Why personal brand is so important when selling print
Why to do many printing companies spend so much time on branding?
Choose a consultant and the chances are that you will know their name but not their company name. If you are buying print you are much more likely to think of the name of your contact at the company before the company name.
Mark Schaefer recently wrote a compelling post on personal versus corporate brand. His conclusions? Corporate branding really only works for large brands that are trying to create a point of differentiation. Even then, it is virtually impossible to work out how much extra revenue is attributable to the branding.
When it comes down to smaller companies, personal branding is much more important.
What is a personal brand?
A personal brand is how an individual markets or promotes themselves. Just as in a corporate brand, it is a way of differentiating themselves from the competition.
There are various ways of achieving this which I will cover in future pieces. However, when so many printing companies are incredibly similar, the person who is selling can make the difference. Prospects and customers are often more likely to relate to them rather than the company brand.
However, bear in mind that this is not about being great at customer service or the nicest person. This is about having a true advantage or point of differentiation over the others who are competing for the same business as you.
There’s one exception to this rule
The online print market is different. People are not involved in the sale here. That means company brand does matter.
Contrary to popular belief, the online market isn’t governed purely by price. Having worked with some of the major UK online print companies, there is company loyalty. Building the right brand in this space does matter.
How do you build the right personal brand?
A good way to start is with your social media profile. Check out Five Steps To Creating A Social Media Profile That Generates Business. You’ll find plenty of good personal branding advice.
