Brand development Archives - Colour Me Social

Does Personal Branding Have a Branding Problem?

Why do so many business leaders understand the value of visibility, but still feel uncomfortable with what personal branding has come to represent?

If you spend enough time talking to founders, business owners and senior leaders, the advice you’ll hear they are always given becomes very familiar.

Be more visible. Share what you know. Put yourself out there. Build your personal brand.

There’s nothing particularly controversial about that advice. In fact, not at all. We advise exactly the same thing.

Long before someone contacts a business, there’s a good chance they’ve already done some research. They may have visited the website, looked at LinkedIn, read a few posts and tried to get a sense of the people behind the company.

They’re often trying to answer fairly simple questions. Does this person understand the challenge I’m facing? Do they seem credible? Do I feel confident enough to start a conversation with them?

Most experienced leaders already understand that. They know visibility can help build trust, strengthen relationships and give prospective clients greater confidence in the people behind the business.

Yet mention the words personal branding and something often changes.

The resistance isn’t usually to visibility itself. It’s to everything people have come to associate with the phrase. Perhaps then, personal branding has a branding problem of its own.

When personal branding starts to feel like performance

For many leaders, personal branding no longer sounds like simply sharing what you know. It sounds like performing it.

There’s a particular version of personal branding that has become very visible online: carefully curated stories, polished photographs, opinions on every new trend and a sense that almost every meeting, success, challenge or lesson should somehow become content.

For some, even the phrase itself can feel a little bit icky.

Whether that perception represents personal branding at its best isn’t really the point. If that’s what someone believes they’re signing up for, it’s understandable that they’d rather spend their time running the business.

And running a business already takes plenty of it. Clients need attention, teams need support, decisions need making and there’s always something else competing for headspace. Adding “become a content creator” to the list can quickly make visibility feel like another obligation rather than an opportunity.

The irony is that many of the leaders least comfortable with the idea of personal branding are also the people with the most experience worth sharing.

They’ve spent years solving difficult problems, building relationships, developing judgement and earning trust through the quality of their work. Their reputation was built through what they did, not through how often they appeared online.

Somewhere along the way, though, visibility became tangled up with performance.

Instead of feeling like an opportunity to share expertise, it began to feel like an expectation to become a different version of yourself.

Those are two very different things.

A lack of ideas is rarely the real problem

There’s another assumption worth challenging: that leaders who don’t post very often simply don’t know what to say.

That’s rarely what we see.

Listen to an experienced founder talking through a client problem, explaining a difficult decision or helping someone in their team and there’s usually no shortage of ideas.

Some stories reveal how they think. Examples that show what experience has taught them. Opinions formed through years of doing the work rather than reacting to whatever happens to be getting attention on LinkedIn.

The raw material is already there.

It just doesn’t usually appear while someone is sitting in front of a blank document trying to “create content”.

It appears in conversations.

That’s why someone can explain something brilliantly to a client in the morning and then say later that day that they have absolutely no idea what they could possibly post about.

It sounds contradictory, but it makes complete sense.

Talking and writing ask different things of us. Many people think more naturally when another person is asking questions, challenging an idea or giving them something specific to respond to. Put the same person in front of a blinking cursor and suddenly those ideas can feel much harder to access.

What looks like a shortage of ideas is often a shortage of time, structure and headspace.

Expertise isn’t the uncomfortable part

Most business leaders are perfectly happy to talk about what they know when there’s a reason for doing it. They can explain a problem to a client, share a lesson with a colleague or talk through why one approach might work better than another.

Where things often become uncomfortable is when sharing expertise begins to feel like promoting themselves.

Harvard Business School has described this tension as the “braggart’s dilemma”: the challenge of making your abilities visible without feeling as though you’re boasting. It’s something many experienced professionals recognise immediately. They know they have knowledge worth sharing, but they don’t want to sound boastful, over-rehearsed or insincere in the process.

That’s why telling someone to “post more consistently” can miss the point.

Consistency may not be the real barrier.

If the only version of visibility someone can picture feels performative or unnatural, deciding not to take part can feel entirely reasonable.

Trust is often formed before the first conversation

None of this changes the fact that buying behaviour has shifted.

Recommendations, reputation and good work still matter enormously. So does having a strong website and a credible business presence.

But increasingly, people want some reassurance before they make contact. They want to know who is behind the organisation, how that person approaches problems and whether there’s evidence of the experience they claim to have.

The Edelman Trust Barometer has repeatedly highlighted the importance of credible human voices in building trust. People don’t only evaluate organisations; they pay attention to the people who represent them.

That doesn’t mean every leader needs to become an influencer, document their personal life or post every day. It simply means people like to know who they’re dealing with.

There’s an important distinction here.

Attention is about reaching as many people as possible. Visibility is about helping the right people understand you. Those aren’t the same objective.

Most businesses don’t need broader attention. They need clearer understanding.

The best content is usually hiding in plain sight

One of the reasons we talk so much about conversations at Colour Me Social is because we’ve seen where the strongest content actually comes from.

It isn’t usually the hour someone sets aside to “create content”.

It’s the explanation they find themselves repeating during every sales meeting. The customer question that comes up again and again. The story they tell when they’re helping a colleague understand why something matters. The opinion they share during a strategy session that makes everyone around the table stop and think.

Those moments already contain experience, judgement and personality. They’re already demonstrating credibility.

The challenge is recognising that they’re happening and capturing them before they disappear back into the working day.

That’s very different from manufacturing a personal brand. It’s making better use of the thinking that’s already there. We often say that the best leadership content rarely starts with a blank document. It starts with a conversation. Not because conversations are somehow magical, but because that’s where people naturally reveal how they think. Their language becomes more relaxed. Their stories become more specific. Their personality appears without trying.

That’s much harder to manufacture, and much easier to trust.

It’s also what generic AI content often lacks. AI can help organise, shape and repurpose ideas, but without the leader’s own thinking, language and experience underneath it, polished words can still feel strangely interchangeable.

Perhaps we need a different conversation

Maybe the problem isn’t personal branding itself. Maybe it’s the expectations we’ve attached to it.

If becoming visible feels like becoming someone else, it’s understandable that many experienced leaders would rather opt out altogether. But visibility doesn’t have to involve constant posting, carefully constructed authenticity or becoming a full-time content creator. It can be much simpler than that.

Helping the right people understand how you think before they meet you. Making your experience easier to discover. Allowing some of the conversations you already have every day to work a little harder for your business.

For many leaders, that feels like a far more realistic ambition than “building a personal brand”.

The expertise was never missing. Neither were the ideas. What is often missing is a process for capturing that thinking and turning it into something that can be shared without losing the person behind it.

That’s the thinking behind Leader Brand.

Rather than asking busy leaders to become content creators, we start with a conversation and turn their existing thinking into content that still sounds recognisably like them.

One hour. One conversation. A month of content.

personal branding

Why People Need to See the People Behind the Business

Most people are surrounded by marketing all day. Buy this. Sign up for that. Book a call. Download the guide. Don’t miss out.

After a while, it all starts to sound the same.

The businesses that cut through are not always the loudest. They are not always the ones posting the most, using the trendiest format or shouting the hardest about what they do. They are often the ones that feel the most genuine. The ones that sound like there are actual people behind them. The ones that make you think, “I get them.”

That is what brand humanisation is really about.

Not making your business overly personal. Not sharing everything. Not turning every team member into a content creator. And definitely not trying to be relatable for the sake of it.

It is about helping people see the humans behind the business, the values behind the work and the thinking behind the message. Because people do not build trust with logos. They build trust with people.

A human brand is easier to trust

Trust is one of those words that gets used a lot in marketing. But really, it is very simple. People want to feel that you mean what you say.

They want to know there is substance behind the message. They want to understand how you think, what you care about and whether your business feels like one they would want to work with, buy from, recommend or join.

That is much harder to do when your brand sounds like everyone else.

There is nothing wrong with professional content. Your business still needs clear messaging, useful information and well-presented communication. But if everything feels too polished, too distant or too anonymous, people have very little to connect with.

A human brand gives people something more. A point of view. A tone they recognise. A sense of what matters to you. A feeling that there are real people behind the work. That is where trust starts.

People connect with what feels real

We all know the difference between content that has been created to tick a box and content that actually feels like someone meant it.

The first is easy to scroll past. The second makes you pause. Not because it is perfect, but because it feels specific. It feels useful. It sounds like it came from a real conversation, a real experience or a real belief.

That is why humanising your brand matters. It helps your audience understand not just what you do, but how you see the world.

What do you care about? What do you believe should be done differently? What have you learned from your work? What do your clients, customers or community often misunderstand? What makes your approach yours?

These are the things that make a business feel more alive. And in a crowded market, that matters, because people are not only comparing services. They are comparing confidence, chemistry, trust and fit.

Human does not mean unprofessional

One of the biggest worries businesses have is that sounding more human means becoming less professional.

It really doesn’t.

Human does not mean casual to the point of carelessness. It does not mean oversharing. It does not mean abandoning your brand guidelines, posting every passing thought or trying to sound like someone you are not.

A human brand can still be polished. It can still be strategic. It can still be thoughtful, expert and commercially focused.

The difference is that it does not hide behind empty language. It says things clearly. It sounds like the people inside the business would actually speak. It knows when to show warmth, when to show expertise and when to have a point of view.

That balance is important. Because the goal is not to make your business sound informal. The goal is to make it feel believable.

Your people are part of your brand

Your brand is not just your logo, colour palette, website or latest campaign. It is also the way your people show up. Your leaders. Your team. Your client-facing people. Your culture. Your stories. Your values in action.

For many businesses, this is where the strongest content already exists, but it often stays hidden. It comes out in client conversations, team meetings, event discussions, proposals, workshops and all the little moments where people explain what they do and why it matters.

But then the public-facing content becomes safer. More distant. More generic. More “brand voice” than human voice.

That is the missed opportunity.

Your people often hold the clearest proof of what your business is really like. The founder who can explain why the business exists. The leader who can make sense of change in your sector. The team member who can show the care that goes into the work. The client story that reveals the impact behind the service. The behind-the-scenes moment that helps people understand your standards, values or personality.

These are not just nice extras. They are trust-builders.

Stories make your business easier to remember

People remember stories far more easily than they remember service descriptions. That does not mean every piece of content needs to be emotional or dramatic. It simply means your communication should help people understand the human context behind what you do.

Why did you create this offer? What problem were you seeing again and again? What did a client conversation make you realise? What has your team learned from delivering the work? What belief shapes the way you approach things?

Those stories create meaning. They give people something to hold onto. And they help you move away from content that simply says, “Here is what we do,” towards content that says, “Here is why this matters.”

That shift is powerful. Because when people understand the why, they are much more likely to care about the what.

Social media is where your human side can show up

Social media gives businesses a real opportunity to sound less faceless. Not because every post needs to be personal, but because platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook allow people to see the texture of your business.

The thinking. The team. The process. The opinions. The values. The moments that might not make it onto a service page but still shape how people experience your brand.

This could be a founder sharing what they are learning, a team post that feels genuinely proud rather than forced, a behind-the-scenes look at how something came together, a reflection after an event, a client story told with care or a simple post that explains something your audience keeps asking about.

None of this needs to be complicated. In fact, the best human content often is not. It is clear, honest and useful. It sounds like you.

Practical ways to humanise your brand

Humanising your brand does not need to mean starting from scratch. Often, it means paying closer attention to what is already there.

Let your leaders have a voice

Your leaders do not need to become influencers, but they do need to be visible enough for people to understand what they believe, how they think and why they care.

A leader’s perspective can add weight to your content because it gives people access to the thinking behind the business. That might be through LinkedIn posts, blogs, video snippets, interviews, event reflections or comments on the issues shaping your sector.

The format matters less than the voice. The point is to help people see the person behind the role.

Share the thinking behind the work

Do not only show the finished result. Show the thinking that led to it.

Why did you approach something in a particular way? What problem were you trying to solve? What did you learn? What would you want others to understand?

This kind of content helps people see your expertise in action without it feeling like a hard sell. It also makes your work more meaningful, because people can understand the care, passion and experience behind it.

Use real stories, not generic claims

Lots of businesses say they care about clients. Lots of businesses say they are passionate, expert, friendly and different.

The stronger question is: where can people see that?

Real stories make your values easier to believe. That could be a client challenge, a team moment, a lesson learned, a community initiative or a small example of how your business does things differently.

You do not need to make everything into a case study. But you do need to give people something real to connect with.

Sound like yourself

This is one of the simplest and hardest things to get right.

So much business content sounds like it has been filtered through what people think a brand “should” sound like. The result is often content that is technically fine, but completely forgettable.

Humanising your brand means finding a tone that feels like you. Clear. Useful. Warm. Confident. Not trying too hard. Not hiding behind jargon. Not sounding like every other business in your space.

When your content sounds recognisably like your business, people start to build familiarity. And familiarity is part of trust.

Make engagement feel like a conversation

If someone comments on your post, replies to your email, leaves a review or asks a question, there is an opportunity to show the human side of your brand.

A thoughtful reply can do more for trust than another perfectly scheduled post. People notice when businesses listen. They notice when responses feel considered rather than automated. They notice when the tone feels warm, helpful and real.

That does not mean every interaction needs to be long or deeply personal. It just needs to feel like someone is actually there.

The takeaway

Humanising your brand is not about trying to be more interesting for the sake of it. It is about making your business easier to trust.

When people can see the humans behind the brand, they can better understand what you stand for, how you think and why your work matters. That is what creates a connection.

Not noise. Not endless posting. Not polished content with no personality. Just clear, useful, human communication that helps people feel closer to the business before they ever get in touch.

Because in the end, people do not just want to know what you do. They want to know who they are choosing to trust.

employer branding marketing

Your Leaders Are One of Your Strongest Credibility Assets

Many businesses are sitting on one of their strongest sources of credibility without using it properly.

We are not talking about a campaign, a polished company update or a shiny whitepaper. We are talking about their leaders: the people inside the business who hold the values, perspectives, experience and stories that help others understand why the business is worth trusting.

And yet, in many organisations, that thinking stays behind the scenes. It comes out in client meetings, team conversations, strategic decisions, event discussions and the way leaders talk about the business when they are face-to-face with people. Meanwhile, the public-facing content carries on doing the safe, sensible thing.

A company update. The obligatory service post. The “what an amazing…” event post. That carefully worded “we’re delighted to share our latest…”

All useful. All valid. But often missing the thing that brings people into the conversation: a human point of view.

Because people do not only buy into businesses. They buy into the people behind them. The leaders. The thinkers. The decision-makers. The ones with experience, opinions, values and a real sense of where the business is going.

In a world full of noise, where trust is harder to earn, attention is harder to hold and every business is trying to sound credible, your leaders may be one of the strongest credibility assets you already have.

Not because they need to become influencers, post every day or perform online. But because people want to know who is behind the business. They want to understand what your leaders believe, how they think, what they care about and whether there is a real human voice behind the brand.

Visibility is not vanity

This is where the conversation often gets slightly uncomfortable.

Leadership visibility can sound like self-promotion. And for many business owners, founders and senior leaders, that is the bit they really do not want.

They do not want to become the face of everything. They do not want to overshare. They do not want to spend their working week thinking of LinkedIn posts. And they definitely do not want to sound like they have suddenly appointed themselves as a thought leader.

Which is fair. Nobody wants that.

But visibility is not vanity when it helps people understand the business more clearly. It is not vanity when it builds trust, or when it helps prospective clients, employees, partners and referrers see the thinking and the people behind the work.

And it is not vanity when it makes the business feel more human, more credible and more connected to the world it operates in.

That is the distinction. Leadership visibility is not about being seen for the sake of being seen. It is about being understood.

People form an opinion before they ever speak to you

We all do it.

Before we work with someone, buy from them, partner with them, interview them or even reply to them, we look them up. We search their name, scan their LinkedIn profile, read what they have shared and notice whether they sound thoughtful, human and credible, or whether there is not much there at all.

That first impression does not always happen on your website anymore. It happens in search results, LinkedIn posts, event clips, podcast snippets, comments, interviews and all the small public signals that help people form a view.

This is one of the strongest themes in our sister agency Social C-Suite’s report, Your Voice Matters: The Rise of the Social Leader. Leadership today is not only experienced in boardrooms, meetings or formal announcements. It is experienced in public, often before a conversation ever takes place.

The report explores this shift through conversations with senior leaders, looking at how visibility, consistency and a clear social voice are becoming part of how trust is built.

That does not mean every leader needs to be on stage. It means their visibility, or lack of it, is already saying something. And that really does matter.

Because if someone searches for your leadership team and finds silence, outdated profiles or content that says very little, it may not destroy trust. But it does not build it either.

And that is the missed opportunity.

The missed opportunity is credibility left on the table

Of course, a silent leader can still be a brilliant leader. A low-profile founder can still have a brilliant business. A senior team that rarely posts can still be doing excellent work.

But if nobody can see their thinking, hear their perspective or understand what drives them, a huge amount of credibility stays hidden.

That is the real missed opportunity.

Not “we could have got more engagement on LinkedIn.” Not “we should have posted three times this week.” But people could have understood us better. They could have trusted us sooner. They could have felt more confident in our expertise. They could have seen the values behind the work. They could have remembered us when the right conversation came up.

That is what leadership visibility does. It helps trust start earlier.

Company pages can inform. Leaders can create belief.

Company pages matter. They give your business a place to share updates, services, news, events and proof of work. They are important, and they absolutely have a role to play.

But a company page can only do so much on its own.

A company page can say; Here is what we do.

A leader can say; Here is why we believe this matters.

A company page can share a service, but the leader can explain the problem behind it. A company page can celebrate a client win, and the leader can reflect on what the work taught them. A company page can promote an event, while the leader can talk about the conversation that needs to happen in the room.

That is the difference.

Brand content gives people information. Leadership visibility gives people the story. And that is often what builds credibility.

Final thoughts

Your leaders are already one of your strongest credibility assets. The question is whether their thinking is visible enough to build trust.

Because people want to hear from people. They want to understand the humans behind the business. They want to know what you believe, how you think and why they should care.

They do not need to become influencers or be seen everywhere.

They just need to be visible enough to be understood.

Want to make better use of the voices inside your business?

At Colour Me Social, we help businesses turn leadership thinking, stories and expertise into visibility that builds trust, credibility and connection. From strategy and content planning to LinkedIn posts, blogs and leader-led campaigns, we help your leaders show up in a way that feels human, useful and true to them.

employer branding personal branding

Why Every Leader Needs a Strong Social Voice (And How to Do It)

These days, leadership isn’t just about what happens in the boardroom – it’s curated, shared in your social voice and judged online. Your digital footprint is your modern-day badge of credibility.

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher

82 % of employees will research a CEO’s online presence before even considering joining that company. So whether your socials are live matters, especially when talent is doing their due diligence.
92 % of professionals are more likely to trust a company whose senior executives are active on social media—presence builds trust, period.
71 % of consumers are more likely to buy from a company if its CEO is active on social media—leadership visibility drives behaviour.
70 % of consumers feel more connected to a brand when its CEO is active on social, and 72 % feel equally close when employees share stories too. Connection is the new currency.

The Influence of Authentic Connection

When a leader shows up authentically and humanly, the payoff is far bigger than vanity metrics:

Talent is magnetised. Leadership that’s visible and values-driven makes people want to belong.
Credibility gets real. You don’t need polished PR; you need to sound human.
You become part of the greater conversation. Whether it’s ESG, AI or purpose, your voice now shapes stakeholder perception.
Sales and trust align. Visibility and authenticity often mean shorter sales cycles and stronger brand loyalty.

Why a Strong Social Presence Creates Impact

A well-defined leadership voice does more than boost visibility. It creates tangible business outcomes.

1. Attracting and retaining talent
Employees don’t just want a job; they want to work with leaders who inspire them. A strong social presence demonstrates vision, values, and humanity – the things that make people choose to join and stay.

2. Building trust and credibility
In an era of information overload, trust is currency. People look to leaders for clarity, reassurance, and perspective. Sharing your expertise, your values, and your story helps build the trust that underpins every relationship – with employees, customers, investors, and partners.

3. Shaping the narrative on big issues
From AI to climate change, diversity to the future of work, stakeholders expect leaders to engage with the issues shaping the world. A visible, authentic voice positions you not just as a business leader, but as a thought leader who is actively shaping the conversation.

4. Driving commercial growth
Leadership visibility is no longer separate from business outcomes. Buyers, partners, and clients are influenced by what they see and hear from executives. When leaders show up consistently online, they shorten sales cycles, open doors to new opportunities, and create the kind of trust that drives revenue.

Yet So Many Leaders Still Miss the Mark

Why doesn’t it happen more?

Time-starved – there’s just no space in the diary for “posting.”
Message misfires – don’t know what to say or how to say it, without sounding corporate.
Inauthenticity – the fear of being “cringe” prevents realness.
Bad support – agencies and ghostwriters can’t capture nuance at the speed leaders need.

The result? Silence. Or worse: bland, forgettable chatter.

Enter: Leader Brand – Own Your Social Voice

This isn’t another content service. It’s the antidote to strategic silence.

Here’s the simple, no-BS process:

A guided monthly chat – just one conversation.
We extract the real strands – key quotes, tone, themes.
We spin that into a suite of content – blogs, social posts, videos, audiograms. All your voice.
You approve, we publish or support publishing. No ghostwriting. No corporate clichés. No AI vanilla noise

Why Leader Brand Works (Even in a 24/7 Era)

One conversation, many assets. Big impact, zero overwhelm.
You stay in control: your voice, your stories, your rhythm.
Visibility with integrity. You become the leader people want to follow, not the one they tolerate.
Business outcomes follow. Talent, trust, influence, when the messenger is real, the message lands.

Ready to Own Your Social Voice?

Start with one conversation. We’ll amplify your authenticity.

👉 Discover Leader Brand

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Humanising Your Brand – Why It Matters

Brand humanisation: Gaining trust and authenticity

Like many of us, we bet you are besieged by all sorts of marketing messaging telling you to “buy now” or “subscribe today,” which begs for just 10 minutes of your time.

However, there is a deeper and more effective means of engaging with your audience and stakeholders than that. By genuinely humanising your brand, you can foster authentic connections that resonate on a personal level, building trust, loyalty and engagement.

In this blog, we explore “the why” and the benefits of humanising your brand and share practical strategies for ensuring you do it right.

Unveiling the Benefits of Humanising Your Brand

Building Trust and Credibility: Trust is the cornerstone of any meaningful relationship, especially in business. When confidence in companies and institutions seems to be dwindling, people are naturally sceptical of faceless entities. Humanising your brand helps bridge this gap by creating a sense of authenticity and reliability. Stakeholders, whether customers, investors or future employees, are more inclined to trust a brand that feels genuine and relatable. In fact, according to a report by Edelman, 81% of consumers state that trust in a brand is a deal-breaker or deciding factor when making purchase decisions. This statistic highlights the pivotal role trust plays in modern consumer behaviour. By humanising your communications, you cultivate trust and, with it, long-term loyalty.

Emotional Connection: It’s true what they say. People connect with people—not faceless corporations. You’ll make emotional connections with your audience when you reveal the human side of your brand, ensuring deep connections are made. Emotional resonance is integral to creating sustainable relationships with consumers. It’s not a “nice-to-have”; it’s necessary for engagement and long-term loyalty. A study conducted by Harvard Business Review found that emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers. Tapping into your audience’s emotions by humanising your brand will unlock an incredibly potent driver for business growth.

Creating Standout in a Crowded Place: Competition is fierce, and consumers have countless options, so humanising your brand can be a game-changer. Through the stories of your business’s values and unique personalities, you can show differentiation in the sea of sameness from your competition. When customers can relate to your brand on a personal level, they are more likely to choose you over a competitor. Storytelling is where the rubber meets the road: it’s your unique differentiator. Whether you’re telling the story of your brand’s journey or shining a spotlight on employees’ personal stories, storytelling forges deep connections. According to the author and branding expert Bernadette Jiwa, “Brands that lead with purpose and values attract customers who buy with their hearts.”

Increased Customer Loyalty: Loyal customers are the backbone of any business. Trust and authenticity are central to creating lasting bonds with your customers and clients. By humanising your brand, you can foster a sense of community, ensuring customers feel seen, heard, and appreciated. Humanisation extends beyond external relationships; it also impacts internal culture. According to Gallup, businesses with highly engaged teams experience 21% greater profitability. Being transparent and creating an authentic work environment will increase morale among employees, thereby increasing productivity and customer experiences.

Social Media Interaction: One of the best opportunities to show the human side of your business is through social media. Being personal in whatever content you post elicits great interest among today’s consumers. Sprout Social found that 86% of people say authenticity is critical in determining which brands they like and support. Other favourites—personal stories, behind-the-scenes views, and leadership insights—have the right “container” to be most effective on social media. Such posts are shareable and help build a more personal and emotional connection with your audience.

Practical Tips for Humanising Your Brand

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of humanising your brand let’s dive into actionable tips you can implement:

Showcase Leadership Personalities: Leadership sets the tone for a brand’s personality. Ask your leadership team to share personal stories, insights, and experiences through blog posts, video messages, or social media updates. This type of communication helps humanise your brand, making it more relatable and approachable. A CEO’s voice or a leadership team’s candid perspective allows customers to see the individuals behind the brand’s decisions, fostering greater trust and credibility.

Share Real-life Content: Give your audience a glimpse into your company’s daily workings. Sharing behind-the-scenes content such as team-building activities, product development processes, and employee stories can humanise your brand and strengthen the connection between your company and stakeholders. For example, clothing company Zappos regularly shares behind-the-scenes moments with their employees, further reinforcing their brand’s core values of happiness and customer service.

Encourage Employee Advocacy: Your employees are influential brand ambassadors. This helps add authenticity and empowers your workforce to share their personal experiences on social media. Authenticity comes when employees share their stories about their journey with the company; corporate marketing cannot duplicate that. In fact, LinkedIn found that content shared by employees has 2x higher engagement rates than when shared by the company itself. This highlights the importance of leveraging employee voices to humanise your brand.

Personalised Customer Engagement: Engage with your audience personally. Respond to comments, reviews, and social media interactions in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Tailored responses show that your brand values its customers and listens to their concerns and feedback.

Host Live Interactions: Live videos, webinars, Q&A sessions, and live events create spontaneous, authentic engagement opportunities. These real-time interactions provide a direct line between your company and customers, allowing them to engage with your brand in a meaningful way.

The Takeaway: Humanising your brand is not just a marketing tactic—it’s a critical strategy for creating genuine, lasting connections with your audience and stakeholders that allows you to create an environment of trust, engagement, and loyalty by revealing the people behind your company, sharing authentic stories, and fostering a transparent work culture.

Want to learn how humanising your brand can drive success for your business? Book a totally FREE no, no-obligation chat.

References:

Edelman Trust Barometer, “81% of consumers say trust in a brand is a deal-breaker or a deciding factor in their buying decision.” Source
Harvard Business Review, “Emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers.” Source
Gallup, “Highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability.” Source
Sprout Social, “86% of people say authenticity is a key factor when deciding which brands to support.” Source
LinkedIn, “Content shared by employees has 2x higher engagement rates than when shared by the company.” Source

Storytelling: A Guide For SMEs And Their Leaders

From social media to paid advertising to email marketing, it doesn’t matter which channel; it’s bloody hard to get seen or heard. In addition to constantly thinking about what content to create, keeping your content fresh and engaging, and, let’s be honest, finding the time, many organisations and leaders give up.

If the above resonates with you, read on!

Every second of every day, it feels like we are being bombarded. Traditional marketing messages get sucked into the black hole of all the noise. However, there is one approach that has proven timeless and effective: storytelling. This technique is not just for large corporations with massive budgets. SMEs can use stories to achieve audience engagement, build brand identity and loyalty, improve communication, humanise your brand, show your value and grow your business.

This guide is part of a series that seeks to show how, as an SME organisation or leader, you can tell stories that create impact, why storytelling is essential, and how to include it in your marketing mix.

The Power of Storytelling: Why It Matters

Storytelling has been a critical method of human communication for thousands of years. It is a powerful medium because stories resonate on an emotional level, enabling people to connect to companies, brands, and leaders on a deeper level. Research has shown that 92% of consumers want brands to make ads feel like stories. Messaging that sticks in your head because it is memorable will be remembered quickly, while a simple ad will be forgotten quickly.

Stories also affect buying decisions: 55% would buy from yo ur brand if they love your story.

The Benefits of Storytelling for SMEs

Build Emotional Connections: A well-told story will transform a faceless brand into a very human, relatable entity. Stories that describe the brand’s values, challenges, and successes will bring about shared emotions from the audience. This may create loyalty in them, thus turning customers into advocates.
Differentiation: For many SMEs, trying to differentiate themselves only by their product or service in competitive markets takes a lot of work. In this sense, storytelling gives you the chance to show what makes your brand unique; differentiation helps you avoid being one more in a crowded marketplace.
Build Brand Perception: Through consistent storytelling of the mission and values, you can create a perception of people in your company, which is helpful for SMEs in having a strong impact on branding and creating a visual identity.
Increases Engagement: If you tell a story or message within the content, it’s more likely to be shared and engaged with. It extends your reach and helps create a community around your brand.

Find Your Story: Where to Begin

Even the tiniest organisations hold stories worth telling. The trick is to find the stories that resonate with your intended audience and reflect your brand’s mission. Here are some places to look for compelling stories:

Founding Stories: Every business has a beginning. Sharing the story of how your company was founded—why it was started, the challenges faced, and the vision that drove it—can humanise your brand and inspire your audience.
Customer Success Stories: Testimonials and case studies are powerful tools. The customer stories will provide proof of your work and help show the value of what you’re offering.
Behind-the-scenes: A sneak peek behind the curtain is always intriguing to people. No matter if it’s a day in the life at your office, the process of creating your products, or the team who makes it all happen, these stories add authenticity to your brand.
Values and Mission: Share stories that reflect the core values and mission of your business. For example, if sustainability matters to your brand, then talk about that and tell stories of your impact on the environment.
Overcoming Obstacles: Audiences find stories of resilience and perseverance highly compelling. How your business overcame adversities can be another way to make your brand more relatable and credible.

Various Types of Storytelling in Marketing

Narrative Storytelling: In this narrative style, one tells the most traditional form, such as crafting a story around your brand, product, or customer experience. It typically follows a structure of beginning, middle, and end, with a clear message or moral.
Visual Storytelling: With the rise of Instagram and TikTok, branding will increasingly rely on the use of media and visual forms to convey the story behind a brand in the most captivating way possible and with the least expense to the audience.
Interactive Storytelling: Involves the audience in the narrative. This can be done through social media campaigns, interactive videos, or even gamification, in which the audience’s choices shape the end of the story.
User-Generated Content: Engaging your customers and allowing them to share stories about your brand could be a potent practice. This gives out genuine content while creating a community around your brand.

Introducing Storytelling into Your Marketing Agenda

Know Your Audience: Effective storytelling must understand who the audience is and what they care about. Use market research, customer feedback, and social listening to gather insights into your audience’s interests, values, and pain points.
Know Your Purpose: Your purpose is the compass you use in your content strategy. It helps you understand what you want to achieve and align your efforts to achieve those goals. Co ntent without a defined purpose risks being unfocused and inconsistent, a trap that wastes precious opportunities and resources. Above all, content driven by a sense of purpose will resonate more with audiences because it reflects real value and belief.
Define Your Brand’s Story: Articulate clearly the narrative that will speak to your brand’s mission and values. Create only one consistent storyline, or narrative, that flows through all your communication channels—from your website to social media and advertising.
Content Calendar: Outline your plans for storytelling in advance using a content calendar. This way, you will ensure your stories are published at a timely moment, stay relevant, and have an effect on the overall marketing strategy.
Utilise Multiple Channels: Tell your stories using as many diverse channels as possible. For example, share a client success story on your blog, capture and upload a video testimonial to YouTube, and send behind-the-scenes snapshots to Instagram.
Measure and Adjust: Track performance on storytelling efforts by getting metrics on engagement, reach, and conversions. Use these insights to continue polishing your approach to storytelling.

Learnings: Storytelling is Timeless

Storytelling is not just a trend; it’s a timeless tool that can transform your marketing efforts. It offers an exceptional opportunity for SMEs to differentiate themselves from the competition, connect with customers on a deeper level, and build a community around your brand that is loyal. By identifying unique stories you want to tell and telling them powerfully, you can create a marketing plan that grows, engages, and resonates. Embrace storytelling, and you’ll find even the tiniest stories result in very big things.

Make ‘You’ The Heart Of Your Business Marketing

How human content and personal branding help shape your business marketing.

We’re all familiar with branding our business, but what about branding ourselves?

Working on your personal brand is a vital tool in your business marketing strategy. Why? Because people want to feel a connection to others through authentic content that is inspiring, informative, and, crucially, human.

In essence, they want to engage with people, not faceless brands (don’t worry, we’ve got you covered here too).

The key to seeing success on social media, therefore, is to put humans (you) at the heart of your business marketing strategy.

Marketing yourself and putting a human face on your business has many advantages, and LinkedIn is by far one of the best platforms for building your brand.

Still, with so many people building brands, how do you get it right without getting lost in the sea of content? It requires a good strategy, so here are some ideas and tips that will help you get started.

Write Articles

To stand out in LinkedIn’s crowded field, you need to create rich content. We’re sure you’ve heard that one before, but that’s because it’s one of the very best ways to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise and build your brand on LinkedIn.

Most organisations are sitting on a gold mine of information and data, both of which would be of interest to your network. It’s just a matter of creating content from those valuable assets. Even if you don’t have a blog on your website, posting on LinkedIn has some clear advantages. Your entire network knows when you post anything on the platform, and you can even add your posts to your profile.

Share Exceptional and Varied Content

The thing that makes a mark on LinkedIn is exceptional content that nobody can stop reading. Try to make sure this content is a diverse mix that represents all sides of your personal brand and personality: videos, infographics, free ebooks, and live webinars.

Reshare Your Top-Performing Posts

Keep a close eye on which posts perform the best and repurpose or reuse that content. They have resonated with your audience, so take your own lead and let them inspire other content. Reshare those super-successful posts to get more traction.

Leverage Industry Influencers

Influencers are crucial to your personal brand. Establishing relationships with influencers in your industry by mentioning them in posts can help boost your visibility on LinkedIn and affirm your brand for other users.

Join Groups

A great resource in the LinkedIn ecosystem, primarily as you build your personal brand, is the use of groups. Groups are a way to make connections with others in your industry. They also allow for some potentially powerful work relationships down the line. There’s one key thing to remember about it, though: Participate. Offer advice, start conversation threads, share content, and comment—this type of interaction will mean you gain a lot more from groups than if you sit on the sidelines.

Networking

A huge part of LinkedIn is making and maintaining connections. Accept all requests that come in, even if you don’t know the person. The more connections you have, the more LinkedIn will rank you higher, and the more others will view your profile.

Engage

You need to keep interacting with LinkedIn if it’s going to remain an up-to-the-minute authority on you and your personal brand. So post, share, and engage with it at regular intervals to keep your profile current. Be active on the network to get a return from it. One of the most ignored yet effective methods of personal branding is engaging with the content of other people. Here is why it is important:

Relationships: Commenting, sharing, and liking others’ content are ways of showing interest in the thoughts and ideas that others offer.

Increase visibility: When you comment or like others’ content, your name is flashed in front of their audience, increasing your visibility. This can result in increased followers and connections for yourself.

Showcase Expertise: Your ability to make thoughtful comments and interactions will allow you to display your expertise and further provide added value. This can place you as a knowledgeable and active participant in your field.

Reciprocity: Interacting or connecting with others usually leads to them interfacing with your content, too. This will help you reach out and be influential in the long run.

Track Your Progress: As you build your brand, you need to track your progress. Use analytics tools to monitor your online presence, engagement levels, and the effectiveness of your content. This way, you can make data-driven decisions and adapt your strategy.

Be Real at All Times: Finally, be authentic. This point stands firm when it comes to building a personal brand. Be real in your approach, transparent about your journey, and consistent in messaging.

Fifteen Facts About Us For Anyone Who’s Interested

We talk about the importance of humanising brands all the time, and as we like to practice what we preach, here’s a little bit about us, minus our services and what we do. This isn’t a sales pitch piece, we promise. It’s a little bit about our story for anyone who might be interested.

It all started one sunny(ish) day in March 2015. That’s when we launched—zero clients, no income, and armed with only a personal loan.
To get things moving, Pip worked multiple jobs. One involved getting up at 2:30 a.m. four days a week and then coming home to work on Colour Me Social—par for the course, as we are sure many startups have experienced!
By the end of April, we were working with nine fantastic startup companies.
Long-term relationships and partnerships are essential to us. One of the magnificent nine we still are proudly working with today
We are one of the original homeworking pioneers. We don’t have offices—we never have. We learned years ago how to operate effectively across multiple locations. Remember Skype? It’s how we used to roll.
Our team is based mostly in the UK, but we also have wonderful colleagues in Denmark, France, and North Macedonia.
Although primarily UK-based; we also have clients in Germany and the US currently.
Our first client was in the Hair and Beauty industry, and our most recent is a SaaS company. Diverse we are.
We work with clients in B2B and B2C industries, from Fortune 500 leadership development providers to retail.
We don’t call ourselves an agency. We see ourselves more as a marketing communications collective. That’s not as pretentious as it sounds. It allows us to bring in the best talent from every marketing sphere without the barrier of working only with permanent agency-based employees.
Diversity and inclusion is a big deal for us. From our founder, Pip, to our wider team, we are proud of our colleagues and the people we work with, regardless of their backgrounds.
In fact, one of our ambitions is to create an academy to support and develop talented people from diverse and underrepresented communities who want to break into the marketing industry.
We have ups and downs like any business. We have almost not made it on a few occasions, but we’ve learned the power of pivoting and of networks and communities.
When it comes to marketing, we believe 100% in the need to engage all your stakeholders, not just potential prospects, on social media.
Our mission is to help businesses share their purpose, values, and voice, communicate and engage effectively with all their stakeholders, and showcase the human side of their organisation through engaging stories and content.

As we said, no sales pitch. Just 15 facts about little ol’ us.

Thanks for reading.

content marketing employer branding marketing small business small business marketing social media marketing startups

Does Your Marketing Speak To Your Stakeholders?

When it comes to marketing, we’ll say it again: A business is powered by more than potential prospects on social media.

For social media marketing and marketing communication to be truly effective, you need to create engaging content with a purpose that tells a story and builds meaningful connections with your audience.

However, it’s not just your potential prospects who need engaging content; it’s all your stakeholders, including customers, employees (present and future), partners, investors, and your community.

Engaging all stakeholders allows you to share your purpose, values, and mission. It boosts customer and employee loyalty, drives business growth and better communication, and helps build strong communities. It even helps with talent attraction and retention.

Your stakeholders matter. And so does how you communicate with them and the content you create.

So, read on as we explore the importance of engaging your stakeholders, throw in some all-important benefits, and provide some actionable tips.

Why Engaging All Stakeholders is Important

Holistic Brand Perception: Engaging content that resonates with all stakeholders ensures a unified and positive perception of your brand. This consistency across various groups reinforces trust and credibility, which we are sure you’d agree is important.
Enhanced Employee Engagement: Employees are the backbone of any organisation, and yours is no different. By creating content that involves and inspires them, companies can boost morale, increase productivity, and foster a sense of ownership and pride in the company they work for, which is also pretty damn important.
Talent attraction: A purpose-driven organisation is an attractive organisation. As this excellent article by Tessa G. Misiaszek, PhD, states, “When you clearly communicate your brand purpose, you’re more likely to attract candidates who share your values and vision. This alignment can lead to higher job satisfaction, better performance, and longer retention rates.”
Stronger Partnerships: Investors and partners play an essential role in your business. Engaging them with content that keeps them informed and aligned with the company’s vision is vital to building a good relationship with them.
Community Connection: A brand’s connection to its community can significantly impact its reputation and success. For example, content that engages and demonstrates corporate social responsibility helps build loyal and sustainable connections.
Increased Loyalty and Advocacy: When stakeholders feel valued and engaged, they are more likely to become advocates for your brand. This can lead to increased word-of-mouth referrals and a more substantial brand reputation. Nope. We can’t see any negatives either.
Improved Communication and Transparency: Engaging content promotes open communication and transparency. Stakeholders appreciate being kept in the loop and understanding the company’s direction, which builds trust and reduces potential conflicts.

Tips for Creating Engaging Content for All Stakeholders

Understand Your Stakeholders and Who They Are: This is where good ol’ research comes into play. As a team, work together to understand who they are, their interests, needs, and what they want to hear. Create detailed personas and then build and tailor your stories and messaging to fit them. Remember, the content you create needs to be for them. And it needs to make them feel something.
Leverage Storytelling: Use storytelling to create compelling narratives that resonate with different stakeholders. Highlight employee achievements, partner success stories, and community initiatives to build a relatable and engaging brand story.
Unleash the power of your leaders: Sharing and caring as a company is brilliant, but remember that people build relationships with people. Get your leaders to show their human side. Whether it’s showcasing their knowledge, experience, opinions or values, making it human really works.
Utilise Multiple Content Formats: Different stakeholders prefer different types of content. Mix things up. Blogs, videos, podcasts, webinars, infographics, social media updates—the choice is yours. And as this article discusses, don’t forget to repurpose!
Encourage Interaction: Foster a two-way communication channel by encouraging stakeholders to interact with your content. Prompt questions and ask for feedback. Remember to respond to comments to create a sense of community and involvement and avoid undoing all of your great work.
Highlight Shared Values: Emphasise the values and goals you share with your stakeholders. Content that aligns with their values is more likely to resonate and create a deeper connection.
Track and Measure Engagement: Use analytics tools to track the engagement levels of your content. Identify which pieces are performing well and understand why so you can replicate successful strategies and continuously improve your content. Oh, and did we mention the importance of repurposing your content?

Conclusion

Engaging all your stakeholders is not just a strategy; it’s a necessity. Businesses can build a cohesive brand image, foster loyalty, and drive sustainable growth by creating content that resonates with employees, customers, partners, investors, and the community.

As we said, your marketing is powered by more than potential prospects on social media. It’s powered by each and every one of your stakeholders. Don’t leave them behind.

content marketing employer branding marketing Social Media social media marketing stakeholder engagement stakeholders

Why Content Repurposing Is Your Go-To Best Friend

Let’s face it. Whether you are a business owner or work in marketing, consistently creating fresh, engaging content is not just daunting; it can be creatively draining and oh-so time-consuming. However, with a little tweak to your strategic approach, you can significantly remove the above challenges by reusing existing content in new formats. Put simply, you can extend the life of your content, reach broader audiences, and enhance your overall marketing efficiency. And what’s not to love about that?

Join us as we explore why content repurposing is an essential tactic, its benefits, and some practical tips on how to do it.

Why Content Repurposing is Important

It Extracts More Value From The Work You Have Already Done: Creating high-quality content requires heavily investing your time, effort, and resources. Being innovative and building a repurposing strategy will enable you to maximise that return by extracting more value from existing content. Instead of creating new content from scratch, repurposing allows you to extend the life and reach of your current assets. Essentially, you get more out of the content you have already created.
It Reaches Further: Not only will you find a solution to engage with people who prefer different types of content, but by repurposing content into various formats, you can expand the reach across multiple channels and stuff the algorithm, too, by sharing it multiple times over a period.
It is Such A Waste Of Your Time Not to: Imagine this. You’ve spent hours writing a brilliant blog. Day’s on a white paper. You just delivered a killer webinar. And you only share it once. Once??? With content repurposing, you can share a blog multiple times just by creating a new social graphic each time. That white paper? It contains at least ten posts using the stats, quotes, and all the other wonderful insights. The webinar? We are talking about six posts, at least. The pre, live and post-event content is there for the taking.

Benefits of Content Repurposing

Consistency Across Platforms: From what to write to thinking of another new idea to finding something fresh to talk about, be honest; maintaining a consistent presence across various social media platforms is exhausting. Repurposing content ensures that the stories you want to tell are told with less effort while also adapting to each platform’s unique characteristics. It’s a great way to build consistency, trust and brand recognition among audiences. And makes you less knackered.
Efficient Use of Resources: Content repurposing reduces the need for constant content creation, allowing marketing teams to focus on other strategic activities. It leverages existing resources effectively, making the content creation more efficient and less resource-intensive. Nice.
Prolonged Content Lifespan: Content has a limited lifespan, especially on fast-moving social media platforms. Repurposing extends the life of your content by giving it a glow-up and reintroducing it in new formats. This ensures that valuable content generates engagement long after its initial release.

Tips for Effective Content Repurposing

Identify High-Performing Content: Start by identifying content that has performed well in the past. Look for blog posts, videos, or social media updates that received high engagement. These pieces are prime candidates for repurposing.
Choose the Right Formats: Consider how the content can be transformed into different formats. For instance, a detailed blog post can be turned into an infographic, a series of social media posts, or a video tutorial. Ensure that the new format aligns with the preferences of your target audience.
Update and Refresh: When repurposing older content, update any outdated information and refresh the visuals to keep it current. Adding new insights or perspectives can also enhance the value of the repurposed content.
Leverage User-Generated Content: Phone a friend. Ask your clients, team and customers (basically all your stakeholders) to create content related to your brand. User-generated content, such as reviews, testimonials, and social media mentions, can be repurposed into engaging posts, stories, or case studies.
Create a Content Repurposing Plan: Develop a strategic plan for repurposing content. Schedule regular reviews of existing content and map out how each piece can be repurposed across different platforms. Get your planning right, and you will have a steady stream of fresh content without overwhelming yourself or your marketing team.