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Deciding on what direction I should/want to take with my current brand to possibly begin monetizing/making money? Any ideas?

Currently I own a brand by the name of The UNXPSD (The Unexposed) and still trying to decide on where I want to take this brand. This brand that I created stands for showcasing undiscovered creatives (musicians, artists, dancers, clothing designers, photographers, etc...) across all the social media platforms that The UNXPSD is placed on. I am on all major social media channels such as Instagram (8k followers), Twitter (5k followers), Facebook, YouTube, blog, etc... Ever since I started doing this I have been gaining great feedback and responses from all my following and creative people that I feature. As I begin to get further into this and see my following is rising, I have been trying to think of how to make money with this concept/brand. I currently have a blog (currently have 3 writers) that gets a good amount of views and all my social media has pretty good engagement/growth (1500 followers/month). Since I do have a loyal following somewhat, where do you guys think I am able to take this to start bringing some money in now or in the future? I have a few ideas but not sure yet: Online Publication/Magazine, Production/Media Company, Entertainment Company As I am somewhat scattered since I am interested in all of them, maybe someone can help on where I need to get started or throw me some insightful tips. Thanks!

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Answers

Joseph Peterson

Names, Domains, Sentences and Strategies

How to monetize your blog? There are all sorts of ways, all of which entail their own challenges – paid advertorials, banner ads, contextual PPC ads, pre-packaged affiliate programs, negotiated sponsorships, etc.

Now, listen; don't take this the wrong way, but not everyone will be smitten by the brand name "The UNXPSD". As things stand, I find it a bit unwieldy, since any time the site is mentioned in conversation – i.e. without a visual – it involves a cumbersome explanation about spelling. That does inhibit word of mouth growth, which ultimately holds you back.

The creative misspelling may also be an obstacle for sponsors and customers. Some will like the style, but some will see it as "cutting corners". So I can't help wondering if this will lower your chances of attracting sponsorships and advertorials. Obviously this is no reflection on the quality of what you're doing, content-wise. But books ARE judged by their covers.

I'm not necessarily suggesting that you ought to rebrand. But it might do you a world of good to obtain the naturally spelled domain name and forward it to your website. That way, there's no longer any concern if people don't "get" the weird spelling.

It's not uncommon for startups to begin with deliberately misspelled brand names, since this enables them to find a cheap domain. Likewise, it's not uncommon for the more successful brands to circle back later and buy the "upgrade" version.

If you eventually decide that this may be worth pursuing, I can help you save time, effort, and possibly money – either advising you on how to proceed or even negotiating a domain acquisition on your behalf.

Domain names are what I do professionally. So your situation – with all its pros and cons – is a common situation for entrepreneurs to be in.

Answered over 8 years ago

Olivier Adam

Growth Oriented Senior Executive

Hi,

Seems your strengths are in content creation and amplification of such content on social channels. This is not an easy skillset to acquire and develop and even though channels are becoming more reliant on publicity, there is a huge value to good quality organic traffic. First, anyone using ad blocker will see organic content (and only organic content). Then a lot of ad networks are recommending to put advertisement budget behind good quality content (as opposed to traditional ad messaging).

So from my point of view, you have some good assets to leverage in the market and your potential customers could gain a lot by partnering with you. From the few ideas you list, the one most closely linked to your existing expertise is Media company, where you would offer to run campaigns for not-yet-discovered creatives. The obvious challenge here, is how much budget do they have, and you will end up in a similar position as an investor, propping a few creatives that won't ever get decent recognition for hopefully supporting a few very strong ones that will carry you along with them over time. Those successful ones will have to be profitable to make up for the investment on the others.

Hope this helps!
Olivier

Answered over 8 years ago

Shivadhar Soma

Sales & Strategy Consultant, Mentor, Entrepreneur

I will give you a simple and an easy solution. You have done a great job setting up so much stuff. You are a content guy and more of an operations guy. All you need is a good sales partner who can just focus on sales. Both of you can do wonders. The potential is phenomenal... Just try this and you would thank me a hundred times.

Answered over 8 years ago