brand

1. 7 things you can do build an awesome Personal Brand
The term branding has long been relegated to companies, but today
almost every individual has a personal brand. Not many of us have
consciously cultivated these brands, but they exist nonetheless. A
digital footprint in the sands of time and space crowd sourced by
friends, colleagues, and bosses. According to an AVG study, 92
percent of children under the age of two already have a digital
footprint.
The question is no longer IF you have a personal brand, but if you
choose to guide and cultivate the brand or to let it be defined on
your behalf. Here are seven ways to start building an awesome
personal brand.
Start thinking of yourself as a brand
What do you wish for people to associate with you when they think
of your name? Is there a certain subject matter in which you want to
be perceived as an expert or are there general qualities you want
linked to your brand? Once you understand how you wish your
brand to be perceived, you can start to be much more strategic about
your personal brand. This doesn’t mean you can’t be human. On the
contrary, as Michael Simmons writes, authenticity is key in the
digital age. A strong personal brand can yield tremendous ROI
whether you are working with an organization or leading one. Here
are some examples of individuals who have built up authentic and
powerful personal brands: Michael Port, John Bates, Mike

2. Michalowicz, Dave Kerpen, David Meerman Scott, John
Jantsch, Dave Carroll, and Barry Moltz.
Audit your online presence
You can’t mold perception without first understanding the current
status. In other words, Google GOOGL +1% yourself and setup alerts for
your name on a regular basis. Have a fairly common name?
Consider using your middle initial or middle name to differentiate.
Cultivating a strong personal brand is just as much about being
responsive to what is being said as it is about creating intellectual
property.
Secure a personal website
Having a personal website for yourself is one of the best ways to
rank for your name on the search engines. It doesn’t need to be
robust. It can be a simple two to three page site with your resume,
link to your social platforms, and a brief bio. You can always expand
on the website with time.
Find ways to produce value
We’ve all been there. Someone in your network posts something
utterly mundane or ridiculous, and you wonder what compelled
them to do so? A medium is not a substitute for a message. Find
ways to add value to your audience by creating or curating content
that’s in line with your brand.
Be purposeful in what you share
Every tweet you send, every status update you make, every picture
you share, contributes to your personal brand. It is an amalgamation
of multiple daily actions. Once you understand how you wish your
brand to be perceived, you can start to be much more strategic about
your personal brand.

3. Associate with other strong brands
Your personal brand is strengthened or weakened by your
connection to other brands. Find and leverage strong brands which
can elevate your own personal brand. Start with the three C’s:
company, college, colleagues. Which school did you attend? Are
there groups you can join? An alumni newsletter you can contribute
to? What hidden opportunities are available within your company
which you have yet to tap? Consider submitting a guest post to the
company blog or look at other digital assets you can connect to your
brand.
Reinvent
A strong personal brand is dependent on a strong narrative. In other
words, what’s your story? Take a second to think of celebrities you
know who have a strong personal brand. Mark Cuban. Martha
Stewart. Richard Branson. They are all have a very clear story and a
consistent brand. If you have multiple passions or areas of interest, a
narrative becomes even more crucial so there can be unified theme.
If you need help defining your story, I highly recommend
reading Reinventing You by Dorie Clark.
Most importantly, remember that a strong personal brand should be
ubiquitous and ever evolving.

4. Written by Neil Patel & Aaron Agius
Introduction
WHAT IS BRANDING?
My parents like to tell a story from my childhood. When I was a toddler they would put me in the backseat
of the car in child’s car seat when they would take me somewhere like to the store or to a friend’s house.
When we would drive down the highway, I would see golden arches through the car window and yell,
“Donald’s!”
Now, I was only two or three years old at the time. I wasn’t old enough to read. I could barely see high
enough to see through the car window. But when I saw those arches it meant something to me.

5. My parents would sometimes take me to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. I would associate the burger and
fries with the golden arches.
That is branding.
A brand is anything—a symbol, design, name, sound, reputation, emotion, employees, tone, and much
more—that separates one thing from another. In the case of McDonald’s, the golden arches became part of
the brand. Those arches separate their product from all other fast food restaurants and they’re a
recognizable symbol even with kids.
Branding on a business-level is common, but today branding is becoming just as important on a personal
level. After all, you might work for a business that works with other businesses, but it’s people working
with people and that’s what makes business relationships valuable.
WHY SHOULD YOU BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND?
Building a recognizable personal brand opens professional opportunities.
Creating a vision for your future and implementing that vision can lead to:
 A better job
 Better contacts and clients for your company
 Industry recognition
 And more
If you’re looking for a better job, you want your potential boss at your ideal company to associate your
personal brand with something that she needs on her team.
If you’re looking to grow the sales for a company, you want potential clients to associate your personal
brand with a feeling of trust and long-term success and satisfaction.
This guide will take your through all the steps you need to take to create a your unique personal brand. In
today’s job market and entrepreneurial landscape, there is no room for being another face in the crowd.
You have to separate yourself from the competition. You have to be more appealing to your target
audience and you can achieve it by creating a recognizable personal brand.
NOT EVERYTHING IN THIS GUIDE WILL APPLY TO YOU
This is an advanced guide to building your personal brand. There is a lot of information covering many
different steps you can take to build your personal brand.
However, not everything in this guide needs to be followed to reach your goals. Not everything in the guide
applies to everyone so if you notice something that doesn’t fit your vision or your goals it’s okay.
The purpose of this guide is to cover as much as possible about the process of building a personal brand.
In the final chapter, we discuss why it’s important to be yourself. You can take the information here as a
guide, but use the information in your own way. Follow steps exactly or use certain information and create
your own steps for finding success.

6. Expert Roundup: Quotes From
Successful & Influential Individuals
For this guide we wanted to include quotes from well-known individuals in the online world. These are
people that have been the reason for the success of some of the most successful brands in the world. They
know what it takes to succeed and that includes their feelings on building a personal brand.
We asked three questions:
1. What one action, decision, or choice has had the single biggest impact in the growth of your personal
brand?
2. If you were building an online presence from scratch today, what 3 things would you consider to
provide the biggest ROI on your time and money?
3. For those looking to create a strong online brand, which 3 online influencers would you recommend they
follow?
Throughout this guide you’ll find the answers along with actionable steps you can take to follow the advice
of these experts.
1. CHAPTER ONEHow To Create Your
Personal Brand Vision
Businesses create vision and mission statements. Creating a personal brand begins much the same way by
creating a personal vision.
Only you can determine how you want your life to unfold. You can’t control every aspect of your life, but
you can create a long-term vision and develop steps to achieve that vision.
Your life’s vision should include how you see yourself in 10, 20 and even 50 years. Consider the elements
in life that would make you happy—a family, a beach house, a challenging corporate job?
There are no right or wrong answers and in this chapter we’ll guide you through the steps necessary to
create your personal vision.
TAKE ME TO CHAPTER ONE
2. CHAPTER TWOHow To Define Your
Target Audience

7. Once you have your vision, it’s time to determine who your target audience is. Most professionals are
selling something to someone. If you’re looking for a job, you’re selling yourself to a potential employer. If
you want to start your own business, you’re selling yourself to potential clients.
But your target audience goes beyond an employer and customer. You’re looking to build a community of
people—employers, peers, influencers, etc.—who can all be assets in different ways.
In this chapter, we’ll show you how to define your target audience. Knowing the exact person you’re selling
to makes it easier for you to communicate your brand message.
TAKE ME TO CHAPTER TWO
3. CHAPTER THREEHow To Build Up Your
Online And Offline Assets
Thee are a number of assets that require attention when you’re building your personal brand. You’ll need
to secure domain names and websites to help control your personal brand on search. You’ll need to secure
social media accounts to control your personal brand on social networks.
And you’ll need to know how to build these assets so you can build your overall network. In this chapter,
we’ll go over the most important online and offline assets for building your personal brand and give you
step-by-step instructions for securing and building each up with a strong community.
TAKE ME TO CHAPTER THREE
4. CHAPTER FOURHow To Build Your Brand
Through Outreach
When you start building your personal brand it’s difficult to get exposure. It’s necessary to get exposure in
the places where your target audience is spending time.
In this chapter, we’re going to explain how you can gain exposure through earned media, advertising and a
few other strategies. Following the steps in this chapter will give you formulas for creating content that is
appealing to your target audience while establishing you as an authority.

8. TAKE ME TO CHAPTER FOUR
5. CHAPTER FIVEHow To Get Free Press
Coverage
Another way to gain exposure is to get free press coverage. There are a number of tools that make it easy to
build connections with journalists, bloggers and moderators. Building these relationships and
understanding what the press wants gives you the power to get free press.
TAKE ME TO CHAPTER FIVE
6. CHAPTER SIXHow To Connect With
Mentors
One key to success is continued learning. Even the smartest people in the world can become smarter and
more skilled in certain aspects of life.
Mentors are great assets for professionals looking to build a personal brand. You can learn how they
became success or how they view the world and use the strategies to build your own success.
In this chapter, we’ll show you how to find mentors and how to approach them so they will help you with
your personal brand.
TAKE ME TO CHAPTER SIX
7. CHAPTER SEVENHow To Monitor Your
Brand

9. Once you’ve established what you want personal brand to be and you’re working to grow it you’ll need to
monitor the growth and the perception. It’s important to see how your target audience associates you with
your industry and how they feel about you in general.
In this chapter, we’ll share monitoring tools with you and we’ll show you how to use those tools so you
know what your audience thinks about you.
TAKE ME TO CHAPTER SEVEN
8. CHAPTER EIGHTBe Yourself Because
Everyone Else Is Taken
We’re going to close the guide with an important chapter on being unique. You want to take influence
from others including your mentors, but it’s important that you be yourself. That’s how you’ll separate
yourself from the competition.
In this chapter we’ll give you steps for further identifying why you’re different and how to embrace
differences to attract people to you in a positive way.
Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands.[1]
While
previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal-branding concept suggests
instead that success comes from self-packaging.[1]
The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in a
1997 article by Tom Peters.[2]
Personal Branding is essentially the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind
of others about an individual, group or organization.[3]
Personal branding often involves the application of one's name
to various products. For example, the celebrity real-estate mogul Donald Trump uses his last name extensively on
his buildings and on the products he endorses (e.g. Trump Steaks).
Personal Branding Tips for College Students
By Susan Chritton from Personal Branding For Dummies
Your experience crafting your personal brand can begin right out of college, or even before. You may
find that these tips help you bypass some stress and head straight for success.

10. Once upon a time, young people in the United States who went to college had their futures mapped
out for them before they even graduated. The hard work was getting into college (and paying for it);
after the degree was earned, a career pretty easily fell into place. Those days are gone.
Today, recent college graduates face competition from other college grads with experience,
noncollege grads with experience, and older people in the workforce. Therefore, it's crucial to figure
out what makes you unique when you’re first entering the workforce.
You may ask, “How will I look unique when I am an average student with a business major from an
average school?” Well, now is where you need to employ the principles of personal branding to help
you stand out and stand for something. Here are some places to look to find your uniqueness:
 Internships you had in college
 Travel experiences, both foreign and domestic
 The network of people that you know, including your parents’ friends, your friends’ parents, past
employers, coaches, and other adults who know you well
 Languages you speak
 Special projects you’ve done that you’re proud of
 Your attire and self-presentation at your interviews
 Your social and communication skills
After you identify unique qualities, don’t hide them or assume that they aren’t important. Make sure
that these qualities are prominent in your resume and that you highlight them in interviews.
Build your confidence by having meaningful conversations with people during informational
interviews. Set a goal of meeting with at least three people who are willing to talk to you about the
work they do and ask you about your interests. Each time you talk about your brand, you’re building
it. Own your uniqueness, and you’ll find the right place where it will be appreciated.