FROM THE MIND OF A HUSTLER

by Hotep ~ June 30th, 2010. Filed under: Book Marketing $ Sales.

Vol 1 – Brand Your Swag

Hustle- verb; to act aggressively especially in business dealings.Hustler- noun; an enterprising person, someone determined to succeed, a go-getter.

Welcome to the first of many articles for those of you who are tired of waiting for opportunities in the publishing world, and are ready to create your own. Today, I’d like to discuss Personal Branding as a little-known strategy for authors to sell many more books. I call it… “Branding your Swag”.

P-Diddy, Suze Orman, Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump are all household names because they have mastered the skill of personal branding…and YOU CAN TOO! When you “Brand Your Swag” what you’re basically doing is building your business identity based on one or more of your own unique attributes. This is a relatively simple and extremely effective success strategy to employ, but many authors know nothing about it.

The main reason for this oversight is that most authors think they are in the business of WRITING books. The truth is, they are in the business of SELLING books! Personal branding is a powerful SALES technique, not a writing technique.
Another big problem is that many authors use the words Branding and Marketing interchangeably. As you are about to see, they are two very distinct processes.

Brand

to label or mark with or as if with a brand.
to mark with disgrace or infamy; stigmatize.
to impress indelibly: The plane crash was branded on her mind.
to give a brand name to: branded merchandise.
to promote as a brand name.
A trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer.
A product line so identified: a popular brand of soap.
A distinctive category; a particular kind: a brand of comedy that I do not care for.

Market

The act or process of buying and selling in a market.
The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer.
The activities of a company associated with buying and selling a product or service. It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to people. People who work in marketing departments of companies try to get the attention of target audiences by using slogans, packaging design, celebrity endorsements and general media exposure.

You use your Brand to help Market (sell) your books.

Your brand is your identity. It is what makes your business special and distinguishes it from competitors. In essence….YOUR BRAND IS YOU!

Authors need to understand one of the oldest sales techniques, which is NOT to sell the product, but to sell YOURSELF! Once the consumer buys into YOU, they will continue to buy your books (or any other product you create) over and over again. That’s why many publishers will print the NAME OF THE AUTHOR at the top and more prominently than even the title of a book. They are selling the author, not the book. The single BEST way to accomplish this feat for yourself is to Brand Your Swag.
Think about it.

When you go to the nightclub, you want people to notice you. You wear clothes that accentuate your body type. You wear colors that compliment your skin. Your hair and fashion represent your style and culture and attracts people within that same culture. You’ve got SWAGGER!

Likewise, your brand needs to compliment you. It must accentuate who you are. It needs to communicate a message to people and attract customers. If your brand is not established, it falls into obscurity among the millions of other average joe authors in your genre vying for the limited attention and dollar of the reader. But if you Brand Your Swag, you realize there is NO COMPETITION, because there is only 1 you!
So don’t worry! Be yourself. Just like there’s someone for everyone when it comes to romantic relationships; there’s also an audience for every brand. You just have to find them and let them know you exist. I will share more techniques on how to accomplish this in the next article. PEACE!

FROM THE MIND OF A HUSTLER is written by Hotep, founder of HustleUniversity.org. He is an urban media mogul widely known for his out-the-box thinking, guerilla marketing tactics, branding expertise and his unique “common sense” approach to teaching leadership, entrepreneurship and practical business best practices. His motto is, “If you can’t find a way…MAKE A WAY!
For more help selling books visit:www.HustleUniversity.Org