A Complete Guide to Branding Yourself as a CEO

In a world where a quick Google search introduces you to your next high-caliber client, an A-player hire, or the Chair(wo)man who invites you to occupy a coveted board seat, the importance of a personal brand has never been more pronounced. 

Gone are the days when hiding behind your fast-scaling business sufficed. Now, your online presence as the CEO of your organization is just as crucial as the online presence of the business itself. In the light of AI and deep fakes, many say that the CEO’s online presence is becoming even more crucial.  

Think about it: every tweet you send, every photo you post, and every article you share contributes to a global digital footprint. This footprint is your brand. It's how people perceive you from afar, and it can influence your entrepreneurial journey just as much as your face-to-face interactions do.

While you might not be a household name (yet!), the essence of who you are and how you present yourself professionally is critical to your overall success. Each day, your personal brand is on display, accessible to potential clients, partners, and investors worldwide. 

Is the image you're projecting the one you want people to see? 

It might be time to take charge of branding yourself professionally.

This article aims to guide you through the essential steps of creating your own brand and building and maintaining a powerful personal brand that reflects your true professional identity as a CEO. With effective personal branding techniques, you can ensure that your online presence mirrors the best version of yourself and opens up endless opportunities. Now let’s get started on how to brand yourself online.

What is Personal Branding?

At its core, branding is about building a uniquely defined and positioned image that emotionally resonates with your target audience. It’s not just about what you do; it's about showing the world who you actually are. For a CEO, effective branding encapsulates your leadership style, decision-making process, achievements, and the values that drive your business conduct. This clearly defined perception helps you to create a memorable identity in the minds of your stakeholders, clients, and the market at large.

10 Helpful Personal Branding Tips 

1. Define Your Angle

Before anything else, decide what you want your personal brand to represent. What makes you unique? Can you zero in on a clear point of view you hold and express it in one or two words? This is what we help with during our proprietary brand discovery process, so do book a call if you don’t know where to start developing your unique angle.  

2. Highlight Your Brand Traits

Identify how you want to be perceived when branding yourself. What are the 3-5 adjectives you want people to uniformly associate with you? A brand is all about perception, so be clear about what you want your brand perception to be in the minds of so many others.

3. Become a Thought Leader

Work on becoming the go-to expert in your field. Whether it’s through writing insightful articles, speaking at industry events, or authoring a book, becoming a recognized expert boosts not only your credibility and visibility but, more importantly, that of your business. We have more and more Heads of Marketing reach out to us to brand their CEOs as they know how much this will serve the marketing function of the organization as a result.

4. Build Your Digital Footprint

So many CEOs are invisible online. Your prospects and prospective hires (especially those for leadership roles) are all Googling you. What comes up? We recommend you create a professional website and maintain active social media profiles (at the very least on LinkedIn) as part of building your brand. Regularly share content that reflects your brand angle and professional insights, ensuring everything online aligns with the image you want to project.

5. Be Consistent

Consistency is key when creating a brand for yourself. From the style and quality of your content to how you interact online and in person, ensure every touchpoint is consistent with your brand identity. This builds trust and recognition. Most CEOs struggle with consistency when it comes to building their online visibility. If you know that you will find it challenging to make it a priority, hire experts that can help. When engaging with a firm like Brand of a Leader, you can expect to increase your online presence with a time investment of 2-5 hours per month. Yes, per month. 

6. Share Your Journey

Tell your story through your marketing materials, speeches, and content. Sharing the challenges you've overcome and the successes you've achieved makes your brand relatable and memorable. And yes, you can still be a private person. Most of our clients are. Share your story authentically and vulnerably when needed, keeping personal details as private as you wish. 

7. Seek Honest Opinions

Ask people you trust—like friends, mentors, or fellow entrepreneurs—to give feedback on how you come across to others. This can help you see how you're perceived and where you might need to make changes. This is also one of the first exercises we recommend you begin with when creating a personal brand identity. Ask your network how they would describe you, which will give you priceless insights into your current brand perception. 

8. Highlight your Team Members

Many CEOs struggle with the spotlight and feel uncomfortable constantly talking about themselves online. Although you cannot completely avoid speaking about yourself when building a personal brand, you can add captivating content about others into your mix. And it’s a win-win: you can remove the spotlight off yourself for a moment, and your team members feel grateful for the recognition. 

9. Don’t Only Always Talk Shop

Chances are, you are already making a positive impact in your field or community. Whether through mentoring, volunteering, or leading initiatives, being associated with positive contributions reinforces a strong and ethical brand. It builds goodwill, and we all need it as leaders. Talk about the causes you are involved with and things you do aside from leading your business - it will make you more relatable and will humanize your brand. 

10. Aim to Leave a Mark

Think long-term about the legacy you want to create, reminding yourself you are your own brand. What lasting impact do you want your brand to have? This vision will guide your actions and help you build a brand that stands for something significant.

Don’t Only Always Talk Shop

Chances are, you are already making a positive impact in your field or community. Whether through mentoring, volunteering, or leading initiatives, being associated with positive contributions reinforces a strong and ethical brand. It builds goodwill, and we all need it as leaders. Talk about the causes you are involved with and things you do aside from leading your business - it will make you more relatable and will humanize your brand.  

Aim to Leave a Mark

Think long-term about the legacy you want to create, reminding yourself you are your own brand. What lasting impact do you want your brand to have? This vision will guide your actions and help you build a brand that stands for something significant.

Take Charge of Your Story: Shape Your Brand, Open New Doors

We hope you have taken away some points on building your professional brand. If you don't define yourself, you leave it up to others to define you, and they might perceive you the way you would not choose to be perceived. Proactively shaping your brand not only keeps you relevant but also serves your business in the ways that are expected of a modern leader. 

​​If you’re a Gen X entrepreneur or CEO wondering how to improve your personal brand, or craft a distinctive professional identity, consider reaching out to Brand of a Leader. As specialists in professional branding, we help leaders like yourself realize and express their greatness. We offer tailored branding strategies that not only reflect who you are but also strategically position your business in your market. Your personal brand is key to the continued success of your business—let us help you enhance it.