[Marketing] Name vs. Brand

What's in a name?

"Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?"  Of course it would because a four letter name does not in any way affect the chemical make up of the flower's scent; however, roses have taken on many other meanings in our culture through commercial branding. They become a symbol of love, passion, and even one of sincerity and apology. Culturally, we've been trained to think of them as more than just pretty flowers.

Like a rose, your brand is more than just a name, and I think that's what a lot of people are confused about.  The Shameless Self-Promoters - the ones whose RSS, Twitter, and Facebook feeds are filed with MY BOOK TITLE reviewed, MY BOOK TITLE onsale, MY BOOK TITLE, MY BOOK TITLE (you've all seen these accounts) are misunderstanding that branding is not just about maximum exposure of a select set of keywords.

That's not to say that the name is unimportant.  Your name, the title of your novel or series, blog, hashtag etc.  is the unique identifier that consumers and readers will be associating with your over-arching message.  It is your base. In time you'll build on your base and the end result will be more complex than the name itself.

Branding is a form of communication. The ultimate goal of successful branding is widespread awareness of your name, but you also want your brand to answer those "Who?" and "What?" questions too.  HOW you go about answering those questions is branding.

Photo Credits: Photo by Charisse JoyChyu, published under a creative commons license.