Can You Change Directions With Your Branding Once It’s Established?

Or rather, should you? A conversation about branding shifts

See that substantially larger gummi bear in the picture?

That gummi bear is me. Trying to be noticed, stand out from a very crowded field of fantastic writers, in a market simply saturated with words. Can you relate?

We, as writers, are invaluable to society. We inform, we teach, we lead, we encourage, we alarm, we reveal, we inspire, we entertain.

But we also get a bit lost.

The market can swallow us whole if we aren’t careful. This article will address branding, how it all works, and what to do when suddenly your branding is no longer working for you.

Branding: What Is This and How Does It Work?

This is why we focus on branding ourselves and our work: so that we shine in a pile of other suns, have our voice heard in a roaring singing chorus; so that we emerge, identifiable, recognizable, unique.

I began my writing career in January of this year, 2019, with the purchase of a laptop and a re-dedication of myself to my first love, writing. It began with branding before writing, and smartly so.

Rule 1. Develop a “thing” that is unique to you and your writing

It could be a term, a phrase, or even your own name or pseudonym. Something a bit catchy or interesting.

My personal branding came easily with the development of Fiddleheads & Floss and the related @ fnfwriter:

• I began with a blog. I named it Fiddleheads & Floss.
• I wrote for several months on the blog while writing my novel. Then, I joined Medium in the last few days of March 2019.
• I began a Twitter account, FB page, and Instagram account, all using the same tag as my Medium account: @fnfwriter (Fiddleheads & Floss writer). I branched out to Quora, Reddit, Mirakee, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Flipboard, Amazon, Goodreads, and Manystories.
• I secured an email account for both business and personal use, again using terms relating to Fiddleheads & Floss.
• I began a publication entitled Fiddleheads & Floss Poetry, again, repeating the branding I was defining as nature writing, poetry, and life issues.

Rule 2. It’s important to have continuity across platforms

This rule is also demonstrated in the above points.

Repetition, repetition, repetition = recognition, recognition, recognition

The market can swallow us whole if we aren’t careful.

Rule 3. Define yourself through your branding and promote that across platforms

You need to tell readers who you are, quickly, clearly, with credibility while provoking curiosity. What they respond to must become a part of how you write for certain platforms. Entangle the readers’ interests with your own and tailor your body of work for each platform, within the umbrella of your branding — for the most part.

Tendrils, variable materials you post, can be blended in, but be deliberate in using this so that you don’t appear to be confused about who you are as a writer. Many readers will appreciate seeing fresh new things from you, but be honest about your strengths and what draws your readers to you.

Enough about branding and how to develop it. What if it all this goes south?

Now what?

You’ve followed all the rules, worked your tail off to build a body of readership and fans, and something happens that disturbs your branding.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is my brand working for me?
• Is it time for a change?
• Can this be fixed?

Case

The niche I fell into was partly on purpose and partly defined by the feedback from my readers, who responded quickly, loyally, and most enthusiastically to the following:

• Poetry — I developed a quick reputation as a professional poet and someone with powerful imagery through poetry. A voice of the earth and for humans navigating the ‘vines’ of life. I welcomed this part of my branding and ran like hell with it right into the development of a poetry publication and the release of my first poetry collection, “organic, Fiddleheads & Floss vol. 1.”
• Writing articles and poetry-writing articles
• Encouraging essays that help people to tap into their own ‘strength through difficulty’

These sweet spots have been my bread and butter on the Medium platform and across others as well. Now I tailor my articles to my audience while staying true to my deepest desires for my writing, and my unique talents.

But — then the money disappeared.

A good three-quarters of my writing on this particular platform depends on the engagement on my poetry. MPP made changes that made it nearly impossible to bring in the same monetary growth that I had fairly firmly established. My relationships with publications — based on poetry. My readership — rooted in poetry; and with poets who are now leaving the platform or deciding to spend their time elsewhere.

In short, at least half of the reading I was receiving has vanished nearly overnight. Along with it, my earnings and my hope for a lucrative place at the top for poetry. My credibility did not vanish, mind you, nor did my talent or my vision, but the environment certainly changed.

What to do when your branding is tied to a sinking ship

First of all, your branding is fluid. It moves with you. It becomes a wave you ride. It can carry you through a reader drought above others who may have less definable goals. It’s a foundation, but a malleable one.

Keep in mind, branding is not about being better than everyone else — it’s about being noticed.

You Have Several Options

Start over

Make a complete overhaul of your branding, name, URLs, site titles, personal writing name, head-shots, etc. and start from scratch. I think this method is most useful when scandal has become attached somehow to the brand you’ve built for yourself.

There have been a few recent writers who were excommunicated from the Medium platform for an abuse of the rules. No doubt they are in a position of complete re-branding, which seems the most reasonable path. With any luck and an intelligent re-branding, they may be able to once again find their footing and repair their reputations within the writing community. They can seek a new field of readers with their new branding in place and start from there.

Redefine within your current brand

You can keep all of the brand titling but change the tagline and message to shift the focus of your branding in a new direction. Give it a fresh new look. Change your pictures, quotes, and image to reflect the new direction of your work, and hopefully, the rapport you have built with your readers will hold fast and the newness will be received with excitement.

It’s recommended, I read someplace, to give the face of your blog a new look each year. I agree this is a great way to keep the interest of the reader while still being recognizable. Good communication with letters, emails, and announcements can help to make a smooth transition into your new writing season.

Above all, maintain your credibility with your reader by having something new and of value to offer them. Invite them along for the changes and make a new effort to provide for their readership needs as you do so.

Keep your branding in place and branch out a bit to bring in new readers

Those small, risky out-of-the-norm posts may need to grow legs. I recently made a list of other writing interests of mine, some related to my current body of writing, and some not. I chose a few new topics and committed myself to writing more frequently on those topics, and I added a few new publication relationships to prepare a place for those works.

I even created a new publication, “Politically Speaking,” to encourage openness, inclusiveness, conversation, and bravery for people to exercise their voices on the news, political environment, or social issues that matter to them. This still offers a home and an angle for my environmental writings but adds a place for political poetry, a new topic for my work.

What drew people to me in the field of poetry, I hope, will bring in readers and writers of another genre. It has opened new conversations, and I have already met a handful of new people.

Aside from writing on new topics and working with new people, you can also try new writing styles. For example, with poetry slipping onto the back burner, I’ve added a few new angles to my poetry writing to address the needs of my readers (many of whom are poets):

• Articles addressing the emotional, mental health, and lifestyle issues that poets face
• Articles to help poets branch out to other monetizing sources
• Articles about writing, staying motivated, finding your voice, speaking your truth
• Educational posts teaching the craft of poetry

These function to strengthen and build the poetry community, increase the readership time on my work, and move more in the direction of teaching and encouraging that my readers have been pulling me in.

While they are clearly poetry-related, they serve to add more to the foundation of my brand. The current branding, in place, only more.

Branding Is Working if You Are Growing

It’s working if your audience is growing. If you are able to move forward.

If your readership is lagging a bit, it’s time to make adjustments.

Consider your options when the road gets bumpy and choose the best one for you and your audience. If you do it smart, they’ll come with you and more will show up.