The Importance of Staying On Brand for your Book

Lynn

today's online world, and in: 2018

Brandon

01:12

Hey, hey, hey. Thank you for having me so. Happy to be here, happy to talk to you, and I'm glad you said your. I don't know if it's a middle name or a nickname. I kept saying “Ellikitty.” I thought it was like a cat reference. What is Elikqitie? What does that?

Lynn

01:28

mean, oh, yeah, so Elikqitie is actually is actually my creator name that I created for podcasting, so so, yeah, so there's a whole story behind it, which I actually will go into in another episode. But yeah, so it's Elikqitie. Yeah, so got it. But yeah, yep, so it's actually part of my creator brand.

Brandon

01:46

I love it. I love it. I mean, names are a big part of my brand too. Obviously. Brandon Brands on Brands, I do branding If your name works. So you've got to get creative and create your own new name. Great, I love it.

Lynn

01:58

Yeah, and actually it's really great to have this name because no one else has it, which is so. It makes it very special and people it's very memorable. So people always remember Elikqitie as the creator name. Yeah, yep, yep, definitely all part of branding. So, Brandon, you've got a ton of experience in branding and, of course, you work for big companies, so you clearly understand the framework of branding. So, before we jump into the main topic today, which is about the importance of staying on brand for your book, especially when you're self-publishing your book, a lot of people have different aspects and concepts of personal branding. What is your approach and or definition of personal branding, as you see it?

Brandon

02:42

Yeah, I appreciate that and I like to separate those two things right Personal branding versus product branding or business branding. They are different things. I spent a lot of time in the business branding space, but the past seven years have been branding people, taking those same learnings and applying them to people. But what is that? To your point, what is personal branding? And for me, personal branding is reputation. That's the result of it.

03:07

But the action of personal branding is the intentional shaping of that reputation. And there's some action there If you hear that in the words. Right, the intentional shaping of reputation requires a little bit of decision-making and actions to say what do I want this brand to be, what do I want to be known for and what am I going to put out into the world to get there. So for authors who are thinking about you know how am I representing myself and my book and the ideas that I have and I share. I like to think about that. You know, what are you doing to intentionally shape what people are seeing and thinking about you and hearing about you as an author. So that's my definition intentional shaping of your reputation.

Lynn

03:50

And I love that too, because another thing with branding, it's not just about the images you post on social media, but it's about how you show up. So if someone is looking at their thought leader, they're listening to this their speaker, their executive, and they're listening to this and they're thinking about okay, I want to publish a book, but how does someone go about designing how they show up? Like you said, you know it's about the intentional shaping right, like we don't just want to post a book and not plan what we're going to do with that book. So how would you advise people to intentionally shape your book?

Brandon

04:27

Yeah, so I think there's. There's three pieces to it and for me, if you're an author, you have the you part of it. Right, there's the author brand. It's what are you doing to get yourself out into the world? How are you showing up? Where are you showing up? Are you going to you know bookstores and showing up there? Are you meeting up with your audience? Are you making connections? Like, what are you doing to get yourself found, to make yourself notable? You know, for some of you it's your first book. For some of you it's your seventh or eighth and you start to get Find different ways to build the PR around your story and your, your identity.

05:03

For a lot of us, we just focus on the book part. That's what I'd say. There's a second thing is what's your platform? Right? You have the brand of you. You have the brand of your platform. For some of you, that's a book, but it can be multiple things. So my book also is Represented through ideas I share in a podcast. So a podcast is one of my platforms. The book is one of my platforms. I have a YouTube channel, a blog. I grow and I invest my ideas into places where people can find them, and the book is just one of those places.

05:32

So one of the ways I say like to think about you growing your personal brand as an author is to think about your platforms, the book being one of them. Yes, how do you get people to talk about the book? Where is the book showing up? How is it ranking on Google? How is it ranking in Amazon? How are you getting publicity for the book you know as different from you? Right, there's publicity for you, the author, publicity for you for the book, reviews for the book, ads for the book. So it's its own thing, basically.

06:00

So that's that's part two, right, there's yourself, there's your platform or the book, and then the part three is your ideas. How are you getting your ideas out there, the things that are within the book, the little moments, the Stand out, things that you want to share with the world, and those ideas can be fleshed out in different ways. They come to life in a book and I'm talking really for me. It's a lot2B creators, a lot of business book creators a little different when you're creating something in the fiction space. I understand that, but still, you know figuring out like there's little ideas that stand out, there's quotables, there's notable moments, and I think each of those has its own life and requires its own approach and attention.

Lynn

06:45

Yeah, good point. I like that a lot about, especially, like you know, compartmentalizing out like what each one's purpose is for right, because everything has a different purpose. So you mentioned making connections. What are some of the things people that you see are most likely skip over or don't think about when they think about, like, making connections, especially with, like getting their book out there or themselves as an author out there?

Brandon

07:12

Yeah, I think one of the most important ways that you can build your author brand is through your relationships. Absolutely Finding a way to not just develop the audience for the book but to develop the people in your relationships. Absolutely Finding a way to not just develop the audience for the book, but to develop the people in your corner right. Who are the people supporting you? Who are the people who might mention your book in the media or share your story or leave a review? I think relationships are hugely important, like our relationship is the reason I'm on this podcast today. It wouldn't have happened if we hadn't met in person. So when I'm helping people, look at that. I say do you have a on-purpose plan for how you're developing your relationships? And I think of it as I like to go places to meet people. It's not all online, right. Some of its online, sure, but a lot of this is boots on the ground showing up in person. So I pick what I like to call purposeful places to participate, right. This is one on the ground showing up in person. So I pick what I like to call purposeful places to participate, right. This is one of the core tenants in my book Front and Center Leadership. It's that networking thing that we hate doing and I don't like to call it that. So I think of it as where is a place that I like to go, that I want to go, either because I'm around other authors, or I'm around other people in my industry who think the way I do, have the same problems I have, or I'm trying to learn something. That's another way. So I'm, I have a podcast, so I'm in a podcasters group. That's how we met. I wrote a book. So now I'm in authors groups, I'm I network with other public, you know independent publishers, I'm a speaker, so I get out there and I network and I join the groups where other professional speakers share their ideas and their stories. So that relationship building is on purpose and I have like these are the places where I spend my energy, I start there and I participate and I'm involved and I'm engaged from that to say okay.

08:59

Step two is what are my key relationships? What are the relationships I that I want to nurture and what are the ones that I want to develop that I don't have yet? So some people like develop what they call a dream 100. You know, I just say like, come up with a few names of people that use it. These are the key stakeholders in my life that I wouldn't. And if you don't have, you know, a great publisher, a great PR person, a great web designer, like, it's good to have a guy or a girl for each thing, you know. Figuring out who your key people are, I think, is hugely important. So simple two things. You know I don't want to overwhelm everyone. There's a million things you can do. There's a lot of books on networking and relationship building. But if you have a purposeful place to go to meet people where you have common ground and common interest, that's number one. And if you, on purpose, pick the relationships you want to develop or nurture, that's number two.

Lynn

09:54

And I think that's a really important thing and you mentioned your book too, the purposeful relationships. One of the things I see people I don't want to like do a super deep dive into networking. But this is one thing I definitely want to mention. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they do network is they'll go to an event, like we met at PodFest, which is an international podcasting conference, but some people will start like they'll come up, introduce themselves and just start handing their card to everybody, right? So what would you suggest to someone who's listening, who, like a lot of people, don't like networking?

10:25

I actually love networking because I'm a people person. I love to talk to people, I love to get out there and, like you know, walk into a room of people I don't know and start meeting people, and I know for a lot of people that's super scary. So what would you recommend to somebody who is maybe new to networking or not good at networking that you have learned from personal experience to build those key relationships, especially when you're in a room when you don't know people?

Brandon

10:49

Yeah, two things. One is I always have a plan before I go. So I've done some research, usually on the conference or the event, before I go, and if I don't know anybody there which has happened I go to places for the first time, like everyone does. But I don't know anybody there, which has happened. I go to places for the first time, like everyone does. If I don't know anybody, then I will look online and say, okay, who's throwing the event, who are the speakers at the event, who are the people who've commented on some of the event pages? I want to see who's going to be there so that I can, ahead of time, maybe I'll reach out or I'll comment on their, their, uh posts or whatever it might be on social media. You can do that now, so I try to establish some kind of contact, or I bring a friend with me. Everyone needs a networking buddy, right, like, how can you find someone to take you out of your uncomfort zone into your comfort zone? And sometimes just having someone to stand with in the awkward moments so that you can then reach out and introduce each other to people is a great way to go.

11:46

So I have a plan going into it. That's the first thing. I do a little research and I maybe have a plan of attack so that I either get rid of that I don't know anybody anxiety, or I build some kind of connection beforehand. The second thing I do is I make sure that I understand why I'm there and, like what the common ground is with the people I'm going to be around. So a good example is I went to startup week here in Raleigh. It's not my normal crowd, right. I don't really. I don't have a startup, I don't speak startup language, I don't know anything about funding or you know developing apps, but I went to startup week because they're entrepreneurs there and it's local to Raleigh.

12:21

So when I started to meet people, my conversations weren't about startups. When I said hello, I would start to say something like you know well what kind of business are you in and you know what got you, what made you passionate about that, or what got you into that, or where are you from? Like, how did you have to drive far? Are you here in Durham? Are you in Raleigh? Whatever it is?

12:40

So I'd find common ground to begin with, so that we have a place of comfort to start and we're both entrepreneurs. That was my. I'm like we're both from here, most of us are from here because it's a local event and we both are business owners in some way shape or form. So I start with the things where they're common ground, and I know that going in like this is what I'm going to talk about. I'm not going to show up and say I'm a podcaster and creator or I'm an author, because they're like I don't understand the relevance of you being an author to me being a startup founder. So I try to find ways that I understand. Like these are where we're going to have things in common that we can use as a jump off point to get curious about each other.

Lynn

13:17

I love that. Yeah, I love that. Finding common ground just with basic stuff first, right, like you don't have to, like you said, jump into exactly what you do, because that's very common for us, especially networking. We always ask, like, what do you do first? I think that's a much better way, especially when you're networking, like you said, in a group where you don't know the language or you haven't been to that type of group before. Just to start out with the basics, right, and to just find the common ground in the basics is really, really a great idea.

13:44

All right, my friends, we're going to pause here for a second, but when we come back we're going to talk more Brandon about his book, front and Center Leadership, and also how you can find his book and what Brandon does and how you can access Brandon. If you are interested in getting some more branding for your company, all right, we are back with Brandon Birkmeyer Brands on Brands. So the first half we talked about lots of different things, but mainly what we talked about was how to stay on brand by using your book, and we also talked a little bit about networking. And so, Brandon, for the second half I want to talk, go back a little bit on. You know, showing up and personal branding specifically for authors. When you published, when you decided to do your book, what, how did you decide, like, what you were going to do, um, and what, like, how did you decide to move forward with that?

Brandon

14:57

Yeah. So I think for all of us like, knowing what you want to talk about obviously is important, but the thing for me is I had to understand who this book was for. The thing for me is I had to understand who this book was for, and I'll tell you that was the hardest choice, because I have my business and I have the content I create. But who is this book for? Is it for them, is it for someone else? And I was back and forth. So for me, understanding who the book was for was number one, because I would write it differently. I'm teaching personal branding no matter what, but who am I teaching it to? Completely changes how the book is written.

15:30

So I had decided that I wanted this to be personal branding for up-and-coming leaders, and I classify that in my mind as corporate leaders, people who have a 9-to-5 job, who are middle managers, rising managers Because I used to be that. I understood that the most and said, okay, I spent 17 years in a corporate environment. What are the lessons I wish I had in the personal branding space? That would have helped me stand out, to get promoted, to communicate better, to have skills that C level people have. What would have those have been. So I came from it Knowing that that was the audience, and what's great is that allowed me to focus my writing and my intention was the audience, and what's great is that allowed me to focus my writing and my intention. But the lessons can be applied more broadly. Right, the everyone can use personal branding, and when I speak to different groups, I can now change that and instead of saying it's how leaders use personal branding to stand out, I can say well, let me apply that to authors. This is how authors use personal branding to stand out, or podcasters or whoever. But it started with a focus, so I knew what to write.

16:30

Um, that's, I think, in any branding space. If you understand your audience, you're well on your way to understanding what their needs are. So you know what to put into the thing that you're building, especially a book. You understand the voice you want to write in. You know the concepts that make sense, how you talk to them, what they're interested in, what they're not interested in. So having the right but we call it in the branding space is messaging right. You understand who your audience is. It helps you craft the message. So that's number one for me.

Lynn

16:58

And so, once you understood who you were talking to and what message you wanted to do, how did you go about? Because one of the biggest challenges I know a lot of people have that aren't writers, right? Because, like I'm a writer, I write for a living. So for me, writing is easy, starting off a book is easy For me that's just finding the time to get to write, but for a lot of people it's actually starting off the process of just sitting down and writing. So what are some good like writing habits? Or how did you get into the mindset of becoming a writer, to write your book? Because you're clearly not trained as a writer but you have this like great published book.

Brandon

17:33

So, yeah, I so for me, what I did have, I had to look at my, my tools right, what I'm, what my skills are, what I'm good at For me. I'm creating podcasts and content every week. I'm speaking into a microphone all the time. I tried blogging, uhging. I tried YouTube when I started, but talking and podcasting was my most natural state of creating and I didn't want to write a book I did. That process sounded intimidating, sitting down and typing a hundred words or whatever they call it. What is it? A thousand words a day or right? I don't know even the number. Whatever they said, I was like it's too much. You could have said ten words.

Lynn

18:05

I'd be like that's too much so it's just a lot of like sitting down and typing right.

Brandon

18:10

Yes.

Lynn

18:11

Yeah, that's very common for a lot of my clients, absolutely.

Brandon

18:14

So I I love outlining things, I love mind mapping ideas and structuring out concepts. So that I could do so, I knew what the general structure of the book was going to be. But once I realized and I did a little research I understood that, oh, you can dictate a book like go figure. Then I then I had all the processes started to lay out in front of me. I realized, well, if I can tap into how I create naturally which is speaking, then I can structure the rest of it to make sense. So I had to rejigger my outline, rework my outline to work as a in dictation. So I would write questions into my outline to say, okay, what's the question I'm asking and answering, and I would speak to that question like you would in a normal conversation like this, as opposed to what are my three points again about this concept and personal branding. No, I just answered the question.

Lynn

19:09

Yeah, I think that's really great. I actually have had clients who we actually structured their book outline to like like you said, right, Like they got on their podcast and they made their podcast episodes to repurpose them as their book. So that's actually a really fabulous way, especially for people like 90% of people don't like sending it on to type right so you can actually just make the questions, make your outline and then speak it and then transcribe it and then use that for your book. So once you've gotten past that part, what was your next big challenge with your book?

Brandon

19:40

Yeah. So I just want to lean into that for a sec, because part of what I teach is how to express yourself in your personal branding. You have to be able to express yourself as authors. You might've already found that way, but I think you finding the most natural way you create is important, because then you're comfortable, like once you can get into the comfort. Now you're looking forward to it.

19:58

Now I'm looking forward to writing more books because I found a process that worked. I sat down. In eight sessions I had 60,000 words for a couple hours each session. I'd sit down, I'd talk, answer my questions and in eight sessions the book was done. And then I worked with an editor because I knew that, because I created it that way, I had to restructure and change things. So for me I had to figure out in the process what do I want to do myself versus what do I want other people to do. So that was the next part of it and the editing. Absolutely, I knew I wanted a quality product. So I'm going to spend most of my money in the editing part of it, the structural editing, and then also the proofreading. So that was that.

20:37

But then I wanted to do all the other stuff myself. I did the formatting myself. I got that app called Atticus where I went in and I put the stuff in and it helped format into the pages and I had to make some tweaks myself. But I wanted to learn how to do some of that because I know people building their personal brands what do they like to do? Well, they like some of these things they want to do DIY. So I wanted to be able to help people when they ask questions about personal branding whether it's how to start a podcast, how to create for YouTube, how to write a book, how to edit videos. I want to have a little bit of knowledge in each of these spaces because I like giving general advice to help people get started, because I think all of it is part of the personal branding process. So I hope that answers the question. But yeah, the next part was figuring out what do I outsource versus what do I do myself.

Lynn

21:18

No, I absolutely love what you said because I see that with a lot of people not only my clients, but just talking to a lot of creators like, oh, I have to do this, but I really don't want to, and they actually just get stuck in that rut of like not being able to create anything because they're not hiring somebody to do the things they don't like to do. So they can't move forward with whatever project. It is right that could be like they stay there for a year, two years, sometimes three, where they could be promoting themselves for three years if they just made the investment on that one pain point that they don't want to do. And I like, honestly, congratulations and hats off to you for hiring an editor.

21:55

I see so many people make that mistake thinking, oh, it's a self-published book, I'll just throw it in Grammarly and just grammar check it and I'll publish it. But you can clearly tell when you read a book that if it's, if it's edited professionally or not, right, like it's, it's like everything else, like a podcast or a video content, you can tell if it's professionally edited, and so I hats off to hiring an editor. Thank you for doing that as a, as a publisher, as a person who reads books, I will say this I will say this real quick.

Brandon

22:22

I this part of like when I talk about branding. For me, a lot of the stuff is there's, you know, there's people who say, you know, like done is better than perfect, and I don't think I'm looking for perfect. But if you are trying to represent yourself, your personal brand is represented by the output of the things you create. So I do think there's a minimum viable product. So I had to decide for each project, for podcasting, for YouTube, for books I have to decide what does that look like for me? What does quality minimum viable product look like? So if it's a podcast, I'm not gonna do a podcast without headphones, a Microphone that works and I have that edited as well. Like the sound editing right, that's my end. Good cover art like four pieces to that to make sense. As a speaker, I want a speaker reel, I want a good talk on stage and maybe a nice outfit, right, like minimum viable product For the book. You know I was like okay, like my idea is great, but I couldn't just put it out there because that's not good enough. You know people would read and be like this is garbage. Right, the ideas are okay, but if it's not in a format that I can get through. What's the point? So my minimum viable product for books. Definitely the editing was the biggest part, but then I want, like I know, people judge books by their cover. It's a, it's a joke, but it had to make sense.

23:36

So I spent a lot of the time getting opinions and designing the book. I did do it myself, but when I started it was blue and it had my face on it and I talked to professionals and editors and they said, well, for this category, yellow is probably better. I said, okay, that's an easy change and you probably don't want your face on it. And I was insulted at first, right, but they said, well, no, because people in this leadership space, by the way, you want the word leader in your title if you want leaders to buy the book. So I put leader in my title.

24:03

It was just called Front and Center, but then I changed it to take me off of it because they said not everyone will relate if they see your picture. They're thinking well, I'm not like him. I want the book to be for everybody, regardless of if you're a male or if you look like me or don't or whatever. So the words and the colors and the graphics were the cover after that, so that people don't use me to decide if the book's for them so minimum viable product. Some packaging, the elements themselves to make it readable, were absolutely important and then, even how it's, you know, put on Amazon to show, like what you write in the copy, the things people use to decide. Should I give this a chance?

Lynn

24:43

Absolutely. Yeah, I totally agree with you Because, yes, like, like you said, you don't need to be perfect, but your, your book completely represents your professional brand. I just read a book. I saw a speaker a while back and that person had a book and I was like, oh, get the book and read it. And clearly no professional editor. It was just so hard to read it because there were so many grammar mistakes, and not just as a writer, but just as a person who enjoys reading books, it was very hard to read it and that really gave me the impression of that person that's like, is this person really professional? Like I'm now doubting their professionalism because their book was so unprofessionally put together. So, yeah, to your point, absolutely, like, even though it doesn't have to be perfect, your book still needs to look professional.

25:28

And you did a fabulous job on your book cover. Like you know, you designed it yourself, but you got a lot of professional opinions on what works for your space and that's so important, especially in the publishing industry. Like you said, right, don't judge a book by its cover, but that's absolutely true. I mean, there's been studies out they say people will do buying choices in as little as 10 seconds, right. So if someone's looking at your book, I mean that's not a long time for someone to look at your book and be like I like Brandon's book or no. I'm not. Not sure about Brandon's book, but your book cover for people not on YouTube clearly shows like front and center leadership, like you clearly know what it's about. When you look at the book cover, it's very, uh, very clear as far as, like, the messaging so, Brandon, this is go ahead. Did you want to go ahead?

Brandon

26:10

Sorry, I had an urge right.

26:14

I don't think you have to be, I don't think you have to be professional to figure this stuff out For me. I looked at like, can we pick six, seven, eight books that I like? And I look at them and say I like how they did this, I like how they did that, I like where they put the acknowledgments for the book. I like how long their little blurb was that was for their personal wife or whatever, and I like how their chapter outline was organized. I like the back cover design and where they put the little picture.

26:44

You are a reader. All of us have an eye for what we like or don't like. So I found eight books that I liked and I said, okay, if I had to choose, which organization of things do I like better? And it's not a surprise, I have three yellow books up here. They aren't mine, but guess what? There's some similarity in the yellows that are chosen and the blacks and the whites. Why is that? Well, because there's the books that I like. So I had a reference. I didn't go and just guess which yellow I look. I'm like oh, I have five different yellows here, one's kind of orangey I. I like that one. Okay, I'm gonna make mine look like that yellow, you know. So you use your own taste in some cases to say like we all are our own editors, we understand what looks out of place and what doesn't you are self-publishing.

Lynn

27:39

Your book is to you know, you said like referring to professionals and looking at what you like, but also being open to being critiqued, because a lot of people like you said like you first were going to put your face on the book and then someone who's professional was like no, no, you don't want to do that. And even though you were like, really, you know like it's sometimes people take it personally, but it's not really a personal critique, it's a professional critique and that distinguishment is really important because a lot of people don't understand and they think like oh, no, well, this is my book, I'm gonna put my face on the cover and had you not listened to that person right, your book wouldn't have been as good as it is. So being open to critique is also really important as well.

Brandon

28:14

Totally.

Lynn

28:15

Yeah, so, Brandon, this has been really fabulous. No-transcript that are listening to this on audio. Where is the best place people can find you and find your book?

Brandon

28:52

so, yeah, brands on brandscom is where everything is. It's a simple name to remember. Brands on brands is the name of the website, it's the name of, of the podcast. If you type it into YouTube, you'll find me again. So, yeah, brands on brandscom. And if you want the book, brands on brandscom, slash books, we'll take you there. So, yeah, that's the way to find me.

29:09

And I'll say this just because I know when you know people might be hoping for. Hey, you know I, there's a lot of books out there in a lot of categories. I wasn't the only leadership book right there. There are so many books in every category and I know that there's like how to try to rank as the Amazon bestseller in your category. For the one hour that you first sell you. That's all fine and well and good. I'll say this If you want to stand out in that CSA miss, if you want to differentiate yourself, what I would hope is, after you've built that minimum viable product that we're talking about, that you get out there and you find those people who we said that those books are for, and you go to them and you build relationships with them and get your ideas in front of them, and when you do.

29:57

You're building your personal brand one person at a time, and that's how you stand out. You don't have to fight the whole world all at once. It's one idea, one relationship, one person at a time, and I hope that today, with people listening to us today, I hope that some of them like the ideas that I shared today and wanna learn more about personal branding. Maybe I made one fan today. Maybe one more person will look at my book today and say these are ideas that I needed. So that's the best plan that I can give anybody is the long game one person at a time.

Lynn

30:30

I love it, absolutely love it. Great advice. Well, Brandon, thank you again so much for coming on the podcast today and being a guest. I really appreciate it.

Brandon

30:37

Appreciate you. Brandsonbrandscom. Thanks everyone.

Lynn

30:40

All right, friends and future authors, remember to hit the like or subscribe button or follow, wherever you're following, wherever you're listening to the Write, Edit and Publish podcast and we will see you next week. Thank you.