OneMicNite with Marcos Luis -S6 Ep.19 Designing Identity A Deep Dive into Character Branding with Kathryn Holeton

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Transcript

Marcos Luis (0:06 - 9:41)

Hey, what's up beautiful people? Welcome back to OneMicNite Podcast. It's the place where artistry meets purpose and your voice finds power.

You know who I am, it's Marcos Luis and today we're going to dive deep into a topic that every creative, whether you're on stage behind the mic, whether you're painting the truth, you're telling a story you need to understand. It's entertainment artist branding. Now I know what you're thinking, branding, isn't that for corporations?

Well, let me stop you right there because today's entertainment is the entertainment landscape. Your brand is your currency. Let me say that again.

Your brand is your currency. It's your emotional fingerprint and that's what makes you unforgettable. Why is it important, you might ask?

Okay, let's break it down. So in a world overflowing with talent, distinction is vital. It's survival.

You might be the most gifted actor, singer, dancer, performer, but if your audience can't feel who you are, they won't remember you. They won't connect. Now your branding is more than a logo or a color palette in a story.

It's the way you walk into a room. Some people say a vibration. It's the way you speak.

It's the emotional resonance you leave behind. Think about artists like Erykah Badu, Donald Glover, whatever. The artistry is undeniable, but it's the brand identity that makes you iconic.

You know what they stand for. You know what you're going to feel when you see or hear their work. What's the financial value of a strong brand?

All right, let's talk about money. A clear, consistent brand opens the door to things like sponsorship, sponsorship of your podcast, sponsorship of who you are as a person if you're doing it on social media, and partnership. It translates to merch, merchandise sales, your t-shirts, your mugs, anything associated along with your name and your image.

You can get licensing opportunities. From that, you can get speaking gigs. You can give workshops.

You can do workshops. You can get premium price for your work. All of that stuff is tied in together, and that's a financial part of what a brand can do.

When people trust your brand, they want to invest in it. They give you money. A lot of times, you know, when you're on, say, if you're on a live and you're talking about something, and you have people watching you, and you get the stars, or if you're on TikTok, you get the gifts that go along with it.

Those are people that are investing financially in your brand, who you are, your authenticity, or whatever they want to associate with you that's giving them some sort of value. Now, what's the emotional value of all this and the hardships? There's a lot, because we know as creatives, it takes a lot to get this going.

So sometimes we go through the emotional and what are the hardships to make this work. I know I deal with it myself, but let's get real. The branding part of it is not all glitter.

You know what I mean? It's not glamorous. It's comprised of a couple of different things.

Vulnerability. What are you sharing? What is making you vulnerable?

To know yourself deeply so you can give that. That's the vulnerability part of it. The second part is consistency.

How consistent are you with your product, with your brand, with doing what you do so that people know when they can see you, when they can find you, and they can look to you for the answer or to receive some sort of information that you have. To give to them. The last thing, what are the boundaries?

You have to protect your own energy and your message. So you have to put the boundary around your message and what your identity is. How much can you tolerate?

How much can you stand? Where do you draw the line in all of this? You got to be able to face rejection.

I know a lot of times for me, going to auditions or going to a casting call for modeling, you don't get the job. You can't take it personally, but you have to be able to face the rejection of not getting the job and then turn around and going back. You'll be misunderstood.

You'll start to question your own self-worth, but that's part of the job. You're in entertainment. You're not always the right person for that job.

So you have to let all that go. But here is the truth. Now, make sure you listen to this.

Your brand, when it aligns with your soul, your audience will find you. You understand what I'm saying? When you are authentic with your brand, when you're giving the a hundred percent of yourself, the true you, those people are going to find you.

They relate to you. People want to find something that they can identify with. That's authenticity.

So what are the rewards of branding? All right. When you build a brand, like I said before, rooted in truth, rooted in authenticity, that's when you get your loyal fans.

Those people know who you are. They know where to find you and they become loyal fans. So when you have ups and downs, you set your boundaries, all those things, those people are along with you on your journey.

Because nine times out of 10, it's something relatable to them that they may even be experiencing themselves. So they are along with you on that journey. You get creative collaborators.

More people want to collaborate with you. That goes back to partnership. Partnership and sponsors, they want to have their brand associated with you because they know who you are.

You're authentic. You're 100% yourself. You get other artists who want to join in.

That's collaboration. And that's what we're looking for. Because the more, the better.

You also expand your audience with their audience. That's the beauty about collabs, right? That also increases your opportunity because those people match your value.

So the more you show your own value, your own authenticity, that matches your values as well. Most importantly, you get a sense of personal fulfillment. You feel better about who you are because you know you're putting out 100% truth, 100% product, and you feel better about yourself, right?

So I know I'm just giving you a little bit of information before we start because coming up next, I know there's a lot to digest. The next segment, I'm going to bring in someone who is a brand designer. Her name is Kathryn Holeton.

She's a powerhouse branding strategist and a visual storyteller. She's an artist herself, and she has years of experience doing this. She's a creative coach who has helped artists go from invisible to unforgettable.

Get ready for Kathryn. Sit tight, and we'll be back with more OneMicNite. Don't move.

I'm Marcos Luis. Sit tight, OneMicNite artists. We'll be back in a moment.

Don't forget to like and share this episode. And if you're watching this live on Facebook, feel free to send a couple of those stars down there. If you're watching it on any other social media, the support is greatly appreciated because you guys know we're in season six, and I've been doing this all by myself, so all of you who have been supporting me along the way, I appreciate it.

Yeah, make sure you support your boy here. Thank you. Sit tight.

We're coming back in just a moment. Onto that story. I want to find out who is Kathryn Holeton.

Kathryn Holeton (9:44 - 10:02)

So I'm a, as you said, a brand designer, but I don't like the word brand designer. I'm more of a character designer. So my business is inspired off of a certain role-playing game, Loosely Inspired, to avoid copyright infringement, because it's loosely inspired from the character types you can play on D&D.

Marcos Luis (10:03 - 10:05)

Okay, tell us more.

Kathryn Holeton (10:06 - 10:07)

So basically...

Marcos Luis (10:07 - 10:11)

For those of you who don't know what D&D is, I know what it is.

Kathryn Holeton (10:11 - 10:15)

D&D is this wonderful role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons.

Marcos Luis (10:15 - 10:16)

Yes, it is.

Kathryn Holeton (10:17 - 10:21)

And all the dice goblins going clickety-clack with their dice.

Marcos Luis (10:22 - 10:29)

Right. That's it. That was huge in my school, by the way, too, when I was in high school.

Everybody was in D&D.

Kathryn Holeton (10:30 - 10:35)

It was actually a little funny for me. So I actually was not into any kind of role-playing games until I hit college.

Marcos Luis (10:36 - 10:39)

Wow. Okay. That's good.

Kathryn Holeton (10:40 - 10:46)

Yeah, now I'm a huge Magic the Gathering addict. I may or may not have maybe 20 or so commander decks.

Marcos Luis (10:48 - 11:01)

That's good. And counting. The thing is, as long as it inspires your creativity, that's what's important, you know?

And if you're able to direct it into what you do. So what is it that you do?

Kathryn Holeton (11:04 - 12:18)

So what I do is I... Yeah. What I do is I help musicians create the character they'll play in the music industry, or in more technical terms, I help you find your messaging values, unique selling point, competitors.

I don't like the word competitors, so I more use alternatives. Other people who are doing similar things in your niche. I also help you find what they're doing and how you can differentiate yourself from them while also still being in that same genre, if that makes sense.

And then, of course, with the character archetypes, I have you take like a personality test of sorts that helps you, or helps both of us, figure out where you land on the design preferences and stuff. And then I channel all of that into making your graphics. So your logo, website, electronic press kit, business cards, whatever brand collateral you need.

And that's for like a full brand make. I also do other, just other smaller things, but that's just for the full brand remake or rebrand or full new brand.

Marcos Luis (12:20 - 13:01)

I like that. That's interesting because I think you just said it, you know, being an artist, especially if you're in music, you have to play into the machine of the music industry. But where do you stand as an individual, as an artist, to differentiate you and your work from everybody else's?

Because we know that the music industry and the entertainment industry is one big machine and they're trying to appeal to the masses. But where do you as an artist differentiate yourself, your work, your craft, your identity in that whole pool of talent and people? Because a lot of people are talented, but where do you stand out?

What makes you different? And that's what you do?

Kathryn Holeton (13:02 - 13:23)

Yes. And I also help them figure or find, I also help find the thing that makes your fans go crazy for you, which is your unique selling point. It's what will make fans want to listen to your music and stay with you on your journey.

Marcos Luis (13:25 - 13:35)

What do you tell people about like in terms of growing as an artist? Because I know that's always a challenge for artists too.

Kathryn Holeton (13:36 - 14:12)

I always tell them to focus or treat it like a business. If you want it to grow, you have to treat it like it's its own side, not just a side hustle, like it's a thing you want to do for the rest of your life. Because it's called the music business for a reason.

So if you go in with an entrepreneurial mindset, while being creative and making your music, and always staying not necessarily on top of trends, but keeping up with what your next steps are, you'll be able to make your music career flourish.

Marcos Luis (14:15 - 15:00)

Agreed. I think that that's probably where we are, you know, as musicians, as artists, because, you know, I'm not sure how old you are, but I've, you know, obviously I've been around for a while and I've seen a change in the industry and having to, you know, remorph, reinvent, you know, all these things to keep your longevity. That's how the longevity is, is when you keep reinventing yourself, but you find, you know, the essence of who you are as an artist.

Stay true to that, but you still have to go with the trends, like you said, look a year in advance, or look where the music business is heading, or look where I can take my followers and maybe start a trend or join into people who have the trend, right?

Kathryn Holeton (15:00 - 15:01)

Yes.

Marcos Luis (15:03 - 15:10)

What do you do, say if I'm a new artist and I come to you, what would be the process for me?

Kathryn Holeton (15:11 - 15:45)

Someone would sit and have a conversation first on what you're having troubles with and where you want to go, just figuring, just having a conversation, getting to know each other and your goals for your business and such. And then from there, if you decide, if we both decide to move forward, sorry, I haven't had to describe my process in a minute, at least in talking. I'm much better at writing.

Marcos Luis (15:46 - 16:06)

I just want a general idea, like say, you know, if I came to you and I say, hey, you know, I'm a country music singer and, you know, I do work similar to Keith Irving, like rock country. What advice would you give me just to start off on my journey?

Kathryn Holeton (16:08 - 16:50)

Well, the biggest thing I've had, or I've told people who have approached me is I've asked them what their message was. Because your message is how you connect with your fans. That's the thing that makes them care about what you do.

So if you, for example, support mental health awareness, what about mental health awareness? Is it because you yourself have dealt with a mental health crisis? Were you suicidal?

Were you depressed? Do you have a PTSD, extreme anxiety? And why should people relate to you?

And the more specific you can get on that message, the more they'll be able to latch on to what you're selling.

Marcos Luis (16:53 - 16:58)

Gotcha. So basically you're selling yourself in an authentic way.

Kathryn Holeton (16:59 - 16:59)

Yeah.

Marcos Luis (16:59 - 18:09)

Right. And it's what's, what are people, what's relatable about you to the people? And that's where your following comes from.

And I think, I mean, we can even, I mean, branding, that's music, that's social media. When you become a social media influencer, those people who are top social influencers, it's the relatability. What are these people connecting to?

What is it that you have that people can connect to? Whether it's a fantasy lifestyle, which is not based in authenticity, or whether it's, like you said, if you have mental problems, what about it? Do you know someone with mental health?

And that's the relatable part? Or is it you yourself who has traveled through this journey? And people say, hey, that's like me.

Or yeah, I struggle with the same thing. So we're putting those things out there. And how do you package that?

How would you package that for your media packet or your, say, I'm going to a record label? What would you begin? What would the photography look like?

What those things look like for you?

Kathryn Holeton (18:11 - 18:23)

Um, like, if a musician would be? Could you rephrase the question?

Marcos Luis (18:24 - 18:46)

Yeah. I mean, like, if I came to you, and I'm still, you know, the artist, and I'm saying, hey, I'm somebody that has mental health, say, like, I'm Ed Sheeran, and I have mental health, I'm making songs about mental health. How would you start me on my journey of packaging my packaging me to put it out there?

Whether I'm going to a record label, whether I'm doing it independently? Where would you say begin here? Let's begin here.

Kathryn Holeton (18:47 - 18:53)

So the message is always the first part that we start on.

Marcos Luis (18:54 - 20:06)

Hey, guys, so I'm day two with these new tropes, these gummies. Yesterday was great. Very smooth, even day.

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Like I said, this is day two and I'm feeling great. New tropes coming. Get yours.

Here we go. So when we go to like a photo shoot next, and how would you comprise a photo shoot? What would you give me an idea of if I was Ed Sheeran and I was making songs about mental health awareness?

Do you have, would you be the one to do that? Or would you direct me to someone to do those things?

Kathryn Holeton (20:07 - 21:48)

So it depends on if I'm working with someone local or if we're just working on the internet. If it's local, I actually do know someone who knows a lot of photographers in the Knoxville Marable area. But as for remote, I knew someone in Illinois.

I don't know if they're still around though. But for photography treatment and design and all that, that's, all of that is determined by what character archetype you are and what your subclass is, per se. So for subclasses, I have, you fall under one main character archetype and then you have influences from another one.

So for example, I'm a rogue druid. The colors on my website are kind of dark, but they also have natural tones to them as well. And I have like a mysterious vibe, but I also have a lot of jewelry that I wear that's all nature inspired.

And some of the photography stuff I have on my website is all a nature inspired. So the design stuff comes, of course, after all of the in depth, intense research stuff, but all of your photography styles, colors, font stylings comes from your brand personality or that character archetype personality test.

Marcos Luis (21:49 - 22:06)

What would you, what would you say is probably the most important element of branding for an artist? Would you say it's authenticity or visual identity or a marketing agency, consistency?

Kathryn Holeton (22:08 - 23:45)

In my opinion, it's authenticity and consistency because with the authenticity thing, with the rise of AI going on and stuff, that's like the number one thing everyone's looking for now, more than what they were looking for before. I mean, you had all those automated voice chats that you have from like a life insurance agency or whatever. No one likes talking to those, but now we have AI stealing everyone's work.

So everyone's looking for the human element harder than ever. So being authentic is a big one and being consistent. And this is just in my opinion, being consistent is showing up every day, but not showing up on all of the platforms.

Yes, you should post every day. Yes, you should be active every day on all of the socials. Really just focus on, you can schedule out your posts in terms of social media anyway.

You can schedule out your posts several weeks or whatever in advance, but for being, that's not what it means to be active on social media. It means to be, by active, I feel like it means to actually interact with people and talk with people. And for that, I would highly recommend focusing just on one to two social media platforms and being on there all the time.

So for me, I'm currently extremely active on threads and LinkedIn at the moment.

Marcos Luis (23:49 - 24:02)

Yeah. So you definitely have to cut down your time because consistency is important and consistency on like one or two platforms, because there's so many platforms out there. You can't, there's no way you can possibly be on all of them.

Kathryn Holeton (24:03 - 24:22)

Just pick the ones you're comfortable with and don't overthink it and don't stress about it. Just show up as much as you can without burning out. That is the another key thing with staying consistent.

Don't burn out. Do whatever you can not to burn out because it's not fun at all.

Marcos Luis (24:22 - 24:40)

Not at all. And it causes anxiety and every other thing too, because you feel like, oh, I'm not posting enough or is this the right thing for me to post? And you start freaking out and you just, and so you never post and you have to just, you have to put it out there, but don't stress out about it.

Don't stress out about it.

Kathryn Holeton (24:40 - 24:44)

If you get to it, you get to it. If you don't, you don't. It'll be there tomorrow.

Marcos Luis (24:45 - 24:59)

And I guess probably just making sure what you do put out is of good quality and that's giving value to people in the way that you want to give it so they can refer back to it, you know, one time, two times, three times and or share it with others.

[Speaker 2] (25:00 - 25:02)

Quality is much better than quantity.

Marcos Luis (25:02 - 25:13)

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. What would you like people to know about your business and what you do and why they should come, you know, seek your advice and how important it is?

Kathryn Holeton (25:25 - 25:51)

One moment. So if you like role-playing and you definitely want to have a little bit more fun in designing your brand elements, because sometimes it's not fun, but that's okay. I think it's fun.

You should totally like shoot ideas my way.

Marcos Luis (25:53 - 25:58)

There you go. And you guys can take the journey together. Two is better than one.

Kathryn Holeton (25:59 - 26:05)

Yeah. Working with a team is much better than working by yourself.

Marcos Luis (26:05 - 26:14)

Absolutely. We definitely need some input on that. Just a little bit off the subject.

You said you were, where are you located? You said in Tennessee?

Kathryn Holeton (26:15 - 26:20)

Yeah, I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee, but I can also travel to Marable in Nashville.

Marcos Luis (26:21 - 26:30)

That is amazing. I used to live in Nashville. I was actually born in Nashville and I lived there for a short time.

I lived in Marable, Tennessee as well.

[Speaker 2] (26:32 - 26:32)

Nice.

Marcos Luis (26:32 - 26:48)

How about that? So I know the feel of the city. Is there any kind of artists that you deal with?

You deal with every type of artists and branding and what kind of people should come pay you a visit?

Kathryn Holeton (26:49 - 26:59)

I'm currently accepting any musician. I'm pretty much willing to work with anyone as long as you got an open mind and a cool a chill mindset.

Marcos Luis (27:00 - 27:07)

There you go. Because you have one too, I can see. And that makes it a lot easier to work with.

Kathryn Holeton (27:08 - 27:19)

Yeah. As long as there's no harsh judgment involved or whatever, I'm chill. It takes a lot to annoy the crap out of me.

Marcos Luis (27:22 - 27:41)

Very good. Well, tell people how they can get in touch with you if they want to reach out and partake in your services. I mean, I think this is a great business and I think everybody should reach out to you and get some advice on how to brand themselves.

It's important for us as artists. We all need it. How can they reach you?

Kathryn Holeton (27:42 - 28:18)

So you can reach me any number of ways. I highly recommend reaching me at either my email or on my website. Normally I would say Instagram, but my Instagram's been acting up.

I don't get it. On mobile, it keeps crashing. Anytime I go into messaging, it's like question mark.

But when I upload it on the desktop, it works fine. I don't know. If you send a message on Instagram, I'll do my best to answer when I get to you.

It'll have to be when I get home and see my back to my laptop.

Marcos Luis (28:20 - 28:40)

And I do have to say that everybody listening and watching, Kathryn is very prompt with returning messages, especially on Facebook, because we messaged quite a few times. And as soon as I sent one, you were right back at me. So I appreciate that.

So everybody, I'll put the information down in the notes of the episode. Reach out to her by Facebook for sure. You'll get a prompt response.

Kathryn Holeton (28:41 - 28:42)

Yeah, Facebook still works.

Marcos Luis (28:42 - 29:00)

Yeah, Facebook. Okay, good. So reach out to her by Facebook.

And then I think your website is kathrynholeton.com. Go on there and check out all the information and the services. I went on there.

It's great. Check out her blog. The blog is called Coffee Shop Rambling Blog, right?

Kathryn Holeton (29:01 - 29:01)

Yep.

Marcos Luis (29:01 - 29:19)

Great stuff on there too. So make sure you reach out to Kathryn and check out the blog. But reach out there for the services.

It's important for us as artists to be branding ourselves properly to get the best out that we can get and get ourselves seen and get ourselves noticed because we are a business, right?

Kathryn Holeton (29:20 - 29:29)

Yes. In this new age of social media, you have to treat it like a business. You got all the options and opportunities.

Marcos Luis (29:30 - 29:58)

Every day. Every day. When you start out, you got to start thinking about what it looks like a year from now in terms of yourself being a business, forming your company, your LLCs, getting your merchandise out there and sort of cutting out the middleman.

So you are a direct to consumer in this business world. That's what we need to start thinking about everybody. Great.

Well, Kathryn, thank you for coming on the show. It's been a pleasure. Is there anything else you want people to know about you?

Kathryn Holeton (30:07-30:10)

I have a bunch coffee recipe I’m actually going to upload soon.

Marcos Luis (30:10-30:13)

Coffee recipes? I’m a coffee drinker, a big coffee drinker.

Kathryn Holeton (30:14 -30:27)

Oh well then, I’ll have to send you some, they’re currently on threads at the moment. But I kid you not, proud of myself. I made a pumpkin spice latte that tastes just like pumpkin pie and I’m super proud of myself for it.

Marcos Luis (30:27- 30:32 )

I love pumpkin too. So yeah, we’re definitely going to talk about this.

Kathryn Holeton (30:32- 30:39)

Also, for anyone who finds me on Threads for my recipes, in about this big of a cup.

Marcos Luis (30:40- 30:42)

So, yeah I think you know-

Kathryn Holeton (30:43 - 30:45)

Yeah, I sip on it for days

Marcos Luis (30:45- 31:42)

I love that. Everybody, Kathryn Holeton here, OneMicNite thank you Kathryn for your time. Time is the most valuable thing we have. So, I appreciate you giving your time to me today. Everybody, please reach out to her. Like I said, check out the blog and check out kathrynholeton.com is the website. Find out all the information and the links to the social media. My name is Marco Luis. This is OneMicNite. Thank you, we’ll see you next time.