Branding & Marketing

By Branson Maxwell

My clients on average spend around $8,000 USD on their wedding photo package with me. They are the type of clients that value art, have a distinct style and taste, and have a budget for the quality they want. But my clients weren’t always like this. In fact, I started out like many other photographers did; finding clients that were price shopping and begging them to let me photograph their wedding at a cheap price.

Now my sales tactic and brand has completely changed and I let the high end clients come to me through luxury branding and strategic marketing. Here is how I did it.

Branding

Branding is a huge and necessary step to attract the type of clients you wish to book. Without branding a potential client that you wish to book will skim over your work and not connect with anything because you didn’t have him/her in mind when you built your portfolio, website, and social media.

Yes, branding is more than just a logo and colors you use. It is the fonts, the mood, the aesthetic, and the experience you offer. I have seen photographers nail down a hippie, fun-loving, piggyback elopement style mood using earth tone colors, laughing/messy hair images, and a quirky bio. I have also seen photographers embody a classic, romantic, and emotional style of brand using black and whites, grain, detail shots, and tender moments.

No matter what your style is you want it to be true to yourself and what you like photographing, as well as what you would like to attract.

For me, it was high end destination weddings that enjoy nature, florals, and traveling. I made that part of my brand by using an elegant color pallet (gold, light blue, and a soft grey), aesthetic fonts that are easy to read yet whimsical, and words on my website that embody destination weddings (travel, nature, and intimacy). I also used my mages that showed high end dresses, beautifully designed tablescapes, and incredible nature inspired locations all through out the world.

Within 1 year of changing my brand I had 7 destination weddings booked in Italy, Hawaii, Mexico, Peru, New York, California, and Florida.

The biggest tip I have for branding is these 3 things:

Know your specialty. Whether it is family photos, weddings, portraits, or even something so specific as intimate elopements in the dessert, let that be your thing. I know this is super hard because you don’t want to narrow down your audience and also restrict yourself. But if you cast a net too wide you end up catching nothing at all. Think about it as you would if searching for a good place for sushi. Would you rather go to a restaurant that serves sushi, pizza, and tacos, or would you rather go to a restaurant that really just nailed down sushi?

Show consistency. It its super important to show your mood, colors, personality, and brand you are going for across all social media platforms. You want your work to come across as a seamless and consistent no matter where the client may find you. This includes being true to your brand when you meet a client in person (also another reason your want your brand to match your personality). When I personally meet with my clients we talk about traveling, nature, and fun details of the wedding day that both make us excited.

Photograph a styled shoot. How are you supposed to have the perfect images showing your dream brand without first booking your first dream client? The answer is to go to a workshop or styled shoot. This allows you to create the beautiful images and mood you want to display without having to book the client first. I did this with Belle Lumiere last Spring at the River Bottoms Ranch and then a client saw my work and booked my most expensive package with me as well as the high end wedding venue the workshop was held at. It works.

Marketing

Your brand can be perfect but if you just sit back and wait for clients to find your work and book it will never happen. You have to show your work to a massive amount of people every day. Sounds scary but it is actually super easy. There are 3 types of marketing I think are super impactful.

• Facebook/Instagram Marketing

Facebook ads have an incredible return in investment because the ability to narrow down your audience to very specific demographics. That way you aren’t wasting money showing your ads to the vast majority of the public. Facebook has the ability to show your ads to specific regions, ages, genders, and interests. I spent around $12K in ads last year and generated $224K in bookings.

I do offer coaching calls to teach Facebook marketing and branding found at https://www.bransonmaxwell.com/photography-and-videography-mentoring/ if you are interested in venturing more down that ally.

• In Person Marketing

A impactful way to find clients is in person. This means trying out an expo and selling yourself to a client to their face but also means going to venues and asking if you can tell them about yourself. Venues are a great way to get a referral because they deal with a large amount of couples that usually haven’t booked their photographer yet. They also want to help couples when they ask for recommendations.

When I go to venues I give them a spill about who I am, what I specialize in, who I usually work with, and then show them my work. I tell them what couples are looking for when they book with me and which ones will really connect with my brand. I also give them a good stack of business cards to hand out.

• Email Marketing

After you have potential clients visiting your website and/or contacting you it is crucial to not just send them one email and be done. People need to be followed up on. I send out emails to my subscribers free tips, engagement outfit ideas, location guides, and friendly reminders so they know I am the expert in my field and I am there to help. Even if they don’t want to book with me, they are getting the freebies and professional advice free of charge. This establishes trust and gratitude and goes a long way, even if it just means you helped them out and they told someone else how much they liked you.

Email marketing can mean the difference between someone visiting your site once, and someone that sees your work a few times a week on top of their inbox.

“The biggest tip of all when it comes to marketing: Market your experience you offer, not your product.”

I make sure my couples know that they are getting a high quality, hands on, personal experience with me that comes from helpfulness, guides, expertise, and individual attention. I rarely talk about how many photos, the camera I use, or the turnaround time for my photos.

People want to buy experiences that give them amazing memories and good times. They don’t want to buy something that is an exact exchange of money for product.

In Summary

Make sure you build a brand that is meaningful and true to you. Then be proud of that brand and market it to the world.

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Branson Maxwell is a luxury destination wedding photographer and videographer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Branson is an educator that focuses on branding and marketing. Inspired by intimate relationships and meaningful art, Branson specializes in destination weddings at beautiful locations infused with nature. Traveling is an important part of Branson’s life and his work has taken him to over 65 countries.
bransonmaxwell.com
@bransonmaxwell.photo