- How to grow your brand as an executive and how that helps your company grow

Building your brand as an executive is critical to being a consistent leader


Grace Tripathy , Tue 17 January 2023
What is Executive Branding?
 
As an executive of your company, you are the face of the company or business you run. You are the one that everyone first thinks of when they hear or interact with your brand, you are the one they blame if something goes wrong, and you are the one they remember. 
Executive branding is important no matter what kind of business you are in, whether it be retail, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, technology, or any other industry. 
Branding is necessary for all aspects of your business; you want everything to be cohesive and be true to who you are and what you believe. Those values and beliefs should trickle down the pipeline of your employees, and as an entire brand, you should all feel similar in how you see the workplace and the world.
 
According to Forbes, executive Branding drives sales and increases company visibility.
 
Executive branding starts with determining what you want your core message to be. Your message should coincide with what your target audience believes, and you need to use your message to grab their attention. For example, if you are the executive of an environmentally friendly packaging supplies business, your message should relate to the work your company does and how you do it. Your target audience would be business owners of all sizes who want to only use packing supplies that are eco-friendly. If you brand yourself properly and market your message to those people, you’ll have a loyal customer base in no time.
Even though you may not deal with your audience daily as other people within your company do, it’s still extremely important to brand yourself as the executive. Your branding is what helps you make connections in the business world, it helps get your name in front of people’s eyes, and it helps to boost your business more than you probably imagine.
Whether you’re in a new position as executive or you’ve been executive for 10+ years, there is always room for improvement when it comes to branding yourself.
 
 
What are the Benefits of executive Branding?
 
As an executive of a company, you barely have free time as it is. So, do you really need to take the time to brand yourself? Here are 5 reasons why it’s necessary to establish a personal brand for yourself:
 
1.     Show off your uniqueness
Executive branding is your one chance to show your audience what makes you and your business unique. What do you offer that others don’t? Why should they support your business over your competitors? What makes you unique?
These are all things you should answer when defining your brand as executive. People support those they align with, in all aspects. If someone can see who you are as a person and can see you truly care about a cause or believe in a product or service, they’ll see that and come to your business with their credit card ready. Authenticity and uniqueness are what drive people to your brand!
 
2.     Gain more relationships 
The only way to gain new clients or customers and create loyal ones is to get them on your side. Let’s go back to the eco-friendly packing supplies business example. If there is a small business owner that believes in your cause and can tell you truly care about saving and protecting our environment and they like you as a person, they are 10x more likely to continue supporting you even if your prices are higher. 
Relationships are crucial and maintaining them is an essential practice. 
In fact, 71% of consumers say they prefer to support companies that align with their own values. Why is that? Because they like you for you, not for your prices or products. You have similar values and that is what makes people loyal to one brand over another.
 
4.     Show off your beliefs and values
Going back to the stat that 71% of consumers out there prefer to purchase products or services from brands that align with their own values and beliefs, creating an executive brand is one of the best things you can do to show your target audience what you believe in and why you believe it. 
These days, people don’t just type in something online and purchase the first thing that pops up. They take time to research the company, see who runs it, and learn why they started it. If you don’t tell your story well enough or show potential consumers what you believe in and why, or what your values are in life, odds are they have already clicked off your page.
Why is that true? Because people like to see authenticity and they like to know you became an executive of a company for a reason other than to make a new income. Consumers don’t want to feel like you are using them to get a paycheck, they want to feel good about purchasing and investing in your business because your values and beliefs are the same as theirs. 
Make sure to tell the world what you believe in, what your value in both your personal and professional life, and why. If you hit this on the head, your loyal customer base is going to skyrocket.
 
5.     Less negative, more positive
Any high-up executive knows that no one is perfect, and you are bound to make a mistake at some point in your career. When you are in control of your executive branding, you can determine how people see you. Are you the nice boss that allows your employees to dress down on Fridays? Or are you the mean boss that doesn’t want to pay people’s healthcare?
When positioning your brand, you need to think about what you want people to think of you as. If you treat your employees right, you market yourself right, and your brand yourself properly, you can drown out the negative comments made. 
This can be sharing things about yourself, your life, or an experience you had with a customer. It can also be donating to a cause you believe in, or this can be showing off how you treated your employees to a team bonding experience. Whatever kind of boss you want to be, make sure you consider how people are going to see you from that. 
 
As an executive, you only want to be seen in a positive light, so make sure you brand yourself to receive only positive thoughts! Branding is one of the best business tools you can use and guess what? It costs nothing but time and energy! Branding yourself as an executive is something you should take your time