A couple of years ago, the theme of "brand you" was all the rage. The basic concept was that you have to become a brand--that is, someone with attributes that stand out and that your customer or client would recognize immediately. However, at the same time research has suggested a kind of brand fatigue among consumers--there are too many brands competing, they make unsustainable claims, and sometimes they are indistinguishable from each other.
A study by John Gerzeme and Ed Lebar, published in Strategy + Business, suggests that brands that stand out in today's crowded marketplace have three strong attributes:
VISION: They have a clear idea of what they want to achieve.
INVENTION: They innovate and keep refreshing the experience of their customers or clients.
DYNAMISM: They create excitement by the way they present themselves.
How can a writer embody these attributes?
VISION means defining how you want to affect your readers (or audience, if you're writing films). Do you want to make them laugh, scare the pants of them, educate at the same time you entertain? It may go against your desire to do all kinds of writing for all kinds of audiences, but for branding purposes it makes sense to choose a genre and stick to it. The more narrowly you define your niche, the more easily you will be able to dominate it. However, there is a risk. For instance, when I was starting out, sitcoms were a dominant genre, but in recent years they have been in decline (although now there are strong signs they're coming back to the fore).
INVENTION means offering something your competitors don't, and keeping up that flow of innovation as you go along. Not only that, you have to make sure that these changes don't confuse your audience. For an author, giving your readers timely material on the internet could be a good example of invention.
DYNAMISM means creating an experience for your readers. This might take the form of giving them new ways to interact with you online, or forming alliances and associations with other brands. For example, an author of fantasy novels might work with a fantasy convention to present an event beyond just a signing session.
Naturally, all of this is in addition to, not in place of, creating an excellent book or script.
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