[music] [Kristy Campbell] Alright, guys, I think we're ready to go. Are you guys excited to be here? That was a pretty good reaction. Okay, I'm happy with that. So I'm gonna jump straight into it. I want you guys to imagine this scenario. There's a new product on the market. It's a high spec digital drawing pad. The business selling the drawing pad, It's a new company called Drawdom. Would you buy it? Maybe. What if I told you that a guy called Joe was the founder of the company Drawdom? Would you buy it? Who's Joe and what does he know about design? I think I'll pass. He was made with AI, by the way. But what if I told you that our good friend Aaron Draplin was the man behind the brand? The iconic designer known for his creative prowess and warm, honest nature, was the founder of the company Drawdon. I bet, suddenly your reaction shifts. Wow. Aaron Draplin, this must be good. Let's buy it. But did you notice that? That subtle but powerful internal shift of trust and excitement when I mention each founder, Joe versus Aaron Draplin. This shift underlines a crucial point. If you can associate a brand with a well known and respected person, you've humanized the brand and created an emotional connection. Our trust and Aaron Draplin's expertise makes us feel confident about the product. But I do just want to touch on something. Drawdom is completely hypothetical. The only thing Aaron Draplin is endorsing is playing as much scrabble with his mom when he visits her in Michigan. And by the way, he told me to actually say that. But anyway, circling back, this shift is the powerful impact of personal branding. And if you can harness the powerful impact of personal brand, share vulnerability and connect with people on an emotional level, you'll go from just being another name in the market to a well known, memorable entity. Hello guys, my name is Kristy Campbell and I'm from Auckland, New Zealand. And I've travelled 13,000 kilometers to be here today and I've only just realized you guys have no idea what that means. You all work in miles. But I'm a confident self doubter. I'm a creative cowgirl, a lover of life, a wife to an incredible man, Mikey, a parent to a dog called Vegas and a cat called Mittens. My strength is waking up at 04:30 a.m. and my weakness is wanting more coffee at 04:30 p.m. and my fear is changing RGB to CMYK. I think we all share that same horror. But I'm the founder of a design studio called Pink Pony Creative, where I lead a team of six who naturally refer to themselves as the ponies. But quick disclaimer, there's going to be a lot of pink in the next 45 minutes. But hey, that's my brand. And we're all about consistency. But our superpower brand synergy, crafting seamless and unforgettable visual identities for businesses all over the world.
Now, in today's competitive market, creating a memorable and impactful brand is essential for any business, whether you're a small, family owned company or a world famous brand. Many of us understand the importance of a logo and a visual identity. But to be honest, those are just the static building blocks of a brand. The real challenge is bringing these elements to life into a living and breathing brand. Just like transforming a stick figure into a Pixar masterpiece. So, at Pink Pony, we define ourselves as visual identity specialists. But what does this really mean? Well, a visual identity encompasses everything visual to portray a brand's personality. But look, surprise. Today's talk isn't actually about design. It's actually about bringing these ideas into a living and breathing brand. So in business, the adage, people sell to people holds true. Which is why many companies invest heavily in brand ambassadors like celebrities or sports figures. Some companies have internationally recognized founders, while others gain exposure from more controversial figures. But we won't go into those today. But what about our smaller brands? How do we boost our brand's visibility cost effectively, and build that trust and loyalty? We don't need to get a celebrity on board. We just need to be a little bit creative and to be honest, maybe a little bit weird. Weird is memorable. So why am I standing here today? Well, I'm a graphic designer and I'm a brand identity specialist. I'm not a marketing specialist, but I've had real experience in bringing my own brand to life. And I'm here to talk about what I've learned today.
So when I started Pink Pony four and a half years ago, it took me 10 seconds to realize that hiring someone famous was completely out of my budget. And although very tempting, hiring my dog, Vegas, was also out of the question. But we are fortunate enough to live in an era where social media can amplify everything that we do and allow our businesses to become location neutral. So when I decided to grow my brand, I decided to integrate it with my personal brand and amplify it with social media. And despite not being a sales and marketing guru, I became the face of my brand. And believe me, my dog, Vegas was quite relieved. Isn't he cute? So it's taken a few years and a lot of hard work, I have to say. But even though we are all the way out in little old New Zealand, I do like to think that Pink Pony has been somewhat successful. We've got clients all over the world. I'm here standing, talking in front of you guys today, and honestly, it is a surreal dream come true. And I cannot thank you enough for being here today, especially because Aaron Draplin is talking at the exact same time. So thank you. Oh, thanks, guys.
So this is my third year coming to Adobe Max, and I've been fortunate enough to be a speaker each year I've attended. But I want to take you back to the very first year for a special reason. So in 2021, when I was asked to speak at Adobe Max, I had no idea what to expect. We don't even have conferences half the size of this back in New Zealand. So I was terrified. The thought terrified me. So I came into Adobe Max. I was nervous. Would it live up to the expectations from what I'd seen and heard online? Would I make new friends and fit in? Would people be welcoming and kind to this girl with the funny accent? Well, three days later, when I left the conference, I was over the moon with the connections I'd made. I was creatively recharged and I was so pumped. And the next year was even better. I made more friends, had more laughs, and I even had the most insightful chat with Christo while I waited for a keynote to start. I have to say, I played it cool, but honestly, I could not believe I was sitting and chatting with the Christo. But it made me wonder, why do I enjoy this conference so much? Is it hearing from all the awesome creatives and learning new skills, seeing the amazing features that are coming out on Adobe that are just mind blowing. Or maybe it's seeing your favorite design heroes out in the world and them being just as friendly as they seem in person as they are online. What makes this conference so special? In fact, what makes anything we do so special? It's the connections we make, the friends we make, the buzz of having shared interests and skills and aligning with people on a level like we never have before. It's the people. And as you land on Adobe Max's website, you're hit with a message. Creativity unites us all. And of course it does. 10,000 people attend this event in person, and over hundreds of thousands of people attend online. Creativity does unite us all, but it is so much more than that, what really unites us all is the stories we tell, the experiences we share and the vulnerability we reveal. Vulnerability unites us all. And as I continue to work through this session, you'll realize how true this message really is when it comes to your personal brand. So based on my experiences and understanding, I'm going to provide you with the strategies to build a personal brand with power. But I do just want to touch on something. While these strategies won't provide you with immediate results, you do have to have drive, passion and motivation to get it done. But hopefully it'll provide you with some tangible tools to work towards that big epic dream of yours. Look, I can tell you what to do, but it is up to you to get it done. Remember, if it is to be, it is up to me. So we're going to work through four stages to build a personal brand with power. Just four. These are create, carve, connect and conquer. Just four guys. And as we work through these lessons, there are lessons along the way which you can apply to your own personal brand building efforts yourselves. But do these four stages and you'll be well on your way to taking your personal brand from unseen to unforgettable. All right, pillar one, create. Now, this essentially is where we are discovering. We're on the discovery process, so we need to have a serious think about how our backstory is going to be influenced when it comes to our personal brand and what people see today. So I want you to consider this. Every single business is fundamentally rooted in someone's personal brand. It all starts an idea because of that person behind it and their life experiences. So when we're thinking about building a personal brand, we need to reconnect with our essence and understand our true selves. But you know, this can be really daunting. So how do we do this? Well, I want you to think of your life as the core framework of your personal brand. What are the key components that make up who you truly are? And again, look into your life to go into this. So I'm just going to give you my own quick example. So, growing up, I loved to create everything creative. Arts and crafts, illustrating, painting, making home movies with my friends, drawing lots of horses. I also loved, surprisingly, the color pink. I know, very surprising. I wore pink day in and day out. Funny enough, my favorite animal is ponies. Surprising. But thankfully, my parents managed to pay for that very expensive hobby. So thank you mum and dad, I know you're probably listening. And my favorite hobby was dancing. I loved to be on stage, entertain and I also started to upload my choreography to places like YouTube and Instagram. Don't go looking for those, by the way. They're still out there. It's under my maiden name, which none of you know. And I also had an approach to life where I didn't really take things too seriously. We lived out on a farm, and I spent most of my time out in the rolling hills, the mud, and in the sun. So this is the core framework of my life. When we think about building our personal brand, we are building a brand from who we are authentically. And to be honest, we could not be more authentic than when we were a child.
So evidently, my love of creating turned into my career path. My love of pink and ponies became my business name, Pink Pony Creative. And my love of dancing and cheering and uploading my videos on YouTube actually allowed me to jump into social media and kind of start to understand it. The approach to life, of not taking things too seriously, also allows me to take well considered business risks and take things with a grain of salt. Again, my core framework of my life. So to find yours, simply dive into your life and understand what makes you you. It's literally as simple as asking yourself those questions. Did I have a favorite color growing up? Did I have a favorite animal or a favorite sport? Did I face any major struggles? And did I go through life with a different approach? I want you to think about this. Think about what is going to give your audience value or what is going to tell an interesting story. I get asked all the time where the name Pink Pony came from, because, to be honest, it is kind of unique for a design company. And in the diary of a CEO by Stephen Barlett, he talks about having something that is wildly unique, wildly different. We need to find that wildly different thing. So we need to find our inner unicorn. Love it perfectly on brand. So I didn't want to be just like every other freelancer that called their business after themselves, to be honest. And no hate if this is you. It can work. I didn't want to be Christy Campbell design. I wanted to be more than that four and a half years ago. So what I did was I decided to look into the backstory of my life and bring out elements to influence it and bring it to what people see today. I was being authentic right from day one without even realizing it. Another really great example of this is a really successful agency, Lincoln Design Co, and also the biggest inspiration for me. Honestly, these guys are awesome. So Lincoln Design Co in Vancouver, Washington, very stark aesthetic difference. I have to say, but these guys are just great. But Dan Jansen, the founder, he loves motorsport. He grew up loving motorsport, skating the outdoors. And then when he decided to start building his business, he went into all of those specific areas and went into them in branding, illustration work, design, animation, simply finding core aspects of his life and pulling them to the forefront of his brand. You know what's really interesting as well about Lincoln Design Co? Early this year I was attending a conference and Dan was there and he mentioned the name of his company, Lincoln. And it was kind of, someone asked, where did that come from? And he said it actually came from a name that didn't quite make the cut when it came to naming his children. Again, taking a core aspect of his life and pulling it to the forefront of his brand to make it truly memorable and impactful to him. And I do just want to touch on something. I'll just go through this last slide of their work. It's amazing, honestly. Look, we can be selective. Taking those core elements from your past to the forefront of your brand can be scary. If you don't want to share it, you don't have to. Think about what you're comfortable with sharing and what kind of value can present to others. So I told you to look out for lessons. Lesson number one, build your core framework and anchor your personal brand by embracing where you come from.
So you begin to reflect on your story, lay out the groundwork and build your core framework. But how do we actually intertwine that into what people see online and in person? So Simon Sinek once said, there are only two ways to influence human behavior. We can either manipulate it or we can inspire it. And I all would think that we would hope to inspire.
So your personal brain, guys, is about projecting you. Funny enough, it's not about your work. It's not about how good you are at what you do. It's about portraying a person. So we need to be authentic, as I said before. But can we just literally take a moment to appreciate the fluffiness of this word authentic? This is not a tangible strategy. We hear it all the time. Be authentic. I can't tell you today to be authentic. And tomorrow you're going to wake up and you are wholeheartedly who you're supposed to be. Just like that. It just won't work. So in my journey, I've discovered something that has allowed me to be authentic quite easily. And I'm going to teach you guys here today. So I've discovered and identified the four facets of personal branding and we're going to work through these. So these are at level one, we have what you know. At level two, we have what you show. At level three, what you feel. And at level four is what you hide. The four facets of personal branding. So let's just work through exactly what these things are. So at level one, we have what you know. This is all about your skills and your technical knowledge. This is what we work all of our lives up to, creating an understanding. At level two, what you show. This is your successes, your accomplishments, the value you can bring to others. Now, at level three is what you feel. These are all of your intrinsic motivations, your values, your core ethics. And level four is what you hide. This is all about the things that people don't usually know about you, what you keep hidden. These are your challenges, your failures, the really big struggles and the life decisions you have to go through. So what do we do with this information? Well, we're going to work through this workshop. So feel free to take a photo of this slide so you can do this later yourselves. So what we're going to do is set it up, what, you know, show, feel and hide. And underneath that we have business and then personal. And it's pretty simple. All you need to do is start to fill the blanks under what you know, fill that out for business, your skills, your technical knowledge, and just create little bullet points and then do the same for the following. So I'm just going to fill out my own example here and show you guys actually how to use this. So I've kept it pretty brief for this. But basically what we do is typically we all just sit in one column. We typically all talk in a way. We're just talking about what you know. But if you can combine really interesting thoughts and actually combine what you know, show, feel and hide, you'll create something that is so much deeper. So let me show you an example. So instead of just being graphic designer and brand identity specialist, I'm now becoming graphic designer and brand identity specialist who turns dreams into impactful realities fueled by my passion for design. What is more interesting? And another one, I'm owner and founder of Pink Pony Creative. I could just stop there, but to create something more vulnerable and more meaningful, I'm now owner and creator of Pink Pony Creative where I build a career for my team. But to be honest, I haven't done it without consistently doubting myself. Am I doing enough for my team? What is more vulnerable? Again, let's just take a look at these graphic designer and brand identity specialist, or graphic designer and brand identity specialist who turns dreams into impactful realities, fueled by my passion for design. What's more interesting? So you can transform yourself into a much more compelling and relatable identity. You are being vulnerable. So we've got to understand that our imperfections are our unique selling points, so we have to own them. Understand that your past influences your story and your audience's emotional reaction. Understand it, acknowledge it and share it. And don't shy away from it. So the lesson, create your character and embrace your imperfections.
So the two lessons for the first pillar, build your core framework and anchor your personal brand by embracing where you come from and create your character and embrace imperfections. Do these two lessons and you'll be well on your way to taking your personal brand from unseen to unforgettable. All right, pillar two, carve. This is my favorite pillar, and to be honest, the fun one. Essentially, this is the design phase, part of the whole process. So building your personal brand, or any brand for that matter, is all about making connections and associations with strong ideas and really distinctive ideas so that we can basically carve space into people's minds. So when it comes to building our personal brand, we need to do what we do for others, for ourselves.
And when we're thinking about this as a visual identity designer, I consistently reinforce to my clients time and time again how important it is to be consistent with your color palette, your logo, photography, all that good stuff. It's literally crucial to be consistent because the more consistent we are, the more people will remember us. So we can build our personal brand visually by what we do best, of course, which is our work, and finding that distinctive style that allows us to stand out. Now, we all know the famous work of artists like Banksy, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand. We know what it looks like because it stands out. It carries a piece of them. That piece of them is their artistic DNA. So what exactly is your artistic DNA? It's that unique blend of themes and signature techniques that define your work. So just like in Banksy's unmistakable themes of characterized by symbolism, dark humor, bold political commentary, and then his themes of black and white art, graffiti inspired, and using the surrounding space as part of the art, each of us possesses our own artistic DNA. So we have to find that. Now, I'm going to illustrate this by taking you back to 2019. So I was working for a one brand business for two years. I was designing in the same three colors and the same two fonts. And I'm sure a lot of us can relate to this. Now, this was really creatively draining. I was totally uninspired. So I set myself a challenge. I decided to do something about it and take action. I decided that I would take a 100 day design challenge and to keep myself accountable, I opened an Instagram page, and I called it Pink Pony Creative. Now, this page went on to landing me my first client and eventually allowed me to register the company name officially. But anyway, circling back to this 100 day design challenge. Now, going into this challenge was really interesting, because for the first seven years of my career, I had no idea who I was visually. I had no idea what my style was. I didn't even know what I liked to design, to be honest. I was simply doing the work that I was told to do and rolling that out. So when it came to this challenge where I had full creative control, this was such a pivotal moment for me. I do look back and I cringe at some of the designs now, but what it allowed me to do was really understand and learn new techniques and skills. I rediscovered the joy I had for design, and in doing so, I actually started to create my own artistic DNA, which people know me for today. So to find yours, find a way to push yourselves and learn new skills. In doing so, you'll gradually find your own artistic DNA. But just be patient, because it does take time. So as a visual identity designer now, my themes include intertwining illustrations, bold color palettes, infusing a playful spirit, and then likewise with my techniques of line work, halftones, character focused illustrations, and hand drawn aesthetic. But I do just want to touch on this. I don't put all of this into every single project I do. That would just be outrageous. But I do insert some pieces of my artistic DNA into all of those projects, and that allows me to have a distinctive style and stand out. So the lesson here, carve out your artistic DNA to carve space into people's minds. All right, next, out of the design part of the process, carve. How do we continue to carve ourselves into people's minds? I want you to understand that you can take your brand, make it bigger, and get creative.
So to do this, we need to build a wildly solid impression on people. We need to bring that brand to life. And I've tried and tested three different techniques and to tell you here today exactly what those are. So to do this, the first technique, we're going to play a little game. So I want you to think about this person I'm describing. Now, don't tell me who you're thinking of. I don't want all of you yelling these names right at me on the stage. So who do you think of when I say he was a man who moonwalked? Again, you don't have to tell me. That's good you guys listened. What about a singer who often wears her hair in a slicked back, high ponytail and often wears stilettos? Who do you think I'm talking about? And the last one, what about a woman wearing a white dress, platinum blonde hair and red lipstick and she often stands like this and the dress is going up. Who do you think of? But how is it that we can recognize these figures from such simple descriptions? It's because they've consistently presented themselves with a specific style. So if you have glasses or a hat, wear it consistently. Even better yet, if you have a color, embrace it boldly and make it your trademark. It is no accident that I'm wearing pink today. Every single business event I go to, networking, conferences, speaking gigs, podcasts, even client meetings, I wear pink. And I tell you, it has started to really pay off. People see me from afar, see the pink, and they realize it's me and come over and say hi, which is awesome. So, as the wife of an absolute golf loving husband, I've learnt my fair share about golf. And he's going to love the fact that I've put this in the speech. But when I heard about this example, I loved it from a personal brand perspective. So when this golfer jumped out first into the competitive golf scene, he decided that he would wear head to toe, bright orange. This is the international competitive golf scene. You're going into a field where there is usually generic colors, black and whites, greens, browns. But he chose to wear bright orange head to toe. He undoubtedly stood out. It gave him this edgy, cool, I don't care appeal. But what was interesting was that his fans started showing up wearing head to toe bright orange. And it even influenced my husband when they were younger and his friends to go out and be a little bit more daring when they stepped out on the course because they wanted to be like this golfer. So the formula is really simple. Find a style supercharge and stick with it for memorability and recognition in your personal brand. So again, find your style and supercharge it to carve space into people's minds.
All right, technique two. So when I started my business Pink Pony Creative, it was just me. But as I began to grow, I quickly realized that I didn't want to take all of the credit for the incredible work my team was doing. So I made a strategic decision, I decided to split out my social media platforms. We had Pink Pony Creative, the design agency where we create work for everyone around the world. And it is more of a we than an I, versus Christy, The Pink Pony, where it's my personal brand, where I really talk about my four facets of personal branding, what, you know, show, feel and hide and talk about everything on a more personal, engaging level. But what I began to realize was I could continue to ooze my brand into every facet of my business. So I decided and I started to implement thematic branding. Now, the idea of thematic branding is pretty much theming everything in your business. So in the way that I've used this, I'll just bring these up. We've got the company, Pink Pony Creative, and then the personal brand, Christy, the Pink Pony, of course. But then we have my podcast, The Social Ponies. My office is the stables and my team are the ponies. Now, I have to say, it's quite easy to do with a brand that already has strong associations, like pink pony does with the western world and pony motifs. But you guys can do the same thing. All you have to do is ask yourself, how do I turn an idea into an extension of my business and name segments of it with purpose? So I want you to tell stories with thematic branding to carve space into people's minds. All right, the last technique under this pillar. So, technique three. As you may or may not have realized, I have a giant plastic horse in my office. But the story behind the horse has transformed my business, which is why I'm talking about him today. So when I decided to open my own studio space middle of last year, I had a vision. I had a vision of having a giant pink horse in the window. And although my mum did say to me, I just don't know about that, it could look a little bit tacky. I had a gut feel, so I began the hunt for this thing. These things are really hard to find. They're rarer than Willang Lotto. But oddly enough, guess where I found one? It was Facebook marketplace. No idea what he was doing with a giant plastic horse, but anyway, I picked him up, I took him to a local car painter, and Pedro the pink pony was brought to life. There he is looking pretty impressive. But not only has Pedro become a fantastic showstopper for people walking by in the community, he's allowed me to bring my brand to life and integrate him with my business brand and my personal brand. He is now everywhere. He's in our brand photography. He's really big, by the way. He's not just a little mini horse. He's 3d modeled on our homepage. We've got stickers, gifs, Instagram filters. We've even got little trophies of him. He is everywhere. But again, I've brought my brand to life, into the physical world. So I want you guys to do the same. Stop thinking it just needs to be on paper or on screen. Bring your brand to life. Be consistent and committed to your brand in every facet of your business. All right, so the two lessons for create we have carve yourself an artistic DNA and bring your brand to life. Be consistent and committed to your brand in every facet of your business, not just on screen and on paper. But do these two lessons and you'll take your personal brand from unseen to unforgettable.
All right, so pillar three, connect. Essentially, now we just need to connect with our audience.
So this great quote by Rob Brown, "If I don't buy from you, I won't buy everything else that stands behind you". And according to Accenture, 65% of consumers say that a brand's CEO and employees influenced their decision to buy. So let's revisit the example from earlier. Do you remember the difference in how you felt when Drawdom, the business was selling you the drawing pad versus the renowned figure in the design industry, Aaron Draplin was selling you the same product. With Drawdom, there's mild interest, but with Aaron Draplin, there's that immediate trust and excitement. But why? It's because his reputation precedes him. So, according to Edelman, 81% of consumers stated the need to trust a brand to buy from them. So again, how do we actually build that trust? I believe trust is built off a reputation of two main factors. We have knowledge and skills and network and resources. Knowledge and skills multiplied by your network and your resources, with vulnerability serving as that key ingredient that fosters our trust. So, in essence, the equation is this: knowledge and skills multiplied by your network and resources, with vulnerability serving as the ability to invite people into your world. Remember that, the ability to invite people into your world. So we're going to lay out the groundwork for your reputation, knowledge and skills multiplied by your network and resources. And next, you're going to embrace vulnerability. You're then going to strengthen your relatability because you've done that which will then create something that resonates with your audience. So there's a friend of mine, UK based designer James Martin. Any Made By James fans out here? A few, yeah, he's a good guy. So, Made By James is an incredible designer from the UK. Now, he's built his reputation off what he knows, his skills and knowledge, and his logo and brand identity design. And he's also built his network and resources from other designers, agencies and thought leaders in the industry. But where he's really accelerated is his ability to invite people into his world. So James made the really brave decision a few years back to share his vulnerability and his struggles with childhood trauma and addiction. And you'd probably think this could scare people off, but it actually did the reverse. It allowed people to connect with him more, understand him more, and become more that they were on the same page. So James has not only allowed us to see his business and creative processes, he's allowed us to come into his world where he's allowed the ability to come into his world. So if you can create shared experiences and forge strong bonds, you will create a personal brand that will go from unseen to unforgettable. So, again, the lesson here, market yourself through emotion to allow your audience to connect with you on a deeper level.
So to continuously connect with your audience, we want to create something they can completely immerse themselves in.
So, back in my university days, and even during my whole sort of first stages of my career, I used to think the peak of my career would be creating work for incredible clients. And to be honest, that's totally part of it. But what I begin to understand and realize is that with social media, we can do so much more than that. We can go beyond just what we do.
If you can go beyond what you do, you'll just take your brand from unseen to unforgettable. You will transcend the transaction of your audience. And to do this, there's a few ways we can go through this and transcend the transaction. Some of those are online communities, sharing insights into your processes, podcasts, being a host, or maybe starting a podcast, hosting industry meetups, whether it's online or in real person, and even collaborations.
The key is to find out what resonates with you and go beyond just what you do. Now, two another UK based designers, I seem to have good friends in the UK are CJ Crawley and Jack Chitty. Now, these guys, if you don't know who they are, I would highly recommend you give them a follow. They are incredible designers and people, but these guys caught my eye recently because what they did was go beyond, they transcended the transaction. These two live on the other sides of the UK, but they came together recently, physically for one video, for a collaboration. So this video was your typical Adobe illustrator tutorial, but where they actually really amplified it was their ability to bring us on board of this journey of brotherhood. They started to make this video more interactive and funny because of their humorous, witty content of transcending the transaction of brotherhood and friendship. But this is the perfect example of everything I'm speaking about today. It's not just about what you do, it's so much more than that. So well done, boys. We'll be waiting for the full bromance comedy coming soon.
So we need to transcend the transaction and go beyond what you do.
Look, I have to say, I'm going to be honest here. I can teach you all these things about marketing through emotion, bringing out your vulnerability. Transcend the transaction. But how do we actually implement that into what we see and hear today in real life and in person and on social media? And to do this, I've managed to build my own successes, and I know other people have. In doing so, we've used social media. Now, social media is a topic that is so broad, I cannot go into this because we just don't have the time. But I do just want to touch on a few little facts that hopefully will help you with your own social media journey and how we can take all of this into social media. So the first one, sharing your unique perspective. I really like this one because we begin our social journey, our social media journey, by literally thinking we're only sharing what we know and that's the only thing that's important. But actually it's more about what you believe. If you can build your reputation first, that is quite important. Build out your knowledge and skills and your network and resources. But once you begin to establish that, you can then be vulnerable and you then share your unique perspective and it allows people to understand how you think people will come back because they want to know what you have to say about something. This one, this is a goodie as well. Tell a story in your content. So think about it like a tv or a film show. They are really engaging to watch, but it's because they tell a story. So if you can do the same in your social media content, you can create a more engaging story. You can start off with an introduction, have a hook, set the scene, then you're going to have a problem and then you're going to resolve the problem.
All right, trial and error. We have to remember that social media marketing, like any marketing, is a game of trial and error. You have to try things, experiment, see what works, what doesn't, and even take inspiration from your favorite creators and create something that is a little bit more unique and distinct to you.
This one I love. This is one of my faves. Show up and share your personality, guys. Just like in tv and film shows, those main characters, they have personality and charm. So we have to do the same. We have to bring that personality and charm to these stories and our content that will allow you to stand out amongst the sea of thousands of videos we see daily just because you are being you.
So think about what you know, show, feel and hide. Start to use this in your content and combine that with telling a story and you'll tell something that is much more meaningful, vulnerable and in depth that people can actually relate to and engage with. I want you to think about your surroundings. This is a really easy one to do. Don't just sit in front of a blank wall when you film your social media content. Think about where you're sitting or think about what you're wearing. And you don't need a big budget for this. It could be as simple as finding a style supercharge and stick with it. You could simply wear pink, like I do in every of your video. Don't wear pink though. Choose another color.
Don't be a gatekeeper. This is a really powerful one. Just because you're sharing your insights into your skills, your knowledge and your processes does not mean you are sharing your intellectual property. It actually means you're providing free value. People will come back to you because they want to hear more value from you. They'll think, if she's giving away this much for free, imagine what she'd do if it was paid. So look, there's all of these techniques that we can use, and I'm just going to run through five extra wee tips that hopefully will help you on your social media journey. Number one, understand that it's never too late to jump on social media platform. Any new platform, it's never too late. This one, no market is truly over saturated because it is all about finding and connecting with that right audience.
Silent followers are real. Just because you're getting the engagement you don't think, well, you think you might deserve doesn't mean people aren't watching.
And Karen Chang said this last year, and I loved this one for the algorithm and one for you. So remember that. And this one. And I do not mean to scare you with this one. Everything you say and do reflects your personal brand, especially when it comes to what you're saying and putting out there on social media. So just think before you post. Think about it. So, in summary, pillar three, connect. And the two lessons are market yourself through emotion to connect with people on an emotional level and transcend the transaction and go beyond what you do. Do these two lessons, and you'll take your personal brand from unseen to unforgettable.
All right, the fourth pillar, guys. The last pillar, conquer. Now, during building our personal brand, and building any brand and business for that matter, there's going to be one thing that comes in your way. That is your mindset. This is the one thing that will come in all of our way. There's one quote I love to live by. You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your own way. And I know this couldn't be more true for me when I was younger. And honestly, even still to this day, I was standing right there about to get on the stage. You're far too smart to be the only thing standing in your own way. So we have to sharpen our spurs, rustle our grit, and embrace and battle on, no matter the obstacle. So I want to tell you a story about my client. I'd like you to meet Brianne West. Now, Brianne West, we are working with her on a really exciting new venture. But many years ago, before this venture, back when Pink Pony didn't even exist, she started a business in 2012, right from her home kitchen called Ethique. Now, Brianne was really frustrated by the amount of waste and production that goes into traditional shampoos and conditioners. There was so much plastic. So she wanted to make a difference. She wanted to create something that was completely plastic free. She had one goal in mind. She had a goal to save 1 million plastic bottles from landfill. Now, Brianne West, when she first went into this industry, in a world where everything was plastic, she had a completely plastic free product. People told her, no, this wasn't going to work. She faced so many setbacks. Of course, people didn't trust the product or the idea. So something else I do just want to touch on here is that Brianne completely bootstrapped the entire business for the first three years. And eventually, when it started to grow in popularity, she turned to some crowdfunding. But fast forward eight years later to 2020. Brianne West sold her business for nearly $100 million. And they even smashed their original target of 1 million plastic bottles, saving that many from landfill. And then in 2023, more recently, they saved 30 million bottles from landfill. If Brianne West had listened to everybody else that told her, no, it wouldn't work, or she gave up just because she had those setbacks and failures, she would not be where she is today. So amongst your journey, you're going to have setbacks and failures, but it's our job to keep going. And as you begin to expose yourself more in the public eye, people will challenge you, trust me. But you have to keep going. You cannot let that stop you. And as Gandhi said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, and then they fight you and then you win". I love that quote. So the lesson here, battle on, no matter the obstacle, because if you want it, you can get it. So when building a personal brand or a business, to be honest, we're consistently pushed into corners we aren't comfortable in. But I have to say, those corners are where we learn the most. They are the area of discomfort. They're the area of risk where magic lies. But those areas of risk and discomfort, they are literally where we learn the most. They're our growing pains.
But we can actually ease these one step at a time. I want to give you an example. So let's just say you've signed up for your first full marathon. 42 km or 26 miles I think it is, depending on where you're from. That's a huge distance to run. You're not just going to go out the next day and run the full length of 42, 26 miles, are you? You're going to make a training plan. You're going to work yourself up to build the strength and the fitness. Going from 5 km next week and then the following week, maybe adding on a little bit more and then a little bit more. We can do the same thing in our personal brand and in business so those big goals don't feel so intimidating and overwhelming. And I used this method without even really noticing and thinking about it when I built my own office. So four and a half years ago, having my own office space completely, was completely out of reach. I was working from my bedroom. I mean, look at my little desk, it's adorable. But then when I began to get busy and I made a first hire, I realized that I wanted a more professional space for my employees to work in. So I decided to take a low risk choice. I took a smaller step. I went out to find a shared office space. It was that low risk choice. I didn't have to worry about Internet power cleaning. It was month to month. It was easy. But then when I did that and I realized that my team began to grow more and I was paying for about three people in this space, I thought if I could pay for these three people, surely I actually could start to pay for my own office space. So I went out on the hunt for one. I found a space and I signed the lease. But anyway, going from freelancer to having my own office space wasn't so overwhelming and intimidating because I took those smaller steps to get there. It's literally as simple as having that big, big goal and then setting yourself smaller targets, more weakly achievable targets to hit. So remember that.
Now, sometimes in life, things can, events can heavily alter our business and brand building journeys. And I have to say, someone in their early thirties who's happily married, I was consistently fed information on how hard it is to have a baby, let alone have a baby and own a design agency. It was terrifying. Honestly, the thought terrifies me. I thought, I barely have enough time now. How would I ever fit in a baby when it came time? But then I thought about it more. Why can't I do it? Why can't I do both? So I'd like to reintroduce myself. I'm Kristy Campbell. Confident self-doubter, creative cowgirl, lover of life, wife to incredible man, Mikey, parent to a dog called Vegas, and a cat called Mittens, and our first baby stallion coming in 2025.
Oh, gosh, I'm going to get emotional.
I didn't expect I'd get emotional.
But it's funny, because the first thing people say when I tell them I'm having a baby and I'm pregnant is, what are you going to do with your business? What do you mean, what am I going to do with my business? I'm gonna make it work. I'm going to keep going. Yay.
So I want you guys to embrace a bold move. But I do just want to say, I'm not telling you to go out and all have babies to embrace a bold move. So the two lessons here, battle on. No matter the obstacle, if you want it, you can get it. And embrace bold moves. Do these two lessons and you'll take your personal brand from unseen to unforgettable. So, as you embark on this really exciting and incredible journey of building your personal brand, I want you to do these things. Create your character and embrace and anchor your personal brand by embracing where you come from. As our shared stories unite us all. And carve your brand into people's minds and make your brand unforgettable, using your skills as our artistic expression unites us all. And connect with your audience on an emotional and deeper level to create bonds that reflect shared human experiences as they unite us all. And I want you to conquer your mindset, embrace risk and bold moves showing that courage and resilience in our journeys unite us all. So if you can do these things and take on board the lessons we've discussed, I'll let everyone take a photo. You'll be well on your way to taking your personal brand from unseen to unforgettable. And remember, guys, just like in creative cloud, Adobe's motto, creativity unites us all. Vulnerability really unites us all. Thank you very much.
