Small Business Quick-Start Guide to Brand Photography

I am SUPER excited to finally start diving into brand images! It’s obviously my favorite part as a photographer, BUT it is SO important to make sure you have your niche, UVP, brand visuals, and story nailed down first.

Those are crucial to giving your brand images strategic direction. If you aren’t sure about those key elements to your brand, check out my last few blog posts where I break those topics down for you.

The goal of your brand images is to back up your brand identity and visuals, to tell your story, and ultimately to attract and connect with your ideal client.

“It takes between 5-7 impressions to even start creating brand awareness.” (Pam Marketing) So you NEED images in order to show up and make that impression with your ideal clients!

Social media marketing is a no brainer for small businesses, and having brand images at the ready, makes your social media game SO much easier and stronger. Instead of scrambling to figure out what iphone picture to take and post every time you want to reach out and connect with your audience, you can just pull from your image bank. This leaves you with time to focus on doing what you really love in your business. And if you're like me, time is PRECIOUS. Brand photography is a relatively new niche, and it’s cool! Gone are the days of a standard headshot with some plain background behind it.

Brand photography is this beautiful marriage of intentional and artistic image creation, with photojournalistic lifestyle photography. Brand images don’t just show you and what you are selling, brand images, in a natural and authentic way, are fantastic for showing WHAT you do, WHO you actually do it for, and HOW you do it better or differently than your competition.

As the saying goes, “A picture speaks a thousand words”, and you can cram pack a LOT about your brand and story into succulent, well crafted images. This is the key here though: Well crafted images. What you don’t want is a hodge podge of images that aren’t cohesive and confuse your audience. This is why it’s really important to hire a professional BRANDING photographer who will be able to create an entire library of strategic images that will: 1) All work cohesive together as a whole. While 2) Each serving a specific purpose in your brand story and identity.

Did you know? “Consistent presentation of a brand has been seen to increase revenue by 33%.” (LucidPress) Good images will pay for themselves!

As small business owners, there are few better investments than professional brand images that display your brand as cohesive and professional.

Good brand photography shows rather than tells your client that your business is legitimate, put together, and going places, and hopefully will connect with those ideal clients by fostering a personal connection with you through those images.

So what sort of branding images do you need? Here’s a list of brand photos you’ll want to consider having in your library to get you started at your next brand shoot:

Headshots: You know, one or two for those profile pics and your bio! Personality Shots: Let’s show the real you. What can clients expect when they work with you? Are you bubbly and over the top, are you serious and driven? Let’s show them! Process Shots: What does your process look like? What are the challenges in your process that make you proud of the end results? What are cool parts of your process people might not know? Give them an insider's exclusive peek! Location Shots: Where do you do business? What does your work space look like on a real life regular basis? It is clean and airy and put together, or it is organized chaos, and that’s how you roll? Show your audience! Detail Shots: What are the tools of your trade? What are things related to your brand image that you might be talking about on social media? What are brand visual mascots you’ve intertwined in your brand identity? UVP Shots: Unique Value Proposition Shots. These are tricky to capture, but a good photographer will have fun brainstorming and capturing them for you. What makes you unique and different than your competition. How can you show that in a tangible way in a photograph? Lifestyle Shots : What do you do on your time off that is similar to your ideal client that they’ll see and say “Oh! Me too!”?

And last but not least, because I’m trying to convince AND get you rolling: Here is a list to help you get started on ways you can use a custom library of images: Your Website: Your About Page Product Pages Services Pages Blog Posts Contact Page Social Media: Profile Photos Content Instagram and Facebook Stories Ad Graphics In Print: On your Business Card Brochures Stationary or Thank You Notes Other Important Places: Email Newsletter Headers and Content In Lead Magnet PDFS

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If you’re ready to start planning your brand shoot, and want more guidance on each step of the process, JOIN ME in my brand building facebook course and community!

I’m a mil spouse mama of three and brand photographer in Georgia; during naptime I love to strategically unpack branding to help other small businesses stand out and sell in a saturated market.