Naturally if you’re read any of my posts on branding, you’ll see that I’m a big believer in the importance of it. It’s a key component to a business and once you realize that for yourself you’ll be much further along. You should always hire a trained designer/agency to develop your brand on the graphical side, but we all know that takes a good chunk of change. A brand development like mine can cost anywhere from $5-10K. There is a whole process behind the development and it’s unique to who you are. Its one of the most important things you can do for your business next to taking pictures. Perception is reality(in the visual branding sense), and that is what people take you for on a first impression. Unless you are a trained designer, you should never do your own brand. If you have that kind of cash to spend on developing your brand that’s awesome, and is a great investment, but you should also have shot for a few years and have a good sense of who you are as a photographer because that plays into your visual brand.
That said, I know how hard it is to come up with that kind of cash to hire a designer to create your brand during the first few years of your business. Trust me, I lived off of peanuts and ramen for the first few years of my photography journey because every penny I had went back into my business. Buying equipment ain’t cheap! That’s where your initial investment should reside because that directly makes you money, and you need to have a product before you can build a brand around it. My friends over at Brand Envy have just come out with a great solution for people starting out without the capital to invest in a custom brand package. It’s called BE by Brand Envy. It’s basically an e-commerce branding package where you can choose your design template, and logotype, etc and have a higher quality execution. The great thing about it is you can have a tight designed brand for a price range of $625-$2000, which is very affordable. It will be hands down better than anything the untrained eye. The drawback is the same as any template driven, you may not be the only one with that design.
Check out BE by Brand Envy’s packages here: http://bit.ly/BEbyBrandEnvy
I recently had Brand Envy develop some basic branding material with their BE program, and it was fantastic working with them. It kind of blew my mind how much work went into what ends up being a very basic and clean design.
Hopefully down the line I’ll be able to invest in working with a designer on a brand in a more in depth way. But until then, I feel like they’ve give me a solid base to present my website, send out promos etc.
I think Nick nailed it right on. The BE program is a great choice for someone in the beginning stages of establishing themselves and developing a brand. I also know that they do more customized work, which I’d bet is a great option for a photographer who has the ability to invest more.
I can’t say enough good things about Brand Envy! I wiled with Nadine last year to recreate my brand, and her work was amazing! My investment in my brand has had a huge impact on my business. Because of their level of quality and unique understanding of the photography industry, I know that their BE line is a great investment for someone getting started.
So I’m curious what exactly did you get for your branding investment. I haven’t seen the Before, but I can email you what I think of your After-Present. A red logo, similiar to Coke or Staples. Did they select the photos for your gallery? Build the Blog and website layout and navigation-style? I’ve heard someone say perception is everything. Yeah, I want that grand reception for their perception of me and my creative services.
To John E.- Are you talking about the same “red” like Staples, Coke, Netflix, Cambell’s, Target, Canon, CNN, Red Bull, Virgin, ESPN, Nintendo and Colgate? Did you think about the rest of those logos I mentioned? Did you relate them to just the color “red”? The color is one part of the logo. The sum of one part cannot be greater than the whole. That’s why type design and overall style play a very important role of an identity.
On point as always. I have my BA in graphic design, worked 3 years with an agency doing graphic design, but still had someone else do mine. He’s a good friend and a great designer. Like some many photos starting out, I’m low on cash so the deal we made was he’ll do my identity and I’ll do a photo shoot for him for one of his clients.
OT: Can you tell us a bit more about your shooting bag? The one that you actually travels AND shoots with… Would really appreciate it! /Gustav
This alrcite is informative, interesting and descriptive with the many different ways the writer presents points of view that differ from the norm. Thank you.