Bout’ Her Business: Taylar Barrington-Booker
Taylar is the founder and CEO of Cliquish, a brand that teaches women who create content how to grow and profit from their craft. Cliquish also teaches video creators how to monetize their passion, grow their audiences, and embrace the value in their voice. Cliquish is based out of the Windy City, or better put Chicago, Illinois where Taylar also resides.
Taylar is a graduate of THE one, and only Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, with a degree in graphic communications. While working on her degree she was also very involved in multiple projects throughout the community, which sparked her interest in brand management. She worked in corporate America for about a year, where she realized she had more to give and became a special needs teacher for two years teaching graphic design. Hence her future role of being able to break down complex brand managing assets to content creators all over.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Taylar and pick her brain a little about understanding the art of storytelling through content creation, project management and working with a team, as well as how to run successful content campaigns.
First things first, I had to ask Taylar about the foundation. How can someone start a blog from the ground up whether they have the background or not?
Know your clique — If you are talking to everybody, you are talking to nobody.
You have to be very clear about who you’re serving and why you’re serving them. IF you want to blog about fashion who are you serving and why? Laying down that base will help you create a clear vision of the content you need to create as well as how you will talk to your audience. As you find your niche, you will also pinpoint the demographic you’re trying to reach. It’s much easier to have a blanket in a niche and continue to build upon that as your brand continues to grow. Start by knowing exactly who you are targeting.
Ultimately, you need the who and the why to have a clear vision of what you are trying to give. It sounds basic but so many people forget these questions when just getting started. Be intentional about who you want to reach. Who is the reader of your brand and tell me everything, I mean EVERYTHING about them. You should know everything about what they eat, where they shop, what makes them tick… etc.
Taylar also explained to me within cliquish they have a community where the older bloggers mentor the newer bloggers. So no matter what you’re covered every step of the way.
Networking across vs of up? When I asked Taylar how this applied to the modern world she gave me great insight.
They say idea of go big or go home. However, lets not forget about the people we are sitting next to on this journey. Your friend is also trying to make their dream happen.
I think Issa Rae was really the first person to touch on the act of networking across vs up in an interview she did a while back. The atmosphere of collaboration should always be present. Most things you need in your life at that time, or for your brand can be found around or within your own network. There is always something to be found through another connection or peer. We have more people to our left and right that are accessible than those that may be “Up” in a sense.
The spirit of collaboration and what will keep everyone moving forward within their space should remain ever present. Everyone who does have the connections that you may need that are “Up” can be placed in a pool and utilized collaboratively. Content creation is so important as peers within collaboration because your audiences are complementary to one another. You take your strength and their strength then blast these messages out to one another. Now you have an organic way that you have grown your following to make an even deeper impact.
Are we still buying followers??
People are trying to buy success quickly. The idea of the journey is not glorified, we glorify overnight success. The idea of buying followers is overnight success, because it creates a sense of validation, which is what that social media is.
At Cliquish, they teach about impact not numbers. You should be more concerned with engagement than numbers, or followers. It would be great if someone has 500k followers, but if they only have 20 likes per post that is not so impactful. As opposed to someone with 10k followers who gets 9k likes per post. This person could say jump and their following would question how high.
Focus on impact and connection, not the actual numbers. While she respects instant gratification, the impact is really key for brand longevity whether that’s your brand or branding yourself. Brands are currently recognizing that it’s far more effective to work with micro-influencer with a niche audience. You want good healthy steady growth, or in the long run you will suffer.
Cliquish will be hosting a braunch party (a brunch launch event) in celebration of their online platform. Not only will they be hosting an amazing networking event for those in Chicago and traveling in, they will also launch their showcast “When being cliquish is good” that will feature live taping and interviews similar to this with Taylar. So if you love the couple of gems she dropped during our #BoutHerBusiness section head over there to learn even more about brand marketing, content creation, and networking tips for your brand.
After all was said and done Taylar left us with three pieces of advice:
1. Focus on impact and not numbers
2. Be beautifully and authentically yourself 100% yourself. Being genuine is evident, if you are not it will come across in your brand, in your content, and in your life.
3. Stop slacking!!! Think like a businesswoman, act like a businesswoman; your brand is your business act accordingly. If you don’t know how to do that, come join Cliquish!!!
Cliquish can be found on both Instagram and Facebook @Cliquish. #CliquishIsGood
Words Crafted By: Meliabia
Graphics By: RikkieJ
