Mike Kim is a specialist in personal branding, a marketing expert, and an extraordinarily talented copywriter. He's also a member of my private Regency Mastermind – a remarkable, small group of people doing Big Things. ~ Ray Edwards
You’ve bought the online courses. You’ve attended conferences. You’ve read the right books, tuned into the top podcasts, and even modeled your blog after your favorite online expert.
But no matter how religiously you follow the “right” advice, you just can’t seem to get more traction.
What gives?
Chances are, you’re missing what I consider the “Rosetta Stone” of personal brand building.
The real Rosetta Stone (not the language learning course) is a stone tablet discovered in 1799 in the Nile Delta. Widely regarded as one of the great archaeological finds in history, the Rosetta Stone helped linguists “break the code” to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs.
The Rosetta Stone contained a decree written by King Ptolemy V in three different scripts: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script, and Ancient Greek. Once discovered, linguists used their knowledge of known terms to unlock the meaning of the unknown hieroglyphs.
In the same way, there is a “Rosetta Stone” in the personal brand space that very few people know about or even understand.
It’s no wonder.
There’s no course that teaches it. There are no books that talk about it. There are no conferences dedicated to it. And those successful bloggers and brands you follow? They don’t talk about it because most of them don’t even realize they’ve done it!
But I guarantee you — every successful personal brand has possessed this “Rosetta Stone” in one varying degree or another.
So what is this “Rosetta Stone” I’m talking about?
It is called …
Rising Star Status.
Consider: every big-name expert you follow today started out a beginner. No one “inherited” a blog with 100,000 readers from their late rich uncle. You can’t purchase a personal brand following on eBay, complete with thousands of social media followers, huge email lists, and jealousy-inducing amounts of web traffic.
No, every expert you follow was, at some point, a beginner when it comes to a personal brand.
- Michael Hyatt was a corporate executive.
- Pat Flynn was an architect.
- Chalene Johnson was a personal trainer.
- Brian Clark of Copyblogger was a lawyer.
- Cliff Ravenscraft was an insurance salesman.
- John Lee Dumas served in the military.
Slowly but surely, each of these folks started to get their name out there, find their niche, and gain traction. They stepped into and embodied the role of a “rising star.”
Eventually you saw their names on other blogs, or on your favorite podcasts. They became associated with other bigger-than-life personal brands, and eventually became one.
Please don’t think this happened by dumb luck. While each person’s path to success is different, the tenets are the same: building a successful personal brand requires you be smart, strategic, and savvy.
Here are a few strategies you can implement to break the code and position yourself as a “rising star,” all without being sketchy or spammy.
1. Become the best testimonial you can possibly be.
You may wonder, “How do I get noticed by or connect with an influencer?” The best way: enroll in a program and become their best case study. If you’ve already purchased someone’s course, all that remains is for you to use it to it’s fullest potential, get results, and make a big deal about it.
If you have a blog or podcast, talk about it!
Becoming someone’s best testimonial will get their attention like nothing else can. That person is paying careful attention to what people are saying about his or her product. You’ve already set yourself apart from the multitudes by being one of their customers. Now take it a step further by being one of their best case testimonials. They may mention you or even Re-Tweet you.
Looking for an example? I did this with the very owner of this platform, Ray Edwards. Check out: Why I Spent $4,102 To Spend A Few Days with Copywriter Ray Edwards.
2. Devote a blog post or podcast episode to another “rising star” (not a guru).
While you can use your platform to rave about a big name, you can also use it to build rapport with other people that are going places.
These fellow rising stars will appreciate the exposure more than the A-list personality; it will be easier for them to notice you. You don’t have to interview them — in fact, it’s probably better if you don’t. Just rave about them. They may share your content with their audience, and even reach out to you personally.
If you connect with or even befriend them on their ascent, their success will contribute to yours in more ways than one.
I did this with a “rising star” several years ago, Jared Easley. Jared has since gone on to co-found Podcast Movement, and has become a household name in the podcast space. I wrote a simple blog post about him, and we became friends: Why I Love Jared Easley’s Starve The Doubts Podcast.
3. Make yourself recommendable.
All these actions will be for naught if you don’t have a platform or presence that reflects the standards of the person you are writing about.
Friend, there is a difference between being appreciated and being recommended.
Writing a great review for a guru or fellow rising star may earn their appreciation — but it doesn’t mean he or she will repost or share your content. No, you must be recommendable.
Consider what the word “recommend” means. The root word is “commend,” which means to praise. When someone re-commends you, it essentially means he or she is “re-praising” you to others.
So, is your platform worthy of someone’s praise? Is your blog or podcast of such quality that the person you raved about would heartily re-commend you to their audience? Do you present yourself as a “rising star” whose success they would love to be associated with?
These are touchy questions, but deserve serious consideration.
Remember, you don’t need eye-popping design, or years of blog content, or a huge podcast. You simply need to be recommendable. Have your site in order. Focus your content. Use good pictures. Make a great first impression.
Chances are that you are already this person — you just have to make sure your platform reflects that.
Implement these strategies and you will unlock the key to elevating people’s perception of you. This is the “Rosetta Stone” of personal brand building. Do it, and you’ll gain access to people, places, and platforms quicker than you imagined.
The only question is … will you do it?