Why You Can’t Share That Brand Shoot

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We're professional photographers, Mr + Mrs and Mom + Dad. We like to share insights into our industry and empower other photographers to build their biz.

Hi, WE'RE ERICA+JON

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So you’ve just completed a brand shoot with your dream client. You were SO excited when they booked you and you spent a lot of time carefully planning, executing, and delivering on their amazing session. You’re in LOVE with the results and you can’t wait to get those dreamy photos airdropped over to your phone and can share them with the world! Only…you can’t share them just yet. 

Disappointing? Absolutely. Part of being a brand photographer? Yep.

If you’re a wedding or portrait photographer (or used to be!), this can seem so foreign and/or frustrating! We wish we WEREN’T speaking from experience on this one, but unfortunately, we learned about this concept the hard way when we transitioned from the wedding/lifestyle space and started offering brand shoots several years ago.

Now, we’re here to help YOU anticipate all of the “new” things that come with brand shoots, so today, we’re going to talk about a few reasons as to why you can’t share that brand shoot!

Your Client Has a Day Job

Sometimes, you’ll find yourself with a client who is taking the HUGE leap to leave their day job and start their own business! Maybe it’s something totally brand new for them, or maybe they’ve been working on this side hustle for a while and finally have the momentum they need to transition out of their 9-5. Whatever the case, there’s a good chance your client will want to get those brand photos done and ready to go before they put in their 2-week notice. 

While it can be so hard to leave all those images on your hard drive, you have to remember: this is your client’s livelihood! They’re taking a big step, and in addition to creating beautiful photos for them, it’s also your job to be sensitive to their wishes when it comes to using those photos for marketing.

Your Client is Collaborating

Maybe your client needs a brand shoot because they want images that showcase a collaboration with another business or brand. While these can be super exciting, collabs or sponsorships typically come with strict timelines. This might mean that you can’t share the images until your client does. Influencers especially could be working under contracts that depend on the confidentiality of the photos you’re taking. If you post them before your client does, you could negatively impact their whole collab. Definitely don’t be that guy!

Your Client Hasn’t Launched That Yet

Your client might have called on your brand photographer awesomeness to shoot a new product line or service they are offering. Yay for you! Keep in mind that these new offerings probably have a specific launch date that you don’t want to jeopardize! 

Remember when we told you we learned this lesson the hard way? Well, we did. Once, we posted an image of a well-known client of ours after we delivered their session. We were super proud of the images and so excited to show the world! There we were, happy and not even thinking about the impact that post might have, when we got a message from the client asking us to take the image down. At first, we were almost offended that someone would ask that! But then, we put ourselves in the client’s shoes and realized that we could be negatively impacting their brand! We promptly took the post down and made a few simple changes to avoid the same situation in the future.

Those are just a few reasons as to why you may have to hold off on pressing “post” with that brand shoot! The key takeaway here is this: Sharing brand photos prematurely could mean letting the world in on a secret your client isn’t ready to share yet…and we don’t want that! 

Avoiding the Awkward

One way we’ve learned to avoid this awkward issue is simply to add a task into our workflow that prompts us to speak to our client about sharing their images! This way, we don’t forget to ask and they don’t forget to tell. It’s an easy step that has helped us so much in delivering a top notch client experience with no hiccups!

Share Without Sharing Too Much

Keep in mind that when it comes to letting your followers in on what you’re up to, there are ways to share elements of your clients’ brand shoot without giving away anything secret! We’ve definitely been known to purposely leave out a part of the room when we’re doing that famous video-sweep for reels or even use fun stickers to block out part of a photo in stories. There are ways to get creative and show your audience how much you’re killing it without giving away too much!

We hope this helps you the next time you run into a situation where image secrecy is key! Remember friend, at the end of the day, you’re working with a fellow business. Being sensitive to their needs and using the golden rule is always in style. Trust us, it’ll make it that much better when you do finally get to share that dream session!

Sharing a Brand Shoot
https://ericaandjon.com/

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