You are your own brand

I’ve had a number of people recently comment that I am the “face” of the brand that I work for. This is odd for me. I’m not (of course) a Elon Musk or a Richard Branson who are those sorts of faces that you immediately think of when it comes to the likes of Tesla or Virgin. However being the Head of Sales for my brand I obviously believe in good social media content and being a true ambassador for the company I work for.

How I go about my sales is by the statement of trust. I’m not a person who’s a win every deal what ever the cost, and move onto the next. I believe in long term relationships in business. People will always buy from people in the end. If you at work meet a new contact you can’t in most businesses sell them something straight away. You need to get to know them, know their needs, and find out how you can help them. Once you’ve made that sale you might have the chance to sell to them again in say 6 months. Why not keep that relationship in play?

Make that relationship something that’s lasting, then with every sale that you make with that customer it becomes easier. It sounds really really simple to say it. However I see it time and time again not happen. People are too quick for that “deal”

That continuation of being the face of my brand continues to the level of trust I apply to my social media image. If you trust what I put out and approve that you believe my content then you start to believe me as a person. I always look to support my team, my key customers and my brand on social media. Do I do anything different from what anyone else can do? No I don’t think so at all!!

So why do people say I’ve been the face of the brand I work for? Well literally sometimes I am the face of the brand as you can see on the left. I occasionally did videos from our garage during lock down. They gained a load of traction and I certainly got a number of enquiries from them. But it comes back to the trust element. If I’m fine with putting my face out there then people will start to recognise me. Start to believe in what I write and then start to believe in what we’re trying to do…

My Fiancee always talks about “brand Ben Payne”. I take this as a compliment to what I do, but it’s also important that “my brand” also represents the brand that I’m working for. I feel that they are and should be one of the same thing. The image and the content that I put out should be in line with the brand/company that you are working for. No point putting out quirky weird things if you work for a corporate…

At the moment I’m working in the entertainment industry with lighting business. Would I do the same sort of posts as if I was in another industry or job? Possibly not – but I would do posts that are representative to the brand that I am working for. It’s important to me that those 2 things align. Both in my professional life on places like Linked In but also in places like Twitter and Facebook.

With the merging of worlds becoming more, you have to always represent yourself well. Now I have a number of twitter accounts (actually probably too many) but even on my “personal account” I’m mindful of my presence. What happens if a customer find’s my personal account? Do I portray the image that I want of myself and my company. Yes of course at the top of the page there is the disclaimer that this is a personal page, but I’m very mindful of the world watching.

This is where though “brand Ben Payne” comes from. I’m being the face of my own brand and also the brand that I work for. I’ll never post something inappropriate on social media. Even my personal posts or content are considered at all times. As I said above I have all the disclaimers that this is personal accounts but it’s about my brand. It’s about being that face that people trust and people respect.

You have to continue to be that face at all times. It’s something that I take really seriously and I think is really important!

What do you do to be the face of your brand? How do you think your “personal brand” comes across on social media?