How A Master Marketer Turns Online Imagery Into An Artform
Dylan Robertson wears so many hats it’s questionable as to whether or not he sleeps. By day, he manages the international online marketing for an enterprise software vendor in Tokyo, Japan. By night, he is the producer of three online media ventures - HelloYoga, TribeGrow, and TokyoYoga. He is so passionate about providing resources for yoga teachers that he’s also authored and self-published three eBooks and counting. In his spare time (does he ever sleep?!), Robertson actively blogs and vlogs to teach solopreneurs the art of marketing and social media.
Since Robertson spends so much of his time in the online realm, he knows that visuals are of the utmost importance when it comes to capturing an online audience’s attention. In order to stand out, he creates his own unique aesthetic and imagery with BeFunky’s Photo To Art effects. By cartoonizing the photos or turning them into digital paintings and sketches, Robertson ends up with blog and social media imagery like no one else, which works wonders for standing out in the sea of visuals online.
“What I like about BeFunky is that I know I’ll be able to find at least one filter or effect which will make a huge improvement to any photo I upload. BeFunky breathes new life into stale images and give a unique look to commonly used free stock photos.”
Robertson’s knack for blogging and creating yoga-centric online publications was born out of both passion for and frustration with the yoga industry in the early stages. He began his journey into yoga in 2001, when he began to suffer lower back pain from being largely desk-bound at work. After self-practice via yoga DVD’s and books for four years, he started attending classes at a nearby Hot Yoga studio. This was about the time that yoga really started to take off in Japan, and Robertson soon found himself in overcrowded studios being taught by under-experienced yoga instructors, appointed to meet the high demand of aspiring yogis.
“They just recruited flexible young women with a background in gymnastics or ballet, gave them a brief training course, and had them teach from a script. It was the yoga equivalent of fast food.”
Dylan Robertson decided to be the solution. He completed a 200-hour training course with Naomi Hoshina, which was registered with the American Yoga Alliance - the defacto global standard for yoga teacher training certification. He became a part-time yoga instructor for the following five years, teaching all over Tokyo and donating most of his proceeds to Shine On! Kids. Then around 2011, he decided to take things online and launched what is known today as HelloYoga Co., Ltd, one of the three online yoga publications he manages today.
“HelloYoga shares people’s yoga journey stories. There is some very emotional stuff on here. Some of our guest writers really bare their souls. My hope is that it will inspire more people to try yoga and also encourage yogis to deepen their practice.”
In addition to HelloYoga, Robertson also manages TokyoYoga, which solely serves the Tokyo yoga community with a variety of articles, essays, and interviews. It’s the only such site available in English, which has given him the privilege of interviewing big names in the global yoga industry over the years. And he also manages TribeGrow, which gives yoga teachers advice on career and business. For all of the imagery that accompanies the content he creates, Robertson depends on BeFunky’s vast collection of creative effects. Almost every blog image he incorporates into his publications has a touch of BeFunky. In just one click, he transforms everyday photos into something more unique with Artsy Effects like Cartoonizer, Oil Painting, and Underpainting. He finds the Photo Editor useful for quick touch ups as well.
“The photos I take, and those submitted by guest writers or interviewees, are often less than ideal. Many are just taken quickly with an aging phone, in sub-optimal lighting. BeFunky enables me to quickly and easily improve such photos to the point where they are good enough to be used in my publications.”
Having twenty years of experience in marketing and communications in Tokyo truly helps Robertson with his online ventures. But instead of hoarding his expertise and using it for his own gain, he actively shares his marketing knowledge on Medium and gives candid peeks into his life and work in Tokyo via Instagram. He keeps things creative by using artistic effects from BeFunky’s latest mobile app, Visionn, to make his social media photos stand out.
“Visionn’s filters are great because they render in real-time. I can instantly know how something is going to look. By using the filters, it gives my photos and videos an artistic look and adds variety. As an introverted person, they help me express myself.”
Dylan Robertson is a master of his craft. He loves to research, sort, and organize things. He thrives when left alone to get into a flow-state with tasks, which makes him so great at creating the massive amounts of differentiated content for the online realm. With all of the projects he has going on at once, BeFunky helps him stay consistent with imagery and simplifies the photo editing process seamlessly.
“Software such as Photoshop or Illustrator are powerful, but they are expensive and difficult to use. I’m not a photographer or designer. I just wanted something easy to use, affordable, and with great filters and effects. That’s where BeFunky wins.”
Check out all of Dylan Robertson's ventures on his personal site, then start creating your own unique photos by clicking the link below!
