Personal Branding For Dummies

by M.Ed Susan Chritton

The fun way to create and maintain personal branding Distinguishing yourself from the competition is important in any facet of business. Creating a clear and concise image, reputation, and status in the professional world provides an edge, whether searching for a first job, exploring a change in career, or looking to be more viable and successful in your current career. Personal Branding For Dummies is a guide through the steps of creating and maintaining a personal trademark by equating self-impression with other people's perception. Personal Branding For Dummies covers everything you need to create your personal branding, using different organizations and associations to increase visibility and exposure to both clients and competitors; making the most of networking; tapping into Social Media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to showcase a personal brand; building a persona through websites and blogging; evaluating personal style and appearance; using conversation, negotiation, and sales techniques best suited to a personal brand; monitoring your brand reputation and successfully implementing feedback as it grows and develops, and more. With the hands-on, friendly help of Personal Branding For Dummies, you'll establish a professional presence and personal "brand" identity to keep yourself distinguished in the business world.>

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Self Help, Reference, Buisness

360 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2012

Reviews

[Lino Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a useful reminder and a good checklist on personal brand building.

If you are a new comer to the marketing and branding world it is a great starting point.

3.5 stars (from my perspective)

Spoiler alert re my notes below:

Personal Branding for Dummies
Susan Chritton
2md edition
2014

Author on Twitter:
Susan Chritton
@SusanChritton
Author-Personal Branding for Dummies. Executive Career Coach and Personal Brand Strategist guiding professionals toward a more authentic and meaningful career.
• Will be doing a scan read and my EN comments will generally have a bullet, comments from book will have the page number.

Why is personal branding important?
9: Know your brand
1. Define who you are
2. Spot your target audience
3. Get to know your competitors
4. Craft a personal brand profile
11: Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. ~ Dr. Seuss
14: Find your cheerleaders and identify your tribe…
15: Finding your sweet spot
 Your why
 Your identity
 Your target market
 What you offer
16: Owning the business of you
Chapter 2: Appreciating the Power of Branding
32: Examining how a few famous brands create connections
34: Trader Joe’s
• Use that look and feel for FFFF ?
36: The most exhausting thing you can be is inauthentic ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Chapter 3: Case Studies in Personal Branding success
42: Studying how sports figures brand themselves
51: Martha Stewart
Part II: Knowing your brand
Personal brand profile
 Mission
 Vision
 Needs
 Values
 Interests & passions
 Strengths
www.dummies.com/extras/personalbranding

56: Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
Self-actualization
Esteem
Belonging & Love
Safety
Physiological
70: Spotting your freak factor: what makes you unique?
72: Letting your personality shine
78: The 360Reach assessment
Asking for insights from friends and family
80: setting goals to enhance your brand
Chapter 5: Spotting your target audience
• Not everyone is for you and you are not for everyone ~ LPM

88: imagining your ideal client or workplace
EN: my thoughts:
• Recurring
• Scalable
• Interesting
• Value added
• Relationship – advocates and referrals
91: Using the ACE method:
 Assess
 Clarify
 Evaluate

94: Researching your targets
97: Appealing both rationally and emotionally
EN: email with an assistant – eventually virtually as well….
98: highlight the benefits
EN: Benefits not features
99: Developing a target market positioning statement
EN: Trust in Me (Thee) – working name only – TIT (ouch!)
• Business owners
• Protection of assets – real and intellectual
• Wealth and Legacy creation
• Blended approach that combines financial structuring and planning that complies with existing and anticipated legislation
• Team – borrowed credibility
• Benefits
o Protection
o Wealth creation
o Legacy

Chapter 6: Knowing your niche – and your competitors
101: Owning the business - of you!
Identifying the sweet spot in which you want to compete
EN: Thoughts
• Publish_IT model
• Different levels
• It is part of the protection
• Pay for A, SMM and get B as well (Trust in Thee)
EN: People may like the taste of your sauce but that does not mean that they can make it. For the few that can make it do you really want clients that are second guessing you all the time?
110: Overcoming your fears in the face of competition
EN: Understand the game, Keep learning, keep sharing, be the curator/quarterback, and share!

Chapter 7: Crafting your personal brand profile
114: Gathering your stepping stones to success
 Needs
 Values
 Interests/passions
 Mission
 Vision
 Strengths
 Freak factor
 Personality attributes
 Education and work experience
 360 feedback
 Goals
 Target market positioning statement
EN: READY?
115: Your unique promise of value
120: Summing up your personal brand in a tagline

Chapter 8: Writing your story
Why people like stories
Realizing how brains create and use stories
128: Using storytelling to illustrate your life
Finding the plot in your story
Creating trust through stories
Keeping gossip out of your brand
Making your story memorable
132: Crafting your personal commercial
1. Make your first impression
2. Be in the know
3. Identify your best stuff
135: Aligning your message with your brand promise
136: Honing your personal pitch
Part III: Communicating your brand with the world
Chapter 9: Branding your traditional communication tools
142: Showcasing your talents in writing
144: Creating a branded resume
150: writing letters of introduction
151: compiling a printed portfolio
154: Taking your message public
 Reaching a wider audience with articles
 Mastering public speaking and presentations
 Developing your personal brand on TV
 How to brand your radio show
o Title
o Guests and content
o Music
o Show intro and outro
o Key phrases, words and taglines
Chapter 10: Communicating your Brand online
Determining your online message
162: Attracting your audience to a profile hub
 Bio
 Links to your social media
 The name, products and/or services of your business
 Your key clients
o As appropriate
 EN: Suppliers for borrowed credibility
 Your education
 Special features?
 EN: benefits?
 Photo
 Videos highlighting who you are and what you do
 Links or PDFs of articles, slides or other visuals
164: Setting up a website
166: Becoming a blogger
168: Getting started
 Platform
 URL
 Topic
 Design
170: Sharing your wisdom
171: Repurposing your blog content
172: Showcasing your personal brand on LinkedIn
179: Bonding with Facebook: Key factors for building your reputation
180: considering your big picture strategy
181 Optimizing what everyone can see
EN: tips on other social media, including Twitter, Google+, Pinterest etc

Chapter 11: Planning Your Personal Brand Communications
Practice courage and reach out! ~ Brene brown

EN: Have a plan!
196: Communications Wheel:
 Blog
 Newsletter
 Workshops
 Sponsor event
 Be active on LinkedIn
 Write articles
 Speak
 Volunteer
197: Figuring out your area of expertise
199: Setting the strategy
200: Considering a sample communication plan
205: Achieving the Three C’s
 Clarify: crafting a clear message
 Consistency: Presenting the same message every time
 Constancy: Designing a plan so that people hear your message frequently
204: Establishing yourself as an expert
EN: Do bad things count? If by bad things you mean mistakes, they sure do, for mistakes lead to experience and smart people will pay extra for expertise that comes with experience.

206: Staying authentic
Preparing a personal press release
1. Start by writing a header
2. Write a headline
3. Write a strong introductory paragraph
4. Write the body
5. Write a final paragraph that summarizes
a. Write in 3rd person
b. Present the facts to make newsworthy
208: Creating an experience for your audience
Part IV: Controlling your brand ecosystem
Chapter 12: Fashioning your image to march your Personal Brand
215: Aligning your style with your work goals
223: Recognizing that you’re always on display
Chapter 13: Your Visual Identity: Making Your Mark on Your Brand Environment
Writing an effective design brief
 Project scope
 Copy
 Colours
 Fonts
 Images
235: Leading with your personal logo
236: Choosing fonts
Creating a color palette
240: Selecting images that tell your story
241: Building your band identity system
Chapter 14: Focusing on special populations
Chapter 15: Building and nurturing your network
272: Sharing your interests
Identifying who you know
Getting out of your comfort zone
280: Using social media to build your network
Chapter 16: Personal branding in the workplace
288: moving toward a personal branding mind-set on the job
289: Casting for the Hollywood gig model
290: engaging in lifelong learning
294: Thriving in a competency based world
297: Aligning your brand with the company’s brand
299: Standing out in a likeable way
 Be authentic
 Be interested in others
 Find common ground
 Make yourself attractive
 Mind your manners
 Practice empathy
Part IV: The part of tens
Chapter 17: Ten key benefits of personal branding
1. Granting permission to be yourself
2. Gaining confidence
3. Building credibility
4. Showcasing your specialty
5. Leaving your mark
6. Connecting you to your target market
7. Distinguishing yourself from the competition
8. Getting the support you need
9. Focusing your energy
10. Letting yourself be lazy
Chapter 18: Ten ways you can sink your brand
1. Letting it go stale: taking your brand for granted
2. Neglecting consistency
3. Speaking before you think
4. Exhibiting bad behavior
5. Being unresponsive
6. Ignoring the politics
7. Having an unprofessional online image
8. Not telling the truth
9. Being inauthentic: looking like a phony
10. Losing focus
@SusanChritton
Chapter 19: Ten ways to demonstrate your brand
1. Being authentic in all that you do
2. Standing for something
3. Having consistency in your communications
4. Building character online: creating a signature look
5. Leveraging LinkedIn
6. Going viral on Twitter
7. Facebooking the right friends
8. Marketing your materials and business cards
9. Engaging in community involvement
10. Highlighting your brand daily
Chapter 20: Ten things you can do to continue to build your brand
1. Implementing your personal brand strategy plan
2. Staying relevant
3. Continuing to evaluate the competition
4. Producing genuine value
5. Working on high profile projects
6. Setting new goals
7. Aligning your time with your brand
8. Keeping up with technology
9. Nurturing your network
10. Being a confidence emitter

[Fountain Of Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. The best stuff is actually near the end. I can appreciate the difficulty in the task of taking something as amorphous as personal branding and creating a book that will be generally good for most people, but I think there is an unfortunate trend throughout the book of the author saying that one should "niche" or "differentiate", and then very shortly thereafter having page after page of advice that is essentially saying what to do if one wants to be the typical person who has their stuff together.

[Durjoy Pramanik Dipto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good.

[Alain Burrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Personal Branding For Dummies" by Susan Chritton is all about building a personal brand to stand out from the crowd, transform your image, tap into the power of social media to showcase your brand, and craft a winning strategy to launch your personal brand. As one of the "for Dummies" books, it lives up to the series motto of making everything easier. It's an easy and direct book, and contains a lot of useful information.

The book is divided into five main parts, and these include: Part 1: Why is Personal Branding Important. This part focuses on topics such as showing the world who you are, appreciating the power of branding, and a few case studies on branding. Part 2: Knowing Your Brand has chapters on defining who you are, spotting your target audience, knowing your niche and your competitors, crafting your personal brand profile and writing your story. Part 3: Communicating Your Brand with the World is next. This part contains three chapters on branding your traditional communication tools, communicating your brand online, and planning your personal brand communications. The fourth part, Controlling Your Brand Ecosystem has five more chapters. These include fashioning your image to match your personal brand, your visual identity, focusing on special populations, building and nurturing your network, and personal branding in the workplace. The fifth and final part is the part of tens and has four chapters: Ten key benefits of personal branding, ten ways you can sink your brand, ten ways to demonstrate your brand, and ten things you can do to continue to build your brand.

The book does a good job of illustrating why your personal brand is important, and the most important part of the book is section two where the book guides you through determining your own personal brand. The parts on social media are pretty basic, and while they contain good advice, you will find more regarding this topic in books that focus on social media. But if you just need a little, this book delivers.

Over all, I found this to be a good book for the person who wants to figure out just what they stand for, and what image or brand they want to project to the outside world. And the book is good for giving you the basics of making that projection once you figure out just what your brand is.

In today's world, you need to stand for something, and you need to stand out. Chritton's book can help you in this area. Read it, determine your personal brand, and then promote it. It will help distinguish you from the competition.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great starting point but a lot of ideas were common sense and a lot of tips, especially for online personal branding, are now out of date.

[Bookclubcheerleader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of the topic. Used as a textbook for a course in the same topic. Now that I've finished, I'll be going through each section with a fine-toothed comb!

[Kyle R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, kind of a lot of common sense ideas - know your niche, have a story, work on your image, set yourself apart from the others, etc. More of the "what" than the "why" or "how" was the impression I got. It did cover a lot of bases - all the forms of media - social media, podcasting, TV appearances, video chat which I found interesting. How to handle all of those things and the proper etiquette and whatnot. But blegh, kind of a boring book and a little repetitive.

[Ryan Rhoten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything’s included

Whether you’re new to personal branding or you’ve been working on your brand for awhile, this book covers everything you need to build, grow and foster your brand. In today’s job environment, fitting in is no longer acceptable for long-term employability. Instead, you need to stand out, make your mark, and build credibility in your career. This book shows you how.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vapid.

I know the brand is "for Dummies," but this one took that way too far. Much of this book lingers over things you probably already know. I am not talking about things that you might know if you have read other branding books. I mean, things you probably know if you are more than six years old. Chapters 4 and 6 are essentially about knowing who you are...right...

What makes all this worse is the fact that Chritton's only real ability is to say so much without saying anything at all.

[Sara Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good advice, but other advice heavily plays into perpetuating stereotypes, especially gender stereotypes. I'd recommend taking everything in this book with a grain of salt and picking over what you want to apply to your life. An ok place to start if you're not familiar to branding at all.

[Giri · Rating 3 out of 5]

It helped me finally start a Twitter account, but the content is repeated a lot. Also, the technical information about available social media platforms is somewhat outdated, but that can be overlooked. Overall, a good read if you're looking to start a brand in your own name.

[Santina Wey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found some parts really valueable; the branding profile part was especially valueable for me; some parts I would only go through roughly. Also you notice, that the book was published in 2014 and hasn't gotten an update since.

[Mohamed Yehia · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than an introductory book on this topic..it provdided me with all that I need to start my branding journey. The step that i was procterinzing for long time.

[Elisana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buen libro, sólo que ya está bastante desactualizado pues no contempla redes sociales nuevas.
En la escencia es muy bueno.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of helpful advice and resources. Somewhat dated though in mentions of Google+x, faxing, and business cards.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a whole lot of stuff I didn't know, but still worth the read. Lots of helpful charts and a way to systematize your brand to make it feasible. The "Part of Tens" at the end is a total waste of time. Just a rehashing of the book with almost no useful or new information.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful book to read which was practical and detailed with lots of suggested exercises. As a Brit a bit sceptical of the "how you should dress" section and I think the social media presence can be overplayed

[Balaganesh R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Branding for Dummies

[Pat Council · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a lot and took my business to the next level.