The dual brand strategy: Do you need a company and a personal website?

This is a question which I am asked a lot, and in my podcast interviews I've seen how entrepreneurs are building personal branded websites to complement their corporate brand. I call this a "dual brand strategy" in which there are separate but equal internet and social media plans. I'm including an example of a recent client project and how we approached this.

The goal is to liberate the founder from the constraints of the company's focused mission and positioning, whilst also ensuring that the founder supports the work of the company that they started.

There are a few reasons for this:

1. People are are more likely to follow personal accounts than branded corporate accounts.
2. An entrepreneur outgrows the organization, or simply moves faster than the organization can.
3. The entrepreneur wants to sell their business and needs to move onto the next phase in their life.

What is constructive distancing?
The dual brand strategy is built on the premise of what I call “constructive distancing”—where the founder intentionally creates space to express their personal voice, distinct from the company’s brand. Owning a business can be like a marriage, and it's important that both parties in the relationship retain their own identities.

This isn’t about stepping away from the business, but about creating space for clarity. A personal website allows room for vision, nuance, and values that may not align neatly with corporate messaging. For this to work, the reasoning and rollout must be clearly communicated to both the team and investors.

The company must be able to operate independently of the founder as its public face, otherwise it risks customers wondering who is leading the company.

The Brian Scudamore Dual Brand Strategy

Brian Scudamore is a founder and serial entrepreneur, known for pioneering the professional junk hauling industry with 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. This claims to be the worlds largest junk clearing company.

Brian's story is still in the About Us section of the website.

But Brian is also passionate about inspiring others to live the dream and change their lives through the power of dreaming BIG.

He has now detached himself from the corporate site, and has his own distinct website.

This means that he can have some fun with his profile, without distracting from the corporate site.

The Paul ‘Data Coach’ Gravy Dual Brand Strategy

Paul Kent Graeve is the founder of The Data Group. He wanted to position himself as a thought leader in the data industry, whilst his company provides data solutions to corporations. The Company site needs to project the qualities of being a stable, consistent and reliable business partner. Customers want to buy once and then not be alarmed by a constant stream of new ideas.

The Company website sells solutions, the personal website offers a relationship.

But ideas are what creates a business. By creating a personal site, Gravy is able to be talking about the concepts related to data, to engage in thought leadership, and touching on topics which may not be specifically services which his company provides. By doing this he is able to engage CEO's who are looking for trusted advisors rather than CIO's who are looking for service providers.

We're building relationships which in time will lead to business.

To retain a link between Gravy and The Data Group, our strategy was to use same corporate guidelines in terms of fonts and colours, but then to adopt a personality based profile. To make this less corporate, we added the colour yellow to the palette, using the site Coolors to make the selection.

Along with the podcast, blog, and youtube video embeds, Gravy is able to show himself relaxed with his dogs, presenting the human side of the leader.

The corporate website, which includes Gravy in the "about us" section, is focused on the service being provided to clients.

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Is a Personal Site Right for You?

If you’re a founder or CEO wondering whether you need a personal website, ask yourself:

• Do I have ideas that extend beyond what my company is doing right now?
• Am I being defined only by my business title?
• Would a more human presentation of myself help me connect with clients, peers, or future collaborators?