Today, more and more photography fans decide to bet on their talent and undertake by creating their own personal brand photography. From there, what any person or student who is at the gates of the labor market should consider is this:
What should I do to become an entrepreneur who can live off their photograph? What is the perfect strategy to stand out from so many offers?
Of course, the formula of success is not available by anyone, let alone in the world of entrepreneurship where contacts and advertising are often the great allies to survive and reach many customers.
However, as a photographer, and especially as an entrepreneur and artist, you will have to surround yourself with the best marketing and image advisors to create a professional personal brand photography.
A small company that reflects your work, the quality of your photographs and reports in front of any other offer, and believe me when I tell you that the market is full of cheap deals that many will not hesitate to go to, without caring about giving up quality.
Your personal brand photography will be a clear reflection of the quality of your work, but above all it will be what your customers think of it, their experience with you and their satisfaction with the results obtained. Well, from these premises I will help you develop a market strategy to create your personal brand as photographers. A series of tips that any small business will want to have in their notebook, to come to them whenever they feel lost or discouraged by the future of their business. Since the key to a good start is a good business plan. Started.
Table of Contents
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CREATING A LOGO
It seems obvious, but it’s not. And the first thing anyone’s going to see is going to be that: your logo, the image of your small business branding photography. Besides, it won’t be a reflection of your photographs, nor can you if you’re a reputable professional or not, no. It will simply be an image, a small composition in which you must capture the essence of photo brand, in a few centimeters you must be able to attract any client and who wants to continue to know about you.
Create a personal brand photography
Luckily, today there are as many graphic designers as photographers, or even more, so it shouldn’t be difficult for you to contact a good designer to help you create a logo faithful to the spirit of your business. It’s important to choose an eye-grabbing color palette that’s in harmony with your work.
can be a classic or recharged design, everything will depend on the personality you want to bring to it and the audience you want to attract.
Because by depravity, in photography as in many other businesses, the most important thing is not the photos, but what surrounds them.
Your logo will be the first barrier that will separate your work from the client, many times there will be people who will not even give “click” to the link of your profile because the corporate image has not called too much attention, or you have simply not seen it too professionally.
That’s why it’s so important to find a balance between the aesthetic part of the logo and the professional part. Both sides have to work in perfect harmony.
IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE
Another of the great mysteries for any entrepreneur is to know what their audience is, one of the most recurring mistakes being to think that our audience is “everyone”. It is important to know that this is not the case, it is too broad and it would be totally impossible to achieve, not to mention the stress and fruitiness that would generate you over time by seeing that you do not reach those great goals that you had self-imposed.
Who do I want to work for?
To avoid this we will have to select a target audience, a very specific part of society that you think your work will be more interested in. If you are a young photographer and you master perfectly the latest techniques in digital photography, the handling of advanced photo editing programs like Adobe Photoshop, and you also have a lot of management on social networks, it is best to look for a young audience and middle age.
If, on the other hand, you are already an experienced photographer, with your own studio at street level and you want to reach a much more exclusive and selective audience, your way to reach it must be too. It is common to think that middle-aged people will have more limited access to networks, and that on the other way up they will prefer to know a photographer’s services through cards, websites or even advertisements in local magazines.
THE MESSAGE OF YOUR BUSINESS
The first thing we’ve explained to you is how to manage your image, which could be said as the most artistic and objective part of your brand. Now, another of the most important parts on your path to the success of your personal branding photography is the message, in other words, to choose the tone and words with which you want others to know you and differentiate you from other professionals within the sector.
What sets you apart from the rest?
One way to do that may be by asking you a basic question: what would you say to a client to choose you and not the rest? What with the competencies that make you preferable and not to another with a similar job?
For this work there are many variants, many examples of other large companies that have wanted to design their own message on a large scale and launch their brand to the world. You can use part of those campaigns as inspiration, keep what you identify most and generate your own message through your own style, and above all, providing you with your unique and non-transferable personal touch.
To formulate the motto of your small business you will have to meditate on what it means to you to be a photographer, a message of honesty and love to your profession that attracts the attention of customers.
Having a good Portfolio
Having a Portfolio is essential for any artist who wants to have some opportunity in the sector. You could say that the gallery person of each photographer, a selection of your best photos where your style, quality and message of your work as a professional photographer will be reflected.
It is essential to have this “photographer book” always at hand, either in digital format to send it to companies, or via online from our own website or photo blog. It’s our showcase, the best way to show that your work is good is to have a well-crafted portfolio.
Promote Your Brand Photography In Social Networks
Of course another aspect to consider creating a personal brand as a personal photographer and make this brand known, is to connect it to the main social networks. If you have a mobile phone surely those applications that can not be missing on your device are Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Each social network has a different influx, with Instagram being the social network of young people par excellence, although more and more adults and people over fifty years old are encouraged to create a profile on this platform. Based on this data and starting from the study you have previously done about the type of audience you are going to target, you will have to choose your presence on these networks and create small advertising campaigns that will make you grow in them.
This is without a doubt the best social network to grow your company within the digital sector. There are many professionals, and non-professionals, who through daily publications with lower or higher quality photographs, have been accumulated numerous followers.
Therefore, you must create a profile on this social network as soon as possible and do it thoroughly, thinking in depth each post, taking care of every hashtag you use, each phrase, icon and even the filter that you put to all of them. Many social media marketing experts explain that the key to getting followers on this platform in uniformity, that is, less is more.
Owning a profile with a unique color palette, a concise but professional message and a very marked and differentiated style compared to the rest, are some keys to success to be a photographer and an influencer through Instagram.
Creator Profile in Instagram
On Instagram a special profile type has already been created for those who wish to use it to exclusively promote their business. This is an easy way to take your work to the next level, as well as making it clear to the viewer what you do, your rates and the quality of your photos.
Youtube
Youtube is another great platform that many professionals use to promote their services, through small tutorial videos where we teach the basic techniques and tricks of photography, you can also show the style of each photographer and redirect that audience to your other professional profiles
The second major giant within social networks, only behind instagram, being perfect for the development of powerful promotions for all kinds of audiences. In addition, on this platform there is the possibility of uploading entire photo albums, without having to limit each publication to a single option. It’s an easy way to create a virtual portfolio that customers can access quickly and easily.
In addition, many customers consider Facebook to be a more serial platform and for a more adult audience. Being perfect for finding customers of another level and with a different needs than those that youth users of Instagram or Youtube could have.
YOUR WORK TEAM
Last but not least, the quality of your materials is the quality. Another thing that attracts the customer is the wrapping of their orders, the finish and texture of the photographs, the box or the envelope in which it is stored, whether it has brightness or is satin, etc.
All these aspects are crucial. Once you have achieved a series of customers, they recommend you. And what is better, repeat and have you as their usual photographer. Of course, the first thing to choose will always be your camera and its accessories. Something that will undoubtedly depend entirely on your artistic preferences, your economic possibilities and the type of work you want to offer.
Wrap Up
After creating your personal photographer brand and launching it, both physical and digital, the next thing to do is to persist. Since some of the most common mistakes during the creation of a business on its own, is to think that having made a large initial investment, of money and effort, the results are assured. And this is totally erroneous. Having started as a photographer, creating your small business, and also doing it alone (although you could also have received help) should teach you that work is something of everyday life, and not because you have done it once well, with the rest will happen the same. No.
A personal brand is something made from love, effort and commitment to your own art. That is why it is important not to forget that for your business to come afloat, so that society takes you into account. And believes in your work, they see it truthful and full of honesty. The first thing you have to do is never let your guard down. Never take anything for granted, always wanting to improve, always expecting a better offer.
The key to success, whatever business it is, is consistency. And above all, love of your work. Showing a transparent and honest work. It is the best tool in this digital age. A photograph can stand out above the others. Being able to transmit our truth through images is undoubtedly your only goal as a photographer and professional. Because as they say, “Love your job and you’ll never be tired”
