The growth of consumer value in the business sector has reached unprecedented heights in the 21st century. Not taking into account the interests of a potential client, an entrepreneur risks staying on the sidelines of progress and losing the slightest competitive advantage in the market. Accordingly, the demand for marketing tools is also growing, one of which is branding. A beautiful and vivid image that attracts the same consumer is often more important than the characteristics of the proposed product.
Is it any wonder in such circumstances that branding is subject not only to the manufacturing company, but also to the owner as its main representative? The practice of advertising a manager gives certain results, but there is an alternative opinion, according to which the concept of creating a product from a person does not justify itself and is completely replaced by other means of promoting products.
New trends
The fashion for branding personalities was formed along with the arrival on the market of people born in the late 80s - early 90s. Further, already generation Z fixed the mechanisms for creating their own image and reputation according to the principles of marketing. And it really worked, since the representatives of generation X, that is, the predecessors of new generations, directly felt their inability to successfully compete in the market.
Identity and Authentication Issues
Creating a brand from a person is fundamentally a false idea, initially replacing the true meaning of marketing with deceptive positioning. Suppose a conditional market player has achieved his goal in this direction - his status in the eyes of colleagues and customers has grown significantly, which practically gives him some advantages. But does this mean that his personal qualities, abilities and management skills also increased due to branding? Not at all, because professional growth has nothing to do with artificial positioning mechanisms. Perhaps for some time this discrepancy between the outer shell and the true state of affairs will work for the benefit of the company, but not in the long run. As with the product - it can have an arbitrarily beautiful logo, but if the consumer does not like the content, then the wrapper will not make any sense.
Narrowing personality
A person is a multifaceted subject of different relations - in the family, at work, in the circle of friends, in creative activity, etc. In each role, it manifests itself from different perspectives, since the conditions themselves will require him to manifest unequal qualities and talents. This is the main difference from the product, which can be described by several characteristics in accordance with its purpose. It is precisely this simplification that marketing naturally calls for, whose tools act on the broad masses of the target audience. But it’s impossible and impractical to place a person’s personality in the simplification concept under the guise of a brand. In any case, there will be a formation of a flat image - of course, attractive and maximally profitable, but one-sided and not revealing the fullness of the characteristic features of the medium with its shortcomings.
Fear of exposure
Personal branding does not go without consequences, caused precisely by attempts to present a false image to the audience. Sooner or later, by accident or due to regularity, the artificial image will be debunked, since it objectively does not correspond to reality. Criticism and loss of trust on the part of customers is something branded people have to face in various forms.For some time they may not notice this disappointment, but it will certainly begin to affect the company's performance.
What is the alternative?
Instead of a false representation, an ambitious businessman should offer precisely his skills and abilities in the form in which they can manifest themselves practically without distortion. It should be taken as a fact that not a single leader can be ideal. Personal and professional shortcomings cannot be hidden, so it makes no sense to flee from this reality, hiding behind a fake way. But you can focus all efforts on solving specific problems, expanding the range of skills and gaining new knowledge. Such work will give a positive result in the form of growth in sales figures. This is not at all a guarantee of success, but with this approach it can be expected that the enterprise will reach precisely the heights that it can really claim.