The age of authenticity in branding

If you’re in the thick of marketing your small business, you will have no doubt heard about how important it is to be authentic and relatable in order to gain traction while marketing, especially on social media. We are living in truly unprecedented times when it comes to authenticity because we have such access to each other’s lives through the lens of social media.

People crave connection with other real, relatable people, but there’s a balance between being real and maintaining professionalism when you’re a small business owner. Your business does not need to be a personal blog in order to be authentic and relatable.

The trick is finding the balance between human connection and professionalism.

Your business is still a business

First things first, your business is still a business even if you’re the only one running it.

The last thing you want to do is overshare about something that makes you or your business look bad or unprofessional. Authenticity does not mean you need to share every personal detail of your life or business.

A few practical ways to balance authenticity

1. When considering sharing a struggle with your audience, only do so if it will inspire your audience or if you can use it as a teaching moment. This generally means only share your struggles once when you’ve resolved or moved past them. If you’re in the thick of it, it might not be the right time to share.
2. Find ways to connect your personal anecdotes back to your brand values, services/products, or shared values with your audience.
3. Set boundaries on what you share on your business account. For example, perhaps being a parent is something you have in common with your ideal customers, but that doesn’t mean you need to share personal information about your children. It’s up to you where you draw that line, but setting boundaries about what you do and don’t share on your business accounts will prevent you from having to think about it in in the moment and will make sure you avoid oversharing.

When you do it right

When you strike the right balance of authenticity and professionalism, you can build deeper relationships with your customer base, make your brand more memorable and trusted, and humanize your brand in a way that makes it more approachable.

A brand strategy project is a great way to define who your target audience is and how you can best relate to them. It’ll also give you a distinct brand personality that will give you guidance on how your business behaves and speaks so that you can authentically show up without feeling like you need to rely on your own personality if that’s not what’s right for your business.

If you’re interested in a brand strategy project, check out my Services page to learn more about how to work with me.