For my online entertainment business class, I was asked to write about what my personal brand means to me. Well, I linked it to my blog here along with my personal business website which hopefully reflects the projects and things that I'm passionate about. -Making movies. And since my blog title alludes to how to make a horror movie, I'll be talking a lot about that by mainly sharing my film making pursuits in the here and now. Which are pretty ambitious!
If you are at all curious about what my projects are about or you want to be kept in the loop with my latest films or comic book projects, follow me on Twitter @sbjoyce or visit www.badapplentertainment.com and sign-up to get updates and freebies from the parent site.
When I think about what makes me unique, I also think about what my brand says about me as a writer/producer for films and now comics. As Glenn in the Forbes an article about personal branding stated, “the process of developing [your] personal brand is a much bigger responsibility; a never-ending journey that extends well beyond social media.” (2013) I think its important for us to continually expand upon our strengths as Greene mentioned in his Mastery book. One learned trade can always compliment, and actually help advance, someone creating a unique edge or idea in their field. So if someone asks me what being truly unique means, I would say “I’m still working on it!” or “just wait for my next project!” as this builds also into the components of what makes a great leader, always evolving to the needs of your people, audience and leading by example. I feel that I fall under the “Level 2: Permission” stage of being an effective leader as Maxwell goes on to state in Developing the Leader Within You, relating to what happens if one fails to stop listing to their people,
“People who are unable to build solid, lasting relationships will soon discover that they are unable to sustain long, effective leadership… Needless to say, you can love people without leading them, but you cannot lead people without loving them.” (p. 8, 1993)
This is something that I strive for on a day-to-day basis as I have a marketing team that is currently working with my on my film/comic per suits with the hope that we will all got paid as the project is receiving a lot of favorable momentum. And more importantly, taking the time to plan and celebrate as a team for all the success. Even my stories that a write, to a certain degree, are those that speak to the triumph of the heart and human understanding. -My stories just happen to be told through the guise of the popular zombie and paranormal genres.
Expanding upon personal brand and how it can help my product get more traction by appealing to similar companies in my industry, I think its important to let my passion show in doing what I love; writing and producing. This momentum will hopefully be paired with becoming a director in the film business. It’s not the exception, but the rule to wear multiple hats when you’re working in the indie film world. But how do I get myself out there with so many like-minded people wanting to do the same thing? I mean, making films can be fun! But to be consistently paid in this business; that’s the trickier part. My marketing for my projects being with blogging, Facebook-ing and Tweeting to fans and creators who work in the same genre as I do. Do I want to be in the horror genre forever? No. But if Peter Jackson, Zack Synder, Danny Boyle - and the list goes on - can make their mark starting in the horror genre first, I figure “why can’t I?” Many cinephiles I talk to who enjoy funny, scary and gory horror movies like myself understand that when you turn the volume down and look at the screen, you’re not looking for an A-List actor. The monster or fear IS the A-list actor. What do I mean by all this? Writing and working in the horror industry first is what I find as a good starting point, but I look to move on once I have a couple feature credits under my belt. My personal brand invariably is surrounded by my motto of writing original and thought-provoking stories no matter what genre.
Now does personal branding become easier as we live in the digital age? Yes and no. It can be a “crap-shoot” for lack of better words because new social blogs and media outlets seem to spring up just about everyday. So what comes to mind to make mining through the “media mush” more manageable, is to pick my Top 2 social media outlets to get the word out about my projects. This tactics comes to mind while deploying “The Pareto Principle” in that 20% of what I focus on first will produce 80% of the results (p. 20, 1993). This is important in regards to marketing my brand which is everything to me at this stage in the game. What do I focus on? Where is my audience? When I think about social media, I also think about SEO (search engine optimization) because what’s the point of getting word-of-mouth going, getting someone really jazzed about checking my site out, if no one can find me doing a simple Google search?
In short, for my current project that I’m putting all my efforts into at the moment, I will be focusing on:
1.) Distributing my comic through an online platform to getting the widest audience (Amazon, ComiXology, etc.)
2.) Continue working on my Finance Plan (which includes comic’s success) as I align with my entertainment attorney to get a million-dollar investor (not an easy feat in this economy)
The ten-bijillion other things that are on my mind and on my list will just have to wait until these tasks are worked on to the optimal degree of satisfaction. A little “Pareto Principle” in action. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Thanks for reading!
Best,
Stephanie
References
Llopis, Glenn. (2013, April 8). Personal Branding Is A Leadership Requirement, Not a Self-Promotion Campaign. Forbes. Retrieved August 4, 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/04/08/personal-branding-is-a-leadership-requirement-not-a-self-promotion-campaign/
Maxwell, John C.. Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1993. Print.
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