← Call Her Creator with Katelyn Rhoades
Call Her Creator with Katelyn Rhoades
Ep. 47: Building the Sabrina Carpenter Brand: Social Media Strategies for Online Entrepreneurs and Creators
00:19:08
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Transcript29 lines
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What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Call Her Creator Powered by Stan. I am your host, Kaitlyn Rhodes. And today I have a really good.
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Episode for you guys.
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We're going to be diving in to one of the most iconic celebrities marketing strategy. She is literally blown up across the world. I love her. Hopefully you guys like her music too. But we're talking about Sabrina Carpenter and I went ahead and did some research on what she's doing, how she went from this like good girl next door on the Disney Channel to literal like sex kitten that is just dominating the charts and she's got sold out shows like, what can we learn from her as small business owners and entrepreneurs and creators to literally like change the future of our own marketing efforts in our own brand. So very excited to dive into that today. Now, before we get into that, I did a little like motivational opening on a recent episode and I got some feedback that you guys liked it. So I wanted to do that again today. I'm only doing it like when I have something really good to say. And today's mentoring message to me was pretty good. I've been reading the Wealth Money Can't Buy by Robin Sharma. If you want to sponsor me, Robin, that'd be great. Just kidding.
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But I read something about allowing yourself to be sloppy.
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Now I am super duper hustle culture is who I am.
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I really need to go to therapy for it.
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But I tend to, I guess, like feel my self worth based on my achievements.
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And I know that is super duper, not good. It's very unhealthy. So I'm working through that personally myself.
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But I read this message and I was like, holy crap, that's for me. And then I was like, you know.
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What, I bet other people need to hear this messaging. So I'm going to kind of paraphrase.
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What I read, but I think it was really good message for all of.
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Us and a good reminder for us to kind of slow down and not.
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Be afraid to be sloppy. And we don't need to be perfect.
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All the freaking time.
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So it starts with be perfect. Be super tidy. Have cut abs.
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Yeah, don't have those. Our society schools us on such nonsense. It's not a mark of high wisdom to live a richly balanced life. There are times to exercise where world class, world willpower while creating an aspiring project work, pursuing an important physical fitness goal, realizing a meaningful spiritual venture. Whatever your example is there. But then there are periods that are meant for leaning back, resting more, doing little and simply being a human being. So he goes on to talk about, there's this man he was watching online and he was saying we should treat ourselves like a slab of rock, striking ourselves to our most extreme edges to sculpt some something beautiful. He said that the energy of the man was intense, aggressive, seemingly angry. Not my vibe.
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But he got the point of what.
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The man was trying to say. And sure, we can't constantly give in to weak impulses every hour and hope to have a life of excellent satisfaction and awe.
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Got it.
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But some of the messaging from the hustle and grind culture has some truth to it. Happy things happen to people who do hard things. Absolutely 100% believe that you're feeling sad, go do something about it. You can't just sulk there and wait for life to happen to you and.
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Make you feel better.
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You gotta go make yourself feel better. So to me, a glorious human experience must have some mess to it sometimes of strategic laziness in it. Never heard strategic laziness. Love to hear that. Some breathtaking days of serious sloppiness where we just allow ourselves to leave the bed unmade, the call unanswered, the dishes unwashed. We're not machines. We are human.
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So it's okay to do those things. I guess what I'd like you to.
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Consider is to trust the flow more. Stop resisting your natural rhythms. Embrace the seasons when it doesn't seem like much is happening. As the farmer accepts the fallow season as well as the times of harvest, understanding that without the first one, the spectacular growth of the latter one would really not be possible. Honor the days where you have all the drive in the world and rest more on the days that you don't. I don't know who needed to hear that, but I know that I definitely did. I get anxiety when I lay in bed and watch Netflix. I something I love to do on my pastime. But I also just sit there and.
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Think, like, oh, my God, you're a piece of crap. You need to be doing something. But this little message just. Just reminded us that, hey, on the days that you feel really, really motivated, go do all the things. Make it work. But on those days that you need a little bit of rest, go ahead and rest it is. Okay, So I know one of y'all probably had to hear that. I had to hear it. Good little message for us to start off today before I talk to you guys about building a brand as iconic as Sabrina Carpenter's. Right. So let's just get into today's episode. I'm gonna pull up My notes for us, and we are going to jump right in. Okay. Sabrina Carpenter's evolution. All right, Again, like I said, she was literally the girl next door. If you go Google her, she even looks differently. She looked like plain Jane. Like, she's still beautiful, but she looked like a plain Jane. You know, celebrity movie, not movie, TV actress. Now she is super duper glam, Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect makeup. She just truly transformed. But how did she do that? Her latest album campaign. Short and sweet. It's a perfect example of how she managed this evolution with intention and strategy, staying relevant to both her longtime fans, but also her new audience. So that's one thing that I am struggling with right now, is staying relevant on Instagram because there are a dime a dozen of Instagram coaches out there. And when I first started, I definitely stood out because I used my own personality. I was funny, dancing, teaching all the things, and I was an early adopter. But now there are so many people out there, we are literally a dime a dozen that I need to figure out how to stay relevant and how to evolutionize, revolutionize evolution, how to evolve with the times. And I think all of us need to do that. All of us as business owners. My. My father in law, he is an amazing lawyer, and I talk to him all the time about how he could be working smarter if he used ChatGPT or something like that. But, you know, he's set in his ways and he's still very successful doing his thing. But that's a perfect example of how sometimes we need to change with the changes. So. And that's exactly what Sabrina Carpenter has done. And while we might not have Disney level reach, none of us, you know, I know we're not these people that are opening up for Taylor Swift. We can still learn a lot from what Sabrina did to do the things. So first things first, Sabrina defined her brand pillars. And I talk about brand pillars all of the time. I talk about content pillars, how you need to have these things in line so that you can have good brand messaging, you can have good aesthetics. People will start to recognize you for those things. So Sabrina's rebranding was not random at all. It was built on three core themes or pillars. Right? This was Hollywood glamour, cheeky humor, and empowerment and resilience. So I'm going to kind of dive into each one and talk about how you can use these similar themes to define your own brand. So the first one, she was Hollywood, she was actress. So there was an association there. So Sabrina leaned into that. She's already known as being an actress. So she's going to lean into that. And that's where she leaned into that Hollywood soft, hot, glam that she was. I hate that I keep, like, referring to her as hot and sex kitten, but that's just who she is. That's her brands. So, for example, her music video for Taste, I don't know if you guys have seen it, it's iconic in my opinion. But she brings in Gen Z favorite Jenna Ortega, and the video nods to classic horror films like Kill Bill, maybe even Scream. But her fashion choices, the person she brought in for the video, it all reinforces that connection to classic Hollywood. So what's the takeaway there? Think about what makes your brand unique and authentic. Is there something in your personal background, an experience, expertise that makes your brand stand out? You need to really dig deep into who you are as a person and figure out what is it that makes you you. For myself, you know, I think about this all the time. What is it that makes me me? And I think my experience, like, there's a lot of people that posted on Instagram, they went viral one time and now they're an Instagram guru or a social media guru. But for me, I truly have been doing this since the beginning, like MySpace. So I have that experience under my belt and I know things that other people don't like. Someone might be able to teach you how to go viral on Instagram, but I can teach you how to go viral on Instagram and also tell you how to write stuff. Search in an optimized blog. That's going to get you higher up on the Google rank rankings, like the overall marketing strategy. So I know there's things within yourself that you probably feel like you're really good at. Don't be afraid to dig into that. There's a girl on Instagram that I follow. Pure Gallus. I think it's her. Her username. She is herself because she wears these funky overall outfits and glasses, and I love that about her. She actually posted the other day that after she had her baby, she wanted to change and rebrand because she felt like it was the thing to do. But then she ended up going back to her quirky, fun self because that's who she was as a person and she wanted to stay true to herself. So little exercise I have for you guys today is probably to, like, write down things that make you you and things that make your business your business, that make you better than the competition, different from the competition, and figure out how you can lean in Deeper to those things. The next pillar for Sabrina is her cheeky humor. I don't know if you guys have watched her behind the scenes of, like, a show, but she comes out in a bathrobe and she's, like, looking all glam and, like, she's got this little cheeky look on herself, and then she slowly opens up her towel and reveals her outfit of the night and the crowd goes wild. But that is something that is a key pillar in her branding. She's playful, she's self aware, she's got a bit of an edge. She released merchandise that said Jesus was a carpenter, tea and I heart sluts. I'm not going to say that. But, like, these were very daring, but they were catchy and they were fun for her audience. Okay. She's always thinking about her audience. So her songs, they just have this clever tongue in cheek lyrics that balance who she is as an artist and she leans into that unpopular opinion here. But you do not have to be serious all the time. Your audience wants to see you being cheeky and fun. If you are light hearted, then write that in your product descriptions. If you are super serious, fine, be you, boo boo. But you have to really lean into your own personality. Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing on the Internet and lean into your strengths that make you who you are. That is going to help you stand out on social.
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All right.
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Her other core pillar is empowerment and resilience, which we all know all of her relationship, her and Shawn Menendez. I know everything that went on in that relationship because she is open. She wants to empower other women who's been through hard breakups. She wants to show her resilience. Sabrina does a really incredible job of reclaiming her narrative. For example, because I like Dubois. That was one of her past songs. It was a song that showed her past challenges and turned it into a powerful message of empowerment. What you guys need to know about this is like, share your own story of resilience. Talk about those obstacles that you faced. Talk about how you've overcome them. Position your brand as both strong, but also relatable. This level of openness can build trust with your audience that you never knew you could have. And it will help them see your brand as one that values authenticity and empowerment. So let's talk about Sabrina's marketing strategy and action. Now that we understand what her brand pillars are, let's look at some specific strategies that Sabrina used to bring these all to life and how you can apply them to your own business. The first is her Fashion and media collaborations. She collaborated with bigger brands like Skims. Her Met Gala appearance showcased her as mature and confident. But these high profile moments reinforced her shift from Disney to a sophisticated pop star. So what can you learn from that? You can seek out brand collaborations, even if they're local or smaller scale. The idea is to find brands or partnerships that reflect who you are and your values. If you run an online boutique, collaborate with a local jewelry maker, or if you're a coach, maybe partner with a wellness brand that you can create content together that you believe in. Brand partnerships and collaborating with people, they're one of the most underrated marketing strategies, especially on social media. Like you are getting in front of their audience, they're getting in front of your audience. You're building this community and it's very untapped and it needs to be more, more normal for all of us. I need to work on it. I actually, I was doing a bunch of brand partnerships for myself, obviously for the money. I wanted to get paid, you know, for my influencer marketing. But this last Q4 of the year, I've already been writing down people that I want to collaborate with that I'm not, I'm not doing it to get paid. I'm doing it because I actually genuinely like them and I think we share some of the same audiences and I think my audience would like to hear from them. Even with the podcast, I wrote down a list of people that I want to interview here and these are all people that I connect with. So I know that there's brands out there, there's people out there. It doesn't even have to be a brand. It could be a person that you believe in that you like that you could bring in front of your audience and get in front of theirs. Think about who those people are. Right? Right down a list and reach out to them. Ask Chad GPT to help you with an email. Don't start it with I hope you're doing well. Hope this email finds you well. No, but ask ChatGPT to help you with a conversation. To facilitate a conversation in an email where you guys could collab and really help each other both out with the collaboration. Storytelling. Sabrina is an amazing storyteller. Her music videos, I don't know if you have watched them again. The one with Jenna or take it was amazing. The one with her boyfriend, I'm having a brain fart now and cannot think of his name. He was in Saltburn. Freaking phenomenal music video. I loved it just because I love both of them. But she is not afraid of storytelling. And then she also pulls in like her cinematic background, right, because she was a actress. So she pulls that in now with her music too, to make these badass music videos. So if there are strengths that you have, pull those into your marketing. Baby takeaway here for you. Think of every piece of content you've put out as a chance to tell a story. Ensure your visuals, your captions, your overall messaging align with you as a person, as a business owner. Even on a budget, you can get very creative with your storytelling. I mean, we've got TikTok, we've got Instagram. My girls personally have been popping up on TikTok and Instagram videos. If you want to go look at them, they're really funny. We're on Instagram Influence with an E dot studio and I love how they're just being their fun selves. They're doing these trends and our clients are really getting to know who their account managers are behind the scenes rather than it just always being like prim and proper. They're doing fun things to really show off who we are and I love it. And I think that's something that we all need to lean into to make things fun around here. Sabrina Social media. It's a blend of high fashion, polished posts, but still fun. There's also casual content. I don't know if you watch her TikTok, but she gets in there and does really fun TikTok trends. She does selfies, she does the TikTok challenges, she's human and she engages with her fans directly. And I think that's another underrated part of marketing that we don't do is engage with our fans. So takeaway for you guys here, mix your polished content. You can have that.
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It's great.
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Shows off your brand, shows off your best side. But also don't be afraid to post more casual content too. Like I said, my girls popping up on these trends, it's really helping us connect with our audience. And it's a way for you too, to connect with your audience and to engage them. They're going to think it's funny or they're going to be like, oh my God, they're just like me. They're relatable. And that's always a great thing to do with your audience to just really nurture that relationship that you have with them. So three little lessons here just to wrap us up. Define your brand pillars. Stick to two or three themes that guide your messaging and your visuals as a business. 2. Tell a story with consistency. Use every channel that you've got from Instagram to email. Reinforce your brand story and those pillars, and then engage and empower your audience. Don't just speak to your audience, engage with them. Invite them to be a part of your brand, a part of your story. If we take some inspiration from Sabrina, we can remember it's all about being intentional with your brand and who you are, being relatable. And above all, it's staying true to you and your unique story. That is what is going to set you apart from the noise. All right, I really hope you all liked this episode. It was a little different from what I have been teaching lately, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting a little sick of giving y'all Instagram tips all the freaking time. So I wanted to break up my teachings with something more fun. So I'd love to know if you liked this episode. Send me a dm. If there's a celebrity that has really good marketings, let me know. I would love to dissect another celebrity's marketing strategy. And also let me know if y'all are liking my little mentor messaging messages before the show starts. Because I feel like my purpose in life is to inspire others. I know that God put me on this earth to make others feel better about themselves, to let them know they're not alone. Because I get grew up struggling with that for so long, and I know that God put that on my heart so that I could make other people feel better. I don't. I'm not explaining that right. But what I'm trying to say is I'm here to motivate you. I'm here to make you the best version of yourself. However, I can do that. So if you liked that, those motivational messages, let me know. All right, thanks, guys. See y'all next week.