Three Reasons Why Branding Shouldn’t Make You Lose Your Sh*t by @CStreetlights

 

Three Reasons Why Branding Shouldn't Make You Lose Your Sh*t, Cee Streetlights, RachelintheOC, Rachel Thompson, Branding

Three Reasons Why Branding Shouldn’t Make You Lose Your Sh*t

If you’re like me you were probably resistant to the idea of “building your brand.” A lot of writers are – no judgment here. In fact, tell me if any of this sounds familiar:

  • “I don’t want to become fake to my readers.”
  • “I don’t want to become just a logo who writes about what she’s supposed to write about, not what she wants to write about.”
  • “I don’t want to become a product and lose my identity.”

If anything similar like these thoughts has ever crossed your mind about the concept of branding, my friends, then I totally get you because I felt the same exact way. In fact, I went through a massive existential crisis over it because I redesigned my website at the same time.

Thou Shalt Own Thy Shit

Walk with me, my friends, through an imaginary scenario I have created to illustrate a point. Imagine you have always had a dream to, I don’t know… let’s just say for argument’s sake, you always wanted to become a writer. Unfortunately, Reality can be a real jerk and you couldn’t be a writer or a ballerina, so you ended up being a bus driver. However, in our imaginary scenario, you are able to maintain a blog about your adventures and have a large following. When confronted about what you do in your spare time, you somehow manage to stammer, “I’m sort of a writer.”

Damn it, Bus Driver, no! You are a writer! Own that shit. You are a writer the moment you hit publish, whether it is your own blog post, or you’ve been engulfed by one of The Big 5.

Branding helps you own your shit. Repeat after me, “I want to own my shit.” Brothers and Sisters in field, once you have accepted your mantle as writers, you become more authentic to your readers. You no longer have to worry about coming off as fake or disingenuous.

Knowing who you are is absolutely vital in identifying what you want your brand to be.

When I was having a crisis over determining my own brand, it never even occurred to me that I had already largely created my brand years ago when I opened my Twitter account and developed my Twitter bio. Ever since I hung out my shingle on Twitter in 2009 my bio has simply said: “I give a damn.” Those four words have connected me to people all over the world who knew that when they followed me, they were following a person who cared. I was different.

Thou Shalt Know Thy Shit

Let me tell you a story about my big sister. Now, I love my big sister. She has survived a lot in her life and because of that she has some real quirky traits. One of those quirky traits is the need to special order things when we go out to eat. Basically, because she’s been in relationships where she had no control, she has the need to control basically really irrelevant things. It’s okay; I love her. Servers probably don’t, but I’m always sure to leave big tips.

I didn’t know about this quirk when I first moved in with her though, so when we went out to eat one night and she ordered a chicken pot pie with extra broccoli in it I thought she was being irrational. I had never in my life heard of a pot pie with broccoli. The server was so confused; especially when my sister began to get very upset that her order was not understood. In reality, my sister puts in broccoli when she makes her own chicken pot pie. She didn’t understand that this wasn’t a standard ingredient. And now I have the pleasure of making fun of her about this at most every family gathering.

No writer wants to be told he or she has no choice but to write about broccoli (especially since it’s broccoli and that’s disgusting). Writers become writers because we tend to be free spirits already. We gravitate toward what makes us passionate, and then we want to share that with an audience. It is understandable to naturally shrink back from the idea of being “branded” when we see it as being locked down to specific keywords that are attached to our “brand.” Why would we want to do that? Wouldn’t that just limit our creativity and inspiration?

Actually no, it doesn’t. And this is where it helps to really understand what really goes into that chicken pot pie, right? Because branding doesn’t chain us up in anything at all, and let me tell you why.

Our brand has nothing to do with our creativity or our passion or how we are inspired. All of that is still on us. We still have to do our work as writers and the onus on is on us to know our shit.

Our brand is what helps us to convey our message to our readers.

Branding makes it easier for us to communicate who we are to our audience. When my readers come to my Twitter, my Facebook page, my webpage, and all other social media platforms, they see the same message:

Streetlights

Mother. Poet. Badass

I give a damn.

Right away they know I am a mother, a poet, and a general badass. They also know I will always care because I give a damn.

Thou Art the Shit

The biggest struggle I had when I needed to determine my brand, my message all while I was redesigning my website was this conflict between being a product and my identity. For some reason, I really took everything so personally that I had to step away for a few days and reconsider everything I was doing.

One thing I had always prided myself on was how well people could connect with me. If another mom needed to get another perspective, awesome – send me a direct message on Twitter. If people wanted my opinion on a child sex abuse case that had hit the media, boom! My Facebook messages were filling up. I loved how people felt like they could reach out to me and I didn’t want to lose that once my website had been redesigned and I had a new logo in place.

My streetlight had been on my website since I opened shop since 2009 and I wanted to keep it even if it wouldn’t be a focal point. It’s even a part of my name. I have always told my kids that as long as they can find a streetlight that they’d always be able to find home, meaning me.

And somehow, thinking of that made everything click. That was my message for my readers: as long as they could find the streetlight – my website – they’d find someone who gives a damn. Someone who was just like them, someone who was a mother, or a poet, or a badass. All of a sudden my brand was born.

It became less about pushing me as a product and more about introducing myself. I am a writer. I’m a mother who loves her kids more than she can breathe. I write memoir in poetry and prose. I engage in badassery often. I am seriously the shit, you guys.

And so are you. So, get your shit together so readers and a wider audience can engage in you easier.

 

author cstreetlights, Branding 101 for authors, BadRedhead Media After writing and illustrating her first bestseller in second grade, “The Lovely Unicorn”, C. Streetlights took twenty years to decide if she wanted to continue writing. In the time known as growing up she became a teacher, a wife, and mother. Retired from teaching, C. Streetlights now lives with her family in the mountains along with their dog that eats Kleenex. Her new memoir, Tea and Madness is now available.
Branding 101 for Authors, C Streetlights, Rachel Thompson, branding
You can follow C. Streetlights on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

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