When we started our businesses 12 years ago, we both started out running side hustle photography businesses. We wanted to know everything and learn as much as we could. We learned about lighting, posing, and sales - but no one ever really stressed to us the importance of having a strong personal brand.
Now that we are more established as photographers in Rochester, I often wonder how much faster would we have grown, if we had known way back then?
To all of you out there making your dreams happen, hustling your way to where you want your small business to be - We’re here to tell you that you need brand photography. And here’s five reasons why:
1 First Impressions
Plain and simple: If you look fresh, polished and professional, you’ll grow faster. Show up for yourself, and your brand. What is the first impression you want to give your audience?
2) Grow Up
I’m not trying to insult you, I mean as a business. Brand Photography is about more than what you look like in a headshot. A session with us is a process. We dive into learning about your ideal client. We brainstorm and plan. Along the way, you might learn something about your business. You might grow in ways you never considered before.
3) Stop Their Scroll
People have short attention spans. In the time it took you to read this sentence, someone has scrolled through Instagram twice. How are you going to catch their eye? Engaging images can do that for you in a way that your selfies can’t.
4) Be the Expert
Quality images create a mindset that you are the expert in your field. Ultimately, this mindset raises the perceived value of your work - and that’s the goal right? Do what you love AND make more money?
5) People Buy Who You Are, Not What You Sell
Once you have their attention, how are you going to keep it? Constantly selling your product is one way to turn a customer off real quick. People want to know the person behind the product. Even in a pandemic world (maybe more so), people want to connect to real people. They want to invest in you before they trust what you’re trying to offer them.
Now, we know you don’t have a professional photographer following your every move. That’d be weird. So occasionally selfies and phone photographs are fine.
But if you want to level up your side hustle, step up your visual brand. Connect with your people, but do it in a way that conveys the story of your business that you want to tell. You are the face of your brand, and it’s you that your audience wants to see.
So now that you know why, what are you going to do with the information?
