[NEW INSIGHT] Personal branding for CEOs vs personal branding: what’s the real difference
CEO personal branding is often misunderstood as a tool for visibility or growth. The truth? It’s far more critical than that.
In today’s world, a CEO’s reputation is everything. One misstep, one misunderstood comment, or one overlooked crisis can ripple across investors, employees, and customers, sometimes for years.
That’s why personal branding isn’t about chasing followers or posting updates. It’s a strategic, long-term approach to managing risk, protecting your reputation, and building trust with every stakeholder.
So, what does it take to build a CEO brand the right way, one that shields your company as much as it highlights your leadership?
In this guide, we break it down.
Personal branding allows you to be transparent and truly differentiate yourself. It gives stakeholders far greater reasons to trust you.
Despite living in an era of constant media and social scrutiny, many CEOs still avoid the spotlight.
Usually, this is because they're bullish about their success, they lack confidence, or they misunderstand the value or process of personal branding.
But as we tell all of our clients, not investing in CEO personal branding is a significant risk. Your influence will be limited, your leadership might be questioned, and you'll remain a spectator rather than a contributor to your company and industry's success.
Why? Personal branding allows you to be transparent and truly differentiate yourself. It gives stakeholders far greater reasons to trust you, and in many cases, they’ll listen to your voice over your company’s.
This can lead to:
New candidates willing to join your company.
A more motivated team that stays and grows.
Investors who trust you and invest in your vision.
Customers who remain loyal to your business.
And that’s just skimming the surface.
Now that we've explained why CEO branding is useful, to establish your own CEO brand, there are several key priorities you must consider.
First, you need new visual assets to present yourself, including images and videography in both relaxed and formal settings or attire, to create an authentic but professional impression.
Next, you need to update any websites, bios, and social accounts, better highlighting your experience, interests, and ambitions, so people can easily discover you and understand exactly what you're about.
From the perspective of an investor, clearly seeing your values, track record, and priorities allows them to quickly assess credibility and alignment with their own goals, reducing uncertainty and building confidence before deeper conversations even begin.
You also need to align closely with your company to ensure your personal branding does not distract from or contradict its messaging, as doing so risks alienating your audience.
Finally, you need to take your day-to-day activities external, such as by becoming more vocal about company direction, strategic priorities, and industry insights, taking a personal approach rather than the static corporate messaging stakeholders are used to.
This might mean sharing thoughtful posts on social media and engaging with the media more often to provide insights that add additional context to corporate announcements.
Though it's important that you stay on brand and act in your company's best interest, this is also a chance to highlight and discuss topics important to you.
With that in mind, you don't need to become completely risk averse. After all, one of the most important aspects of a strong CEO brand is thought leadership.
CEOs have more opportunities than ever to influence how public narratives play out and how their industries are shaped.
Thought leadership has surged in popularity over the last decade as consumer trust in media publications has declined and demand for high-level insider insights has risen.
As a result, CEOs have more opportunities than ever to influence how public narratives play out and how their industries are shaped.
And what’s more? Stakeholders increasingly demand it.
In fact, 37% of key decision-makers now spend 1–3 hours per week reading thought leadership content.
Case in point, if you’re not investing in thought leadership, you’re doing something wrong. It might just be the best way to get in front of your ideal client.
All you need is a strong grasp of your industry, such as how it’s faring within the current economic climate and how various things could be improved, along with a counter opinion that is both unique and, more importantly, informed by your expertise.
This is how you insert yourself into timely debates in the media and on social platforms, have your views taken seriously, and ultimately create tangible impact, whether through shifts in industry policy, healthier leadership practices, or else.
Best of all? You don't just become visible, you become genuinely valuable to your audiences, which lends to improved credibility and trust.
CEO personal branding isn't just about becoming more visible, but being strategic about the content you create and how you appear.
We mentioned earlier that trust in the media has declined. Well, so has trust in everyday businesses.
A 2025 global Edelman Trust Barometer report reveals that 70% of adults now believe business leaders deliberately mislead them.
What drives this perception? Predominantly, financial gain and a lack of consideration for stakeholders wants and needs.
If this lack of trust continues, the businesses and leaders worse hit will experience the following:
Media coverage becoming more skeptical, reducing the impact of announcements or thought leadership.
Stakeholders that stop engaging with companies and their leaders online.
Investor confidence wavering, making fundraising or strategic partnerships harder to secure.
Employee morale and retention suffering if leadership is perceived as self-interested.
Long-term reputational risk intensifying, meaning any misstep is amplified and harder to recover from.
This explains why CEO personal branding isn't just about becoming more visible, but being strategic about the content you create and how you appear.
You might also commit to initiatives that aren’t directly linked to revenue-driven causes, whether that be leading an ESG, DEI, or mental health awareness campaign.
You want to be the leader with wider interests, who's in tune and responds to how stakeholders are feeling.
This might mean launching an employee wellbeing initiative or mentorship program, then sharing the story externally to demonstrate that you listen to your team and act on their needs.
Or, you could commit more time to other initiatives that aren’t directly linked to revenue-driven causes, whether that be leading an ESG, DEI, or mental health awareness campaign that you genuinely care about.
Of course, overdoing this can make you seem tokenistic. But a sensible approach should help to diversify your content in a healthy way.
Inject anecdotes to make your insights relatable, and keep your work brief and punchy, so it's engaging to read.
If you want to perfect your personal branding and neutralise any risks to your reputation, you must become a confident communicator, not just in terms of what you say, but how and where you say it.
First, this means becoming a good writer, not just through technical skill but various other habits.
For instance, you need to research and get your facts, leverage data to support your views, inject anecdotes to make your insights relatable, and keep your work brief and punchy, so it's engaging to read.
You can even use blogs as a practice ground to build confidence before expanding to other channels and track analytics to see how many people are interacting with your content, indicating that it’s providing real value.
Next, you've got to master social media, the channel where you'll likely share most of your content.
This means:
Understanding different platforms, whether your audience frequents them, and if it's worth sharing your perspectives there.
Learning algorithms to discover ways to increase your engagement and following. For instance, LinkedIn rewards a mix of short and long-form posts.
Not posting too little, over-posting, or neglecting a content calendar, which can give you some structure to build on.
Responding to comments to show your audience that you respect their opinions and that there's a real person behind the messages.
But in general, you just need to put yourself out there and practice, find your voice, and tweak your tone to drive engagement and grow your following with time.
You need to be able to say things clearly and ensure your views aren't taken out of context. Once content goes live, it can circulate for years.
You also need to communicate well with the media.
While it's true that you'll always have little control over what journalists publish, building strong relationships can at least edge coverage in a favourable direction.
As such:
Understand which journalist is best to contact. Whether they work for a national or trade outlet, specialise in a specific subject, or are known as an investigative reporter can inform your approach.
Give journalists what they want, but also protect your brand. This means doing your research and planning responses so you're not exposed to tricky questions and stick to your core topics.
Respect journalists and their time. You want them to write positively about you, and you want to work with them again. So, don't chase them endlessly.
When it comes to in-person engagements, you need to step things up, particularly if it's an interaction you don't expect. You'd be surprised at how quickly rumours spread about what CEOs are really like.
In these situations, make eye contact, address people by name, and, most importantly, stay humble.
Finally, when it comes to video, radio, and podcasts, act exactly as you would in person, but get used to how content is edited and you might be portrayed.
You need to be able to say things clearly and ensure your views aren't taken out of context. Once content goes live, it can circulate for years.
Negative coverage about you or a failed business can follow you for years, surfacing through Google results, your CV, and old social media posts.
No matter who you are or what company you lead, eventually you'll face a crisis. That’s unavoidable.
What you can control is how well your CEO brand and reputation are managed, which helps limit any impact when the unexpected occurs.
So, before you take any action, think about the long-term and how you will be viewed for it. And focus, where possible, on building good-will.
With a positive reputation, you can sometimes weather even the most extreme crises, so long as the crisis itself was beyond your control.
Meanwhile, a negative reputation often means:
Crisis responses won't land as effectively.
The media dictates how stakeholders perceive you.
Your leadership is questioned, internally and externally.
Competitors exploit the situation to position themselves more favorably.
Negative coverage about you or a failed business follows you for years, surfacing through Google results, your CV, and old social media posts.
As the famous saying goes, it takes years to build a reputation but seconds to destroy it.
As a business leader, scrutiny is constant, and staying on your toes comes with the territory.
Even when you've invested the time and effort into building your CEO personal brand, it's natural to question how effective it really is.
After all, as a business leader, scrutiny is constant, and staying on your toes comes with the territory.
With that in mind, here are several ways to assess the success of your campaigns:
Media coverage sentiment: Track how journalists and publications talk about you. Are mentions on Google neutral, positive, or negative?
Social engagement metrics: Monitor likes, comments, shares, and sentiment on LinkedIn, Twitter, or other channels to see if your posts spark positive debate.
Stakeholder surveys: Ask employees, investors, and partners how they perceive you. Even a simple quarterly pulse survey can reveal gaps or concerns.
Thought leadership reach: Measure downloads, page views, or engagement with articles, podcasts, or interviews you participate in.
Recruitment impact: Track whether top talent is seeking you or your company, and if they reference your leadership reputation in conversations.
Awards and recognition: Industry awards, speaking engagements, or recognitions can serve as external validation of your credibility and influence.
It’s also likely that your bottom line will improve, as our research suggests.
We understand the different stages of your journey and the trials and pressures that come with leadership.
As a thought leadership agency that specialises in personal branding for CEOs, we work with dozens of global leaders annually.
We've helped CEOs build their profiles from scratch and positioned established leaders as credible, trusted voices in their industries, guiding them through periods of growth, scrutiny, and change.
Because we understand the different stages of your journey and the trials and pressures that come with leadership, we know that what truly differentiates leaders is attitude.
The most effective CEOs don't treat personal branding as a growth hack, but as a way to shape, protect, and manage their reputation for the long-term.