How to Build a Personal Brand That Gets You Hired w/Brandon Smithwrick, Founder of Content to Commas

Most people know they should be building a personal brand, but they're stuck. Brandon Smithwrick, content strategist and founder of the newsletter Content to Commas, didn't study marketing, didn't have a roadmap, and didn't go viral overnight. What he did have was a fashion student's competitive instinct and a relentless obsession with figuring out what makes content actually work.

In this conversation, Brandon breaks down the real mechanics of building a personal brand, from his early days gaming LinkedIn's algorithm to land recruiter attention, to how he now runs AI-powered workflows while protecting the creative instincts that make his voice distinctly his own.

Key Takeaways:

• The association game: When people think of your topic, do they think of you? How to engineer that before you ever go viral
• Turn scrolling into research: How to build a systematic content library organized by hooks, copy, and inspiration
• Speak to yourself five years ago: Why every question someone asks you is a content opportunity
• Cognitive offloading danger: How outsourcing your writing to AI quietly erodes your voice and where it actually belongs
• Building a brand while employed: How to stay transparent with leadership and have the visibility conversation before it becomes a problem

Resources: 

Learn how to increase, scale, and grow your revenue through content: https://www.contenttocommas.co/ 

Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonsmithwrick 

Connect with Paxton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paxtongray/ 

Looking for an agency that'll be worth the investment? 97th Floor creates custom, audience-first campaigns that drive pipeline and conversions. Get started here: https://97thfloor.com/lets-talk/. 

About Brandon Smithwrick: Brandon is a trailblazer in content marketing and social media strategy. Renowned for his innovative approach and award-winning strategies, Brandon has transformed marketing campaigns for leading brands across Fashion, Tech, Music, and Beauty. As a motivational speaker, he offers exceptional insights into creating impactful content and driving brand success.

Brandon’s expertise is evident from his tenure as Head of Content at Kickstarter, where he led groundbreaking crowdfunding campaigns, to his role at Squarespace, where he orchestrated record-breaking Super Bowl social media strategies. His work has garnered accolades and features in prestigious publications like Hypebeast, AdAge, and Complex.

Timestamps: 

00:00 - Why Brandon started building a personal brand at graduation 

05:04 - Brandon's system for turning doom scrolling into content research 

07:03 - How Brandon got hired without applying for jobs 

09:13 - Brandon's advice for when you feel like you have nothing to say 

16:41 - Where AI helps and where it hurts your personal brand, per Brandon 

22:36 - Brandon: always start with your story