Something I’ve been thinking about lately since switching this from a web site to a weblog is the idea of branding, and if you have any kind of craft related career or hope of having one, you should be thinking about it too. This is especially true if you sell your crafts because very often “you” are your product. When your customers purchase your jewelry or dress or whatever the item is that you make, they are buying a piece of you in a way, and it means something to them that a real live person who they know something about made that piece. Remember, they could go to just about any Wally-World store these days and buy something similar (I said similar, not the same, not even as good as) and for less money.
How do you start thinking of your brand or who you are as a pro crafter? What sort of image are you trying to portray?
Kristen King, a pro blogger who writes about writing, business, and a few other topics, suggests one way to help yourself define your brand is to figure out what your theme song would be:
Identify your theme song. In the movie/tv show of your life, what is the song that we hear in opening credits?
I am sure if I had more time, I could come up with a few songs for myself, but after thinking on and off about this all day, finally it came to me: Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper.
My mother says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun
The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells what you gonna do with your life
Oh daddy dear you know you’re still number one
But girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have
That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls – they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun
Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I want to be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have
That’s all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls – they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun,
They want to have fun,
They want to have fun…
Okay, so how can I make this theme song work for my brand? Why – other than the fact that I totally dig this song and I have fond memories of back in the day when it first came out and I was zipping around in my heart-shaped sun glasses and sporty Comet – can this silly song define me and my crafting career?
I could blab on and on making all kinds of connections to the lyrics, but it boils down to the fact that I find crafting to be fun, and I want to make it fun for people who read my books and web site and this blog. Like most women, I work very hard and I think it is important for all of us to has some fun and “to be the one to walk in the sun.”
