The founder’s story is at the heart of every business.
Many entrepreneurs blend their identity with their business, connecting their personal story to the “why” of their business.
But before adopting this approach, it’s important to consider whether this is the right strategy for you and your business.
Many large companies choose not to share their founder stories publicly, instead focusing on their products and services, but some consumers want to know who or what they support, and they value more than just price when making purchasing decisions.
But what should you include, if anything? To answer that, you need to know your customers, what makes them buy, and to what extent they want to be the face of your brand.
If you’re selling to businesses in particularly conservative sectors, personal information may do more harm than good. In those cases, if you want to have access to the psychological profiles of all your consumers or clients, you may want to leave out potentially divisive details, opinions, and content.
This is not intended to prevent employers from having or expressing an opinion, but rather to raise awareness of the impact this may have.
If you’re unsure whether you should be the face of a brand, I encourage you to think about where you want to be in five years’ time. If you want to run your business with a small team, it may make sense to let your customers associate your identity with the company. If you plan to sell your business, it may be wise to separate yourself so that the business has its own brand.
Trust can be built through founder vulnerability, but it can also be built even more effectively by demonstrating a consistent, well-differentiated product or service offering and the strength of the overall leadership team.
But guess what…
What are all the ways companies can benefit from working with Founder Brand?
For business owners with large followings and social capital on social media, it definitely makes sense to leverage those followers as potential customers. If your founder’s story explains the need for the solution your business sells, sharing it can be helpful. Getting another individual to share their struggle with the same problem might be even more effective.
I am my brand and my customers know me, shouldn’t I keep up this momentum?
Absolutely. If you live, eat, breathe, sleep and depend on your business, and you love the way you live, then you don’t necessarily need to change. If your model works for you, keep it.
Changing your brand could alienate your customers. Isn’t that a risk?
Probably, but with the right customer research you might also find new customer segments that you can turn into repeat customers. A rebrand could open new doors, but of course, do your customer discovery/market research before making any big changes to your business or brand.
You may have heard the saying, “People do business with people they know, like, and trust.” And it’s true. But think back to your last five purchases. Did you know the person who made that product? As a consumer who cares about supporting local brands, I know many of the entrepreneurs I buy from. And yet, I make many purchasing decisions based solely on quality and price.
At the end of the day, your story is yours and what you do with it is up to you. You are under no obligation to give your story to your customers. You don’t have to provide any personal information in exchange for a potential sale. Being an entrepreneur is incredibly hard, and you don’t have to add the emotional work that comes with being vulnerable about your personal history, trauma, and relationships unless you personally want to.
