Branding, branding, branding. You hear about the importance of this business tool everywhere, but is it really that big of a deal?
Maybe not if you’re a small entrepreneur trying to hang with other little fish in your pool. Yet, when it comes to executive branding, it could mean the difference between your success and watching your competitors soar past you.
Executive branding is a key part of leadership strategy. This factor makes your company visible (think: the golden arches of McDonald’s, the stylish checkmark of Nike, the robin’s egg blue of Tiffany, and your other favorite logos and colors), but it does so much more.
When you strategically shape your executive brand, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry and advance your career.
Learn the power behind what this tool can do for you, and then implement these executive branding strategies to create your personal brand and share your unique value with others in your field.
First, Know the Power of an Executive Brand
Executive branding is the process of cultivating a personal brand and promoting it to enhance your authority in a leadership or executive position.
It’s carefully and deliberately designing your executive presence as you want others to see you. Your brand is primarily geared toward potential clients and investors, but also “talks” to your peers and the general public.
So, what does this executive brand really represent? That depends on what you bring to the table.
When done well, it showcases your unique expertise, experience, and achievements. Ultimately, it culminates in a value proposition your target audience can see and relate to, enhancing your image and reputation.
The executive brand combines your thought leadership style, business ethics and morals, values, and expertise in a way that is expressed to an audience.
When you make a social media post, share an image, write a blog, or engage in an interview, this brand is your North Star. If something doesn’t reflect the image you’re trying to cultivate, it’s a “no.”
Then, Build Your Strategy
Strategies are, well, strategic. That said, the strategies we’re sharing here aren’t meant to be a one-size-fits-all approach.
In fact, some of the best executive brands incorporate multiple approaches to produce a polished and finished result.
Consider these executive-tested and approved strategies, compare them to current industry trends, and evaluate how they might or might not work for you.
Tweak them until your brand message = the perspective you want others to have of you as an industry and thought leader.
- Create your brand’s target goal. What is the reason you need an executive brand?
- Determine your audience. Who are they now? Who is your ideal audience? What level of professionalism will they expect from you? Use this info to set your brand’s tone, color, image, and other elements.
- Go where your audience hangs out. What social media and business platforms will get you in front of the right people? For example, the top tech talent might look for jobs on Indeed and LinkedIn, but many hang out elsewhere.
- Use a professional photo or headshot designed for executive branding.
- Use your platforms to post content. Include content that presents you as an authority in your field, such as your blog, shared resources from others in related industries, your website, and a portfolio of your work.
- Join other professional organizations and networks and stay current with industry news and trends. Go where your target audience is. This should be clear, as we show at Obsidi®, where we aim to empower diverse tech workers to flourish in the industry.
- Be consistent with your content. Consider using a calendar to decide what to post and when. Numerous platforms make this process easy. If content creation and consistency aren’t your strong suits, it’s okay — and even resource-efficient — to outsource to a virtual assistant or freelancer.
- Don’t be one-sided with your branding. It isn’t always about self-promotion. Communicate with others in your organizations, groups, and social media platforms. Join professional networks and attend webinars and industry events where you learn from (as well as teach) others.
- Have a resume fit for an executive ready to go. The rules for stand-out resumes change, so if you haven’t touched yours in a while, it’s time to revamp it to match your executive brand goals.
- Use metrics to determine what is and isn’t working. This goes beyond social media. What articles have you written? How far have they reached? How much traffic is organically generated to your website?
When consistently applied, these strategies create a professional image that becomes your unique value proposition.
Examples of Strong Executive Brands in Action
You’ve thought through the strategies, and you have some ideas of what you might want to do to cultivate your executive brand. Before you spend time and money putting it together, you want to know if you’re on the right track.
That’s wise, and shows you already know what you’re doing.
To help guide you, we’ve included examples other execs are using that work. Skim through these ideas and compare them with yours. If there’s anything you might have missed, use the examples to enhance your brand and make it unique to you.
Brand Statement Examples
Your leadership brand statement confidently and concisely shares your core values.
What do you stand for? How do you hope to lead and inspire others within the industry, organization, or community?
That’s what you include in your brand statement. Here are some examples in action:
- Neil Patel – “Helping you succeed through online marketing.“
- Dan Koe – “I’m a brand advisor for 6-7 figure creators and influencers.”
- Robynn Storey – “KILLER Resumes/LinkedIn Profiles for $100K to $1 Million Job Seekers.”
- Barbara Corcoran – “Barbara is an expert in building businesses, growing teams, and surviving tough times.”
- Adam Grant – “Organizational psychologist at Wharton, #1 NYT bestselling author of THINK AGAIN, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife.”
- Marie Forleo – “An entrepreneur, writer, philanthropist & unshakable optimist dedicated to helping you become the person you most want to be.“
- Adam Karpiak – “Opinionated Recruiter. Candidate Therapist. Looking for a job sucks. I try to make it suck less. Your resume not getting interviews? I might know why.”
Brand Coloring Examples
Color matters so much in marketing and interpersonal relationships that there’s an entire psychology devoted to studying the impact of hues on a person.
Why does this matter?
When you know your audience and understand how color affects the mind, you can use this information to build a brand that speaks more effectively to your target market. Popular colors include red, yellow, blue, and green:
Red
Red is a power color. It evokes feelings of passion, excitement, and strength.
It can trigger your appetite, so look around at food industry logos. You’ll see red at McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, Pepsi, and many more.
However, it also conveys confidence, making it a popular choice for companies that want to be perceived as energetic, strong, or powerful: Target, YouTube, and Netflix are among the notable red-logoed brands.
Red demands attention.
Yellow
On the other extreme is yellow, a shade that keeps up the energy of red but blends it with joy instead of hunger and attention.
Yellow is ideal if your brand reputation is focused on making others feel good, showcasing your intellect, and spreading optimism. You’ll still attract attention, but more for your creativity, cheerfulness, and happiness.
Best Buy, Post-It, Shell, and Subway are notable yellows.
Blue
Looking to build consumer loyalty and show off your intelligence and trustworthy reputation? Go blue.
This is the most popular color in branding, partly because it conveys a sense of reputation and dependability.
When you see blue logos, you associate the color with trust and consistency, as with well-known brands such as Ford, American Express, Walmart, Intel, Facebook, Dell, and HP.
Green
Another common branding shade is green, which is used when you want to connect with values like growth, safety, sustainability, freshness, healing, or relaxation.
Green equals nature and relaxation, so you’ll see it in outdoor companies and brands that promote rest or enjoyment.
John Deere, Whole Foods, BP, Spotify, Starbucks, and Holiday Inn are some examples.
Brand Tone Examples
The tone of your brand cements the final piece of your strategy.
Tone is different from voice and personality. Your voice includes your words and language, but your tone tells your audience whether you’re friendly, casual, impersonal, highly professional, or whatever other impression you want to make.
The tone of an attorney’s office is likely to be different than a coffee shop’s, for instance.
Here are a few examples of branding your tone successfully:
- Apple’s tone is sleek and innovative. This is seen in everything from their marketing (short, bold, and casual but serious phrases) to their products.
- Coca-Cola’s red logo demands attention, but its voice says, “We create happiness and memories while you enjoy life with your friends and family.” Their recent “Share a Coke with …” campaign caused millions to look for bottles with their loved one’s name and buy them, even if they hadn’t planned on getting a soda!
- McDonald’s keeps its tone friendly and inviting, using campaigns emphasizing making family life easier — no judgment involved.
Think about the many advertisements you hear and see throughout your week. The tone of each will instantly tell you what the company’s brand stands for.
How can you use tone to establish your executive brand as clearly as Disney’s magical connection to its audience or Google’s authority on all things tech-related?
While you might not be that far yet, that’s the goal to aim for.
Combining your brand statement with the right color and tone, then incorporating a few (or all) of the strategies mentioned earlier, will put you on your way to creating a successful executive brand.
Conclusion
Building this brand doesn’t have to be a solo journey.
While you’re seeking out speaking engagements to listen to others or share your expertise and thought leadership content as part of your strategy, having relationships with other diverse people in your industry can make the road easier.
Connect with Obsidi® to expand your network, cultivate meaningful professional connections, and develop your career.
