So you're a female artist or creative woman who wants to develop your branding?
More likely you want to know why the heck I’m talking about Branding when you just want to get to work on your social media.
Because Foundations and strategy matter more than social media tactics. You want to create an online presence and reach your audience, but don't know where to start. This blog post will give you 6 steps on how to develop a personal branding for females like yourself!
I’ll help you to determine what type of branding represents you through tone and image: do you want something that's more feminine or more professional? Do you want it be sleek and modern, or something with bright colors and patterns? What about the tone of voice? Would you prefer playful, humorous, informative - or some combination thereof?
Think of this blog as a food-for -thought exploration document to use as you begin to take action in talking about what you do, and who you do it for. And it’s important that you choose the lens through which the world sees you.
That’s you. That’s your brand.
STEP ONE: KNOW YOURSELF
The first step of personal branding for artists is to define yourself and what makes you unique. As an artist, this might be your style of art or the message you hope to convey through it. Whatever it may be, the most important thing is that it needs to come from you and represent who you really are . Once you've done some soul searching to find out what you are really about, start building your brand around it.
One way of doing this is by using keywords for personal branding that describe your style or the message you want to send. Thesaurus.com is a great tool for finding synonyms that can convey similar messages or feelings.
Another way to get started is to browse a list of adjectives and circle the ones that apply to your brand.
What is important to you?
What do you want to be known for?
What are the non-negotiables in your brand?
What do you want people to feel when they interact with you?
Choose 3 words to describe your values.
These three little words will become crucial to your brands identity whether or not you share them with anybody else in the world. They'll become so important because they'll serve as your guiding principle.
By creating a list of words that describe your brand, you'll be ready to create an interesting and engaging content that will help define who you are and what makes you unique.
STEP TWO: BOUNDARIES
How personal should your personal brand be? You get to choose.
Knowing what kind of work you don't want to do is just as important as knowing what kind of work you do want to do.
Engage on social media, but don't over-share or do anything that will make you feel uncomfortable or regretful later on/
STEP THREE: YOUR VISION
Your vision consists of your Marketing One Pager and your Mission Statement.
And you'll use the three words you chose in step one to describe your values as the foundation of your mission statement
Your mission statement.
The mission statement should not be more than three sentences. It should be something that you can memorize, that you can share with people. Again, What do you want to be known for? And how can you describe it as an action?
Those three value-related words and your mission should be reflected throughout your brand.
STEP FOUR: YOUR VOICE AND VISUALS
What do you stand for and how to you communicate in words and visuals?
Once you have a good idea of what type of branding you want, then start brainstorming how you want to communicate it in both words and visuals.
Defining your visual look.
This is what everyone thinks Branding is. And, it’s the last step before creating your Brand Assets.
Wanna find visuals and images that reflect your style? Pinterest is great for this! Collect pins that represent the look and feel you're going for.
If you need help getting started, here are some general tips:
-Keep your visuals simple and clean
-Incorporate colors or patterns from your art, food, or crafts as a possible signature style for your brand
-Choose fonts that are easy to read and have a aesthetic that matches your brand aesthetic.
-Think about how you can use typography in interesting ways (e.g. using different font weights, word and line spacing)
STEP FIVE: WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
Why do I ask about your customer when we're working on defining who you are? Because if you don't know who are you talking to you'll have a big problem
What are their needs, desires, wants, fears? Keep in mind that not all of these questions may apply to selling art. You may want to focus more on how you want them to feel when experiencing your art, the beauty or message of your art that gives them self expression.
How do you connect with your customers?
STEP SIX: ESTABLISHING YOUR BRAND’S DIGITAL HOME
Now you have your RECIPE for success. That was the hard part. Congrats. Now let’s make it happen.
Yes, now it's time to talk about social media.
It's really important to choose the best platform for your particular product but just like everything in marketing you can experiment to see what works. Don’t get overwhelmed. Just choose one for now. One that you’re willing to go all in on and give it a good shot. You can add others later on.
You should have your own website along with your own domain name and one social platform that drives traffic back to your site.
If you’re a visual artist you might choose to promote your art on Instagram or even on Pinterest.
You might use Twitter to catch somebody's attention.
And, since Pinterest is a search engine you might use either that or Twitter to link back to the blog or website where you work is for sale.
It’s important to learn how to package what you do into something that creates interest in you as an artist and desire for your what you sell. But please understand that social media does not immediately increase your market value.
That would be like getting married on the first date. It happens, but that’s not the best path to building a lasting relationship – which is what you’re doing in building a customer base.
Think about how you can build a relationship with the people you connect with. Let them get to know you one step at a time. And show them you know them and what makes them click.
Responsibility, accountability in managing your personal brand
Your personal brand is a reputation that you must protect.
Be mindful of what others are experiencing about you and what you want them to experience about you.
Don’t confuse this with “acting a part.” To the contrary, you should focus on being more of who you naturally are and want to be so that you can perform and serve at your optimal levels.
If others don’t know what your personal brand is, the fault is your and not theirs.
Why You Should Create an Update Schedule for Social Media
One of the big benefits of social media is that it has enabled a sense of personal connection between, people to people or between people and companies.
You should update at least twice a week but perhaps no more than 5 times a week.
What are they reading? What's going on in their head? What things are inspiring them?
Talk about that. But make sure it links back to your art.
Conclusion :
Creating a personal brand for female artists and creative women can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. These six steps will help you get started on the right foot and create a foundation that will help you stand out from the crowd. Just remember to stay true to yourself, set boundaries, and keep putting your work out there!
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