The Art of Personal Branding — A Dan Koe Case Study

What makes a powerful and magnetic brand?

What makes a magnetic personal brand?

This week we are breaking down Dan Koe’s brand.

One of my favorite creators. 

My current muse.

But first, let’s start out with what a brand is not.

Posting content online and having a large following doesn’t mean you have a powerful brand. Sorry.

I remember a lot of guys in the fitness space blew up their IG accounts. They posted reels of them at the gym with a motivational quote playing over it.

But honestly, I couldn’t differentiate one guy from the next.

They were all the same.

A lot of creators can grow their account, but I promise you they don’t have die-hard fans the same way Dan Koe does.

It’s kinda like Apple and Microsoft. 

Apple has die-hard fans, people who will pay the premium pricing because Apple’s name is on it. Microsoft has customers who buy because it’s convenient. 

I’ve been diving deep into the art of branding lately. 

I want to know what makes a magnetic brand, because Dan Koe has a powerful and magnetic brand. 

I’ve spent months studying him, so you don’t have to.

There are many key components that go into branding. I’m gonna break them down and explain how Dan executes on each.

The Brand Mission

What is your purpose? What’s your objective? What problem are you solving in the world?

Dan’s is on a mission to revolutionize the future of work. 

A future where work is play. 

Work less. Enjoy life more.

 4 hour workdays are the norm.

Have a clear mission that guides you.

The Brand Vision

The brand vision is the brand’s concept of the future. Where is your brand headed? What is it you hope to achieve?

Dan often shares this quote from Naval in his work. 

In his newsletters, he argues that everyone is an entrepreneur, that it’s in our nature. To be honest, I think he makes valid points. 

It doesn't matter if you agree with him or not. 

The point is, this is obviously his vision. It’s what drives his brand.

Have a bold vision.

Brand Values

This one is straightforward. 

What are your values? 

They will usually be in alignment with the brand’s mission and vision.

My guess is that whatever your values are, you will attract people who share similar values.

Here is an older tweet from Dan:

Based on his work, my guess is that one of his values is also mastery, which is one of mine. (Freedom is one of mine too.)

Brand Messaging

Now we’re starting to get to the meat and potatoes.

Brand messaging is key, and it’s what the biggest creators do very well.

They all have cohesive messaging.

Take a look at some of Dan’s recent newsletters. Can you spot a theme?

If you haven’t figured it out, I gotchu.

One of his biggest messages is: you can make money online with your mind by becoming a value creator.

That’s it. 

It’s in (almost) every newsletter. 

How does he help you make money online with your mind? 

By teaching you to become a better writer. That’s what his products center around.

His latest products included: 

• Kortex (a software that helps you generate ideas so you can write better).
• Kortex University (his digital school that teaches you how to ”turn the knowledge in your head into a meaningful career” aka write online.)

Hopefully, this is all clicking.

His message is cohesive, and it leads directly to his products.

Who Do You Serve?

To get this messaging down, you need to know who you serve and what their pain points are.

This is where many people who attempt to build a personal brand mess up. (Hell, even I didn’t understand it fully when I started.)

They hear they can make money by posting content online and building a personal brand.

They post content, but they focus more on growth and getting followers instead of actually attracting the right people they can serve.

Haven’t you heard about those big creators with large followings that struggle to monetize their accounts?

For most creator personal brands, the person they serve is their past self. This makes the messaging easy because you are talking to a previous version of you.

Dan serves the people who seek freedom from their 9-5 job. (He is talking to his past self. He talks a lot about how he didn't want to end up at a 9-5 for the rest of his life.)

Messaging Part Two

Check out this tweet from Dan:

Here he’s literally telling you the core messages of his brand:

• The one-person business
• The $1 million dollar skill stack
• The 4 hour workday
• You are the niche
• Life is a video game

If you’re a Dan Koe fan, you know them all, because these are the ideas he cycles through in his content.

Cohesive messaging.

In the tweet, he says, “These form the perception of your brand.”

This is what branding is: shaping perception.

Once you have these, he says, you can weave in any other interest you want to talk about. 

It may take time to develop these—I’m still developing mine. This is why building a strong magnetic brand is a long-term game and isn’t solely about social media growth.

Branding is your body of work over 6-12 months, at least.

It’s about shaping perception and developing ideas that stick in people’s heads. 

Magnetic brands live rent free in people’s heads.

And they can create a product (that is in alignment with their brand), charge a premium, and people will pay.

 (Dan Koe charged $350 for the presale keepsake edition of his book. The box included other goodies as well.)

Brand Positioning

What do you do differently? What does your product or service have that others don’t? 

Brand positioning is how you differentiate your brand from other brands that offer similar products or services.

Would you buy Dan Koe’s products if his message was, “Hey, I can help you become a better writer and make money online.”?

Or do you buy this message:

In his 2 Hour Writer course, Dan admits his course is another Twitter growth course: 

“What differentiates me from other Twitter growth courses? Positioning.”

Yes, that course focuses on Twitter (or X now). You can apply the ideas to any social media that is writing based (like Linkedin).

His business model also has unique positioning.

When you cut out all the fluffy marketing, Dan Koe runs an information product business. He teaches you how to do the same.

That’s all it is.

But why is he so popular compared to other people online that teach you how to run an information product business? It’s because his positioning is unique. His ideas stick in your head.

“The future belongs to the creatives,” he echoes.

I mean he does it so f**king well.

There’s depth behind it. 

A story. 

Become a Visionary

Positioning is also apparent in his bio.

In the online business space, what is most people’s bio?

“I help x with y without z.” 

That’s what everyone does. 

What if that was Dan’s bio? It would be:

“I help people escape the 9-5 by writing online without working more than 4 hours a day.”

What was his bio in the screenshot earlier?

“Pioneering the future of work through philosophy, curiosity, & the internet. Building: modermastery.co (...) ”

Which one sounds better? 

Which one attracts a broader audience?

Which one would you choose to follow?

The “I help…” bios are cool and they can work, obviously. 

If your goal is to get sales, sure. 

If your goal is to build a distinct and magnetic personal brand, maybe not the best.

The “I help…” bios don’t differentiate you. 

Dan Koe isn’t the only one trying to help you escape the 9-5 by writing online and working less. 

Justin Welsh and Dickie Bush do that too. 

All 3 of them talk about writing online. 

Dan Koe and Justin Welsh both talk about writing online, solopreneurship, and working less.

So what if they all had the same “I help…” bio? 

You get where I’m going with this? 

Branding and positioning differentiate you from others who sell similar products or services.

I have been active on LinkedIn recently. I have already seen many accounts that say, "I help you grow your personal brand on LinkedIn."

Let’s say I focus on two of those accounts. They both have around 10k followers. 

Hmm, so both accounts seem similar. What about their content? 

All of their content is branding tips. They establish themselves as an authority in branding.

Hmm. Similar accounts. Now what?

This is when people start shopping around for price.

“Both accounts seem similar, so which one is cheaper?,” they think.

Now you become a commodity and you compete based on pricing. You won’t get away with charging a premium.

This is where “you are the niche” comes in. By infusing your interests into your expertise, you can come up with unique and novel perspectives that stick in people’s heads.

Let’s say you help people with their personal brand on LinkedIn, but you’re also into Stoicism. How does personal branding and stoicism connect? How can you explain personal branding through the lens of stoicism? 

I follow a guy who talks about personal branding and business using surfing analogies. He sticks in my head because he’s different.

This is brand positioning.

People don’t want to be sold—they want to follow cool people doing cool shit. 

Instead, emphasize your bigger vision. What project are you working on or what are you building?

“Creating a world where 40-hour work weeks are a relic of the past” sounds more appealing than, “I help you escape the 9-5 by writing online.” 

Just saying.

We love visionaries.

Learn to position yourself uniquely.

Being Polarizing

This isn’t polarizing for the sake of it. It's being authentic and standing against something so you can attract the right people.

All great brands stand against something. The audience and the brand share a common enemy.

What does Dan Koe stand against?

Mediocrity, the education system, and 9-5 jobs.

I find it interesting when people comment, “Not everyone hates their 9-5 job.” “Nothing wrong with living an average life.”

His content is not for you then. Move on.

Standing against something means you are going to repel some people. This is good. The point is to attract the right people for your offer. 

I get it. This can be terrifying. You want to fit in and you want everyone to like you, right?

I definitely made this mistake too. I worried about what people thought or if people would unfollow me if I said certain things. Being "too much" worried me. So I played it safe instead.

I heard this quote, “If everyone likes you, nobody loves you.”

Damn. 

You can spend your time walking on eggshells trying to please everyone, but you won’t be anyone’s favorite creator. 

And honestly, trying to please everyone means you’re not being authentic.

Dan Koe speaks out against the education system. He also expresses his distaste for 9-5 jobs. He believes everyone can be an entrepreneur. 

Of course, this is going to irritate some people.

But it attracts die-hard fans.

The Digital Character 

“A personal brand is your character in the digital society.” —Dan Koe

Your personal brand is your digital character.

Just as you reveal different facets of yourself with friends, family, or a love interest, social media reflects another facet. It's a different angle in the prism of you.

Does anybody ever really see the “real” you? (Whatever that means, because like all things our identity is impermanent.)

Nobody ever really knows you. The time they spend with you is just a fraction of the time you spend with yourself.

It’s not being inauthentic. It's a different angle—all part of the one shape.

Your digital character is a part of your authentic self that you consciously choose to share. This allows you to create separation between your digital character and your personal life.

Don’t forget, a brand is a business. 

Personal = you.

Brand = business.

You are a business. 

If done correctly, a well executed personal brand is crafted and polished, but authentic and real.

For this to work well, you need to be living in alignment with the character you display online.

Again, this is not about inventing an image. It's about illuminating an aspect of your personality and highlighting unique qualities and skills.

It’s like a filter.

Not every aspect of your life needs to be shared online.

The bigger personal brands do this very well.

Dan Koe even admits that he doesn’t share a lot of personal information in an effort to protect himself from what comes with digital fame.

3 Types of Content for Personal Branding

There are 3 types of content that a personal brand needs to have.

• Growth. 
• Authenticity. 
• Authority,

Having all 3 gives you leverage.

Here are examples from Dan:

Growth: The one-liners, the platitudes, the lists. The stuff that generally pops off. You can find this stuff by finding content that has already done well (the idea is validated). Then, put your own twist on it.

Authenticity: Telling your story & being vulnerable (not in a pitiful way.) Expressing your opinions, your likes & dislikes. Document what you’re working on. Share insights or behind-the-scenes looks at current projects.

Authority: flexing your knowledge and expertise in your domain of interest. If you’re a complete beginner learning a new skill, establish authority by documenting your learnings.

In brand positioning, I picked on the people that only focus on authority. Let’s look at the accounts that only focus on growth.

These accounts copy what works to please the algorithm. They only care about stacking followers because they think ‘followers = money’. They ask a question every day to farm engagement. 

These accounts are the most generic. They have no interesting or unique ideas of their own and they don’t stand out.

The accounts that only focus on growth content don’t establish themselves as an authority in a domain. (i.e. they have no monetizable skill.) 

You need all 3 content types to establish a strong brand.  

Others I see fail in establishing themselves as an authority in a domain, because “you don’t need a niche.” So they write about whatever the hell they want and have no cohesive messaging because that’s what Dan Koe does. 

But does he?

Go back and re-read this newsletter if you think Dan Koe’s brand is all over the place.

Dan Koe is strategic, conscious, and intentional with his brand. He has a mission, a vision, and a few big-picture concepts he has developed that form the perception of his brand. (See the above tweet in the section titled brand messaging.)

Yes, it’s true, you don’t need a niche because you are the niche.

But many people miss the point of this (myself included).

Dan Koe teaches you how to build and monetize a personal brand by talking about your interests.

But there is a strategy behind it and most people miss it.

The specialized generalist still needs to specialize in something.

The point of combining your unique interests is to come up with unique perspectives. This differentiates you from your competitors (brand positioning).

Be a specialist in skill, but a generalist in thought.

This is what the big brands do well. 

Instead of only focusing on growing your account, focus on skill acquisition.

Develop a monetizable skill.

Pick a problem you want to solve and sell the solution. Then talk about it through your unique lens.

You don’t have to “niche down.” You can still talk about other interests, just be strategic about it. (See brand messaging.) 

The cool thing about a personal brand is that you can always pivot as you evolve. (Dan Koe started as a web designer.)

Visual Identity of a Brand

Most people overlook this, but I think it’s super important. (I might also be biased because I’m a designer.)

If you want to be next level with your brand, you should have a strong and coherent visual identity. The visual identity of your brand increases brand recognition. (Think the golden arches of McDonalds’s.)

The logo, the color palette, the font you choose all contribute to the look and feel of the brand.

Dan has a minimalistic vibe. His colors are black and white. Imagine if Dan started using mint green, it wouldn’t feel right.

I’m not saying this can’t evolve over time, but it needs to be consistent and cohesive.

The look and feel of your brand should feel the same across all platforms and media.

Dan’s IG:

Dan’s YouTube:

For example, the font used on my website is the same font I use for Instagram text posts and graphics. If I were to make videos, I would choose the same font for captions. I also use the same brand colors for my graphics.

The Genius of Dan Koe - The Sales Funnel

Let’s break down the absolute genius of Dan Koe’s funnel.

First, everything branches off of his newsletter. 

His newsletter is the backbone of his entire business. 

All his social media channels funnel you to his newsletters, which lead you to his products. 

He also says that many sales happen directly from YouTube. (Links to products in descriptions of his videos, etc.)

His newsletter is also the backbone of all his content.

The newsletter is the script for his YouTube videos (and podcast). He pulls one-liners and paragraphs from the newsletter for his short-form content.

He also says he plugs the newsletter every day. 

You see this less on Instagram. But on Twitter and LinkedIn, you’ll notice that he does indeed comment on a post of his a few hours later, plugging the newsletter.

The newsletters are lead magnets and mini sales pages.

Baked into every newsletter, he subtly plugs a product.

You can see it here:

And here:

This doesn’t happen at the end of the newsletter, but in the middle.

It’s selling in a non-salesy way. 

He gives free value in the newsletter and gently directs you to his paid stuff.

It’s genius.

Not only does he plug products, but he sometimes backlinks to previous newsletters (when related).

The newsletters live on the website “forever” (and remember he plugs one every day). I’m willing to bet his past newsletters also get traffic from Google search as well.

This is why having a website to host your newsletter is smart af.

Many people send newsletters and it’s one and done. They don’t host them on a website so they can’t continue to plug them. 

I’ve definitely gone to Dan’s website to re-read newsletters I liked (and to understand the concepts on a deeper level). It’s hard to do if they only exist in your email.

Even if you don’t have a lot of newsletter subscribers now, you can always plug old newsletters as you grow. 

(Writing a newsletter also helps you become a better writer, understand concepts on a deeper level, and develop the ideas that form your brand perception. I highly recommend it, even if you feel like no one is reading. It’s a long-term game.)

To Conclude:

If you made it this far, you are one of the rare ones. 

Most people won’t read this whole thing. They’ll skim it and think they understand it.

Wanna know a secret?

I didn’t pick up on all of this by skimming a few Dan Koe newsletters. I picked up on it because I’ve gone through his content again and again. 

I studied him.

If you really want to create a strong magnetic brand, read this again and again.

Sit with it, think deeply about it, digest it, apply it. (And study the brands that are doing it well.)

That’s how you gain a deeper understanding of these concepts. 

Most people’s understanding is shallow. 

Hopefully, not you.

—Priscilla [Player 2]

P.S. Dan Koe didn’t develop a magnetic brand overnight. It takes time. It’s a long-term game.

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