The 4 Laws of Personal Branding

The Law of Familiarity

As a person becomes more familiar with a subject through the use of their 5 senses, the more they naturally come to trust it.

As you perpetually see something for the first time, whether it is a piece of information, a person, or a place, you have a sense of wonder and amazement for it. Your curiosity is bolstered, and you might be excited to learn more or on the contrary, uncertain and apprehensive.

When you move to a city, you’ll be enamored by all of the houses and new sights, but within a year, the mountains in the background become familiar. It’s not that you don’t think it’s any less great, rather, you are used to the experience. The dimly lit streets that you felt estranged from, you now drive out of habit. You have your favorite restaurants, shop at your preferred grocery stores, and have seen the same animals at the zoo with your children. This is identical to people.

Do you remember the beginning of the school year? The feelings you felt as summer came to a close and you got your upcoming schedule? At orientation you visited your classes, met your teachers, and received an exhaustive list of supplies. There may have initially been some anxiety and nervousness built up because you were not familiar with the new environment you were about to enter into. It likely took you a couple of weeks or longer to get comfortable and your classmates probably shared similar experiences. They weren’t certain about you. They didn’t know if you would be their friend, their bully, or the kid that they could cheat off during a test, or the kid who would try to cheat off of them.

By the end of the school year, you knew everybody. It wasn’t so distant. This is caused by the Law of Familiarity. The more you get accustomed to something, the fewer questions exist around it. In the same way, as you communicate your personal brand’s message and showcase your being, people will become familiar with you from afar.

Celebrities do not know all of their fans, but their fans know their life story, their career, their interests, where they were born, their spouses, and so many more details that would be considered obsessive. You don’t have to be an International Icon, but through the use of advertising and media channels you can become that authority and well-known figure so that when somebody does want to connect with you, buy from you, or support you, they are already familiar with your work and what you stand for. This is the Law of Familiarity.

Rapport is built by repeated contact and points of similarity. This leads to the second Law, the Law of Connection.

The Law of Connection

People look for similarities and points of relatability. The more you can emotionally connect with an individual, the deeper their resonance.

After the chapter Personal Skills, I have included my paper Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding. In it, I highlight the importance of showing your personal side and present my proprietary strategy of the same name. You will find a more comprehensive breakdown of how the Law of Connection ties together with the Law of Familiarity.

The Law of Connection gives others a reason to care. After all, personal is the first part of a personal brand. You would not marry a person who does not share anything in common with you. You would not be loyal to a contractor if you didn’t build a relationship with them. You would not vote for a politician who you can’t relate with, at least to some degree. Think about those closest to you. Are they close because of what they can get from you, or because they like you? Perhaps a favorite hobby is shared, a genre of music, a past trauma even. The time spent together nurtures that bond and as you are building your personal brand, find ways to connect and make someone feel as if they have known you for years. Ask questions about their lives, family, and future. See what you have in common, or don’t for that matter. Transparency leads to trust.

Our culture as it exists today is filled with false promises, controlled narratives, and fluff. Having the situational awareness of when to share stories or reflect on hard lessons learned shows that you are a real person that isn’t trying to as they say “Fake it till they make it.”

Connection leads to security. We have no issue with leaving strangers, but rarely do we want to leave our friends. Use your personal brand to make friends at scale!

The Law of Fame and Influence

Fame and Influence have a symbiotic relationship and when combined, result in the most ideal outcome for personal brands. Alone, their impacts are diminished.

Fame is developed through mass market appeal, marketing channels, and discussions by third parties. Fame itself holds no power unless combined with influence. Many people who possess influence are also naturally famous, but not all people who have fame are influential. Remember that influence is the ability to get a person or group of persons to do or believe something by your words alone.

The Law of Fame and Influence is a representation of potential. Fame by itself is empty vanity and influence alone is limited in exposure. When a quantifiable measurement of fame is expressed with the emotional aspects of influence, whatever you seek to achieve will be expedited.

It is also a numbers game. If you have a community of thousands, there will assuredly be a difference to the degree of influence you have from person-to-person. Some may follow you more closely and take everything you say to heart, whereas others only observe you from a distance. Your influence should resonate deep enough with those close observers that it compensates for those who are less engaged.

The Law of Personal Branding

A personal brand can only be created with the introduction of new life. A personal brand cannot be destroyed, regardless of the death of the person it belongs to. A personal brand can, however, be forgotten.

The Law of Personal Branding infers that a personal brand is an intangible creation that occurs the moment a person is conceived in the mind of a parent and is realized at birth. A personal brand will always exist, regardless of the lack of records or remembrance. A personal brand is the unique fingerprint of every human who has ever lived. Whatever part a person plays during their life has an eternal contribution to the universe. A personal brand is not something that can be avoided or destroyed in the literal sense.

For something intangible, it tangibly may be directed, grown, and scaled. Being fully forgotten or running out of relevance is the closest you can get to destroying a personal brand. This Law puts relativity into perspective. If put on the spot, could you recall the name of your great-great grandparent? It would be impressive if you could, but for the average person, after the first great, it goes dark.

These 4 Laws make up not only the foundation of your personal brand but of our society and how we interact with those around us. Their significance can’t be understated as without The Law of Familiarity, The Law of Connection doesn’t exist. Without The Law of Fame and Influence, The Law of Personal Branding loses impact and without The Law of Personal Branding, it all collapses.