If I had a nickel for every time one of my clients came to me and said, “Why is brand photography so much harder to sell than wedding photography?!” I would be so rich. I’ve had this conversation fairly often with my coaching clients, because they are usually pivoting from portrait and wedding photography into brand photography, and they can’t believe how much harder it is to sell.
I have two responses to this:
- It is harder to sell.
- It’s also sold differently.
If you’re coming from the wedding and portrait world, you’re used to selling, and even speaking, about the work you do based on emotion. You’re selling a feeling and capturing a memory. Brand photography is not sold in the same way, and many photographers who have pivoted from wedding and portrait photography are making this mistake in their marketing.
When you’re selling brand photography, you’re selling photos that are pretty with a purpose. And that purpose is to grow that person’s business. When you realize this change, marketing your brand photography business becomes so much easier.
But there’s another reason that brand photography is more difficult to sell especially for the majority of my clients who work primarily with women owned brands. Historically, we have placed so much more value on a woman getting married than a woman starting a business.
Women couldn’t even get a credit card until 1974 with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. That was the first time that a woman could own a credit card in her name.
It wasn’t until 1988 with the Women’s Business Ownership Act that allowed women to get a business loan without a male co-signer.
Businesses run by women are less likely to be approved for a small business loan than those run by men, according to the Federal Reserve.
Think about this from a cultural perspective: we have things like wedding showers and baby showers. What do we have for the woman who starts a business?
We don’t celebrate that in the same way.
Inside Rebrand, you’ll learn how to speak the same language as your brand photography clients so they connect with your marketing and come to you ready to book.
But this is so much bigger than your marketing.
As a brand photographer, you get to be part of something bigger. I won’t pretend that we’re out here saving the world with our cameras; I get that I’m not a brain surgeon or rocket scientist.
But what we do matters because women’s confidence matters. There is so much information that shows us that nothing bad happens when women have more money. Women are more generous with their money and their time, and their investments do better. (Source)
We need a world where women have more access to wealth, and that starts by supporting their businesses and vision. You can do that with brand photography.
Click here for more information on Rebrand.
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