Six tiers that measure how far a personal brand reaches. Everyone starts at the bottom, and each tier above asks for more effort, time, and resources than the one before it.
The Hierarchy of Personal Branding is the Manifesto's measure of scale. It is drawn as a pyramid of six tiers named with personal and geographic references, and each tier can also be read as a number range, so it works for a person aiming at one industry as well as one at a whole country.
The Hierarchy measures how large a position is. How good the position is, is a separate question, which is why MCG pairs the tier with a score across The Five Personal Brand Pillars.
As you move up the Hierarchy of Personal Branding pyramid, each category requires more effort than the prior one, usually takes more time and more resources, and is generally more difficult to obtain.
Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition, 1.8
Find Your Tier Honestly. Place yourself by who actually knows you today, not by who you hope knows you. The Brand Audit estimates the tier from the audience figure on its intake.
Choose the Tier You Are Building Toward. Name the next tier, not the last one. A Local Hero aiming for The State Representative needs a different plan from someone aiming for The National Personality.
Plan for the Climb to Get Harder. Each tier asks for more deliberate effort, more time, and more resources than the one below it. Budget for that before you start.
The moves ISIA, the engine behind the Brand Audit, draws from this part of the doctrine. Each one is something you can do this month, and the reason it matters.
This page is a summary. The subchapter itself goes further, with the reasoning, the stories behind it, and the exercise that closes it.
Six: Unconscious Incompetent, Friends and Family, The Local Hero, The State Representative, The National Personality, and The International Icon. Material showing five tiers is missing Unconscious Incompetent at the base.
No. The right tier is the one your goals need. A practice that serves one city may be best served by becoming The Local Hero, and the Hierarchy simply makes that target explicit.
The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit estimates the tier from the audience figure on its intake, and scores the quality of the position separately across The Five Personal Brand Pillars.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews on this subject, from the same library MCG consultants work from. Each one keeps the words he said it in, and links to the transcript where there is one.
As you approach a goal, write the next one. Keep your sights on the level above where you physically are.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“we should always be aiming higher”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The #1 Threat to Your Success”, June 22, 2020
Once your brand is solid, shift effort from messaging people one at a time toward marketing that lets people follow your direction and come to you.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“i got the branding aspect downpack, but what i need to get downpack now is the whole marketing side of things”
The Codependency Survival Guide, “How to Get Your Music Heard During Lockdown ft. Isaac Mashman”, May 30, 2020
If you are an artist or a host whose audience is not growing, message a set number of new prospective listeners every day and keep it up.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“send a hundred dms every single day”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “Are You A Business Owner Or Unemployed With A Title?”, July 13, 2020
Buyers and sellers choose an agent, not a brokerage. The agent whose name the neighborhood already knows wins the listing before the first meeting.
The subtitle of the Manifesto names the two forces that decide what a personal brand can accomplish. Reach without trust is empty, and trust without reach stays small.
Chapter 2 of the Manifesto sets out four laws that build in order. Without familiarity there is no connection; without fame and influence, a personal brand has little reach or weight.
How MCG measures the quality of a personal brand. Five pillars, always in this order, weighted into one composite out of 100.
Engagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
