Personal Brand vs Business Brand: What's the Difference and Why Does It Matter?
When I work with business owners on their marketing strategy, one of the first conversations we have is about brand. Inevitably, someone will say something like, "Oh, I need to sort out my logo first," or "I'm not really a 'brand person'—I just want to get clients."
Here's the thing: your brand isn't your logo. Your brand isn't your colour palette or your Instagram aesthetic (though those things can be part of how you express it). Your brand is the promise you make to your customers, the experience you deliver, and the values you stand for. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room.
And if you're a business owner—especially a solo operator or someone who's the face of their business—understanding the difference between your personal brand and your business brand is crucial for creating a sustainable marketing strategy.
Personal Brand: More Than Just "Being Yourself"
Let's start with personal brand, because this is where a lot of confusion sits.
Your personal brand is how you show up professionally. It's the reputation you build, the expertise you're known for, the way you communicate and connect with others in your field.
But here's what it's not: it's not about selling your soul or sharing every aspect of your life.
I see this misconception a lot. People think that building a personal brand means they need to be "on" all the time, sharing their breakfast choices and their deepest struggles, being vulnerable for the sake of content. The "warts and all" approach that's been pushed in recent years can feel exhausting and, frankly, inauthentic.
Your personal brand in a professional context is intentional. It's about showing up as a whole person, yes—but a whole person with boundaries. You get to choose what you share and how you share it.
Think about it this way: you already have different personal brands operating in your life. The version of you that shows up at a whānau gathering is different from the version that shows up in a board meeting. That's not being fake—that's being human. We naturally adjust how we present ourselves based on context, and that's okay.
In your marketing strategy, this looks like:
Sharing your professional journey and lessons learned without oversharing personal details
Being consistent in your values and how you communicate them, even if the platform changes
Showing personality and humanity without feeling pressured to perform vulnerability
Making deliberate choices about what aspects of your life and work you bring into your professional presence
Business Brand: When It's Bigger Than Just You
Now, business brand. This is where things shift, especially as your business grows.
When you're a solo operator, your personal brand and your business brand might feel almost identical. You are the business. Your values are the business's values. Your reputation is the business's reputation.
But as you bring on team members, contractors, or even just start working with collaborators, something changes. Your business brand needs to become something that others can buy into and represent. It needs collective ownership.
This is a transition point that many business owners struggle with. You've built something from your own vision, your own values, your own way of doing things. Now you need to articulate that in a way that others can embody it too.
In your marketing strategy, this looks like:
Documenting your values and what they mean in practice (not just aspirational words on a wall)
Creating brand guidelines that cover more than visual identity—they cover tone of voice, decision-making frameworks, and how you show up in the world
Building processes that ensure brand consistency even when you're not the one directly interfacing with clients
Empowering your team to make decisions that align with brand values without you needing to approve every detail
The Overlap: Where Personal and Business Brands Meet
Here's where it gets interesting for many of us: when you're the founder, director, or face of the business, there's always going to be overlap between your personal brand and your business brand.
People buy from people. They connect with the human behind the business. But they also need to trust that the business itself—not just you personally—can deliver on its promises.
In your marketing strategy, this looks like:
Being clear about who you are and what you stand for, while also building systems and frameworks that others can implement
Using "I" language when sharing personal perspectives and "we" language when talking about business values and approaches
Featuring team members (if you have them) in your marketing so the brand isn't solely reliant on your face
Building thought leadership that's attributed to you personally, while building brand assets (content, IP, processes) that belong to the business
The Common Thread: Values
Whether we're talking about personal brand or business brand, there's one constant: values.
Your brand—personal or business—is an expression of what you believe matters. It shows up in every decision you make, every interaction you have, every piece of content you create.
The question isn't whether your values show up in your brand. They will, whether you're intentional about it or not. The question is whether you're being deliberate about which values you want to lead with and how you want to express them.
This matters more than ever because, as we'll explore in the next post, your values will inevitably be tested. There will be moments of discomfort, conflict, or misalignment. When those moments come, having done this foundational work makes all the difference.
Where to Start
If you're reading this and thinking, "I need to get clearer on this," here's where I'd suggest you begin:
Audit your current brand presence. Look at your website, your social media, how you talk about your business. Is it clear what you stand for? Can someone understand your values from what you're putting out there?
List your non-negotiables. What would you never compromise on? What would you walk away from a client over? These are often your core values in disguise.
Identify the gap. Where is there distance between your personal brand and your business brand? Is that gap intentional and useful, or is it creating confusion?
Think about scale. If you doubled your client base or team tomorrow, what would need to be clearly articulated for people to understand and represent your brand well?
Your brand isn't something you create once and forget about. It evolves as you do, as your business does, as the world around you changes. But getting clear on the foundations—understanding the difference between your personal and business brand, and making intentional choices about how they relate—that's the work that pays off in everything else you do.
Need Help Getting Clear on Your Brand?
If you’ve read this and thought "I need someone to help me untangle this," that's exactly what my Marketing Power Sessions are for. It's a focused 1:1 hour session—in-person or virtual—where we dig into what's not working and why, and you walk away with a few key actionable steps to move your marketing forward.
