I’ve been listening to Chris Do’s podcast on how to build a strong personal brand. In this particular episode, he interviewed the author of “Key Person of Influence“, Daniel Priestley.

Daniel attributes successful personal branding to these key 5 things:

The perfect pitch

To be a key person of influence like Elon Musk and Steve jobs, you need to know how to persuade others and describe what you do clearly.

These types of influential people are able to enrol people in new and different ways of thinking.

My take: Learn the art of persuasion but remember, you can never persuade somebody who’s not interested in what you’re saying.

They publish content

Influential people make it easy to dive deep into their content.

These ‘people of influence‘ continuously and consistently create videos, write articles, and record podcasts around a narrative that emphasizes the pitch.

My take; To build a strong personal brand, pick a subject you’d like to talk about and create a lot of content under the umbrella of that subject.

The product ecosystem

Successful personal brands don’t sell themselves or their time for money.

They instead position products and services around themselves.

He gives an example of the Eiffel tower. The Eiffel Tower doesn’t make any money but businesses around it make a lot of money.

The same applies to your business.

Your content is the Eiffel Tower and your services and digital products are the businesses around you. Make sense?

My take; create a funnel around what you do (the ecosystem).

The profile

People of influence amplify their brands through social media and traditional media. According to Priestly, influential people don’t want the spotlight, they become the spotlight by saying, “check that out”.

My take; Share your knowledge and recommendations with others. When you share enough valuable information, you become credible.

Partnership

People of influence access resources beyond their control. Rather than have a million followers, they partner with other influential people to amplify their message. This partnership can be free or paid.

My take; no man is an island. Partner with other creators to amplify your message, otherwise, you’ll take 2 years to do something you could’ve done in 6months.

Final Thoughts

Building a strong personal brand requires commitment, not a miracle. You must commit to the process while detaching from the outcome.