For many of you, this blog title will feel irrelevant. And I partially agree with you guys on this. But trust me, the moment I saw how true the title stands for itself, I was stunned, and you’ll be flabbergasted by the same idea. Most of us believe that people are more into YouTube and online courses, but books are still the number one educator for people interested in personal branding. This one thing led us to create our new personal branding ebook called “Become Someone From No One.” It is crafted by both I (Sahil Gandhi) and Bhavik Sarkhedi. You may already know that together we manage a London-based Webflow agency, Blushush, and have collaborated with numerous clients and brands across the globe.
Books are so relevant till today that in this whole era that is prominently dominated by digital media, where YouTube tutorials and online courses promise quick paths to success, books are not only giving good competition but surprisingly are outperforming them, coming across as a powerful tool for building a personal brand. We know how the allure of video content and structured courses is undeniable; they offer visual engagement, bite-sized lessons, and the promise of immediate applicability. Nevertheless, books possess and provide unique qualities that make them superior for crafting a compelling, authentic, and enduring personal brand.
If we do a quick comparative analysis. While YouTube and courses provide surface-level accessibility, books offer depth, authority, and a timeless quality that resonate deeply with audiences. This blog is a practical guide that will serve as viable proof expanding on how and why books outperform these modern alternatives in the realm of personal branding, delving into their ability to establish credibility, foster deep connections, and provide a structured narrative that digital formats often lack. Alright, let’s get started.
The Depth of Books Creates Lasting Impressions
The level of knowledge and deep understanding books offer is something still missing in YouTube videos and online courses. Trust me, they are still struggling to match the reachability and the touch of emotion and intent. A well-written book can explore a topic comprehensively, weaving together anecdotes, research, and insights in a way that captivates readers and leaves a lasting impression. Now, if we center around personal branding, it is all about storytelling, crafting a narrative that showcases your expertise, values, and unique perspective. Books offer a creative yet excellent space to tell that story in full, without the constraints of a 10-minute video or a course module designed for quick consumption.
This means the book covers all things in length and detail compared to a video in which the creator is conscious of many other things.
Books Establish Unmatched Credibility
Creating a book is much harder still compared to creating a video. No offense to all the content creators out there, but come on now, you have to accept the fact that it is a lengthy process and can take up to years. No matter what you say, you will have to give it to the writers who do all the research and take out time to write lengthy books of around approximately 200 pages, and that’s the minimum we are talking about. Even when the writers are working on the book, they have to make sure they are parallel with new updates and innovations and market trends that are happening in the industry. A simple comparative example would be to paint a scenario where we suppose a personal branding expert who has a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers. Their videos may be popular, but they risk being perceived as fleeting content in a sea of digital crowds. In contrast, a book carries a tangible weight, value, and merit both literally and figuratively. It’s a physical or digital artifact that readers associate with established experts, from Malcolm Gladwell to Brené Brown. By publishing a book, you align yourself with this tradition of authority, making your personal brand synonymous with expertise and reliability.
The Tangible Connection of Books
I read a post somewhere that reading a book is such a task that it cannot be adjusted with other activities. Basically, the post wanted to say that you can’t multitask while reading a book. When you are reading a book, it demands all of your attention and focus. Books create a unique, intimate connection with readers that digital formats often struggle to replicate. When someone reads your book, they invest hours engaging with the ideas, voice, and story. This prolonged interaction ultimately brings a sense of trust and familiarity that short-form content like YouTube videos cannot achieve. People watching a YouTube video are most likely to forget about it. A viewer might watch a 10-minute video and move on to the next, but a reader who spends days or weeks with your book forms a deeper bond. This connection is critical for personal branding. Online courses are no doubt interactive but often prioritize scalability over intimacy, with automated lessons and limited personal engagement. A book, on the other hand, is an ultimate guide for personal branding, it feels like a one-on-one conversation, even if it reaches thousands. This intimacy helps build a loyal audience that sees you not just as a content creator but as a meaningful influence in their lives. From a personal branding standpoint, intimacy is important because you feel closer to your brand when doing all the planning and operations learning from the book. As if the book and the writer understood your brand personally.
Books Offer a Timeless Medium
This is something not many people will agree on, but yes, books do feel just beautiful. We live in a fast-paced world, but still, if you can find someone spending time on a garden bench reading a simple book, it doesn’t matter the genre; you will find it exquisite. This also becomes proof that books are a timeless medium, and as long as the world exists, books and their vivid readers will exist too. Many entrepreneurs do not accept that their brand strategy is broken and in such a situation, a well-crafted book can remain relevant for years, even decades, serving as a strong pillar of your personal brand. This longevity ensures that your personal brand endures, providing a stable foundation that doesn’t rely on the whims of digital platforms. Courses, too, often require frequent updates to stay relevant, whereas a book’s core ideas can resonate across generations.
Structured Narrative
Personal branding thrives on a well-combined narrative, and books have always been expanding on this quality. A book is never unstructured. It allows you to structure your brand ideas in a logical, compelling sequence, guiding readers from one insight to the next. This narrative flow is critical for establishing your brand’s identity and values. A book’s linear format ensures that your audience experiences your brand as a unified whole. By carefully crafting chapters that build on one another, you can present a polished, professional image that reinforces your personal brand’s core message.
This is one more reason why an individual learning about personal branding from a book can hardly go wrong in its path and will always have a linear and step-by-step understanding of how things work.
The Psychological Impact
Although book reading itself has become advanced and people are now reading on the go using PDFs, ebooks, and summarized formats of good literature, at the same time there are people who still go to a store or order online a book, a real book, and with it comes the whole psychological weight that enhances their effectiveness in personal branding. Holding a book in your hands feels significant; it’s a tangible achievement that readers associate with expertise and trustworthiness. To believe it, you have to do it yourself.
Personal branding is a skill, an art, and an amalgamation of consumer behavior study and market analysis. When you want to learn it, it demands your time, effort, focus, and interest. Similarly, a book commands respect, signaling to your audience that you’ve invested deeply in your craft. This psychological impact strengthens your personal brand by positioning you as a serious, credible figure in your field.
Final thoughts
To summarize this whole concept as to why books outperform other forms of learning in personal branding, we understood the very core and fundamental existence and impact of a good personal branding book. We mentioned six important elements that make a good book stand out from other mediums, but still there are more reasons than that, such as books acting as a platform for thought leadership, providing accessibility across audiences, working as a marketing tool, showcasing the personal investment of an individual in writing a book, offering a gateway to other opportunities, inducing a community of advocates, and lastly, being flexible in content delivery. All these are some elite reasons why books are still the better option than a video or an online course.
Download the Personal Branding Gold Mine eBook crafted by Sahil Gandhi also known as the “Brand Professor” and Bhavik Sarkhedi who owns Ohh My Brand and let us know which book framework they have adopted for their book. Books allow you to dive deep into niche topics, offering insights that set you apart from competitors. A book’s flexibility allows you to experiment with tone, structure, and content, creating a unique voice that defines your brand. This ability to stand out as a thought leader makes books an unparalleled tool for personal branding.
