How to build your million dollar personal brand

Date: March 16, 2016

Name: How to build your million dollar personal brand

Presenter: Dan Lok

Many entrepreneurs understand the importance of technical application, but they still fail because they underestimate the power of personal branding. Vancouver Entrepreneurs Group invites Dan Lok, the serial entrepreneur, to help entrepreneurs build and promote their personal brand. Dan Lok will share his strategies to help entrepreneurs create their desire image in their market. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn how to become well-respected influencer, how to leverage their brand for new business opportunities, and how to communicate their ideas to brand value.

Dan Lok is a multi-millionaire and a serial entrepreneur. Lok has published many bestselling books for business, especially in the field of internet marketing. With determination and hard work, Lok establishes his knowledge and influence in the world of internet marketing. Lok appears in many social media, including his own YouTube channel, “Shoulders of Titans”. Moreover, he is also an international motivation speaker and a business mentor for many young entrepreneurs.

How to build your million dollar personal brand

The term “personal brand” originally started in 1997 from an article by Tom Peters. Peters defined the term with the following statement.

“To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called YOU”

Dan Lok indicates the worst any business owner can have is to obtain a personal brand that they hate because they have to fake the whole life to sustain that personal brand.

There is a huge difference between branding, marketing and sales.

1. Sales is convincing
2. Marketing is generating business
3. Branding is influencing

Sales come from the words entrepreneurs use to overcome objections, negotiate deals, and persuade clients. Marketing highlights a product or services that generate revenue for entrepreneurs. Branding touches desire and emotion. Lok defines the goal of branding is to emotionally predispose clients into entering business relationship. Moreover, it can position a product or service for people to feel irresistible urge to purchase.

However, the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs is to become the first thing people thought of before they actually need the service, and branding can help entrepreneurs achieve that. There are many people know how to sale. Only some know how to market, but only a small percentage of people know how to brand. The reason why branding only obtain by small portion is because most owners do not think they are the brand.

Personal image versus personal brand

Lok emphasizes personal brand is not the same as personal image. Entrepreneurs can only have personal image without proper strategies. Personal image comes from short term feeling from others, yet personal brand comes from long term emotion from what others feel.

Personal brand is not a person; in fact, it is the public projection of certain aspects of entrepreneurs’ personality, skills or values. In addition, personal brand is considered the perception of the entrepreneur.

In business, many clients do not know the real life entrepreneur, and they only know the personal brand of the entrepreneur. Lok wants entrepreneurs to understand that they are not the brand and they are human beings who project the brand. Furthermore, they need to apply the personal brand to their companies.

Personal brand means create the unique identity around a leading attribute. Personal brand can manage the perception that allows clients to feel certain way about the entrepreneurs and the product they offer. Personal brand can also pre-sell entrepreneur. It allows clients to aware of their characteristic. Therefore, the purpose of personal brand is not to attract sales, but attracts power.

“A personal brand gives the power to influence the decisions, attitudes and action of an audience”

Lok mentions one of the best assets entrepreneurs can gain from personal brand is reputation capital, which is when clients give referrals without selling. Personal brand opens more door than just a company name.

“Who I work with is secondary, who I am is primary”

Everything entrepreneurs do can affect their personal brand. Even the way entrepreneurs act can impact personal brand in the long run.

Lok reveals the 3 million dollar personal branding strategy.

Strategy #1: Being known as

Lok believes the last thing entrepreneurs want to appear to others is another business they already familiar with. The name is a part of the brand. Entrepreneurs need to create more memorable moments for others. It is important not to wait for others for their permission to claim their spot in the market. Moreover, entrepreneurs should start as expert at the beginning and then get backup support along the way.

Lok believes it is important for entrepreneurs to get their domain name as soon as possible. To make the name more memorable, Lok suggests to take two different words and combine them for extraordinary effects.

Strategy #2: Specialization

Personal brand can grow by specialization. The term “specialization” refers to a specific target market with specific product or services that can meet their needs. Entrepreneurs understand the more presentations they deliver the more sales they close. However, marketing and branding are the opposite. The more focus their clients, the more energy and more business they can generate. This also means when entrepreneurs try to brand all people, they will end up being nothing to anyone.

“The more often you reject the clients you do not really want, you will attract the clients you really want”.

Lok shares 7 ways to specialize a personal brand to target an audience.

1. Specialize by ability
2. Specialize by behavior
3. Specialize by lifestyle
4. Specialize by mission
5. Specialize by product
6. Specialize by profession
7. Specialize by service

When entrepreneurs specialize their abilities in their personal brand, they can outrank their competitors. Lok suggest awards, testimonials, or proof can become a powerful differentiator. Specialize by behavior shows certain personality and the ability to listen. The dominant behavior will attracts the market and produce positive reaction. Lifestyle can be used to draw a certain future perspective for specific audience. When personal branding includes specific mission, it separates from other general organizations. It will also create a niche or community. Products can also impact personal branding. Moreover, products can limit certain market sector.

Many entrepreneurs attach their profession with their personal branding. This sends the message that entrepreneurs want to own a piece of that specific market through personal brand development. Lastly, when entrepreneurs specialize their services in their personal brand, it narrows down the market to the most compelling target market.

Lok believes the wealth is indirect proportion to the knowledge of the market. Entrepreneurs should at least specialize 1 out of 7 ways for their personal brand.

Strategy #3: Attributes

Personal branding is all about attributes. Attribute can attract or benefit target market. Every entrepreneur should have one leading attribute that can used as core message to drive all their branding collateral.

Lok wants entrepreneurs to think about these two statements.

“What do you want to be known for”

“What do you want to be known as”

With the right attributes in place, people will remember and come back for more services. It is entrepreneurs’ obligation to ensure clients know about their attributes. Additionally, entrepreneurs need to think if their actions congruent to what they known for.

Lok thinks the way entrepreneurs cultivate their characteristic that makes them famous is through tribe. Seth Godin defines a tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea. Lok believes in business, the group should also connect to character. It is important to be famous in the niche that nobody heard of.

People who stay with particular entrepreneurs because of they provide certain clarity, breakthrough ideas, and curiosity.

“Clients may come to you because of what you do. They stay with you because of who you are”

A way for new members in the tribe to promote their personal branding is to have a backstory. The backstory can reveal who they are, where they are from, and what they are doing. Backstory is entrepreneurs’ mythology, legend and life story. Entrepreneurs need to keep repeating their backstory with different ways to use as their foundation.

Lok shares the 5 elements for crafting a character in the tribe. Each element must be carefully craft to match the desired outcome.

• Backstory
• Beliefs and values
• Magic power
• Parables
• Secret language

The keys to the effectiveness of personal brand are in the character in the storyline. People remember characters when they can relate to them. Stories can create eager for people to wait for the next installment. Moreover, stories create the effect of curiosity for entrepreneurs. The good character stands for a belief with recognizable backstory.

When entrepreneurs are able to create characteristic that stands out, memorable and passion, they have developed the uniform of personal brand.

3 examples of types of characters

Lok explains 3 types of characters entrepreneurs can use for their storyline: the reluctant hero, the exceptional man or woman who overcomes huge challenges, and us versus them.

The reluctant hero consists of the storyline that transforms from a regular person to someone who is trying to make a difference. The storyline will show how the person stumbled through something and change at the end. Spiderman is a perfect example of reluctant hero.

The exceptional man or woman who overcomes huge challenges comes from the storyline where people are intrigued by the characters who are good at what they do. The process of overcoming the challenge and triumphs against all odds, handicaps, and skepticism can win really demonstrates who they have become. Tony Robbins is the best example.

The us versus them character works well since most people like to blame others for their problem. When the storyline represents them to be on their side can greatly improve reputation and followers. The formula for this character comes with 3 steps. The first step is to discover a secret that proves there is a problem in the market. The second step is to unite together and solve the problem. The third step is to emphasize the product so others can become one of them.

Lok emphasizes all character crafting requires flaws and disclosure. Nobody likes a perfect character because there is no such thing as perfect human being. They must show the willingness to be transparent.

Magic power is also important element to craft character. Nobody likes to follow a boring character. Entrepreneurs need to identify the character with special or exceptional abilities that leads to exceptional result. When crafting the character, entrepreneurs need to remember to tie in what they are selling and the end result of the product or services they provide.

The forth element is the parables. Lok explains the best way to teach or convey information to others is by telling a story. The parables must support the character’s identity. Entrepreneurs should have an inventory of stories. Each story should make a strong point.

The fifth element is the secret language. All tribes have their unique secret language. When the character attach with secret language, people who want to bond with the character must learn the language. This enhances the relationship between the character and entrepreneurs.

Secret element: create your own technology

Entrepreneurs can create their own ideas or concept that can help their clients to achieve their needs. When entrepreneurs discover the problem that everyone wants to solve, the technology should take care of that. This means entrepreneurs can revamp the solution into something unique that only they can offer that solution.

Lok shares 3 sites that can help entrepreneurs build their personal branding.

1. Google.com/alerts
2. Socialmention.com
3. Imageraider.com

Google alerts can search any brand name that is mentioned in the internet. Social mention is similar to Google alerts, but it is for social media. Image raider is to reverse the image search and discover websites that are talking about the brand or the image. This can be used to track people who are stealing or distorting pictures.

Here are the 8 primary marketing channels that can help entrepreneurs to launch their personal brand.

1. Client referrals
2. Direct mail
3. Networking
4. Joint Ventures
5. Seminar
6. Public relations
7. Warm calling
8. Internet

Lastly, Lok believes entrepreneurs in this generation are living in the time where they are given a chance to become a thought leader or influencer without others’ permission. Not everyone is entitled to have personal brand and made money from doing what they love. Building a brand takes hard work. With the tools and strategies, everyone has a chance to develop their own personal branding.