Measuring Brand Awareness

In talking to authors and business professionals, one of the most frequent concerns I hear about conducting marketing activities is “I just don’t have time” followed almost immediately by “I have no idea what to do.”

These are valid issues. If you’re an author already on deadline, time is of the essence. Even unpublished writers seeking to break into the business generally have very little time to devote to marketing activities, whether those activities are “soft” (networking in person or online, buzz-building for your work) or “hard” (offering a contest giveaway, conducting a booksigning, or running an ad to drive traffic to your website). Business professionals and entrepreneurs have many of the same time constraints.

In addition, the “what to do” concern is often both a function of time and money. Certain marketing activities are very time intensive—but may not cost a lot in actual dollars spent. Most online ventures fall into this category, such as blogging or conducting an interactive contest. Book-signings can also serve as a low-cost venture (unless you feel compelled to bring bookmarks or giveaways!), but can take your entire day if you’re not careful. On the other hand, purchasing expensive giveaways to give out to all comers or buying ad space in trade publications or local media outlets can all be accomplished fairly quickly, but can become prohibitively expensive – and it’s difficult to track the long-term impact of those activities. What’s a time- and resource-starved marketer to do? (more…)

Blogging and Your Personal Brand

When you first launch a blog, it can be a dizzying prospect. There is so much you can say, so much you can express, and it can be uploaded so quickly! But just as with all of your business correspondence and promotional materials, blogs should be handled with extreme care. Here’s a few tips to make sure yours effectively reflects your Personal Brand. (more…)

Your Personal Brand and Your Business Cards

Posted September 1, 2009 at 6:55 am
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Branding Focus: Your Writing Brand

Business cards are often the collectable of choice at national conferences. Chances are you’ve gathered them from complete strangers, if only to help you decide what you like (“oooh, cool slogan!”) and what you don’t like (“if I see that template used one more time I’m going to throw up”). You’ve dutifully carried them home and now they’re lying in the bottom of a drawer… you know, for when you finally get around to updating (or creating) your own business cards.

Well, unless you’re planning on contacting those folks, throw those business cards away. Really. You don’t need them. Instead, use these tips to create your own unique, memorable business cards: (more…)

Branding 101, part II: The Who, When and Where of Branding

Posted September 1, 2009 at 6:53 am
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The entire point of having a Personal Brand is to help you sell yourself and your work, but your Personal Brand isn’t a fabricated personality that you turn on and off like a light switch when you think you need to go into selling mode. That would be a) exhausting and b) difficult to remember and c) did I say exhausting?

So just When, Where and for Whom do you express your Personal Brand? Here’s a handy Q&A! (more…)

Branding 101 Part 1: The What and Why of Personal Branding

Posted September 1, 2009 at 6:52 am
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“Tell me, who are you?… ‘Cause I really wanna know!”
– The Who

Chances are, you’ve already heard something about Personal Branding. It’s become a bit of a buzzword in the writing industry because as writers we not only promote our work, we promote ourselves. But what does it mean to have a Personal Brand… and why should you care about yours?

First let’s look at brands in general. A brand is how you identify a product: how it’s packaged, promoted, priced, positioned, and made available to you. As a consumer, you use brands to make decisions all the time, generally about products that are fairly similar. Think about all of the brands out there for bottled spring water. I mean, come on… water is water! But if you consistently buy one brand of spring water over all of the others—even if the others cost the same as or, especially, LESS THAN the water you favor—it’s because the “brand” of your spring water (the packaging, advertising, and promise of the product) stands for something positive to you. (more…)

Using your Brand with the Media

Posted August 31, 2009 at 1:51 pm
In category: authors | blog 0 Comments

“Does anyone have any questions for my answers?”
– former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

The benefit of establishing a powerful Personal Brand for your Writing goes beyond helping you direct your promotional materials and writing choices. It also can help guide your every conversation, including those with the media.

The important thing to remember about working with the media is that you and your message should remain consistent, interview after interview. This is true of whether you’re talking to the community press or The New York Times, whether you’re promoting your first book or your fiftieth. Editorial coverage is the cheapest and most powerful advertising you can get—and your Personal Brand can help you prepare for optimal media coverage. Here’s how: (more…)

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