Have you ever wondered how you can build a brand around your photography. business?
Where’s your island? How big is it? Who do you want to go there? What food do you serve? Cocktails? Make my mouth water! What fun things are there to do? How do you feel when you go there and what will you remember most?
Everyone wants to talk about a great vacation, the things that stood out, noteworthy, different, right?! You are not just a photographer. You are an experience maker! You want to leave people with a feeling they want to share, so all the little details matter.
The more specific you are about who you are, what you believe in, what makes you tick, what lights you on fire, The more you’re going to attract those ideal clients.
You want to build trust, right! That’s the first step in making a new client. Building trust starts with being true to you as you can be. Own it, own every ounce of you, the faults too. You’re not perfect and the and more relatable and honest you are about your challenges, your strengths and your dreams, the more you are going to call your tribe forward.
Being a great photographer is not only about making great photos but it’s making your clients feel special.
Spend the extra time getting to know your clients. Gather as much info as you can about who they are, where they hang out, how do they spend their money, where do they travel, and what do they like to do. This will help you find new ways and ideas on how to market to and reach those ideal clients.
When I started my boudoir business in 2012, I really new none one doing it. People were like a boudoir, what’s that? I was trailblazing so getting those first clients to believe in what I was doing was a challenge.
During the conception, I hired a lot of models, suggested my headshot clients bring lingerie with them and shot as many of my gorgeous friends as I could. I shot and I shot, but I shot for me, not for them. That’s how this all began. This was for me. I was done shooting what everyone else wanted. I was tired, spiritually bankrupted, and lost. I didn’t feel like I was following my dream anymore, I was just merely surviving. I didn’t become a photographer to shoot weddings, and headshots, oh hell no. Not that there is anything wrong with those things, but That’s just not me. My big dream has always been to make art, art that I want to make, so that’s where I began.
My love for boudoir started long before I actually had my first client.
Looking back on all my art all my school assignments one of my friends was always getting naked. Every wedding I shot I was so all about the bride, my headshots of women always stood out more. There’s always been something about the female form that has made my heart twitter with excitement. I’m passionately curious about exploring everything it is to be a woman.
The name was important to me, so I spent weeks and weeks trying to come up with the perfect name of my first boudoir business, which ended up being Esme and Eve which means love and creation. Then I spend night after late night designing and building the website. I was so proud of it and I have never been so excited in my life.
I was very clear from the beginning. I was building a luxury brand and I wasn’t interested in a clientele that was more concerned with price than value.
I wanted my site to be very clean, minimal, more about the art than anything else. I wanted it to look expensive and I wanted women to know that they would be getting an experience that would make them feel like they just walked off a magazine shoot.
I pulled everything I knew from editorial and commercial advertising days and designed a brand that represented the type of client I wanted, made no excuses and charged forward.
I was not concerned with what anyone else was doing. I wanted my work to be unique and to stand out and now 7 years later, I think I’ve done a pretty stellar job.
When my clients call me, they often tell me they can’t find anyone else like me, that I’m the best and that they’ve been researching for months and months and cannot find anyone that sees and captures the woman’s form and essence like I do, and I am humbled. I am humbled because it took a lot of hard work, it’s taken everything I am to get to where I am right now, so no, it did not come easy.
My clients fly from all over the world to come and shoot with me and I am not saying that to brag, I’m saying that because I want you to believe if that’s what you want, you can get that do.
So to bring it back to what’s the most important thing of all. Let’s starts with you. Who are you? Why are you different? Why would someone hire you?
Let’s dream big. The time is now my friends. What kind of brand and life do you want to build?
Let’s start with your passions and what you believe in! These are the things that will sustain you for the long haul and these are the things that will bring out your authentic power and make you shine!
