Salient: How People and Brands Can Stand Out

Salient is based on a simple premise: everybody has a brand he needs to build, promote, and manage. Salient provides marketers and business professionals with a roadmap to build personal and business brands that stand out.

When thinking about brands, conventional wisdom prompts us to recall the likes of Apple, Coca Cola, Levi's, Nike, Toyota, or McDonald's. Beyond these obvious examples, artists, places, and public figures are also brands, all trying to stand out in a crowded world. That's how most of us associate Disneyland with "the happiest place on earth" and remember that "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." That's why Lady Gaga wears outrageous costumes, Anna Wintour is hardly ever seen without her black sunglasses, and Donald Trump reportedly spent $70,000 on hair styling when hosting The Apprentice.

Salient provides its readers with a clear and simple roadmap to build a differentiated personal or business brand.

The first part of Salient demystifies marketing and branding by showing that successful brands and individuals are not particularly talented, creative, or educated. It explains why "perception is the truth," how consumers and very small brands can influence and even unsettle large institutions, and how rebels and misfits like Steve Jobs, John Lennon, and Elon Musk have built global brands.

In the second part, Salient provides the reader with seven strategies to build and grow differentiated personal or business brands on a shoestring budget.