Customer Reviews

U R a Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a BIG believer in the personal brand for years. Books like Be Your Own Brand and Book Yourself Solid, I feel, do a better job than this one. However, there are many great ideas in this book and it should not be overlooked. Every author brings his or her own perspective and ideas and there are definitely a number worth noting in this resource.

Here are the ideas I particularly found useful, and you will want to read the book to understand them fully:

-Using testimonials in your resume. I never thought I'd see this one, but it's a great idea. Place quotes in your resume from your references. After all, they've agreed to be a reference, right?

-Use the principles of visual identity. To have a whole chapter on creating a look for your personal brand seemed - at first - to be overkill, but the more I thought of it, the more I realized that the most successfull people in history seem to look very similar in all their photos. This gives you immediate recognition - particularly if you can develop a brand look that is unique but not downright silly.

-Harness the power of signature words and phrases. This is an amazing concept that is little known and used. I've been teaching seminars and training classes for nine years and, in that time, I've seen the power of signature phrases unfold. The concept is to come up with a unique combination of words you can use in just about every setting of five minutes conversation or more. This allow you to use the phrase frequently and be branded by it.

These are just a few of the good ideas. If you've read Be Your Own Brand and Book Yourself Solid, I'd read this book next. If you haven't read the other two, buy them and read them, then read this book. I'm not sure, but I think you get a discount here at Amazon when you get all three. Anyway, brand yourself and find success...

Tom Carpenter, Author: Wireless# Certification Official Study Guide, CWSP Certification Official Study Guide, and Foundations of Effectiveness

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

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.

Marketing professionals use the "soft" science of branding to forge an emotional bond between a product or service, and its target market. Branding expert Catherine Kaputa advocates applying the same principles to creating your personal brand. Abundant evidence says that this strategy works. Celebrities, such as Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan, have been doing it for years. Now, branding has become important for business professionals. Look no further than Donald Trump or Martha Stewart. You, too, can use branding techniques and principles to evolve from a successful businessperson to a brand. Become just "a little bit famous" to create a circle of influence within your target market. Once Kaputa explains her original concept, the rest of her information easily falls into place - so easily, in fact, that some of her explanations seem self-evident. Even so, if you're seeking new ways to get ahead in a very competitive business world, we say that this book can tell you how to get yourself branded.

When a friend recently recommended UR a BRAND! by Catherine Kaputa, I hesitated. Why would a law librarian read a "Wall Street" type advice book? I bought the book and was pleasantly surprised. From the first page, I was intrigued and fascinated. In clear terms, Ms. Kaputa brings together ideas about marketing and practical business concepts, and takes it all to new heights. We wear out "brand" as individuals, groups, organizations, or corporations into the world we inhabit. Like it or not, people's perceptions make or break the product by its branding.
As an individual in a professional setting, I can effectively control by brand, or how others perceive me and my organization, with the step by step guidelines in this book. Whether I am at a conference, talking with the city council or tour groups, I can change and control the responses in all my encounters. This is a powerful, well crafted book with on point examples to clarify the concepts raised.
Like learning a new word which everyone starts using, I now find effective uses and insights into "branding" everywhere I look. This book is highly recommended for its intellectual scope, precise concepts and examples, and its clear writing. You can take these words of wisom anywhere you want to go!
Mary Unruh
Reference Librarian
State of Oregon Law Library

I wasn't expecting the ieas in this book to be so life-affirming (a lot of us worry that we will somehow have to be 'false' to be more successful), but the author tells you often that you don't have to be anything but yourself -- just your best, most thought-out self. By the time you've followed some of her brainstorming suggestions and done some of the analysis that professionals do, the changes will be starting to show. Most of us know some of what Catherine Kaputa is telling us in U R A Brand, but few of us will have seen so much new (and sometimes surprising) practical advice pulled together in such an immediately useful, how-to way. I wish I'd read this a long time ago!

Branding is a process of differentiating a product (you, in this case) from the competition. It's about perception and creation of positive attitudes in the minds of other people. Catherine Kaputa aims to do just that in this book - to help you define and differentiate yourself as a 'brand'. This book is not a recipe for success, rather, it is a call to action with dozens of great tips to help you get started.

The book contains a number of interesting insights, but personally, I found the "Brainstormers" to be the most useful for my own development. Throughout the book you are confronted with questions which you need to (and should) answer and fill in. While a little daunting at first, these have proven to be extremely helpful. I found myself going back, adjusting, and tweaking my answers repeatedly as I learned new tips or simply stumbled across new ideas. Now, reviewing my own work, I realize how far I've come along in trying to define my own strengths, preferences and areas for improvement.

I would give this book 5 out of 5, if it wasn't for one weakness - at times I was left wanting for that 'key insight' as Katherine steered deep into business and marketing ideas without clearly tying them back to the concept of 'personal brand'. Otherwise, this is a great book, well worth your time and money. Just remember, the value of it will be proportional to how you approach it - branding is about action and taking control of your future.

This self-branding guide really dials up the concept of Authenticity. It discusses the importance of being you. Don't copy others or you'll always be a B player. Good insight as many of us are tempted to `borrow' a self-brand from another we admire, or who is more successful than we are. The mantra here is to celebrate your uniqueness and make it a differentiating factor in your self-brand.
The author also delves into the concept of packaging your brand. This goes way beyond the idea of `dress for success.' It details all the facets of self presentation that need to be considered as you build your self-brand...fascinating and actionable material.

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.

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.