Archive from February, 2012
Feb 19, 2012 - Marketing    1 Comment

B.R.A.N.D. (let’s dig deeper)

Maybe I’m telling my age, but I remember a shop called Insty Prints where we would go when we needed to change our price lists or print a flyer. They used big printing presses and it was not easy or convenient. When we hired a graphic designer many years ago to design our first “real” logo, he set us up with another printing company that took care of our letterhead, envelopes, business cards and newsletters. In those days, you could not just change your literature on a whim-it had to be thought out and the purchased in high quantities to use for a long time. In addition, our graphic designer provided Pantone ink colors that were to be used each and every time along with specific papers. It was “tight!”

Today, we can change our look, our colors and our logos whenever we want and get pieces printed either using Photoshop and our desktop printers. The problem is we have too much latitude, not enough training and many I see are destroying their identity in the marketplace by changing too often and too drastically. A brand must have continuity to be successful in being recognized. A logo should not be changed more often than every five years and then, not drastically, but just refreshed.

Do you think you don’t have a brand? Well, read on.

Whether you know it or not, you already have a brand and your customers are having a “brand experience” every time they interact with you, whether it be with your products and services or your staff. In order to craft this “brand experience” in a calculated way that is beneficial for your business, you must have a strong understanding about what exactly a brand is.

Brand is the totality of your company and its business.

“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly and the off-strategy,” says Scott White, one of the nation’s leading branding consultants and a valued expert companies like Sun Life Financial and Franklin Sports rely on. “It is your best and worst product. It is your best and worst employee. It is communicated through award-winning advertising as well as those ads that somehow slipped through the approval cracks and sank anything riding on them. It is your on-hold music and the demeanor of the receptionist who puts that valued client or prospect on hold. It is the carefully crafted comments by a CEO as well as negative buzz by the water cooler or in chat rooms on the Internet. Brand is expressed through written, audio and visual content. It is interpreted through emotional filters every human being has—where anything can happen. Ultimately, you can’t control your brand. You can only hope to guide it.”

 Brand associations encompass things like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on. In other words, it’s what people think when they hear your business name.
Here are some elements to think about when crafting your brand. (from Wikipedia)
  • Name: The word or words used to identify the company, product, service, concept
  • Logo: The visual trademark that identifies the brand (we had a new logo designed Jan. of 2011 after using our other one for eight years)
  • Tagline or Catchphrase: “The Quicker Picker Upper” is associated with Bounty; “Can you hear me now” is an important part of the Verizon brand. (ours is “Behind every face, there is a story.”)
  • Shapes: The distinctive shape of the Coca-Cola bottle or the Volkswagen Beetle are trademarked elements of those brands.
  • Graphics: The dynamic ribbon is also a trademarked part of Coca-Cola’s brand. (we use our W in our literature that is actually extracted out of our new logo)
  • Color: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can be pink. (very important to choose wisely and then stick with it-do color theory & meaning research)
  • Sounds: A unique tune or set of notes can “denote” a brand: NBC’s chimes are one of the most famous examples.
  • Movement: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car doors.
  • Smells: Scents, such as the rose-jasmine-musk of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked. (we have used *Rain Barrell oil to scent our studio for nearly fifteen years-it is now strongly associated with us)
  • Taste: KFC has trademarked its special recipe of 11 herbs and spices for fried chicken.

 

The first step in this process is to find out as much as possible about your target customer. Who are they? What are their needs?  Make it your mission to get as detailed information as possible on their age, gender, income, shopping habits (online and off) and anything else of relevance you can determine. Understanding your target market and what they want is key to developing a winning brand. Knowing these things should also give you an idea for what communication medium and content would work to engage your market.

When I worked on the Bella Grafica project from Marathon Press where I was tasked with creating a “studio in a box”, I realized how important consistency was in colors, fonts and the style of our printed pieces in order to create a seamless brand identity. Now, after that project, all of our printed  pieces and packaging materials line up with our vision-and they are consistent with each other as well. They all sing in harmony!

Your tasks this week are to determine who your target market is and write it down. What are they like? Where do they shop? What are the parameters you would put around them?

Then determine if your  brand that is currently in place matches your target market. If not, what can you do to freshen up your brand or slightly manipulate your materials to appeal to them. Just be warned that to entirely change your brand, clean house and start over is an expensive and huge process and one not to be taken lightly.

Have a great week everyone!

Bev

*contact me at coachingcommunity@timandbevwalden.com if you would like to purchase a Rain Barrell Kit

www.timandbevwalden.com

 

Feb 12, 2012 - Marketing, Motivation, Photography Techniques & Tips    No Comments

The Heart of the Matter…the concept

1990-a quiet and dark room…a powerful image on the screen…David Peters, a gifted photographer and storyteller was entrancing the audience with the story behind the image on the screen. As we dabbed at our eyes, we were all amazed with the intensity of emotion in a simple photograph and how the emotion rocketed out of this atmosphere simply by hearing the story behind it. For me, the experience was so deeply touching that I could not speak; only weep.

2011-Cabo, Mexico…a meeting with a young man named Ivan, a 25 year old, up and coming artist who is describing how he sees the next piece to create in dreams he has during the night. As he proceeds to show his brilliant work, he describes a motorcycle accident he was in a few years ago and how he sustained a head injury. From that time on, he says, images of what he is to create next appear in dreams. The very next day, we literally got on a bus that dropped us off a couple of blocks from his art gallery and ran to get there to pick out a piece to bring home. Why were we so excited? Of course, the work itself was one reason, but  knowing the story behind the art took our desire to have a piece of his art to new levels. We picked out a piece that was much more than we wanted to spend, but it didn’t matter any more. We just had to have it! After all, we now personally knew the artist and his story!

We take every experience we have and figure out how to use it in our business, especially something as powerful as emotion and storytelling!

Years ago, when we were creating our Relationship Black and White imagery, we knew we wanted to use the dual tools of storytelling and emotion to bring our art to new levels that our clients would greatly desire-we wanted to be the photographers that got to “the heart of the matter.” We wanted our clients to desire our art as much as we desired Ivan’s art and we wanted them to weep as they stood before their portraits like I did looking at David Peter’s work.

It was during this time that we crafted our Mission Statement, “To create what only the heart can see with the quality that only a few can produce.”  

Note that we put the “heart” first in our Mission Statement, but we didn’t leave out the foundation of quality photography. Emotion should not be an excuse for poor photography!

We wanted our clients to come to us with their stories and let us tell it through our photography.  After all, any photographer (and most clients) could take a decent photograph, but nobody was telling an intimate story through their images like we were. In order to do this, we started asking for clients’ stories during the Design Appointment. It could be as simple as an anniversary or as deeply emotional as just being diagnosed with cancer. It was our “task” to create an image that reflected the story we were told. And we did! And it was wildly successful…and it deeply affected us!

“Behind every face, there’s a story.”

We started seeing our clients in a different way that was deeper and more intimate. We became more vulnerable in the camera room in order for our clients to let their walls down. Sessions often ended in tears and hugs-it was amazing! After three years, these types of portraits became 85% or more of our business and took us from poverty to prosperity. Now, after nearly two decades, these Relationship portraits (our name for them) are still 50-60% of our business.

As Dr. Seuss says in one of his books, “Oh, the places you will go.” With this emotional approach to portraiture, we were changed as well as our business and our clients, and we have not looked back. We love the deeper relationships we have with our clients and it is so satisfying to create and sell these portraits that have so much meaning to them.

Does your photography show emotion? Are you the storytelling photographer in your community? Here are some steps to get you on your way…

1. First, is your style emotional? If not, create a segment of your business that is. For example, if you photograph babies and children, maybe you could create a “Night, night” style where you photograph kids in their pjs with mom or dad reading them a bedtime story. It doesn’t need to be the only thing you do, but simply an emotional supplement to your main style. Emotion draws people in!

2. Use emotional words in your marketing. Quotes are a wonderful way to do this. Go to www.quotegarden.com to find amazing quotes on many topics.

3. Learn how to let your walls down in the camera room. You cannot be a stick in the mud and get emotional results in your work. You have to be emotional to draw it from your clients.

4. Music is a huge part of setting the atmosphere. Use appropriate music to reach the feelings you desire.

5. Write out a plan to use during your planning sessions to get your clients’ stories. Ask leading questions such as, “What is your favorite thing about your son (or daughter, husband or wife)? Write it down and challenge yourself to capture it in the portrait.

6. Create amazingly emotional videos to show your clients during their planning sessions. Put these on your website and YouTube. INFUSE EMOTION!

CHECK OUT OUR NEW (EMOTIONAL) VIDEO HERE
Have a great, emotional and creative week, everyone!

Bev

www.timandbevwalden.com

 

 

 

 

Feb 6, 2012 - Marketing    2 Comments

Three Powerful Facts about Branding You Should Know

After nearly three decades in this industry, the sweeping changes that have happened in the last six to eight  years are the most intense I have ever seen. What photographers focused on (no pun intended) in the late 70′s, 80′s and even into the 90′s was improving their skills in photography and doing well in competition. Yes, we did care about the business end, but just enough to pay the bills. I remember conventions where business classes had five people sitting in a nearly empty room, but the photography classes had standing room only. The words brand, niche and boutique studio had not yet entered into the mainstream thinking of photographers.

If only we had known then what we know now-it takes both business savvy and artistic greatness to truly succeed!

I’ve heard it said that pressure often sends us in new directions we may not have ever taken or discovered without it. I believe the pressure of the economy and influx of so many new photographers with the digital revolution created a completely new way of thinking for photographers that wanted to succeed and all of the sudden, business savvy became a critical component of success!
Photography was still important, but now, learning all about  branding, marketing, packaging, presentation, sales and customer service was on the front burner!

 

So, let’s talk about three powerful facts about branding, the foundation of all business. A brand used to be no more than a physical mark, burned first into the skin of criminals as a sign of disgrace, then onto cattle marking ownership. It became a “distinctive name identifying a product or manufacturer.” But today, brands are alive and many times, emotional. They bring tears to your eyes (Lifetime), call you to action (Nike), make you smile (Volkswagen), project being cool (Apple). They are more than just a name; they are all of the feelings that surround that name.

 

They reflect what your marketplace feels about you.  It is the feeling that people respond to. To develop your brand, you have to decide what your strengths are. Creating a brand can only be done when you figure out who you are, what you do and establish your parameters. You should ask yourself what it is that distinguishes you from everyone else in your market, what your values are and what personality you want to express.

 

1. Once you figure out who you are in the market and start establishing your brand, you must develop consistent visuals to go along with it.

Communicate your brand through the use of a logo and certain colors on things like packaging, notecards, business cards, newsletters and every printed piece that comes out of your business. Make sure your logo reflects who you are and is timeless enough to use for at least five years in order to establish recognition in the marketplace. Even after that, don’t ditch your logo because you are tired of it! Just refresh it.
Be CONSISTENT! If you are pink one day and gray the next, people get confused. Get professional help if you are not gifted in this area. Graphic designers can develop visuals that tell the story of who you are and give your business a polished look.

 

2. Keep the emotion intact!

“McDonald’s was one of the first advertisers to really understand this. Decades ago, when their competitors were boasting about the size of their burgers or the thickness of their shakes, McDonald’s was busy crafting emotional portraits of families enjoying moments of togetherness around a fast-food lunch. Consumers could easily accept or reject the rational claims being made by competitors, but the poignant appeals pioneered by McDonald’s changed the playing field. Instead of a binary “true or false” equation, these emotional slices of life were hard to argue against and easy to embrace.”   Brands, the Power of Emotions

 

When we first developed our Relationship Black and White portrait line, we were completely enveloped in telling people’s stories through their imagery. It was powerful and emotional…and it grew into our biggest financial success. It is still the bulk of what we do today, even after 15 years. It is emotional and personal; it reaches into the soul and it sells!

When we market, we mainly use our Relationship black and white portraits (although we do color also) to speak for us. They are our BRAND and they draw new clients to our studio as well as bringing current clients back time and again. Telling stories never gets old or out of date and you can’t put a price on it. Emotion also adds value to our pieces. When a baby is newborn and dad is cuddling it in his strong and protective arms, being able to portray that through our portraiture is priceless!

 

“Consumer spending, even on sale items, will continue to be replaced by a reason-to-buy at all. This spells trouble for brands with no authentic meaning, whether high-end or low.”   Branding Strategy Insider

 

3. Brand differentiation is Brand Value

The uniqueness of a brand will increase in importance. Differentiation will be critical for success. We have preached long and hard about being unique and finding your style. Before you can develop your brand, you need to know who you are and who you are needs to be completely unique! If you can’t be the first in any category, figure out a unique approach to it. The three words to remember are: FIRST, BEST, ONLY. Be the first, the best and the only one doing what you do.Otherwise, you will complete on price and location and that is a losing proposition. You will never be the lowest (someone will always do it cheaper) and if you are chosen for your location, you will have a hard road ahead of making a living.

You want to be chosen for your “art”, not whether you are convenient!

 

Understanding branding and its importance will go a long way in setting the stage for your business.

 

“Kevin Keller, brand expert and author of the popular brand book, Strategic Brand Management, coined the term “brand mantra,” which is very closely related to brand essence.  The “mantra” concept reinforces the role of brand essence in internal communication.  Kevin says, [brand mantra] should “define the category of business for the brand and set brand boundaries.  It should also clarify what is unique about the brand.  It should be memorable.  As a result it should be short, crisp and vivid in meaning.  Ideally, the brand mantra would also stake out ground that is personally meaningful and relevant.” 

 

Have a great week everyone. Bev

PS-Check out our Coaching Community program, our on-line photography educational site at www.timandbevwalden.com.