In the world of today, we all talk about the importance of developing a strong brand. Whether it be as an individual or as a business, the brand you develop and put out to the world can make a huge difference on your profile, how you connect with your audience, how visible you are and even how premium a price you can charge for your services.
Branding should not be an afterthought in setting up and running a business.
You should be allocating just as much time in your diaries to developing, producing and executing your brand strategy.
Just like other elements of your business, you should have systems, structures and processes in place to help you build and execute a brilliant brand.
There is a WHOLE LOT OF WORK behind an excellent brand. When explored, you’ll find that brainstorming, developing, building and executing wouldn’t have been left to the last minute.
After you’ve spent time developing your brand guidelines, you need to make sure that you are prepared and ready to execute the elements of the strategy.
Each element should be prepared ahead of time, with tasks outlined, what you want to achieve, clear concise instructions for all parties and inspiration.
Take a branding photoshoot. What are you doing prior to set yourself up to walk away from the day with exactly what you need?
You need to prepare:
· An outline on what you want to use the images for – Are they corporate profile shots? Are you building images for your social media content bank? Are you using them to educate your audience on a topic? Have an idea what you need, what story you are telling with them and what you want to use them for prior.
A photo brief – Search Pinterest, Instagram and gather photos similar to the vibe and images you want to capture. This way if on the day you feel stuck or overwhelmed (cause we all often do!) you have a fallback plan to find inspiration for.
A list of shots you want the photographer to take – theme your shots. For example, if you want to talk about what a vendor should expect from an open home, theme your shots around what you do at opens. Providing your photographer with a list to check off, helps make sure that you get what you need!
Dress requirements – Have you prepared any outfit changes? Bring multiple outfits along so you have different outfits throughout your images. Dress requirements also need to be outlined for any other people that will be in your images. If you have clients or colleagues appearing, make sure you provide them with a dress code.
Props – Make sure that you have your tools of the trade available and easily accessible. Using the open home education shoot as an example, have your signboards, flags, any collateral and any other props that will look good!
Are you interviewing buyers and vendors for testimonials? If you won’t be present for these, you need to leave clear instructions for all parties!
The Interviewer/videographer is given clean questions that they are required to ask AND outline the type of answers that you require. You need to make sure that they understand your vision! Yes or No answers are not good enough! They also need to repeat the questions several times, giving the interviewee a good chance to answer the question in multiple ways.
The Interviewee – needs a heads up on what questions you are asking, what you are trying to achieve, and you need to provide them with guidance on how to answer your questions. Sometimes they may need a nudge in the right direction.
Our time is valuable. So that you can get maximum results from your branding exercises make sure you show up, dream big, get organised and execute the vision!!