Why Being Brilliant Isn’t Enough Anymore

Personal branding sounds like a buzzword until you're the one being Googled. Suddenly, it becomes your first impression, your reputation, and your silent pitch, whether you like it or not.

And yet, most people avoid thinking about their personal brand until something forces them to. A company launch. A fundraising round. A career shift. A media opportunity they weren’t prepared for. By then, you’re not starting from scratch. You’re starting from behind.

This is one of the reasons my co-founder Dee and I created Tangerine. We kept seeing smart, accomplished people doing important work who had zero digital presence that reflected who they were. Their impact was real, but their visibility didn’t match it. And that gap was costing them.

Here’s what we’ve learned, working with founders, creators, executives, and experts: the people with the strongest personal brands aren’t the loudest. They’re the clearest. The most consistent. The ones who know how to take their experience and shape it into something others can trust, follow, and talk about.

If you’re building a personal brand or thinking about where to begin, here are seven lessons to keep in mind.

1. You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be remembered.

Forget trying to dominate every platform. Instead, focus on showing up in a way that is unmistakably yours. Your tone, your visuals, your content, and your values. Consistency matters more than coverage.

2. Being helpful beats being impressive.

People are drawn to those who make their lives easier, smarter, or better. You don’t need to go viral. You need to say something useful. Relevance builds more trust than resume points.

3. Your story is your greatest differentiator.

Your experience, your perspective, your lived insights. These are what make you stand out. Don’t bury them behind corporate language. Let people in on the why behind your work. The right story connects faster than the best sales pitch.

4. Repetition is how people remember you.

If you change your message every few weeks, no one will know what you stand for. You don’t need dozens of ideas. You need one strong point of view, expressed consistently in different formats. That’s how you become known for something.

5. Simplicity makes you referable.

If someone reads your profile or hears you speak and still doesn’t know exactly what you do or who you help, they can’t refer you. Clear beats clever. Your brand should make it easy for people to talk about you when you're not in the room.

6. A personal brand without substance won’t last.

You can get attention without offering real value, but it won’t turn into trust. And trust is what drives opportunities. Build a brand rooted in real insight, experience, and usefulness. Your content should sound like you and reflect the depth behind your work.

7. Authenticity isn’t a trick. It’s the strategy.

There’s no point pretending to be someone else. The people who build lasting personal brands are the ones who are comfortable showing up as themselves. That doesn’t mean oversharing. It means being real, being clear, and being consistent.

You don’t have to be famous. But you do have to be findable, and ideally, unforgettable.

You already have a personal brand. It’s in every Google result, bio, interview, and first impression. The question is whether you're shaping it on purpose or leaving it up to chance.

If you're intentional about what you say, how you show up, and who you speak to, your brand becomes something more than a presence. It becomes a magnet for the right opportunities.

And you don’t have to build it alone. But you do have to start.