Summary of the Key Points
This article discusses a phenomenon where more and more business owners facing difficulties are tempted by the popularity of short-video platforms to try and save their businesses by creating personal brands (or “IPs”). However, in the process, many owners get misled by MCNs (Multi-Channel Networks) and other supporting agencies into focusing on creating personas for the sake of traffic generation. They spend a lot of money but fail to attract actual customers and even deviate from the core of their business operations. Effective personal brands, on the other hand, combine content with actual business practices to solve operational problems (such as handling customer feedback and managing stores), rather than simply pursuing high views and followers.
1. Why do business owners turn to making short videos when their businesses are struggling?
With declining offline sales (slow payment from distributors, difficulty in selling products, and reduced foot traffic), business owners are eager to find new ways out. Short-video platforms have a large user base (1.099 billion by the end of 2025) and can directly drive consumption (40% of people make purchases through these videos), so owners want to connect with their customers through these platforms. Some IP service providers simplify complex marketing strategies into a simple statement: “The problem isn’t with your product; it’s that you, as the owner, don’t have enough visibility.” As a result, business owners who are not familiar with short videos are pushed to appear on camera in the hope of using their personal brands to attract attention.
2. How do MCNs turn business owners into “actors”?
MCN agencies are adept at creating memorable personas. For example, Zhu Yidan’s case: originally a man who wore a Polo shirt and a backpack but also carried a Rolex, his MCN amplified the contrast between his affluent lifestyle and casual demeanor to create the character “Zhu Yidan.” His account gained 8 million followers in half a year, but he himself became overshadowed by this persona. However, such success is hard to replicate; it requires a unique combination of factors and proves that a strong persona can make a brand popular, not that the business can be saved solely by it. Yet service providers break down this success into “methods” like “persona creation, contrast, and viral moments” that business owners are encouraged to imitate, sometimes forcing them to adopt an image that doesn’t truly represent them.
3. Why do investments in creating personal brands often fail?
Many business owners spend thousands to tens of thousands on services to help with their branding efforts, only to be disappointed:
- Min Ge spent 500,000 on VIP services for his villa design IP but only gained 189 followers and no revenue.
- Ms. Sun spent 29,800 on operations and only added 300 followers in a year.
- A high-end tea company spent 240,000 to reach 7,000 followers (with a promised target of 60,000).
The issue lies in the different expectations between business owners and service providers. Owners want to attract customers and save their businesses, while providers deliver a series of tasks (writing scripts, shooting videos, holding meetings). Ironically, some owners only gain attention through “rights-defense videos” that highlight the failures of these services.
4. High views but no customers in stores: The gap between traffic and sales
Algorithms favor emotionally engaging and contrasting content, but customers’ needs are practical. For example, a Japanese restaurant owner named Lao Liu’s videos about his personal life gained tens of thousands of views but didn’t attract customers. However, videos about the food and environment were more effective. This is because platform algorithms prioritize engagement and sharing, while customers care more about the quality of products and the comfort of the environment. Some training institutions even present occasional successes as universal solutions, leading owners to continuously invest in courses, thinking that lack of results is due to insufficient learning, when the problem may actually lie in the wrong approach.
5. Personal brands that can truly save businesses are not ones created for show
There are successful examples, though. Zhao Zhiqiang, the founder of Big Pizza, didn’t create a fake persona in his videos; instead, he used the comment section as a platform to address customer issues directly (e.g., fixing broken air conditioning or addressing long waiting times). His videos had nearly 300 million views in 2025, and the traffic helped improve store management. The key to a successful personal brand is to use content to showcase one’s expertise and direct traffic towards business operations, rather than creating dramatic scenes for the sake of traffic.
Final Thoughts
Creating a personal brand as a business owner is not wrong, but don’t let the obsession with traffic drive your decisions. Before starting to make videos, ask yourself these questions:
- Do customers need to trust me before buying my products?
- Can my expertise be transformed into useful content?
- Can my products and team handle the additional customer traffic?
If you can’t answer these questions, making more videos won’t solve the fundamental issues of your business. After all, what really matters are your products, distribution channels, and cash flow, not just the performance in front of a camera.
(The entire text is written in plain language, avoiding technical jargon, and each point is illustrated with real-life examples to help non-financial professionals understand the pitfalls and correct approaches for creating personal brands in business contexts.)