Hi, everyone, welcome to the beer selfie summit. And we're talking about personal branding for fashion printers and the topic is all on how being yourself is the best way to stand out in a saturated fashion market. And I'm super excited to have Jessica joy rebel is here with us today. We're going to do a quick q&a with her. She is a fashion writer, editor, and social media mark and marketing expert. So I'm really excited to have her to give us some tips and strategies for branding yourself in 2017, because we're almost done with a 2016.

But hey, Jessica, hi, how are you? Welcome. I'm sorry, thank you for that glowing introduction. I mean it all and just tell us a little bit about yourself. Absolutely. So I'm a writer at Enter in marketing and they've got just under 15 years of experience in my field under my belt, I lived in LA about that long actually, I think 2017 will make it 15 years that I've been writing for marketing specifically.

So everything from blogs and and really I mean not just writing in fact checking and editing but even creating within WordPress from scratch, and all of that SEO information and on the back end and everything that that entails. So, so from blogs, to email marketing, to social media, advertising, web copy, packaging, and anything that has content or coffee component. I do. I specialize, as you mentioned in fashion, beauty, health, wellness and lifestyle. So we're going to talk about fashion writing today. Yeah, I'll have to pick your brain on as much as I can in the short q&a, but I'm excited to have you here.

And okay, so I have to talk about your signature style, which is your hair. Because I think that it really does that it is part of your branding. And for everybody, I think appearance is also connected to your branding and I think it's important. How Tell me, tell me how that ties into your branding or how that is your signature look right? At my signature look and, and it's funny. So here's, here's like, amazing.

What's funny is that and I sometimes I just will do this. I'll just live or I'll throw it up on the top of my hand like couples. That's fine. And usually it's pretty short. Yeah. Yeah.

What's funny is that I either I get two types of responses I get either men. It is were teenagers in the 80s, who had, you know, and gals that want to be really cool and edgy. And I've had this hairstyle for years. Well, it's awesome. And it's definitely like the first thing you notice about you, which is really great because it gives you that edge and like that unique, that totally unique vibe. So, and I think that that's important.

I think that you develop your own style, you know, as you go along, but when once you find something, I think it's really important to embrace it and then, like, incorporate it into who you are. And that's the thing about the summit is the focus is talking about, like being, you know, the way to stand out is to be yourself, and you've done that with your style. And I think that style speaks to to that as well. But um, you're welcome. But let me say so you're a fashion writer And to me, that's the For me writing is a challenge and fashion writing is even more challenging. At will tell us how you started and any suggestions for an aspiring fashion writer, like how could they jumpstart their career to do that?

Yes. So I my foundation in writing, I got my undergraduate degree in creative writing. And what's interesting about that is I had the opportunity when I first got into USC as an 18 year old freshman, you know, LA, was that I actually got into the Annenberg School for journalism, super competitive school. And at the very last moment, when I was taking my classes with my counselor, I totally changed my mind and I decided to take a creative writing track, which, you know, over the years, I've kind of gone back and forth like should I have done that but ultimately, the journalism copywriting, all of all the kind of the structure and format of writing and all the different style guides like MLA, APA, Chicago ad style for online writing, all of those structural things and those ways of writing or styles of writing, I was able to learn myself through taking webinars, attending workshops, classes, many of them free or low cost.

And I mean, like under $50, oh, you know, whatever I could find in my field to learn. But what I always go back to that I'm grateful for is that validation and creative writing, because the creativity can't be taught really comes from within. and creativity and writing beget more creativity and writing and so you can learn all the structural components right just fine, and have no issues with that. But, you know, I think having that foundation in creativity and creative writing has really helped me be able to adapt my tone and voice and style to suit these different brands that I've worked for, like Joe's jeans and new me hair magazine, hair, I caught them products, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising system, right, and many more fashion and beauty clients. So I always go back to that creativity. So I think the best thing that I would recommend for aspiring fashion writers is definitely learn the rules, learn the forms of structures, okay?

No concise tight writing. That's really what the goal is, is to say as much in as little words as you can really write, I think one for people's attention spans are so much shorter now that number and two, because the most I think the most eloquent and captivating and interesting writing is concise, it's really well packaged. So for those two reasons, but I think if you can learn all Those structures before you start breaking the rules with the creativity, and then start to allow your creativity to pour in. And that comes from journaling and going to art and going to fashion shows and being inspired by the things in your area. And for us, we're in LA. To do you see an experience, but allow those experiential things to seep in, absorb that, and that's where you draw your creativity and inspiration.

And you can start to kind of bend the rules a little bit after you've learned those forms and structures. That's awesome. That's great advice. Because I think creativity for sure is, I mean, you have to be inspired and come from a place of inspiration. And that makes sense, but also like laying the foundation. You teach so you're a teacher, so you know that it's so important to have, like you have to do your homework you have to do the founder of lay that foundation first and then you can build from there.

So, okay, can you just tell me what your process is? Because for me, it's so hard. I really do have to feel inspired to write But as you know, that's not you don't always have that luxury. Like, it's, you're on a deadline. And you have to get put something out there. And it was hard sometimes to like try and I know they say, okay, sometimes I do an outline, and then I go from there, but then sometimes I just like to let it flow.

But do you What's your process your you do this all the, you know, frequently? On my best days, I get, you know, half an hour's worth of writing time. Wow. Which is my, my, that's my production. That's how I grow content. So what my process looks like is it's pretty backwards.

I don't do things linearly at all, especially when working with deadlines and having to get content developed. I think the most important thing and you'll hear this from me Any writer, really any professional writer isn't just get the words on the paper. So, you know, even if it's garbage, even if it's you just throwing things up the wall to see what sticks. And then I'm, I'm pretty visual. But, but interestingly, I really don't do anything paper based anymore. Yeah, which is interesting.

I just do everything, get it, but there's so many visual tools and I use the Google suite. And all those programs. So I just start typing, you know, things sometimes or just try to get my ideas out on paper and get them flowing. And then the creativity and the spark and the inspiration, where you tap into that flow without notice flow is when you know you've got you've got all of your ideas in front of you. piece them together and start to pull threads here and pull maybe one word here and then maybe another tag That you just pull another word from that tagline and combine them and mix and match. And so the most important thing is, especially my process is not to feel like you have to start where, you know, start at the starting point like nothing.

Yeah, we're from the beginning, middle or end. And sometimes I'll start with the last paragraph of my blog this year, has the CTA in it the call to action, right, I felt that first and work backward. Oh, my titles, my blog titles as an example or headers, yeah, form, the way I structure an outline my piece, and then they'll start to fill in, in a lot of times. I, I'll go in, I do want to research for my work. Yeah. I'll go in and I'll dump all of the facts and figures and hard data type of content, right.

I'll go in and have fun and it's a lot easier because then I've got the framework already, right. The hard stuff that's more like Either scientific or space, and then I go in and fill in creatively and I have a little fun with the boys. Ah, okay, so what I'm hearing is that you're, it's like a constant flow of information that you're always gathering and putting it down on paper because that made sense to me, as well. So do you like how do you do it like on your phone and, like, if you don't have, like, you have a little notebook that you put ideas down in or I have to be on my computer and you're tied to that. I just, I have a word. I have a running google doc or a Word doc open, right?

You know, I take public transit as you know, all em So when I'm traveling, I just have open word doc and I title it whatever, you know, client or topic that I'm working on or project that I'm working on. And I just have an open I give myself that open space, freeform, no structure and I just start putting things together and I really think of the way that I work as like putting puzzle together. I hate writing puzzle is a lot different. So actual puzzles, I don't have the attention span for that. But I think but the analogy is that I think of putting pieces of content together like putting a puzzle together and then the pieces start to fall into place. So I always have an open dock and I just don't I just have my flow of ideas running through it.

I don't, I don't limit myself to just titling things, or even creating sections where I have to have a certain type of the right sections. I just let myself free free flow on anything. When I started in the Creative Writing Program at USC as an undergrad, my emphasis was poetry. And it was all free, free verse, poetry and prose. So it was really nonlinear, very open in and without Without the parameters of a negotiated structure, awesome. I mean, so it's about it's really all about just getting ideas down.

Right. Like just to get up because yeah, that's so true. Right. Sometimes that's where those clever taglines. Yeah. That's what that little punchiness in your voice can come from.

Yeah. Well, that's the thing for, for me, and I don't know for others, but trying to write how I speak to be more conversational. That's always a challenge. Yeah, it's definitely because I immediately want to go into marketing mode because that's, I have, you know, I went to school. I had actually majored in journalism first, but that's when I realized that I was like, No, I don't want to write. I want to do better but I don't want to write But anyhow, but so the marketing side of things Always kicks in and I end up sounding like a marketing.

I don't want it to be salesy. So the Queen that anymore it's hard sell work, right, having a product announcements through. And I think, you know, in my field, it's all content marketing, value added educational information, information that brings that's relevant, time consistent. And that really offers something to the consumer beyond by this thing, right? You don't really need, right. But the content marketing comes in and it says, here's some information that you could actually use and that you might need, right.

Um, you know, it's a softer sell. It's a different, we're in a different type of market. Yeah, totally. And I mean, that kind of plays into the whole the conversation I want to have about marketing with you because I'm always impressed with your marketing Main insight like you can call something out, like in a second. But what? So for someone just starting out and like starting to brand themselves and wanting to be themselves?

What do you have? Is there a go to marketing strategy, that you fall back on art? What do you What's your suggestion? Yeah, I think well, marketing strategy is so important having a plan, being able to look ahead and create some kind of cohesive map of where you're going. And that all comes down really to the business. Entrepreneurship classes at the college level now, and I'm building some e courses on writing a business plan in your marketing strategy.

And I think so the marketing strategy is a component of the business plan and I would say it's the soul of the business. Really, what are the personality right? So I think with the marketing plan, especially today, it's got to be, it's got to include a robust social media. But that's just one channel. There's so many other channels, SEO, there's PR, there's a sales. There's so many others events, event planning.

There's all these different channels and components in the marketing strategy. So I think the best thing I don't necessarily have a formula or or like a go to, you know, ready made strategy like a one on one. Right. I think it really requires a lot of foresight and planning across all the channels that you're going to be using, and then just kind of going in there and I tend to start with an editorial calendar, and then just start seeing things out over the year based on season seasonality. Right. You can't necessarily plan for trends, but you can, yeah, leaving some room to develop content that incorporates trending topics.

But I think yeah, I think it's important to plan out in as much detail as you can each of those channels. I always create an editorial calendar for all of the different channels that marketing help. Yeah, I might do that in Google Sheets. And then I have everything color coded and organized in folders. And I just kind of go from there. And then I'm open again, I think especially in our digital age now and our society and our commerce and the way he works and all of that none of that's going away.

So I think we have to really be open to dynamic change. Marketing isn't there. I tell my students, I tell clients that marketing is so dynamic and you you're never going to be Complete expert on everything marketing, because to be current, you have to read trade pubs and educate yourself on a daily basis. So, you know, for example for me, I've been in marketing almost 15 years now, I didn't go to school for marketing. Yeah, I have I've had ongoing education in those almost 15 years. And it continues today.

So, you know, I have to go out look for how do I get certified in, you know, university and marketing, Google Analytics, all of its newly updated and changes and algorithms, algorithms change, you know, all the time. So it's like ongoing education and, and going back to the marketing strategy, it's a living, breathing document. Right, always going to be updating and I think being open to change And being able to add and flesh, right, depending on trends and yeah, to the different platforms is really important. That's amazing Insight. I'm, I'm, I'm excited for your ecourse about the business plan. So is it going to be on your site so I don't forget to let us know what your site is again, Lily, thank you.

So it's Jessica Joy revelant.com. And that's Jessica joy like Jael, why? And then rebellious archy vs. Victory e l e. s. So it's just the controller. Awesome. Yeah.

And that's, you know, it's funny, it's that it started out as a portfolio site. So that's really how it reads how it comes across. But I'm in the process of developing a more of a business site for my, my umbrella organization, which is J squared communications and that's it. LLC got, you know, the big umbrella. And under that you have marketing and under marketing you have blog, email, social web, all of this. I'm always amazed like how much you do.

So there is like so much valuable information there though. So I'm glad that we got that in. I just, I mean, I okay, like so one final note on because social media is buzz all the time with somebody trying to brand themselves and you know, get get yourself out there and you're definitely a social media expert. What? Okay. What platform do you suggest starting if you're starting like fresh or maybe you're just even starting your own blog or you're you're an aspiring I don't know you could be an aspiring just that you want to be in fashion, right.

You know, I have, I have kids have strong opinions on this. And I think most people in my field and other social media experts would agree that you start with where your audience really is based on your industry, your target, that you've identified your customer personas, and fashion in particular, and you know, this Instagram, it's really cool. I would say, you know, for that for this type of industry that we're addressing, Instagram, Instagram, Instagram, and now Instagram just released because Facebook owns Instagram, they now just just this meet, have made it possible to go live on Android. And then you have stories, and all these different things that you can do and you There are many scheduling tools that you can use to push out your content and plan schedule and push your kid to Instagram and other channels are another platform. Right But I think also too I really value Facebook, it's, you know, Facebook has the largest market share with the right word when it comes to social channels.

And so they're the biggest player there, and you need to be involved and play the game with the player. And you have to pay to play because organic. Organic, is is just, it's just really low. Yeah. And so what's good about that, and Facebook talks about this very candidly, is that the whole point of Facebook at you know, in the algorithm as they fine tune and fine tune, you know, that to customize it as much as possible to suit and so that, you know, you really see and engage with content that's meaningful to you. So it's a good thing.

Um, you don't want to see ads for for sports, if you're not interested in that at all right? You know, your only focus is really your fashion business. So you want to be Be able to engage with things that are meaningful to you and your audience, you want that for them as well. So Facebook and Instagram and even the other platforms, there's such great robust analytics tools and ad tools now, right? makes it really affordable and economical to run ads you can run as little as $1 a day, and have that ad be shown depending on how you how you create it and based on your audiences and what your objectives are, and your targets and all of that. So you can do a lot quite a lot and be any creative and clever, there's so many teams now, you know, there's carousel ads or slideshows, there's, you know, boosting a post, there's the sidebar, the right column ads, so there's a lot of different options.

People have gotten really clever and creative. I think h&m does a really good job. Forever 21 does a really good job on Facebook and on social in general. on their YouTube was really good to lane Brian. Oh, cool. Yeah, those are some of the brands that I look to for creative inspiration.

And there's so so many more so many more. But um, I think Facebook and Instagram, go where your audiences maybe, you know for some brands, you know, you don't need to be on every channel anyway Twitter doesn't work for your audience they don't respond, maybe they do. You are You know, they're they run their Facebook is a really robust you know, and these are fashion printers so life coaches who specialize in women who wants to get into fashion or others nihilists and people that I know that work independently, ah, you know, they they're on Facebook because you kind of have to be there, right? That was the biggest arena through which you can reach your audience, and then Instagram, but they'll you know, I have one friend who's really become popular and grown an audience on Twitter, Pinterest, Pinterest is of work for her. Yeah. Right.

I have other friends who were the opposite. And Pinterest is a great place for people maybe that you've maybe you have a vintage shop, right? And they naturally create pins where you can purchase directly to your, from Pinterest, right? And so it just really depends on where your audience is. Maybe it's Snapchat, maybe not. So you don't have to be on all the platforms really go where you have the the maximum visibility and the most engagement.

I think that's perfect advice. Because you're right, you can't do it all you can't, otherwise you end up not really doing your best at, you know, you can't be your best at every single platform. So I think it is important to find your audience like your set that is totally good advice and a great tip and I think definitely Facebook I don't have that much experience in it. But I know there's value in that too. Because the exposure is so great. I mean, that's what, that's what's great about Instagram too.

It's crazy how many users are on there, but it's not for every, it's not for every business. You know, also basically each platform has a different demographic and wavelength. So Facebook tends to skew older obviously. Right? really depends on your, in your target audience. And so identifying and fleshing out your customer personas and your, your target demos super important.

So I think research is the bottom line really, you have to it's not necessarily fun, but it's definitely research can cost you that's probably what makes you so strong at what you do because you're constantly doing The research and the homework and compiling and I just think that you have to put in some of that time. All the time testing and testing phase right? are all about testing and trying different objectives. And that's okay. Get it right. But you learn quite a lot in a two week test period on Facebook.

You can learn quite a lot about who your audience is who they're not. Yeah, totally. Okay, so I could have here all day. But do you have any any last notes or any upcoming project I know you're just starting a new teaching gig, right? Finding assistant teaching at General Assembly, and it's going great. We're about a quarter of the way into a digital marketing class.

I admire General Assembly ever is now and I've attended many events and workshops and things themselves. I'm really honored and excited to be a part of the support for the digital marketing class that meets a couple times a week. Um, yeah, that's so exciting. Thank you so much for your time today. So I just want to remind everybody that they can go to Jessica Joy rebellious.com. Right.

And, but thank you for sharing all these amazing, like marketing and insights into writing and just overall branding. Awesome. We got some valuable information, Jessica. I love talking about this kind of stuff. It just totally excites me. So I think the opportunity Oh, thank you too, and we'll definitely talk soon.

And Happy holidays. Happy Holidays.