The pioneering storytellers of the outdoor industry lived on the cheap, chasing thrills until the work eventually got steady enough to pay the bills. For photographers, that uptick often happened when a glossy cover shot circulated among art directors looking for a new look. With independent filmmakers, a festival screening could lead to a distribution deal and better funding for the next project. And with writers, a national magazine award-worthy feature might lead to a book deal, or simply secure a contributing editor title on a masthead—and a steady paycheck by way of a multi-article contract.

The public work was its own portfolio and spawned new projects. Today, though, woe to the media professional who doesn’t at least have a passing understanding of marketing—not of products or companies, but of themselves as independent contractors. In 2024, tech-savvy self promotion is as central to success as having a decent headshot and short bio on file was 20 years ago. And yes, a lively social-media presence is a good start, but as story-based social media declines—Facebook is jettisoning Gen Z users and X usage is down 23 percent overall since 2022 when it was still Twitter—your personal marketing strategy can’t start and end with social media.

Austin-based writer Ian Dille knows the dance well. After J-school at the University of Texas and an internship at the late lamented National Geographic Adventure, Dille’s byline appeared often in Texas Monthly, Outside, and Bicycling. He parlayed his association with the latter into a pair of books, helping with Olympian Marty Nothstein’s 2012 memoir “The Price of Gold,” and the 2015 guidebook “A Cyclist’s Bucket List.” But even for go-to contributors like Dille, the publishing world was as tumultuous as a muddy cyclocross start. With his wife expecting their second child in 2017, he joined the sports streaming platform FloSports to launch their cycling coverage.

Soon after, the company secured the streaming rights to Giro d’Italia, by which time Dille found himself in the broadcast booth. In addition to the commentary, learning video production and content creation for an online startup expanded his professional repertoire beyond just narrative writing and reporting. “It was sink or swim,” says Dille. “I needed the job, so I had to learn to talk on camera. I had never done that before. It was not easy, but the first thing the content producers said was, well, you’re not the worst we’ve ever seen.”

Nearly four years later, in 2021, with a solid understanding of how to attract an online audience and hold their attention, Dille left FloSports and returned to writing full time. To improve his odds, he combined his newfound production skills with a much more intentional approach to self-promotion. He revamped his website and started wearing a GoPro to capture assorted sights and sounds when he went out on assignment. Earlier this year, his feature on the Richmond Cycling Corps in Virginia, a mountain bike team of high-schoolers raised in public housing, landed on the cover of the print edition of Outside.

The related Instagram reel now pinned to Dille’s profile is not a slick Hollywood production. But it communicates clearly that Outside put his story on the cover—then cuts to teenagers riding singletrack and eating pizza. The promotional message is clear: Dille is a top shelf writer with multimedia skills to back it up. “I do consciously think about my marketing,” says Dille. “I keep track of my productivity and I have files for workflow. And those files include all the stages from ideation to creation and from creation to marketing. Because how else are people going to know to reach out unless they know you’re doing good work and where to find it?”

Writers posting reels is just the next iteration of what top industry veterans have been doing forever—taking the time to promote their work and themselves before they get consumed by the next big project. The key, as with all marketing, is to stand out from the competition.

“The challenge everybody is facing is how to distinguish yourself from the masses when anybody and everybody can claim to be an artist,” says the photographer, cameraman, and logistics whiz Greg Von Doersten. GVD, as he’s known to friends and colleagues, is an experienced mountaineer, river runner, and backcountry skier with a career spanning 40 years. The Hence member has amassed an impressive action-sport portfolio and he’s always been diligent about maintaining relationships and sharing his work. Lately, he’s taken a new approach that targets a smaller but more loyal audience. Last year, GVD self-published his first fine-art coffee table book, “Angle of Repose,” filled with mountain athletes doing their thing in and around Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee, and the Tetons. None other than Jimmy Chin contributed the forward. The book was both a way to share his life’s work and also market himself directly, away from the shadows cast by brand and editorial partners.

“I still scout and work with the best photographers in the world, and right now I see a lot of photographers just throwing work up on Instagram and pitching brands,” says GVD. “I want to stand apart.” In addition to “Angle of Repose,” he’s selling prints directly to consumers and designing custom photo installations, while still keeping a hand in the commercial game. GVD also pays to promote his portfolio with Workbook, a curated marketplace for illustrators, photographers, CGI artists, and filmmakers to connect with commercial clients—his photos have run in campaigns by American Express and Delta Airlines. He’s always on the lookout for new marketing opportunities. “Athletes, producers and photographers are all feeling the pinch,” he says, “and, as media creators, we need to find new spaces to tell our stories.”

For GVD, that does not necessarily mean forgoing older, established methods. Although he has no desire to rank among the influencers on Instagram, he does see the value of a strong digital presence. He maintains a sharp website. He sends a newsletter with project updates. And he relies on old-school sales tactics: cold calling, direct pitches, as well as printed postcards, pamphlets, and other materials that leave an impression. “Building your own database is a huge time suck,” he says. “You have to do it, but you can’t let it get in the way of your work, because the work is what’s going to get their attention.”

Over the past year, as freelance photographer and filmmaker Julie Ellison has transitioned away from editorial and documentary work to commercial interests, she also knew she needed to start marketing herself more effectively. “I realized that I am running a small business,” she says. “So, I asked myself, what does a business do that as a freelancer I don’t?” Downed by a recent knee injury, Ellison, a former editor of Climbing magazine, has been making the most of her home time by beefing up her online marketing. First, she hired photo agency veteran Peter Dennen to review her portfolio. And then, with the help of a paid copy editor, she began writing LinkedIn posts. (She’s now up to five a week.) She also launched a video-podcast series on YouTube focused on the challenges filmmakers and photographers face in outdoor media. Her marketing is meant to cast a net instead of throwing a single hook. “I was pitching a lot,” she says. “All the time, in fact. For a while it felt like every assignment required me to go out and pitch somebody. When I talked to Peter, he told me ‘That’s not a sustainable way to work. You need people to come to you.’”

Her efforts have drawn the attention of companies including Patagonia, that want to align her passion for subjects like women athletes, representation, sustainable agriculture, recreation, and active travel with their own brands. “I am not trying to position myself as a one-stop shop. That’s what agencies do. But I do want to go after bigger jobs that combine motion and stills, because that’s the path to sustainable work,” she says.

There’s no “one size fits all” approach here. Tanya Dueri, a former photo editor at SKI magazine recently opened TD Creative to help brands like Giro, Pivot, and others produce short films and visually-driven campaigns, has also been subject to the ups and downs and turnover of the industry. Dueri markets herself by growing and maintaining a strong collaborative network, asking for regular referrals, and employing the occasional Google review—a request she makes of her clients.

Facing a universal downturn in traditional publishing outlets, Hence Journal contributor Frederick “Rico” Reimers, like GVD, is taking more of a work-forward approach to his marketing. Instead of only writing for magazines and magazine websites, he’s putting his byline out there on book projects, podcasts, and national newspapers. He recently co-authored “Higher Ground” a book about economic salvation and recreation with political up-and-comer Luis Guillermo Benitez of the Land Trust. The book is Benitez’s baby, but as Reimers shapes his next book proposal, he hopes his name on the cover will carry weight. An essay Reimers penned also earned inclusion in the New York Times in May. And he’s been a consistent collaborator with Outside’s Paddy O’Connell on podcasts. Reimers pushes all those projects on social media.

“I do consciously engage in social media in a marketing way maybe 15 minutes a day,” says Reimers. “But because I’m old school, I’m sheepish about posting without a new angle.” Still, he’s learning to get over that hangup. As we all must. Reimers is taking notes on how the writer Kevin Fedarko, whose latest book on the Grand Canyon “A Walk in the Park” is perched near the top of the New York Times best-seller list, has aggressively engaged social media. Currently carrying out a book tour, Fedarko’s Instagram feed is dominated by content from his readings in mountain towns. “I’m coming around to the idea that maybe quantity matters more than quality,” says Reimers. “My hope is that marketing myself will lead to unsolicited work.”