[Study] 25-44-Year-Olds Most Likely to Invest in Personal Brands

35-44-year-olds and 25-34-year-olds were more likely to be familiar with personal branding, according to a recent Google Consumer Survey administered by Big Picture Web.  

The younger and older segments of the population were less likely to be familiar with the practice of treating one's career and professional life as it if were a brand.  

How Familiar Are You With Personal Branding?

18-24-year-olds were the most likely to be unfamiliar with personal branding, at just above 70 percent. 35-44-year-olds were the most likely to be at least somewhat familiar, while 24-34-year-olds were the most likely to be very familiar (6 percent). 

Based on the data, it appears is though personal branding is something that people start to become interested in as they develop a little career experience. It grows to peak importance once someone enters their peak earning years, but then starts to taper off.

Personally, I find it a bit surprising there's not more wise 45-54-year-olds that are into personal branding. I would have thought their cohort looked more like the 34-45-year-olds than the 55-64-year-olds. 

The survey captures the responses of 1,001 U.S. Internet users between August 11-15, 2013. Google Consumer Surveys are available to anyone for a nominal fee per each response. 

Survey: Building a Personal Brand Remains a Mystery to Most Americans

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:

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"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?