Branding is often one of the most confusing topics under the umbrella of marketing. In this episode, we look at the first step of creating a breakthrough author brand.

Other Episodes in this Series:

* Step 1 – Look in the Mirror (Who am I)

* Step 2 – Look at Your Readers (Who are my readers?)

* Step 3 – Look Through Your Readers (What do my readers say about me?)

* Step 4 – Look in Your Reader’s Mirror (What does my brand allows readers to say about themselves?)

 

Transcript

 

Thomas Umstattd Jr: In this episode, we are going to talk about branding. We’ve been teasing it. We’ve promised it. We’re even planning on doing a – like a conference on it at some point in the future.

But finally we are sitting down, and we are going to talk about branding, and the good news is we have a lot to say. The bad news is, it’s not all going to fit in one episode.

James Rubart: Yes. The topic, the branding topic, which is something we could probably do – I don’t know, Thomas. What? We could probably do 16 episodes on branding if we want to. But I think what we’re going to try to do today is lay a basic foundation. We’re going to come back next week and do another episode on branding and we will try to wrap up this series with a third episode, and I think by doing that, we will be able to cover most of it.

Thomas: We have a pretty cool three-step process to help you create a brand. But before we get into the nuts and bolts, we should probably answer the question, “Why is a brand important?” Like, why bother?

James: Yeah.

Thomas: Just write good books.

James: Exactly. Because branding, we should talk about why branding is important because branding what I found is often one of the most confusing topics under the umbrella of marketing and we get that. Every conference I’m at – and Thomas, I know the same for you. People will come up and say, “Well, what is branding? What exactly is it? How do I do it?” So let’s start with why is a brand important. Thomas, why is a brand important for authors?

Thomas: Well, a brand is your promise to your readers. It’s what people see you as. The word “brand” is a new word. It goes back to the cowboy days, maybe a little bit older. But the concept of a brand goes back to bible times.

The Book of Proverbs talks about branding a lot. What are you talking about? It does actually. Every time they talk about somebody’s name, whether they have a good name or a bad name, they talk about the brand. It’s not like, oh, if your name is Gertrude, that’s an ugly-sounding name. That’s not what Solomon was talking about. What they’re talking about is if you have a good name, everything in life gets easier. Sales become easier. Marketing becomes easier. Making negotiations becomes easier because that is your reputation.

“Brand” is essentially a big fancy word, a marketing sizzle word for reputation and, “Having a good reputation is more valuable than rubies,” King Solomon said.

So we’re going to be talking about how to develop your reputation, how to develop your brand.

James: So let’s start off by saying what a brand is not. A lot of people will say, “Hey, I came up with a tagline. That’s my brand,” or they will say, “Well, what genre do you write in?” Well, I write thrillers, so that’s my brand. That is not a brand. A brand is what? It’s you. Like Thomas was saying, your name represents you. So you are the brand. OK?

Thomas: If your brand is just a category that you live in, there’s a word for that and it’s called “being generic”.

James: Right.

Thomas: You go to the store and there’s a can of peaches and it just says “peaches” and then there’s the ...