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If you are starting to turn from a hobbyist photographer into a business owner, there are several things you need to consider before you hit the ground running. One of the biggest things you need to take the time to think about is your businesses’ name and brand. Over the next several months I am going to be diving into what it looks like to build a brand with your photography business. Not only is your brand your name, your logo and your website, but it is also YOU and how you treat your customer base. Your brand has to do with your marketing strategies, your portfolio look and the products you offer.
Before we dive in too deep, lets step back and take a look at on how you want to come across to your customer base. How do you want to represent yourself in your community? What do you photograph and how will that be translated through your business name and logo?
Personally, I decided to name my photography business m.newsom photography because I knew I would be running my company and I would be the face behind my brand. I also knew that my name was timeless (it wasn’t trendy) and it was something that could translate to all the different areas of portrait photography that I market to my clients. Once you have a business name you are going to want to stick with it. Your business name will be how you are known in your local (and maybe not so local!) community. You will gain a following of loyal customers who stick behind your brand, and they will most likely be upset if you suddenly change your name on them (although this isn’t always the case).
Are you solely a family photographer? A newborn photographer? A wedding photographer? All of these different specialties come with different clientele, thus requires different branding.
For today’s examples, I am going to go through the process of how I established my business name and my logo. Different companies have different processes, but this is what worked for me and I hope this can help you out as you are starting your branding journey!
The first thing I did when I started thinking about my branding was to establish a logo that represented my photography and my personal brand. It sounds like an easy process, but it was far from it! I knew that most of my photos were very organic, nature-y and simple. I wanted my branding to communicate this to my new clients. So, (and here I go again talking about how much I love pinterest!) I established a pinterest board to help give myself ideas on what I liked visually.
I was very specific about fonts I liked and didn’t like, color schemes that I wanted to use and different elements I wanted incorporated into my logo design. I did not take this process lightly, and you shouldn’t either. I found this article about How To Create An Awesome Pinterest Branding Board really helpful as I built mine.
Next, I hired a graphic designer. There are a slew of talented designers out there, but I wanted to hire someone who I knew, whose work I knew was coherent and someone who didn’t charge an arm and a leg for their services. Remember, we are just starting our business right? So not much cash is flowing in at this point. I went with the talented Bonnie Christine and couldn’t have been happier. I sent her my branding board and she knew quickly what look I wanted for my business. The entire process took about two weeks, and was so much fun. You can also find some great design templates on Etsy or HERE on Photographypla.net! while you are saving up money to hire a designer to help you build your brand.
Here is what my finished brand looked like:
When you see this brand what does it communicate to you? Can you see the elements my designer drew from my inspiration board? Can you see how helpful that was for us in the process?
If you are looking to start building your brand by implanting a design and logo into your business here’s what you should do for homework:
1. Take a look at your portfolio. What do your photos communicate?
2. Think about your business name, does it tie into the specialty you want to be photographing? What do you think your future clients will think about when they hear your business name?
3. Write down three words that describe your photography.
4. Think about what you want your branding to communicate? Timelessness? Clean and crisp? Organic? Industrial?
5. What color scheme do you think will communicate your brand?
After you have answered all of these questions take a minute to assess if you are already on the right track. You can run these ideas by your friends and family (I know I did!). If you don’t want to create an online pinboard you can also create a word document of brands and images you like to show your designer OR you can create a cork board by your office. The possibilities are endless!
Next time we will be talking about how your website is your business front in this digital work, and how it communicates your brand to your potential customer.
