How familiar are you with building a personal brand? If you said, "not at all," then you're like six out of ten Americans. According to our recent Google Consumer Survey of 3,014 U.S. Internet users, over two-thirds of the population had little-to-no idea what personal branding was, and only about one in ten had a better-than-average grasp of the process of applying brand and product marketing principles to one's own career development.
U.S. Remains Blissfully Ignorant of Personal Branding
Most Americans don't know and could care less about personal branding. When asked what they'd like to learn about personal branding, very few survey respondents ventured any interest in the topic. A full forty-five percent said they wouldn't like to know anything about it. Some responses even contained a hint of contempt for building a personal brand, which can be seen by looking at a word cloud of a portion of the responses:
"Not a damn thing" and "how to avoid it" are among the most colorful responses.
Should More People Care About Building a Personal Brand?
Unemployment remains high at 7.4%. Less than a third of Americans report being engaged and inspired by their careers. Shouldn't people care more about marketing themselves to either land jobs or build careers they love? What's the barrier to building a personal brand in the U.S.? What do you think would cause people to become more interested the topic?