How I found my first Personal Branding clients

Back in 2010 I started doing wedding photography and thought I would never want to do anything else.

I loved it.

And I loved that it eventually meant that I could leave my job as an Insurance Broker and work for myself.

But after about 7 years I started to long for the occassional weekend off in the summer. I was only doing about 30 weddings a year but I felt like I was missing out on so much family life.

Sophie would come to stay on a weekend and I’d be leaving for a wedding. Getting texts from Andrew with their latest adventures, as I ran round after brides and grooms or spent hours at the computer editing.

Don’t get me wrong. I was unbelievably grateful that people were choosing (and paying) me to do weddings. But I was feeling a little burnt out.

So in 2017 I decided to try something a bit different, that might fit into a normal working week.

How I found my first Personal Branding clients

I was watching more and more of my friends become fed up with corporate life, and opting to create their own little businesses.

Often from their kitchen table, usually as some kind of a side hussle until it took off.

And I realised that with things like Instagram becoming so popular I could help them with my photos.

So I did what we all do.

I started to take photos and sharing them on Instagram and Facebook.

But all I had were wedding clients and families who followed me for portrait sessions.

They were not my ‘new’ ideal clients.

So this is what I did…

I got a separate Instagram account

There is definitely a big debate on whether this is really necessary.

However, in my opinion, the fact that you’re serving different audiences means that you diluting your message.

There are downsides to it, in that it’s yet another time consuming thing to do on social media.

But, its less confusing for your clients and it means you can share what you want to be known for, and talk about things that are specific to Personal Branding.

Only show what you want to be known for

If you want to be known for light bright, airy and inspirational branding images, only show that type of photos.

It gives your potential clients, no doubt about what you offer.

And if you don’t currently have that type of photo to show, arrange some shoots with business owners you know will be perfect for the phtoos and get yourself a portfolio.

Wedding photographers do this all the time. They do shoots to improve their portfolio and to work with other suppliers in their industry. It helps you out and usually the suppliers you’re working with (who doesn’t love getting some free photos and publicity).

Find someone you know who has a large following and ask if you can take their photo.

Doing shoots for FREE is never going to be good in the long term. It undervalues your work and leaves you feeling fed up (and a bit resentful for being taken advantage of – even though you’re not).

But offering FREE shoots as a way to get in front of your ideal audience and doing it strategically is a great idea.

When I first started doing Personal Branding photography I worked with the owner of a large networking group for women, and in exchange for membership and the ability to get in front of her audience, I did a branding shoot.

She shared her images (that was a condition of me doing them) and then when I attended the events people had heard of me.

Network in the places that your ideal client networks

I found that though I really hated networking, getting to talk to small business owners in a relaxed setting, and getting the chance to tell them about what I do.

In fact at one point I even set up a networking group – just for my ideal clients.

I blogged about Personal Branding

I started sharing helpful blog posts for my ideal clients.

I talked aboiut what to wear, lots of ideas for where we could do the shoots and what they might need to bring with them.

The blog posts started to get picked up by google, which meant that I began to get enquiries too.

It takes a bit of time, but if you read the book They Ask, You answer … you’ll get some great ideas for how to do it!

Thanks again and hope that How I found my first Personal Branding clients has helped you. And if you have any questions about shoots, just drop me a message.

And when you’re ready, here are three ways that I can help you:

1) Visit my blog for tips on VISIBILITY.

Every week I discuss strategies to improve your visibility, get over your fear of visibility and my latest shoots.  Read here

2) Coaching & Mentoring.

I now offer coaching and mentoring

3) Join ‘Visibility School’.

Visibility school is a membership group where you get 12 months of photoshoots, a fab little Facebook group and a Visibility Toolkit (new for 2021 members) . Read