2024, is it too late to build an entrepreneur’s personal IP?

During the May Day holiday, Zhou Hongyi and Lei Jun's popularity showed everyone the benefits of bosses becoming Internet celebrities. Lei Jun even started to take Xiaomi executives to become Internet celebrities. So, is it appropriate for entrepreneurs to build their own personal IP? What issues should be paid attention to?

1. The era of “Internet celebrity bosses”

This year's May Day holiday was a bit lively. Early in the morning, news broke that 360 Group founder Zhou Hongyi might have been fooled. The buyer, Chairman Chu, who spent 9.9 million to buy a Maybach, did not seem to have paid the balance and might even have left the group and disappeared. This incident attracted widespread attention from netizens.

Besides Lei Jun, Zhou Hongyi is the most popular person recently. Zhou Hongyi has emphasized on many occasions that entrepreneurs should become Internet celebrities, and hopes to help companies save huge advertising costs like Elon Musk.

Zhou Hongyi himself is also a practical veteran with strong execution ability. Recently, through a series of car-related activities, such as selling cars and interacting at auto shows, he has successfully attracted a large amount of traffic and actively spoken out on social media, further deepening his image as an "Internet celebrity entrepreneur."

I believe that more and more entrepreneurs will realize that becoming an Internet celebrity can not only enhance their personal brand, but also bring traffic and sales to the company.

Moreover, judging from the cases and phenomena in recent years, it has become a trend for entrepreneurs to build personal IP, and more and more people are beginning to join this camp.

Even though some of the videos of beginners are embarrassing to watch, professionalization requires a process, and the earlier you start, the greater the opportunity. The opportunity cost at a later stage will be higher.

2. Why should every entrepreneur become an “Internet celebrity”?

I don't think we need to discuss too much whether it is necessary for entrepreneurs to create IP. From a business perspective, it definitely has more advantages than disadvantages.

Have you noticed that many of the training courses you paid a lot of money for can be bought exactly the same on Xianyu Taobao for only 9.9 yuan.

This also reveals a phenomenon: pure knowledge and information are not valuable. Because as time goes by, many once novel operating techniques have become popular, and the audience is constantly becoming more knowledgeable, so those so-called "routines" naturally become ineffective.

Therefore, those operating skills and methods that claim to make you famous overnight are only worth 9.9 yuan. Because success cannot be achieved by knowledge alone, it requires more factors.

A purely online course may only cost 9.9 yuan, delivered through a network disk link and a non-interactive WeChat group. Offline courses may be priced at 299 yuan or 599 yuan. This price difference is not just for imparting knowledge, it reflects more other factors required for success.

Offline classes provide opportunities to interact with others, so that you can learn from the actual experience of many people and gain a deeper understanding and answers. At the same time, you can also be exposed to a variety of cases, get inspiration from role models, interactive communication, clear goals and necessary support, all of which can make the learning process easier and more effective, and increase the possibility of success.

Moreover, as social animals, social interaction is an important way to improve cognition. We need to deepen and update our understanding through constant new experiences. It is too difficult to learn by yourself behind closed doors.

Looking back, most of the entrepreneur IPs that are widely disseminated are in the consumer-oriented (TOC) field. In fact, in the business-oriented (TOB) field, many entrepreneurs have achieved remarkable success by accurately positioning the market segments, such as the case of "Hao Weiqiang".

The business model characteristics of the TOB market determine that it is impossible for it to become the focus of public discussion as easily as consumer products, because they usually involve a higher threshold of professional knowledge. Therefore, the purpose of TOB entrepreneurs to build personal IP is not to pursue high traffic or become an Internet celebrity, but to shape and consolidate their personal brand.

In B2B business, close offline connections are crucial. In fact, entrepreneurs’ personal IPs often have established a good reputation in specific circles. The value of short videos and self-media platforms is that they can expand the influence of brands more quickly, break through the original circles, and thus achieve wider brand penetration in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

With the increasing traffic costs and the increasing competition in various industries, finding new growth points is the focus of everyone's attention. Although many industries seem to have reached the saturation point of the market, in fact, there are still many areas that are not fully developed incremental markets.

Take the industrial robot industry as an example. According to unofficial data, about 70% of the market potential of this industry has not been tapped.

Despite the huge market space, these potential markets cannot achieve rapid breakthroughs in the short term due to factors such as cost, technology and complexity of application scenarios. This situation is common in many industries. The potential of incremental markets has not been fully released, forcing market participants to look for new growth opportunities in existing stock markets.

Similarly, in terms of building entrepreneurs’ personal IP, many service providers appeared in the market four or five years ago.

As time goes by, the field should have become more crowded and more competitive. For entrepreneurs who are just entering the market now, it seems to be more difficult to succeed in this field.

Those of us who provide services to enterprises on the front line may have a deeper understanding of this.

Back in the early days, this industry was full of opportunities. As long as you had the courage, you could run out quickly. If you didn’t have a case, you could find one on Douyin. If you didn’t have project experience, you could learn by doing. As the saying goes, “the bold will die of overeating, and the timid will die of starvation.” The early batch of service providers grew rapidly while taking advantage of the platform’s traffic bonus period.

Compared with four or five years ago, when most of the peers were amateur teams, now, if you want to serve customers in the same way, it is highly likely that you will not be able to achieve the same results. This is closely related to factors such as timing selection and platform development stage.

This also shows that operational knowledge and skills are only one of the factors that lead you to success. Knowledge needs to be constantly updated to adapt to the platform gameplay of different periods. Similarly, even though the track for entrepreneurs' personal IP is becoming more and more crowded, once you accurately locate your own market segment, most of them are still smooth roads.

3. 7 Concepts of Entrepreneurs’ IP Creation

In the past ten years, what I have been doing is actually helping industrial enterprises solve the problem of traffic growth. Although I have not achieved very significant results in building personal IP, I realize that the core logic of building an entrepreneur's personal IP is the same as brand marketing and traffic operation.

Based on the experiences and lessons I have learned in serving client projects over the years, I would like to share some suggestions on how entrepreneurs can build their personal IP.

1. Success is hard to replicate

As mentioned earlier, the reason why many people are successful is not simply because of their abilities, but to a large extent has to do with the timing they choose.

Many industry leaders or wealthy bosses may not have a higher professional level than other employees in the company, but they grasp the right time. Once this window of opportunity closes, the competition will become more intense.

I have also seen many business leaders doing training and selling courses. Their experience is indeed valuable, but we also need to consider the specific background of their success when learning from them. Similarly, for many successful cases of marketing service providers, we also need to analyze the reasons for their success. Is it because of the characteristics of the customers or the professional capabilities of the service provider team?

Just like we will not over-exaggerate our expertise in front of customers, we just emphasize that our understanding of the industry may be deeper than other peers. The key to what kind of results can be achieved in the end lies in the customers themselves, not just the professional ability of the service provider.

2. Teamwork is crucial

Many technical people prefer to do things themselves, believing that work done by hand can better reflect their personal style, and they enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with it.

In my own early experiences, I also had this tendency to do everything myself, even if it was not for the purpose of saving costs, but because I was confident that I could do it.

But I soon realized that this approach was extremely inefficient and costly, especially in terms of time investment. It's simple: How can you guarantee to update content every day for 365 days a year? It's likely that you will stop updating after a week or two. But a team can do it.

Therefore, building and managing a short video team is crucial to the development of an entrepreneur’s personal IP. Behind the success of a personal IP is the joint efforts of a team, which is an indispensable asset.

If you lack experience in team management and operations, you can look for a reliable service provider as a partner in the early stages. After you slowly figure out some of the tricks involved, you can get started.

3. Prepare for long-term investment

Once someone is labeled as an "Internet celebrity", it means that they are short-lived, ephemeral, and short-lived. Only brands can help us survive the cycle. When building personal IP, entrepreneurs should adopt a long-term strategy, similar to search engine optimization (SEO), which requires continuous efforts and accumulation. Don't blindly pursue the number of fans and traffic.

For example, it is meaningless for a company that focuses on new energy vehicle parts to compare traffic data with vehicle manufacturers because the size of the target audience is different. In addition, more data is not necessarily better, and excessive pursuit may lead to a decline in traffic quality.

To evaluate the growth of IP influence, we can actually return to more practical offline feedback, such as discussions within the industry, likes and interactions from friends, which are all signs that the content is beginning to attract the attention of people in the industry. Although this may not be directly reflected in the data, it does show that your content is having an impact, which is the first step to success.

4. Put aside your pride

The chances of creating a hit piece of content right out of the gate are slim, and in most cases, success takes time and effort. So, as an entrepreneur, you don’t need to be embarrassed or unwilling to share your early data just because it’s not good.

What audiences really care about is the quality of the content and the value it brings to them, not pure numbers. Usually only peers or service providers pay in-depth attention to traffic data.

When you decide to build your personal IP, you need to humble yourself and sincerely adapt to the characteristics of the self-media era. Just like Lei Jun of Xiaomi, he has a good reputation because he shows sincere humility. Even though he is worth billions, he can still maintain an approachable attitude.

On the other hand, if entrepreneurs show inappropriate behavior in public, like the example of Zhang Yong, CEO of Nezha Auto, it may have a negative impact on the personal and company image. Therefore, the right mentality is the key to successfully building personal IP.

5. Keep it real

In the short video field, the word "personality" is often mentioned. Many content creators attract audiences by establishing a specific personality. However, I believe that when building a personal IP, it must be authentic and there should be no false elements. Personal IP is closely linked to the company brand, and any unreal image may affect the perception of customers and suppliers about the company.

A persona should be "packaged", which means highlighting and amplifying certain aspects of a person's true self, making him more recognizable and worth discussing in front of the public.

The same is true for brand communication, using attractive narrative techniques to increase suspense and appeal, but these must be based on true and credible stories, not made up out of thin air. In addition, the message and image we convey must be positive.

If you sacrifice principles in pursuit of traffic, you may attract a low-quality audience, which is definitely not conducive to the long-term development of the company and the attraction of high-end customers.

6. Invest time and energy

Many entrepreneurs are hesitant to build their own IP, mainly because of the time investment. After all, tasks such as company management, product development, brand promotion, product delivery, financing and customer meetings already occupy most of their time.

It does take time to create a personal IP, especially in the early stages. It may take a whole afternoon to make a video of a few minutes, which seems too expensive for busy entrepreneurs. But the shaping of personal IP must be done by yourself.

In the beginning, you don’t need to pursue perfection too much. You can start with a mobile phone and a simple recording device. This is a process of trial and error. Pay attention to data feedback, check whether the content quality and positioning are accurate, and adopt a strategy of small steps and fast iteration.

Only when the content direction is proven to be correct by data should we invest more time to improve the content quality. A company originally wanted to find us to operate on its behalf, but later tried to operate it on its own. I recently observed their work and felt that they were working hard but a little blind. If the direction is wrong, even if you work hard, it may be in vain.

7. Be willing to spend money

Many bosses tend to be too cautious in investing in short video operations. On the one hand, this may be due to insufficient knowledge of short video operations, and being misled by those zero-cost success cases, thinking that success can be achieved without too much investment. On the other hand, some entrepreneurs may not really be ready to go all out, but just have a trial attitude, hoping that their subordinates can create some results, even though they know in their hearts that this may be futile.

But it is undeniable that investment is the key to success. This is no longer an era where traffic can be easily obtained, and we should no longer have unrealistic expectations.

If you decide to build your own IP, you should prepare a budget to improve the professionalism of your team, consult professional organizations, launch operations, and purchase operation tools. These investments are an indispensable part of the company's marketing expenses and are necessary to realize the long-term value of your personal IP.

4. How do entrepreneurs build their personal IP?

Building an entrepreneur's personal IP can be divided into two core parts: external image and internal image. These two aspects are interrelated, just like when we meet new friends, we usually start with the external image and then gradually get to know a person's inner qualities.

A person's appearance, including their dress, personal style, etc., is the first step to attract you. On short video platforms, if the audience is not interested in your first impression, they may quickly swipe past the video.

Once the audience is interested in your appearance, they will begin to pay attention to your words and deeds and evaluate your authenticity. Your level of cognition, breadth of vision and talent are the key factors that determine whether the audience is willing to establish a deeper connection with you.

1. Expressiveness

Now many similar products have similar functions, and everyone is competing on price. Is there any other way besides this? Yes, build a brand and find another way through brand differentiation.

The same is true for personal IP. On short video platforms, even if the content is similar, different people’s different expressions will bring different experiences to the audience. The essence of differentiation lies in creating scarcity. The higher the scarcity, the greater the value.

Therefore, improving expressiveness and producing unique content are the keys to building a personal IP competitive advantage.

There is a contradiction here. Entrepreneurs are usually good at decision-making rather than acting, but if you want to create an IP, you have to be able to "act" to better please the audience. Otherwise, the video you shoot will be very dry and unnatural.

There is really no other way, you can only rely on practice. Just like Lei Jun was once a social phobia, isn't his current public speaking ability also acquired through practice? In the short term, if you want to quickly improve this shortcoming, you can only consider using "technical means", such as adjusting the shooting angle to cover up the shortcomings of facial expressions, or trying different content formats to improve the audience's viewing experience.

2. Content Operation

The marketing funnel model is a concept that everyone is familiar with, and the logic of short video operations also follows this model.

Discovery Phase

The first priority is to expand traffic entrances and increase the chances of our target audience discovering us.

Traditional methods include participating in industry exhibitions, placing advertisements on industry platforms, and attracting potential customers through keyword and content advertising.

In the operation of short video personal IP, we can attract free traffic through SEO optimization, paid advertising and video tagging techniques.

Interest stage

Once the audience notices us, the next goal is to keep them. Key strategies include carefully designed script structure and topic selection.

"Young people should never enter the automation industry, or you will regret it!", "How to make 1 million at zero cost?", "How much can a factory with 500 people make in a month?"...

You must have seen opening copy like this before. An eye-catching opening is the first step to attract the audience, such as using provocative or curious sentences to stimulate the audience's desire to explore. Once the audience's attention is attracted, it is followed by providing persuasive reasons or data support, and guiding the audience to participate in the interaction. Behind this is a carefully designed script structure.

Of course, more important than the script structure is the topic. We should invest 70% of our energy in the topic, because the wrong topic direction will make all the efforts in vain.

Successful topic selection can bring traffic, and the potential of traffic is directly limited by the scope of the topic. At the beginning, you don’t have to worry about content duplication or being talked about by many people. Instead, you should choose hot topics that have been verified by data, and innovate and differentiate on this basis.

Other videos are verbal narrations, you can choose to visit the factory in person; if other videos focus on the high-tech scenes of the factory, you can show the daily, down-to-earth side of the factory. The key is to provide a unique perspective or content on the same topic, and to achieve "I have what others don't, and I am better than others".

Win the audience's love

To make the audience like you, it is usually not just because of your content, but because they like you as a person. This personal charm is the key factor in determining whether the audience is willing to bring you commercial value.

So, what are the elements that make up a person's attractiveness? I think they mainly include: achievements, professionalism, character and personal symbols, which together constitute your personality positioning.

• Achievements: This is easy to understand, such as how much money you have made, how much money you have lost, how many customers you have served, etc. These are all strong proof of your professional ability.
• Professionalism: As mentioned above, when building a personal IP, you should not preach, be pretentious, or pretend. It is very easy to make the mistake of being a teacher when it comes to professionalism. When showing your professionalism, you should be a sharer rather than an educator to avoid giving people a sense of superiority.
• Character: Character needs to be reflected with the help of some stories or cases, such as caring about employees' deeds, participating in charity activities, etc. These are all ways to show personal qualities.
• Personal symbol: It is an iconic element that allows the audience to quickly remember you, such as Zhou Hongyi's red clothes, or a signature slogan, a specific prop or scene. These symbols can be explored and shaped continuously during the operation process, and sometimes they are even created for you naturally by the audience.