Getting yourself noticed is becoming increasingly harder. Whether it's in the blogging world or just generally in working life making yourself stand out and resonate in somebody's mind is such a challenging task. I've stumbled across so many amazing blogs in my years who hardly have any followers and I used to always wonder why. But promoting yourself, tweeting like your life depends on it and just being very present at all times really is the key to gaining a bigger audience.
I was recently contacted by Solopress and asked if I would like to take part in their Get Noticed competition. The prize is really special and the winner will get to design and create their very own billboard and place it in a city of their choice! You can use this billboard to promote yourself in any way, whether it's some kind of visual CV or a way to promote yourself as a blogger and gain more followers. To get me started, Solopress kindly sent me this adorable personalised kit and allowed me to create my very own business cards! I'm so happy with how they turned out and now I won't feel like a numpty when I'm at blogger events and everyone else is exchanging business cards. To carry my business cards they sent me this adorable leather card holder with my initials on it and I also have my own personalised pencils - how cool is that?!
Onto my billboard idea! Are you prepared for my essay-like rambling? Once an English Literature student, always an English Literature student I suppose...
For my billboard idea to promote Beauty & the Brunette my photograph would be shot from above, the edge of a laptop appearing in the top right hand corner with a hand resting over the keys (with a pretty manicure of course!). A mug with a lipstick stain would surround it further to the left,possibly a pile of floral notebooks and a pot of pencils would accompany it and the background of the billboard would be white. I know this sounds like the blogger cliche: the white background, flat-lay shot, laptop in sight with all the pretty accessories to boot but this is actually exactly what I'm aiming for, just bare with me! In the space remaining I'd love to create my blog name (Beauty & the Brunette) using products and makeup itself. I'm not entirely sure of the details right now but I'm thinking about using loose powder, liquid liner, stains of lipstick etc. to create the name. But then I want this makeup to invade the rest of the space. For example, loose shadow could be sprinkled across the laptop and makeup brushes could be scattered among the pens. At the bottom of the billboard I'd love to write the words: 'Be Bold. Be Beautiful. Be You - www,beautyandthebrunette,co.uk' as the message is something I try to live by and wish to share with my readers. The billboard isn't just to promote myself, I really want it to convey a message about blogging and the beauty industry.
The cliched image of my billboard at the start is there to conjure up this stereotype of blogging and its relationship to work. I feel like at this current time the rest of the world see blogging as something easy, something not classed as a 'real job' and often bloggers truly aren't credited for their talents which range so widely from marketing, to writing to photography and design. The second 'layer', the invasion of makeup through my blog name, acts as an explosion of creativity and I hope it represents how the 'working world' and the 'blogging world' are becoming intertwined. The disruption merges the beauty world (my world) with that of an office-like location whilst simultaneously underpinning the idea that everything in a blogger's life is super easy, surrounded by aesthetically pleasing images (think of that all-white Instagram feed!) and that all bloggers are the same. I'm hoping the disturbance of the neat first 'layer' of the board and the mixture of writing tools and make-up products proves that I'm different and expresses that beauty bloggers like myself are not just women (or men!) who play with makeup but that we're intelligent creators and thinkers. The beauty industry is always bombarded with imagery of falseness and covering the self up but I'm hoping my bold image shows how I am empowered by it and how beauty products help me to feel like the most confident version of myself. My little tagline - Be Bold. Be Beautiful. Be You - attempts to sum up my last idea and I'm hoping it's thought provoking and eye-catching.
If you'd like to enter Solopress's Get Noticed competition all you need to do is pop over to Twitter and in 140 characters or less explain why your name should be up on that billboard in the most creative way possible! Remember to add the hashtag #SPGETNOTICED and after the 30th October Solopress will pick 5 people and ask them to create their own billboard design before choosing one lucky winner!
I'm impatient and so excited about this so I'd love to know in the comments below what your billboard idea would be!
And what do you think of my idea?
Would it catch your eye if you walked past it?
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