Last week we were crazy stinkin’ excited to show you all our new website and officially introduce ourselves as Erica & Jon – Branding & Lifestyle Photographers! We hope you’ve had time to stop by our new website and take a look around at everything that means for us and our clients moving forward! Making the transition to focusing on branding photography wasn’t something we set out to do. Instead, it was something that sort of happened to us. Since announcing our new brand, we’ve had a lot of people ask us what exactly we mean when we say that we are Branding Photographers? We totally get it – it’s not necessarily something you hear everyday, so we’ll try to explain.
When’s the last time you saw something advertised on a billboard and actually purchased that product or service because of the billboard sign? Chances are, it’s been a long time, or maybe even never at all! Today’s marketing and advertising has changed drastically. Instead of walking through the city looking up at billboards, we’re looking down…at our iPhones. Social media has completely transformed brand marketing and brand awareness. Any business, whether an existing Fortune 500 company or a brand new startup must leverage the power of social media to get their brand in front of potential clients.
We’ve sat back and watched this massive advertising shift take place. It was subtle at first, and now almost every company you can think of has multiple social media platforms and even a Social Media Manager! Social media marketing is exponentially more effective than traditional print advertising methods. You can specifically target ads toward your ideal client base, and cater recurring content to your ideal clients tastes.
The major difference between digital marketing through social media and traditional print advertising is the need for constant content creation. Billboard advertising requires a great photo that stays up for a month, a quarter, maybe even six months! Digital marketing requires that same great photo daily, and in some cases multiple times per day!
That’s where we come in as branding photographers. We work with commercial brands, local businesses and trending bloggers to create content that can be used for their digital marketing calendars. When we say ‘branding photographer,’ that’s exactly what we are talking about. We create compelling imagery for brands – whether commercial, local, or personal – to represent their brand.
More and more businesses are realizing the importance of not just having a social media profile, but being consistently engaged on it with curated content. And that’s where the difference lies between ‘having’ a social media account and ‘using’ a social media account to promote and grow your business – engagement. It all comes down to creating an opportunity for your ideal client not to receive a sales pitch, but to become engaged with your brand. That high quality engagement is typically driven by professional and curated targeted photographs.
Our work as branding photographers has led us to some pretty amazing projects – some of which we still pinch ourselves about just to make sure it’s real! We’ve worked with local businesses like Ruze Cake House and Babbo Italian Eatery, capturing relevant content that reinforces their brands for digital marketing. Our work with commercial brands has brought us opportunities to work with national brands like the Chicago White Sox, a Major League Baseball team, photographing their latest season apparel for their social media marketing and advertising in their team stores. Our work with bloggers has opened doors to opportunities working with Chris and Heidi Powell from ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss and Jacqui Kruger’s (Former NFL Defensive End Paul Kruger’s wife) lifestyle blogs.
We are so passionate about effective digital marketing. We pour so much time and energy into creating a curated feed for our own business because we have seen first hand how effective it truly is. As entrepreneur and Founder of Vayner Media, Gary Vaynerchuck predicted, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are the ABC, NBC, and CBS of the next generation. They are marketing powerhouses overflowing with opportunity, and we’re happy to be on board!
If you own or represent a brand and would like more information on working with us, click here for our contact form!
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