The business model as the epicenter of our Personal Brand

Well, yes, Design Thinking culture also applies in many Personal Branding processes, and the Business Model canvas is a good example.

This is the first of the Trends I wrote down for this year 2021 last December.

If you have little time I'll summarize it in a minute:

We need to be the tailors of our Personal Brand

As much as we read a lot of books about personal brand, or let's follow courses or podcasts, we need to create a personal brand strategy tailored to us.

Being the tailors of our Personal Brand involves understanding what makes us unique and valuable in the eyes of others. Of course, the help of a consultant can be very useful at this point, because sometimes we are not able to see in ourselves what other people see.

Personal Branding consultants are essentially working on the Business Model

It's a risky statement., Of course. We do more things. But the center is there. When someone calls us to improve their presence on Linkedin, after that request lies the need to solve a problem related to your Business Model.

A few weeks ago I was talking to Luigi Centenaro, the Personal Branding reference in Italy and perhaps one of the world's largest references. He developed a Personal Brand management canvas that is used in many business schools.

Luigi and I share that vision that the Business Model, with the Value Proposition at the center, is the axis from which the entire Personal Branding strategy and personal communication plan pivots. Let me explain why.

The Business Model captures the essence of our Personal DAFO

Thus, Is. It is very difficult to develop a Value proposal without considering the strengths and opportunities that appear in our diagnosis, our personal DAFO.

Or I'll put it another way, it would be a shame to start the house on the roof and skip an essential step in a Personal Branding process such as DAFO.

It's the starting point of our communication plan

One of the quadrants of the Business Model canvas analyzes the present and future channels with which we will transfer our Value Proposal to our customer segments.

These channels are the basis of our communication plan or "delivery" of the Value proposal. This can be a database, of a mobile app, from a newsletter, of a webinar, social media content, from a book, a podcast...

Establish a style and communication guidelines thanks to the relationships we define with our customers

The way we relate to our customers through our Value proposal generates the style of communication, the tone, the essence of our personal brand.

It's not the same being a team manager as a data analyst., nor be a consultant to be a lecturer. Nor is a one-time relationship the same (sale of a property) that an ongoing relationship (GP).

Generate synergies between our biggest valuers and our potential customers

The Business Model also acts as the anteroom of a networking plan, by bridging our key partners and our potential customers with the value proposition at the center.

At B2B it is absolutely essential to consider this synergy as one of the best possibilities to reach potential customers with the half-way traveled thanks to the positive prescription of people as satisfied customers, Collaborators, Partners,…

And let's not forget that the Business Model also sets out our economic model

The word "business" is already indicative that in the end, everything must serve us to achieve a good balance between costs and benefits that allows us to meet our financial objectives and help us sustain our standard of living.

The expense model is what we put on the table to make the Value proposal effective. And the revenue model is the realization of the growth we generate in our customers.

This is a collaborative model, don't do it alone

Like any Design Thinking strategy, the Business Model makes sense when working as a team, because it requires moments of divergent thought, out of court, and others of convergent thinking to select the ideas applicable in practice.

If you're thinking of enhancing your personal brand for any purpose, ask your consultant first if he or she is used to working with the Business Model, and ask him how many cases of people or small teams he's managed. With the things of eating, you don't play.

And if you want a backup, I recommend these two books:

Your business model

Written byTim Clark, Alexander Osterwalder e Yves Pigneur. Posted by Deusto. First edition, March 2012. Almost 400 real cases so you can see how different parts of the model have resolved people like you.

If you don't contribute, you don't matter

Written byGuillem Recolons What's familiar with the name? Posted by Rasche, first edition, October 2020. Prologated byJoan Clotet. It will help you link your self-known area with the business model, and this one with your communication plan.

Happy week!

Here's the podcast version of this article, something more explained:

You can also hear it in Spotify and in Apple Podcast.

Stock Photos from Fluke Cha / Shutterstock

Pd: 

Alex López/Digital Selling's New Personal Brand Positioning Test

This week we have to celebrate a novelty of the beautiful. The team of Digital Selling, directed by Alex Lopez, a year ago he presented his digital sales potential test. And now, a year later, brought us a Personal Brand Positioning test, where I've had the opportunity to contribute by overseeing some options.

It's free, it's an immediate result, and it's very useful to value 6 parameters and compare them to the mean: 

• Positioning
• Publishing content
• Strategy
• Digital identity
• Digital communication
• Measurement and impact

Here's the link to your Personal Brand Positioning Test. You'll tell me how it's gone..