CaRRol BoYes or Carrol Boyes?
The power of personal branding
Carrol Boyes, founder and CEO of CaRRol BoYes Functional Art
The former teacher has managed to create a company that distributes in 31 countries, employs more than 450 people and has 31 company-owned and franchised stores around the globe.
While the homeware and tabletop items manufactured speak for themselves, Boyes attributes a lot of the business' success to its strong brand.
In fact, one will be hard pressed to find a household in South Africa that does not know the brand name even if they have never heard of the person before. But, the brand is the person in Boyes' case as the business is an embodiment of her artistic style, personal values and business acumen.
What is personal branding?
Jenny Handley, the author of Raise your profile, explains that personal branding is everything you say and do."It is about creating perceptions in the market place; about building your reputation and credibility. In a nutshell it is everything people say about you when you are not there," she explains.
As the head of an SME, you are usually its poster child as well - when people think of your business, they think of you. Personal branding in turn is the assessment of yourself that you develop; the persona you create in other people's minds.
The power of personal branding is evident when one thinks of entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Brandon, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Rupert Murdoch. For example, Richard Branson is the Virgin brand and the Virgin Brand is Richard Branson. His charisma and reputation infatuates the paying public and press alike and entrepreneurs across the globe try to emulate him.
While there are few entrepreneurs with this level of charisma, personal branding is still important and you can create the ‘me' brand.
In fact, Handley believes that personal branding is even more important for SMEs than for large corporates as their marketing budgets are extremely limited.
A reputation, she explains, does not cost money to create.
Why bother?
In business, people like to deal with successful people. They also like to deal with people they deem to be honourable - people who will not defraud them or break contracts.This, Handley says, is where personal branding really comes into its own: "If you do a great job for a client, they will do your marketing for you. If someone recommends you, then an impression has already been created.
"Personal marketing is not rocket science - it's about doing your job well and remembering what is important and what makes you distinctive."
She explains that in a small business, clients often buy a product or service because of who you are. These clients want to deal with you because they believe in you and your abilities.
In a nutshell, it comes down to deciding what is important to you and living these values daily.
What to do?
Handley says that personal branding should be approached in a methodical manner and you need to sit down and evaluate yourself, and the process that will be followed, carefully."Not everyone can be Sir Richard Branson but you have something that sets you apart from your competitors. Even quiet and shy people can do this. It is not about being bombastic but about understanding the needs of your customers…
"The role of any business owner is to be the brand. Do not expect your business to stay small forever. Also, people work for people and leaders and not an organisation. For example, almost every estate agent in the group feels a kinship to Pam Golding.
"The aspiration should be to be unique and special and to utilise this to your best advantage."
But, she advises entrepreneurs not to confuse confidence with arrogance and that the one is never a substitute for the other.
Handley adds that potential customers or suppliers will judge you via your existing suppliers, clients or staff. In essence, personal branding is about the reputation you create. It is also about how people talk about you when you are not in a room because word of mouth is the most powerful form of branding there is.
What did Carrol do?
Boyes always knew that the CaRRol BoYes brand had to be strong and recognisable. She also lives according to specific values and incorporated these into the business.Because the brand carries her name, it needs to be an embodiment of her and vice versa. She explains that if someone buys a piece of her functional art, they need to know that it is unique, of high quality and will last a lifetime.
In her daily business dealings, she also needs to embody the values the business is run on and suppliers and customers need to know that they are dealing with a person with integrity.
"I meet so many people that say to me, ‘oh Carrol Boyes really exists' - so many people think that it is just the name of the brand…
"The brand reflects the values I have about the things we have around us - when I started out, the idea was that the things we have and use in our homes should be things of beauty.
"When we eat cereal in the morning, the spoon we touch should touch us - art is not just for galleries. Also, it should be items of quality and last a lifetime."
Boyes' core values are not just reflected in the products sold and she explains that everyone in the organisation is a brand ambassador. "I think it all comes from the top in a business - one tries to reflect one's own values and to set the example as a leader…
"Some people are wonderfully outgoing while others are reserved. But in business, one has to be honourable and fair and good values and ethics carry a lot of weight. People need to know that they are dealing with an honourable company and person. They say your good name is all that you have in the end."