Transcript
0:00 If Sabrina's got the hook, Charlie's got the internet, and Taylor's got the errors. What do you have? By the end of this video, you will know exactly how to brand like the celebrity playbook. Because let's be honest, in the business of business, in the creator economy, being forgettable is worse than being disliked. If you're forgettable, people are not buying from you. People are not sharing your work. People are not remembering you. They're not even thinking about you. You're just meh. And I'm not letting anybody in this community give me energy. Here's some real talk, okay? If you're in the business of business, if you have a business, or if you are a creator, we live in a world where thousands of people are doing the same thing as us.
0:38 Thousands of people have the same dream, the same niche, the same offers. We're all on the same platform. So, why is it that certain people break out and dominate while others, maybe even you, are staying stuck in the background? It's not talent, it's not luck, and sometimes it's not even about strategy, it's about your brand. And I feel like celebrities, they understand this better than anyone. There are hundreds and thousands of people on this planet that can sing, that can act, but not everybody has made it to become a breakout star. And it's because when you look into the celebrity world, it is absolutely fascinating how they engineer themselves and how they engineer these errors and these aesthetics that make us dress up like them when we go to concerts and make friendship bracelets.
1:20 and we create an entire personality and internet culture around their aesthetic. And they engineer that. And this isn't just celebrity stuff. This is brand strategy. And it's the same strategy that you and I, we can use this to grow our own brand online. Because the truth is, okay, in this digital world, whether you're a creator, whether you're a business owner, you are the celebrity of your own niche. Whether you have got 200 followers or 20,000 followers or you want to get 200k followers, we need to stop thinking like we are a background dancer or an extra in somebody else's movie. And we need to start building a brand like a freaking headline act. And this is episode one in a very very exciting 12-part series that I am running called, can we get a drum roll please? The errors tour Kay's version.
2:06 Every single week for the next 12 weeks, I'm going to be bringing you a business branding or content themed video inspired by one of Taylor Swift's albums. Starting off today, which in case you hadn't peeped the day, today is the release of Taylor's new album, which is called Life of a Showgirl. So, happy Life of a Showgirl Day to those who are celebrating, I'm wearing orange to commemorate the occasion, but you do not have to be a Swifty to enjoy this series. This is basically a 12-part series where I'm going to be walking you through personal branding, how to own your reputation, how to figure out your brand voice, how to fall in love with content, again, how to create a signature series or a signature style.
2:39 So, if you have been looking to really elevate your business, your brand, your content creation. Welcome to the errors tour, Kayle's version. Please don't sue me, Taylor. So, to start, let's examine exactly how celebrities are doing it. Because for us to learn, we have to learn from the masters. How do celebrities make sure that obscurity never happens to them? They brand. They brand harder. They brand better. They brand louder. Let's cut to one of my favorite celebrities. I mean, her marketing team is one of the best marketing teams in the game. And let's examine Charlie XCX. Her Brat era was a complete cultural moment over the last year. And love it or hate it, whatever you think about Brat, whether you enjoyed the album or you enjoyed the marketing, you know about it. And it's really interesting because if you look at any of Charlie XCX's eras as an example, she has had different aesthetics throughout her entire career.
3:29 She did the whole like pop baddy girl, the very commercial pop baddy girl in her last era. And she used a lot of unconventional marketing to do this. I mean that obnoxious lime green lowres cover, it was very very deliberate. She knew that that would cut through the noise. And right now it's instantly recognizable. That bratz green. There was a billboard being painted in Hackne, East London. Everybody knew exactly what this billboard was going to be before any words went on it because of that color green. That is cult branding at its finest. And that is why Brat Summer became a cultural moment. It's not just an album release. It became an identity for many people. And when you start to look at celebrities like they are a business and you start to dissect their look, their signature, their voice, their aesthetic, their colors, their fonts, you start to really understand that yes, actually we can pull from this. We can take examples from this. We can use this in our own business and in our own personal brand. So that is exactly what we're going to do. I want you to now from this point on think of yourself like a celebrity building a brand and building a cult following. So, the very first thing that I want you guys to do is to start to map out this celebrity era or this celebrity main character moment that you are stepping into. We're going to call this your main character mood board. Think of this like your celebrity vision board. We're going to be designing the vibe that you are going to be stepping into. The vibe, the energy, the world. We are creating it.
4:56 And this world is the world in which your brand is going to live in. And celebrities, they do this all the time. that very first board meeting that they probably have. They are pulling together loads of different ideas and fleshing out an aesthetic. Think of Taylor. Taylor is the biggest biggest example of this. Every single album has a unique aesthetic from folklore and from evermore. A horse just went past from folklore or from evermore which have these really cozy cottagey woodland kind of vibes to the stark contrast of reputation. It has this very dark moody aesthetic with lots of snake like imagery. This was not just random.
5:31 Taylor just didn't go, "Oh, snake. Let's run with that." It was concepted and probably mood boarded at one point. So, let's break down exactly what your showgirl era looks like. I want you to pull up Pinterest or pull up Canva, wherever you like to mood board. And I want you to name this album something. Whatever this era is, imagine you are just literally making an album. What are you calling this era? Is it your showgo era, your softgo era, your CEO era, your content creator era? Give it a really fun name because when you name it, you claim it. Next, we want to start pinning and collecting images that represent the energy of this new celebrity era that you are stepping into and start to really map out not only what this era looks like, but what it feels like.
6:11 Think of textures, think of smells, think of fonts, think of colors, think of feelings and energy. And if you get a little bit stuck, I'm going to give you some prompts on just things to pin that will pull this all together. Number one, if your brand walked into a room, what outfit would she be wearing? If your brand was a city, what city would she be? If she was a texture, what textures would she be? Would she be like bubbles or would she be like these really hard concrete textures? Would she be pink fluffy pastel clouds like the lover era?
6:40 If she was a scent, what would she smell like? If she was a color, what colors would she be? If she was a font, what fonts would she be? This is going to start to make your brand feel more real. And hopefully as you're doing this exercise, you will start to get really excited about this thing becoming tangible. This isn't fluff. Your brain, our brains love visuals, especially if you're a visual learner or in a creative industry, like if you're a makeup artist or a photographer. Our brains respond to visuals. And when we see this, we can start to see it become real. You need to see the vibe to embody it. So now, you might have a collection coming together nicely. I bet we have all done this before. If you've been in my Level Up Club membership, you have definitely done this before. or how do we actually action this? This is something my I myself have been working on heavily behind the scenes. If you knew me before YouTube, my brand has not really existed and I have been working so hard over the last year to figure out what my identity is in my showgo era. So on my Pinterest board, I'm going to pop it up right here. You will see that the personal style that I'm really leaning into right now and feels very very me. I used to lean into suits and this kind of badass business, very very Jenna Kucher and it always felt like I was playing dress up.
7:50 So I started to pin things that I liked but wasn't inspired by anybody that I just felt really really authentic in. And a lot of this was coming out as really really preppy as evidenced by what I'm wearing today. I really liked things like cute abocrombie blazers and gold buttons and found myself really loving personal style that gave a little bit of Blair Wardorf, a little bit of like princess energy that sat more in its feminine energy than the masculine energy that I was trying to embody previously because it's always going to feel like you're playing dress up. It should be so authentically who you are but crafted and curated and made into an aesthetic. That is when you become the brand. So, how do we take this mood board and make it real? This is the next step, your character design. And this is the bit that I think people miss. We all do the mood board, but we don't make the mood board come to life. And it's the character design part that makes it come to life. These are signature elements that you will be remembered for. I always think of Taylor and her winged liner and her red lip. When I think of Sabrina Carpenter, I think of that dolllike glam, that really, really pink cheek and those overlined lips. And these aren't random. They're part of your mood board. and they are the details that make your brand and your character unforgettable. So, first I want you to identify your signature uniform. Mine, if you go back to my mood board, I was really drawn to that preppy look. So, I've started to develop over the last year a wardrobe with these elements of preppiness. I've started to curate this so that eventually you guys will start to associate that kind of signature look with me. So, imagine you are a mega pop star. You are about to release your new album. What would you want the girlies to dress up as if they were coming to your concert? Think of Taylor Swift. Everybody comes as their favorite era. When I went to the era tour, I went as reputation. What is the aesthetic, the visual aesthetic, the style aesthetic of this new celebrity era of yours? And listen, this might not be things that you have freely and easily available in your wardrobe. And that's okay. You might need to go shopping for your brand because branding is an investment. It's an investment into you. It's an investment into your business. It's an investment into the way that you are perceived by others.
9:54 And if we go back to business a little bit right here, right now, a brand will enable you to not only be more memorable, but you will be able to charge more. You will be able to sell more, book more, because a brand feels like an all-encompassing business. So, pick out a few things. Maybe you already own some in your wardrobe. So, pick out a few things that fit this visual style and this visual aesthetic. and then get online, get on ASOS, get on wherever and start to build out your wardrobe, your curated style aesthetic and eventually over the next few months, start to build this collection up. You only really need three or four full outfits and that is a really good place to start from. The next thing we need to figure out your signature makeup look. Every celebrity that you can think of, from Billy Isish to Beyonce, they have a signature makeup look. And these are all things that you can add to your Pinterest board. By the way, on my Pinterest board, I have sections. So, I have a section for the personal style element and I have an entire section for the makeup look. For me, I love my wing liner. I have been wearing wing liner since I was like 18 years old. And I also love a three lip combo. Excessive, I know. And again, my advice for this is we are not creating and crafting somebody that you're not.
11:00 So, lean into what you already love to wear. Lean into what your makeup style already classically is. Just give it a name. Make it real. Make it official. Now, let's move on to the toppings. Okay. What is your signature scent? Smell is one of the senses that is most tied to memory. So what scent perfectly encapsulates you and your brand? Again, celebrities are the masters of this. If you think of Ariana Grande, she has got a perfume for every era that she has ever had. You want to create a scent that people start to associate with you when you walk in rooms, when you're actually in person interacting with people. Also, think about accessories and have fun with this. I love this creator right here. Her name is Julia Broom and I absolutely love when she wears her shirt and tie combo. Whenever I see like a shirt and tie out in the wild, I think of Julia Broom. Also, YouTuber Cassie Thorp, love her YouTube channel. She has such a distinct style when it comes to her accessories. She's never seen without her bling bling rings or her long nails, and this has become part of her. It's become part of her brand. You can even take props one step further. I love Marissa Grace artistry for this. She always has a perfectly coordinated pink mic and it makes me pay attention to her. Whenever I see that little pink mic and I always see her perfectly pink coordinated outfit, I pay attention and now I start to associate her with the color pink and it strengthens her. It strengthens her brand. It strengthens her business.
12:20 Having all of these elements that tie all together. So pick two, three or all of these things and commit to them because over time people will start to associate these things with you. And that is how memory works. That is how you become unforgettable. So, you've got the visuals. Let's start to flesh out the mental and the energy behind this era, the energy of your showgirl era. So, the next thing that I want you to do is I want you to create a playlist. I know this is such a fun video, isn't it?
12:47 I always have a playlist that I play when I need to feel confident, when I need to feel like the main character. I will play this playlist before I hit record, before I go on a live teaching call. When I need confidence, I will put on my confident playlist. So, when you need help getting in your main character energy, you need to put on this playlist. Now, by the end of this exercise here, you should have a mood board that screams, "This is my brand, this is my vibe, this is my aesthetic, this is my era." And this isn't just for you to see. This is going to help your audience feel. Your energy becomes contagious. And that, bestie, is how celebrities turn these random moments into movements. So, what I want to hear from you guys is I want you to drop it in the comments for me. So number one, I can come and cheer you on. But number two, so that I can understand what world you are building. So moving on, that section was all about you. But now we need to think about them. Your clients, your followers, your community, the people you are trying to attract. Let's imagine this like a tour. Imagine you're going on a world tour right now. There's a few things we need before we can go on tour, right? So the first thing you need before you go on tour is you need your set list, aka your topics. What is the thing or the things that you are going to be talking about online in your content in this era? Think of these as your recurring themes. If you were going on a podcast or a panel talk, what is the topic or topics that you would talk about and could easily talk about for over an hour. Me, my topics are business, content creation. We don't want too many of them because remember, if you were the master of everything, you were the master of nothing. So, give yourself three main things that you are going to talk about over and over and over again. This becomes your set list.
14:27 The things that people can expect from you over and over again in your content. After you've got your set list, you need to design your stage. What is the world that your brand lives in? Taylor gave us a cabin in folklore. Charlie gave us the neon rave. Beyonce gave us studio 54 in Renaissance. Some creators that are doing this so well right now. Again, Marissa Grace artistry, she has created this world which is kind of very very pink. is giving like clueless and in her branding she has created this entire world. So what is the world that your brand lives in? The way that we do that is through our branding through things like our fonts, our colors, our branding photos of ourselves, the world in which our business lives. Now once you've got the stage, once you've got the set list, the final thing that you need to think about is the crowd, aka your audience or your ideal client. Every star knows their audience, right? Sabrina knows she is talking to the playful girly girls.
15:20 Taylor knows that she is talking to an audience that crave belonging and storytelling and lived experiences that they can relate to. So, who are your people? What identity do they claim? Are they underdogs, icons, dreamers? Are they creators that are trying to break through the noise? Know your audience. This is the basics of business. Anybody who has a business or is trying to build something online needs to know exactly who they're speaking to? Because if you do not know who you're speaking to, how can you create a business and a world for them? If you're a makeup artist or a photographer or a service provider, the very first thing that you need to know is your ideal client. Who are you speaking to? Because if you speak to everybody, you speak to nobody. I have a couple of great podcasts. If you are new to the world of ideal client, I will pop them up here right now. But again, I want to do a really big episode one day over here on YouTube all about ideal client because I could genuinely talk about it for years. So now back to your world. You've got your visual identity which you've mood boarded out and now you have your world. Got your topics aka your niche. You have got your stage aka your branding. You have got your crowd aka your ideal client. And you have got all of those signature elements which are you, your character design. Can you start to see now all of these random parts coming together to create your brand? Not only your brand, your celebrity brand. And this is what takes you from random posts and from DIY branding to celebrity level viral unforgettable branding. And if we are able to do these things over and over and over and over again, repetition is the part that drives it home. And you might be sick of it, but others are not sick of it. So to tie it all together, we need to figure out your brand voice.
16:59 Now, this part here is fairly important. It's actually a big thing that not a lot of us pay attention to. Celebrities aren't just remembered for what they look like. They're remembered for what they say and how they say it. Taylor has her poetic storytelling. Sabrina has her tongue and cheek sexy oneliners. And when you hear them, you know it's them. We know what they're saying. We know what they stand for. And that is the level of recognition that I want for you guys. But listen, this is actually part of another episode that I have coming later on down the line as part of the Speak Now era. So, you're gonna have to subscribe and come back for that one because listen, Rome wasn't built in a day and I can't give you everything in one episode. Right now, I just want you focusing on the look and the feel of your brand. So, it is all well and good mapping this out, mood boarding this out, but we need to put it into action.
17:45 And I want us to put it into action this week. So, let's talk about your PR team. And no, I'm not talking about hiring a million dollar PR team. We can't all have tree pain on our team. I mean the PR team that you already have and that is your social media, your profile, your website, your online digital presence. And here's the reality, okay? Your Instagram bio, your Tik Tok header. These are the first things that people see. And you have less than 3 seconds to make an impression. When somebody finds you on the explore page, as an example, and goes and checks out your profile, your bio, that first above the fold section that they see, you have 3 seconds before they decide to go back or they decide to follow you. So, here's what we're going to do next. First thing we're going to do is we're going to give your bio a little bit of spice. Think of your bio as your billboard. And we're not going to leave it blank. And we're not going to make it boring either. You want to know something that I'm really tired of? I'm tired of the bios that say I help X and X do X and X. Listen, this used to work in 2023, 2022, but we're in 2025 going into 2026. And those bios giving Gen Z the ick. No matter what industry you're in, whether you're in photography, whether you're in bridal, makeup, if you are selling a physical product, your next customer is Gen Z.
18:56 And I have a lot to say about how do we attract the Gen Z customer. But the thing that you need to know is they love personality. And when they see I help X next do X and X, it turns them off. It makes you boring. It rips away any remnant of personality that you have. Your bio should say and do three things. Number one, it should say exactly what you do in human language written for your person. Number two, it should show your personality. And I believe one line of your bio should be your personality line. It shouldn't say something like, "I like the gym. I'm a dog mom." No, still boring. Think about it this way.
19:29 If you had 3 seconds to introduce yourself to your dream client, your dream opportunity, and you only had one sentence to say it, that should be your second line. The third thing is there should be something in there that makes people curious to click follow. This could be like a call to action or maybe a challenge that you're doing or a personal thing that you're doing. I myself I love it when people have like personal challenges in their bio. If they say I'm on a journey to grow 10k followers in 100 days or I'm on a journey to hit a million in revenue, I click follow because I am invested in the journey. So your mission is to go ahead and redo your bio for autumn. Now if you're a creator, I also want you to apply this to your press kit or your media kit. update the stats. Maybe give it a new design that represents your celebrity era. Maybe go on Etsy and see if there's a design that fits your brand and your aesthetic and what you're trying to say a bit better. If you still have them, I also want you to give some love to your highlights. I know highlights have gone from a lot of profiles and they've become like a story now. But if you still have them, it is still worth controlling the image that your highlights are giving. Think of your highlights as like your press clippings. So, what I would recommend is that you have a highlight about you. You have a highlight about how to work with you. You have a highlight for your offers. You have a highlight for your testimonials or your results. And maybe one for personal flare or fun. Anything else, we want to archive it. We want to keep it clean and super clear for anybody that wanders over there. Step three, we also want to refine your magazine cover, aka the first nine posts and nine realels that you have available on your profile. Imagine someone lands on your profile, they have read your bio, your bio is speaking to them. The next thing that is going to determine whether they follow you is your first nine posts. What are your first nine posts saying about you? What is the messaging, the feel, the aesthetic that they are giving off? Do they match this era's vibe? Do they give people a reason to follow? People decide in seconds whether they want to stick around and whether they want to be a part of your world. So go ahead and archive anything that does not fit this brand, this celebrity brand that you are stepping into. And the final job that your PR team has is you need to control the messaging that is everywhere on the internet about you. And this is a big job. Go back through any old Yelp profiles, any old Tik Tok profiles, anywhere where your name is connected to and just tie up that loose end if you need to. You really need to look at your messaging and what your messaging is saying and whether it is aligned to your current brand. If you're a service provider, the last thing that you want is a client potentially finding your old Facebook profile and instantly getting the ick because your Facebook profile hasn't been updated for like 6 years and isn't representative of the brand and the business that you are now. You also want to look at your messaging on your website if you have one. You want to make sure that that messaging on your website is aligned to the brand that you're trying to build. If you were trying to build a luxury brand and a luxury aesthetic, you want to be the number one destination makeup artist.
22:20 Your language and your messaging should reflect that. So, think of this like a celebrity brand audit. We want to audit our bio, our highlights, our media kit, our first nine posts, anywhere else that we are showing up on the internet, and our messaging through our copy. And just make sure that every single one of those points is aligned with your celebrity era. One thing to remember is that perception is power. And what all of this episode boils down to, if we put our business hat on for a second, especially if you're a service-based business, people will not charge you what you're worth. People are never going to look at your prices and offer to pay you more. They will always pay you what they think you're worth. And you control what they think you're worth. You control that through your perception, through your image. We're going to be diving more into this, by the way, in the reputation episode, but celebrities know this. They know that perception shapes reality. But here is the biggest takeaway that I want you to hear. If you are at the end of this episode right now, I want you to hear this. Stop waiting for your discovery.
23:22 If you're waiting for your moment to blow up, if you're waiting for that celebrity client, if you're waiting for your milliondoll revenue mark or the big brand deal, it will not come. You have to engineer that. And that is the secret that I don't think a lot of people are sharing. Celebrities, they don't just pop out like Sabrina Carpenter. They are engineered and you can engineer your own story. If you are not getting the clients that you want, you're getting a lot of discount inquiries or you're not getting a highquality client. That is the narrative that you are pushing. No one else, my friend. You control your perception. So, it's time to take control of your perception. So, ask yourself this week, what story am I pushing? How can I make it so sticky?
24:01 How can I make myself so sticky people repeat it without me asking them to? This is how celebrities build legacy. And this is how you can build yours. People treat you the way that you present yourself. And if you are not happy with that, you can change it. If you show up timid, insecure, apologetic, that is the energy that will be reflected back to you. If you show up like a celebrity, confident, unapologetic, magnetic. That is the energy that will be reflected back to you. And no, you don't need millions of followers to be in your celebrity energy. It is a decision, not a number.
24:35 So here is my challenge for you. I want you to do your homework. So, go back through this video, create your mood board, figure out who your visual identity is and what that looks like. Audit everything that's in your world to make sure that it is all lining up and aligning how you want it to. And I want you to start embodying this person. That is going to be the hardest part. Trust me, because when you embody your brand like a celebrity, bold catches up faster than you think. Celebrities are not born iconic. They are built to be iconic through branding. They repeat, they refine, they embody, and they push their story until the world cannot ignore it.
25:11 And you, you're going to start doing the same thing. And this is the building blocks. This is the beginning of that. So, get all of these things in line. And next week, we're going to be debuting it with the debut era because it is all well and good crafting all this out, but the trickiest part can be how do we actually step into this? How do we have the confidence to debut this? Please let me know in the comments below your thoughts on this series. I do not get a ton of comments over here on YouTube and comments are my favorite favorite favorite thing. So, please please leave me one if you have made it this far. So, I really hope that you will come on this journey with me. I'm going to be dressing up as all of the eras. I want this series to set you up for 2026 with the most success and the most confidence so that 2026 can be your era. Finally, as a final favor, please do consider subscribing. Most of you are not subscribed. Your next era starts now.
26:02 Your showgirl era starts now. So step into it with me. Be the damn main character. And I will see you in the spotlight.