WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING?
Before we discuss personal branding, we need to distinguish a brand from branding. According to the American Marketing Association, "A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies a seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." In other words, a brand refers to the perception that customers have of a given product or service. On the other hand, branding is all the different ways of creating, selecting, and blending attributes that differentiate a product, service, or business in an attractive, meaningful, and compelling way. It is generally understood that the concept of personal branding was first introduced in 1937 in the book "Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill." Yet the concept of personal branding gained more significant popularity when Tom Peters published his article – The Brand Called You in Fast Company Magazine in 1997. In the report, Tom Peters said: Big companies understand the importance of brands. Today, in the Age of the Individual, you have to be your own brand. Here's what it takes to be the CEO of Me, Inc. Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. In business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.
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