Top Fitness Model Obi Obadike's Blog On Self-Marketing
When I entered the fitness industry in April of 2008 and a couple of months after that I used to rely on somebody to promote me and make announcements for me because I felt so uncomfortable doing it myself. I was so concerned about what people thought about me and also not being perceived as arrogant and cocky so I hired somebody to do it. And also it just wasn’t my personality to talk about myself and accomplishments. Well this person who was doing it for me just wasn’t doing a good job and they weren’t consistent in putting it out.
I thought to myself why don’t I save that money paying this person and do it myself. I am the only person that can promote my self better than anybody. Well I am pretty smart enough to know that if I decided to venture this unique route that there would be some people who would be turned off by this and perceive my self promotional methods as cocky or arrogant. I knew that before even decided to take this responsibility but I realized that I couldn’t be concerned with that if I wanted to take my career the next level and make some serious money in this industry
So many amazing things have happened to my career the last 2 years that I never even thought would even be possible and I know it is because of I how I’ve promoted myself. When you are promoting yourself you have to understand who your intended audience is. Who are you directing your promotional efforts to? Well my intended audience is: my current fans, new fans and potential sponsors and not necessarily my peers. How can anybody want to sponsor you if they don’t know what you’ve done? You have to share everything what you are doing in this industry via these social networking sites in terms of accolades and accomplishments.
My good friend fitness superstar Natalia Muntean wrote a blog about doing 5 covers in the last 4 months and that she is taking over the fitness industry. Well her fans and new fans are going want to read that and potential sponsors are going to want to read that as well. For crying out loud I wanted to read that because I get inspired by reading stuff like that from my peers or anybody. She is conducting her self as a business because the only way you can build a fan-base and gain sponsorships is by sharing what you are doing in the industry. Some of your peers unfortunately may not want to read that because either they’ve done it themselves or just don’t want you telling them what you are accomplishing in detail. Unfortunately you can’t be concerned with that and if you are; you will be a hindrance to your own career.
I am about to sign the biggest contract ever in my career in a couple of days and the only reason why that this is happening is because of the way I’ve promoted myself the last 2 years. Every accomplishment I’ve ever done in detail is either on my website or face-book. The people that are signing me to this contract researched me very thoroughly via the web before they decided to consider me for this opportunity and I know this for a fact. If I hadn’t promoted myself the way I’ve been doing there is no way that this opportunity would have presented itself to me. So why on God’s green earth would I ever stop promoting myself now because there are some people out there that think my self promotional methods are cocky and arrogant?
I am going to give you an example: If you’re the first Asian or Hispanic person to grace a cover or a feature in some international magazine. Why would you not share that in detail with your fans and with potential sponsors via the social networking site? That particular caption may inspire some aspiring Asian or Hispanic young kid that may not think they can do it. And once they read what you did that might have gave them inspiration to say you know what he did it and I think I can do it. It would be stupid not to share that accomplishment and you should be proud of it if you are the first black, Asian, Hispanic to do anything.
Another example is some fitness company may want to venture into that international market that you graced a cover on and they may be seeking a spokes model from the U.S. that has a presence in that international market. Well who do you think they are going to look at? How would they know that you have a presence in that international market or you are first American person to grace this international cover there if you don’t talk about it via your website or via any social networking site? If you don’t talk about what you’ve done and don’t share it with people I am going to tell you right now you will not make any real money in this industry.
You have to sell your self all the time even if you’ve done a thousand covers. You still have to sell yourself because you can’t assume that everybody knows who you are or what you’ve done in your career.
Another example is the WBFF an organization that I compete in. The reason why they are the best fitness organization in the world is because they promote better than any fitness organization in this business. They are on face-book every day promoting themselves on what they have to offer to athletes and potential sponsor and why they are best of the best. The template of how they promote themselves is no different on how you should promote yourself. The WBFF is a business and you as a fitness model are a business and you have to conduct yourself that way. If you don’t see yourself as a business and you don’t conduct yourself that way like I said you will not make any money in this industry.
I’ll give you some more examples: I recently landed a National spokes model opportunity for NutriVite well I was referred by Tammy Renee the publisher of World Physique magazine. She told the owner you need to sign this guy Obi Obadike because he will promote you like nobody’s business and he is the best at self-promotion. Well after that referral before NutriVite and I got in contact they researched me thoroughly on the web and they were impressed with all of the accomplishments that they read on my website and face-book. I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been able to sign my sponsorship with this company if it wasn’t for how I promoted myself.
In 2009 I was the guest of honor at one of the biggest natural bodybuilding shows in Australia and now in 2010 in a couple of weeks I am going to be special guest MC at the same show. Now who would have thought some American California guy would get an opportunity like that in Australia? This opportunity never would have happened if it wasn’t for how I have been promoting myself. If I was quiet and didn’t say anything on my website or on face-book over 80 percent of the stuff in the industry I’ve attained never would never have happened.
Recently I was told a couple of days ago by a dear friend who I care about and respect that they don’t like how I’ve promote myself and it comes off as very arrogant and cocky. Well hearing that news from someone who I respect dearly it got me down and I was depressed. Within an hour of that conversation I had with that friend I got an email from a young 17 year old kid name Jake Frey. He said to me in an email I always get up in the morning to read your face-book posts because it gives me inspiration when I see all those amazing things you are doing in your career and makes me want to do better in school. Talk about perfect time hearing those kind compliments from this 17 year old kid and it got me quick out of this depression.
Another good friend of mine named Jazmin Siguenza an independent rap artist who I spoke with over the phone a couple of days ago said I really enjoy reading all your face-book posts and what you are doing in the industry and the barriers you are breaking. In fact I honestly go out of my way to read your facebook news first because gives me inspiration in my own career and please don’t stop doing that because it gives us all inspiration that we can all aspire to do great things.
The timing in hearing both of those things was so profound because I needed to hear that and it reconfirmed why I do what I do. Are there peers that are not going to like it? Yes there are! There are some that will always perceive that as arrogance because they don’t understand self-promotion via social networking. But there are others that love to read it and gain inspiration from it in their own respective lives.
Top fitness model Max Wettstein not long ago posted his cover on face-book not long ago and said he had done over 20 covers and he had two more coming out. I loved hearing that and I loved reading that caption from my good friend. And I was inspired by reading that because that it is so some amazing how many covers he has done and the career he still has. Why would he not share that accolade on facebook to fans and potential sponsors? There are some people possibly his peers, friends or family that may deem that as arrogance or why he is saying that. He doesn’t have say that he has over 20 covers nor does have to say he has two more coming out. Well his audience is not really his peers or even his family. His intended audience: is his fans, new fans and any potential sponsors or potential fitness job opportunities that may see that post and say you know what I want to sponsor this guy or damn he has done a lot of covers I think I want to direct book him for a job. Those fans are the ones that will buy his e-book, online personal training package, calendar, etc.
I had this conversation with my buddy Max and we came up with this. Your friends, family and some of your peers typically may not want to read all of your posts just because they don’t want to hear in detail every accomplishment you’ve done and that is understandable. But your fans will want to read that and potential sponsors that want to hire you will want to read that.
I have a couple of friends in this industry who have been in the fitness indusry a little more than 4 years and have had tremendous success but haven’t made any real money or landed even a single sponsorship. Do you know the reason why they haven’t made any real money? Because they are quiet and they never say anything or share any of their accomplishments via these social networking sites. They complain about I need a sponsorship or I need to make some money but they don’t promote themselves whatsoever.
There are so concerned about how they will be perceived by other people that they don’t feel comfortable doing that. How can anybody want to sponsor you if they don’t know what you’ve done? Just think about that and it really is a very simple concept. We are living in this incredible social networking age and I feel so blessed to have this incredible invaluable tool that allows me to share with everything I am doing in the industry with the whole world with just a click of a finger.
This is a huge advantage for us over some of the fitness models 10 years ago that didn’t have this at the peak of their career. The moral of this blog is this if you want to make money in this industry or have international exposure you have to promote what you are doing all the time. If you want to not make any money in this industry then just stay quiet and your career will take slow baby steps.
The only thing you are doing is taking a manager or PR person’s job and taking upon that responsibility your self. That is the only single difference!
Everything I do in how I promote myself within the fitness industry is 110 percent business and nothing more. It is not because I want to tell the whole world how great I am. I know it works I’ve shared it with people in detail in how to do it and I’ve seen what it has done to their careers. I am not trying to disrespect or offend anybody but just be the best person I can be for my career. Hopefully along that ride I can help out many people along the way. I hope this blog elaborates completely in detail self- promotion and why I promote myself the way I do and the intention behind it and what it has done for my career as well as what it can do for yours. It’s no different then any other business that is trying to sell a product or service. I am a business and I am a selling a product and that product is me.
Fitness Model and Columnist Obi Obadike selected as spokesperson for ISO Gear LLC, maker of the patented and innovative ISO Bo exercise equipment.
