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BrandingPays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand
Globalization and social media have made the world smaller, more connected and infinitely more competitive. The world has changed. Have you? If you don't have the package that will take you to the next level of your career, you need to reinvent your personal brand. BrandingPays(TM), a practical guide to strategic personal branding, will help you refocus your skills and experience so you are the best candidate for the job, career and business opportunities that you desire. Perfect for professionals, entrepreneurs and college students, the step-by-step BrandingPays methodology has been proven in Fortune 500 companies and leading business schools. Former Regis McKenna Inc. Partner Karen Kang builds upon concepts and techniques from the legendary marketing firm that created and launched the Apple brand.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2013
104 people are currently reading
421 people want to read
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January 28, 2013
Branding Pays. The Five Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand By Karen Kang
As a professional fiction author I came to this book both as a reviewer – and a consumer, so the comments that follow are biased towards the solo author entrepreneur.
As Geoffrey Moore says in the Preface to this book – “Your job is to embrace… the self-marketing challenge. The new business order does not in general have time or patience to discover the real you. You must take the lead here, regardless of how extroverted or introverted you may be. It is simply part of your job.”
This has never been more true that for authors who want their books to be discovered and enjoyed by as many readers as possible in an increasingly frantic scrabble for attention. We are expected to be constantly looking for ways to reinvent ourselves for new career and market opportunities. This requires an understanding of market forces, your own assets and a clear vision of who you are and the value you bring to the world.
In short – Brand Yourself, or be left behind.
These five steps work best if you have a specific goal you want to achieve – you need to know where you are heading on the Branding Journey.
Ask yourself these questions:
Goal Strategy: Do I have a clear goal and a strategy and messages to achieve the brand that I want?
Brand Relationships: Do I have meaningful relationships with key influencers who affect my success? You need to develop relationships with key people who influence opinion in person and social media.
Brand Education: Do I communicate my brand effectively and deliver on a consistent brand experience through my image, personality, messages and action?
Brand Evidence: Do I have evidence of both the cake – the benefits and experience and expertise you offer – and the icing – the emotional value in your personality, your smile and image – of a strong brand?
Figure out what areas you need to invest in to create your brand and deliver on your unique value. BE your brand.
Think of the iced cake as your complete brand. Your technical core strengths are the cake. How people connect with you emotionally is the icing – do you like you and can they trust you? You need both the cake and the icing to be a strong brand.
Example: George Clooney. Talented actor and director [ the cake] and he is handsome and charming and a humanitarian activist [ the icing.]
Think about your profession. Who do you admire? What is the cake and the icing for those brands?
The better you understand your current brand, the easier it will be to develop a strategy to change it for the better.
Here are my personal key learning elements from each chapter of this book:
Chapter 1: Take Charge of Your Personal Brand
•Profitability and growth are the two best marketing programs any business can use to gain leadership. Having the goods makes it a lot easier to brand yourself and get recognised. But the key thing is to position what you have to your best competitive advantage.
•A personal brand is your image and your reputation to the world.
•Personal branding is the act of developing a strategy and actions to guide your brand. But without a brand goal, strategy and action plan, personal branding becomes akin to baking a cake without a recipe.
•There are several personal branding myths, including:
1. Doing great work equals a great reputation. You have to let people know what great work you are doing so you can be recognised for your value.
2. My boss/company with market my brand. Don’t be a victim – be your own brand manager and keep control.
3. Self promotion is boastful and bad. This can be a cultural thing or personal preference. Think of it more as brand education where you share your unique capabilities and educate the market about your value.
•Where communication flows both ways, brands are more engaging and memorable.
Chapter 2: Step 1: Positioning
•Define your unique value.
•Create a positioning statement which combines the needs of your target audience with what you can offer.
•This is your elevator pitch.
•For [ your target audience] who wants or needs [ problem statement] I am/ my product is [ category] who provides [ value ] unlike [ the completion]
•Target audience? In positioning we are either solving a problem or enabling an opportunity or both.
•How can you provide the solution?
•Why are you the best one to provide it? Share your knowledge – be recognised.
•How can you prove your value? Present the evidence that you can deliver
•The key to great positioning is to put yourself in the shoes of the audience that you are trying to reach.
Chapter 3: Step 2: Messaging
Develop the key elevator message that support one or two key elements.
•What do I do
•Context and value of what you do
•Evidence of that value.
You will need a different message for different audiences.
Chapter 4 : Step 3: Brand Strategy
•Put your cake and your icing together in the brand strategy platform. Brand from the inside out for an authentic 360 brand.
•Core Values – technical skills and your strengths
•What I love doing – soft skills
•My life and career dreams short term and long term. Expertise and experience.
•The icing is the personality, the external image and emotional values you bring.
•Being able to articulate your brand image will help to keep you on track as you implement your brand in everything you do and say and relate to others.
Chapter 5: Step 4: Ecosystem
•Define the influencer model for your brand ecosystem and develop a strategy for relationship building and management.
•We can message and promote our brands, but in the end, it is what others say about us that determines how we are perceived.
Chapter 6: Step 5: Action Plan
•Develop an action plan that includes a brand improvement for both your cake and icing and brand communication so that your brand can be known and recognised.
•Your brand action plan should include steps to improve areas where you want to deliver your brand promise, and steps to build awareness and recognition of your brand.
•If you are an entrepreneur, your company’s brand positioning and messages must be very clear. Your personal brand as a leader must demonstrate vision, passion and drive.
Chapter 7: 360 Degree Branding – Vision, Symbols, Words and Deeds
This includes everything from your company logo and log line to your personal appearance and dress code.
Chapter 8: Portable Branding and Social Media: Getting Started
The importance of owning and managing your online profile is made clear in this chapter which goes through each of the social media options in turn.
Key learning points? Understand your business and your personal goals and focus your activities on a few key platforms rather than spreading yourself too thin.
Summary.
This is a densely packed book of detailed information and strategies designed to make you think through every aspect of your personal and company branding so that you can optimise what is already in place and improve each aspect in turn. Comprehensive and detailed, this book with take you step by step through action plans in every part of your branding strategy.
Recommended.
As a professional fiction author I came to this book both as a reviewer – and a consumer, so the comments that follow are biased towards the solo author entrepreneur.
As Geoffrey Moore says in the Preface to this book – “Your job is to embrace… the self-marketing challenge. The new business order does not in general have time or patience to discover the real you. You must take the lead here, regardless of how extroverted or introverted you may be. It is simply part of your job.”
This has never been more true that for authors who want their books to be discovered and enjoyed by as many readers as possible in an increasingly frantic scrabble for attention. We are expected to be constantly looking for ways to reinvent ourselves for new career and market opportunities. This requires an understanding of market forces, your own assets and a clear vision of who you are and the value you bring to the world.
In short – Brand Yourself, or be left behind.
These five steps work best if you have a specific goal you want to achieve – you need to know where you are heading on the Branding Journey.
Ask yourself these questions:
Goal Strategy: Do I have a clear goal and a strategy and messages to achieve the brand that I want?
Brand Relationships: Do I have meaningful relationships with key influencers who affect my success? You need to develop relationships with key people who influence opinion in person and social media.
Brand Education: Do I communicate my brand effectively and deliver on a consistent brand experience through my image, personality, messages and action?
Brand Evidence: Do I have evidence of both the cake – the benefits and experience and expertise you offer – and the icing – the emotional value in your personality, your smile and image – of a strong brand?
Figure out what areas you need to invest in to create your brand and deliver on your unique value. BE your brand.
Think of the iced cake as your complete brand. Your technical core strengths are the cake. How people connect with you emotionally is the icing – do you like you and can they trust you? You need both the cake and the icing to be a strong brand.
Example: George Clooney. Talented actor and director [ the cake] and he is handsome and charming and a humanitarian activist [ the icing.]
Think about your profession. Who do you admire? What is the cake and the icing for those brands?
The better you understand your current brand, the easier it will be to develop a strategy to change it for the better.
Here are my personal key learning elements from each chapter of this book:
Chapter 1: Take Charge of Your Personal Brand
•Profitability and growth are the two best marketing programs any business can use to gain leadership. Having the goods makes it a lot easier to brand yourself and get recognised. But the key thing is to position what you have to your best competitive advantage.
•A personal brand is your image and your reputation to the world.
•Personal branding is the act of developing a strategy and actions to guide your brand. But without a brand goal, strategy and action plan, personal branding becomes akin to baking a cake without a recipe.
•There are several personal branding myths, including:
1. Doing great work equals a great reputation. You have to let people know what great work you are doing so you can be recognised for your value.
2. My boss/company with market my brand. Don’t be a victim – be your own brand manager and keep control.
3. Self promotion is boastful and bad. This can be a cultural thing or personal preference. Think of it more as brand education where you share your unique capabilities and educate the market about your value.
•Where communication flows both ways, brands are more engaging and memorable.
Chapter 2: Step 1: Positioning
•Define your unique value.
•Create a positioning statement which combines the needs of your target audience with what you can offer.
•This is your elevator pitch.
•For [ your target audience] who wants or needs [ problem statement] I am/ my product is [ category] who provides [ value ] unlike [ the completion]
•Target audience? In positioning we are either solving a problem or enabling an opportunity or both.
•How can you provide the solution?
•Why are you the best one to provide it? Share your knowledge – be recognised.
•How can you prove your value? Present the evidence that you can deliver
•The key to great positioning is to put yourself in the shoes of the audience that you are trying to reach.
Chapter 3: Step 2: Messaging
Develop the key elevator message that support one or two key elements.
•What do I do
•Context and value of what you do
•Evidence of that value.
You will need a different message for different audiences.
Chapter 4 : Step 3: Brand Strategy
•Put your cake and your icing together in the brand strategy platform. Brand from the inside out for an authentic 360 brand.
•Core Values – technical skills and your strengths
•What I love doing – soft skills
•My life and career dreams short term and long term. Expertise and experience.
•The icing is the personality, the external image and emotional values you bring.
•Being able to articulate your brand image will help to keep you on track as you implement your brand in everything you do and say and relate to others.
Chapter 5: Step 4: Ecosystem
•Define the influencer model for your brand ecosystem and develop a strategy for relationship building and management.
•We can message and promote our brands, but in the end, it is what others say about us that determines how we are perceived.
Chapter 6: Step 5: Action Plan
•Develop an action plan that includes a brand improvement for both your cake and icing and brand communication so that your brand can be known and recognised.
•Your brand action plan should include steps to improve areas where you want to deliver your brand promise, and steps to build awareness and recognition of your brand.
•If you are an entrepreneur, your company’s brand positioning and messages must be very clear. Your personal brand as a leader must demonstrate vision, passion and drive.
Chapter 7: 360 Degree Branding – Vision, Symbols, Words and Deeds
This includes everything from your company logo and log line to your personal appearance and dress code.
Chapter 8: Portable Branding and Social Media: Getting Started
The importance of owning and managing your online profile is made clear in this chapter which goes through each of the social media options in turn.
Key learning points? Understand your business and your personal goals and focus your activities on a few key platforms rather than spreading yourself too thin.
Summary.
This is a densely packed book of detailed information and strategies designed to make you think through every aspect of your personal and company branding so that you can optimise what is already in place and improve each aspect in turn. Comprehensive and detailed, this book with take you step by step through action plans in every part of your branding strategy.
Recommended.
February 19, 2013
“Branding Pays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand” by Karen Kang is a great text on determining and implementing your personal brand to succeed in business. Kang, a recognized brand strategist and founder of BrandingPays LLC, has put the knowledge she's gained through helping thousands of professionals with her unique BrandingPays System for personal branding into book form with this guide to reinventing your personal brand.
The text is well organized and laid out in a logical fashion. It reminded me a bit of some of the business books I read in college. There are plenty of graphs and charts to help illustrate Kang's points, and each chapter ends with a summary and action list.
While the book sometimes feels aimed at those in corporate positions, the advice contained in these chapters will also benefit the entrepreneur and small business owner too. The book also contains a chapter on social media basics, and I wish all young people (and some older) would read the parts about people not getting jobs because of what was posted on facebook.
Putting your best foot forward is important, but it is not enough. To get ahead today, having a strategic approach to brand positioning and communication is critical. Kang's five steps of positioning, messages, brand strategy, ecosystems and having an action plan will help readers create the strategic plan to get ahead with a credible personal brand. I recommend it to anyone wanting to create a brand or reinvent the personal brand they may have.
The text is well organized and laid out in a logical fashion. It reminded me a bit of some of the business books I read in college. There are plenty of graphs and charts to help illustrate Kang's points, and each chapter ends with a summary and action list.
While the book sometimes feels aimed at those in corporate positions, the advice contained in these chapters will also benefit the entrepreneur and small business owner too. The book also contains a chapter on social media basics, and I wish all young people (and some older) would read the parts about people not getting jobs because of what was posted on facebook.
Putting your best foot forward is important, but it is not enough. To get ahead today, having a strategic approach to brand positioning and communication is critical. Kang's five steps of positioning, messages, brand strategy, ecosystems and having an action plan will help readers create the strategic plan to get ahead with a credible personal brand. I recommend it to anyone wanting to create a brand or reinvent the personal brand they may have.
October 10, 2014
The book provided me what I was looking for. -an understanding of a Personal Branding framework. Positioning, Messaging, Brand Strategy, EcoSystem and the Action Plan - 5 logical steps detailed by the author guided me in creating a personal branding portfolio of my own in less than 2 days.
December 21, 2020
This one was a struggle for me to get through, as evidenced by the long time between starting and finishing. The chapters are broken down into digestible amounts of content, but it wasn’t grabbing my attention for long periods of time.
July 1, 2020
Good for some one who starts on personal branding. Gives a clear approach. Also good set of reference to books. Case atudies gives additional perspectives
March 3, 2022
Encontré muy útil el hecho de que todos los capítulos y partes del libro contuvieron formularios para llenar. Ese elemento lo vuelve súper dinámico para ir haciendo los ejercicios sobre la marcha, lo cual ayuda muchísimo a tener una idea de dónde se está parado. En cuanto al contenido en sí, me parece interesante su planteamiento de la audiencia y los distintos tipos de audiencia. Sobre todo porque la mayor parte de los libros de este tipo se enfocan en un cliente. Karen habla de que la audiencia puede ser tu jefe, un productor, o cualquier persona a quien quieras dedicar los mensajes de tu brand para conseguir un objetivo. Este simple planteamiento me hizo entender el resto de los libros de branding desde otra perspectiva, porque me dedico a la industria del entretenimiento, y una de las desventajas de estos libros es que están sumamente enfocados a negocios. Gracias al paradigma de Kang, aunque ambientado al mundo godín, pude ver claramente cómo trasladar este y otros conceptos de otros autores.
También resulta particularmente útil el punto tres "Branding Strategy Platform". Sobre todo al momento de llevar a cabo campañas de comunicación. Sólo ese capítulo por sí mismo valdría la pena (pero debido a que construye sobre los conceptos previamente explicados podrían faltar algunas referencias). Es una manera muy legible de cómo trannsmitir un mensaje deseado, con todos los elementos que operan en juego. Sin duda el libro aporta nociones claras de branding que, puestas en práctica generan un impacto directo.
También resulta particularmente útil el punto tres "Branding Strategy Platform". Sobre todo al momento de llevar a cabo campañas de comunicación. Sólo ese capítulo por sí mismo valdría la pena (pero debido a que construye sobre los conceptos previamente explicados podrían faltar algunas referencias). Es una manera muy legible de cómo trannsmitir un mensaje deseado, con todos los elementos que operan en juego. Sin duda el libro aporta nociones claras de branding que, puestas en práctica generan un impacto directo.
August 15, 2017
A quick read, and especially quick if you skim only the bolded stuff, which is really all you need to do if you already have familiarity with the topic. BrandingPays has some good reminders and good conceptual ideas for personal branding, especially the "cake/icing" concepts.
My biggest criticism is that this book doesn't seem to understand who its audience is. College kids trying to get a first job? Millennials trying to switch jobs? Older lifer-types trying to rebrand themselves? Entrepreneurs? Politicians? It's trying to be too many things to too many audiences, and because of that, sort of misses its opportunity to be as impactful as it could be.
Overall not a must read, but could be helpful if you're on a personal branding journey and don't know where to start.
My biggest criticism is that this book doesn't seem to understand who its audience is. College kids trying to get a first job? Millennials trying to switch jobs? Older lifer-types trying to rebrand themselves? Entrepreneurs? Politicians? It's trying to be too many things to too many audiences, and because of that, sort of misses its opportunity to be as impactful as it could be.
Overall not a must read, but could be helpful if you're on a personal branding journey and don't know where to start.
June 4, 2020
This is a practical guide and useful for starters. It’s more a workbook and not something you read end to end.
I like how it gives a structure and the beginnings of a plan.
Weakness:
- not specific on how to implement the plan.
- ideas on mechanisms to implement: website, blog, digital marketing
- there’s some basic comments on linkedin and blogging - but now out of date.
I like how it gives a structure and the beginnings of a plan.
Weakness:
- not specific on how to implement the plan.
- ideas on mechanisms to implement: website, blog, digital marketing
- there’s some basic comments on linkedin and blogging - but now out of date.
March 5, 2021
كتاب عظيم... بجد غير شخصيتي وعرفني على حاجات كتير كانت بتأثر على صورتي الشخصيه قدام الناس... نصيحه لكل محب للقراءه انه يقرأه... لازم كل شاب يقرأه لأنه هيوفر عليه تعب ومجهود في طرق غلط مش بتساعد على تحسين الصوره الشخصيه
May 13, 2021
Might be getting stale, needs a version 2.0. Full of useful advice and a well-thought-out plan. This is a great guide for a recent college grad. Highly recommended especially for young professionals.
April 2, 2025
For people who are more visually oriented. The book has A LOT of pdf resources for noobies. Plenty of stories of the results of BrandingPays framework. Good for people who prefer a structured approach to their work. Category: VISUAL + STRUCTURED PERSONAL BRANDING NOOBS
January 1, 2019
Great short book, definitely needs revisiting.
January 24, 2019
Behold, a useful marketing book.
October 31, 2019
Excellent , highly recommended for every body, you don’t need to read other books on the same subject after this book.
October 13, 2024
Forced to read this book for a class. Did not enjoy it but I was not seeking out the information it was providing. For someone that wants to rebrand themselves it’s probably really helpful.
November 6, 2025
I read this for a college class and yeah... It's very digestible compared to most college reading, but puts you in a box of corporate world even if that's not the sort of job you want
July 15, 2021
to the point!
February 17, 2013
Would you like to reinvent your brand? Do you need a new brand? Branding Pays is the perfect book for you!
Karen Kang has shown countless individuals and companies how to have an attractive brand. Branding Pays shows readers how to describe their brands in a few sentences, align their brands with their personal values, how to achieve goals and develop leadership skills that fit their new brand. She also has useful advice on savvy social marketing.
I found the examples from her business especially helpful. Karen Kang tells how she helped a would-be councillor win an election and a lawyer achieve a promotion. She also has many other examples.
Kang even gives simple advice, such as the importance of good posture and looking professional.
This book requires careful study, and I will need to write notes, but it's certainly worth it!
Karen Kang has shown countless individuals and companies how to have an attractive brand. Branding Pays shows readers how to describe their brands in a few sentences, align their brands with their personal values, how to achieve goals and develop leadership skills that fit their new brand. She also has useful advice on savvy social marketing.
I found the examples from her business especially helpful. Karen Kang tells how she helped a would-be councillor win an election and a lawyer achieve a promotion. She also has many other examples.
Kang even gives simple advice, such as the importance of good posture and looking professional.
This book requires careful study, and I will need to write notes, but it's certainly worth it!
September 20, 2013
This book is informative and practical. I enjoyed reading it. It gives real life methods to brand yourself to the world and gives you sheets to know how to reach your goal. So all the best with branding yourself!
August 29, 2015
Great book to entrepreneurs and corporate employees alike...it's all about creating a compelling personal brand.
October 2, 2015
Excellent book! Karen communicates a clear method to lead someone in developing their brand. Highly recommended! I wish I had read it sooner.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews