One of the hardest things any company can do is build a brand. Building a brand takes time, effort, and consistency. Moreover, a brand can be tarnished in a matter of seconds. That’s why it’s important to have a clear game place when building a brand.
In essence, building a brand is about creating an image in your reader’s mind about the content you publish. That’s why it’s crucial to give readers a clear idea of who you are and what you stand for. In this article, we are going to look at three effective ways you can build a brand in the world of publishing.
Identify your Target Audience
There is nothing worse than not having a clear idea of who your target audience is. If you’re publishing in a niche, then identifying your target audience is relatively straightforward. However, if you’re publishing multiple works across various topics, then it’s important to have a good idea if you’re targeting different audiences. That way, you’ll be certain about how impactful your publications can be. Unless you are focusing specifically on publication with a very broad appeal, you will need to break down your target audience into various categories.
Develop a Clear Segmentation
Unless you focus on a single segment, it’s best to break up your publishing efforts into segments. For instance, you could create two broad segments, children and adults. Another segmentation could be fiction and non-fiction. Your specific segmentation will depend on the nature of your publications. Ultimately, this segmentation will allow you to focus your market efforts on the right target audience. So, that might mean creating various social media profiles for each topic. Alternatively, you might find the need to publish under various pennames. The last thing you want is to confuse your audience by publishing content that is unrelated.
Create a Narrative
Successful brands manage to create a narrative in their audience’s minds. The most successful marketing campaigns are the ones that tell a story. This story reveals what the brand is all about. Moreover, the narrative delivers more and more value as it unfolds. As such, your publishing brand should create a continuous story in the minds of your readers. That way, every time you publish new content, you are simply adding a new chapter to the story.
Social media is highly useful in building a narrative across a lengthy timeframe. If you feel compelled to publish under your own name, then you can create a story that is linked to your life. That way, your audience can see that your narrative is an extension of your personal life. In the end, you build a deep connection with your readers. They will feel that they are a part of your journey through life. As such, they won’t be reading some sterile collection of thoughts. Instead, they’ll get a glimpse into the mind and heart of the person authoring the words they read.
