Building a Brand
Lesson 5 from: The Business of Commercial Photography: The Survival GuideJohn Keatley
Building a Brand
Lesson 5 from: The Business of Commercial Photography: The Survival GuideJohn Keatley
Lessons
Class Introduction
10:30 2Understanding the Industry
10:32 3Finding Your Style
23:55 4Personal Work
11:50 5Building a Brand
02:39 6Visual Identity
21:07 7Marketing
22:18 8Marketing Q&A
19:14Marketing Tools
30:57 10Social Media
09:38 11Set Goals & Make an Action Plan
05:39 12Marketing Plan
14:32 13Marketing Budget
20:36 14Before the Shoot
03:05 15Why You Should Have a Team
14:03 16Production Schedule
25:51 17Day of Planning / Scheduling
23:12 18Protecting the Creative & Day of Shoot
04:27 19Wrap Up
12:12 20Artist and Agent Relationship
31:07 21Common Questions for Reps/Agents
25:18 22Editing Your Work - Portfolio Reviews
35:17 23Common Mistakes
07:51 24Creative & Licensing Fees
23:24 25Estimates & Invoices - Editorial
22:04 26Estimates & invoices - Advertising, Photo Libraries
21:31 27Creating a Treatment
13:49 28Billing & Payment Collection
30:43 29Opportunities for Growth
29:10 30Investing in Your Career & Moving Forward
20:28Lesson Info
Building a Brand
So with that, we're gonna move into branding. Are there any questions, kind of wrapping up that last section, before we move on? Who can tell me what a brand is? You can just shout out, what do you think is a brand? Laying out expectations. Laying out expectations? Identity. Identity. A point of view. View. Consistency. Consistency. Style. Style. So brand today, is the entire experience of working with you. It can be made up of lots of little things, like a logo, or you know, your portfolio, but it's, literally, everything. It's someone's first interaction with your website, it's someone meeting you on the street, meeting you on set. It's someone talking to a friend that's met you and what they say about you. All those things go in to make up what brand is. And to build a brand, you have to know who you are and you have to have a vision. It's the same thing with your work. There shouldn't be a disconnect between you and your work and your brand. You don't wanna be c...
reating, you know, conceptual, quirky portraits and then have a brand that's targeting very traditional clients that don't want humor and don't want to do anything ... There's a disconnect there, that's not gonna work. So your brand needs to line up with who you are and with your work. So think about who are your customers, who are they currently and who do you wanna be working with? How are you gonna reach those people? What do you want to mean to your customers? What do you want them to think about you for? Or why do you want them to come to you? What's the experience that you want them to have? How do you want them to feel when they see your work? These are all things, and you can go on and on and on, but you have to be intentional, again, just like we talked about with creating work. When it comes to building your brand, you need to be intentional about thinking about these kinds of things, so that you can make informed decisions. It's not your whole brand, visual identity, but it is a part and it is an important part. I think it used to be that people thought a logo was a brand, and that maybe was. But today, again, it's about the experience, the entire experience. But we have to start somewhere, so we'll start with visual identity, because I think this is one of the first things that photographers should be thinking about. And it's a good place to break into this conversation.
Class Materials
Free Bonus Material
Ratings and Reviews
Bonnie Aunchman
John & Creative Live - Thank you - Best. Class. Ever.! This is a GREAT class! If you are a photographer, this is definitely a MUST GET class, but even if you work with photographers as part of a creative team - you have to take this class. (I'm a Photo Stylist) John covers it ALL in this class - it really, truly is a Survival (Success) Guide. John is so detailed, honest, and generous in his knowledge/experience/wisdom in the commercial photography industry in helping you understand the business and really succeed (& stand out). When I see that John is teaching a class on Creative Live - I'm in! (I have his other valuable courses as well)
a Creativelive Student
I was lucky to be part of the studio audience for this course. John is an awesome teacher and did an outstanding job of making sense of a very difficult side of photography for a creative to understand. He shared his 18+ years of experience, including the good and bad he has gone through. The "special guests" alone are worth the cost of this class. John has an amazing team working beside him behind the scenes. Their perspective on his business was priceless!
Joseph Brewster
John gave an enormous amount of insight and practical advice in this comprehensive course. I really enjoyed a course focused more on commercial and editorial rather than wedding and family, which is more common. Great info and great work all around!