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As a small business leader, your personal brand is often closely tied to your company's brand — that’s why it's incredibly important to build your name as an expert in your industry.
Employees and customers tend to turn to search engines to learn more about who you are and what you represent before choosing to do business with your company. In fact, 85% of business people research the CEO before agreeing to work for a company. Websites like Glassdoor can help, but with the average CEO approval rating being 68%, there’s always room for improvement.
If you are a small business owner or leader hoping to build an accurate, trustworthy brand around your name, here are four tips on how to do so.
Why have you chosen to do the work you are doing? After all, not everyone is capable of sustaining a leadership role in a company. When cultivating your personal brand, consider what is truly driving you. Simon Sinek is a New York Times Best Selling Author on strategy and brand development; he advises business owners: "People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe."
As a small business leader, establishing clear motivations simplifies decisions, but it also creates trust — and trust is more important than ever when trying to grow a small business. The American workforce is changing, and studies have demonstrated that millennials care more about who they work for and why they are working than they do about what they do and how they do it. Articulating why you have chosen to apply your time and energy to a small business creates a strong foundation for your personal brand.
Emerson once wrote, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” We live in an age of unprecedented transparency. Corporate scandals and public shaming are common, and for both corporate and personal brands, it can be disastrous. To make sure you stay clear of this reputational snafu, be open and transparent with your audience and ensure your brand is a genuine, authentic representation of yourself.
If you want people to see accurate, positive content about you when they turn to search engines, then you need to create the content you want them to find. Here are four ways to do so:
Your website can be as simple or as complicated as you'd like; the point is to make sure you own your domain name and publish content to it regularly. A personal website is also a great centerpiece where you can include links to other prominent websites, news articles, and social media accounts.
Write for Your Company
In a leadership role, it's likely that you have access to the company website and can periodically write about company news, industry happenings, or awards and accolades.
Chances are, there are several publications in your industry that would love to publish your insights. These sites will usually include a bio and allow you to place links back to your personal website as well as your company's site. You can even try out the many industry-specific forums which function as a Q&A area so you can showcase your knowledge by answering questions or asking a few of your own.
Press Releases & Public Relations
If you have a PR team or relationships with local or national media, make sure you’re publicizing professional awards and recognition.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the branch of marketing that deals with structuring web pages to appear favorably in non-paid search engine results. So, how do you make sure you’re search engine savvy?
First, use words or phrases that you expect people to search for on sites you'd like to appear in your search results. Second, link related pages together with hyperlinks. Google uses highly sophisticated algorithms to determine how relevant web pages are to a particular query, but publishing content that includes your name and interlinking content on established, authoritative sites is undoubtedly a best practice. Ultimately, you may want to do this by yourself, but you could also automate the process with software, or shop for a personal branding service to help.
As a small business leader, your reputation can impact your company's recruitment, sales, investors, and client relations. By clearly articulating your motivation, being genuine, publishing consistent content, and optimizing it well, you can leverage your brand to showcase knowledge, cultivate trust, and create opportunities for growth.
Stephen Van Delinder is a Co-founder of Reputation Resolutions, an online reputation management company that serves individuals and businesses in restoring, building, and maintaining their online reputations and brands. Armed with certifications in Digital Marketing from New York University, Google, and Microsoft, Stephen applies his knowledge of online reputation management to help people and businesses look their best online.
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