Manam Iqbal on how to build a powerful personal brand
Today in this interview, we speak with Manam Iqbal, a LinkedIn branding specialist dedicated to helping individuals and businesses craft compelling personal brands. With a passion for storytelling and a deep understanding of branding, Manam has successfully transitioned from working with global brands to empowering founders and CEOs in building their personal narratives. In this conversation, she shares her journey, insights, and the challenges she has faced as an entrepreneur.
TFS: Welcome, Ms. Manam Iqbal, to The Founders Story. We are excited to have you with us and cannot wait to delve into your journey and insights on personal branding.
Manam Iqbal: Thank you for the warm welcome. I am delighted to be here and look forward to discussing personal branding, which is a topic I am truly passionate about.
TFS: Let us take it back to the beginning. What inspired you to start your business, and how did the idea first come to you?
Manam Iqbal: I have always had a love for writing and storytelling. It was really my journey into motherhood that sparked my interest in starting my own business. I wanted to create a career that offered me more flexibility so I could be there for my daughter during her early years while also building something that would support us. Three years ago, I made the leap and moved back to Dubai. At first, I worked on a variety of copywriting projects, but as I got more involved in branding and marketing, I began to see a real need for personal branding consultants. That’s when I pivoted my business to focus on personal brandingfull-time.
TFS: What led you to go from working with top global brands to focussing on helping individual founders and CEOs develop their personal brands?
Manam Iqbal: I have always been intrigued by a simple question: why do some people soar while others seem to struggle? This curiosity led me towards personal branding. At its core, marketing is about telling engaging stories that inspire people—to trust, to buy, to invest, or to collaborate with you.
In today’s ever-changing economy, having a personal brand is essential. There is really no downside to it, is there? I made the shift to personal branding because I spotted a gap in the market, and it felt like the perfect match for my interests.
Now, I find myself using that very question that has always driven me to help leaders craft compelling personal narratives that can reshape and disrupt their industries. It is like giving them a spotlight in a crowded room. After all, who does not want to stand out in a sea of faces?
TFS: That’s true. How do you find the right balance between sharing your clients’ personal stories and ensuring they communicate the professional messages necessary to build a strong personal brand?
Manam Iqbal: Every personal brand really needs two essential elements: connection and authority. It is crucial for clients to be seen as thought leaders, but without that necessary emotional connection, they can end up coming across as cold, uncaring, or, even worse, a bit bland.
That is why balancing personal stories with authoritative content is key to building a compelling brand narrative. I usually take a 50-50 approach with this. I work on developing personal stories that peel back the curtain on my clients’ lives. This method tends to resonate well because it helps audiences understand who these leaders are as individuals and what they truly stand for.
The other half of my focus is on content that positions my clients as credible thought leaders within their industries. This involves showcasing the depth of their knowledge, their professional experiences, and the unique insights they have gathered over the years. As a personal brand evolves, we might adjust this ratio based on the client’s goals and how their audience responds, but that initial 50-50 balance provides a solid foundation for creating a personal brand that is both genuine and authoritative.
TFS: What do you think is the most underrated aspect of creating a personal brand that truly resonates with a broad audience on LinkedIn?
Manam Iqbal: One word: authenticity. It has become so cliché that it seems to have lost its meaning and impact, but genuine authenticity is a potent yet underused tool in personal branding.
In this context, authenticity means staying true to where you are in your professional journey. It involves presenting yourself honestly, including your current challenges, lessons learnt, and the areas where you are still growing. This approach creates a much more relatable persona compared to trying to project an idealised image.
Take, for instance, a salesperson who is on their first job out of college. If they try to position themselves as a seasoned sales expert, their content is likely to fall flat. It simply does not have the depth and richness of experience that someone who has been in the field for decades would have. Audiences can often spot these inconsistencies.
However, if this same person shares their daily experiences—the mistakes they are making, the lessons they are learning, and the small wins they are celebrating in their first sales role—they create a narrative that is far more compelling and relatable. This is why authenticity is so powerful and why brands that embrace it thrive.
TFS: Absolutely, authenticity is key. Now, can you share a story about a particularly challenging project where you had to completely transform a client’s personal brand? What was the outcome?
Manam Iqbal: Personal brands are naturally designed to evolve. Imagine someone starting a business with $100,000 and growing it to $10 million in five years; the brand will inevitably change and develop alongside the founder’s expertise, knowledge, and experience. Successful personal brands always undergo this evolution over time. I have experienced this more times than I can count. However, unlike a sudden brand pivot that might happen with a company, personal branding tends to evolve more gradually, reflecting the journey and growth of the individual behind it.
TFS: How do you stay on top of the ever-changing world of social media and content creation to make sure your strategies stay relevant and effective?
Manam Iqbal: Social platforms are always changing, and what worked a few months ago may not have the same magic today. The key is to stay curious and keep learning about the platforms you are working on. Testing different content formats and styles is important. You need to experiment and see what resonates.
And let us not forget the importance of data. By keeping an eye on what content performs well and digging into the ‘why’ behind it, you can fine-tune your strategies to stay ahead of the curve. In this game, staying static is not an option. You have to be ready to adapt and evolve just as quickly as the platforms themselves.
TFS: Many clients tend to be hesitant about sharing personal stories on their professional platforms. How do you encourage them to feel more comfortable opening up?
Manam Iqbal: You are right; some individuals can be quite hesitant about sharing personal stories, especially if they have spent years building a strictly professional image. It can feel a bit daunting, or even risky, to now suddenly peel back the curtain.
My approach involves several key steps to help them ease into this. First, I inform them about the importance of personal storytelling for building deeper connections. Then, we start small. I encourage them to share minor personal incidents or opinions related to their professional lives, allowing them to dip their toes in the water without feeling overly exposed.
Next, we identify which personal stories align with their brand message and professional goals. This way, sharing feels purposeful rather than random. I also closely monitor the response to these initial personal shares. Clients are often pleasantly surprised by the positive engagement and encouragement they receive from their audiences.
As they see the impact of their personal stories, their confidence naturally grows. In most cases, the initial hesitancy is short-lived, and they typically become more comfortable and even enthusiastic about sharing their experiences. This is the first step to helping them find their voice in a way that feels authentic to them.
TFS: In your experience, how does building a personal brand differ between a startup founder and a C-suite executive at a well-established company? What key factors come into play?
Manam Iqbal: There are some significant differences between the two groups. When it comes to personal branding, the ultimate goal varies quite a bit. Startup founders typically leverage personal branding to attract investors, build credibility for their new venture, and create excitement around their product or service. They often seek to disrupt markets and challenge the status quo, which naturally reflects in their branding approach.
In contrast, C-suite executives at established companies usually aim to enhance their company’s reputation, position themselves as thought leaders in their industry, and navigate complex stakeholder relationships.
This difference in goals leads to noticeable variations in tone. Startup founders tend to adopt a passionate, and sometimes even provocative, tone. They are often more willing to take risks with their messaging to stand out in a crowded marketplace. On the other hand, C-suite executives maintain a more measured and authoritative tone, which reflects the established nature of their organisations and the need to consider broader stakeholder perspectives.
The approach to content and storytelling also varies. Startup founders are usually quite open and comfortable sharing their journey, including the challenges and failures they encounter along the way. They often use their personal stories to forge connections with their audience and embody the innovative spirit of their startups. This openness can be a powerful way to build a loyal following and create a community around their brand.
Conversely, C-suite executives often start off a bit more cautiously. They may feel constrained by corporate communication policies and the need to uphold a certain image that aligns with their company’s brand. However, as they begin to see the benefits of personal branding, many do warm up to the idea of sharing personal insights and experiences, albeit in a more controlled manner.
Despite these differences, both groups stand to gain from authentic, strategic personal branding. For startup founders, it can be an important tool for establishing credibility and driving their business forward. For C-suite executives, it enhances their leadership presence and contributes to their company’s overall reputation and success. Ultimately, whether you are shaking things up or holding the fort, personal branding can be a game changer.
TFS: Measuring success can be quite a challenge, especially when it comes to those elusive aspects like influence and authority. How do you approach this when assessing a personal branding strategy?
Manam Iqbal: Measuring the success of a personal branding strategy is a bit like baking a cake—you need to combine various ingredients to get the right flavour. You have your quantitative data, which includes things like audience growth, engagement rates, and website traffic. These numbers provide a glimpse into how well things are going, but they do not tell the whole story when it comes to influence and authority.
To get a clearer picture, I also look at qualitative aspects like the quality of engagement, media mentions, and the opportunities that come knocking at the door. It is crucial to remember that building genuine influence and authority takes time. While some metrics might show quick wins, real success often unfolds gradually and overtime through consistent effort.
In the end, the best measure of success aligns with what each individual aims to achieve. For one person, it might be snagging speaking gigs at big conferences, while for someone else, it could be landing exciting job offers or partnership opportunities. I work closely with my clients to define what success means to them and adjust our approach to measurement accordingly. After all, every branding journey is unique, and so is the way we gauge its success.
TFS: What role does storytelling play in your branding process, and how do you ensure that each story you tell is both authentic and impactful?
Manam Iqbal: That is a great question. Humans have connected through stories for millennia, and that psychology still holds true today. Storytelling is essential in personal branding; it lies at the core of creating a memorable, relatable, and impactful personal brands. I have a set of go-to questions that I ask founders and CEOs about their journeys, challenges, pains, struggles, lessons, and wins. This helps me gain deeper insights into their lives and makes it easier to break their journey down into various stages. We then use this information to craft story-led messages that align with the brand’s ultimate goals.
TFS: Looking ahead, how do you envision AI and automation impacting personal branding and content creation? What preparations are being made for these changes?
Manam Iqbal: AI and automation are really shaking things up in personal branding and content creation these days. They are handling everything from generating content to scheduling and analytics, making the whole process a lot more efficient. However, they still cannot take care of everything needed to build a personal brand from start to finish—at least, not yet.
Clients still need a guiding hand through the process. Plus, AI-generated content can often come off as flat and lacks the depth that comes from someone who really knows their stuff. So, while AI is definitely making an impact, I do not believe it will be replacing personal branding consultants anytime soon.
TFS: What does a typical day look like for you as an entrepreneur?
Manam Iqbal: The beauty of entrepreneurship lies in its unpredictability. No two days are ever the same, and that is what makes it so exciting. One day, I might be out mingling at industry events or meeting potential clients. The next, I could find myself tucked away in a corner, brainstorming fresh ideas or typing away on my laptop. It is a lively and exciting lifestyle that lets me juggle my professional and personal commitments while steering clear of the dull routine of a typical nine-to-five. Honestly, I love the variety and surprises that each day brings.
TFS: Staying motivated in entrepreneurship can be quite a challenge, especially when the going gets tough. How do you keep your drive alive during those difficult moments?
Manam Iqbal: Entrepreneurship truly is a rollercoaster ride, filled with its fair share of ups and downs. During those tough times, it is my passion for the work that keeps me going. At the heart of it all, my original goal was to be a present parent while also building a successful business. That purpose is what drives me and helps me bounce back relatively quickly. Knowing that my work allows me to provide for my family and contribute to the growth of others is incredibly rewarding. It makes all the challenges worthwhile!
TFS: What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own business?
Manam Iqbal: I would suggest starting small. Build something on the side and test the waters before diving in headfirst. This way, you can refine your concept, validate your idea, and sharpen your skills without putting your finances on the line. When you do decide to take the leap, stay consistent and be patient. Learning and iterating are part of the journey. I know it is easier said than done, but it is worth it.
TFS: What has been the most rewarding aspect of being an entrepreneur for you?
Manam Iqbal: The most rewarding part of being an entrepreneur is the flexibility it gives me to be a present parent. I would not trade that for anything in the world.
TFS: What a fantastic interview this has been! Your insights are so valuable, and it is evident that your vision is quite deep. Wishing you all the best with your business. You are doing amazing things!
Thank you so much! I really enjoyed our chat. It was a great opportunity to share my journey with your readers. I hope my experiences resonate with them and inspire a few to follow their own paths.