Putting a Face to Your Firm in Digital Marketing
Who’s the face of your firm? There’s not necessarily a correct answer to this question but it is important to define your intended face for the firm so that it can be consistently relayed to your audience.
There are three options for selecting the face of your firm.
An Individual
Are you a sole practitioner? Congratulations, you are the face of your firm as long as you are including personal information in your branded messages.
But that’s not the only instance where an individual is the face of the firm. Sometimes either by design or organically, one person becomes the personification of the business. This is common for:
- An owner that expands the firm but does not include other individuals in marketing material.
- A firm that has one person that primarily interacts with prospects and clients and delivers services.
A group of people
When a firm includes many trainers, consultants, and professional coaches, the group might be leveraged as a collective face of the firm. This is typically accomplished by rotating individuals into marketing materials or releasing content by category and assigning it to individuals according to their specialty.
Anonymous
The last option is to present the firm’s brand but leave the individuals anonymous. This is often a personal decision by professionals that prefer to work “behind the scenes” or a result of a firm growing too large to narrow down the face to a manageable group of individuals. However, make sure that anonymity is not keeping you from making a personal connection with your target audience. It should be possible to find contact information like an address or phone number so that your firm can be verified as legitimate and approachable.
Common problems that signify there is a problem with how the face of the firm is presented is:
- An individual face of the organization is perceived to be hogging the limelight and creating resentment with other members of the firm who feel like they are not being given their due.
- A group of people are selected as the face of the organization but as people come and go, the group expands and contracts organically, and makes a personal connection with your audience difficult.
- An anonymous face becomes “faceless” and the communications are viewed as contrived or without personality.
Make a deliberate decision on the face of your firm and consistently leverage it in your digital marketing. When done well, it supports the firm’s brand but enhances it with the people that make up that brand.