MBP is re-branding! Join me as I'll share every step of how I'm doing it
I started {MBP} Marketing and Business for Photographers in late 2018, when I had fallen ill with a mysterious illness. It took 6 months for a diagnosis - Crohn’s disease. During that six months, it was very difficult to work, having unbearable fatigue, stomach cramping, weakness, and pain.
There were many days and weeks that I spent on the couch, feeling lethargic and generally just ill. My body was undergoing trauma, but my brain was as alive as ever. So while I was lying around, about the only thing I could really do was scroll social media; it didn’t require too much concentration or commitment. I had previously offered a marketing opinion in groups, but now with a lot more downtime, I started to respond with more detail on posts seeking marketing advice. Lots of posts. I hadn’t even realized how many needed help with marketing!
Soon, I realized that I was writing similar things very often. And my response posts were reaaalllllyyyy long. At some point I had an aha! moment: instead of repeating myself on every post, I’ll write a blog and then just share it when that topic popped up. Marketing and Business for Photographers was born.
It started as a Wordpress blog because I already had an account. Then, after transitioning my photography website to Squarespace, I decided to move this blog there as well and centralize. I used a basic template and conceived a basic logo and design to match my “be brave” down-to-earth marketing message. About a year ago I did a slight design update, but nothing drastic. I had a website up, I was helping others, I was developing content. It was enough. By that time I also had a diagnosis and was undergoing treatment and feeling stronger to resume working.
How to decide on a business re-brand
Things reached a plateau for me here about 6 months ago. I felt I was posting less. Not for lack of ideas or love and passion for all things marketing, but I felt like my blog topics were very broad, and touched on a lot of different aspects of marketing. I felt that my “be brave” message was a bit too ambiguous. Also, when working on the site I felt like it lacked a personality. In a nutshell, it may be time for a re-brand for your business if:
You’re not in love with your design when you look at it.
It’s difficult to get motivated to develop and evolve the content.
You feel a misalignment between the content you’re producing and your brand promise/ message/ value proposition.
Your gut tells you there is something missing.
I went through a re-brand with my photography website about 1.5 years ago. I didn’t have clarity around my logo, so I went ahead and hired someone just for the web design. Ironically as I was in the midst of the redesign, the logo magically materialized in my brain. I quickly added logo development to my redesign package and when the final logo came through - IT WAS RIGHT. So right. Even over a year later, I LOVE my logo. I love its message and aesthetic. It perfectly embodies not only my brand, but me as an artist, as a person. Every time I see it, I love it. Conversely, I look at MBP and y’know? I don’t LOVE IT. This niggled and nagged at me.
First steps of a business re-brand
Acknowledge the discomfort. When I started to reflect upon what didn’t feel right, I opened myself up to new possibilities. If you are closed to and don’t embrace change even if your gut is hinting at you, you won’t get far. No one gets it right the first time, or even the first 10 times. Don’t allow ego or fear to get in the way of growth.
Let it incubate. I know, I know, when you are open to new possibilities and you get started on the dreaming, it can be hard to reign it in. When this happens, you get all gung-ho and spend some hours or even days making tweaks to your website. While I applaud your drive, refrain! Delayed gratification is key here. If you start making some changes without a firm idea or plan, it can all start looking a little disjointed and you can harm the brand that you’ve already built. Instead, funnel that excitement into a mood or vision board, or some inspirational research (such as on Pinterest). Let it stay private until it is ready; be patient with the process.
Journal. I journaled about all of this, every day. What is it I want? What don’t I have? What is my true message? How much work do I want to put into this business? What do I want to get out of it? What do I want others to get out of it? One thing that materialized was to focus on part-time photographers, as I am one myself. We can have a valid and profitable business even it it isn’t full time, yet we can take it as seriously as if it’s a full-time career. Perhaps that’s the correct focus and that’s much more niche. Then I shifted into loyalty marketing. I worked my entire marketing agency career in loyalty marketing (think points programs). I recently finished developing my own loyalty program for my photography clients. Maybe that should be the foundation of MBP? Not many doing that aspect of marketing education so that could be a terrific niche as well. Journaling has a weird power to help make sense of our thoughts even if we don’t consciously perceive it.
Do a vision board….or 2. In the process of journalling, I realized I need to do my “present” vision board for marketing clarity exercise- it’s such a powerful tool to uncover sub-conscious elements that may be hiding in our psyche, specifically as it relates to our business. I also thought to do a traditional vision board that is for my personal growth and looks to my future. My business has a purpose not only to help people, but also to get me to a place of feeling accomplished, and the income I generate is to sustain my future dreams.
Analyze. I also did an analysis on my traffic and keywords. I’ve been paying a lot more attention to my SEO lately; selecting it as a topic to do a deep dive in terms of education. I noted a few key words that tend to bring people to the site, for which I’m ranking in the first few results. My users are telling me what content is helpful and valuable. I looked at the most popular blog posts to tell me similar. Coupled with the journaling, it helped me start to solidify where I needed to place my efforts.
Article continues after the cut…
The epiphany
I don’t know about you, but just about everything in my photography business has come to me in a burst of inspiration when I’m falling asleep or waking in the morning! My photography purpose came to me this way. My social media strategy as well. And it’s no accident. The steps above paved the way to allow the epiphany. Sometimes we get blocked when we overthink. Brainstorming is an intensive process and the point isn’t to come up with the solution, but a lot of ideas for potential solutions. Then, when we have downtime - sleep, shower, walk, workout, BAM! That’s when something crystallizes and your brain serves up a gem.
About 2 nights ago, my gem emerged in the form of a phrase that just persisted in my brain as I woke. It then started a cascade of ideas that fell over one another. I got up, got coffee, went out onto my deck and got my journal. I filled 3 pages with my new brand direction.
Market research
Once you’ve hit on a solid direction, you can do some research. I’ve done competitor research before, but I now approached it with fresh eyes. I googled a bunch of search terms related to marketing education, and reviewed the websites that popped up. I made notes. It generated more ideas where I found gaps in what was offered. I also made note of some additional search terms that I added to my list for SEO purposes. Note: I didn't look at competitor pricing! This wasn’t the point. The point was to understand how my offering might find a place within the universe of marketing education. Their pricing is useless to me really because they each have their own unique elements and set of products. But everything else about how they’re set up is important because it gave me clues as to how I might position myself appropriately and where my message can differentiate and have an impact.
Design Inspiration
Everything has a flavour and your flavour is your brand. Sometimes we see designs that we love, and we use them in our marketing even if they don’t match one iota to our brand aesthetic. That can be harmful to our brand because it’s a departure from consistency. Also, we like a lot of things but it doesn’t mean those things are good or right for us (I love mustard as a colour but rarely can wear it because it makes me look sickly!) It’s also very difficult to retrofit a core brand message into a design rather than the other way around. If I loved a sunshine and cherries wallpaper I found on the Internet, I may want to think twice on fitting my idea for a funeral business into that design. Rather, I’d consider the kind of vibe I wanted my funeral business to have - maybe a bit more understated, supportive, humble, and trustworthy and then find a design that matches. A bit of an extreme example; it’s not always that clear, but you get the gist.
Once I had my 3 filled pages, plus some of the ideas generated from my market research, I let go of the process a bit and breathed. And as I stepped back, I started with an inkling of the colours and aesthetic that would match.
This brings me to right now. Tonight I opened Pinterest and searched for that style of branding. Pinterest is a great resource for brand boards and colour/font palettes to inspire your own mood/ brand board.
Stay tuned for next steps, and let me know if this has kickstarted something for you that’s been niggling and nagging!
Are you struggling with marketing and need a plan, and find my content valuable? I have a ready-made marketing action plan available on my products page. It's actually my own plan that I'm making available to you! Find details here.
Follow this blog for more of my thoughts on marketing and business for photographers, and join the Facebook Group here to chat with others on this topic, and more!