James Dooley Podcast

James Dooley: Personal branding versus business branding.

Today I'm chatting with Charles Floate.

Charles Floate, you have built a lot of business brands and corporate brands, and you've also built a personal brand yourself.

If you could only build one, a corporate brand or a personal brand, which would be more important and why?

Charles Floate: I think it definitely depends on the niche you're in.

But in general, personal brands are way more impactful with the end user.

Most people are not going to engage emotionally with a massive corporation. They are much more likely to engage with another human being on the other side of the internet.

That personalised connection is something you can never truly replicate with a corporate brand.

Even large companies with great social media managers still have turnover. That personality changes over time.

So I am a massive believer in building that personal human touch so users trust and value the information and opinions you give them.

James Dooley: It is crazy when you compare personal brands to business brands.

You look at Virgin and Richard Branson. Richard Branson has a far bigger following than Virgin.

You look at Tesla and Elon Musk. Elon Musk has become much bigger than Tesla itself.

You look at Cristiano Ronaldo versus Premier League football clubs. Cristiano Ronaldo has more followers than the entire Premier League combined.

Those personal brands carry massive influence and people engage far more with them.

At the same time, I know we both believe you should build both. It should not be one or the other. They should align together.

The founder builds a personal brand and says, “By the way, I created this business.”

Earlier you mentioned entity stacking and making sure Google and Bing understand who you are and what you do.

Why is entity stacking so important when building a business brand?

Charles Floate: Google will not trust or validate an entity without third-party information reinforcing it.

You can create all the pages you want on your own website about a person, company or entity, but you still need external sources validating that information.

The best sources are the ones Google already trusts.

That includes social profiles, citations, reference sites like Wikipedia, business platforms like LinkedIn and Crunchbase, plus UGC sites like Reddit and forums.

All of these help tell Google information about an entity and reinforce that it is real.

Google cannot physically shake your hand and verify you exist.

It relies on the web and third-party corroboration to validate who you are.

James Dooley: What about personal branding then?

A founder comes to you with a massive corporate business but they have always hidden behind the scenes.

Now they realise a personal brand can attract better staff, improve trust and strengthen the company brand itself.

What advice would you give someone trying to build a personal brand quickly?

Charles Floate: First thing is to audit what they already have.

Do they already have Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other profiles?

You want all of those aligned.

The same username. The same information. The same consensus. The same website URL. The same phone number. The same address.

Then you want consistent profile photos, cover images and branding across every platform.

That consistency helps Google build identity and confidence around who you are.

If your Instagram says you are an author, your Facebook says you are a musician and your YouTube says you are a comedian, Google has no idea what you actually are.

You need the same information reinforcing who you are, what you do and why you do it.

Different niches also need different platforms.

If I was a lawyer, I probably would not build loads of streaming profiles.

But if I was a YouTuber, I would create profiles across every entertainment-related platform possible.

James Dooley: Daniel Priestley talks about this brilliantly in his book Key Person of Influence.

A lot of business owners say they do not want to become influencers.

They imagine influencers as people on beaches in Dubai showing off.

But actually the best business owners become key people of influence.

They shine a spotlight on their business, their expertise and their services.

I think that distinction is important.

What are your thoughts on being a key person of influence rather than an influencer?

Charles Floate: If your personal brand is tied directly to the company, it reinforces the corporate brand anyway.

You start getting followers flowing between the personal brand and the company brand.

More importantly, it creates a genuine human connection.

A lot of CEOs and founders get nervous because they think one wrong thing could damage their reputation or career.

But honestly, sometimes visibility matters more.

I always think about the McDonald’s CEO taking that tiny bite of a burger that went viral.

People mocked it online, but McDonald’s sold more burgers the following week than they ever had before.

That single viral moment probably generated more revenue than some entire yearly campaigns.

The sentiment around the CEO was negative, but the company still benefited massively.

James Dooley: Absolutely.

Anyone watching this, I hope you enjoyed the discussion around personal branding versus corporate branding.

Both are incredibly important for SEO and digital marketing.

We are entering an AI era where your digital footprint becomes the mould around your brand, your reputation and your identity online.

Charles Floate, it has been an absolute pleasure.