How to Market Yourself
When I opened my Instagram to a message asking for this blog, I was honestly so honored. I have been using IG since high school, when showing off pictures of your sleepover or soccer games was all that people wanted to see. Now, I have shifted my mindset to leverage Instagram for more than just socializing. In fact, I feel like I follow more creatives than I do friends. Crazy to think about!
So, how did I start establishing myself as “Katie Forsha, creator of Arno & Third, blogger, photographer, videographer, and aspiring comedian”? (okay maybe joking on that last one).
I’ll let you know right now that just like anything good, it took time & effort to figure it out. It’s a continuous process, that changes as I grow & evolve, so look at this as a starting point not an end goal.
What I did to establish myself as a brand
Step 1: Figure out who you are
If you want to brand yourself, you need to take a second and think about why you are wanting a brand & what you can bring to people. Are you providing a service? Are you educating people? Are you entertaining people? Whatever it may be, write it down. Seriously, get a notebook and write it on the first page.
For me it’s a hybrid of it all: inspire travel and a joyful life. I also value entertaining my followers which I do through both written stories and videos of my life.
From there, write down words that you would use to describe how you want your content to feel to your audience AND what type of content you want to share. For me these words are: joyful, funny, meaningful, inspired, travel, video, stories, photo, encouraged.
I use these to shape exactly how I want to brand myself. Since I want my brand to be uplifting, I focus on the good experiences and chose to share those. Of course I can share stories of challenges, but they will always have a positive spin. This lends itself easily to my personality and is something I can sustain over time.
I suggest doing something that feels natural to you, because if you try to go for a “funny approach” and your humor is not landing with the crowd, I’m not sure how long you will last.
Step 2: Decide your medium
What types of platforms lend themselves nicely to what you want to accomplish? This is my hardest part because I honestly love doing everything. I have always loved to write, take photos and create videos. So rather than just focusing on my Instagram photos, I chose to create a website to house all my content. I also have a YouTube channel, Pinterest page, IG, and Facebook page. I use all of these platforms to cross promote, which I think is a great way to grow your brand.
If you think of yourself as a brand, it’s easy to see why you might want to have multiple platforms. Picture this: if you are going to buy a pair of leggings from a new brand, you are going to check their website of course, but then also their Instagram to make sure they are active and reputable, then possibly their Facebook page to see how many page likes they’ve gotten, etc. Cross promoting and maintaining multiple streams of content is huge for reaching new audiences and gaining brand recognition.
cross promoting
My YouTube banner showcases the same photos that I share on Instagram and Pinterest, which helps establish a ‘feel’ for my brand.
Remember this can start small. If being on camera isn’t your thing then definitely don’t make a YouTube channel because you feel like you need to! I promise, it won’t be long before you neglect that! Start with what excites you & is relevant, then go from there!
Step 3: Figure out your style
Okay so you already have some of the keywords you want your brand to revolve around, now it’s time to get content. This is based upon the mediums you want (aka what you chose for Step 2). For me this meant starting to write & take photos. I found that I was already taking photos whenever we were out & about, so all I needed to do was take a little extra time to edit them and throw them up on the IG and my blog.
It’s in this phase that I also started deciding what not to post. Since I wanted to establish myself as a lifestyle and travel brand, I needed to post photos that screamed travel and lifestyle at a quick glance.
At first I started a general cycle of: 1 travel photo,1 lifestyle photo, then1 random photo from the week. I really focused on establishing an aesthetic with my feed at this point. Nowadays I am a little less strict with this. I have a general idea of what photos will perform best (aka me + Pete or artsy photos of just me) and which ones don’t (landscape, scenery without humans), but if I’m being honest, there are days when I don’t really worry too much about how well certain photos do. Sometimes I feel compelled to share something that is on my heart at the moment and say screw it to the numbers!
My biggest tip for your style is to establish a look for your photos. My content in general is very warm toned, with lots of oranges and pinky hues. I make sure to edit all my photos in a similar manner to ensure consistency across my entire brand. I genuinely really enjoy editing and seeing the before + after’s of pictures, so this part of the editing process excites me! If editing isn’t your bag, I would just try to stick to a similar feel, even if just using similar Instagram filters.
very warm toned photos
As you can tell, almost all my photos follow a similar color scheme - aka warm tones. You’ll also see that I mix up the types of photos I share. If I post a close up for one photo, I do a landscape or one full body shot on the next.
Step 4: Put yourself out there
The best advice I ever heard was that once you feel comfortable & ready to do something it’s too late.
I know that we ALL want that perfect photo, flawless website or booming FB page. But what you need to remember that even the biggest brands started from the ground up. So rather than waiting for the “perfect timing” to launch your brand, just do it now. You will definitely have errors along the way but that’s how you grow!
I recommend starting with posting at least once a week for blogs & social media. I think the sweet spot is actually between 2-3x a week. From there you can figure out what fits your lifestyle as well. It might feel weird at first, but I swear you’ll get into a flow.
At the beginning you might not have lots of content to share and that’s A-okay!
I would just hold yourself accountable to a schedule, like every Tuesday at 7 PM, set an alarm to post. You can even tee it up & schedule your posts on Planoly or other apps.
Remember that getting content out there is key because Instagram favors accounts that are active. Plus it gets your name out there!! This holds true for other platforms as well. Visibility is EVERYTHING.
WOW. I am tired after reading this haha!! I hope this gave you some tips on marketing yourself and building a brand! I would love to dig further into this if you are interested!
Please let me know below if there are any other aspects of branding that you want me to dive into!