Mental Real Estate: How to Become Known for an Idea in the Market
The most powerful personal brands aren’t known for everything they can do. They own an idea so clearly that people associate it with their name.
What do you want to be known for? Strong positioning for your personal brand, or business means becoming associated with something. Finding your space in the marketplace. So, what do you want your name associated with? I don’t simply mean what you do. Not your job title, your industry or even your niche. What do you want people to associate with your name?
The strongest positioning creates a mental shortcut: an idea, phrase or territory that makes someone think of you. It’s about finding your white space in the marketplace, then occupying it so distinctly that you begin to own it in people’s minds. I think of this as mental real estate.
And once you start thinking about your personal brand this way, positioning becomes much more interesting than traditional marketing thinking, or simply trying to “stand out” or become “visible”.
The goal isn't to be known for everything you can do. It’s to become known for something - and create enough space around that something to build a world.
1. Mental Real Estate
From 15 years working in marketing and branding, I’m very familiar with the idea of positioning in a marketplace. However, it was the way that Al Ries & Jack Trout framed it in 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing that made it more striking than ever.
They famously reframed marketing as a battle for the mind. Their argument was that positioning isn't simply about what you sell; it's about the position you occupy in the prospect's mind. I think of this as mental real estate: the idea, association or territory you want your name to own - at least mentally.
There are a few of the 22 ‘immutable laws’ that really emphasised this idea.
Law #2: The Law of the Category
If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
Law #3: The Law of the Mind
It’s better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the marketplace.
Law #4: The Law of Perception
Marketing is not a battle of products; it’s a battle of perception.
Law #5: The Law of Focus
The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.
Consider the Kardashians, for example. They weren’t the first to reality TV, but love them or loathe them, they own the idea in most people’s minds. Was Keeping Up with the Kardashians and its many spin-offs any more brilliant a TV concept than other reality concepts at the time? Unlikely. But its brilliance was that it won the battle of perception. The Kardashians and reality TV became intertwined in audiences’ minds.
While not all of us can relate to the Kardashians, they do present an undeniable premise for all professionals, no matter what your role or industry. How can you become synonymous with a concept? This can come in different forms. The mental real estate you own might be:
An innovative idea
A specialised field of expertise
Marketing a movement
The most savvy personal brands might even find a way to combine multiple purposes into a single word or short phrase.
So if you had to ‘own’ a single word or very short phrase - think 2-3 words - what would it be?
2. The Adjacent Possible
Owning your real estate doesn’t need to simply be another way of saying ‘find your niche’ ..As I’ve shared in my earlier blog, Stop Boxing Your Personal Brand Into Your Niche. Start Building Your World. Your mental real estate does not need to create permanent boundaries around your potential.
Let’s keep up with our Kashdashians example. The enormity of their success doesn’t come from reality TV alone. They leveraged their dominance of that category, the community they created and their other interests into adjacent ideas or niches.
This reminds me of something I keep coming back to in Cal Newport’s book So Good They Can’t Ignore You. He discussed the idea of the Adjacent Possible. This is the space just beyond the current cutting edge of your field.
The concept of the Adjacent Possible is borrowed from biologist Stuart Kauffman. It refers to exploring the immediate next steps in innovation rather than leaping to a distant, unrealistic goal.
With an Adjacent Possible mindset, find the edge of what is currently known in your field, then discover new, innovative combinations of skills that few others have. This is where you create your career, instead of finding an existing one.
The most in-demand people aren’t chasing trends; they are creating them - and operating at the edge of what is currently possible.
So instead of relying on network and studio deals, the Kardashians expanded into related niches, including fashion and beauty, by establishing billion-dollar brands such as SKIMS and Kylie Cosmetics. They have also expanded into podcasting - a natural evolution from reality TV, with Khloe Kardashian hosting Khloe in Wonderland. They have created an ecosystem that keeps growing no matter where reality TV goes or their place in it goes. Beyond that, they have given themselves flexibility to explore their other interests.
When it comes to your own personal branding, what are your adjacent possibilities? What doesn’t fit into traditional ideas of your ‘niche’ but has overlap and related thinking or markets?
3. Investing in Your Real Estate
You don't own an idea simply because you say you do. You own it when other people start associating it with your name. So now that you've identified the mental real estate you want to occupy, you need to make the association stick to you. This requires consistency across your personal brand.
Share about it: Create content that repeatedly explores the idea from different angles - expanding into your adjacent possibilities.
Teach it: Develop a signature framework, methodology, keynote talk, or point of view around it. Be the ‘guide’ or simply invite others to learn along with you.
SEO it: Integrate the words associated with your territory across your website, social media profiles, bio and content. Become discoverable for your idea.
Build around it.: Create related products, services, workshops or resources that turn the idea into something tangible and eventually an ecosystem.
Reinforce it: Comment on cultural moments, collaborate with relevant people, answer questions and keep finding new ways to bring the idea into the conversation.
Build Around an Idea
You don't have to say the same thing forever. But you can create around an original idea. The goal isn't to become known for everything you can do. It's to become remembered for something — and then use that association as the foundation for everything else you want to build.
