Picture Perfect: Building Brand Value Through Strategic Imagery with Tim Edmond
0:00
Photography's Impact on Branding
13:54
Ensuring Brand Consistency Through Visuals
23:16
Visual Branding and Engagement Strategies
30:49
Building Brand Consistency Through Visuals
What if the secret to elevating your brand lies within the lens of a camera? Join us as Tim Edmond from 79 Photography unravels the transformative power of photography in branding, sharing his journey from a passionate hobbyist to a sought-after professional. Tim opens up about the unique ability of personalized, localized imagery to capture the true essence of a brand, setting it apart from the generic allure of stock photos. Together, we explore the crucial difference between branding and commercial photography, with Tim offering insights into how authentic visuals can humanize your brand and attract your target market.
Consistency is key in the world of branding, and we underscore its importance with Tim’s expert guidance. Visual elements like color schemes and props aren't just supplementary; they’re essential in creating a cohesive brand identity that resonates with your audience. We also highlight the pitfalls of inconsistency and outdated imagery, which can confuse customers and tarnish brand perception. This episode is a roadmap to ensuring your business is visually aligned with its core values, setting the stage for premium pricing and long-term success.
Balancing authenticity with aspiration is an art, and Tim shares strategies that cater to high-end clients while remaining true to your brand's core. With a 60-40 blend of real and aspirational content, Tim illustrates how brands can effectively engage their audience, especially on social media platforms. Drawing from real-life collaborations with companies across various industries, we reveal how understanding a client’s vision can lead to content that stands out in a crowded market. And as a final touch, we discuss the power of clear calls to action in your visual content, ensuring your brand message not only reaches but also converts your target audience.
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Speaker 1: 0:00
What's up, lemonheads? Welcome to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal Rodden, solo today, but I am getting to talk to a local guy who, whether he likes it or not, is going to claim that he loves East Texas. But we are going to be talking to you about photography, the importance that that has on your brand. It's going to be a very interesting conversation. Make you really think outside the box of how you are putting your brand out into the market. So let's sip some lemonade, all right, All right.
Speaker 1: 0:37
Well, guys, I'm really excited to have this local guy. I've met him through our Chamber of Commerce. Such a fun personality. I feel like he has great insight on this topic, and so I'm excited to have 10 Edmund of 79 photography correct, 79 photos Photography Awesome. Okay, okay, 79 photography, um based out of Houston and Lufkin Um.
Speaker 1: 1:02
For those of my listeners that are listening, across the United States. So Houston is about two hours south of where Lufkin is based, so Lufkin has about 35,000 people. That's my home area. I actually live in a town of 5,000 people, so I can't even I try to claim Lufkin, but when people say where are you from, I just say Houston. It's close enough. Texas is humongous so, but he is a husband and a father. He's got a background rich in photography and really a passion for artistry. He loves like documenting I love this little piece of this but milestones, unique perspective to different events and weddings and creating lasting memories for people. But also on here we're going to talk about strategic imagery, right? So why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself, tim? Like I know you've worked with different, all types of different photography, but I'm really interested to hear about 79 Photography.
Speaker 2: 1:56
Yeah, so we started. I started 79 Photography in about 2021, but this goes back all the way down to 2008. So when I was in school, I graduated college and I was like started in the corporate world, but at that same time I really wanted to like be a photographer. And it wasn't cool to be a photographer, at least in my world at the time. And so what I did is I went ahead and started like just practicing it was a passion project of mine taking photos of, like seniors of college and high school and then taking little like product placements and stuff like that and just playing with that um. And then, right when the pandemic hit, I felt like it was a great time to start 79 photography and really start focusing on just not only weddings, because that's a part of it, but also like the commercial side of it, with headshots, event photography, branding style um photos with uh portraits, uh. So that's kind of like where for uh 79 photography is right now.
Speaker 1: 2:55
So okay, okay, cool, cool. Well, you know something, um, that I've learned is, as we talk through this a little bit you can ask Lupita or anybody else on my team Emily's the same boat. We are, like, as marketers, we are hungry for good photography. Like we cannot get contractors to do headshots, to do commercial shots, to take shots of their vehicles. It's just like one of the biggest pains in their booty, I guess. And you know, like it's so important right To the visual identity of your brand and like, when people really don't place importance on there, they tend to use stock photos and things like that and it's just not the ideal thing to do to build your brand. And so how do you think that's a little different, like you know, your approach to branding photography being different than commercial photography and the importance of those localized content pieces.
Speaker 2: 3:50
No, that's a fantastic question. I think what it really comes down to is like, first of all, who's your target market and who you want to talk to, and when you want to do that. What you want to truly understand and I think the biggest thing that we haven't talked about is like the personalization, and a lot of millennials Gen Zers, gen Alphas want that personalization. And when you provide that, that imagery whether it's a headshot or a branding session or pictures in front of your, your place of business I think that's what really sells your business and it makes you human, it makes you a person. Oh, okay, they're just not stock photos or they're just not, you know, something that might be real or not.
Speaker 2: 4:29
With AI generated stuff going on nowadays, that's really important. So, you know, I think that's one of those things that you really think about and you know when you're thinking about branding. And then the one thing is, you know you might want to choose things that can help you differentiate yourself by product marketing, like product photography and stuff like that. Like, because I see a lot of people nowadays they're using their phone oh, look at this, this is really nice coffee or something like that. But what really sells it is if you have like a scene behind it that kind of shows you like OK, it's cold, I got a blanket on, you got steam coming off the coffee.
Speaker 1: 5:09
Which, in any case, you have about three days to do anything with a blanket. Oh right, that's true, absolutely.
Speaker 2: 5:15
Yeah, I think that's one of the things to think about.
Speaker 1: 5:19
Well, so I love that. So you know, one thing that I always encourage my clients to think about, too is you know. So you know, one thing that I always encourage my clients to think about, too is you know, we're in the heating and air conditioning and plumbing business, and so you know you want to set things. Your scenery, your imagery, all of those things need to take place where people live, work and play. So you know, having well curated photography that works well for your setting the scene is basically what I think you, what I'm hearing from you here is set the scene. That's appropriate. So if we're going into fall season, I would assume that everyone looks cozy and there's fireplaces and things like that. But also if you you want to show diversity in your photos. But what I love about about the localized content is, you know I'll, right now, if you ever want to see how popular you are, put yourself on Facebook and pictures of your actual self or pictures of your family, and people will start saying, oh my gosh, I see you everywhere, right, and but there's power in that. So, even with women's seed like, people want to. But you probably run into the same boat. People want to talk to Crystal, because I'm the face, I'm the one they see and they hear. So when people might hire you for photography, they want Tim, right, they don't want your second shooter. You know they want you and that's because you are putting so much of yourself out there.
Speaker 1: 6:37
So, for heating and air conditioning companies, what's really important is that you're putting out there your technicians, your call reps, your marketing people, your mascot and things like that. You're putting out people that really are helpful to build that brand authority up. You know it's just super important and yeah, and people can make a mess of it, right For sure. So what do you look for when you're capturing a brand's essence? You know, visually, like you know, are there some things that that really stand out for you? If I were to say, hey, come take a picture of this roofing companies, come take their company photos. What are some things that you would probably pick out of there?
Speaker 2: 7:19
So I think that's a great question. I think the thing that I would think about visually essentially would be like first, I would want to identify the client and, like you said, some clients will have that this is Tim's Plumbing, or Tim's Plumbing and Sons, or something like that. And what you might want to think about is changing that to where it's just one word and that way you can have multiple people on your roster to be able to help people. I do run into that where they want Tim Edmond to like go out and photograph their wedding and stuff like that. But the reason why I set up 79 Photography is so that way I can have multiple people working for me at different events. And then they're on my website with different headshots that are consistent with my brand.
Speaker 2: 8:01
Like I'm not a natural light photographer, so when people are looking at me like who is 79 photography, they're able to look on there and say like okay, cool, but like the visual is the same, like they have the same photography. And a good example of this would be like real estate companies. Sometimes real estate companies will have like a hundred different agents, especially in Houston, but all of them are inconsistent and you see like okay, this person's high end. This person shot it with a cell phone. This person doesn't know what they're doing, and so I think that's one of those things visually, what's your identity, and that's one of those things that you have to really think about.
Speaker 1: 8:35
The second thing- how much do you? Oh, go ahead, no, no, you keep going.
Speaker 2: 8:38
The second thing- the second thing is not only your identity, but what services are you trying to provide that you can visualize? Like with the home services, a good thing would be before and after pictures and stuff that you can actually see. So I'm thinking like landscaping, like, okay, this was like a horrible mess. There's a guy on YouTube that does a really good job of this, that does content on YouTube, and basically what he'll do is like, show the before. Hey, this is what happens when you don't. You know, take care of your yard and stuff like that, and then visually, he'll go through and cut down the yard, make it look beautiful.
Speaker 2: 9:12
Hey, contact my services. This is who I am, and that's one of those things that you can. You can't show that to people without either picture or video media or something like that. And then the third thing is what's your call to action? Like, is your call to action? Is it visual, or is it on the phone, like? So then, when you're communicating that out loud to like either whatever platform you want to put it on, whether it's email or social media or your website, what is your call to action to bring you in to the business?
Speaker 2: 9:42
Because sometimes sometimes people will be like well, I have a beautiful website, yeah, but I don't see a call to action. You have these beautiful pictures of before and after, but what do I come in for? I don't know. And so those are the three things. When I'm going through thinking about what's essential for visibility and how to, you know, attract clients to your services, that's one of those things that I really look at.
Speaker 1: 10:09
I think that's a great point. You know, and one of the things that I look at too is like so you know, I work with a roofing company local and I'm always like, listen, here's what we're going to do when we get ready to take photos. We need to put our best foot forward, right? So some of the simple things like make sure the vans are going to be washed and cleaned, because you want to be known as not the guy that drives up and four cigarette boxes and two Chick-fil-A containers and you know trash falls out so get your vans cleaned up so that, when you can, you put forward this very clean and presentable way. Same thing with your team members. What do your team members look like? Hey, we're having photos tomorrow. Shave a little bit, brush your hair, brush your teeth. Make sure you don't have a uniform that's got pipe, blue and pooky and everything else on it. It needs to be nice and clean because, to your point, you're representing your brand.
Speaker 1: 11:02
These photos are the visual interpretation that people are going to make, the connection with your brand.
Speaker 1: 11:08
So it is vital to the overall success and the continuation of your brand presence in your market and it is definitely important that you prioritize that, and so, no, those were, those were great points, but you know, I think your approach to photography is about just capturing the things that make you unique but also really are applicable to your brand core values.
Speaker 1: 11:33
They create impact, resonate with your ideal clients. So if you know that we're focusing on mostly women or anything like that, then you can know. You know what? Let's lean a little bit more into the family or into a a smiling picture versus. You know, technicians are notorious for sitting there looking like they're in a jail cell, right like this is like a mugshot homie, like smile, yeah, so um. But you know, another thing is like I know how important it is to have strong and cohesive, like visual displays of your brand identity, but for that long-term brand recognition. So why do you think that's true? Do you think that's true and why do you think that the cohesive set of your visuals, you know all of your imagery matching your brand identity, especially when you're in a competitive industry.
Speaker 2: 12:22
Oh no, I think it's very important. And here's the thing Sometimes we get caught up or at least I know I do I get caught up in the big picture of items, and so the thing that I always want to tell people when they're trying to do this is a couple of points that you want to focus on. The first one is make sure that you pay attention to the details, and sometimes that could be just a matter of like what you said shaven. Make sure the hair looks good, make sure everybody's wearing the same uniforms and the same hats, um, or it could be just a matter of location, like they say in marketing location, location, location is everything, and so being consistent with how you are looking at and I'm gonna kind of go into what you were kind of saying, but with the consistent like, consistency is key in this sense. So, with being consistent on your social media platforms versus your email marketing versus your other, like print ads and stuff like that, it all has to be cohesive enough to make sure that if somebody's looking at it for the first time, oh, that's McWilliams and that's McWilliams and sons, or that's lemon seed marketing.
Speaker 2: 13:26
I love the story that you gave when we went to the chamber of commerce and you talked about. You guys were all yellow when you went to the service and that's how, how hard you guys thought about it, how hard you worked into it and said this is how we're going to approach this branding. Like going to this event and it stuck. You guys are the girls in the yellow branding like going to this event and it's stuck.
Speaker 2: 13:48
You guys are the girls in the yellow and yes, even yeah, no, that's what you want to happen. So like when people see it. And you also have to understand style. So when people see your style of what you're trying to put out, so like if you're a premium brand and you're putting out like that you're a lower end brand, it's going to confuse clients. So when you're not consistent across the board, I think that's where people get confused.
Speaker 1: 14:13
Oh yeah, I mean for sure, and you're right, like there has to. You don't have to have a mascot really to have this brand identity. It could definitely be a color or a slogan or a tagline or an icon that build that out. But, man, something right, something has to make you unique and utilizing photography and imagery to drive that home. So you will.
Speaker 1: 14:37
People laugh at this all the time. People that are in my family, like I, will if I see anything with a lemon, a coffee cup. It's not that I necessarily have this huge infatuation with lemons, it's just that look how easy of a prop this is to add to any photo. So I have these bright yellow tennis shoes and I wear them a lot of times and people will say, oh my gosh, you're always on brand. Well, that's what I do for a living, so I would assume that's very important that I put out in front of there.
Speaker 1: 15:03
You knowing is everything and people that are listening that maybe aren't this huge corporation. No matter what size company you are, you can be selling Mary Kay Cosmetics up to selling $5 billion worth of product every year in different places. Your brand and how you enforce that and how you live it out each day is so important, super, super important. So what are some of the mistakes that you see people make? Because we know the importance of cohesive visuals and how you know it's just such an essential role in that long-term, you know, recognition. I say all the time branding is a marathon approach right.
Speaker 1: 15:40
Like it's not a sprint, it's definitely a marathon. But what are some common mistakes that you see people make? And I know you've probably already mentioned a few. But what are some common mistakes that you see people make? And I know you've probably already mentioned a few, but what do you think are some mistakes people make?
Speaker 2: 15:53
So kind of what you had mentioned. One of the points I see is the consistency and style changes too frequently. So usually if you hire different photographers to do different branding sessions or if you're doing different products, it won't always be consistent across. Like, say, you booked out three different photographers for three different branding sessions and you wanted to do this with this was this season, this with that season and that with that season, so you'll see it's different style in each photographer and so then what happens is it confuses it. Wait, where are you guys? And it's you know, it's unconsciously. You're thinking about it. You're like wait, wait, wait, wait. Did they change the color of the red? Or did they change the color of the yellow? Or, wait, I thought there were lemons. Why are they promoting this? Wait, wait, wait. What's the green for? It just could be colors or or fonts. People don't always think about fonts. Like fonts can be changing.
Speaker 1: 16:47
Yeah, oh my God, yes, right yeah.
Speaker 2: 16:50
I mean, and you know, as a, as a photographer, you don't I don't always have to think about fonts, but I have to think about the style that I'm doing. So I consistently take photos for companies across the board, you know, yearly, and usually they bring in new clients or not clients. They bring in new employees and I have to photograph it. Whether I photographed it three years ago or I'm photographing it today, I have to photograph it the same way to keep the consistent style. So when people are looking, hey, who is the person that's the account manager for this location I'll scroll down for Texas oh, it's so-and-so and they have the same headshot as everybody else.
Speaker 2: 17:25
So that's something that is a small detail that people don't always think about or say you have photos for 10 years ago or five years ago or three years ago. It's not going to be consistent to what's going on today, or even what, maybe what services you're providing. So that's one thing that you see a lot either on social media or on websites, especially with photographers. You'll see that they changed their style two years ago and they're still putting out different styles. And you see that with you know, other companies, the, the company might have changed directions and they're like oh well, we and it's mainly smaller and mid-sized companies, you'll see this. Well, we changed the vision, we changed the photographer, but we still have old images or we have old videos up that is explaining what's going on, that that doesn't happen anymore or it's outdated, so outdated information another issue is like oh, yeah, oh another oh okay, sorry, I can keep talking, but another so it's fine
Speaker 2: 18:18
yeah, another issue is just um, lower quality images. So you know there's a time and place for and I mean like cell, cell phone images. You know it's really easy, like I'm a I'm a victim of this as well. It's really easy to get your phone, boom, I just took a picture, let me upload it to the website or social media. And a lot of people. What you'll see on social media is they'll do this consistently.
Speaker 2: 18:39
And the problem with that is if you're trying to like, justify why my prices need to be this high, and you're going through and you're scrolling through whether it's Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat or whatever and you're seeing consistently bad images of like hey, here's a selfie like this or this, this or this is what we're doing. The problem that you'll run into is people will think you're a lower brand because of the quality image or is blurry or is grainy. But I will say there's a time, there is a spot where you can post those images. So what most people want, that personalized content that is going on right now.
Speaker 2: 19:13
So, like, if I'm at a session, I'll do behind the scenes and I'll be like hey, look, how cool this is, and stuff like that, but I don't post it in my main part of it, in the main feed. I post it in the stories or I create a reel from it, because that's what people really want to see. How are they doing this? How's Tim taking that photo? But usually you want to stay separate from. Okay, this is my actual branding. I want to put the best image I have on the feed. So when people go to my actual Instagram feed or my Facebook feed, oh, these are really good images, or this is a really strong message, or this is strong imagery.
Speaker 1: 19:50
Yes, I was talking about that today. Oh nice, I was talking about this today with. We're getting ready to hire somebody to help us with our own social media content, because we struggle with that. But one of the things I was mentioning to her is the importance of your own content being good. So you'd ever go to a hairstylist that has a bad haircut right, or you might not want to use a photographer that has terrible photography on their page or a graphic designer that has terrible graphic design on their page.
Speaker 1: 20:20
So one of the things that Lemonsie does when we're creating brands for clients, it's a full brand package. So there is what imagery, what? What icons, what Pantone colors, what hex codes, what fonts do we pick? What secondary fonts, what secondary colors? Because all of that makes up your brand. All of that is important and you're right, Like if every time I look at your stuff, like I have a client that wanted to turn everything purple and I was like, hey, let's really think about this for a minute.
Speaker 1: 20:47
Well, and one of the reasons is I was like why, why? But they wanted to do it for Alzheimer's awareness and I was like, okay, so it makes sense that we're going to do this for a month, but it's a campaign, so people can make the connection, because you can't be like, oh well, I wanted to make our icon, our logo, neon for this and I'm like, no right, no, because the whole point behind a logo and all of that is that visual representation that's constantly being pushed into your brain. So we don't want to infiltrate the brain. So that's a really good point.
Speaker 2: 21:21
Yeah, and then there's a couple other things. Some people don't always put their higher margin products on or services on there, but they put their lower end margins, that they're spending more time to do something compared to. You know, for me it's weddings. I make a lot more money doing weddings, so it makes more sense for me to, hey, during this certain time I need to push weddings. Or, you know, during senior time it makes more sense that's a high margin thing During the end of February, march and April maybe I should be pushing seniors.
Speaker 2: 21:53
Another one is consistency. Like you want to make sure that the same, like, even though I'm promoting weddings or I'm promoting seniors, you still want the same consistency and imagery that you're having. Like that's Tim's style, that's 79th Tim's style, that's 79 style. And compared to like oh, wait, a minute, this photo is taken really nice, but this one looks different than that one, it doesn't, it's not cohesive, kind of like what we were talking about earlier and some of the other big mistakes I see is just, you know, with small business owners and I can attest to this you know a lot of times you have to pivot on the direction or vision that you planned on going, and so then you're like wait a minute, one minute you're doing this, the next minute you're doing this, and then you get confused.
Speaker 2: 22:36
And then if you're confused as the main business owner, then your client's going to be confused. Wait, absolutely I don't know what he's selling. And then mid-sized businesses also I don't know what he's selling. And then mid-sized businesses also, like usually with the husband and wife team, one person has one vision, the other person has another vision and you know, the great thing about you guys is you're all able to put that together. But for me, I have to like wait, wait, wait. Let's truly understand what your core values are and how we're going to put this all together and really bring it home so your clients can understand one vision and make sure that we're able to deliver what you guys are asking for.
Speaker 1: 23:13
So yeah well, oh, go ahead. Yeah well, you mentioned this. Like, when you're aiming to position yourself as a premium high-end client, you have to have a premium high-end look right, so you can't charge caviar money but have a tuna fish experience. You know, like that that's not going to work either. So, um, what do you think you know and I know we kind of leaned into this while ago, but what do you think is a good balance between the authentic um imagery and maybe creating an aspirational look like, an inspirational look for a brand, like how do you balance that?
Speaker 2: 23:46
you know, I asked a marketer that same thing at sfa, uh, that same question, and you know I I really she didn't. Really she had a good answer but not one that I felt like was that fit the answer? So I really had sat down and had to really think about and did some other research. I think, if you think about the way I look at it as a seasonal thing, so like in your off season, I would put in, for me that's like during the summertime. So I'm thinking more of like I need to promote my services, how things look and how things are moving. So when I'm not busy I'm putting out the premium services and stuff like that, and that would be like about 30, 40 percent of my time that I'm putting out like actual promotional stuff. Now, when I'm busy, I'm putting behind the scenes that are more authentic content. That's like, hey, I'm at a wedding, look at this beautiful bride. Or look at well, not the bride, I can't do that but look at this beautiful venue. Or look at this beautiful cake. Or even with seniors I'm doing like, hey, here's a senior.
Speaker 2: 24:49
So I would say about 60% of the time I'm putting authentic content, and with authentic content you'll see that well, you have to be careful with it as well. So this goes back to like image quality. So, like Instagram and Facebook and YouTube will ding you for having lower resolution quality. So sometimes I'll have to do it with my camera, where I'm doing like panning or something like that, to where I'm able to post it to stories, or if it's really good lighting, then I'll do it. But sometimes what you'll see is people that aren't understanding of how light works. You'll see it's too hot on their face or you can't tell what they're doing, or the video will be broken up. So I would say, like, if you're thinking about where you want to be in your position, I would say 60, 40% 60% of it being authentic because those are reaching your current and and potential clients, and then that 40% is reaching the clients that you already have because you're trying to sell them. Hey, we still have these services. We still need to move forward.
Speaker 1: 25:54
Don't forget about us, don't forget about it, stuff like that. Yeah, stay attached. Yeah, stay attached to us. Yeah, we're still working well.
Speaker 1: 25:57
And this is another thing, like, if you are a good old country guy, then I would fully expect that you just have a nice picture in a country setting. If you're a very, like, upscale guy and you want to have the very modern lighting and and background, then then have that. So let the authenticity show in, like the structure and the style of your photo shoot. But there's not one's not right or wrong. One's just probably more authentic than the other, right, absolutely, um, oh, go ahead.
Speaker 1: 26:21
Well, what that does is it leans right into when you do that, it's going to attract and engage your ideal client, because you can't, you know, if you're this super, you know country, good old boy and you're trying to attract a billionaire, right? Or Wall Street executives, those two dogs are going to have a hard time hunting together, right? So what you have to do is you've got to remember, like, the image that you're putting out there is going to attract this certain style of clients. So, when it comes to standing out in a crowded market, like, how do you think brands can use that visual content to differentiate themselves and maybe foster engagement.
Speaker 2: 27:03
That is a fantastic question, I think when you're able. I love the point that you kind of made. A lot of my clients. We do a discovery call and so within that discovery call we tried to understand what vision are you trying to put out to differentiate yourself from the crowd. And so more recently I took photos of a guy that does construction full time and their whole company. That's all they do. They build houses and commercial real estate and everything else like that. But he was like I want something and they'll tell you. I want something very basic. I want to do this quick and I want to be easy about it, and then you'll have a banker or a lawyer come in.
Speaker 2: 27:38
And I just did a law firm downtown in Lufkin not too long ago and they wanted to do okay. So this is what we're looking. We want to get not only what's inside, but we want to make sure that people know it's a family. We want to make sure that we capture our office pet and then we want to make sure that we represent the people as a whole team. So you know more into the law firm style that is going to charge you 300 bucks an hour or you know whatever they're going to charge you for their services. So that's that's kind of how you kind of separate during that discovery call you understand what you want to do and how you want to do it, um, and then move forward for that and make sure your photographer understands that, or your videographer or content creator.
Speaker 2: 28:35
Because sometimes I'll go in in these meetings and I'm thinking of one in particular they were like hey, Tim, we want to do like eight videos, we want to do headshots and we want to be, like, not consistent, we want to do this across the board. And I was like, ok, I can do that, but what is your goal? Like what do you want to accomplish? When people see this? And you know they had to get back to me, they went around.
Speaker 2: 28:58
I was like I don't understand your vision unless you're able to communicate it to me clearly and effectively. So I think that's one of those things that you know. And do they even have that background, like in the sense of schooling and everything else like that? So I understand, like, what's your strengths, weaknesses, what knowledge or stuff? So I'm sitting there going like, ok, if I'm in this situation, how do I want to photograph this? Is it light and airy? Is it dark and moody, or is it just, you know, a very bland image. That's what they're going for. You know who are they talking to and that's what a lot of my when I go into these meetings like. That's what I'm trying to understand.
Speaker 1: 29:42
Yeah, yeah, I mean we as marketers, you know, we spend a lot of time, especially if we're going to rebrand or refresh a client we really want to understand who the client is. What do they stand for, what emotions do they want to evoke like there's tons of information that we could definitely hone into if we just had the power right. Um, you know too, like when clients get into different stages in the marketing funnel from you know, consideration down to actual considerate, you know, or from collaboration down to consideration, just building awareness how do you think brands need to approach their visual content, like at different stages of their journey?
Speaker 2: 30:21
Yeah. So when you start thinking about you know your awareness part of it, like, usually what you want to do is start understanding, like, what are you putting out to the world and we kind of briefly mentioned about it Like, are you when you're doing home services? Are they wearing uniforms? Are they going to make like, are they going to answer your call? Are they going to be able to, like, have a good visual website or a good visual content like on Facebook or social media? Are they doing email campaigns? Are they sending print ads? Are they on billboards? That's all that awareness.
Speaker 2: 30:49
And I love what you said during that meeting, which is sticky. You got to have sticky little like sticky notes. I believe is what you said, yeah, yeah, and you have to have that sticky kind of awareness going on just to grab people, bring them in, and it all has to be cohesive enough to bring that brand awareness. And then the second part of that is the consideration part of it. So, how fast, how good is your customer service? Are you exclusive? Are you packaged Like? Are you deliverables or look really good? Most of the time it's word of mouth. Have people heard about you? Like you know when they're making all these decisions. Usually by the time they take maybe 30 seconds, maybe two, maybe a couple of days, depending on how big the project is. To make that decision, is it personalized to my home, like if McWilliams comes out and does and I actually use McWilliams service and I loved it, and so, yeah, and they sent me a call. They got back to me as soon as I scheduled an appointment and they were like well, we'll have a tech out there tomorrow, and so the personalization of it came in. Hey, I'm going to build you out a plan Like hey, this is what you need to do, and this could be in any service, either service or product. Like is your customer service good and what's that personalization for you? And we kind of.
Speaker 2: 32:04
And the one other thing is the conversion part, the conversation part. How is your working with the client? A lot of times when people are working directly with the client whether it's imagery or not like building into that conversion part, with you working with the client, your images are great, your video is great, but if you're a horrible communicator or if you're not a trusted advisor like I like to think that myself I'm not a photographer I'm a trusted advisor for my clients, and when I'm a trusted advisor, like I'm going to guide you from the awareness part to the consideration part, to where you're booking a session and we're doing deliverables, whether it's wall art or it's something like that, or in the sense of branding. We go through, understand your vision, we collect your vision and then how many images would you like to push, what are you looking for and go from there. So I think a lot of that is just, and people always.
Speaker 2: 33:03
The fact that they keep using me is a wonderful thing, but the reason why they use me is my customer service is fantastic, the quality of images is amazing and videos are really good. And then the personalization. I'm truly trying to understand what is important to you to bring that premium Like. Why should you book me at a premium price? I have beat out several and not to brag about this, locally, but I have been able to win business over other photographers, even though I was the more expensive photography a photographer, and that's because they like the quality of images, they like how fast I work and that's just one of those things that you can differentiate yourself on that. And then working with the clients I'm a cool guy. I like having fun. I'm laughing most of the time.
Speaker 1: 33:47
I have a great personality. People love me. I hear you Well. You know what, Tim, I completely agree.
Speaker 2: 34:06
I think there's lots of power in all this consistency and really setting the scene, setting your brand up for success, setting your family up for success. So any last little words that you have here, especially when it comes to video and photography, because a lot of people say I don't like those guys that are burly guys, I don't want to be in front of the photographer, like I don't even like being in front of the photographer and I'm a photographer, that's okay. Like, find you a professional that can make you feel at ease and make sure that you're able to get those good content images and understand the vision of that and then be consistent across all platforms with your imagery. So what's confusing sometimes is people will post hey, fall's coming up, why don't we get some like it's getting cold and put shorts out there? Why don't you buy some shorts instead of a nice warm jacket or something like that? So be consistent with the seasonal messaging and everything like that.
Speaker 2: 34:50
And the last thing is make sure you're talking to the right client. When you think about what imagery do I want my clients to see or potential clients to see, make sure you're talking to the right person in those markets. I work between two very different markets. I'm not going to show somebody out in Houston a country setting. If I'm in downtown Houston, if I'm in downtown Houston, vice versa, I'm not going to show somebody. Hey, here's a city view when we're in Lufkin. It just doesn't make sense, unless you're willing to make the two-hour drive.
Speaker 1: 35:22
No, no, no, You're right yeah.
Speaker 2: 35:24
And so it's just one of those things Understand who you're talking to and then make sure you do that visually and be able to communicate that. The last thing is call to action. Make sure your brand and your video, your imagery, is showing a call to action as well yes, I, I 100 like this is, guys.
Speaker 1: 35:44
It is so important. Those of you that are listening like, if you have not taken this home today, it is. This was a very insightful conversation, too, about covering so much about the power of those cohesive, authentic imagery, and most of you just need to get off of your booty and schedule a photography shoot. Trust a person that a professional photographer that can come and get the right lighting, get the right angles, get the right quality of imagery and how it will help shape your brand's identity. So, from creating that visual consistency that builds trust to using strong branding to connect with your ideal clients, I feel like Tim is in a really good job today of telling us how high quality visuals can position your business for premium pricing and long term recognition. So, remember, the images that you choose are more than just photos. It's really like the visual representation, or even the heartbeat, of your brand.
Speaker 1: 36:33
So my challenge for you today, listeners, is to take a fresh look at what you're using. Look at your website, look at your socials, look at your business cards. Look at everything. Does it really align with who your brand is, the core values and where there might be some opportunities for you to invest in updating those images and making more higher quality things. And notice, when you update those things, your brand's power strengthens and it just re-identifies it, it recreates it. It not recreate, it re-energizes it. Right, and if you're looking for expertise, it looks like we've met a new friend here, tim and his team. At 79 Photos are definitely here. Really quick, tim. If someone heard you on our podcast and wanted to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to do that?
Speaker 2: 37:16
Sure, you can either call me at 832-876-9419, or you can send me an email at info at 79photoscom, or you can just go to my website at 79photoscom, or you can just find me on Instagram at 79photography, or Instagram at 79photography as well, so seems pretty consistent to me, tim.
Speaker 1: 37:37
I try to be All right. Well, listen listeners. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of from the yellow chair. If you love listening to us today, give us a light, give us a vote I've got a vote, not about, it's, not even electoral but give us a light and give us a review. We would love to hear what you think about the show. Give us a follow. And, friends, thanks for sipping some lemonade with us today. We will see you next time.
