Five Minutes With Leading Video Producer Folake Bee

40-something Londoner Folake Bee is the founder of a London based production company called Beeline Films, and has produced videos for the likes of Selena Gomez, Cheryl and Katie Piper.  She started her career in her 20’s as a production assistant, and wanted to progress her career in the field, but the lack of opportunities led her to create her own production company www.folakebee.com.  Her career has gone from strength to strength and Folake is now passionate about helping women through her work. 

Under your corporate brand, BeeLine Films, you have worked with a lot of high profile people like Cheryl Cole and Anthony Robbins. What made you decide to work solely with women to grow their visibility with your personal brand?

As a producer, you can be removed from the actual client interaction, especially when dealing with huge celebrity names. At times, I wasn’t even making it to the shoot, I was dealing with the background logistics. Consequently, I decided to follow my dream of working in a way where I am making a direct contribution to women who need my skills. I found that there are so many female entrepreneurs who suffer from a lack of confidence and also the technical know-how in how to use videos to promote what they do.

I find it very satisfying working directly with just that one woman and seeing the impact I am having in not just her business, but in her life overall.

You have achieved a lot. How does this impact and affect your work with women?

It’s great to be able to bring onboard my lessons learned to help someone who will greatly benefit from it. I always think of myself as a mentor, guiding and helping my clients and shaping how they are showing up. I wish I had this support when I was starting my first business over 10 years ago.

What are your 3 biggest tips for women when it comes to marketing online?

1. Learn to create content – lots of it.

Content is king and it’s how you will reach and attract new clients in today’s digital space.

2. Use mainly videos.
It is the most powerful marketing tool available to us right now to easily
connect and get people to take action.

3. Build a community.
Things are rapidly changing online. Trends show that people want to be a part of something, and community provides that. Apart from that, the idea of having a community of raving fans who absolutely love what you do is a dream for any woman in business. Luckily, this is achievable with the power of videos and online platforms.

And the most common mistake?

Hiding behind your business. I did this for so long. We think our logo and brand is enough and we are disengaged from the people who need us. The adage that ‘people buy people’ is never less true for online marketing.

Being the face of your business forces you to be authentic, to produce quality rather than quantity and to focus and provide value in your marketing. So, therefore, we miss out on reaching our market when we hide away.

Personal branding has seemed like a buzzword for a while. What is at the heart of a profitable personal brand?

Be yourself, be authentic and yet do it with creativity.

As everything else has already been done, how does one stand out? The way to stand out is to bring your own unique flair to how you show up and promote what you have to offer. With your personal brand, you create digital assets that help you to be omnipresent and visible online so that you are reaching people and attracting your ideal type of client. Add automation to that and you are winning.

You seem to have a real eye for detail. How did you get into video production?

Intentionally. Originally, I wanted to produce drama and documentaries, which I started with a business partner. But the financial returns were slow and we struggled. So, as I had a keen interest in business management, due to growing up in an entrepreneurial family, I decided to start helping businesses promote what they do with videos instead. It was meant to be a short-term cash flow strategy – but it ended up being all we did.

Finally, where do you see both your business and your personal brand going in the future?

I want to take everything online and scale up. This year, I’ve already started making the journey into turning how I work into an online model. This requires no office, no permanent staff and mostly offline work.

It has always been a dream of mine to be able to work from anywhere, whilst still providing value to as many women as I can reach. Brand-wise, I have become more the face of what I do – practising what I preach. So, everything is now focused around me as a business personality.