Personal Brand

Should I Publish a Student Blog?

Emily Wade · Nov 25, 2021 · Leave a Comment

The simple benefits of publishing a student blog that might surprise you!

A student blog can help graduates find paid employment in a highly competitive job market. In an environment where many graduates hold the same university degree, demonstrating practical skills in blogging and digital content creation can be absolutely vital.

My students are asked to create a WordPress blog as part of their digital media studies at Deakin University. Below are four of the most important reasons for this (and some examples from my students)…

Why are we talking about the potential value of a student blog?

In the 2020 Graduate Outcomes Survey, 68.7% of undergraduates were in full-time employment 6-months after graduation (GOS 2020), with many sectors being negatively impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, ‘the largest falls in undergraduate full-time employment by study area have been in Communications, down from 60.1 per cent in 2019 to 52.8 per cent in 2020’ (GOS 2020:8). However, rather than focusing on the negative, these figures also highlight how important it is for students to stand out from the crowd, and blogging is one way they can do this (visit this post for extra advice about standing out in a changing job market).

It’s not about ‘going viral’ or even having a huge volume of work to showcase. Instead, a student blog can demonstrate passion, work ethic, commitment to an industry and practical media-making skills. In order to be successful, the blog should be developed strategically, and with a broader audience in mind than a teacher or small group of classmates.

Infographic created in Canva by Emily Wade

A student blog can develop practical skills in real-world environments

We (students and teachers) talk regularly about the importance of writing for an external audience. This can be an abstract concept for students who are conditioned to working within a traditional educational system. They’re used to satisfying an assessment rubric, criteria or marker, but not necessarily a real-world audience. So, during our digital media units, we encourage students to engage in a process of ‘learning by doing’ with platforms such as WordPress, YouTube and Soundcloud. We also engage with students, industry professionals, and others, on social media platforms such as Twitter. This public engagement allows students to develop skills in online publishing, networking and community building.

Real-world engagement is also where the concept of an external audience starts to become more tangible. So, rather than doing the bare minimum to satisfy assessment criteria, students create engaging content that an audience will genuinely love and find value in. While some students discover this quickly, others need a little more time and encouragement. And one of the most powerful forms of encouragement can come from seeing the work of their peers, so here we go…

Inspiration from some stellar students!

Below is some media (a blog and two videos) created by students in a third-year Digital Media Entrepreneurship unit during 2021. The featured students created this content to ‘pitch’ their own (hypothetical) start-up concept and have given me permission to share their work here.

Firstly, Olivia’s blog features her pitch for a more sustainable alternative to single-use plastic bottles called OneWay. She writes with a consistent and engaging tone of voice, which places the reader front and centre in the story.

You’re on your way to work, but you’re running late because you simply didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. In your Monday morning madness, you pressed snooze one too many times.
Olivia Styles (2021)

As a reader, it’s hard not to engage with content written like this because it’s creative, entertaining and informative!

The next video was created by Zoe and embedded in her blog to promote the concept of an educational app called Foresight. The detailed custom-made graphics featured throughout, along with excellent planning, filming and editing, have produced a very impressive result!

_{Foresight – Career education reimagined by Zoe Lusted (2021)}

Our final feature is a video produced by Sam (also embedded in a blog) to promote her start-up idea for an LED illuminated dog harness with GPS tracker called Spot Spot.

_{Introducing Spot Spot by Samantha Wridgway (2021)}

The work featured above isn’t perfect (and neither is mine) but these students have demonstrated creativity, professionalism and clear communication skills in developing highly compelling content. They have discovered the ‘magic’ in creating content that engages audiences in meaningful ways.

Student blogs (and embedded multimedia content) can speak volumes about skill and motivation that a written application or university degree alone simply cannot. Not to mention that engaging with student work like this is my inspiration!

Based on the brilliant content that these students have produced, I think the future of the communications field is looking very bright!

A blog often forms just one part of a personal-professional online presence. If you want to dig deeper into this topic, head over to How to Brand Yourself.

References

Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (2021) 2021 Graduate Outcomes Survey National Report, QILT, accessed 25 November 2021.

_{Cover Image by Thought Catalog on Unsplash}

How to Brand Yourself

Emily Wade · Oct 10, 2020 · 5 Comments

A personal or business brand isn’t just a clever business name or stunning logo; it’s every element of your visual branding, marketing content and how you engage with your customers or clients at each point of contact – the whole package!

And, guess what? Even if you haven’t consciously set out to design your brand, you already have one. Chances are, it might not be as effective as it could be though.

⏸️

Pause, and ask yourself these questions before reading further:

What is your current brand or ‘personality’?
Have you thought consciously about developing your brand or has it just evolved, accidentally?
Is it consistent and recognisable?
Are you attracting the right audience?

Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

Now that you have a clear idea of what your current ‘brand’ is (or isn’t) let’s dig a little deeper.

What exactly is a ‘brand’?

Simply, a brand is an ‘identity’ which is defined by businessdictionary.com as a “Unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors.”

A good brand is instantly recognisable, has a clearly defined product offering and is above all else, consistent. So, where do you start if you want to create a strong brand that attracts your target customer or audience? One of the best ways is to look at successful brands in your niche and learn from them.

Below, I look at the key ingredients for building a successful brand as demonstrated by Who Gives a Crap, who have managed to make the sale of environmentally friendly toilet paper (with a social conscience) into a unique, engaging and successful brand.

From the time they first launched their crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, Who Gives a Crap have had a clearly defined, engaging and well-targeted brand that just keeps on delivering! Before you keep reading, watch this video to see some of their clever branding in action…

Who Gives a Crap toilet paper – First Edition Video

So, what can we learn from the masterful branding of Who Gives a Crap?

Firstly, before you even start thinking about designing your brand and story, you must define your product and target customer.

Define your Product

If you are a service-based business, this step is just as important as for those running a product-based business. You need to spend time defining exactly what it is you do, what you sell and, most importantly, what makes your product or service unique compared to others in the marketplace. If you don’t have a well-defined product offering, potential customers will have no idea what you do, or sell!

Who Gives a Crap sell recycled toilet paper, and they’re not the only company who does so. The brand was launched on the back of a successful crowdfunding campaign in July 2012 after the three co-founders, Danny, Simon and Jehan, learnt that “2.3 billion people across the world don’t have access to a toilet… which means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation.” The company sells 100% recycled toilet paper (via a mail subscription service) and donates 50% of their profits to “help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world.”

One important thing to note here is that Who Gives a Crap has other products lines but toilet paper is their main product and marketing ‘hero’. Also, the fact that they are both socially and environmentally conscious is unique, and forms a very important part of their ‘brand story’ (more about that later).

When you think about your own business, what do you want customers to remember when they think of your brand? What is the main thing you do or sell? If you have a range of products, what is your ‘hero’ product? Or, what is it that you do best?

Define your Customer

You could say that everyone is a potential customer when you’re selling toilet paper and I’ve heard many small business owners say a similar thing about their product or service. But designing a brand that appeals to ‘all’ is virtually impossible. Some small business owners get stumped at this point and if that’s you, the first thing to ask yourself is who is most likely to buy your product? Often, it is a customer of similar profile to the business owner themselves, because many enterprises are born out of a passion or inspiration very close to the heart of the founder. So, there’s your starting point!

In the case of Who Gives a Crap, their visual branding and content is clearly targeted at 25-40 year-old professionals and/or parents with a social and environmental conscience. Yes, any brand will pick up customers outside their target demographic, but you should always have an idea of the age range, gender/s, interests and vocations of your ‘ideal’ customer when designing and marketing your brand. If you’re a visual thinker, it can help to create a character with all the attributes of your target customer, and even give them a name!

Photo by Jo shua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

Once you have defined your customer, the real fun can begin…

Develop your Visual Branding

As the name suggests, visual branding consists of your logo, font/s, colour/s and how those elements are applied across your brand, from business cards, website design and social media content, to email signatures, stationery, packaging, and more.

Who Gives a Crap execute their visual branding with absolute precision. From online content, to the cardboard box that the product arrives in, a consistent brand image is present at every single interaction with their customer (or potential customer).

When you set out to create your logo, and choose your colours and fonts, a professional designer can be invaluable. The more information you can give them about your product and customer, the better the result is likely to be. If you’re not in a position to sub-contract a designer right now, a cheaper alternative is to crowd-source design services, using a platform such as DesignCrowd, or 99Designs. I won’t delve into detailed design tips here, but there’s more to come on this topic soon. For now, if you’re interested in doing your own research on visual branding, you could start with the 99Designs blog on Visual Identity.

Developing your Brand’s Personality through Engaging Content

Many business publications would call this section ‘marketing strategy’ or something similar, but I wanted to draw particular attention to the ‘tone’ of your written content because it’s absolutely crucial to developing a ‘personality’ for your brand.

Customers who feel they know a brand are much more likely to develop a trusting (and loyal) relationship with it.

Who Gives a Crap offers a perfect example of using an informal, friendly and engaging tone with a strong dose of humour in all of their written content. You can see it on their website, product packaging and shipping boxes! Not only is the content light-hearted, clever and funny, it delivers the right key messages to their customers time and again. This creates loyal customers who are so happy that they recommend Who Gives a Crap to their friends and family too! No-brainer, right? Well, almost. The truth is that most small businesses try to create engaging content, and many achieve this to some degree, but the greatest challenge is being able to engage your customer consistently. That is, through a consistent tone, consistent messaging and consistent placement.

If writing isn’t your strong point, a freelance writing professional with business experience can craft a solid communications strategy (and content) for you. If your budget doesn’t allow for that right now, immerse yourself in reading the content of brands you admire, and practice your own writing. Then, ask for feedback from trusted friends or family (who will be honest with you) and keep working at it.

When you start to develop a tone for your brand, focus more on writing as if you were having a friendly conversation with your customers in-person, rather than trying to impress them with your technical knowledge or extensive vocabulary. In most cases, writing in an overly formal or academic tone when you’re trying to market your business will serve to drive potential customers away or at the very least, bore them to tears!

What is your Story?

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Your brand’s story should start with your passion; whatever it was that inspired you to start a business in the first place. What was the gap in the market, or opportunity, that you saw? What makes you unique? Starting with a clearly identified need for your product or service offering will be key to the success of your marketing strategy, and your business. We’ve seen Facebook and Instagram follow Snapchat’s lead by highlighting their story features in recent times, because this is what users are craving from brands. Essentially, your brand’s story is everything that goes into running your business, both front-of-house, and behind-the-scenes. The more you can invite your potential (or existing) customers into a space where you share your process, from ideas-generation through to design, production and distribution, the more likely they are to trust you. Consumers are becoming more savvy and take online research seriously, often demanding this sort of intimate detail before making a buying decision.

Once you have defined your target market, and developed your story, creating a mission statement or tagline to clearly communicate your key offering should be easy. If not easy, it should at least narrow your options. The challenge in developing your tagline will be to keep it both descriptive, and concise. You will need to prioritise which information is most important to include here. Shopify has a Free Slogan Maker that might not give you the perfect tagline, but it could kick-start your brainstorming process!

The Importance of Consistency

I couldn’t resist giving this word a paragraph of its own, because it is just so important. Creating a cohesive, consistent and engaging brand ensures that customers will recall your key product offerings when they come to make buying decisions. Even more importantly, a memorable brand lends itself to word-of-mouth recommendations from existing customers, which is one of the most powerful forms of marketing there is.

Wait, that was too many words! What should I do again??

In a nutshell…

Infographic Created using Canva

Extra Resources

The complete story and website of Who Gives A Crap

There are some fantastic tips for developing your brand’s story at HubSpot.

Trevor Young (Digital Citizen/PR Warrior) and Neil Patel each have a wealth of knowledge and resources on branding and digital marketing that you can explore.

For information on branding and developing content, most social media scheduling tools have their own blog with useful tips and tricks, such as Hootsuite, Later, Sprout Social, and Planoly.

‘Fake it ’til you make it’!

Emily Wade · Mar 11, 2019 · 4 Comments

How to conquer your fears and publish your work online.

Are you terrified about publishing your work online? Do you know that you ‘should’ be putting content out there, but…well, it’s never quite perfect?

Many students, professionals, small business owners and freelancers struggle with this exact problem. We all know how important it is to develop a personal brand or online portfolio because today’s job market is so competitive. But, ‘just publish it’ seems so much easier to say than it is to do! I was prompted to reflect on this through my teaching work in Digital Media at Deakin University.

Our Digital Media units encourage students to embrace the philosophy of Media Studies 2.0. which is based on students learning about digital media by immersing themselves in it; experimenting, creating, sharing, and connecting with others online. Senior Lecturer in Communication, Adam Brown, describes this highly practical approach as ‘learning by doing’.

I was brainstorming ways that I might be able to inspire confidence in students when the phrase ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ popped into my head. With several connotations and potential origins, ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ draws parallels to the concept of ‘learning by doing’. It’s also based on a similar premise to that of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which promotes the exchange of negative thoughts and patterns (bad habits) for positive ones (good habits), in order to affect change. In other words, ‘you are what you think’.

The more I thought, the more examples of ‘learning by doing’ or ‘faking it ‘til I made it’ I could identify throughout my own career. Two of these are below:

Starting my Journey as a Food and Product Photographer

In 2008, I had just bought my first DSLR camera and started experimenting with it at home. I was particularly interested in exploring macro photography and started creating artistic photos with natural elements (leaves, feathers, shells etc.) or food as subjects, but hadn’t engaged in any formal photography education yet. One day, my ex-husband (then, fiancé and business partner) told me that he’d volunteered my services as a food photographer for a major hotel group in Melbourne that he was doing signage for.

‘You did what?’ I said. ‘I can’t do that – I’m not ready!’

He assured me that anything I could produce was better than the amateur food photographs that the hotel group was using at the time, and if it didn’t work out, I could just waive my fee. Well, I went into full-on research and practice mode. Despite preparing as best I could, I was completely terrified when I turned up for my first shoot, but I concealed my nerves by putting on a big smile and greeting the Head Chef confidently. The session went as well as it could have.

Afterwards, I spent a lot of time editing (to compensate for styling, lighting and exposure errors) which served to quickly develop my Photoshop skills, and produce a more professional looking result. The client was happy, and I continued to shoot their food for several years afterwards.

As time went on, I upgraded my lighting equipment and honed my styling and photography skills so that I was able to spend a lot less time editing afterwards. I also went on to complete professional photography training and picked up many other food and product photography clients along the way. In the beginning, the only thing that got me through was a positive attitude, motivation to succeed and a good dose of adrenaline!

My First Role in Social Media Management

Around mid-2017 I was studying a Graduate Diploma of Communications, and one of my then teachers, Adam Brown referred stuart-hinds.com to me – they wanted someone to manage their social media and online marketing strategy. When I first read the offer, I was excited but unsure that I could deliver on the brief.

Despite my initial reservations, I contacted Stuart Hinds (an internationally-recognised Soft Tissue Therapist and Educator) anyway. We met for an interview, then he and his business partner confirmed that they wanted me to do the job. I immediately started researching, auditing their current social media accounts and developing a new marketing strategy.

It was an exciting opportunity given that they were just about to re-brand and expand their product offerings, and although their social media presence was minimal, Stuart Hinds himself had an established professional reputation in Australia and overseas. They also didn’t have a formalised social media marketing strategy at the time, so it was the perfect opportunity to develop something from the start, and (thankfully) see it grow so strongly as a result of my work.

I was lucky to have extensive small business and sales experience to draw on when I began this role, and my job-specific skills developed over time.

Often, there’s no substitute for being able to learn a set of skills in a practical setting. I strongly believe that if I had tried to learn the above skills in a traditional educational setting (through theory and simulation), then put them into practice later, it would have resulted in much lesser outcomes.

If you’re feeling unsure about how or where to start, I encourage you to just ‘start’. All you need to do is embrace the challenges and opportunities that come your way, work hard and learn from your mistakes.

Even if you feel like you’re ‘faking it’ to begin with, you’ll ‘make it’ in the end!

Have you got any examples of ‘faking it ’til you made it’ to share? I’d love to hear them in the comments below, or head over to Twitter.

Visit my page on Unsplash or Flickr to download a selection of my images, freely available for reuse.