You Branding: Reinventing Your Personal Identity as a Successful Brand Paperback – January 10, 2014

Mark Cijo knows the territory he explores in this rather intensive but easily accessible book on finding those factors that can make each of us a `successful brand'. The concept is novel but then who better to address this filed of finding success in the Internet age than Mark Cijo. He has degrees in physics, computer science, and mathematics, is a co-founder of Brawnycode - a Digital Marketing Agency in India, and is currently a Digital Marketing Consultant, Mentor & Speaker based out of Dubai, UAE. He is a leading authority in digital inbound marketing and coaches clients in brand building from Dubai, Australia, India and the UK. And now we have him at our beck and call in this fine, very readable book.Making sense out the world of the internet as far as marketing ourselves is a conundrum for most: the intricacies and secrets of Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc are difficult enough to de-code for personal communication, but try to make sense of how these function in supporting your success in your work life is what Mark Cijo offers. After an introduction in which he instructs us to Google our name (and see the results - a keen lesson...!) he beings his book on how to develop our best brand so that we will be then most marketable. He addresses why personal branding is important to define our identity, the ten vital benefits branding offers (builds our credibility, creates opportunities, shows how we are unique and irresistible, etc), how to improve our personal brand by observing corporate brands - with some rather remarkable personal stories of success from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Lady Gaga et al), how to know the image we wish to project, how to find our target (customers, employers, clients - with a big emphasis on utilizing social media), know our specialty and own it, a fascinating `Branding Blueprint', create our `story', and online and offline tips and techniques for getting our new brand out in the world.After all of this information Mark Cijo presents some very solid and wise advice on how to avoid mistakes and errors in this branding process and encourages us to keep recreating or building our brand as the world changes. Solid information presented in a professional yet entertaining manner. Grady Harp, February 14

You Branding is an introduction and guide to reinventing and marketing yourself in a specific, targeted way – self-branding. It’s the modern, particularly on-line approach to putting onself out into the world, raising one’s profile, and Cijo suggests it’s also a way to get ahead in the job market, and perhaps as a way to generate income itself.Cijo begins by explaining why self-branding is important in this day and age, and I think that in itself is valuable for people who are just beginning to navigate the new world of self-presentation. Cijo is right, particularly here in the U.S., one has to take charge of how one navigates and presents oneself in and to the world. Step by step and area by area Cijo moves forward the different needs and branches of self-branding, and gives a pretty thorough and vigorous overview of the subject. It is, however, an overview, and where the book falls short (and why I gave it four stars rather than five) is that occasionally it is short on specifics. For example, it brings up the need to be aware of search engine optimization (SEO), and that you need to get to the top with search engines, but it doesn’t really get into how, except for talking about keywords and linking. This is all very well, but if the target audience of the book is newbies who have to be persuaded self-branding is a valuable thing, they are also going to need a lot more practical help in order to navigate SEOs. That said – it is a terrific overview, and would be a great stepping stone for anyone getting on the track – it gives a vision of why and what needs to be done, and makes it seem very doable. That is a great service to readers.

YOU BRANDING: Personal Branding Book- It's All About You by Mark Cijo covers a lot of ground within the concept of personal branding. Mark Cijo appears to be eminently successful in building his own brand, having found success in the age of the online experience. With degrees in disciplines like physics, computer science, and math, as well as being the founder of Brawnycode, he certainly has the background and knowledge to tackle the task of creating a personal brand. Great content that is broken out in this book, Cijo explores how to make an online presence work in your favor, particularly when it comes to your work life. It truly is all about marketing oneself. Just try googling yourself, and you can see the impact that the internet has on your brand. An extremely relevant and timely book that taps into the need to fully capitalize on marketing your brand, and creating an impactful online presence that will work to your benefit.

Well organized and easy to read. The way the content is written makes the learning process less intimidating, since personal branding can be an overwhelming concept, especially if you arn’t the type of person who thrives in front of the spotlight and dreams of being the next social media influencer. This book is designed for everyone that wants to create a personal brand that gives them a strong sense of purpose for business and happiness. Thank you

The book explains various aspects of Personal BrandingThe book also explains the online platform on which you can exhibit yourselfA good handbook for beginner

This is a fascinating topic and very ably explained by Mr Cijo. The reader is carefully walked through the ideas of branding, given examples, asked insightful questions and it really does feel more like a personal mentoring relationship. It is packed full of great ideas I never would have considered on my own though it isn't just about provoking ideas but actually putting them in place. Action is encouraged and built into the process, rather than being a passive read you are actually creating your blueprint and working on identifying and building your brand. The lessons here are relevant to everything from dating to careers and even to our own self esteem and thus I think everyone can benefit from a read.

I gave the book three stars, because of my perception of its content's quality.Book explains why branding is important, as well as its benefits.On the other hand, some parts of the book appear to be quite fluffly.Overall, from a marketing student's perspective, would recommend this book as an introductory read to branding.

Although this book makes many points I already know, It brings them all together in one place and makes you realize how important your image is. This book is for people looking for a career change, starting their own business, or writing a book or just wanting to reassess themsleves. We live in the age of digital media, we are all inclined to take photo's of ourselves and post them on social media sites that may not look good to an potential employer.But apart form the negative we can use social media, blogging, you tube to tell people much more about ourselves and take control of our image, this book will tell you how.

I believe that this is a must read for everyone because it shows how to make the most out of you. This is a very interesting book that looks at how you can build your brand, and before you say anything, if you have any kind of social media or online presence then you have a brand. This book is extremely relevant for your career aspirations, if you want your current employer to think more positively of you or a potential employer, then you have to be someone who stands out from the crowd, and this book will help you to do that. This book could be a real game changer and I highly recommend it.