Building a Brand

[wendyw]

I've toyed with the idea of recording a demo to be released when the band in the comic does one, but only if the popularity of the site increases a lot. Otherwise, cost prohibitive.

I've been tempted to do something similar regarding the punk band some of the characters in my comic are in, just as a downloadable extra on the website the same way that Out at Home did it here.

We're setting up our box room as a budget home studio anyway, just as soon as we can get all the stuff stored there into the attic, so it seems an obviuos thing to do, providing I can find someone who would be willing to do vocals and could conceivably be described as sounding like "a ferret on helium".

[Rob]

That sort of stuff is easy if you have the right equipment and software Wendy. I suggest the voice acting alliance as a great place to find folks who do that sort of thing.

I've done a lot of voice acting and singing over the years and I've even been paid for some of it (and one of my shorts was nominated for an award which was cool). I almost alway work out of the VAA. It really is a great community site.

http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/

[wendyw]

Ooh, cool.
I've added it to my bookmarks.

[Miluette]

Some people already know this, but in the past I've offered "soundtracks" with Pictures of You. They're really just lists of songs people should listen to while they read individual books...you know, seeing that I can't afford to buy the rights to this stuff. Coming up soon, with Pandora, I'm going to be launching a Pictures of You radio station.

Oooh, I had Imeem playlists with my fake soundtracks for Lovefeast. I loved putting it together and also loved the idea of people actually listening to it, but then Myspace bought out Imeem so basically it doesn't exist anymore. >( There's nothing else quite like Imeem out there.

[Cary]

On names...I shifted over from pseudonyms about 4 years ago or so because honestly, even when you're a writer, a business owner, or whatever your name is your brand. If someone wants to get hold of my via email it's as simple as my name, and that certainly helps more often than you'd think. Plus I think people have more of a comfort zone knowing it's a real person, you know? I mean not that anyone is trying to hide but when they see the name out there they feel a bit better talking to you instead of seeing you posting as "cheeseismylife199" you know? And no that was never my net handle. :)

Brand wise I see so many people screw up branding it's not even funny. I guess the biggest mistake I see folks making is their logos. Having an unreadable logo is just death. You might not like it, you might think it looks like ass, but if you can read it, that's the most important first step! Next people changing things up or mixing their brands...it's just crazy. I like the concept behind War of Independents but I have to wonder at the brand mixture involved and what it's ultimately doing for any of them other than wasting their time. If my character is in there I want her logo, my studio logo, and our branding in the mix of things very visible and obvious. That's like putting a generic label on a can of Campbell's chunky soup! No one will want it if they don't know what's in the can.