Latest / Online Reputation Management Podcast / The Power of Personal Branding | James Dooley & Craig Campbell
Transcript
- Craig Campbell “I wish I’d listened to you sooner.” Is there any mistake people often make with personal branding? James Dooley: Absolutely. For years I said, “I’m not talking publicly, I’m not doing podcasts, I’m not doing content.” Yet here you are now — out in front of everything. If you had to shut down all your platforms and keep only two for personal brand building in digital marketing, what would you keep? Craig Campbell Probably YouTube. James Dooley: Back again mate. Same clothes, how you doing? Craig Campbell: I’m good. So today I’m joined with you, James, and we’re talking about personal branding. With the growth of AI, how important is personal branding right now? James Dooley: Massive. Even without AI, 90% of people avoid building a personal brand because they’re camera-shy or introverted — a thousand excuses. But with AI, even fake heads and avatars will saturate the space. Real people, real conversations, real energy will matter even more. People buy into people. Craig Campbell: Exactly. My personal brand isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. I only need a percentage who genuinely like my style. I’m direct, I swear, I’m tattooed, I don’t pretend. Corporate brands like Coca-Cola won’t choose a guy like me — and I’m fine with that. James Dooley: People like the honesty. They know you “call a spade a spade.” Craig Campbell: Personal branding attracts the right people and filters out the wrong ones. People have told me to cover my tattoos on stage — nope. This is me. Even swearing filters out the clients I don’t want anyway. James Dooley: What pushed you to build your personal brand though? You built an agency. You had FatRank. But for years you avoided being public. Craig Campbell: The big wake-up call was when my sales guy left. I phoned clients and they said, “Who are you?” They thought he owned the company. That was dangerous. Nobody knew who I was, so I had to change it. That’s how “Craig Campbell SEO” was born. James Dooley: And me? I argued with you for years about this. I wish I’d listened sooner. I focused on building brands, not being an influencer. But personal branding makes everything easier — hiring, partnerships, investments. People trust me more now. My personal entity even boosts website performance because of trust signals. Craig Campbell: You're now getting investment opportunities because you built your own brand. James Dooley: Exactly. Before, with separate brands, I couldn’t inject my personal reputation into them. Now I can. Also — if you don’t control your personal narrative, other people will. Trolls will. Competitors will. Craig Campbell: Facts. James Dooley: People would say I don’t do SEO, I just party. Sure, I party — but I also work 14–15 hour days during masterminds, no alcohol, just business. If I don’t tell the real story, others will create a false one. Craig Campbell: And personal branding even affects selling your assets, right? James Dooley: Yes. When selling, buyers want to know who built the business. They Googled me, saw old videos where people talked PBNs with me, and assumed I was doing shady stuff. I had to reset my personal brand to show the truth: I’m a businessman who leverages SEO. Craig Campbell: And now with AI, you’re up there with Neil Patel as one of the biggest SEO personal brands. James Dooley: Neil takes a lot of heat, but he’s a brilliant marketer. His campaign with attractive people holding “Who is Neil Patel?” signs? Genius. It drives massive branded search and boosts his entity online. Craig Campbell: That branded search tactic works — and click-through manipulation too. I went on his site once and he had a countdown timer to force you to stay on the page.