How To Use Creative Economy to Build Your Personal Brand

BY IBENJAMEN ADEYANJU

With today’s digitalization, the world as we know it has become one large global market. It is a huge market where one simple and unintentional content can go beyond its limitations, turning into a trend or becoming a household name almost overnight.

This era gave birth to viral marketing - videos, dances, songs, fashion trends, slang - when a 15-second video can convert into a 6-figure compensation. All of these point toward the emergence of the creative economy.

Everyone is leveraging influencer marketing from the corporate world to sports, entertainment, technology and innovation, education and culture, not excluding systemized product launch sequences. And why not? It makes absolute sense if you consider the higher magnified astronomical conversion rates.

Let’s keep it real and simple. In my studies, I realized that finding answers to the following questions can open up a world you cannot even imagine possible if you are thinking about growing a personal brand.

These two questions can change the way you look at things, positioning you to take advantage and speedily become the next best thing. Just like that, you turn your passion, idea or culture into a profitable enterprise.

The first question is, who are the influencers? And second, how can you build a personal brand that can become the go-to spot for sponsors, marketers, and corporate brands?

Before I answer these two questions above, let’s talk about the big buzzword “creative economy”. The creative economy is a growing sector in the global market. It’s arguably the fastest way to generate income from the production of creative products. It is also an avenue for any individual to take the very things they are passionate about and creatively influence the market to turn it into a profitable business.

Building a personal brand through the creative economy can be an effective and rewarding venture. However, there are simplified systems and proven processes that must be followed before you can taste some of its rewards.

A typical impact that an individual can make over a city or state economy is becoming the norm in today’s world. Think back to when Lebron James left Cleveland for Miami; that simple decision significantly impacted the city’s economy. Studies have shown that it resulted in a decrease in tourist spending, a decrease in the city’s corporate sponsorship, and a decrease in merchandise sales. In addition, the local businesses that relied on media coverage of the Cleveland Cavaliers to attract customers saw a significant decrease in their profits, and some small businesses closed down.

Now check this out: while the city of Cleveland saw a decrease in economic activity, Miami enjoyed an increase in economic activity due to Lebron James’ presence.

Today’s impact on how we consume and transact our market is indeed the emergence of the creative economy. Let’s discuss how to position yourself and leverage it while building your personal brand.

Back to the previous questions: who are the influencers? And how can you build a personal brand that can become the go-to-spot for sponsors, marketers, and corporate brands?

An influencer can be any individual who gives himself or herself permission to intentionally express their creativity in a specific field and influence a tribe of people to a certain extent. In other words, you can be an influencer if you are determined to be one. There is absolutely no limit.

Hence, you just need to master the following five simple steps:

The first step is for you to understand the creative economy’s five areas or categories: Arts & Design, Music & Entertainment, Media and Publishing, Technology and Innovation, and Education and Culture. Awareness of these categories will help you know where you can function based on your love, passion, and life assets. As for what your life assets are, the answer to this leads us to the next step.

The second step is knowing your life assets. Your life assets are your past and current experiences of life that are designed to determine the next phase of your assignment. To build a personal brand and to leverage any economy, it’s much easier for you to improve on the things that come naturally to you versus learning new tricks.

Don’t follow the crowd or learn new unnatural things just because everyone else is doing it. Look at the five categories previously mentioned, then choose based on your life experiences. Ask yourselfwhich one of them are you truly passionate about?

The third step is to build a definitive message of impact using your life story in the category you choose. And begin to tell this story with intent and passion. Build a story-telling system and content distribution that works for you and just release it. Don’t worry about perfecting the content or the process in the beginning. Just get started.

The fourth step is to know the tribe of people that can connect well with your story of impact and determine the kind of transformation that you want them to experience. For example, if you go through and overcome the emotional trauma of going through a divorce, think of how you can share your story of transformation to the specific audience willing who is to listen over and over again.

Lastly, find a mentor that can help you build a profitable system. You don’t need money to start making an impact. But to take your impact to the next level, you must create a system, a process, and profit in order to become sustainable.

The key thing is to get started before talking yourself out of it. I can tell you many stories of today’s influencers converting their simple 15-second content into enormous amounts of money. The difference is that they make up their mind to simply do something. If there is one thing I want you to take away from this article, it is that you have all that it takes to leverage the creative economy to build your personal brand.

All the tools are available and accessible; it is up to you to become unstoppable by knowing the categories that resonate well with you, looking at your life asset, and creating a story and message. Then find the people you are called to serve who will resonate with your story, share the transformation they need over and over again, find a mentor, and get it done.

The Otis report shows that the creative economy grew and survived the tenure of the Covid pandemic. You can leverage that same creative economy to build your personal brand. You are next!

About the author:

iBen has been described as an authority when it comes to bringing ideas to life. He studied, practiced, and taught about Product Launch Blueprint. Having lived in Silicon Valley for about two decades, he created the idea-to-launch framework, which his agency has used to help many start-ups create millions of dollars in results.