Branding

If you are saying, “I CAN DO THAT” when you see ads, that tells me you are on the side of being a “generalist,” which waters down the impact of your specific style. I call that my RED FLAG as those are the photographers who usually don’t receive the national attention for a specialized branded look.

What is your sales tool component that stands out to separate you from your competition?

Is it your personality, a production capability, or your skillset?

What do you offer that helps your marketing/sales approach push you to be 1st choice for projects?

This specific something about you can shape your entire direction.

Follow it, know it, explore it and grow from this specialty to keep yourself on top of the pack.

Q:

When you say to bring the client’s branding into the treatment, do you mean their overall visual language/aesthetic or their actual branding like their logo etc?

A:

Your treatment is all about having the client feel like you “get them.” You are what they’ve been looking for to bring their idea to life! Use every way you can to translate this; it is your opportunity to speak their language with their logo in the titles, and their colors styled aesthetically throughout.

Q:

How do we market to our personality strengths & EQ (emotional intelligence) vs. our actual craft? How to market the soft skills I have in conjunction with the artistry skills.

A:

Soft skills, as you call them, are how you build your marketing plan. These skills are what will get you in the door, invited back, and truthful feedback. How you shape selling your photography talents is by being yourself. Clients are humans who want to connect and know who you are. Clients may see the work of 50-100 photographers per day, so how do we stick in their minds? Show who you are in your marketing because that is half the story of what you are selling.

Q:

My question is as a portrait photographer working heavily in editorial, how would I go about getting into commercial photography?  Meaning that portrait work is my specialty, specifically environment portraiture shooting “real people.” Leaving me wondering about shooting a commercial portfolio since most of my work is editorial.

A:

Commercial advertising often has an editorial edge, so you should stick with what you are strongest at and show it off to all the potential markets. You can also take your style/look/vibe and build on it, making yourself more available to clients who require conceptual production value with a stylist, models, and props but staying true to your editorial feel.

Q:

How do you make a splash with a new website?

A:

The two-pronged answer to this is to hire a rock solid design team who understands our well-categorized fast paced industry and then knowing how to show it off in all of our potential platforms with a dynamic in their face publicity. Remember, your website must comply with our industry norm of giving a 2-second quick read along with options for those who will have time to dig deeper and see more of what they are on the hunt for.

Q:

I am in the process of launching a new website which has a different front and color of font than my print promo and business card. It is not ideal. Do I create an interim solution or am I overthinking branding?

A:

You are not overthinking branding because your look and vibe should remain consistent. Then again, if you are the start of your career and have not cemented your look + feel then you are more free to explore. We all have to keep revising our look but hopefully there is a consistency to it that continues to grow. The worst part is that your printed promos and business cards should not be used anymore and right now, during this Covid time, that is just fine.

Q:

How can a lifestyle photographer that only shoots natural light portraits and documentary style photography have different sections when it’s all essentially the same things?

A:

If you shoot one type of photography with similar situations, you don’t necessarily need different categories but it could be a way to show more and give you more credit. When you are up for a job, it gives the client some satisfaction to dig in deeper, explore, and research you. Projects that show off other clients/past jobs is a definite boost to give them reassurance that you are trustworthy. Give the viewer the option to see it all on one overview or keep them longer, by offering sections which suggest you have a lot more to show!

Once you master your branding style, grow from within that special sauce to give clients what they will not get with others.

Hone In + Grow Out

Two things we’ve noticed:

1. Photographers are not getting jobs if they’re too general or not specific enough in their brand. Right now there are more photographers available and less jobs. You have to master something. Think about your competition, someone has really dedicated their portfolio to whatever this job is about. Your brand has to be very strong, you have to know it. It may not be something you can describe, maybe it’s more something you can feel. That’s your look.
2. Photographers need to expand and grow and move forward. They have to have things like gifs, stop motions and cinemagraphs. We have to be upping the game right now. If you’re too general or if you’re not expanding enough. If you need to expand more you take that look that you know if your style and from there you cohesively expand it.

It’s a heavy time right now, so keeping our own focus where we invest back into ourselves may be the way to keep that glass half full.