Know thy self...

Being a political science major and active in the political process, I have learned the importance of personal branding. Mike Myatt wrote in The Power of Personal Branding that

"It is a true win-win scenario in that the executive who knows how to manage his/her brand equity in turn increases the brand equity of the enterprise."

Campaigns are only as successful as the candidate who is running. I have seen so many campaigns that have been ran efficiently and effectively that had a hard time getting off the ground because the candidate himself wasn't able to brand himself appropriately.

Mitt Romney mastered the art of personal branding. He knew from the beginning that with a name ID of less than 5% that it was crucial to brand himself as the conservative candidate in the race amongst moderates like McCain and Giuliani. Once that was established, he was able to add that he was the right guy for the job because of his 25 years in the private sector.