The Brand Called You: Make Your Business Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace

I got this book as part of my research of a "personal branding" topic. Out of tens of books that I read, this one was the only one focusing on not only personal branding, but business branding. I loved it! Full of very ACTIONABLE tips, great advice, wonderful examples, it is an easy read and actually rather captivating. If you own a small business or thinking of owning one in future, it is truly a must read for you! Let this book help you delight your customers (and focus on the right ones!), market your business correctly and most importantly grow it.

What I really like about this book are: 1) The inspirational personal brand stories, where we learn how now-famous personalities used their personal brand to leverage their growth. 2) Specific action steps--what can be done today, what can be done in a week, etc.--a reader can take to slowly build a personal brand. While a lot of the activities aren't new, Montoya and Vandehey structure the book's contents like a personal branding program or workshop. As a reader goes through each chapter, a different set of activities are offered for implementation. My advice to Montoya and Vandehey is to release a The Brand Called You action diary for 2010, with each month preceded by action steps as detailed in the book.

I saw a copy of the first edition (2003) and liked it, then learned of the 2009 edition that I bought for several of my friends. The Brand Called You: The Ultimate Personal Branding Handbook to Transform Anyone into an Indispensable Brand My friends have intuitively used some of the branding ideas in establishing their businesses but this book offers a good review of all the ideas that will help in branding for success. This book is worth every penny for anyone who wants to stand out in the crowd of their chosen profession or business.

I disagree with one of the previous reviews about The Brand Called You being a pitch for Peter Montoya's services. I read the book and not once does it seem like a come-on for a marketing agency. Instead, I found it to be a refreshing, candid and practical guide to making some kind of sense of the idea of branding--which frankly, can be wildly confusing and cost a lot of money if you don't do it right. In my business, I've already stopped some of the dumb things I was doing and implemented several of Peter's "Things you can do in a day" and "Things you can do in a week." I think anyone with a professional practice or a business can benefit from reading this book...if nothing else, to get validation of what they're already doing right!

If you are going to be a leader in your your field of employment then you must do something to make you stand out. I met Peter Montoya personally several years ago and was so impressed with his knowledge of what a person should do to make him or her stand out above the crowd. I read his book and then followed it's instructions. It was a pleasure to work with Peter Montoya and his staff to develope my Brand. My Investment business doubled, thanks to this book and Peter Montoya's direction.