Lately, we’ve talked a lot about the importance of building a personal brand—whether you’re an individual, entrepreneur, or the owner of a business. A brand involves color schemes and logos, but it’s also important to use your brand to establish your values and business principles (increasingly so with every year).
But how do you create a brand that truly stands out from the rest?
How do you define your brand and values?
One of the best ways to start and refine your brand—not to mention your mission and your company itself—is to write a book.
I know—that’s a lot of time and money. But you, your brand, and your company are worth investing in.
Your brand is the foundation of your company
Marketing your brand
For starters, it’s difficult to pitch a brand that you haven’t quite defined for yourself. You need to have a solid idea of what you do, why you do what you do, and how your company accomplishes those goals every time to speak to potential clients or partners. Having a clear and well-spoken pitch will garner much more positive responses than a long rambling of your company’s big ideas.
Writing a book about your business or even a memoir about why you do what you do is a great place to define the specifics of your brand. Writing a book is a long process of planning, outlining, and writing that will ask you to solidify your values, passions, and company goals in their slightest details.
By the time you’re ready to publish, you’ll be an expert in every corner of your brand—and you’ll have editor-approved, well-thought-out words to tell the world about it!
Growing credibility
In the age of the internet, consumers are met with thousands of options any time they decide they’d like to invest in something. It’s easier than ever to make a website and generate branding—for good and bad reasons. Anyone can make a website, and consumers want to know that they are paying for legit, professional services.
A good start to building your credibility is to clearly define your brand, so that you can speak or write about it in a straightforward, approachable manner. If you’re not quite sure on some of the specifics of your brand, the language on your website and marketing materials can become so lofty that consumers feel they are reading many words that amount to no information.
Having a published book connected to your brand also adds to your credibility. Typically, only experts in their field write books—because they have the working knowledge to do so. Consumers will feel more comfortable knowing you’re well-versed in the work you do. And despite its rise in popularity, the internet still possesses much less credibility in the eyes of consumers than books do. People trust books. Especially if you publish traditionally (and you don’t have to), consumers will be happy to see that you’ve been vetted.
Grow your company
Once you’ve defined your brand and mission, as well as the copy you’ll use in marketing and in meetings, it will be so much easier to begin growing your company through client outreach and partnerships.
Because writing a book helps you get to know your brand, helps you streamline your marketing copy, and boosts your credibility, your brand will be a clear choice when consumers and potential partners are deciding where to invest their time and money. You’ll come across as a well-prepared, knowledgeable, and professional entity—because you will be. Writing a book requires the research and introspection all great companies need.
These qualities go a long way for your growth and marketing strategies because they do work for you before you’ve ever even met with a client. Then, when you’re meeting face-to-face for the first time, you’ll be able to dive deeper into aspects of your brand and mission because they’ve already started to get to know you.
Discover new opportunities
Growing a brand and business is about more than attracting clients and investors. You started your brand and/or company because you are passionate about what you do. Maybe you want to help people in similar situations, maybe you want to create change in your field’s standards, or maybe you want to plant the seeds for worldwide changes.
“Once your business begins to take off, people who want to find out more about you, your business, or even how you’ve accomplished it all—they buy your book. Eventually, book sales become a passive income that you can pocket as profit or use for other things.”
The best place to start making a difference is to start in your own community, which, correspondingly, is also where most businesses start. It’s much easier to start conversations and ask for favors from people who have known you for a while (or who, at least, enjoy being involved in your community).
But once you get to a point where you’ve made some positive change, you’ve published a book on your journey so far, and your business is steadily growing, opportunities for your company’s impact grow as well. You can choose to expand into philanthropic projects or start a speaking circuit (which your book can also certainly help you do). You may also choose to stretch your scope of practice and introduce new services or cast a wider net for clients and outreach. The possibilities are really endless—if you have a foundation for your brand and what you do, you provide you future self with opportunities for growth.
Books become a passive income
Books are a significant financial investment up front, and many potential authors hesitate to make that investment for fear of never achieving a return.
It is difficult to make back the money you spent writing your book in just book sales—in fact, many authors don’t, even with a solid marketing strategy. However you can absolutely receive a return on investment—and more—in opportunities the book opens up for you.
From speaking gigs (and charging more for them) to an increase in clientele, having a business book under your belt will always be an asset to your overall business model. And as your business grows, so will your book sales.
Business and their book sales tend to have a sort of symbiotic relationship. Early on, publishing the book is what helps a lot of businesses get off the ground, refine their brand, and establish credibility (all of which open a host of opportunities for development and income).
But once your business begins to take off, people who want to find out more about you, your business, or even how you’ve accomplished it all—they buy your book. Every time you meet with clients or partners, let them know you have a book. Eventually, book sales become a passive income that you can pocket as profit or use for other things.
How to write a book that boosts your business
So how can you get started? Don’t think that business books are one-size-fits-all—not every business book reads like a well-researched yet dry guide to stock exchanges. You just need to figure out what kind of book fits best for you and your brand and get started.
What kind of business book should you write?
There are so many different types of business books out there. You can center them around your business, but many authors choose to talk more about how their personal experiences led them to where they are (psst…we also have a blog post on the subject!).
You can write a memoir about what made you so passionate about what you do in the first place. What was is that made you decide you wanted to pursue a job in healthcare. Did you start a nonprofit for foster children because of your experience in the system? Maybe you’ve become an activist—a voice for the voiceless. Write about the journey that brought you there.
You can write a memoir for others in your field who are just starting out: a guide of what to do and what not to do for young entrepreneurs. What do you wish you knew when you started out? What tips and tricks have your learned since then? What did you do to stick out from a sea of other candidates? Even though it’s centered around career advice, readers will love getting to know you and your story personally along the way. Anyone can give out advice—not everyone can tell the story of how they found that advice out.
Or, you can home in on what new ideas you’ve introduced to your industry. Are you trying to rid your industry of toxic workplaces and burnout? What makes your business different from the rest? What new aspects and processes do you introduce? Let your readers get to know you, your ideas, and your passions intimately—it will make them feel connected to you and your business.
If you’re still unsure of what your next steps are, we do have a Book Strategy Quiz that can help you figure out what kind of book to write—and how to make the most of it.
How do I write a book?
Once you’ve decided what kind of book you’d like to write, it’s a good idea to start refining what your brand means to you. To get started, you can try answering the following questions:
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What drives the work I do?
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How do I want people to feel when they interact with my brand?
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What are the values that anchor my brand?
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Is my brand casual and accessible or more formal and professional?
Those questions will help you frame your book around the brand you want to establish. Then, you need to decide what stories you want to tell and organize them by theme or timeline. Yes, they all need to have some kind of through line, point, lesson—whatever you’d like to call it. Your book needs to have a point. Why will readers choose your book? What will they take away from it?
After refining and organizing your ideas, it’s time to start writing.
Yeah—much easier said than done. However, if you don’t have much writing experience, or you’d just like to have a professional set of eyes on your work, you can hire on some help.
Here at DAS, we offer a range of services including coaching, marketing, publishing, and even full-book ghostwriting if you’d like a book that suits you and your brand and keeps industry standards in mind to help it sell.
Publish your book
Your options are fairly simple when it comes time to publish. On the one hand, self-publishing is quite easy. You have full control over the editorial and design processes, and your royalties tend to be much higher for each book sold. But, it’s still a good idea to run a self-published book through hired help like a cover designer or copyeditor to make sure your final result is as professional as it can be.
“Let your readers get to know you, your ideas, and your passions intimately—it will make them feel connected to you and your business.”
If you’d prefer to submit your manuscript to a press, your royalties will likely be lower, and they will have a say with some editorial decisions. It can take much more time, and the process can be a bit more stringent. But, because of the more rigorous process, many readers (especially in certain fields) prefer the credibility and quality of a traditional press.
The bottom line
If you want to build your brand, you can’t go wrong with writing a book. There are lots of different options when it comes to what kind of book you write and how you go about writing and publishing it. Not only will it help you become an expert in your own brand, but it will provide a great anchor for any opportunities for expansion. Eventually, you may even generate a passive income through book sales.
It’s a certainly a healthy investment of time and money, but if you believe in your brand and in your business, it’s worth every penny.
