Authors: Sherry Beck Paprocki and Ray Paprocki

Publisher: Alpha – 251 pages

Book Review by:  Sonu Chandiram

In today’s world of social media, it is a lot quicker than ever before for you to reach out to people and get to know a little – or a lot – about them. And for others to know you.

The authors of this book point out, in a letter at the outset of the book, that it is also a lot easier for you to reach out to thousands of people and spread information about you to them. The big question is, what is it about you that you want people to know? The bigger questions are: what is your purpose? and: what do you want to accomplish?

Once you have thought out well enough about these questions and come up with honest answers, you can start developing a personal brand based on your purpose and your intended accomplishments. This book is your guide to branding yourself.

Taking stock of your assets and liabilities is a starting point to building your unique brand. I believe this should not only come from within you but also from your family and friends. What is the one big or unique characteristic that makes you or can make you stand out from others? Ask yourself, but also ask others who know you well.

“Reach out to thousands” is an understatement. You can reach millions of people if you want to. The questions to ask yourself are: who do you want to connect with? and: why?

Facebook, UTube, Twitter and other social media enable you to reach millions of people.

But I believe, this is only possible if you have a strong message that appeals to the minds and hearts of a broad mass of people. It is about creating an “emotional bond,” as Sherry and Ray Paprocki point out.

The authors of Branding Yourself have won numerous awards in the world of media,

They share their nuggets of learning, their experience and their unique insights with you in this valuable book.

Sherry Beck Paprocki is an award-winning author and editor. She has written for numerous publications. Her book Oprah Winfrey: Talk Show Host and Media Magnate was placed on the honor roll list for the Voice of Youth Advocates in 2007.  She has also written other biographies.

Ray Paprocki has won more than 30 local, state and journalism awards, including as editor of Columbus Monthly. He has written for several magazines and newspaper. He is the author of a collection of personal essays entitled A Columbus State of Mind and five publications for children.

The book is organized into four parts.

Part 1 defines branding and all its essential characteristics, and helps you think deeply about and create your personal brand.

Part 2 helps you launch your brand, which includes developing brand associations, effective communication and “living” your brand.

Part 3 shows you all the ways available to reinforce and promote your brand, and the unique characteristics of each medium, including mainstream media, both electronic and print and combinations, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the Internet.

And Part 4 is about brand extension, which deals on how to keep your brand “alive” over time and associate it with the products and services that make sense to you and can make money for you.

Once you’ve taken stock of yourself, determined your purpose and identified who you are going to be reaching, the book shows you how to define yourself in such a way that people can associate you with a single image or word that’s easy to remember.  The all-important reason for this: easy identification and association is so critical in all forms of your communication with your intended audience.

These are some good examples of brand association: Apple with its logo of a bitten apple and its electronic devices; Bill Gates with Microsoft and its ubiquitous Windows logo; Coke with the word “cola,” or its curvaceous bottle; Disney perhaps with  “delight” or entertainment; Oprah with her face on TV or  “O” the magazine; Trump perhaps with “tall” buildings.

In the 20 chapters of this book, Sherry and Ray Paprocki show you the details of the entire process of creating your brand and clearly writing your branding story, locating and reaching your target audience(s), communicating it to them, and preventing your brand from fading away from people’s minds.

They show you how to leverage your unique background and experience, your skills and talents, and your accomplishments and awards to form a positive, memorable image of yourself to provide outstanding value and service to others, whether it be in your own community, the nation or even the whole world.

They instruct you on how to use marketing, including advertising and public relations, to promote your personal brand. Direct mailing being part of this process, they illustrate how to accentuate your brand and convey a clear message in brochures, business cards, letterheads, media kits, postcards and other materials via print or electronic media.

They also show you how to properly and effectively utilize social networking sites – not only Facebook, UTube and Twitter, but also LinkedIn and MySpace – to market yourself and your products and services.  Included in this section are tips on the use of other web-based promotional and communication tools such as blogs and Internet forums, Skype and Wikipedia.

All in all, this is an excellent guide to personal branding. I urge you to get it and read it thoroughly for your benefit. The authors have done an excellent job organizing the topics and writing on them and presenting them with helpful graphics.