Is your business brand having an identity crisis?

Maybe you aren't even sure what the heck a brand is.

First let's establish what it is not. 

• It is not your logo. 
• It is not the colors or fonts you use for your website. 
• It is not your tag line. 
• It is not your product or service. 
• It is not even (yes, I am going to say it) your photos.

These are tools that support your brand, but pretty colors and fun logos do not a brand make.

Ok, so now that we know what a brand is not, let's talk about what it IS.  Your brand is a targeted representation of your values. 

I'll use myself as an example.  There are many dimensions to my personality and my life. I have a passion for my family, my faith, inspiring others, education and self-discovery.   Now my business brand does not need to, nor should it, encompass all of these bits of me, but it SHOULD contain some of my key principals that speak to the ideal client I am trying to attract. 

Did someone say Ideal Client? 
("No, please Susan - no one said it.  Please don't talk about the whole Ideal Client thing... please, oh have mercy!")

I heard for YEARS that I needed to identify my "ideal client".  I witnessed people crafting vision boards and creating avatars to represent this mythical unicorn of a customer.  It seemed so "woo woo" and hey, I was SLAYING it out there swinging my marketing bat wildly and hitting...well, almost nothing.  So I ignored all the wisdom around me and smugly continued to market to everyone and to no one.

I did social media on the fly, based on my moods (which you can see are PLENTIFUL).  My messaging, and ultimately my brand, changed from day to day, which is a terrible marketing plan.

After years of spinning my wheels I finally admitted I didn't really know what I was aiming at and committed to doing the work of identifying who I was actually trying to reach with all my on-line efforts.  You do have to go deep into this type of discovery in order for it to be fruitful.  Demographics, hobbies, income, preferences...I even suggest naming your ideal client and ask yourself every time you go to post or send an email - "would she (or he) be interested in this information?"

It can be very tempting to try and keep your business completely separate from who you are as a person.  I mean, that feels like it keeps you safe right?  It doesn't force you to put yourself OUT THERE.  

...except that people don't really like dealing with faceless businesses. If there is none of YOU in your business HOW do you make it feel special? How do you connect with people? How do you compete with other businesses that are creating meaningful connections with YOUR potential customers?

As a small business owner you need to create relationships.  Relationships require connection and connection requires authenticity.

Once we identify our brand then we work on the tools to support it.  That's where brand photography comes in.  Brand photography is your opportunity to have a visual conversation with the world.  How many of you are reading this only because the photo caught your attention?  The average adult human has an attention span of eight seconds. EIGHT SECONDS - which means virtually no one has made it all the way down to the end of this blog.  Sad.

For the few superhuman that did - I would love to talk to you further and see how I might be able to help you focus your brand and create the visual content to support it.