15 Personal Branding Experts You Need to Check Out
Today you can’t have a robust business without a solid personal brand. But it’s not always easy to know where to start. That’s why I wanted to share with you a list of 15 personal branding experts whose content will help you to develop and polish your own brand.
Personal branding is an important part of your business’s PR and marketing strategy. It is more than a simple “look at me” tactic.
Modern audiences want to know the person behind the brand. What are you like? \What do you stand for? What expertise do you have? These are just some of the questions that you need to answer on your way to developing your personal brand.
But how exactly can you do it?
While we’ve written before about personal branding — in particular, what it is and how to do it — we wanted to do something different with this post.
We wanted to add some other voices on this subject to help you. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up 15 of the brightest minds in the personal branding space. They are authors, public speakers, podcasters and bloggers with their own special content that will help you develop your strategy.
Note: Since we felt that all of these experts are leaders in their space, this is not a “ranked” post — rather, it is in alphabetical order and showcases each expert’s individual accomplishments.
15 Personal Branding Experts That Will Help Your Strategy
William Arruda
Twitter Handle: @WilliamArruda
Many people across different industries have proclaimed William Arruda as a personal branding guru — and there’s no doubt that he lives up to this title.
Arruda went from a branding expert on IBM/Lotus to doing something he was passionate about: creating his own company, working with individuals to develop their personal brands. His company, Reach, is now a global success, with certified coaches in 49 countries.
His venture does not stop there, though, He went on to co-found another company, called CareerBlast.TV, which features snackable video content that is designed to help professionals “blast” their way upward in their careers.
All of this, paired with his numerous blog posts, books (his latest is Digital) and public speaking engagements, make William Arruda a star in the personal branding field.
Dorie Clark
Twitter Handle: @DorieClark
Author, speaker, professor and coach are just a sampling of the titles that Dorie Clark has earned. The New York Times described Clark as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.”
Among her accomplishments are three books, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out — the last one having been ranked as the #1 Leadership book in 2015 by Inc. Magazine. She also writes regularly for Harvard Business Review.
As a renowned public speaker, she has spoken for many large companies and was ranked in Inc. Magazine’s list of “100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference.”
To top it all off, Dorie Clark has worked as a professor for a number of business schools, including Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, teaching the art of branding strategy and sharing her expertise with a new generation.
Tim Ferriss
Twitter Handle: @tferriss
Tim Ferriss is recognized as one of the leading experts in digital media and personal branding. He has experienced a long and eclectic career — ranging from entrepreneur to TV personality to investor — and he has shared a lot along the way
He is the author of 5 books that have been listed on both the The New York Times and Wall Street Journal’s bestselling lists. The 4-Hour Workweek and Tribe of Mentors are just two titles that have earned Ferriss his reputation as an acclaimed author.
His podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, is yet further proof of his media expertise and he has reached a number of milestones since its creation. This podcast often makes #1 in the Business podcast section of Apple Podcasts and has been listed as the “Best of” Apple Podcasts for 3 years running.
His accolades includes landing on the list of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and Fortune’s “40 under 40”. All of these accomplishments make Tim Ferriss one of the leading experts in personal branding and thought leadership.
Ryan Foland
Twitter Handle: @RyanFoland
As a keynote speaker, business owner and author, Ryan Foland is a leading expert in communications strategies for personal and corporate brands. He is the co-founder of InfluenceTree, a brand that specializes in developing and maintaining personal brands.
He is also the creator of the now-famous theory of 3-1-3 — a process in which pitches start out as three sentences, are trimmed down to 1 sentence and then condensed into 3 words.
The main thrust of his message includes embracing and talking about your vulnerabilities, mistakes, and flaws. While this may seem counterintuitive, Foland argues that by acknowledging these vulnerabilities you build trust and loyalty with your audience. Foland writes about this strategy in his co-authored book, Ditch the Act.
As a public speaker, Foland has traveled globally to deliver keynote speeches. He is particularly well-known for his appearances on Ted Talks, which have been named some of the top Ted Talks by such publications as Forbes and Mashable.
His accolades include being recognized by Inc. Magazine as a top marketer and being named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the “Top Personal Branding Experts.”
Marsha Friedman
Twitter Handle: @MarshaFriedman
Marsha Friedman is an innovative and engaging public speaker, author and businesswoman. As a PR expert, Marsha Friedman specializes in helping people get the media attention they want and to form their own personal brand. Her strategies and innovations have become some of the most powerful in the world.
As a public speaker, she engages her audience with a strong and motivating message: The power of publicity. She has spoken in front of thousands of people throughout the US and Canada on various aspects of publicity. Every speech is designed to motivate her audience and equip them to stand above their competition. Her subject matter includes tips on giving great interviews and how to effectively gain access to the media.
She has created a number of resources to help her audience. Her book, Celebritize Yourself, delves into how to brand yourself as an expert and get the publicity you want — which, of course, is the point of creating a personal brand.
GrowthHackers (this is a platform thatt has done an excellent job fostering personal branding)
Twitter Handle: @GrowthHackers
Headed by Founder and CEO Sean Ellis, Growth Hackers spearheads the mission of igniting sustainable growth within companies and helping teams to work better together.
On its site the company has developed a series called AMAs, which invites guests who are experts in their fields to answer a few questions. Audiences are encouraged to ask these experts anything and then they write a reply. It fosters a rich atmosphere of discussion and education that many growing leaders have found helpful.
The company also hosts GrowthHackers Conference, a yearly conference that invites top growth leaders to share their inspirations for how they’ve built and sustained their businesses. This conference has featured such brands as Spotify, Facebook and Airbnb — and always promises to delight and engage its audience
In an effort to educate its audience, the brand has also created Growth University. This online resource is a self-paced training program where people can learn the skills needed to grow their personal brands and succeed in the fast-paced business world.
Meg Guiseppi
Twitter Handle: @MegGuiseppi
Personal branding performs an important role when people look for jobs — which is where Meg Guiseppi plays and excels. Through her company, Executive Career Brand, she helps people to build personal brands with the help of LinkedIn — especially executives, with the goal of finding the right job for them.
She helps her clients to pinpoint what makes them authentically “them” and nail down a message that speaks in their own voice and resonates with their audience. She has also created a number of products designed to help people do this for themselves — including worksheets, ebooks and other resources.
Her expertise in this field has won her some outstanding recognition. Over the years, Guiseppi has been featured or quoted in such publications as Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and Forbes, among others. Since 2007, she’s been the personal branding expert at the major career site JobHunt.org
Cynthia Johnson
Twitter Handle: @CynthiaLIVE
Over the years, Cynthia Johnson has worn many hats, including public speaker, marketer, entrepreneur and author — all of which have landed her on our list of experts.
Cynthia Johnson has earned a reputation as a public speaker — both as a keynote speaker and as part of a discussion panel.
Her latest book, Platform, has been acclaimed as the top personal branding book for professionals who want to build a personal brand, find an audience and nurture followers. She is also a contributing writer for such publications as Search Engine Journal, Entrepreneur and Business2Community. She is co-founder of Bell +Ivy, a marketing and PR firm in Santa Monica, CA, and Las Vegas, NV.
Among her many recognitions, she has been named among the “Top Personal Branding Experts of 2017” by Entrepreneur and one of the “Top 12 Female Entrepreneurs that Inspire” by Darling Magazine.
Susan P. Joyce
Twitter Handle: @JobHuntOrg
Susan P. Joyce is expert at helping people, especially those who are long-time unemployed and over 40, to develop their online presence to find and achieve the right job. Having experienced the pain of job loss herself, Joyce understands how people feel and how they can best overcome obstacles to succeed and thrive in today’s ever-evolving job market.
She is the publisher, editor and writer of job-hunt.org where she works hard to publish the most relevant information for her audience. JobHuntOrg continues to be one of the top sites that help people develop their personal brand and achieve their goal of finding the right job. Joyce is also a personal SEO expert, a skill she uses to help people navigate the choppy waters of the internet to achieve visibility on search engines.
One of the biggest feathers in her cap has been to participate in a research study as a visiting scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management that studied companies hesitatant to hire unemployed job candidates. As part of that study, she developed tactics to help people overcome bias and gain employment.
Joyce regularly shares her expertise with her audience and has been quoted in numerous publications including The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
Leonard Kim
Twitter Handle: @MrLeonardKim
Leonard Kim has a powerful and inspiring story, seeing living what some would describe as the worst of times, including living in extreme poverty. But he turned his story around using his skills to rise and become one of the most influential personal branding experts of our generation. He is a managing partner at InfluenceTree, where he offers his services to help others build and develop their personal brands.
On his site, Leonard Kim offers a vast library of content on all kinds of personal branding and development subjects. But his professional creativity does not end there — he is the co-author of the book, Ditch the Act, in which he details how to connect people through showing them the real, flawed you instead of trying to appear perfect.
Kim has expertly created a vast library of content to help people establish and build their personal brand. He has also given a TED talk which earned recognition from Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Mashable.
He is regularly featured on such media as Fox News, Fortune and Forbes. He has been recognized by many publications for his expertise, including by Forbes as a Top Marketing Influencer and by Inc. Magazine as a Top Digital Marketer and Top Youth Marketer.
Dan Schawbel
Twitter Handle: @DanSchawbel
Dan Schawbel‘s accomplishments put most of us to shame. These accomplishments include writing over 2,000 articles, giving 170 keynote speeches and helping 33 members of Fortune 500 companies to rebrand themselves. Dan is also the founder of Millenial Branding, a research and advisory firm helping companies engage the Millennial workforce.
Among his many achievements, Schawbel is a New York Times best-selling author, with such books as Me 2.0 and Back to Human. He is also the creator/host of the podcast, 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel, where he has interviewed well-known figures, including Condoleezza Rice and Rachael Ray about their experiences and what they’ve learned.
His blog, The Personal Branding Blog, covers all aspects of cultivating a personal brand. It has been recognized by Forbes as a “Top Website for Your Career” and the “#1 Job Blog” by Careerbuilder. This blog features 6,000 articles and growing, with a worldwide audience of 5 million readers in 228 different countries.
Brian Tracy
Twitter Handle: @BrianTracy
Brian Tracy is well known as a motivational public speaker and strives to help his audience with personal and professional development, with in-person and virtual seminars on public speaking and other self-improvement tactics. His blog is a rich source of information and covers all aspects of personal branding, from personal to business to leadership.
Tracy is CEO of Brian Tracy International, a firm that specializing in providing counseling on leadership, success, goal-setting and other issues surrounding personal development. As a public speaker, he has helped over 5 million individuals spanning over 70 countries.
For over 30 years, Tracy has delivered engaging public speeches on the subjects of personal and professional development to crowds of hundreds of thousands. He is also a celebrated author, having written over 78 books, including The New Psychology of Achievement.
Bruce Van Horn
Twitter Handle: @BruceVH
Bruce Van Horn‘s professional titles include writer, speaker, teacher and personal development coach — all of which he uses to move people to tell their stories. His personal branding (or “restorying” as he likes to call it) strategies are well known in the industry and are designed to help people re-narrate their stories in a way that empowers them and inspires others.
He does all of this in a variety of ways with his coaching and content. On his blog, for example, he has written hundreds of articles meant to move his audience to transform their lives and motivate them to succeed.
But his content creation does not stop there. He also produces a podcast, entitled Life is a Marathon (LIAM). On this podcast, he shares his strategies and inspirations for an improved life and self and also interviews others about how they’ve overcome their struggles.
Van Horn is an acclaimed author. His two books, The Science of Getting Rich and Worry No More! His book Worry No More! hit the bestselling list on Amazon.
Dennis Yu
Twitter Handle: @DennisYu
Dennis Yu‘s expertise is known on a global scale — having spoken in 17 countries on 5 continents. Even closer to home, he has spoken at many events in the States on the subject of Facebook marketing. He has been featured in such publications as Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and TechCrunch.
Yu is an expert in using social media strategy and management to develop personal brands for his clients. Past clients have included such brand names as Rosetta Stone, Nike and the Golden State Warriors.
He is the CEO of digital marketing agency BlitzMetrics. and the co-author of Facebook Nation, which has become the go-to textbook for using Facebook to develop a personal brand.
Marie Zimenoff
Twitter Handle: @workwithpurpose
Resume writing, mentoring, career coaching and training — Marie Zimenoff has done it all. Starting off as an advisor in Colorado State University, Zimenoff went on to become CEO of Career Thought Leaders and Resume Writing Academy.She has served as president of The National Resume Writers’ Association.
Her goal is to help her clients reach their career goals and give them the support and resources they need to succeed. To that end, she organizes first-class in-person and virtual workshops, as well as an annual conference, that are all designed to better equip her audience to take charge of their career.
In her pursuit of audience education, she has written a number of articles for such publications as Business News Daily and Yahoo! Education. She is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and conference presenter. She is the host of a radio show, The Career Confidante, on VoiceAmerica Radio.
In review…
The importance of branding, whether it’s personal or for your company, cannot be overstated. We hope that you’ve found some new motivation in this post to continue developing your own brand.
What personal branding experts do you follow? Like any list, we had to pick and choose, so I’m sure we omitted some experts you value. Please let us know in the comments below.
