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About Natalia Trevino Amaro
Natalia Trevino Amaro is a sustainable fashion designer, business owner, and content creator. In middle school, she began creating content on YouTube, which took off during her college years. Natalia started her sustainable fashion business in 2020, a month after graduating college, during the beginning of the pandemic.
After graduating, Natalia went back to her home in Indiana. When the pandemic started, everything was locked down, and no one knew what would happen. Unfortunately, the pandemic also limited job opportunities in the fashion industry.
Natalia shares, “Generally speaking, there weren’t any [fashion] jobs on the market regardless because it was just that time, but also there’s nothing I can do in my field in the Midwest, so I decided to start my business because I was like the worst that can happen is it doesn’t do well.”
Living with her parents helped because it limited her expenses, so she figured that starting her business at the time was as good as any other time. Fortunately, her fashion brand Natalia Trevino Amaro was a success.
Today, she shares how she grew her brand from the ground up using social media.
A post shared by NATALIA TREVINO AMARO, LLC (@nataliatrevinoamaro)
Growing Her Brand with Social Media Marketing
When Natalia started her brand, everything was virtual due to the ongoing pandemic and lockdowns. However, this worked to her advantage because everybody was online more.
She shares, “Luckily, during that time, everybody was online, so it was kind of easier in a way to grow a brand than it is nowadays, especially through TikTok since it was so early on. It wasn’t so saturated at the time, so it was easier to go viral.”
Her social media strategy emphasized leaning into whatever content and platforms were trending. Fortunately for her, this was primarily TikTok and Instagram reels. As an experienced YouTuber, the video content trend suited her skillset, allowing her to create engaging brand content immediately.
When she started her brand, she heavily focused on TikTok, typically posting every single day. Natalia recorded all of her business processes, including designing and sewing clothing and the behind-the-scenes of her business.
She also answered viewers’ questions about her business practices. She feels that showing the behind-the-scenes has become more commonplace since social media has become more mainstream.
“That’s one of my main strategies – just making the brand personable in a sense. I feel like people are more likely to want to support something if it’s a person rather than just a brand.”
Utilizing Influencer Marketing
Natalia has used some influencer marketing campaigns to promote her brand. However, most of the influencers talking about her products are friends she made as a creator, helping her save money on marketing costs.
“I do want to lean into that [influencer marketing] more, but I think that also because I’m a creator, sometimes I don’t want to do it… I get so in my head about it sometimes, but it is a great thing to do. I just haven’t done too much of it just yet.”
Creating Engaging Content
Natalia shares that using trendy audio and transitions performed well for a while. However, the content that receives the best engagement usually features her talking.
“I think a lot of people are getting tired of that [trendy audio and transitions], and they just want to see actual humans and actually connect with people. I feel like anytime I”m talking straight up to the camera or explaining things, that does especially well.”
She notes that behind-the-scenes content featuring her making a product and showing the final product also performs very well.
Staying Motivated as a Business Owner and Creator
As a full-time business owner and creator, Natalia shares that much of her motivation is financial since she’s responsible for keeping herself on track and earning money through her business.
Something that motivates her regularly is “the thought of if I don’t do this or I’m not doing this, then I’d have to be working a regular job, which would be fine, but I don’t want to do that. I love the luxury of doing my own thing and having my own schedule, so if I don’t want to have a normal job, I’ve got to keep myself on track.”
She adds that it can be easy and tempting to take a day off or not get up in the mornings to work, but her audience, customers, and goals keep her on track.
“I don’t want to let people down, especially on YouTube. I vlog so much, and it’s my biggest platform. I feel like so many people love to see my journey and my process. I need to keep it up for them as well.”
New York Fashion Week & Starting Your Own Fashion Brand
Natalia recently hosted her own show at New York Fashion Week with six other sustainable fashion designers. The event sold out, which Natalia was thrilled about.
She notes, “It was my first time doing anything of that caliber, and since I’m not based in New York, I didn’t see the event space until the day before, but somehow it all came together… It was a really fun event just centered around sustainable fashion, and it sold out.”
Her advice for aspiring fashion designers? Know why you’re doing it and what you want to accomplish with your brand.
“At the end of the day, there are so many clothing brands, and it’s so hard to stand out… I think it’s important to really understand why you want to do it and go through that whole process of finding a purpose behind it. I would say that if you really want to do it, go for it.”
The Creator Marketplace
When asked what she would like to see in the creator marketplace, Natalia said she wants to see more brands value creators.
“I think there’s still a lot of brands that could be doing a lot better in terms of paying creators and seeing the value in creators because I’ve had a lot of brands that do value me and pay really well. Then, there are other brands that are big brands -They [Some] really don’t value creators much.”
She adds that some bigger brands still treat creators as this little thing, even though influencers are a huge part of the economy, marketing, and getting sales for businesses.
What’s Next for Natalia
“I want to continue what I’m doing. Growing my brand more and also my personal brand as a creator. I would love it to be a 50/50 for me, where I can do both somehow, simultaneously, even though it’s a lot. I just can’t choose one over the other… I love content creating and making videos and sharing that whole behind-the-scenes.”
Amy DeYoung is a freelance blog post writer covering influencer marketing and business topics. As the daughter of two business owners, she’s been fascinated by all things business from a young age, which led her to graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree in business. When she’s not typing away, she spends her time reading nonfiction books and mystery novels, baking scrumptious desserts, and playing with her dog.
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