Contributed by Marina Byezhanova, an EO Montreal member and the founder of personal branding agency, Brand of a Leader.

Personal branding is a hot topic among entrepreneurs these days. A Google search of “personal branding” and “entrepreneurs” returns nearly 2 million results. Rooms about personal branding on Clubhouse run at all hours of the day. Even the former chief of staff to Princess Diana and the former director of global engagement to former US President Obama are now giving talks on personal branding.

We know that people are increasingly more interested in the person behind the company than the corporate brand:

• Elon Musk’s Twitter following is double that of SpaceX and Tesla combined.
• Richard Branson’s Twitter following is 10X that of his Virgin brands.
• Sara Blakely has 20X the following on LinkedIn compared to her SPANX brand.

People are becoming less trusting of corporate brand messaging; interest in the stories and lives of the entrepreneurs behind the corporate brand is on the rise. 

EO members, ready to make global connections with your entrepreneurial network? Register now for 2021 GLCx Momentum, 7–9 April. 

But what does a following actually do? Do all entrepreneurs need a personal brand? What good is having a personal brand beyond vanity metrics?