Author Brand-Building Checklist

Author Brand-Building Checklist

What are your core values? In other words, what is important to you in how you run your business and present it to the world? (Remember, authors are entrepreneurs.)
How do you want your brand to make people feel? (i.e., strong, empowered, happy, grateful, healthy, hopeful, etc.)
What kind of tone do you want to set? Should it be professional? Funny? Spiritual? Authoritative?
What do you want to be known for?
Can you create a tagline that explains what you’re about in seven words or less? (Example: Authority Publishing’s tagline is “Helping business professionals establish authority online.”)
Who is your target audience?
How does your book serve your target audience? What benefits will they gain from reading your book?
Do you need to update your PowerPoint presentations to align with your brand and values?
Does your website reflect all of the above?
What marketing collateral needs to be updated? (Business cards, bookmarks, postcards, speaker sheets, fliers, etc.)
Do you have a consistent color scheme and does it accurately reflect your goals and vision?

Most nonfiction authors have a unique opportunity to establish themselves as authorities in their fields. Therefore, your goal should be to get known in that field and with that target audience. When an industry conference is coming up, you want to be an obvious choice to be a speaker at that event. You also want your blog and social media efforts and everything you do online and offline to appeal to that audience.

Your book may also be an extension of your business, working in concert with your other marketing efforts to attract consulting clients, speaking engagements, corporate sponsors, and other opportunities. To get the best results, you should begin to build a brand for yourself as an authority in your field.

Everything you do should convey what your brand is about. That means that your marketing collateral, website, business cards, PowerPoint presentations, etc. should all have a consistent message and design. But building a brand involves more than developing a consistent look and feel for your marketing collateral. Use this checklist to answer some important questions when building your brand.

Action Items to Complete

Spend some time searching for other authors online to study their branding strategies. Note what you like and don’t like as you begin to shape your own strategy.
Update or redesign your website.
Write dazzling website copy that speaks to your target audience.
Revise outdated marketing materials.
Hire a talented graphic designer to create a consistent look and feel.
Write a new bio that reflects your brand—one that can be used on your website, in book promotion materials, for speaking engagements, etc.
Develop a signature speech.
Write blog posts that complement your brand goals.
Build a social media presence that reflects your brand.
When opportunities come to you, decide whether or not they fit with your brand.
Consider your brand before writing your next book.