7 Reasons You're Not Famous Yet
Achieving fame is far less complicated than it seems. It takes a few bold decisions and laser focused strategies only an honest PR agency is going to tell you.
Just like a luxury hotel, a luxury PR agency isn't going to waste your time, or serve you something sub-par. They're going to go straight for the best, every single time.
Here are 7 reasons we've seen talented designers never make it to the level of fame they deserve.
You're inexperienced.
It doesn't matter if you're just now starting out in your field, or you've been at it for 20+ years. At some point you're looking at all the hard work you've put into your craft and you still feel like a beginner because you're not landing the design jobs you want.
You'll be competing with people who have trusted advisors and mentors giving them strategies and putting them in rooms where they're going to make incredible contacts.
You'll be competing with people who have established themselves as experts in their fields. They've written books and articles, been interviewed on podcasts and TV shows, built up followers on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram, worked with well-known brands like Google or Coca Cola...the list goes on and on.
Here's the truth: You need to do all of these things too. And that takes time—not just because those are huge projects that require lots of planning and research before even getting started but also because it's important you craft a persona that's going to attract the right audience, and this takes intuition, honesty, experience and commitment.
No one can find you
The first step to fame is being found. If no one knows who you are, it's going to be hard for anyone to associate your work with your name. The best way to get people talking about your brand is by creating content that they have a reason to care about.
Let's use famous designer Kelly Wearstler as an example. Her PR team carefully curates where she shows up online and when she gets press coverage so that it correlates with new material in her portfolio.
They know that her target audience loves seeing gorgeous spreads of high-resolution images illustrating her design prowess.
Another thing that Kelly's PR team has advised her to do is comment regularly on design trends and publish round-ups of her favorite design elements.
Not only does this keep her top of mind with people when they're looking at what's trending in the design niche, but it allows her to add a stream of passive income to her portfolio as you can typically link a lot of items for sale online through affiliate platforms and earn commissions when people buy your recommendations.
This is especially helpful in building a base of fans because while many people want to hire Kelly as a designer she's in a budget range that few can afford, plus she can only do so many projects at once. So giving her fans a way to buy into the emotion of opulence she creates with her designs makes them feel like they're part of the lifestyle dream she's selling.
This kind of strategy isn't just important for designers—it applies to all careers, and you can see this played out by every famous celebrity and influencer online.
No one knows why they should care about you.
Why do people usually care about something? Two reasons: Because it affects them, their safety or their lifestyle directly, or because it affects someone deeply important to them (for example their kids, spouse, friends, or pet).
We're going to use another well-loved designer as an example to illustrate this point:
Why do people care about Joanna Gaines as a designer? Because they feel like they know her personally. When you know someone personally you feel invested in them. Joanna weaves stories of her hardships as a child into how it inspired her to create spaces that make people feel safe.
"How much should I share online?" is a question we get frequently from our clients. A PR agency with experience will be able to advise you exactly where that sweet spot of sharing is so that you stay within the persona you want to create to connect with your audience on the right topics.
There is such a thing as over-sharing. Oversharing will confuse your audience and distract them from the main pillars of your brand as a whole. When people are confused they lose interest and don't feel invested in a person or movement.
Joanna's PR team has done an excellent job of advising her on how much personal information to share online.
The key is to keep the emotional attachment intact without overwhelming your audience with things that depress them. Interior design is all about inspiration, and a good PR agency will be able to take your emotional or difficult personal stories and turn them into inspiring pieces with uplifting messages that your audience will love to read, share and save.
Your online presence is confusing.
Even if you're the most fascinating personality on earth, there's no way to make up for a poorly designed brand persona.
Before a PR agency places you in any press they should do an overall health check of your online presence. Do your colors, copywriting tone, fonts, images and elements all match? Is your website easy to navigate? Does your messaging remain consistent across all your channels?
The last thing you want is for someone to find you in an impressive press piece, then click on your website and immediately leave because the person they read about in the article doesn't match with the presence you've created online.
Consistency is the number one thing to remember when building trust at the celebrity level. If people don't feel like they know you they won't ever like you enough to become a lifelong fan.
You're inauthentic with your personal brand.
Being authentic is a major part of why people love you and follow you. When someone sees that you're being honest about who you are, it makes them feel like they can trust what comes out of your mouth—and then those people become fans, which leads to fame!
But here's the thing: being authentic can be challenging. It takes courage to share ourselves fully with others and open ourselves up to criticism; we may fear that other people won't like us if they see who we really are. But as Tony Robbins says, “The quality of our lives is determined by how well we walk through the fire”—and sometimes that means taking risks and facing fears head on rather than hiding behind an idealized version of ourselves (like a mask).
You need to be willing to take risks with your personal brand so that when people look at it they know what kind of person they're dealing with.
Look for a PR agency that specifically speaks to infusing authenticity into your brand messaging and makes this pillar an important part of your fame building strategy.
You're spending too much time on social media
Something we see designers get hung up frequently is thinking that posting regularly on social media is how they're going to gain fans and grow an engaged audience, but especially in the luxury design industry, your target client isn't spending an exorbitant amount of time scrolling social media.
They're spending their time reading authoritative publications, listening to the hottest podcasts, reading best-selling books and being present in their own life.
While social media is a fantastic way to stay relevant and connected it should be more of an extension of your portfolio than the main attraction.
Social media is a billboard to high-light your accomplishments, not the accomplishment itself.
A good PR agency will be consistently placing you in press, podcasts and TV appearances that you can then use as posts for your social media.
Video clips, quotes, images and sound-bytes of larger pieces of content are all you need for a juicy social media presence that leaves your audience wanting more!
If it feels like you haven't accomplished enough, it's probably because you haven't.
If you’re not famous yet, it's probably because you haven't produced the level of output some of your competitors have. The truth is that hard work truly does render the most impressive results, which is why we're dedicated to doing the work alongside our clients.
We don’t believe anyone gets ahead with the hustle culture mentality of burn out and staying up until 2am answering emails, but we do see that work produced while following a proven strategy is worth the investment to get where you want to go faster.
To build a famous personal brand:
You need to be patient: Just like any relationship, the ones you're building with your target audience takes time to build trust.
You need to be realistic: Anything worth having takes time and investment.
You need to be strategic: Hire a PR agency that 'gets' you and treats you like a luxury commodity - not wasting your time and only serving you the best.
You need to be consistent: It takes constant practice to become a master of anything.
You need to be authentic: Authenticity is your unique angle in a saturated market. Remember, it's why people become celebrities... By being the most accurate expression of themselves.
The secret strategies to becoming a celebrity brand are behind the proven systems of PR agencies who understand what it takes to take a brand all the way to the top.
Treat yourself like a luxury brand, and you'll attract higher end clients, fans, partnerships and long-lasting loyalty.
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