By James Rosene
![By Bdna.gif: Spiffistan derivative work: Jahobr (Bdna.gif) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/digitalpubbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Bdna_cropped.gif?resize=290%2C430&ssl=1)
In being able to ID the DNA of your brand, you will also:
- Understand how your readers view you
- Gain insights on reader’s experiences with your brand
- Be able to utilize in-depth data to create a strategic plan that improves your branding
Understanding Brand DNA
It’s important to keep in mind that every brand differs. Although your competitors sell books of some sort, you each have your own DNA. Use your unique experiences to create your unique story for your brand because the audience buying your books wants to know your background.
What’s Your Brand’s DNA?
When you are thinking about how to advertise or market your brand, or how to handle the public relations or your image, you need to structure each campaign carefully to find the distinction, and be precise in market targeting. Understanding the elements of your branding DNA will serve as a great tool and assist in selling your books to potential readers, and this is what will set you apart from your biggest competitors.
Do you think that you are ready to ID your brand’s DNA? If not, read on for 5 tips to help you get started.
5 Ways to ID Your Brand’s DNA
Still not sure what to do? Here are five ways that you can identify your brand DNA:
1. Share Your Background
We know that you have an interesting story that should be shared with the world. What drives you? What are you passionate about? Why did you start writing in the first place? Readers develop trust by learning about you, this is what interests them and enables them to see your potential future in writing.
2. Determine If You Offer Better Value or Lower Prices
What writing niche do you specialize in? What makes you different? Do you offer better value or lower prices for your books? Exploring these questions will help you make branding much easier.
3. Are You Active in Charitable or Community Works That Support Your Mission Statement?
Have you developed a mission statement? Do you donate proceeds or work with charities or participate anywhere in the community with other organizations that support this statement? If you answered ‘Yes’ to both of these questions, then why not share this information on your website, through press releases and other forms of media.
This can be encouraging to other organizations that also agree with your mission. It’s likely that many competitors don’t share this information, and this will illustrate how different your brand really is from the rest.
4. Understand Target Markets
Are you currently part of a niche or mainstream market? If you have decided whether to go niche or mainstream, we suggest you read “Should I target a niche or go mainstream?” to help you decide.
Depending on your target market, public relations opportunities can differ greatly. You can get more or less coverage in the media when compared to your competitors, depending on the route you choose to take.
5. Focus on Better Quality
Let’s keep things simple here. Do you offer better quality? Longer novels or hardback can help you to sell books based on better quality if your prices are similar. This needs to be incorporated into your branding.
Once you take all of these things into consideration, you will be able to ID and truly understand what makes your brand unique. You will be armed with the ability to create an effective branding plan for your works, and put the above tips to use and guide you the rest of the way.
This is a guest post from James Rosene. James started out as a Junior Copywriter and he is now the Creative Director, Partner at EraserFarm, a creative and branding agency in Tampa. He has built a number of award-winning branding campaigns for a multitude of different companies. This is just one of his areas of expertise within the company.
