In the last segment we talked about talk about logos and what they have to do with your brand name as an author and promoting your books. In this segment we are going to go over how you can build recognition for your brand.
Building recognition can be a difficult task in the branding process. There are many ways that you build recognition. Key to this process is starting from within and working your way out to your target audience.
Let's start with your personal overview. You need a bio--online and easily accessible--search engine optimized and posted in one or more places. Why one or more, because you will be promoting in one or more places--your website, blog, facebook page, Amazon, Barnes and Noble author's pages, plus Goodreads and Shelfari just to name a few. Give interested parties a friendly glimpse into you as a persona and an author, telling how and why your write, and what makes you thrive. The overview should be positive and encouraging. It should built a connection to your target audience and make you into a person whose books they want to read and whose career they want to promote.
Don't be a braggart, but if there is something special that needs to be shared with your readers--share it! Maybe you donate half of your proceeds to a non-profit organization helping cancer. If so, then you would want to let people know here. Your bio, and variations or condensed versions of it should be included on websites, brochures, press releases, and more.
Next let's talk about your personality.
Your personality has a lot to do with your brand--this is especially true for authors, however, you should also make sure that your personality doesn't overpower your brand too much. For example, if an advertisement or your logo would look excellent in the color yellow but you hate the color yellow then maybe you need to do a check on your personality and how it is interfering with the company brand. Also, if you are great all alone in your room writing, but lousy in a public forum, learn first how to step out of your comfort zone and put yourself out there, but also learn to write first, let your writing settle and then publicly post your writings a bit later. For example: I used to purchase this one author's books religiously, they were fantasy books. I loved reading them; but then one day I read a addendum where he said not to bother him with your ideas and questions because he didn't have time to be bothered! Personally I never dreamed of writing him; but after reading that, I never purchased another one of his books either.
Especially with authors, you are your brand and your personality should shine with your brand. However, there is a fine line here with this theory. A branding manager, or some other outsider looking in, is perhaps the best option for planning your branding strategy because this person can help with building your image. For this task you will want to empower or hire someone you trust because they will need to have a biased point of view and be strong enough to speak up--think of them as a hard-nosed traffic cop preventing you from going the wrong way down any one way streets by not allowing any negative personality traits that you have interfere with promoting your books and your brand name as an author.
It is very important when you are creating your brand to be consistent. Consistency should take place in everything that you do. Remember, brand is your image and if you are not consistent it will not have a good impact on your target audience. The primary question that you should as yourself is if you deliver everything you promise to your readers. The answer here should always be a yes. I.E. Do not promote yourself as the world's greatest author, or a genius for the ages, if you know in your heart that you are only capable of providing a good, entertaining read!
Make sure you look for your next segment soon. We will be talking about your competition and how it effects your brand.
Smiles and Good Fortune,
Teresa Thomas Bohannon
********************
It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s
dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.
– W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) Of Human Bondage, 1915
No comments:
Post a Comment