We thought we had said everything we wanted to say about branding. We were wrong.

Initial Branding Steps

* 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?)

Outline  

Questions:

What does my brand let my readers say about themselves?

What tribe does this brand give me access to?

Not all author brands have the potential to get to this place, and most authors never get there.

This is where you ask. What do people think my brand says about them? It is about insiders as much as it is about outsiders.

How to do it:

* Define “outsiders” when everyone is welcome, no one is at home.

Create opportunities for your fans to interact with each other.  

Sponsor:

* MyBookTable 3 Kickstarter

Transcript

James L. Ruabrt: And in this episode, we are going to talk about branding. Now, we’ve talked about branding before, actually in three specific episodes. And we thought we had the subject covered. Certainly, we can go into more depth in the three levels of branding that we talked about. But Thomas and I were chatting the other day, and he says, “Jim, you know what? I think there is a fourth level of branding that most authors and most companies don’t ever reach but we should talk about it.”

 

So today, we’re going to talk about exactly that.

 

Thomas Umstattd Jr.: But before we talk about step 4, the ultimate step, you could say in branding, and I do think this is the ultimate step. I don’t think there is a higher step. And you will realize why I’m saying that when we get there.

 

Let’s quickly summarize the first three steps. And you can go back and listen to these on NovelMarketing.com.

 

Step 1 is look in the mirror. This is asking the question who am I as an author. Who am I as a brand? You can listen to that in episode 41.

 

James: Yes. Step 2 which is in episode 42 if you want to go back and relisten to it is to look at your readers. In other words, figure out who these readers are, what they are about, what they’re like.

 

Thomas: And then the third step which is in episode 43 is to look through your readers back at yourself. This is asking the question, what do my readers say about me? And we thought this is the ultimate bubble because it’s your readers talking about you and what resonates with them about your brand is the most important thing.

 

But there is an even more important thing.

 

James: No, say it isn’t so.

 

Thomas: It is true. This fourth level is – we’re calling this step four, look in your readers’ mirror.

 

James: OK, Thomas. I like that. I like that. Look in your readers’ mirror. But what exactly do you mean by that?

 

Thomas: So this is – looking in your own mirror is asking who am I? Looking in your readers’ mirror is asking the question, what does this brand let me say about myself or what does this brand say about me if I’m a part of it?

 

And the easiest way to think about this is in clothing, someone who wears a certain brand of clothing that those clothes say something about them. Someone who is wearing Nike shoes is different from somebody who is wearing Reebok shoes. Those are two different groups of folks. But when someone walks into the store to buy sneakers, they’re not trying to decide between Reebok and Nike typically especially for basketball shoes.