Whether you are a writer, Realtor, retail sales manager, cabinet salesman, Welcome Wagon host (I’ve been them all) or something entirely different, in order to move forward in your career, in today’s market, you’ve got to understand Branding.
So what is branding anyway? Webster’s Dictionary says it is:
“the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand”
Okay, so that wasn’t real helpful. We all know branding when it comes to things like the McDonald arches or the Nike check mark. But how does that really help us identify our own brand?
I did some research for authors and came across this great link.
https://writeitsideways.com/create-author-brand-4-steps-take-now/
Taking those lessons to heart, I had to search for the obvious. What, you say? Yes, it was staring me right in the face. My brand is writing mother-daughter stories. The irony is that I didn’t even realize that I was doing that. But, when I start to explain my books, invariably I am saying something along the lines of “there is this mother and such and such happens and her daughter and her must”….. you get the picture. When I sat down to write, (pre-branding concept), I never thought about the fact that all my books had the same common theme. Now that I see it, it is so much easier to brand myself.
I write mother-daughter stories. I also write a little dark. So these are never sweet relationships that are un-flawed. What fun would that be? I guess I can thank having three daughters and a wonderful mother for my inspiration. Then, I have to mess them all up with characters that in no way resemble my own sweet family. Just so you know, I also have a son. Maybe someday, I’ll write a mother-son story. Who knows. It doesn’t mean I love him any less than his sisters, Andrew Cooper, if you are reading this.
What is your brand? Regardless of your profession, if you want to be recognized, you need a brand. I’d love to hear from you and even post pictures .
Writing Under Fire 