This episode is part of my quiz series, where I tell you all about the four archetypes of brand photographers. You can go here to take the quiz, Are You Ready to Be a Brand Photographer, and I will tell you what your brand photographer archetype is!

This episode is diving into the third archetype, The Exclusive Brand Photographer. If you got this result in the quiz, keep listening to discover your best next step towards becoming a successful brand photographer.

Episode highlights:

01:46 Understanding the Exclusive Brand Photographer

02:39 Challenges and Strategies for Exclusive Brand Photographers

04:27 Marketing and Client Acquisition for Brand Photographers

05:49 Transitioning Skills from Wedding and Portrait Photography

06:08 Engage and Connect: Share Your Journey

CONNECT WITH MADDIE:

Instagram

Website

LINKS:

Quiz: Are You Ready to Be A Brand Photographer?

The Ultimate Personal Brand Session Shot List: 10 must-have images

Full Show Notes

You're listening to Take It Personally,

a podcast for photographers about

2

the personal side of business

and the art of standing out.

3

Here I'll help you build a business

and a brand that is uniquely you.

4

If you want to attract dream

clients and stop looking at the

5

competition to decide your next move.

6

to show up as a confident

branding authority to help you

7

serve your clients and consider

your goals and priorities too.

8

If you want to make your mark in a

new, underserved niche of photography,

9

then this is the place for you.

10

I'm your host Maddie Pachon, South

Dakota brand photographer and educator.

11

I'm a straight shooting, Instagram

obsessed, and Instagramer.

12

Diehard Swifty who has built a multi

six figure business on the back of brand

13

photography all while raising a family.

14

And I know you can do the same.

15

Let's get ready to take it personally.

16

Wireless Microphone RX: This

episode is part of my quiz series,

17

where I tell you all about the

four types of brand photographers.

18

If you want to find out what kind of

brand photographer you are in your

19

brand photography journey, I want you

to go to Maddie Dot com slash quiz.

20

And there you're going to take the, are

you ready to be a brand photographer quiz?

21

And it's going to tell you what type

of photographer you are and what you

22

need to be working on in your business

to be able to charge four figures

23

for brand photography and become

the brand photographer that everyone

24

in your area wants to work with.

25

This episode is all about the

exclusive brand photographer.

26

This is the most common.

27

Photographer that I work

with inside of rebrand.

28

These photographers are ready for

the next stage of their business.

29

They do not want to continue doing

portraits or weddings in a perfect world.

30

They would leave those things behind and

pivot completely into brand photography.

31

They want to get their

nights and weekends back.

32

And very possibly they are okay with

a little bit more of a slow pivot.

33

It's not that they necessarily want

to only take brand photography clients

34

as of today, maybe in a perfect

world, but they're okay with this low

35

pivot, but they know that eventually

they really want to be offering.

36

Only brand photography.

37

But they definitely have that

voice in the back of their head.

38

Can I actually make this work?

39

Can I only shoot brand photography?

40

Or am I going to have to keep shooting all

of these things that I don't want to do?

41

These photographers can start to feel

really overwhelmed because there are

42

times where it feels like they're

starting a business from scratch,

43

and while they are not completely

starting a business from scratch.

44

They are marketing to

a totally new client.

45

Their business is going to have to change,

and that can feel really overwhelming.

46

They're also not totally sure that

they can replace the kind of income

47

that they have made with weddings in

particular, with brand photography.

48

I promise you, you can.

49

but if you're an exclusive

brand photographer that can

50

feel like a really tall order.

51

Exclusive brand photographers are

in a really good spot because it

52

is going to be easier to stand

out among other photographers.

53

If you can really confidently say,

I am a brand photographer, it gets a

54

little bit more diluted when you are

offering other types of photography.

55

Like we talked about in the dual

positioned episode, it's absolutely

56

doable, but it does take some strategy

and some thought, so exclusive

57

photographers have a little bit of

a leg up because they're able to get

58

crystal clear on their positioning.

59

I will often hear from exclusive

brand photographers that weddings

60

and portraits feel so much easier

to book than brand photography.

61

This is probably one of the biggest

struggles that exclusive brand

62

photographers have as they pivot into

brand photography, they feel like it's

63

harder to book these types of clients.

64

And that's because when you are booking

portrait and wedding photography,

65

clients, those people know that they

are looking for a photographer when

66

the majority of people get engaged.

67

They know that the next step

is to book a photographer.

68

Even portrait clients, they know

that there are certain times of year.

69

Where they want family photography,

or they know that every other

70

year they want family photography

every year, whatever it might be.

71

Brand photography is different because

our clients don't always know that

72

the problems they're experiencing can

actually be solved by brand photography.

73

So marketing to brand photography

clients can feel a little bit more

74

difficult because they are actually

not aware of their problem yet.

75

So there's a whole piece of marketing

that you really don't need to

76

consider when you're talking to a

portrait and wedding photography

77

clients that is crucial when you're

talking to brand photography clients.

78

There's a few other things that

exclusive brand photographers need

79

to be thinking about where are they

going to find these new clients?

80

That's another question that I

hear really often, where do I

81

find brand photography clients?

82

How do I grow my reputation as a brand

photographer, when people already know

83

me as a wedding or portrait photographer,

how do I make that change to my brand?

84

And then how do I shoot a

brand photography session?

85

It's different than

shooting a portrait session?

86

How am I going to fill three hours

or four hours or whatever it might

87

be shooting with only one person.

88

When you are used to working with couples

at engagement sessions or at weddings,

89

or if you're used to working with

families, it can feel really daunting

90

to have only one person in front of your

camera to tell the story of the brand.

91

So shooting a brand session

absolutely feels different than

92

shooting other types of photography.

93

And you need to figure

out what that looks like.

94

But the good news here is that everything

that you have learned as a wedding

95

and portrait photographer up until

this point can serve your new brand

96

photography clients really, really well.

97

There are so many skills that you

have as a wedding and portrait

98

photographer that can transition into

serving brand photography clients.

99

If you are an exclusive

brand photographer, I really

100

want to hear from you.

101

I want to know if you are currently

working on making the pivot into

102

only doing brand photography, or

if you've been at this for awhile.

103

And once you take the quiz, I'm going

to give you some really specific

104

things that you can be working on

in your photography business, to

105

be able to charge four figures.

106

When you take the quiz, you're going

to get access to a private podcast.

107

And that podcast is going to go

into further detail about your

108

particular type of brand photographer.

109

As well as the things that are going

to help you scale your business.

110

Thank you so much for listening

to Take It Personally.

111

If you haven't already, would you head

over to iTunes and leave us a review?

112

This is the best way to let other

photographers know about the show and

113

help keep us creating content you crave.

114

And if you want more tips and tools to

build your personal photography brand,

115

head over to my website, MaddiePichon.

116

com.

117

Here, you can access my downloadable

ultimate personal brand session shot

118

list to get your clients singing

your praises and browse my blog for

119

more trade secrets to help you hone

your craft and grow your business.

120

Love to learn while you

listen, visit MaddiePachon.

121

com and click on podcast for all things.

122

Take it personally.

123

From show notes to recent episodes

and incredible guest profiles.

124

Remember friend, the most important part

of any brand is the people behind it.

125

Branding and business is personal,

so let's take it personally.