For another one of our professional context lectures, we focused on branding and marketing in order to learn how to make our selves individual and be able to stand out from the other creatives going in/already in the industry. 

Marketing :

In terms of marketing, James spoke to us about how we should think of different ways to get our name and style out in the industry. One of the main ways of doing this is social media which has become a huge influence in the way that creatives are seen on a day to day basis. Instagram especially is being used to promote people’s work and connect people to one another, almost like business accounts. The site has become a lot more popular over the years for people who want to show off their businesses and who they are as people to attract customers and a wider audience. I personally use both Facebook and Instagram for business reasons as they allow me to show off my style and the work that I have been doing. Instagram gives its members an option for a business account which allows members to link their emails in their bios so that it is easier for potential clients and audiences to contact them. I made the decision to not disclose the information that I was at university as James mentioned that we should take this out of our social media as we are soon to be leaving and need to look as professional as possible. I think the way that I have done my bio works better because it shows that I am living and working in different areas and that I am willing to travel. In terms of branding, I feel as though I stick to the same theme throughout my Instagram. I have always posted my university projects on the site but I have also been posting personal projects as well. More recently, however, I have made the social media site more to my style of documentary, as this is what my most recent project has fallen in to. I have also done this with my Facebook page where I have linked both my Instagram and Facebook together so that I am reaching out to as many people as I possibly can. This works well in particular as I have been able to speak to people and visa versa. I have actually got clients through the Facebook page so I would definitely say that it is a worthwhile social media platform in terms of branding myself and applying to the wider audience.

Another branding technique that James spoke to use about was business cards as these are really easy to just hand to someone when you are talking to them about your work, and even if you’re not. He told us that he was fed up of the usual size of business cards and that he felt as though he could push the boat out slightly when giving his details to potential clients, so with that James told us to think about the size and formatting of our business cards. James chose to produce business cards the size of postcards so that he could show off his photographs at a decent size as well as including all of the information that he wanted to on the card. He mentioned how this is a more interesting item for potential clients to take and they are therefore more inclined to care about what you are trying to ‘sell’ them. To make the business card more professional, I would probably keep the back of it blank as I wouldn’t want it to look too busy and distracting. 

To Include:

-Name

-Occupation

-Email address

-Phone number

-Website

-Social media handles: Instagram and potentially Facebook

Where?

-https://www.moo.com/uk/

-https://www.vistaprint.co.uk/

-https://www.solopress.com/

Branding:

It is obvious that we all want to be taken seriously in the line of work and our career paths, but we discussed how to make sure that we were branding ourselves properly to reach out to wider audiences. I felt that this was really important because first impressions do mean everything so this is something that I will need to work on before I go into the industry, I need to think about how I want to brand myself and my future career/business. With this, I would need to think about how I dressed, what would I wear if I was going to meet a potential client. I guess that this relies on what I will be speaking about with the client and what it is that they want in a photographer, but the way that I speak would also fall under this. How do I communicate with clients? This also applies to the way that I will be writing to my clients and how I will be communicating with them, whether that is over email, phone or a more informal manner of social media. I personally don’t think that it matters how you are reaching out to the client but as long as I am talking to them in a professional manner, this is all that matters. 

Thinking about leaving university, I also what to start comprising a list of photo editors,
magazines, photographers, editors and people who I would want to work with when I leave/who I want to be published by so that I have a foot in the door of loads of different people. This would make life easier when I am having to find certain people for certain jobs and who to contact when I would need something within the industry. Creating a core list of names and contacts may help me to do this. I have thought about how I can do this and decided that I need to branch out where I go within my own time and the different people who I speak to. To be successful in this industry, I need to start attending private views, events, portfolio reviews, photofestivals, guest lectures and then show off my work and look around for people commissioning work as well as doing my research around this. I think it’s important that people realise that things don’t necessarily just turn up and people have to work hard for what they get and to actually make it any where in the industry. 

In terms of branding and marketing myself, I am still trying out new business cards. I know that I want to use a couple of different photographs for them because each of my projects have been so different to one another, but I haven’t worked out the rotation or how I want to display my information on them yet. I ordered some with an image from Centenary on as I show myself to people as a portrait photographer, but I wasn’t happy with the way it looked. I think it looked childish and unprofessional so I have ordered more to come for the degree show that I feel work better for my style. I feel as though this will help me to feel a lot more professional and hopefully be able to find a job for after university. I have included the business card below that I had from the start of second year, but I now realise that that is nothing like how I want to brand myself.