Introduction
Imagine you’re in a grocery store looking to buy a box of chocolates.You tend to gravitate towards the name brand chocolates like Hershey’s even when they may be more expensive than generic brands. This is the magic of branding!
Branding is the technique used by businesses to stand out even in saturated markets and build customer loyalty. Branding makes products and services easily recognizable and influences consumers to buy them.
Just like businesses create brands for their products, you can create a personal brand to help you stand out and grow your business as a professional photographer. But why do you need a personal brand as a photographer?
Let us go back to our original example about chocolates, except this time you are the chocolates. Photography as a profession has become fairly saturated now, especially if you are based out of a major city. With intense competition, it has become even more important to hone your business skills alongside your photography skills and for that personal branding is crucial. By creating a recognizable, memorable personal brand you can attract and retain more clients and grow your photography business. Here are 7 handy tips to help you start out!
7 top tips for personal branding for photographers
1. Choose your niche
The first thing to do when building your personal brand as a photographer is to identify and select a niche. Think about which genre of photography is most appealing to you as well as financially practical. By deciding on a niche you get the starting point from where you can begin to build your personal brand. For example, say you want to specialize in newborn and maternity photoshoots. Since you have decided your niche, you now know who your main client base is going to be – new parents and expectant mothers. From here you can start building a personal brand that would be most appealing to that particular client base.
2. Study your competition
So, now you know what kind of niche you are specializing in and what kind of clientele you are serving. How do you know what that clientele wants and what appeals to them? Well, you can undertake some basic market research and you can start by studying your competition. There is no better way to learn personal branding for photographers than learning from other photographers. Particularly, take a look at some of the more successful photographers in your area who are active in your niche and try to understand what makes them successful. You can also try to identify gaps in the market where you can offer more specialized services and stand out even further.
3. Take inspiration from top photographers
Your research should not just be limited to photographers who are in your area. Sampling a more diverse range of photographers who are active in different markets and areas can be helpful. This will help you learn not only from those who are closest to you but also those who are the best at their craft. Look at the websites and photography portfolios of the best photographers in your niche and take inspiration. This will help you build a solid photography personal brand that is inspired and enriched by the best in the world.
4. Create a personalized brand identity
Think about what comes to mind when you think of a brand like Coca-Cola. You likely remember their red banner, their signature bottle and their swirly font. Unique design elements like logos, color palettes and fonts are important elements of brand strategy. When it comes to your photography business, you need to create a unique brand identity. Start by creating a personalized logo and picking a color scheme. It also helps to choose a single font or font family and use it across your logos, websites etc. Additionally, you can use a font generator for more creative options and to find the perfect font that reflects your brand’s personality and style.
This helps you craft a unique and identifiable brand identity that can be used to distinguish you from other photographers.
5. Be consistent to your brand
The most important mantra in personal branding is consistency. Remember that branding is all about making yourself stand out and be more recognizable and memorable. Consistency is an important aspect of this. Once you have created a personalized brand identity, you need to ensure that you stick as close to it as possible. Maintain consistency in your brand’s color palettes, fonts and logos. Switching colors or logos dilutes your brand and makes it more vulnerable to counterfeiting.
6. Market yourself
Once you have successfully designed a personal brand for yourself, it is now time to promote it. There is no point to a brand if no one knows about it. Therefore, you need to ensure that you properly market yourself and use your branding so that you can create a distinct, recognizable identity and use your branding to gain more clients. Digital marketing is a very effective way of boosting your brand. A good digital marketing strategy can help you gain more clients and grow your business.
7. Create a branded photography website
Creating a branded photography website can be an excellent starting point for your personal branding. Your photography website can be an all-in-one business platform for you to host your portfolio, share your work, manage clients, and promote your photography business. You may think that creating your own photography website is a complicated venture that requires a lot of technical skills and coding knowledge but that’s not true.
With an easy to use, no-code website builder like Pixpa you can create a professional photography website complete with online galleries, e-commerce options for selling prints and digital downloads, client proofing tools, SEO and marketing tools and more, all in one place. Pixpa can be the perfect solution for creating a website to share, sell and promote your work online and level up your photography business easily, affordably and without touching a single line of code.
Conclusion
Whether you are a rookie photographer looking to enter the profession or an already established professional trying to hold your ground, personal branding can help you grow and succeed. We hope these tips help you while you’re starting out. Good luck building your personal brand and growing your photography business!
