’ve heard it a thousand times: The most important factor for small business success is establishing and maintaining a brand. Hearing this, I knew that branding was one of the first things I’d have to tackle when I started my photography business…but when it came time to establishing my brand I felt immediately lost. What exactly is a brand, and how could I use it to attract likeminded brides? Well, after a lot of research I was surprised to learn that a brand is not something you can create overnight. It’s not a website, or a business card, or even logo. A brand is an experience. Sure, those things act as pieces of that experience, but successful branding is intangible. What I learned was that successful branding had less to do with individual elements of my business, and more to do with the interactions and connections built with my clients.
When I started my business, what I wanted more than anything was to produce a positive experience for my clients, both during the time we spent together, and after the final product had been delivered. I knew this was something I could do, but it was also incredibly scary. For me to make this a genuine experience, I knew that I would have to pull from my own honesty and just ‘be Amy’. And that meant a lot of soul searching.
I decided to come up with three business words to help me define my brand.
No. 1: Connected. I now knew that the connections I build with my clients are the most important thing I could work on to promote a positive experience with them.
No. 2: Consistent. Whether it was my website, my welcome packages, my business cards, or my blog, I wanted clients to have a consistent experience.
No. 3: Natural. This is where ‘be Amy’ kicks in. I wanted to be honest with my clients and show them the real Amy. This was definitely the hardest of the 3 words, and it was around this time that my progress completely stalled…I needed to figure out who Amy of Amy Sturgeon Photography is, and not be who I wanted other people to think I am.
I also realized that if I wanted people to invest their time, heart and money into my business, then I needed to figure out what it would take for me to invest the same. That afternoon, I chose to do some educated window-shopping to study my shopping habits. Any time something caught my attention I asked myself why; what was it about that object that made me stop. Why did I pick it up? Did I agree with the pricing? Slowly, I got a sense for which colours attracted my attention, the quality of the craftsmanship that I set as standard, and the value I placed on luxury. I was so excited about finally finding products that resonated with me, that I snatched up an entire rack of white and gold items and left feeling hugely accomplished. Over the next few days, I took inspiration for that shopping experience as well as other elements from my home to design the visual elements of my brand. This slowly translated into my website design and I now have a better idea of how I want to connect with potential clients.
I know my brand will develop over the years as times change, and new things come in and out of style. Who knows where it’ll be in a year from now, but in the meantime, I’m thrilled at how my research has set me down a path towards defining my brand.