Controversial opinion - Why branding photography is more important than a logo.
The first thing a shiny new business owner immediately thinks when they start a business is ‘I need a logo’.
I can totally understand why. You need to be recognisable, you want your new customers to know who you are, you want to be as big as Apple and as popular as Spotify. All perfectly normal feelings to have.
But is a logo more important than your customers seeing you, the person, the service provider?
People don’t buy from faceless corporations anymore. They are looking for real relationships, true connection and to be seen and heard by someone that can truly understand their problem or their situation. They want to see a face.
Let me tell you a true story:
My sister wanted to start a dog walking business and she came to me and she asked me for a logo. (This does make sense I have been a graphic designer for 8 years so it’s not an odd request!) She said she needed a logo to feel like a business and to start putting on stationery and as her social media profile picture. I asked her what she was selling and she said - dog walking for time-poor people that have busy lives.
I said to her, “what you are actually selling is you as a consistent, reliable and honest human that they can trust is going to look after their dog as if it was your own, is going to turn up on time each booking and is going to give their dog a great walk that was good for it and it enjoyed”.
“Well of course” she said, “isn’t that obvious?”.
“Not with a logo of a pawprint and a company name” I replied. “Imagine if you had a website full of personality filled imagery with you interacting with animals, talking to dog owners, dressed for the outdoors and looking like you love your job. Your about page on your website had some smiling photos of you being totally transparent about who you are and by the time you got to the end of the page they felt like they truly knew you and couldn’t wait to work with you?”
“Well that would be better”.
I’m not here to tell you that a logo isn’t necessary. I did branding design for 3 years. I know the impact of a great brand identity. But what I am going to offer you some advice on what to invest in within your business earlier on.
Service based business need personality-filled lifestyle photography of themselves.
If you are a service based business where you sell yourself as a provider e.g a photographer, an event planner, a stylist, a dog walker etc. then the people hiring you want to hire you because they want to work with YOU. It’s all about you, how well they know you and how safe they feel in your hands.
If you have personality filled lifestyle imagery on your website and across your marketing then they get used to seeing your face and paired with a solid and knowledgeable brand voice you become their go-to person when they want to buy your services.
Professional photography not only makes your recognisable to your customers but it shows that you care about yourself and your business enough to make an investment into your business. It gives a high end feel that a selfie just doesn’t and it captures emotions on camera in your that is really hard to do on your own even if you are a self portrait queen. It also gives your customers a great first impression and makes it really clear that you know what your zone of genius is and you are here to help solve their problem in a calm and professional way.
Product based business need professional photography too.
Hands up if you hate shopping on Vinted. Me. (Vinted lovers hear me out). I love the idea of Vinted. I really want to buy more second hand clothing and I really want to help the environment out and keep as much stuff out of landfill as possible. But scrolling through pages and pages of badly shot, terribly lit, wrinkly clothes on ugly plastic hangers makes me want to die inside. You feel me?
If this was a new website of clothes that I had recently come across that didn’t have the clout and reputation that Vinted did, I would leave that website STRAIGHT AWAY. Wouldn’t even entertain it for a second. If you are sitting in your seat squirming because you know this is you and your business then email me now.
Life’s too short to be losing customers because all your product photos are shot on an iphone when it is so easily fixed. If you have a branding shoot (still get all the pictures of you too as I outlined in the service providers section - don’t be invisible!) and you get all those lovely styled shots of your products being used in situ and they feel all aspirational and dopamine hitting then your stock is going to fly off the shelves far faster than a Vinted-style marketplace feel. Trust me.
A social media manager in the world dies everytime you say ‘I have no assets’…
Another thing to consider is the biggest gripe I had as a graphic designer was when a brand came to me for marketing content or social media design with an email that contained ‘but we have no assets or photography’. It’s a pain I still feel deeply and it’s a problem that I shared with social media managers all over the world. Can you imagine the joy on your social media manager’s face (let’s be honest that’s probably you since us business owners wear all the hats!) when you say ‘Oh yes I have this online gallery full of lifestyle photos, product shots and video clips all ready to download in websize ready to be uploaded to social media straight away’. It’s a no brainer.
And it can all be shot in one day so the time investment for you is super minimal.
AND, guess what, photoshoots are really FUN!
It’s one of the best bits of running a business, to get creative and collaborate with a photographer to fully realise all the good bits of your product or service. It’s a celebration of you, your goals and your achievements.
And it makes you money. So the upfront investment will be paid back as the photos (and films) work their magic.
So put a pause on the logo investment. Your business name in a simple font will work whilst you get your business off the ground and your customers discover you. From your marketing, your photos and your story.
You’ve got this. Go build your business empire.
Want to kickstart your business?
I am super passionate about making business owners feel seen, heard and highly amused on photoshoots to get the best, personality-filled images and footage to use within their businesses.
If you are looking to get a whole image bank of personalised stock photos and film footage then send me an email and let’s have a chat. I need you to get visible, stand out from the crowd and not want to die whilst you’re doing it.
Get in touch and let’s chat about exactly what you need and how I can help.
PS. My new VIP day contains coffee and prosecco. Ask me about it…
