Top 3 Considerations Before a Brand Photography Session

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In this latest installment of what I consider “Business Strategies I’m Learning on the Fly,” I focus on branding, specifically my upcoming brand photography session with Branding Photographer and PR Strategist Kristin Hardwick.

Here’s the plan: next Monday, Kristin will arrive at my home office and snap brand worthy photos, reflective and supportive of Waypoint Writing. To prepare for the session, Kristin and I briefly discussed what will no doubt become a much larger conversation about why branding photography is so important for a business.

As I get organized for the shoot, I am keeping three key considerations in mind. Dubbing them AAA, my primary concerns are attention, aesthetics, and ambition.

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Why You Should Try a Giveaway as Part of Your Brand Marketing Strategy

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Less than one year into business ownership, each day presents a learning curve that sometimes looks like a gentle slope, but often feels as though I’m standing at the base of a flagpole. Outside of my own expertise, the only way I manage to avoid total babe-in-the-woods status is to surround myself with strategists who know what they’re doing. Soliciting advice, experience, and ideas from those who have done this longer and are willing to share proven strategies designed to enhance my brand marketing strategy is invaluable.

The latest suggestion came from Branding Photographer and PR Strategist, Kristin Hardwick. She suggested that Waypoint Writing should try a giveaway and, inspired by some recent conversations I had with fellow business owners, I thought — why not?

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Why Good Photos Matter to Your Brand Identity

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Ever wonder if good photos really matter to your brand identity?

In the online world, first impressions are made in less than two tenths of a second. Before clients read your text, or understand what exactly you can help them with, they form a baseline impression based on your visuals. This means your design and your photos are of the utmost importance. You can be the absolute right person to solve their problem, or selling the secret that will change their lives, but if your photos don’t captivate and convince them of that right off that bat, you’re going to have an uphill battle on your hands.

Whether it’s your website, your social media, or your company newsletter, you want your photos to be consistent and representative of your brand identity. What does that mean? It means that your wardrobe choices for headshots and website photos should be consistent with what your customers expect to see you in. It means that you should be photographing your business in a location that makes sense for your audience, and it means that you’ll want to choose professional photos, over selfies and shaky phone pics.

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Why Your Business Needs a Product Video Demonstration

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In my last post, I spoke in general, but data-driven terms about why businesses of all sizes need video marketing. A recent conversation with a colleague provided the opportunity to go a bit more in-depth by targeting specific purposes for creating video and a quick consideration of their intended audiences. If you are trying to market a product, your business needs a product video demonstration. 

So, this next installment in the Waypoint Writing ongoing video series is all about why your product needs a video demonstration. To keep it simple, consider these the 5 Es driving demo videos: Evidence, Explanation, Expense, Ease, and Examination. After a quick evaluation of what each E represents (anyone else love alliteration as much as I do?), check out what Rich Allen, Owner of Zone3 and ProThree, US Branch, had to say about his experience with Eddie (yet another E. Eddie and the 5 Es… sounds like a fifties band) and his own product demo video.

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In the Constant Quest for Fresh Content, an Argument to Keep it Classic {VIDEO}

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Somehow, the other day, I found myself in front of a TV, instead of a laptop, screen. I can’t now – even as I sit here back in front of the said laptop screen – remember what I was watching or how I thought I had the room in my to-do list to park it and zone out. Now, I’m going to say that I was catching the headlines and keeping up with current events. But, in all likelihood, I was rewatching Clark Griswold struggle to get his “exterior illumination” on.

What I can confirm watching – for the gazillionth time – was a commercial. A specific commercial that made me stop and actually wonder how many times I had seen it and what makes Hershey’s apparently immune from the pressure to crank out new content on a regular, but seemingly never fast enough, basis.

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