When it comes to building your personal brand and establishing credibility, few things are more powerful than positive mentions from authoritative sources. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what that looks like in action—using Dennis Yu as our lighthouse example.
Dennis has been in the digital marketing world for over 30 years.
Over time, he’s collected hundreds of positive mentions across TV interviews, media articles, social posts, and more. In this article, we’ll show you how to document, score, and repurpose these mentions to build authority and attract new opportunities for your own business.
Why Positive Mentions Matter
See It In Action: We built a live page with 126+ scored mentions organized into 7 categories. Visit blitzmetrics.com/mentions to see how we apply the Who-Where-What authority scoring framework at scale. For a step-by-step guide to collecting your own mentions, read our Definitive Guide to Collecting Positive Mentions.
Positive mentions are third-party validations—testimonials, shoutouts, articles, or interviews where others say good things about you. When someone credible speaks positively about you, it builds trust with your audience faster than anything you say about yourself.
Capturing and repurposing these mentions helps you:
- Build your Google Knowledge Panel.
- Strengthen your social proof.
- Fuel content for repurposing within the Content Factory.
- Attract new clients and speaking gigs.
These positive mentions can then be formatted into how it applies within the Topic Wheel and whether it’s a How, Why, or What video.
Dennis Yu’s Positive Mentions Scored:
Here’s a list of 15 positive mentions by high authority sources for Dennis, in no particularly order:
- CNN Interview:
Link:
Who Says It: CNN
Date: 2020/01/26
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: What
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 10
Authority Where: 9
Authority What: 10
Authority Total: 29/30
- Wall Street Journal Interview:
Link:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204662204577199460106172008
Who Says It: WSJ
Date: 2012/02/03
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: What
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 9
Authority Where: 8
Authority What: 9
Authority Total: 26/30
- NPR Article:
Link:
https://www.npr.org/2009/11/28/120909144/-facebook-games-invite-spammers-to-play
Who Says It: NPR
Date: 2009/11/28
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: How
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 10
Authority Where: 8
Authority What: 9
Authority Total: 27/30
- My Worst Investment Ever Podcast:
Link: https://myworstinvestmentever.com/ep421-dennis-yu-dream-big-start-small/
Who Says It: Andrew Stotz
Date: 2021/07/26
Topic: Entrepreneurship
Why/How/What: How
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 7
Authority Where: 7
Authority What: 8
Authority Total: 22/30
- Digital Marketer Podcast
Link: https://www.digitalmarketer.com/podcast/digitalmarketer/dennis-yu/
Who Says It: Digital Marketer
Date: 2020/12/31
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: How
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 7
Authority Where: 8
Authority What: 8
Authority Total: 23/30
- Social Media Examiner:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155850596479383&_rdc=1&_rdr#
Who Says It: Social Media Examiner
Date: 2017/11/05
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: How
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 8
Authority Where: 7
Authority What: 7
Authority Total: 22/30
- LA Times Article:
Who Says It: LA Times
Date: 2013/01/08
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: Why
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 8
Authority Where: 8
Authority What: 7
Authority Total: 23/30
- New York Times:
Who Says It: New York Times
Date: 2012/07/30
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: Why
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 9
Authority Where: 9
Authority What: 7
Authority Total: 25/30
- Tech Crunch Article
Link: https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/how-to-spam-facebook-like-a-pro-an-insiders-confession/
Who Says It: Tech Crunch
Date: 2009/11/01
Topic: Digital Marketing
Why/How/What: Why
Edit_Flag?: No
Authority Who: 7
Authority Where: 9
Authority What: 7
Authority Total: 24/30
The 7-Category Framework for Organizing Mentions
After scoring hundreds of mentions using the Who-Where-What system above, we developed a 7-category framework for organizing them on a public-facing page. This makes it easy for prospects, partners, and journalists to find the social proof most relevant to them:
- Publications and Media Coverage – Features in major outlets like CNN, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and industry publications. These carry the highest authority scores (typically 25-30/30).
- Industry Leaders and Influencers – Endorsements from recognized figures in digital marketing, advertising, and technology.
- Agency Owners and Marketing Professionals – Testimonials from practitioners who have implemented your frameworks and seen results.
- Conferences and Speaking Engagements – Recognition from event organizers and audience feedback from keynotes and workshops.
- Education and Training – Mentions from students, universities, and educational partners who use your curriculum.
- Local Service Businesses – Testimonials from small businesses, restaurants, and local operators who applied your strategies.
- Community and Social Proof – Organic mentions from social media, forums, and community members.
This framework mirrors our live Mentions Page, which showcases 126+ mentions organized into these exact categories with the highest-authority mentions featured first within each group.
Putting It All Together
The authority scoring system in this article is not just theoretical. It drives real decisions about which mentions to feature, how to organize them, and where to invest effort in collecting new ones. Here is how the three resources work together:
- This article teaches the Who-Where-What scoring methodology with real examples from major publications.
- The Definitive Guide to Collecting Positive Mentions provides the step-by-step process for gathering, categorizing, and publishing your mentions.
- The Mentions Page is the live result, showing how scored and categorized mentions create a powerful social proof engine for your brand.
Start by scoring the mentions you already have. Then use the collection guide to systematically gather more. As your library grows, organize them using the 7-category framework and publish them where prospects, partners, and media can find them. The compound effect of authority-scored mentions, organized and displayed publicly, is one of the most underutilized growth strategies in digital marketing.
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is the CEO of Local Service Spotlight, a platform that amplifies the reputations of contractors and local service businesses using the Content Factory process. He is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other brands.
Dennis has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs by partnering with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Through Local Service Spotlight, he teaches the Dollar a Day strategy and Content Factory training to help local service businesses enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring.
Dennis coaches young adult agency owners serving plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians, and believes there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers must be certified.