6 min Read

How To Build A Personal Brand for Business Owners in 2025

As we approach 2025 and reflect on the past year, the importance of building a Personal Brand for business owners has never been clearer.

The sentiment: “people buy from people” at the heart of personal branding, has become even more critical in recent years with the bombardment of messaging across social media platforms.

Looking at Google Trends the search term “how to build a personal brand” has grown 68% in the past year and 98% in the last quarter alone, Globally.

For founders and business owners, cultivating an authentic and impactful presence online, particularly on platforms like LinkedIn, can be the strategy they need to cut through the noise.

Drawing insights from Simon Gould, CEO of Sydney Digital Marketing, firsthand experience, this guide unpacks the why, what, and how of personal branding, offering actionable steps tailored for time-strapped business leaders.

Simon has been curating his personal brand for 7+ years online, from his early days on YouTube to more recently sharing weekly videos on LinkedIn to his 10,000 followers.

What is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is more than a polished profile picture, a catchy tagline, or a virtual CV.

It’s how you communicate your unique expertise, personality, and values in a way that resonates with your target audience. Think of it as digital word-of-mouth.

Consider this: 76% of millennials are more likely to buy from someone with an established personal brand. By authentically sharing your expertise, you position yourself as a trusted advisor and thought leader.

Why Personal Branding Matters for Business Owners in 2025?

Trends for 2025 suggest that a strong personal branding strategy will help you to stand out in the marketplace, connect with customers and drive more revenue. Here’s why:

Authentic Content Resonates: Audiences crave real connections. The era of highly polished, generic, corporate content is losing its halo. Craft an authentic personal brand by sharing relatable stories and genuine insights is gaining traction.
Employee-Generated Content (ECG) Drives Trust: Incorporating team perspectives into your content signals transparency and authenticity. Research shows that EGC is 25 times more likely to be shared than traditional brand content, amplifying your reach and credibility.
The Rise of Hyper-Personalisation: Gone are the days when you could post content without context. Customers now expect tailored experiences, with 62% demanding personalised interactions. A well-crafted personal brand allows you to deliver content that speaks directly to your audience’s unique challenges and aspirations.
Video Content is Unstoppable: Video engagement is skyrocketing, accounting for 34% of LinkedIn’s interactions. Introduce videos to humanise your brand, showcasing your unique opinion, expertise and values in a relatable format. Use videos to tell your story or share behind-the-scenes moments.

Actionable Tips for Building a Personal Brand on LinkedIn in 2025

Building your personal brand doesn’t happen overnight, but consistency pays off. This guide draws on our experience and focuses on LinkedIn personal branding that resonates, engages and converts. Follow these personal branding tips:

1. Find Your Niche

Remember the quote, “If you talk to everyone, you’re talking to no one”?

This is particularly important for a personal branding strategy. To cut through the noise you need to design content that builds your authority and credibility as a thought leader. Your niche should align with your passions, skills, and what your audience finds valuable. Ask yourself:

What problems can I solve better than others?
What unique insights can I share based on my experiences?

Pro Tip: Start with topics you feel comfortable with and feel confident sharing your opinion on.

2. Know Your Audience

Tailor your content to address your audience’s specific challenges and aspirations. Use tools like Linkedin Analytics and audience personas to refine your approach. Learn more in our step-by-step guide outlining how to build personas.

Pro Tip: Experiment with different content formats and posting times to see what resonates best.

3. Create Consistent, Valuable Content

Consistency matters. Don’t expect the phones to be ringing off the hook so to speak, from day one. You’re in it for the long haul and remember it takes 5-7 impressions for someone to remember your brand.

To grab attention share content that is:

Actionable: Teach something new or solve a problem.
Relatable: Share personal experiences and lessons learned. Share behind-the-scenes or thought-provoking questions.
Engaging: Use formats like polls, videos, and visuals to spark conversations.

Pro Tip: Batch create content to maintain consistency and high quality content.

4. Authenticity

People connect with stories, not perfection. For authentic personal branding, share vulnerabilities, the challenges you’ve faced and lessons you’ve learned.

Pro Tip: One of Simon’s most-shared posts was a video on personal branding. It resonated because it combined practical advice with a personal anecdote. Check out the video on personal branding here.

5. Join The Conversation

If you’re nervous about posting, start by engaging with other people and joining conversations on topics that you feel passionate and comfortable talking about. Plus engaging with your network, tells LinkedIn you are active and contributing on the platform.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to be controversial in your opinion.

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To Wrap Up

In 2025, personal branding isn’t just an asset, it’s a competitive edge. There is a huge opportunity for founders to be able to share the human side of their business. By prioritising authenticity, hyper-personalisation, and video-driven strategies, business founders can position themselves as industry leaders while creating genuine connections with their audience.

Remember: People buy from people. Your personal brand can humanise your business, inspire trust, and drive growth. Start today, stay consistent, and make your mark in 2025.

Personal branding is just one element of your branding strategy. Learn more about our ABC Methodology, and our unique approach to digital marketing that starts with focusing on Audience, Brand and Competition.

Ready to transform your marketing and expand your audience? Contact Sydney Digital Marketing today. Let’s create a strategy that captures the full potential of your audience, now and in the future.

Connect with Simon on Linkedin @speaktosimon.

Article by

Simon Gould

CEO / Founder / Dad

Founder and leader, Simon established SDM back in 2012. Since then, he has helped 150 clients (and counting) to achieve their digital goals.[…]