Posts tagged branding for photographers | Columbus Wedding Photographer

With a Bang!

A single component of being a wedding photographer can be very tough, and very rewarding – constantly working with new people. Not only must we work with brand new couples, but also florists, cake artists, wedding planners and venues. On the one hand, starting a rewarding relationship can be tough. Conversely, new relationships that really blossom can last a lifetime. With new clients, I like to help the process along.

To kick things off with a bang, I always greet new clients with excitement. Weddings are a really exciting time for couples and I want to contribute to the enthusiasm. After the boring contract business is done, I want to make sure the excitement builds right away. I take time to send couples an email right away. I greet them with honest excitement. After all, I really am excited to be working with them and to start a new relationship. This kind of opening helps reassure any client that they made the right decision. The news is filled with sensationalized wedding horror stories, so reassuring your clients can make a big difference.

A week later, I follow-up with step two. No, I don’t send them some FAQ document or more things “deal” with. Instead, I send them a simple gift, and the gift is something personal to me. A core component of my brand is the idea of a “gift,” so offering my clients something at the beginning really helps to under-score my brand.

If this concept sounds right for you, but you feel it might be too expensive, you’re be over-thinking it. The gift I offer is small and inexpensive. What’s important is that the gift is personal to me. So how did I arrive at this specific gift?

I often greet clients in my home-office with fresh cookies. It’s just a great way to start a meeting!
The sweet treats are a specific memory from my youth that I am excited to share. Hopefully, this creates a personal connection.
Last, I want to underscore my gratitude with personalized thank you note.

In the future, I will be adding some more components that will allow the welcome gift to be personal to my clients as well. Are sweet treats not right for you? All that’s needed to come up with something unique and personal to you is a small time investment.

How to build great relationships with wedding clients

On a completely random note, business has been growing by leaps and bangs lately. So much so that the shipping department needed a new employee. I recently added “Hector” to the staff 😉 I expect he will improve productivity. And yes, I do name inanimate objects around the office. Weird, but that’s me.

Gravity & the Importance of Thanking the Team

This morning I have been sitting in my office doing chores. Then it dawned on me – my chore this morning is actually pretty important and could be of interest to others. So here it is – gravity and the importance of thanking the team. Yes, I am might use a space analogy to demonstrate the importance of team work and recognizing good work. I have to warn you though, this post could get a little punnie (Ha!).

The Bride and Groom are the stars at any wedding. All of the vendors then orbit around their gravity to form the wedding event. As a photographer, I’m a small part of the wedding solar system. Every satellite in the team has to do a great job with beautiful synchronicity to create an amazing wedding for our clients. Team work is crucial, and so is giving thanks. As just a small part of any wedding, I should be thankful to all the vendors who keep the wedding running and looking amazing. The day of the wedding, I make sure to personally thank anyone I can find. I also like to follow-up later with a more substantial thank you.

The follow-up really helps to cement my heart-felt appreciation, but it also pays additional benefits. It gives me a chance to market my business (albeit slyly) and to strengthen my brand with others. All of this will help me to find and work with my perfect clients. Whenever possible, I try to include a little gift for the vendor.

Including an album for the vendor is a perfect choice. It communicates the quality of my work – but also the quality of the vendors. When done right, albums can be effective and affordable-ish. I deliberately choose images that reflect the vendor’s best work. I make sure these are printed large and get attention. I also make sure to use the vendors name and logo in the layout. The rest I fill in with great photos showing the happy couple. Collectively the album is about the vendor. But it is also about my work.

I package each album nicely and in a manner consistent with my branding. I then take the time to hand-write a very personal thank you note. Both of these actions ensure I am remembered as a person and as a business – separately. I want them to remember that it was nice working with me. I want them to say “you should hire Hunter Photographic”. Hopefully the difference between those two points is clear.

I don’t create a personalized album for every vendor. Instead, I start by picking the ones who’ve done an amazing job. After all, I want to work with a great team. Second, I also consider vendors who seek a similar client as myself. This helps to ensure I find the right clients in the future. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or resources to send a personalized thank you to everyone. Instead of doing something small for many, I do something big for a few.

Why go to all this trouble? Here are a few reasons –

Brand recognition and distinction
Increased marketing reach
More contact with the type of couples I love
Giving thanks feels great and it’s the right thing to do!

Marketing your wedding photography and strengthening your brand with vendor thank you gifts.

So that was my chore today. I’m excited for two reasons. First, some friends will receive gorgeous gifts that they deserve this week. Second, I’m also excited for what the future could hold. I’m definitely looking forward to new doors opening.

Photographer Branding and Mark Twain

I came across the following quote the other day and think it’s fitting for this post – “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.” I have no clue who coined the quote , but it feels Twainish (or is that Twainian?). Or would that be Twain-like? At any rate, back to the topic which I have not even introduced – branding.

The above quote applies because I was doing things the same old way. When I started, I designed my own business card and found a cheap printer. $19.99 for 1000 business cards is a good deal right? I also created a contract and some brochures in Microsoft Word and print those myself. It all looked kinda professional. Looking professional worked a little, but there was a problem.

I am not a designer…despite my wild imagination! Furthermore, I jumped head-long into creating a “brand” before I considered who I am or who I wanted for clients. The lack of a considered approach really showed. It was time for a fresh start.

The first step was the hardest, but the most crucial as well. I had to consider who I was and who I wanted for clients. A photographer’s brand must speak eloquently to both purposes. Defining this core message was really just a thought exercise, but a tough one. Each idea had to be carefully considered and weighed. Through the process, I asked myself questions such as –

Imagine your new brand – what feelings, objects, ideas or people would you associate with the brand?
Think of yourself – what 3 words describe your work the best?
What are the characteristics of people with whom you want to work?

Only after the above concepts were defined (and a million others) did I feel comfortable moving to the next step. I’m smart enough to know I needed professional help (in more ways than one). Maria Pastore joined the project as a professional designer and business branding ninja. She brought a creative eye for print, which was important. She also brought a great ear for messaging. With a well developed message in hand, Maria and I set out to create some key branding materials including a new company name, business cards, website design and client package. Collectively we realized that the following ideas were critical to the overall message and brand –

The services and brand should feel like a gift
The design had to be approachable, modern and with hints of classic elegance
The color palette should be warm and inviting
Feel was important, so papers should be tactile and rich
Handmade quality, as with all my work, is paramount

Next was sourcing materials and choosing printing providers. Do you know how many types of paper there are? It’s gotta be about a gazillion! I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s say the results are amazing. The letterpress business cards are to die for. When handed over, every clients gently feels and studies the card. That is how I know we accomplished our goal.

A well-defined and meaningful brand works. The clients who choose my work are exactly the people I want to work with. They are some of the most extraordinary people and I am forever grateful for them. I am also forever thankful for Maria….even when she tells me “bad idea, Home Boy!” (I made that last bit up). The above information should not make branding sound easy. I could have written volumes on the subject, but chose to keep it short.

Below you can see just a small preview of the outcome. With this level of quality, my brand will be my heirloom.

Branding materials for Hunter Photographic, a Cleveland wedding photographer

Above, letterpress business cards nestled among the building blocks for the client package. Below, hand-stamped cover tags for each package (they take forever to make).

Branding materials for Hunter Photographic, a Cleveland wedding photographer

Below is the finished client package, folded tightly and sealed with a love knot.

Branding materials for Hunter Photographic, a Cleveland wedding photographer

The front cover of the client package. In the background are the assorted contents ready for stuffing in the dutch felt folders.

Branding materials for Hunter Photographic, a Cleveland wedding photographer

What clients see when they first open the gift, err package.

Branding materials for Hunter Photographic, a Cleveland wedding photographer
Soon I will have some more information about my brand development experience. I also have a piece coming about our new Heirloom and Whistler wedding albums. They are truly amazing and the best quality imaginable. Make sure to stop back. In the mean time, stop by Facebook or Twitter to say hello.

Tagged: branding for photographers