Building a Brand? I’m Not a Jar of Mustard!
I’ve decided to open up a category called “Pet Peeves” for all my pet peeves. I do have a lot – but I will try to keep it limited to all things writing.
If anyone has been following my posts, they know that writing is not my primary work. I actually work full time as a business analyst. In the evenings, I’m always searching for new ways to promote my writing and to improve on my craft. One thing that is always explained to authors starting out is to “build their brand”.
I have always read this and put a little consideration into it. The idea behind building one’s brand is to find a niche and to focus on that niche in all social forums and communications. Perhaps make a slogan and use that slogan in your signature. Define who you want to be and try to build popularity around that image.
This is all well and good. I agree, one should focus on the direction they would like to go with their online presence. What really got me going today though was that the “building your brand” topic has even reached into employment. Not only are we building brands outside of work, but now we are also building brands inside of work.
Maybe I’m being a bit naive but I really hate the idea of thinking of myself as a product. I have the belief that one needs to be true to themselves. Focus on what you want, not what is going to sell. I’m not a product, I’m a human being and I take offense to the idea of “building a brand”. I hate the notion that I need to fit someone else’s ideal image. If someone doesn’t like what I have to say or how I look, well I guess I don’t really care.
The reality is, if you focus too much on trying to meet the ideals of a majority, you will never be happy. In my mind, building a brand is like building a silo, separating you from other opportunities. Say, you want to write a steamy novel but your brand is focused on horror? You could have the next Fifty Shades in your head, but you will never gain any traction because your brand is horror.
Why not focus on what gives you enjoyment in life instead of focusing on your “brand”? If I am shooting myself in the foot with this post – fine. At least I’m being honest with myself and I’m not considering myself as a product sitting on the shelf. I’m not a brand, I’m a human being. When I speak, I speak honestly and true. If that means I’ll only sell one book, so be it. At least I won’t be up at night thinking about how I affected my brand by a random comment that I made or a post in my pet peeve category.
I enjoy writing and speaking my mind without regard to brand. I know that there will be a lot of folks that will disagree with me – that’s fine. If they want to think of themselves as a product, that’s sad, but so be it.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012Original content here is published under these license terms: X License Type:1License Summary:Tweet
