Let me tell you a story...

Do you know this man? Some of you may now, but a few years ago it's doubtful any of you would have.

But millions today know Marcus Sheridan as the Sales Lion. Why? That's the rest of the story!

Marcus was a partner in a backyard pool company in the Washington DC area.

Things were pretty great....until the recession hit in 2009. New leads dried up, and he feared his business was headed for bankruptcy.

Then he got a simple but powerful idea. He'd heard of something called content marketing, but had little idea how to implement it.

He decided to start by compiling all the hundreds of different questions his company's prospects had asked their sales people over the years.

Then he created content to address each of those questions. He made sure the content was top notch, that it answered the questions in ways that his prospects would understand, yet reflected his company's superior expertise.

The content did NOT sell pools. No sales pitch. Just helpful answers to common questions.

Google gradually became aware that his content contained the best direct answers to questions people in his area were asking Google about pools.

Soon his content started ranking high. More and more people found it, and were delighted. Marcus Sheridan was so helpful.

Guess who they went to when it was time to buy a pool?

The results speak for themselves.

Marcus had stumbled upon a powerful secret: authoritative, relevant, helpful content that comes from an increasingly trusted source means you and your business get KNOWN and trusted.

This brief deck can't serve as a complete school to building a powerful, content-based personal brand like Marcus did, but I can give you some baby steps in that direction.

I've adapted these from a great article by Shama Hyder at http://stonet.co/HyderBrand

Step 1: Realize you ARE a brand

Figure out your area of expertise and then "niche it." Think about what unique angle you can bring that will make you advice and help stand out from the competition. And/or think about unique and engaging ways you can present that information.

But whatever you do, remain authentic. There are many personal brands out there that are well known, but not exactly trusted for expert advice. People want to feel they can trust the people they might do business with.

Step 2: Think through your brand story

You want your brand to be the "hero" in your prospects' journeys to becoming customers. Where and how can you help them at each stage of that journey?

Step 3: Audit your existing online presence

Google yourself! Do you show up? If so, for what? If you're already creating content online, do you show up for things your prospects are likely to be searching, the burning questions they want answered?

If not, these become goals for your content campaigns.

Learn about and use tools that can help you build online engagement.

Mention.com is a service that will track any mentions of you or your brand name (or any keywords you want to track). Enter into conversations that are happening about you and give people your personal touch. That means a lot!

Step 4: Create online beachheads

Start with a personal website, with your name as the domain name, if possible.

This is a home base where people who become aware of you can check you out. Post your best content here!

But also decide other "outposts" where you should have a presence.

On social networks like Facebook and Google+ that have brand pages separate from personal profiles, consider creating such pages with your name, since you're establishing yourself as a serious brand.

knowem.com is a tool that can help you find out if your name is taken on hundreds of online profiles.

You don't need to claim a profile on everything, but be sure to secure your name on anything you might have a possibility of using in the future.

Step 5: Produce valuable content

Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger (copyblogger.com - an excellent resource for learning to create better onliine content) is famous for saying "We're all media companies now."

Because of the web, any of us can (and should!) be our own publishers.

Keeping a regular blog on your site is obviously the best place to start.

Video is increasingly effective. Set up a branded YouTube channel and create short, helpful videos. Embed these in your blog posts. Many people would rather watch a short video than read.

Google+ Hangouts On Air are a great way to conduct live expert interviews you can invite anyone to watch. But even better, when the show is over, the video automatically becomes permanent content on your YouTube channel!

To learn more about Hangouts On Air, I recommend http://davidamerland.com/google-hangouts-for-business.html by David Amerland. In fact, that's who you see me interviewing in this image!

Audio is another great content outlet, and thanks to podcasting, you don't have to own a radio station.

Don't ignore traditional media as well, especially on a local basis. There's still a lot of value in being interviewed in your newspaper or having an advice show on your local radio station.

And In Real Life events are far from dead.

Step 6: Develop a personal branding and content strategy

Write down specific goals you want to accomplish. When people see your name, what are the three things you want them to immediately associate with you?

Develop those goals into a content plan that includes not only ideas for content but where you want to publish it.

Start by publishing on your own site, but have a goal of earning your way to being able to also publish on authoritative, relevant publishing sites in your business vertical. This exposes you to more audiences.

Create a social media plan. Prioritize which networks you want to share and engage on. Start with just one or two until you build competence.

And don't just post links! Be sure to share other's good content and engage in relevant conversations to get yourself known as a helpful expert.

When you're ready, learn how to add analytics for your site and for keeping track of your social media activities. Analytics provides valuable feedback that tells you what's working with your audience and what isn't.

Step 7: Build strong brand associations

As you build a network online, your strong ties are people who you know and know you. These are the people most likely to like and reshare what you do. Obviously you want to give them lots of love!

But don't neglect your "weak ties."

Weak ties are people who may follow you but don't really know you or engage with you regularly. But they are important because they are often your connections to other networks where they are strong but you are weak.

Find ways to nurture them, reach out to them, and create content they also like.

Influencers are people relevant to your business area who already have reputation and large followings.

Obviously getting the attention of an influencer can be a real boost, but it's hard to do. Don't spend so much time chasing influencers that you neglect the rest of your audience.

Your strong and weak ties, if you nurture them, over time become "proof" that help get you on the radar screens of influencers.

Creating content and engaging around it is hard and time consuming work. Find strategic partners with whom you can cooperate not only on content projects, but in helping to build each other's networks.

And keep evolving! Nothing said here is a one time, set it and forget it task. Learn from your mistakes and your victories, rinse, and repeat!