A six-level pyramid for the reach a personal brand can aspire to, and how to see where yours stands. Lesson 8 of Personal Branding 101: An Unrivaled Series, from subchapter 1.8 of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, narrated by Isaac Mashman. Free, with no sign-up.
A six-level pyramid for the reach a personal brand can aspire to, and how to see where yours stands.
How far can a personal brand reach? Some are known within a small circle, others, by millions of people they will never meet. Welcome to Personal Branding 101. I'm Isaac Mashman, founder of Mashman Consulting Group and author of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence.
This is lesson 8, The Hierarchy of Personal Branding. To visualize the scale of a personal brand's reach, I created the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Imagine a pyramid with six levels. The base is broad.
As you move toward the top, the number of people occupying each level becomes smaller. Before we walk through them, understand this. The audience numbers are for illustration purposes only. They help you picture scale.
They are not research findings, rigid requirements, or a measure of your worth. Level 1: The Unconscious Incompetent. You are unaware that you have a personal brand, so you are not consciously directing it.
You do not know what you do not know. At this level, audience size does not matter. The defining characteristic is your lack of awareness, not how many people know your name. If you have understood this series, you now know that you have a personal brand.
The next question is what you will do with it. Level 2: Friends and Family. Your recognition remains within your existing personal circle. Family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and the people you encounter through everyday life.
Think about the mechanic everyone in the family calls when their car needs repairs. Their ability is known, but that recognition has not traveled far beyond their immediate relationships. Picture 500 people or fewer.
Your closest circle may be much smaller. Level 3: The Local Hero. People recognize you within a community because you have consciously given them a reason to. The realtor whose signs appear throughout town.
The musician people come out to hear. The professional whose name comes up when somebody asks for a recommendation. Your recognition now extends beyond the people you already know. Picture 501 to just under 100,000 people. From here, each level calls for a broader foundation, more time, more resources, more deliberate direction.
Level 4: The State Representative. You are a well-established authority known across a region. Think about the news anchor people watch each evening, the radio host they hear on their morning commute, or the professional whose reputation extends across the state.
The title describes the scale of recognition, but it does not mean you hold political office. Picture 100,000 to just under 1 million people. Level 5: The National Personality. Your recognition extends across a country.
People outside your region know your name, recognize your face, or understand what you are known for. Agents, teams, and professional support help manage the opportunities and responsibilities that come with that visibility. Picture 1 million to just under 10 million people.
Level 6: The International Icon. Your fame and influence extend globally. Millions of people know you, follow your work, and form an opinion of you, even though you may never know they exist. The relationship is largely one-directional.
They recognize you. You cannot possibly recognize all of them in return. Picture 10 million people or more. Now remember what this pyramid measures, the scale of recognition, not the value of a person.
You do not need international fame to accomplish a local goal. You do not need to become a national personality to build a respected regional business. What one person aspires to may seem small to someone else, while remaining enormous to another.
The right level is the one your goals require. So put this to work. Search your own name. List the places you appear in the communities where people already recognize you.
Write one sentence explaining what you want a stranger to know you for. Then identify your current level and the next level your goals require. Choose one deliberate action that can move you toward it and give that action a date. Here is your question.
How far does your personal brand need to reach for the life you want to build? That concludes Personal Branding 101. Every lesson came from my book, Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence. To see where your personal brand stands today, start with the Brand Audit found on identitypositioning.com.
I'll see you there.
Each lesson takes one subchapter of Education, the Manifesto’s opening chapter, and animates it in a few minutes: the foundation the rest of the book, and the firm’s work, is built on.
In one word: you. What a personal brand is, how it differs from a company brand, where the term came from, and why it already exists before anyone sets out to build it.
Watch Lesson 1, 3:50Pharaohs, kings, and conquerors: people have carried personal brands for as long as there has been history, and the names that lasted are still studied today.
Watch Lesson 2, 2:59Why personal branding is the world's oldest form of branding, long before any company had a logo.
Watch Lesson 3, 3:08Leaders of the last 150 years, why personality can outweigh promises, a tattoo artist who put her village on the map, and a personal brand started on one phone.
Watch Lesson 4, 3:06Fame is the result of accumulated attention: what it is, how relative it is, and why on its own it is useless.
Watch Lesson 5, 3:06Influence is trust, and the ability to get someone to act or change the way they think: the heat in the fire that is a personal brand.
Watch Lesson 6, 3:13The four questions the firm asks its clients for clarity before the work begins, starting with why.
Watch Lesson 7, 3:33A six-level pyramid for the reach a personal brand can aspire to, and how to see where yours stands.
Watch Lesson 8, 5:13How far can a personal brand reach? Some are known within a small circle, others, by millions of people they will never meet. Welcome to Personal Branding 101. I'm Isaac Mashman, founder of Mashman Consulting Group and author of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence.
This is lesson 8, The Hierarchy of Personal Branding. To visualize the scale of a personal brand's reach, I created the Hierarchy of Personal Branding. Imagine a pyramid with six levels. The base is broad.
As you move toward the top, the number of people occupying each level becomes smaller. Before we walk through them, understand this. The audience numbers are for illustration purposes only. They help you picture scale.
They are not research findings, rigid requirements, or a measure of your worth. Level 1: The Unconscious Incompetent. You are unaware that you have a personal brand, so you are not consciously directing it.
You do not know what you do not know. At this level, audience size does not matter. The defining characteristic is your lack of awareness, not how many people know your name. If you have understood this series, you now know that you have a personal brand.
The next question is what you will do with it. Level 2: Friends and Family. Your recognition remains within your existing personal circle. Family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and the people you encounter through everyday life.
Think about the mechanic everyone in the family calls when their car needs repairs. Their ability is known, but that recognition has not traveled far beyond their immediate relationships. Picture 500 people or fewer.
Your closest circle may be much smaller. Level 3: The Local Hero. People recognize you within a community because you have consciously given them a reason to. The realtor whose signs appear throughout town.
The musician people come out to hear. The professional whose name comes up when somebody asks for a recommendation. Your recognition now extends beyond the people you already know. Picture 501 to just under 100,000 people. From here, each level calls for a broader foundation, more time, more resources, more deliberate direction.
Level 4: The State Representative. You are a well-established authority known across a region. Think about the news anchor people watch each evening, the radio host they hear on their morning commute, or the professional whose reputation extends across the state.
The title describes the scale of recognition, but it does not mean you hold political office. Picture 100,000 to just under 1 million people. Level 5: The National Personality. Your recognition extends across a country.
People outside your region know your name, recognize your face, or understand what you are known for. Agents, teams, and professional support help manage the opportunities and responsibilities that come with that visibility. Picture 1 million to just under 10 million people.
Level 6: The International Icon. Your fame and influence extend globally. Millions of people know you, follow your work, and form an opinion of you, even though you may never know they exist. The relationship is largely one-directional.
They recognize you. You cannot possibly recognize all of them in return. Picture 10 million people or more. Now remember what this pyramid measures, the scale of recognition, not the value of a person.
You do not need international fame to accomplish a local goal. You do not need to become a national personality to build a respected regional business. What one person aspires to may seem small to someone else, while remaining enormous to another.
The right level is the one your goals require. So put this to work. Search your own name. List the places you appear in the communities where people already recognize you.
Write one sentence explaining what you want a stranger to know you for. Then identify your current level and the next level your goals require. Choose one deliberate action that can move you toward it and give that action a date. Here is your question.
How far does your personal brand need to reach for the life you want to build? That concludes Personal Branding 101. Every lesson came from my book, Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence. To see where your personal brand stands today, start with the Brand Audit found on identitypositioning.com.
I'll see you there.
Read further: The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and Chapter 1 of the Manifesto (opens in a new tab).
The chapter the series is drawn from, word for word from the Second Edition.
Read Chapter 1 (opens in a new tab)The firm’s full answer, with the laws, the pillars, and the Hierarchy in one place.
Read the GuideSee where your own personal brand stands across the five pillars of Identity Positioning™.
Take the Brand AuditEngagements 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.
Consultations are virtual or in person. See what each includes, and what is asked of you: Virtual or In Person.
