I’ve written more than once about Bernadette Martin’s book, Storytelling about Your Brand Online & Offline: A Compelling Guide to Discovering Your Story. The book was “forthcoming” in those posts (and also had a slightly different title), but now it’s here, published in both hard-copy and ebook formats, and I’m mentioning it in conjunction with the Social Story Conference coming up later this month.

Much has been written about personal branding in recent years, but Bernadette’s book adds some nuances I haven’t seen before. For one, it’s the first branding book I know of to overtly connect personal branding with storytelling. (Well, my own book, Tell Me About Yourself, does that, but just in one chapter whereas the theme is pervasive in Bernadette’s book). The book is also the first I know of to explicitly break down offline and online personal-brand storytelling. Product brand storytelling; corporate, NGO, and non-profit storytelling; and corporate leadership storytelling also get a meaty mention along with personal brand storytelling.

I have mixed feelings about Bernadette’s use of Reach Personal Brand Process. Founded by William Arruda, who wrote the forward to this book, the Reach process was one of the first to guide folks in discovering their personal brand. Well-respected and widely used, the process is even attached to a certification that enables practitioners to become Reach Personal Brand Strategists. Given that many professionals have advanced their own ideas for processes to develop one’s personal brand, Bernadette was wise, I think, not to reinvent the wheel; however, the Reach process doesn’t work well for me personally.

I’m always on the lookout for story prompts, especially those that help an individual get at his or her personal story, so I love Bernadette’s 35 Storytelling Inspiring Questions and wish there were even more. Emotional intelligence (EQ) stories, personal social responsibility (PSR) stories, and story-building around assessment results are novel and fascinating inclusions.

Bernadette offers a highly useful VISIBILITY BRANDING STORYTELLING TOOL (VBST) that helps users select 5-7 key stories, develop these in more detail and structure them, choosing the ones that will resonate most with the user’s target (often an employer). She recommends the well-known Situation—>Action—>Result (SAR), Problem—>Action—>Result (PAR), Challenge—>Action—>Result (CAR) formulas — but adds Key Attributes and Testimonials to them.

The book’s online chapter offers elements I haven’t seen in personal-banding or storytelling works: Storytelling on Google, Video Storytelling, and Storytelling in 3D Virtual Worlds and provides samples of storied online portfolios.

The offline chapter echoes the job-interview and networking themes of Tell Me About Yourself, while adding a helpful section on icebreaker stories. That chapter also introduced me to a new term, “verbal graffiti,” “the term used for fillers, non-words, modifiers, condescenders, verbal tics … basically anything that can dilute the message of your storytelling” — and Bernadette tells readers how to eliminate them. (She recommends Toastmasters, an organization I plan to get involved in soon.)

The book’s chapter on branded bios is important because it provides the foundation for effective online profiles. Lots of meaty info in this chapter, which may just be the most powerful one in the book.

The book is also nicely peppered with interviews with experts.

Here’s the book’s table of contents:

Part I The Power of Storytelling
Introduction
Mind Map
Neuro Research and Storytelling
Storytelling about the “Brand Called You”
Product Brand Storytelling
Corporate, NGO and Non-Profit Storytelling
Corporate Leadership Storytelling
Personal Brand Storytelling
The Reach Personal Brand Process
A Personal Story

Part II The “Art” of Storytelling and Extracting the Stories
The “Art” of Storytelling
Storytelling Inspiring Questions
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Stories
Leadership Storytelling
Personal Social Responsibility (PSR) Stories
Story Building around Assessment Results
The 360°Reach Assessment
References
The Visibility Branding Storytelling Tool (VBST)

Part III 2.0 Storytelling — Communicating Your Story Online
Storytelling 2.0 or Digital Storytelling
Storytelling on Google
Video Storytelling
Storytelling in 3D Virtual Worlds
Case Stories: Online Portfolio Examples