You make the rules here!

Create a Content Calendar: Planning your content helps to create boundaries around when you are recording content vs. just living your damn life off the clock.

Leverage Storytelling: Use personal stories to create metaphors to illustrate business points. This makes your content personal, relatable, and educational—a win-win in the value department.

Separate Accounts: I maintain separate social media accounts for personal and business purposes. On the weekend, I toggle over to my personal account to keep up with family and friends IRL.

Ultimately, balancing your personal brand with your business means separating your self-worth from your business identity.

You can be authentic and vulnerable without oversharing on social media. You decide how personal you want to be.

By letting your personal brand run wild in your brand identity, voice, and Instagram, you foster a more genuine and relatable connection with your audience. This approach helps differentiate you as a personal brand and business owner from you as just a person.

Are you a personal brand looking for support or tips on how to build a brand that feels authentic to you?

>> Book a 60m Strategy Call With Me: These Mentorship sessions are a great way to get clear on your brand’s next steps and are perfect for creators, coaches, and service providers who want to leverage more of their personal brand in their business.

>> Design your Brand with Cedar June: Build a brand that feels authentic to you with 1:1 help from yours truly 🙂 Together, we can design a brand strategy, identity, and/or website that aligns with your personal aesthetic & positions you as an authority in your industry.

Are you in the DIY Brand Camp & Looking for all the Free resources to help you get started? I’ve got you covered:

>> Create a Brand Color Scheme that reflects your personal aesthetic

>> Design a Blueprint for Your Brand’s Strategy

>> Curate your Brand’s Stories

>> Organize & plan your brand’s content, strategy & more with help from over a dozen of my favorite Notion templates.