Building your brand is no easy task. If you’re venturing into the world of entrepreneurship, you’ve probably asked yourself, “Should I focus on my personal brand first or my business brand?” This is one of the most common questions I get asked.

Here’s the surprising truth: focusing only on your business brand might hold you back from amazing opportunities that come with building your personal brand. Today, I’ll walk you through my B.BRAVE Brand Blueprint—a 6-step process to align your personal and business brands in a way that feels authentic and true to you.

B – Basis – Understand Who You Are

Let’s start with the foundation.

Many people think branding begins with logos, colors, or websites. But the most important first step often gets overlooked: building your personal brand foundation.

In fact, a 2022 study by Sprout Social found that 72% of consumers feel more connected to a brand when its CEO or executives are active on social media. This shows how much people value the human element behind a brand. Personal branding makes your business feel real and relatable.

Instead of diving straight into logos or content, the first thing you need to do is define who you are—your values, mission, story, and personality. These elements will resonate with your audience on a deeper level.

Key Elements for Your Personal Brand Foundation:

• Your Origin Story: What inspired you to start your business? Share the ‘why’ behind your brand to build an emotional connection.
• Your Mission: What drives you? Your mission is the "north star" that guides your brand decisions. Be clear about who you're helping and how.
• Core Values: These should guide everything you do. Identify the values that matter most to you, such as authenticity, collaboration, or resilience.
• Personality: How do you show up? Are you approachable, professional, bold? These qualities should guide the way you communicate and engage with your audience.
• Unique Perspective: What sets you apart in your industry? Share your unique take on what you do and how you approach it.

B – Blueprint – Craft a Strategy

Now that I had a solid foundation in place, the next step was to figure out how to get noticed. After all, what good is a great brand if no one knows about it?

For me, the answer was clear: content creation. But not just any content—consistent, strategic content. I quickly learned that without a plan, I’d be scrambling to keep up. Content creation needs to be intentional.

This is where the blueprint came in. I created a content strategy with clear goals and a roadmap to follow.

Here’s how I broke it down:

1. Identify Your Platforms:
   Where does your audience spend the most time? For me, it was a mix of Instagram for visual content, LinkedIn to share my expertise and connect with professionals, and YouTube for creating longer videos that help me establish myself as an authority in my field.
2. You’ll need to figure out where your audience spends the most time, depending on your business:
   
   • Product-based businesses will likely find their audience on Instagram or TikTok.
   • Service-based businesses (like coaching or consulting) do better on platforms like LinkedIn or X.
3. Set Your Content Themes:
   I followed the 80-10-10 rule to keep my content balanced and engaging:
   
   • 80% Expert Content: Tips, strategies, and how-tos that showcase your expertise.
   • 10% Advocacy Content: Share causes you believe in—like women empowerment or sustainability.
   • 10% Personal Content: Share bits of your life outside of work. This lets your audience connect with the human side of your brand.
4. Batch Your Content:
   I started batching my content to avoid the constant pressure of posting every day. I set aside time to create multiple pieces of content at once. The beauty of batching is that you create content that can be reused across multiple platforms, driving traffic back to your core content.

R – Reputation – Show Up and Engage

Content alone won’t build your reputation. You have to show consistently and, more importantly, engage with your audience.

When I first started posting, I thought if I just kept pushing content out there, the followers would come, and my brand would skyrocket. But it didn’t happen that way. At all.

The real magic happened when I started engaging. When I responded to comments, reached out to my followers, and actually interacted with people who were genuinely interested in my content. That’s when things started to click.

Reputation isn’t just about sharing your voice—it’s about listening, connecting, and building relationships. Here’s how I did it, and how you can too:

Use the MIC Formula for Posts:

Main Idea: Make sure each post has a clear, valuable takeaway that your audience can apply.

Interest: Capture their attention from the start. Whether it’s a bold statement, a question, or a quick personal story, hook them in right away.

Call to Action (CTA): Don’t forget to ask for engagement! End with a question, an invitation to comment, or ask them to share their thoughts. This is how you spark meaningful conversations.

Engage Consistently: I had to really learn this one. It’s not just about posting content, but about responding to comments, engaging with other creators, and genuinely connecting with your audience. The more you engage, the more trust you build. Trust is the foundation of reputation.

Commit to a Posting Schedule: At first, I’ll admit, I was all over the place. One day, I’d post, the next I’d forget. But here’s the thing I learned the hard way: consistency is everything. It’s not about posting every single day (unless that’s your thing), but about showing up regularly. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or somewhere in between, staying visible is what keeps you on your audience’s radar.

The bottom line? People trust people. When you engage with your audience, you’re not just putting content out there—you’re building genuine connections. And that’s how your brand feels real. It’s not just about talking to them; it’s about listening, responding, and making them feel seen. It’s a two-way street, so don’t just be a voice—be present. Let your audience know that you care and you’re listening.

Expand Your Connection: Don’t sit back and wait for your audience to come to you—go out and meet them where they are!

When someone likes or comments on your post, don’t just leave it at that. Take a moment to reach out and spark a conversation. It could be as simple as, “Hey, thanks for liking my post! Is there anything in particular you found useful?”

And if you’re on LinkedIn and someone checks out your profile, don’t be shy—send them a friendly message like, “Hey, I noticed you checked out my profile! Let’s connect—I’d love to hear your thoughts on [topic].” A genuine message like this can open the door to meaningful conversations and new opportunities.

A – Alignment – Make Sure They Work Together

This was the tricky part—aligning my personal brand with my business brand. It wasn’t just about getting them to fit together; it was about making sure they didn’t step on each other’s toes. My personal brand couldn’t completely overshadow my business, but at the same time, it couldn’t feel like two totally separate worlds.

Here’s how I made them work together like a perfect duet:

• Your Origin Story: I made sure that both my personal and business stories were telling the same story. They both reflected the same why—helping women entrepreneurs build their brands.
• Your Mission: For me, my personal mission was always to empower women entrepreneurs. And I made sure that same mission was reflected in my business. Your business’s mission should reflect and reinforce your personal mission.

For example, if your personal mission is to help women become financially independent, your business could have a mission to provide tools and resources that make smart investing easy and accessible for women. This way, your personal mission and your business mission work hand-in-hand to support the same goal.

• Core Values: I didn’t leave my personal values at the door when I entered my business. And when your personal values shine through in your business, things just click.
• Personality: The tone of both my personal and business brands needed to feel like the same person was behind them. No stiff corporate jargon here. It had to feel human, real, and approachable.

V – Visual Identity – Build Your Brand Identity

Let’s dive into the fun part—visual identity. This is where your logo, colors, and fonts come into play. But here’s the key: simplicity is everything. You don’t need to overcomplicate things to make your brand stand out. A clean, cohesive visual identity is what makes your brand feel professional and memorable.

• Logo: Keep it simple and memorable. The best logos are easy to recognize and capture the essence of your brand without unnecessary details.
• Colors: Choose three core colors that represent your brand’s personality.  
  
  • Dominant Color: This is your primary brand color, and it should be used about 80% of the time. It sets the overall mood and tone of your brand, whether it’s bold, calming, energetic, or professional.
  • Secondary Color: Use this color for accents. It should be used around 20% of the time to add contrast and interest to your visuals.
  • Neutral Color: This is used for backgrounds or text. Neutrals like black, white, beige, or dark grey provide balance and give your brand a polished, professional look.
• Fonts: Stick to one font for consistency. This keeps your brand looking clean and easy to read across all platforms.

The key takeaway? Your visual identity doesn’t need to be complex. It just needs to feel authentic and align with the tone of your brand.

E – Execution –  Develop a Marketing Strategy

Now that everything was aligned and ready to go, it was time to get the brand in front of the right people. This is where execution came into play. It’s one thing to have a great brand, but if you don’t put it out there and make noise, no one will know about it.

I focused on creating content that resonated with my audience, executing a strategic marketing plan, and getting involved in partnerships and collaborations. But above all, I stayed authentic to my mission and stuck to the strategy I had built.

Here’s how to find the right marketing approach for your brand:

• Brainstorm All Your Options:
  Start by listing every possible way to market your brand. Don’t hold back—think about social media, email marketing, SEO, partnerships, flyers, cold outreach, events, PR, paid ads, and more. The more ideas, the better. The goal is to explore all possibilities to reach your audience.
• Narrow Down to Top 3:
  Once you’ve brainstormed, it’s time to narrow things down. Focus on the top 3 strategies that will most effectively reach your ideal audience. For example, if your audience hangs out on Instagram and loves visual content, make it your core channel.

Then, add email marketing to keep them engaged and partnerships to extend your reach. This multi-channel approach gives you more opportunities to connect and grow.

• Make the Smart Choice:
  Now that you have your top 3 strategies, it’s time to make the smart choice. Choose the strategies that will have the biggest impact with the least effort. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.

If you’re just starting out, focusing on organic social media or partnerships might be more efficient than jumping straight into paid ads. You don’t need to stretch yourself thin. Focus on what will help you reach your audience effectively without overwhelming your time and budget.
By prioritizing high-impact, low-effort strategies, you’ll be able to scale your marketing and keep it sustainable in the long run.

So, there you have it—the B.BRAVE Brand Blueprint! When I finally aligned my personal and business brands, everything just fell into place.

Now it’s your turn! If you’re ready to take the next step and align your own brands, I’ve created a free worksheet to guide you through the process. It’s packed with simple, actionable steps to help you get started.

Download it here and let’s build something meaningful—because your brand deserves to shine!

And if you have any questions along the way, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m here to help you every step of the way!

▶️ Want more on this topic? Check out this related video here.