Writing In Progress: Brand Strategy Book For Business Owners

Hello from the uncharted lands of book writing! 

I'm finally putting pen to paper and writing my brand strategy book.  I recently polled my email list to get their advice and feedback on 2 title ideas and here’s why…

Whether my audience chose title #1 or title #2 (don’t worry I’ll put them below for you to check out - and comment on - too!), it was vital to hear their feedback.  

Understanding why my ideal clients would want to read a branding book from me, what they’ve come to expect from me as a brand & messaging strategist, and they kind of book they would really love to have and read and recommend — is gold to my writing process.

Because I’m not writing the branding book for me, I’m writing it for YOU.  That’s why I always love to know exactly what would fill your cup when it comes to offering you the solutions you need in your brand-buidling journey as the awesome business owner you are.

Background On My Brand Book Writing Journey

While I'm outlining and writing the book, I'm simultaneously re-organizing, adding to, and streamlining my online course, THE BRANDPOLISH ACADEMY.

I launched the course/group program back in 2020 and since then it's helped so many entrepreneurs build their brand & clarify their message.

I'm incorporating my refined BRANDPOLISH METHOD, a framework helping business owners go from unclear & inconsistent to a clear, cohesive & compelling brand that captivates your audience and converts more clients.

As a brand strategist, I'm always looking for the most authentic way to set yourself apart and articulate what's really unique about a brand.

Thus, I want to be sure I'm doing the same for my book so it doesn't seem like all the other brand-building / brand strategy books already out there…

…but I also want the book to be a no-brainer that leads people to Brandpolish Academy for even more of my help to build their brand if they feel called.

Considering The Brand Book Competition

Whenever you’re positioning your brand or your product/service, it’s great to get a lay of the competitive landscape.  One of the first things I did is hop onto Amazon and search Books for Brand Strategy (I could’ve typed a number of other keywords, too, but I thought I’d start with the basic description of what I do and what my branding book will be about).

Here’s what I found - and I wasn’t surprised:

I’ve heard of Donald Miller’s book for ages - in fact, lots of ideal clients who come my way say they’ve read this book.  It’s one of the most popular, or widely known, books on building a strategic brand (or, in his case - building a story brand).

What I noticed, most of the top branding books are: 

  • Very sterile looking (not very compelling design wise)

  • All written by men

  • Very formulaic and framework oriented 


While I want my book to feature my brand-building framework, The Brandpolish Method, my desire is that it will be much more than that.  Yes, I want to share practical steps to build a brand, but I also want to make business owners feel:

>> INSPIRED

>> EXCITED

>> CONFIDENT THEY CAN BUILD THEIR BRAND

>> LIKE THEY’VE GAINED MASSIVE CLARITY

And I want them to be able to find the heart of their brand; which is what I believe is the magic of what I overlay and do on top of just a step-by-step approach.  It’s connecting to the deeper feeling you want your brand to express and defining the experience you want your clients and customers to have every single time they interact with your brand.

It’s Practical. Brand. Magic.  (Hmmmm, perhaps that’s the title??)

How two title options for my branding book gave me great market research

Two Book Title Options I Gave My Audience

With all this in mind, here are the 2 book titles (both working titles, nowhere near finalized) I gave to my audience:

1 - THE BRANDPOLISH METHOD: The Ultimate Business Owner's Guide To Building An Inspired Brand That Captivates Your Audience

– Or… 

2 - BRAND WITH HEART: The Ultimate Business Owner's Guide To Building A Beloved Brand That Captivates Your Audience 


What I found was a healthy desire for each of these titles, and ultimately let me know that I need to find a combination of these two to make my branding book stand out, attract my ideal clients, and demonstrate that you won’t just be getting my step-by-step method, and you won’t just be getting a fluffy heart-led approach.

The idea is you’re getting an INSPIRING and PRACTICIAL guide to generate genuine excitement and clarity to build your brand and bring it to fruition so you can do the work you’re meant to do in the world.


If you’d like to comment on which title you like more, or how you feel about a combination of the 2 proposed titles above, please feel free.  I’m always open to additional feedback from my audience of business owners, entrepreneurs and founders.

I’ll continue to update you on the book’s progress as I go!

BRANDING, BUSINESS, INSPIRATIONHilary Hartlingbrand strategy, branding book, brand strategy book, writing a branding book, brand strategy book for business ownersComment