Brand photography tips for your unique visual identity
When you are running your business, there are a million things to do doing to get started/ keep going/ stay focused on finding clients and bringing in the money.
But, don't forget the basics!
Creating a solid visual identity will ensure that you look professional, it enables your audience to get a feel for who you are and what your business can offer them quickly and simply.
What is a visual identity?
There are 3 main elements to your business visual identity and these 3 parts all work in conjunction with each other, so you really need all of these:
Logo
Website
Brand Photography
Using your brand colours, your business model, your core values and personality, these three elements will help tell your audience exactly who you are and if you are right for them.
LOGO
Your logo will be smart and simple. It will use your brand colours and suggest simply and clearly what your business does. Adding a dash of your personality in there too is nice and can be effective.
WEBSITE
Without a clean, easy to navigate and informative website you will lose potential customers. No-one wants to have work hard to get the information they want from a website so think carefully about your navigation and where you want to lead your customers to.
BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY
Brand photographs are going to be your bread and butter. They are vital in adding personality to your website and creating an atmosphere and ambience that showcases your business to all your visitors.
They are also going to be an invaluable catalogue of images that you can use throughout all your online marketing; social media, newsletters, flyers and other forms of advertising.
Honestly, and I'm not just saying this but visual images are vital to your business!
What images do I need for my visual identity?
You need a variety of images, that with creative planning can be fun to capture and tick many boxes for content usage.
The top Brand Photography image you will need are:
Personality portraits (not just old fashioned headshots!)
In action shots (showing you doing what you love to do)
Ambience shots (images that create a feeling)
Flat lays/ content shots (collection of items that tell your story/ personalised images that can be used with graphics)
Product shots (if selling physical products)
How can I create these images?
Here are some questions, I ask my branding clients to get them started in planning their Brand Photography. Remember, you want to create personal brand photographs that truly show who you are and your passion for your business.
Planning for a photoshoot (professional or not) can be daunting, especially you are not keen to be in front of the camera! But, as many a business mentor/ coach will tell you... if it's your business, you need to get out there and shout about it and the way to do that is through photos. The more planning you do ahead the better the results will be!
Start by asking yourself the following questions:
What do you want to tell your audience?
What are your brand colours?
How can we bring these into your shoot?
What’s your look and feel? Example: Are you serious and masculine in your approach or light hearted and feminine?
How will you work with clients (in person/ remotely/ classes/ retail outlet etc) and how can we portray this in your images?
What locations help inform your clients about your business - do you have a place they can come to? or do you create in a workshop?
How do you want to be seen by your audience?
How do you want your audience to feel when they see your content?
What props or actions can help create the content you need? Notebooks/ Journals/ Cups of coffee/ wokring from sofa, walks in nature etc
Do your clients want to relate to you personally? If so, how can we bring hobbies, how you relax, family life in?
It is worth investing in professionals to help me with my visual identity?