After our successful workshop about branding and online presence with some of our passionate community members, we took some important things out of it that we wanted to share. Fellow creators and photographers around New Jersey could benefit for a few tips they should all be doing to help build their brand.
3 Helpful Tips to Brand Yourself
Same Name? — Make Your Brand Universal
Whether you are looking to become a bigger photographer or expand your creative services or business, it’s important to make it easy for people to find you online. The last thing you want to do is confuse possible clients or customers when they are trying to find you.
If you are using your name as your brand or have a separate entity company name, making sure your name is the same across all platforms is important. If someone finds you on Facebook or Instagram, you want them to recognize your brand when they search for you on Google or on your website. The same goes for your logo!
*Can’t get the same name everywhere? If you run into a problem that your brand name isn’t available in some places like social media, maybe you consider using an abbreviation or add “NJ” at the end. The most important place to get your brand name starts with your website.
Online Places To Have The Same Name:
- Website Domain Name
- Google Business (Local Business)
- Email Service
- Any Industry Specific Directories
Build a Website — or At Least Reserve One…
When you create your brand name, the first place you need to claim it isn’t on social media but rather through a domain company like GoDaddy. Buying your brand name website domain is the first important step to solidifying your brand. Ideally you should strive to get the “.com” version of your brand name but if it’s not available try to adjust your brand name or claim something like “.biz”.
Even if you aren’t ready (or know how) to create a website, it’s still important to at least purchase your brand’s domain. You can always connect it to your website at a later date. Typically a domain name will cost $5-20 per year depending on your privacy settings.
*NJspots was not able to claim the “.com” version of our domain so we had to settle for “.org”. We had to make that decision because by the time we went to buy our domain, our brand was already well established and we couldn’t change our name. This was a mistake that we should have planned for in the beginning by buying our domain.
Watch Industry Trends Carefully
If you are a budding photographer or videographer, it tends to be very easy to follow trends that seem to work for others in your field. Don’t be so quick to try to mimic these trends and techniques. When studying a trend, it’s important to recognize why the trend is happening — what is its purpose for the end consumer (or your potential client)?
If the trend that is occurring is solving a common problem or satisfying a need, then that could potentially be a great direction in which to head. But before you do that, think about how you can follow that trend and add your own signature to it to help you stand out from those that are following that particular trend.
*An example of that is NJspots on Instagram. When we created our brand, we knew there were other “state-focused” hubs out there on Instagram. Our branding goal began to take shape to not only share photos but create a community around those creators that are sharing the photos with us.
As a creator it’s important to always remain relevant in your industry. It’s even more important that people know who you are. The first step of having that recognition is having a strong brand presence. Taking the first steps to constantly get your name (or business) our there is important.
