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Creating a brand for yourself and for your writing is just as important as writing quality content. Good content can go unnoticed if people are not actively searching for your work or related topics to your articles. Branding allows your name and specialty to be the driving force for your work and helps you to gain new followers, page views, and gain a larger audience. This article will show how and why to create a brand for your writing.
Why Create a Brand?
Companies are constantly working on promoting their overall brand through selling individual products. Think about a soft drink manufacturer who has different types of sodas that they sell to different specific groups of people. Although you can drink a diet or regular soda, they are still part of the same brand. As a writer, you are the company, and each of your articles are your products. Creating a brand will allow people to know who you are and what is your overall specialty, like the soft drink manufacturer. Many writers choose to focus only on their individual pieces instead of their entire body of work and how they are seen by their readers, you can not do this if you hope to build a strong brand and larger fan base.
There are many writers who have succeeded at branding themselves, one of them is financial guru Dave Ramsey . I am not implying that you need all of the products he offers, but look at his overall strategy and how he has been able to brand himself. Dave is constantly coming out with successful products along with writing columns in newspapers and magazines. Dave has a syndicated radio show, a video series, books, and more. He is able to be successful because he has a strong brand of helping people achieve financial peace and get out of debt.
How do you create a brand?
Creating a brand takes a lot of work, but starts with who you are and what your specialty and/or passion is. Like Dave Ramsey with personal and family finance, what is something you find easy to write about, something you have experience in, and are truly passionate about? This is what you should create your brand around. This is not to say that you can’t write about other things, but your primary focus needs to be built around what you love and have a lot of experience in, because your passion and expertise will show in your writing.
After you have your one focus, figure out how to separate yourself from other people that specialize in this type of writing. You need to find your niche to focus on. Is there something that you are better than everyone else in?
For example, I love to write about entrepreneurship and sports. Although I love sports, I have much more experience in entrepreneurship as I have started several businesses, graduated with a degree in entrepreneurship from Bradley University, and currently work for a non-profit entrepreneurship organization; the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO). My brand should clearly be focused on my experience with entrepreneurship instead of sports.
Someone in my field who has done a great job of branding herself is young serial entrepreneur Stella Fayman. Stella specializes in startup businesses and runs a blog “How Stella Got Her Startup ” and goes by the name Startup Stella. She has her blog, Twitter page, and social media profiles all centered on her expertise and passion in startup companies.
Tip:
Do you have more than one blog/website that focus on different topics? Create social media accounts for each that specialize only in that information. With your personal accounts, still focus on your top passion and area of knowledge.
Summary
Creating a brand requires a lot of focus and promotion. Although you can’t create one overnight, start now by reviewing all of your bio’s on social media pages and accounts and make sure that they reflect your interests and specialties. Follow the information you listed on your bio pages to create articles, videos, and even newsletters all based on what you love and are good at, and you are sure to build a following that relies on your information and enjoys viewing and reading your work.
