Self Brand = Higher Perceived Value

books:

	• U R a Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success Catherine Kaputa Davies-Black Publishing, 2006 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Excellent Book on Branding

I really enjoyed reading this book--it was filled with examples which made it easy to read. The author does an excellent job of showing the importance of knowing your unique promise of value for business success. Branding is about being your authentic self and making sure that the image you want to exude is how you are perceived by others. Knowing your strengths and your unique value of promise is indeed what sets you apart from your competition whether you are climbing the corporate ladder, career seeking, small business owner, etc.

Self Brand = Higher Perceived Value

I read this book on a Sunday (it takes a lot for me to dedicate my whole Sunday to a book, so that give you an idea what I think of the quality).

The most important message that I took away is, whatever you do, when you have a brand, you'll have more value.

If you have a job, having a brand for yourself will increase the perception of your value in the eyes of key stakeholders (your boss, your customers, your team-members, etc.). This means that YOU control how they see you, and you can position yourself for what you want- a raise, a promotion, greater respect, increased responsibility, new customers, whatever.

If you own a business, having a brand for yourself will increase the fees that you can command. Everyone wants to hire or buy from the best, and your brand will show how you are just that. You become memorable (because brands are memorable) which means that your marketing process becomes much easier.

With a brand your clarity and confidence greatly increase. You know what your value is and can therefore articulate it to others.

The takeaway message that Catherine Kaputa says is essentially: If you don't brand yourself, someone else will, and it probably won't be the brand you want.

Don't let that happen. Read this book.

Larina Kase, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Confident Speaker

for more information click here

Worth your money and time

If you are looking for a book to enhance your career, this book should be in your list. It says, flatly, that being good and skilled in your job is insufficient in getting head. It is actually more important to be perceived and noticed as a person of excellence.

It should be noted that the author already assumes you have some marketable skills. Without it, you don't have anything to build a brand around. "If you don't stand for something relevant to the marketplace, you have no value", states the author.

Influencing how others perceive you and your ideas starts with a building a brand. One must brainstorm one's strengths and how one's strengths align with the market (or employer) values. Then one should focus on one's strengths and highlight its relevance in the marketplace in a emotionally connecting way.

Branding is executed primarily through visual (good attire, personal appearance, body language) and verbal (communication through effective rhetoric and tone). The book also highlights the paramount importance of gettting noticed by the right people. If you are not invited to the right meetings, author notes, you are dead in the water (of real career progression).

Overall, I felt this book contained as much good career advice as any I have read. I highly recommend it.

for more information click here

A big boost for my small business

As a person who runs a small business, I'm always alert to methods for getting my message out. U R a Brand gave me some great (and inexpensive) ways to identify and define me, my product, and my market. In particular, I found the chapters on the Principles of Visual Identity and the Power of Names, Signature Words and Phrases to be clear, easy to implement and to yield great results. Anyone who is dependent on other people, in part or in whole, for business success will benefit from Kaputa's ideas.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Today's hottest business concept meets the realities of the modern workplace. U R a Brand! delivers 10 key personal brand strategies that aren't taught in business school--or anywhere else. Like a personal branding coach right by your side, Catherine Kaputa reveals the inside secrets of Madison Avenue product branding and applies these tried-and-true principles and techniques to a dynamic new strategic branding process for individuals. U R a Brand! highlights the self branding odysseys of savvy professionals who have repositioned their experience and talents in pursuit of the corner office and budding entrepreneurs launching their own business ventures--all from the personal brand strategist and executive coach who helped them achieve their success.

for more information click here

hot