Employers: It’s Time To Embrace Personal Branding In the Workplace!

…by Adrian Chira, Robert Earl Reed.

Personal branding is a process that incorporates self-awareness and personal development skills with successful marketing strategies. While most often used by job hunters, career changers and solopreneurs, it also belongs in the workplace!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 23, 2010 – Personal branding is a process that incorporates self-awareness and personal development skills with successful marketing strategies allowing individuals to develop and communicate their own personal brand effectively. While personal branding is most often used by job hunters, career changers and solopreneurs, it’s a process that also belongs in the workplace!

Savvy employees have already come to the realization that long-term job security is a thing of the past. Proactive employees, especially those in the younger crowd, are developing and maintaining a personal brand that will grow with them over the course of their careers. A successful personal brand is more than insurance to insulate you from an unforeseen job loss, it allows you to chart a career course that fits your goals and values and to make “course corrections” when they are required. While most people are still developing their personal brand on their own initiative, there are significant benefits for employers who bring the personal branding process into their workplaces.

At first, employers may be hesitant to embrace personal branding. One of the concerns employers have with personal branding stems from a fear that it will encourage a rush to the exit as employees who know their value find a better job elsewhere. Or even worse, that personal branding will create a group of egotistical employees who focus more on their own advancement than on company goals.

The personal branding process, however, is rooted in personal success principles that empower people to become more interdependent. Empowered people become stronger team players, and rather than having the negative effects just mentioned, the workplace climate is usually improved. If there are existing difficulties with the workplace, working through the personal branding process with employees will help address the issues. The real “risk” to an employer is that workplace issues will often come to the surface and will need to be addressed.

The benefits to employers can be seen as the “flip” side to the risks that employers may initially worry about. True teamwork results when people know themselves and their strengths well enough to put their ego aside and work for the good of the group. Personal branding can look like a very egotistical endeavour on the surface, but a solid personal brand accurately conveys the strengths of each individual.  During the personal branding process, people learn to build on their strengths, and to address areas for growth. Often, growth areas are identified as a result of assessing personal success in the workplace. It isn’t uncommon for people to identify learning opportunities that benefit both themselves and the employer, . Areas that individuals identify for personal learning are often shared among many employees, and provide an excellent starting point for employers who are looking for professional development opportunities that will deliver value to their business.

Common areas of focus that arise from the personal branding process include the following:
* Personal success principles and habits.
* Communication skills such as listening, dealing with different types of people, and public speaking.
* Effective goal-setting techniques including project planning and assessement skills.
These are all skill areas that benefit both the employer and employee. Indeed, employers and employees should be working towards common goals. Perhaps the greatest benefit in the workplace of having employees who are proactive in developing and maintaining their personal brands is the focus on maximizing that “sweet spot” where personal skills and goals overlap with those of the employer. This is the area where people find that they have a great deal of satisfaction with their work, and where their job performance and productivity is best.

Personal branding is a process that is most commonly used to empower job hunters, career changers and solopreneurs to find or create work that is best-suited to their personality type, skills, interests and work values. This process has positive outcomes too for employers who want to improve not only employee performance and productivity, but also job satisfaction and morale.

Dynamite, Death, and Prizes: Secrets to Relaunching Your Personal Brand

…by Adrian Chira, PersonalBrandGrader

The words “personal branding” are all the rage these days. Every marketing book you pick up, every magazine or blog you read, is talking about building yourself into a brand, so that your own name becomes synonymous with what you do as does the word “ipod” to making you immediately think of Apple’s sleek little mp3 player… with the click wheel.

But once you have that coveted “personal brand”… and then something horrible goes awry…how can an entrepreneur recover and recast himself into something different, if your own name is the billing for his work and services? It’s not like the solution is to change your name…

The solution lies in the Nobel Secret.

As you most probably know, the Nobel Prize is a prize that is granted annually in several areas, such as Literature, Physics, and most notably, the Nobel Prize for Peace.

And now do you know the Nobel secret? It’s dynamite….

In the early 1800′s, there was a man named Ludvig.  Ludvig was the creator of world’s very first successful oil tanker, named the Zoroaster.

While the design was widely studied and copied, Ludvig refused to patent any part of it.  In fact, the very first tank steamer of the United States was actually built from Ludvig’s drawings and calculations after his death.

His death? Yes. One day in early 1888, Ludvig died. But, somehow, the newspaper reporting on his death had a mistake… the printed an obituary of Ludvig’s brother Alfred, instead!

Alfred woke up in the morning to an unpleasant surprise few people have the opportunity to encounter. He read an obituary for himself in the newspaper!

The article indicated that he, Alfred, would be forever remembered as the “merchant of death” for his invention of dynamite.  Having 355 patents of all types and horrified that this was what his legacy was effectively described as after all his accomplishments,  Alfred did not want to go down in history with such a horrible epitaph, Alfred established a foundation with his inheritance to grant prizes to recognize honored achievements in different fields.

He named the prize foundation he created after his family’s last name… in which he changed his legacy.

You see, Ludvig and Alfred were both sons of Immanuel Nobel… and the father of the Nobel Prize.

And now, the fact that Alfred invented dynamite is the lesser known fact that his foundation… in which Alfred realized that his own personal brand was not what he wanted to be remembered as, and not what his “personal brand” should represent….

You can position your own perceived image, buzz-worded today as “personal branding”, no matter what direction your life’s path has taken to until now…It’s a matter of rising above the label that you currently wear… and done with enough enthusiasm, can relegate what you currently are as just a footnote instead of it being the story itself….

Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.”
Jason Hartman

Do you have a good personal brand?

intro60 is the ultimate source of unique tools to build and strengthen your personal brand across all of your online communications.

eMail us and let us assist you. email@intro60.com

Personal Branding For Success

…by James R Cook

One important part of branding is the image you yourself portray. Developing a likeable personal brand is essential for succeeding. If you want to rise to the top of your particular arena, you need to first be able to sell yourself to your potential customers. Think about it. Would you rather do business with a person who smiles and comes across as friendly or with one who snarls and ignores you? The first impression a potential customer receives is from you. Make it a good one. How can you accomplish this?

One: Become an expert source.

Two: Become a great communicator. Research shows communications skill is the top determinant for upward social and professional mobility.

Three: Draft a marketing plan for yourself annually, and review it quarterly. Include specific goals, strategies, action steps, and a timetable.

Four: Develop an ‘elevator speech.” Within the time that it takes an elevator to travel one floor – about 60-seconds – be able to deliver a succinct description of what you do, how you do it differently, and the benefit it provides.

Five: Build your network. Make new business contacts and stay in touch with them. Most people with powerful brands have powerful friends.

Six: Balance your individual style with clothing that will appeal to those you are trying to impress.

Seven: Learn good business and social etiquette. Buy elegant personal stationery and send hand-written notes.

Eight: Give something back. Giving your time, talent, and money to charitable causes is a brand-builder especially when it complements your brand strategy. Find a cause you are passionate about.

Your personal brand is one of your greatest business assets. Put as much time and effort into it as you do in branding your product. In the end, if you can’t sell yourself, you’ll find it nearly impossible to sell your product.

Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.”
Jason Hartman

Do you have a good personal brand?

intro60 is the ultimate source of unique tools to build and strengthen your personal brand across all of your online communications. We’ll be happy to assist you.

Personal Branding by Jim Joseph

I’m a marketer, and have been a marketer for my entire career. In fact I was one of those kids who knew I wanted to go into marketing for as long as I can remember. I used to watch the television commercials more than the shows, look at the print advertising more than the actual articles. Sounds weird, but I just loved it right from an early age.
The best thing about marketing is that anything can be a brand. Things we’d expect like Tide or Crest, but also a restaurant, a plumber, or any small business. Any business can be a brand.
Even people. Take a look at celebrities, as an easy example, because each one is a brand too, marketing their “products” to their target audiences. Lady Gaga is already a master, at an early age herself!
I’d like to propose that if we each thought of ourselves as a brand, and marketed our skills like a brand, then we might be more successful at getting what we want.
Think about it. A brand is really just a collection of ingredients that are consciously packaged together to deliver a certain set of benefits. And then those benefits are communicated to the target audience.
It could be said for people too. We are all a collection of skills. If we package our skills as benefits and communicate them to our target audience, whatever that may be, then we’ve just gone from being an average person to a successful brand.
We’re talking mostly work stuff here, although we don’t have to be limited just to our professional pursuits.
Carefully packaging our own skills as benefits to potential employers only makes common sense if you really think about it. Some would call it defining your brand. It’s a fundamental of good marketing, and of personal branding.
Take it to the next level. With brand in hand, write a marketing plan. Start by setting goals. Write down want you want to accomplish this year, and for the next two years. Knowing where you want to go is half the battle; now map out what you need to do to get there.
Need more skills to get that promotion? Need to showcase your accomplishments to the right person at work? Time to change employers to further build your resume?
These are the kinds of things that you should map out for your marketing plan, as part of your personal brand.
And then track your progress against your brand. Adjust what you need to keep progressing, and continually make sure that your personal brand is where it needs to be. Don’t be afraid to change and evolve as you begin to accomplish your goals.
Of course personal branding is not limited just to work. Our brands live with us 24/7, in and out of work. As part of the process, it’s also important to map your personal goals as well.
t although there is a personal side to your professional brand, there should be consistency across the board. The choices you make in your personal life also reflect your brand, so choose wisely from a similar three-year plan on the personal side as well.
It’ll do your brand good.
Jim Joseph is the author of The Experience Effect and an award-winning marketing professional who specializes in building consumer brands. His client experience includes blockbuster brands like Kellogg’s, Kraft, Cadillac, Tylenol, Clean & Clear, and Wal-Mart.

“Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.”
Jason Hartman

Do you have a good personal brand?

intro60 is the ultimate source of unique tools to build and strengthen your personal brand across all of your online communications. We’ll be happy to assist you.

Personal Branding Myth Number 1 – Personal Branding is All About Self-Promotion

…by Brenda Bence

This couldn’t be further from the truth! True personal branding is not superficial. It’s more about understanding who you – and, therefore, ‘YOU™’ – are. That’s right – the Trademarked You. This is how you are like shampoo. But just like in corporate branding, no matter how much money a company spends on marketing its brands, product brands aren’t all about promotion either.

Neither building a brand for your company or for yourself is about creating a facade. Any company that produces a product that doesn’t deliver on its promises has developed a very short-lived product in the marketplace.

Just as corporate branding is about zeroing in on the product’s benefits for its customers, personal branding is about zeroing in on your greatest talents, strengths, and character traits. When someone needs the perfect person for the job, they’ll know immediately that you’re the person to call upon. Why? Because you have learned how to successfully define and communicate who you are. Just like we all know Volvo is about safety, and Starbucks is about a rewarding coffee experience, so everyone will know exactly who you are and what “YOU” have to offer.

Self-promotion is part of the process of creating a brand for yourself, but only a part. Indeed, communicating your personal brand to the people who most affect your career is essential, but it can also be subtle. You don’t have to boast about what you can offer or send self-congratulatory emails.

In fact, no one has to know you’re working on developing a unique identity for yourself at all. They’ll simply become more aware of the contribution you can make in the workplace. Your value will increase without anyone necessarily becoming aware that you have consciously and deliberately worked toward making that happen.

How? By simply paying attention to the five activities you do every day that help you communicate your personal brand. You won’t be marketing yourself in an obvious or intrusive way. You’ll simply become more as you make sure your Actions, Reactions, Look, Sound, and Thoughts communicate your identity in an unobtrusive way. Your boss, colleagues, and customers will begin to notice you more and more and will begin to count on you to deliver in the areas that you have defined for your unique self.

What does this mean for you? It means that you can create a personal brand that is absolutely right for who you truly are, without feeling like you’re promoting yourself 24/7. You can stand out at work without the discomfort of bragging or constantly blowing your own horn. Authentically branding yourself allows you to increase your profile and become known in a natural way for what you do best.

Now, that doesn’t feel like self-promotion, does it?

“Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.”
Jason Hartman

Do you have a good personal brand?

intro60 is the ultimate source of unique tools to build and strengthen your personal brand across all of your online communications. We’ll be happy to assist you.

PERSONAL BRANDING

…by Diana Akisa

Personal branding has a variety of names like self branding/ self positioning. It was coined in 1980 by Alkies and Jack Trout in their book titled “Positioning: The battle for your mind”. This is a must read book.

Personal branding is the success that comes from self packaging then marketing themselves to the world. This can be related to Oprah, Obama, Donald Trump and many others. They market their personalities very well because people know them and the way they carry themselves, with confidence.

There are two main motives that govern self presentation, one is Instrumental this is when one tries to influence others and gain the rewards. It is divided into 3: ingratiation, this is when you make people like you in order to obtain compliance, intimidation is when authority is over used to generate, fear or obedience and supplication is when someone manipulate others to get their sympathy. Expressive is the 2^nd motive of Self presentation, it is when a person creates a persona in themselves and tries to live up to it creating a personal identity.

What are some of the points to consider when making a personal brand?

• Try and get insight from others.
• First impression is everything.
• Your brand should retain the same topic for example if it is on ‘technology’.
• Having a personal brand is a full time job hence, have good morals and standards.
• Have clarity on the brand so that people know what you are about.
• Have your life story published for people to know you.
• Ignorance is not accepted. Find out what you need for personal branding.
• Preparation is needed requiring time.
• Continuing the brand therefore generating more response from clients.
• Find what you love with time then market it to get results.
• Be ambitious and think of the future.
• Ask empowering questions that inspire you to do great.

With all this then you are capable of making yourself the kind of personal brand that will make people look up to you. Just read this quote and see why a personal brand is advisable;

“Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability.”
Jason Hartman

Do you have a good personal brand?

intro60 is the ultimate source of unique tools to build and strengthen your personal brand across all of your online communications. We’ll be happy to assist you.

Stand Out with Personalized Company Branding

…by Christian Del Monte
Just what is branding? A brand is the experience you give a customer. It means sales. It means success. And it means a buyer repeating the experience over again – turning into repeat sales and spreading your marketing message for free. We are getting ahead of ourselves, though, because branding is about personalizing, being human, sometimes going beyond the company marketing effort.
1.    Personal Brands Are Prime. By creating a company brand, you have the opportunity to also create a dynamic, useful, and powerful personal brand. A personal brand is for much more than just promoting your company: it’s also about promoting you and creating a name for yourself. This can be very valuable for your future success. Quite often web businesses are more than just brand names. Just as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates used personal intelligence to create successful brands, so too did they increase respect for themselves. This in turn created more brand possibilities for their companies.
2.    Company Brands Need Personalization. Company brands need personalization for a variety of reasons. Ever see a commercial that had no people or characters in it? On the other side, have you seen a commercial where the company CEO speaks directly to you? You need people because buyers like to relate. You need to speak to a buyer as a person because that makes you seem like more than just a company out for money. Personable company brands can increase trust. Just as car manufacturers quite often need to show real people benefiting from their cars, so too do they show how they bring opportunities and jobs to the market.
3.    Increase Sales for Your Company Brand
. By personalizing your company brand, sales are bound to go up. You might notice more searches for you or other associates online. Your name will be valuable. Your name can turn into a sales device, just like any sports icon can help a brand seem better. Just as McDonald’s and Burger King have personalized their brands with funny commercials and helpful staff, so should you focus on showing that you’re not some big corporation run by the rich and famous. By doing so, you can increase trust and awareness about your brand.
4.    Increase Respect. By personalizing your company brand, you can show your talent and how you can help people with your talent. Business is the art of showing benefits and fulfilling needs. You could, for example, show direct proof of how your employees are helping your clients. This is like being rated highly on Consumer Reports.
5.    Viral Marketing. With personalization, you are given the opportunity for viral marketing. Viral marketing isn’t a disease, but it sure acts like a good one. With word of mouth buzz created by personalizing your brand–no matter how you do it; with jokes or with promises–you can improve results. Online, viral marketing and personal brands go hand in hand.
It’s pretty easy to see personalizing your company brand has many benefits, but these are a good start.
The intro60 interactive Video Signature Card is engineered to grow your personal brand online.
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Personal Branding: How to Get Ahead With a Powerful Personal Brand

… By Jeannette Paladino

Some people confuse their personal brand with their “elevator speech.”  The term “elevator speech” trivializes an important process that will help you understand exactly what makes you stand out from the crowd.

Your brand influences how important internal and external audiences, including your boss, your customers and prospects perceive you and what they think you have to offer them.  Another way of understanding branding is that it’s the words you would want people to use in describing you.

Branding is what sets you apart from your competition. Let’s look at the brands of some famous companies and people.   FedEx, for example, is positioned as the company that you can rely on to deliver your package by 10:30 tomorrow morning.  Absolutely, positively.  Google is the leader in search, and continues to be.  The advent of new competition has hardly made a dent in its market share.

People, like companies, have recognizable brands, too.  What is your impression of the singer Britney Spears?  Is it different from the way you perceive Mother Teresa?  How about Sarah Palin?   Her brand positioning is fuzzy right now.  People don’t quite what to make of her.  It doesn’t help that former members of John McCain’s campaign staff are trashing her.

What is personal branding?

A commonly accepted definition –

How you and the services you provide are perceived in the minds

of the people in your company, your clients and prospects.

Most people will already have a fixed idea in their minds about you.  Individuals are often identified with pre-fixes:  i.e.: Harvard MBA, Nobel Prize winner, Playmate-of-the-month, 350-hitter, salesman of the year, etc.  If your particular target audience has no preconceived ideas, then you have the opportunity to develop your personal brand as you would want it.

Always remember that your brand must promise a benefit to your targets.

Some pointers about branding:

• Your personal brand must be simple and easily understood.
• Two or three of your key attributes should distinguish you from your competition.
• Your targets must be able to grasp your brand quickly and translate it into “What’s in it for me?”

As you define your brand, think of the attributes that set you apart from your fellow employees or with representatives of other companies who may be calling on your customers.  Take some time to give serious thought to your strengths.  Write them down.

Do a web search of articles and mentions of your competitors to read if anything is being written about them.  Are certain words used repeatedly?  Look up their names of LinkedIn and study the words the use to describe themselves in their profiles.

Now – and you knew this was coming – do a search on yourself.  Go through the same exercise and see what people are writing or saying about you.  What are you saying or writing about you in social media and in personal meetings?

What are the ingredients of a personal brand?

http://writespeaksell.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Man-011XSmall.jpg

Now that you’ve done some soul searching about yourself and research on your competition, get specific about the particular attributes that you can draw on in developing your personal brand.  These can include, but are not limited to:

Technical expertise. This can be a real differentiator.  If you have a special skill that is unique to you in your company, this can be a real winner for you.  Find a way to weave it in your brand statement.

Industry specialty. Suppose you are looking for a new job.  You’ve hit a wall in your first job, and it’s time to move on.  If you have experience in an industry that is always in need of skilled people like you, then play that up in your brand statement.

Academic credentials. While you’re still in your 20s, where you went to school is still one of your most important qualifications, before you’ve had the time to acquire the experience that will eventually supplant your academic credentials.  In the meantime, Harvard, Yale and the other Ivies, and highly technical schools like Cal Tech and MIT, still impress recruiters.  And, in fact, will still impress the people who can help move your career forward in your current company.

Awards and recognition. Did you earn any special awards in college?  All-American in (name the sport), Phi Beta Kappa?

Reputation of your current company. If you are working for a Fortune 100 company, that will mean something to a potential employer. If your company offers better/more/unique services, that will go into your brand for potential customers.

Your “wins.” Even within your own company, bringing in some big and profitable clients will greatly enhance your personal brand as you seek to get promoted.

After you have analyzed your key capabilities, you will need to put them into words that communicate the essence of your brand.  Be particularly aware of presenting yourself with an eye toward what’s in it for the listener.  Your brand statement is the “grabber” that that will compel your listener to want to hear more.

Example of a grabber:

“This is Peter Quick with the Quick & Jones law firm.  I recently returned from a five-year tour in our Moscow office.   We’re the only full-service American law firm there.  I have a first-hand understanding of what it takes to set up a company in Russia.” Here, your brand is based on your personal, unique experience of having worked on the ground in Russia.

Communicating your brand

Now that you’ve defined your brand, you need to communicate it to those who can contribute to your success.  You can:

• Contact reporters and offer to become a source for quotes and articles
• Conduct seminars for clients and prospects
• Write articles
• Give speeches
• Become active in professional organizations
• Be active in social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

Before you get started in marketing yourself to those who count, be sure you can answer the question –

“What is My Brand?”

About Jeannette Paladino

Jeannette’s  goals as a Business Writer are to help companies write more effectively and speak with authority in order to  develop communications that sell.  She has helped improve communications for a lot of organizations – either inside companies, as a senior communications executive, or in prominent public relations firms and, now, as a consultant to individuals and companies through Write, Speak, Sell.  Jeannette has received a number of honors over the years:  Fellow of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), New York Women in Communications (NYWICI) Matrix Award as PR woman of the year, and PRSA-New York’s John W. Hill Award for outstanding leadership in the practice of public relations and service to PRSA and the public.

Boost Your Internet Marketing Efforts Through Personal Branding

…by editorialtoday.com

Whether your Internet marketing efforts are geared to promote new ideas or new products, possibly the single most important task ahead is to brand yourself, or sell yourself to others. Personal branding means allowing people to get to know “you” as a businessperson…and even as a common, everyday person – just like them.

Personal branding allows others to see who you are and how you can possibly help them solve a particular problem or reach certain goals. It helps people relate to you and place themselves in your shoes. Self-branding can also add value to your products and ideas. It puts a personal name and face with your promotions so customers can personalize their own experience.

An example of personal branding is when someone seeks a way to make money online with a home business. They look for others who have already earned an income while building an online business. It’s a type of business mentorship that’s often used in network marketing. One person has accomplished a goal already, and is now helping others to achieve the same goal. And while there are products and business models involved, it’s the personal branding effort of the mentor that ultimately sells the product.

Develop a “Personal Branding” Frame of Mind

Developing a “personal branding” mindset comes easy for some, but may be difficult to achieve for others. Some are hindered because they see personal branding as bragging or being overly confident. But it’s really no different than creating a resume for a new job. You wouldn’t create a resume that belittles your talents and skills…or ignores past experiences. You would harp on your good qualities to increase your chances of being hired. Personal branding is simply building an image of self worth based on true facts about your experiences and successes.

If you really can help others make money because you’ve been successful at making money, then why not share your good qualities to help others? Don’t allow pride to hold you back from being the giving, thoughtful person you’d like to be. If you truly feel that you can help others at making money online or reaching some other goal, then market yourself as the one who can help. It’s not bragging when you’re simply telling the truth to help others.

Building an Online Business through Personal Branding

Personal branding is the key to many successful online businesses. And with the low, low cost of a website, it’s now easier than ever to market yourself and your ideas. On a website, you can easily include personal testimonies from yourself and others along with quality photos to help readers identify with you. Talk with readers one on one in your writing as if you were face to face. Personalize, but remain professional in your sales presentations.

Build an online portfolio that includes your past experiences (successes and failures), proof of earnings, and the step-by-step methods used to build your online business. Tell your readers when and how you made money and how you can help them do the same.

Even if you’re new to Internet marketing and haven’t made much money yet, you can still use the art of personal branding to build a solid customer base. You might even consider signing on with other Internet marketing mentors and using their experiences and successes to build your business at the start. Then you can document your achievements as you start making money online, and eventually become a mentor yourself.

If you want to work at home with your own Internet business, it’s a good idea to find a mentor to help you get started. Someone that’s already been down the road to success can help you avoid many pitfalls of Internet marketing. And thankfully, there are many successful business owners who are willing to help newcomers. Start today with personal branding to realize your dreams for the future.

Personal branding

…by Marketing Deviant

Personal branding is a very important process to brand yourself. Whether online or offline, personal branding is very important to build trust and authority. Having a great story is a great way to build your personal brand. Everyone starts with a story, from beginning to end. Your talents, skills and ability are some of the things that will affect your branding as well.

A website is one of the best ways to promote your personal brand in terms of cost and effectiveness. The use of business cards that holds your name and website address is one of the cheapest and most effective promotional tools to expose people to your brand.

Your interactions with the people around you also influence personal branding. If you help someone they will talk about your brand. If you give good advice or service you will build a stronger image of your brand. Personal branding not only involves telling a good story about yourself but helping others around you to reinforce and spread the brand. Your character, personality, habits, hobbies, favorite food and books are things that can also affect your branding.

Personal branding starts with a story. Then build a great community and interact with them to further spread your story and brand to the world. Spreading your story through positive interaction with the people around you will strengthen your brand. By helping others you are helping yourself as well.