Are you ready to become a thought leader? Want to get paid to speak? Would you like to write for Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., or another top business publication? How about publish a bestselling book? Build an email list or a following on social media? To attract customers, companies build brands that tell who they are. If you re going to build the business of you, you need a strong personal brand that stakes a claim to the position you want with your audience. What position do you want to occupy in the mind? That's the first decision to make. Al Ries, Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind In this checklist you ll take the steps to discover your unique position, your unfair advantage, and talk about it in a way that will set you up for success.
WHAT IS YOUR? A personal brand is like a company s brand, which is more than a logo or a tagline, as important as these elements are. Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room. Jeff Bezos, Founder, Amazon Your brand is your reputation. It s your identity. It s how others describe you. It s what puts you top of mind. When you dominate a topic in the minds of your audience members, then you have a strong personal brand. When you have a strong personal brand you are a trusted source. You are a recognized expert. This will lead to speaking engagements, book deals, and media attention. The results flow to you in a magical way but it s not magic at all. It s a formula that relies on clarity and focus to own a narrow space. When your audience knows who you are and what you will do for them, they ll flock to you. Follow the steps on this checklist to identify your personal brand and create a simple tagline that will become the foundation of how you introduce yourself, how others introduce you, and how your audience thinks about you.
01 FIND YOUR WHY People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek, Start With Why Once you know why you re building a personal brand it will guide all other steps on your journey. Start with this simple exercise by filling in the blanks. You can redo this later, just put whatever comes to mind first. I want to: So that: [what you want to contribute] [the impact you want to make] Example: Mike Michalowicz is the author of Profit First and other books for entrepreneurs. If he were completing this statement it might read I want to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty so that entrepreneurs can make a living building a business they love. Not sure what your contribution might be, or who your audience is? Take your best shot, and then move on. Come back and revisit this page if something pops into your head while you re going through the other steps.
02 IDENTIFY YOUR EXPERT ZONES An expert is a man [or woman] who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. Niels Bohr List out anything you re good at you don t have to be the best in the world at each of these things, just good enough that people might ask you for advice. Do people ever ask you for advice on managing personal finances? Starting a business? Fixing computers? Math? Optimizing their website? Building a following on social media? Write it down, the more the better. Make a big list.
03 CHOOSE YOUR GENIUS ZONE You have a calling: to live your genius. Gay Hendricks Combine two or more expert areas to create genius zones areas in which you are irreplaceable. EXPERT ZONE #1 GENIUS ZONE EXPERT ZONE #2 Example: Let s say you know a lot about public speaking, and you also know a lot about running a marketing agency. There are others who know more about public speaking than you do, and others who know more about running a marketing agency, but it s unlikely too many people know more about both than you do. Add additional expert zones to really focus in. Create genius zones until one stands out and you say That s it!
04 DISCOVER YOUR AUDIENCES You now know your genius zone, but who cares? Once you find the people who care, you re on your way to finding your audience. Follower counts only matter if the audience actually cares and actively consumes your content. Gary Vaynerchuk Make a list of all the potential audiences who are interested in your genius zone.
05 CHOOSE YOUR IDEAL AUDIENCE Out of all your potential audiences, which one is your ideal audience? Your ideal audience will: 1. 2. 3. 4. Be like you. You ll have your greatest success with individuals who see something of themselves in you, and who you can emphathize with. Have money. To become a full-time influencer or thought leader someone needs to pay you so you can pay the bills. Want what you have and be willing to pay for it. Only when your personal brand convinces someone they would be better off giving you their money than keeping it do you know you re providing real value. Energize you. No amount of money will make up for serving an audience that doesn t excite you. Your ideal audience is one you can t wait to reconnect with every Monday morning. Which of the audiences you listed in the previous step best match these four conditions?
06 DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVE If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams Likewise, if you want to be a leader, you must inspire action in others. What do you want that action to be? For many aspiring influencers and thought leaders what comes to mind might be that you want others to:... Buy your book Pay to hear you speak Enroll in your online course But why do you want them to do these things? Hint: Money cannot be your primary motivation or your audience will see through you and your success will be short-lived. Define your objective by completing this statement: I want [your audience] to [action you want them to take or state of being you want them to achieve] so that [impact you want to have on your audience or on the world through the actions of your audience].
07 CREATE YOUR TAGLINE It s time to create your tagline that will position you properly in the minds of your audience and encourage them to trust you and act accordingly. Here are sample taglines that might apply to notable influencers: I teach entrepreneurs how to build email lists and create online courses with ease. Amy Porterfield I teach hustlers how to day trade attention. Gary Vaynerchuk I help families manage their finances. Suze Orman I will teach you to be rich. Ramit Sethi I awaken the giant within individuals. Tony Robbins I help people focus on what s essential. Greg McKeown Now it s your turn. Fill in the blanks: I help [your audience] to [what they will receive or become when they do what you want them to do]. (but don t stop yet, there s more)
HELPFUL TIPS Be flexible. Your tagline doesn t need to say exactly I help...to... Modify it as needed. The point is to combine everything you ve learned about yourself, your audience, and your objectives into a short, simple statement that quickly and clearly communicates the position you want to own. Rinse and repeat. You may find it useful to go through this checklist more than once, since later steps can sometimes affect earlier ones. Once you ve created a tagline, enlist the help of others you trust. Share this checklist with them, walk them through the process, and get their feedback. They may provide insights about how others see you that will change how you see yourself and your place in the world as an influencer and thought leader. How to use your tagline. Other experts use their taglines as book titles, on their websites and social media profiles, and as part of their bio or introduction. The most important thing, more than putting the text of your tagline everywhere, is that everything about you matches and supports that tagline so that it isn t just wishful thinking, but the reality of your personal brand what others say about you when you re not around.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Hi! I m Josh Steimle, and I m the founder of Influencer Inc. I help executives, entrepreneurs, and working professionals to become thought leaders and influencers through public speaking, writing books, and getting media attention in top business publications. In 1999 I founded the marketing agency MWI, which failed its way forward until 2013 when I stumbled onto the power of personal branding when I was invited to contribute articles to Forbes magazine. As I wrote more, my personal brand grew, and I leveraged my brand to get into other publications, ultimately contributing more than 300 articles to places like Fortune, Mashable, TechCrunch, Time, and Fast Company. This writing led to a book deal, speaking engagements worldwide, and millions in revenue for my marketing agency which has grown to include offices in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and China. In 2016 I founded Influencer Inc, a publishing, events, and training company to help individuals like you become more influential. Learn more at InfluencerInc.co. I also blog regularly at JoshSteimle.com.