How to build your brand organically through social with Estée Lalonde, CEO & Founder of MIRROR WATER
03/12/24 • 37 min
With Statista reporting there are 35 million Instagram users in the UK, social media platforms are a powerful tool to build brand awareness and convert followers into loyal customers.
Given this season is a focus on all things branding I was keen to speak to an expert content creator.
In this episode, I hear from Estée Lalonde, CEO and founder of bodycare brand MIRROR WATER. The brand champions mirror work and self-care, inspired by Estée’s quest to find effective relaxation tools during the pandemic. Estée has enjoyed a long career working within social media building a following of over 677k before founding her brand in 2021 which has already amassed a following of 35k.
She shares her advice on how to build your brand through social media, why doing the initial creative work on your brand is crucial for success and how DM’ing one of your idols (in this case Bobbi Brown) can be the motivation you need to keep going.
Estée’s advice:
- Always start with a good business plan
- Branding so important; to start with, concentrate on aspirational visuals that can then inform further work
- Don’t rush this stage:
- Create mood boards
- Take care of yourself and go with your intuition
- Get to the essence of what you want
- Settle on a name, which will take you in the right direction
- Look for a designer to support you and ensure you click with them, build that relationship to a point of trust
- Be strategic on social; post regularly and expect this to be a slow build
- Social media can help you launch, it is a big time commitment however it will pay dividends
- Brand instagramming is harder than being a social media influencer (owned content v earned, DM FF&M to find out more on this)
- Posting every day becomes a burden so look at process and systems to help you on this
- You can’t do it all so be clear on what success looks like and work backwards
- Keep it lean - less is more in all things in business, focus on one thing and do it well rather than trying to post on multiple platforms all the time
- Take time to reflect on what you’re doing and enjoy it
- Expect to be overwhelmed at times; but hang on it there!
If you'd like to contact Estée you can reach her via @esteelalonde on Instagram
FF&M enables you to own your own PR.
DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason
Host Juliet Fallowfield LinkedIn
Submit a guest via this link
Submit a question for the next guest
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.
FF&M recommends:
- LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
- Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
- Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
With Statista reporting there are 35 million Instagram users in the UK, social media platforms are a powerful tool to build brand awareness and convert followers into loyal customers.
Given this season is a focus on all things branding I was keen to speak to an expert content creator.
In this episode, I hear from Estée Lalonde, CEO and founder of bodycare brand MIRROR WATER. The brand champions mirror work and self-care, inspired by Estée’s quest to find effective relaxation tools during the pandemic. Estée has enjoyed a long career working within social media building a following of over 677k before founding her brand in 2021 which has already amassed a following of 35k.
She shares her advice on how to build your brand through social media, why doing the initial creative work on your brand is crucial for success and how DM’ing one of your idols (in this case Bobbi Brown) can be the motivation you need to keep going.
Estée’s advice:
- Always start with a good business plan
- Branding so important; to start with, concentrate on aspirational visuals that can then inform further work
- Don’t rush this stage:
- Create mood boards
- Take care of yourself and go with your intuition
- Get to the essence of what you want
- Settle on a name, which will take you in the right direction
- Look for a designer to support you and ensure you click with them, build that relationship to a point of trust
- Be strategic on social; post regularly and expect this to be a slow build
- Social media can help you launch, it is a big time commitment however it will pay dividends
- Brand instagramming is harder than being a social media influencer (owned content v earned, DM FF&M to find out more on this)
- Posting every day becomes a burden so look at process and systems to help you on this
- You can’t do it all so be clear on what success looks like and work backwards
- Keep it lean - less is more in all things in business, focus on one thing and do it well rather than trying to post on multiple platforms all the time
- Take time to reflect on what you’re doing and enjoy it
- Expect to be overwhelmed at times; but hang on it there!
If you'd like to contact Estée you can reach her via @esteelalonde on Instagram
FF&M enables you to own your own PR.
DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason
Host Juliet Fallowfield LinkedIn
Submit a guest via this link
Submit a question for the next guest
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.
FF&M recommends:
- LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
- Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
- Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
Previous Episode
How to build your brand organically through social media with Estée Lalonde, CEO & Founder of MIRROR WATER
With Statista reporting there are 35 million Instagram users in the UK, social media platforms are a powerful tool to build brand awareness and convert followers into loyal customers.
Given this season is a focus on all things branding I was keen to speak to an expert content creator.
In this episode, I hear from Estée Lalonde, CEO and founder of bodycare brand MIRROR WATER. The brand champions mirror work and self-care, inspired by Estée’s quest to find effective relaxation tools during the pandemic. Estée has enjoyed a long career working within social media building a following of over 677k before founding her brand in 2021 which has already amassed a following of 35k.
She shares her advice on how to build your brand through social media, why doing the initial creative work on your brand is crucial for success and how DM’ing one of your idols (in this case Bobbi Brown) can be the motivation you need to keep going.
Estée’s advice:
- Always start with a good business plan
- Branding so important; to start with, concentrate on aspirational visuals that can then inform further work
- Don’t rush this stage:
- Create mood boards
- Take care of yourself and go with your intuition
- Get to the essence of what you want
- Settle on a name, which will take you in the right direction
- Look for a designer to support you and ensure you click with them, build that relationship to a point of trust
- Be strategic on social; post regularly and expect this to be a slow build
- Social media can help you launch, it is a big time commitment however it will pay dividends
- Brand instagramming is harder than being a social media influencer (owned content v earned, DM FF&M to find out more on this)
- Posting every day becomes a burden so look at process and systems to help you on this
- You can’t do it all so be clear on what success looks like and work backwards
- Keep it lean - less is more in all things in business, focus on one thing and do it well rather than trying to post on multiple platforms all the time
- Take time to reflect on what you’re doing and enjoy it
- Expect to be overwhelmed at times; but hang on it there!
If you'd like to contact Estée you can reach her via @esteelalonde on Instagram
FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.
Email: [email protected] or
DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason
Host Juliet Fallowfield LinkedIn
Let us know how your start up journey is going or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss in future episodes.
FF&M recommends:
- LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
- Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
- Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
- Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.
MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link &
Support the showNext Episode
How to define your mission, vision & purpose with Julian Parmiter, Co-Founder of Create Academy
As defining your mission, vision and purpose statements is an important step when building a comprehensive brand for your business I was keen to speak to someone who has not only done this successfully but also recently.
In this episode, I hear from Julian Parmiter, co-founder and CEO of Create Academy. Founded in 2019, Create Academy offers beautifully curated video courses providing unprecedented access to the expertise of today’s best designers, makers, gardeners and chefs - with a mission to help people build their creative confidence.
Having recently evolved Create Academy’s original proposition by launching an annual membership offering, Julian shares his advice on how to define your brand’s mission, vision and purpose and how to remain true to them as you scale.
Julian’s advice:
- The mission is what you want to do/produce/create
- The vision is where you want to go with it/how you want to see the world changed by what you do/where you want to be in the future/ what will your impact be
- The purpose is your motivation/why you want to do it
- The “what” and the “how” will probably change. The “why” should stay with you. It’s the “why” - the purpose - which will bring investors and others with you, will lift you when you’re down. So take time to articulate this one (even if privately, just to yourself) early on. It will represent your personality, your ethos, your creed
- You are the best person to articulate it
- Keep these three things distinguished one from the other
- Understanding your customers will inevitably lead to changing or adapting your vision in time but you need to stay relevant and be flexible
- You have to be able to answer the question: “who cares?”
- Don’t spend too much time and effort at the start on branding
- Find inspiration in other people and other places
You can contact Julian via email on [email protected]
FF&M enables you to own your own PR.
DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason
Host Juliet Fallowfield LinkedIn
Submit a guest via this link
Submit a question for the next guest
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.
FF&M recommends:
- LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
- Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
- Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
- Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.
MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & Licence
How To Start Up by FF&M - How to build your brand organically through social with Estée Lalonde, CEO & Founder of MIRROR WATER
Transcript
Welcome to season 10 of How To Start Up, the podcast helping you start and scale your business with advice from entrepreneurs on what to do now, next, or never when scaling your company. This season, we're focusing on all things brand. So you'll hear from a series of amazing entrepreneurs on what they've learned in their own journeys. hosted by me, Juliet Fallowfield, founder of the B Corp certified PR and communications consultancy, Fallowfield and Mason. Our mission
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