Blue Franswa: Marketing + Branding Your Photography Business

What do you think is the most important branding tool available for businesses?

I think a great website and a strong social media presence is a vital tool for branding a business. Presentation is everything to a consumer, so your website should be informative and inviting. Social media has been proven to increase visibility and drive traffic to your website. I believe your website is your chance to either close a deal or lose deal. I strongly believe in investing in making your website look immaculate.

How do you create a successful brand around your company?

One of the best ways in my opinion of creating a successful brand is first having a good product or service and making sure that people can attest to their experience to that brand, so that way people can identify that company by its signature or logo! Marketing your brand is the way of the world for a business when creating a brand. Having a good buzz, creative business cards, a unique logo, and a cool website is great place to start.  So for me I am always assessing everything I post to make sure it is consistent with my brand.

What made you get into the photography industry?

My first love was actually poetry, I remember eight years ago while I was in the corporate world, I used to work as a leasing agent and a part time manager at a popular retail shoe store. On my off days I would assist this amazing photographer.  It’s very funny; I had no interest in the profession. I have always loved black and white photos, and as time pass the more we work together I gradually picked up a few pointers and gained a whole new respect for photography. So I wanted to create a way to express myself and also make living out of it. So one day I was given the opportunity to take photos for an event and the rest was history. On a daily basis I began to study, read books, YouTube, and consistently practice.

What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve had to face so far?

One of the biggest obstacles that I normally face all the time is everybody thinks just because they buy a nice pro-consumer camera they automatically become photographers.  I deal with a lot of redundant competitors in a saturated market and the up rise of these high-end smart phones with the built- in cameras. So I am always trying to create ways to market my experience and the value of my services. In photography some clients just look for the best deal and the price is normally what makes their decisions and quality doesn’t really matter to most people. There are some who just want the best and the ticket price of the photography service that they want does not matter to the customer, they just want good work. To me that is my ideal candidate

If you could leave our readers with one last piece of business advice, what would it be?

A piece of advice I would like to give to a business is set up a profile on all the social media sites and outlets. Set the highest standard of excellence by learning from your clients of what you can really do better.  Build your brand with integrity.