Latest / Online Reputation Management Podcast / Neil Patel & James Dooley - The Truth About Personal Branding
Transcript
- James Dooley: Today I’m joined by Neil Patel, and we’re talking about personal branding. Neil, do you think you need a personal brand in today’s world? Neil Patel: No. Corporate brands make way more money. Personal branding helps with raises, promotions, finding jobs, becoming an influencer, or getting speaking gigs. I’m not saying it has no value—it does. But personal branding doesn’t guarantee success. You just need to be really good at what you do. That matters more. James Dooley: You’ve built one of the biggest personal brands in the SEO world. Do you ever wish you spent more time building corporate brands instead of your personal brand? Neil Patel: Yes. It would have made me way more money. Look at someone like Tony Robbins or Cristiano Ronaldo—they make a lot, but owning a company like Cisco, Microsoft, or Nvidia is more valuable. Massive clients don’t care about Neil Patel; they care about who’s actually handling their accounts and producing results. They want ROI, not me on calls every day. James Dooley: How has personal branding helped your business? Investments, hiring, opportunities? Neil Patel: The biggest benefit is revenue—it drives a decent amount. It also opens doors and helps you get started. Think of personal branding as fuel to kickstart a company, raise money, or attract attention. But it doesn’t grow a company into a billion-dollar business. For that, you need systems, operations, sales, marketing, and product. Personal branding alone isn’t enough. James Dooley: I’ve seen ads with people holding banners saying “Who is Neil Patel?” Was that your team trying to increase branded search? Neil Patel: Yes, around seven or eight years ago. The one that went most viral was a guy with my name written on his chest, bouncing his pecs. It caused tons of searches. But here’s what I learned: it doesn’t help with enterprise clients. If you’re targeting SMBs or everyday consumers, that tactic works. If you’re targeting big corporations, it doesn’t matter. James Dooley: Do you run paid ads to trigger branded search? Neil Patel: We just publish a lot of good content targeted at our ideal customers. It may not go viral, but it builds the right audience and eventually boosts revenue. James Dooley: We’ve noticed brand ads increasing search volume and rankings. What about writing a book? Does it help personal branding? Neil Patel: I co-authored a book that hit the New York Times list for a few weeks. It didn’t do much. If you write a book, write it alone—it helps more with branding. And write within your niche. Even if you sell fewer copies, it attracts the right audience. Books help more with speaking careers, not so much with business growth. James Dooley: If you were forced to write a book today, what would it be about? Neil Patel: Digital marketing or personal branding. But marketing changes too fast—that’s why I don’t write many books. James Dooley: Any mistakes you’ve made with personal branding? Neil Patel: Optimizing for more people to know me instead of my ideal customer. Chase your target demographic, not vanity metrics. James Dooley: If someone wants to become the next Neil Patel in digital marketing and can use only two platforms, what would they be? Neil Patel: LinkedIn and YouTube. They have the biggest impact. You may not get the most views, but you’ll get customers. James Dooley: Thanks, Neil. More videos coming soon. Neil Patel: Thank you.