So we had an interview with the marketing content creator - Marketing Harry. Harry has more than 200K followers on Instagram where he helps people dominate social media and create bold strategies and content.
“My full name is Hrabren, in my native language that literally translates to Bravery and because of how strongly I believe in this concept, I have made it my life’s mission to teach social media marketing - the brave way. Complete transparency and practicality with 0 BS.” I agree, that's a brave approach, but one that definitely has advantages when it comes to building a community.
“I always knew I wanted to be in the business world. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs making hard work and innovation quite literally part of my DNA. Having said that, up until a few years ago, I lacked clarity on what exactly I wanted to do. You see, ever since I was 10-11, I constantly dabbled into different ventures - I was creating games, websites, and other online ventures, but nothing seemed to keep my attention for prolonged periods of time. Until I participated in a Startup Weekend hosted in my hometown in which you had 48 hours to create and market a business venture from scratch. That’s when I fell in love with marketing. I finally wasn’t stuck in one monotonous cycle which owning a business could be, instead, I had the opportunity to interact and help other business owners attract more customers”.
“Brave. Fearless. No BS”
“At the time I created my own social media presence (@marketingharry), I already was running a successful agency and had a few years of experience below my belt. Having said that, it was still a huge pain in the behind. With millions of accounts all wanting the same thing, attention on social media is extremely hard to earn. And thus I had to completely forget everything I knew about Instagram as this was quite literally becoming personal. My personal brand didn’t take off immediately. It took me 22 days to gain my first 1000 followers. My first post was liked by 30 people (thanks grandma!), but once the ball got rolling, I was able to continue growing. My first 10 000 followers came 54 days after I began my journey. At the end of year 1, I had 100 000 followers. Now, I am at 200 000 and rapidly changing my priorities to other platforms”.
“Finding out-of-the-ordinary ways to build your social media presence is a must. The supply of content creators on most platforms far outweighs the demand for content and thus if you don’t stand out, your voice is going to be lost in translation. In order to combat that my early days were spent exploring and researching my competitors and then crafting a visually and contextually different experience. Everything from the colors, textures, typography through the content subjects and the way of delivery was personalized and created with the goal to stand out”.
“Having a personal brand has always been a goal for me. I’ve helped dozens of other experts get their roar heard on social media and I knew I had something worthwhile to say as well. Having said that, the right moment didn’t seem to strike and I was constantly stuck in a state of paralysis from analysis. That’s when I embarked on a 100-day journey on Instagram. I was committed that no matter the results or how hard it was going to be, I was going to be active for 100 days in a row - creating content, engaging, and building a community of my own”
“My first client came when I had 800 followers (around day 17 of my journey)”.
“Not gonna lie, it felt out of this world. I had been running a social media agency for years, I had high-paying clients, but nothing felt as good as attracting those clients through my own content. It was a proof of concept for me, motivating me to push forwards and double down on my personal brand”.
“Being painfully honest is the best strategy. When a lead approaches me, even if it isn’t in my best interest, I strive to always tell the truth. No BS sales gimmicks, no sugarcoating - if we are not a good fit, I don’t take you up. If you don’t know what is the right approach, I will consult you by treating your business as if it was my own. Yes, I have lost clients due to this method, but boy has it paid back tenfold”.
“Don’t be desperate. The worst thing you can do when communicating with clients is let them know how much you want a given job. There is a fine line between being motivated to help somebody and being desperate to help him (for your own gain). Being in a mindset of abundance, knowing that even if the client says no, it isn’t going to be fatal is key in landing more clients. Embrace losses. Piggybacking on the previous point. When losses inevitably come, accept them. You didn’t land your dream client. Your existing clients left you. Things generally aren’t going your way. Say to yourself - “Good”*. This just gave you the opportunity to improve. To find flaws in your sales pitch. To find better-paying clients. To improve yourself. *This is a concept of Jocko Willink. Google it. Double down. Don’t be afraid to choose 1 path and fully commit to it. Most people are afraid to build a brand, to serve one audience, to offer fewer services as they realize that will reduce the amount of potential work that they will get. What they fail to realize is that they will significantly improve the amount of ACTUAL work that they get. When you are the best at something, it is a lot easier to stand out in comparison to being mediocre at everything”.
“Personally, I’ve been able to reap a lot of the fruits of my labor in the past few years. HUMBLE BRAGGING ALERT: From having the chance to open the world's biggest Instagram-related event through being hosted in numerous prestigious interviews like this one and having the opportunity to collaborate with some of the biggest stars in my industry - Chris Do, Neil Patel, etc. Having said all of that, my biggest success /as corny as it may seem/ is when my students succeed. My most recent case study is that of Jamie Brindle who in the span of 6 months built a massive following of 200K followers across Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Being a coach enables me to multiply my impact and that is the best feeling there is for me”.
“Finding external sources of motivation is pivotal when you start your business journey. If the only reason you are in a specific field is because of the money, you will start hating everything - your job, the money itself, yourself for making that choice. Money always follows value. If you measure your success based on how good you are at a given task, the outcomes you are bringing through it, and the ease in which you accomplish results, money will come by itself”.
Easy money doesn’t exist. A lot of beginner creators believe that as soon as they start, clients will come flocking their way. It doesn’t work that way. On the contrary, lead generation through social media requires exponentially more work upfront than setting up a profile on a freelancing website or going after your local market.
“It wouldn’t be fair to compare my typical day to that of the average content creator. Now, this isn’t because I am some kind of extraterrestrial content creator with half a dozen hands capable of creating content, engaging, and managing a massive community with ease. No, my superpowers come from the fact I had years of experience before starting my own personal brand, I have a team that helps me and I’ve gained experience over the 600+ posts I’ve created in the last 2 years.
At this point, if I wanted I could spend absolutely no time on my Instagram and still reap the rewards of it. But when I started things were way different. With each post taking up to 8 hours to create I was often running out of fuel in the first few weeks of my journey”
Ever since I was a child, I’ve always been into video games. At one point in my life, I had the opportunity to even become a pro gamer. Looking back, I cannot tell if I have made the right decision, but I am immensely grateful for all the lessons and friends I’ve made through playing games.
I’ve built my kingdom on Instagram. Now it is time to dominate other platforms as well and solidify my social media empire. On my radar for 2022 are YouTube and TikTok.
“More and better. YouTube is set to double in the next decade. That means more and better opportunities for content creators in a wide variety of niches. If content creators play their hands right, their influence on mainstream media should only increase. A recent example of this was Squid Game. Most of the readers are aware of this groundbreaking show. But did you know that MrBeast’s version of it actually gained 50 million more views than the original series? That is an insane feat coming from a content creator that started on a platform a few years ago”.
“Evaluate why you want it. It ain’t easy. You need to be prepared for back-breaking work often for little to no results in the beginning. In order to reach the top, you need to be 100% aware of why you want to accomplish what you’ve set out to achieve”.
Don’t procrastinate. ”The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.” The same goes for your social media presence. Start now. Go big. Stay brave.
Harry, it was a pleasure having you with us and we appreciate your time!
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