Build a Brand That Feels Natural (Not Forced) | Photography Marketing That Actually Works

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Laugh, learn, and take your photography to the next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras, Kara, Kim and Phyllis.

Welcome to the Cowgirls with Cameras podcast.

I'm Kim with Be More Business.

And Kim Beer Photography.

And I'm Kara with Fast Horse Photography.

And I'm Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette Photo.

Hello, you guys.

Hi.

Hi.

How's everybody doing today?

Good.

It's almost 50 degrees here.

I'm so excited.

It's getting warmer here, too, but we still have a boatload of snow on the ground.

Like, it is still very snowy out there.

I'm sure it's slushy if you try to walk in it, but it's pretty snowy.

We still have snow on the ground and, you know, in the shade, but not as much as you do, I'm sure.

But, yeah, snow, sun, shining.

It's all good.

How about you, Cara?

We've been cold.

I haven't really paid any attention to it.

I have been sick.

Oh.

I've just been being lazy, trying to get better.

And then I got put on prednisone, that steroid.

So I got.

I was sick, but also, like, eagerly, eerily motivated.

So I got my Christmas tree down and cleaned some closets.

Wait, wait, wait.

Back up a moment.

You just took your Christmas tree down?

Yeah, like, just the day before yesterday.

I liked it being up, and I didn't.

I didn't want to lose that little tiny piece of, like, happiness in my life.

Oh, well, now I'm sad you took it down.

I know.

Ed and I went back and forth on it, and I finally was like, I'm taking it down.

But I just have felt so bad that I finally was like, okay, I feel well enough.

I'm gonna do it.

So I get it, though, because my sister, of course, she has three or four different Christmas trees in her house, but she has one that's just her red bird tree, and it's up, and it's so pretty.

I'm like, I don't.

I would take it down.

I got mine up so late this year that I just didn't feel like I got to enjoy it long enough.

And I just love sitting in my living room all cozy with my lights.

And I agree.

And it was a good weekend to sit in front of the lights, so

it was a good weekend for it.

And then I started thinking about, like, how I've been sick and then how we leave for Arizona in just a couple of weeks.

And I was like, if I don't do it now, it's going to Be March before it comes down.

And then I'm going to feel really

bad and 80 degree weather.

I suggest that you just undecorate your tree and then redecorate it for spring

or for Valentine's Day or for Valentine's Day.

My sister has one for Valentine for each each holiday she has a tree.

I appreciate people like that, but that's like, not my life.

It's a lot of work.

Yeah.

Like, and, and also, like, I can barely keep up with my Christmas decor, like, keeping it stored.

And I just bought bins this weekend for the horse related Christmas decor that.

For my photo shoots that have Christmas horses.

Holiday horses.

And I'm like, if I had a box, that was Valentine's crap.

And I don't even.

What other holidays would you decorate for?

Like, I'm just thinking of the holidays, like all the boxes.

St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July.

I don't have that kind of time.

Memorial Day.

No one has that kind of time.

We're doing soccer and basketball right now.

Soccer, basketball, sick.

Doing retreats and running a business.

Yeah, that's probably plenty on the to do list.

Plenty on the to do list.

All right, well, shall we dive into our subject for today?

Let's do it.

I think we should.

Yay.

So this is building a brand that feels natural instead of forced.

You know, when I sit and I think about this topic, I think about the times in my business life when some expert has told me that this is what I need to do.

And me being the rebellious sort that I am, I generally run the other direction.

It was like, oh, no, you told me to do that.

I ain't doing it.

So, yeah, some of those things.

So for my part of this discussion today, I'm going to give you some definitions on some things around marketing that are going to come up in the conversations that Kara and Phyllis are talking about today.

And I know a lot about what they're going to say.

And I'm going to just chime in here right now for time's sake to say I agree with all of it, but I do want to give some context into marketing and some of the.

The terms that we use and what they mean and why it's important that as a small business owner that you understand it or even as a photographer who is doing this as kind of a hobby slash side hustle, that you understand what these things mean so that you can build your hobby or your business accordingly.

So primarily, what we're talking about today is a brand, and brand is vibe.

That you put out into the world.

It is the way that you show up, the way that you do business.

And there was a lovely young lady that we interviewed on the business Animal podcast, Meredith, I think was her name, that said, your brand is the conversation people have about you when you are not in the room.

And I can't think of a better way to say that because it's really, really true.

It's the way that you show up.

It's the whole experience kind of combined together.

Then we're also going to talk about niches, and niches are specializations.

And in marketing, we almost always talk about a niche in terms of who you are selling to.

So you find a niche or niche.

If you're from a different part of the country than I am, you find a group of people that you are serving.

So for many, many years, I had a niche.

You can have more than one niche niche in your business.

I had a niche in working with reigning horse organizations in the Midwest doing horse shows.

That is an example of a niche.

Another niche that I have worked with are small businesses in the equine industry who need imagery and marketing, designed materials for their marketing and don't have a person on staff that can do that.

I have served as their, what we would call now, fractional marketing person.

So I worked for a bunch of them and did their marketing for them.

So those are examples of niches, very specialized, very focused groups of people and solving a very focused problem within that group.

Now, in addition to that, we have our target market, which is our market that we serve.

And there are varying levels to that market.

So, for example, I'll just use cowgirls with cameras as an example.

We obviously serve photographers, but we go down a notch or niche, or niche, however you want to say it.

We go down into working with people who are especially interested in equine photography.

And then under that subheader, there are folks who want to do Western photo photography.

And then in that subheader, there's Western lifestyle photography and Western portrait photography and Western storytelling photography.

And then you can do that whole same thing again with video.

And then on top of that, we have people who are interested in learning more.

So we've.

We've even narrowed ourselves down a little further.

When you narrow your focus in your target market, it makes it easier to have conversations with that target market.

You can have multiple niches, you can have multiple target markets, but you need to remember, conversations with each are going to be different.

And then also another term that we're going to be using today is income streams.

So these are the ways that we make money with our brand in our niche by serving our target market.

So niche or niches?

So you can have more than one.

I do want to make that clear because all of us have more than one niche.

So.

And part of what we want you to walk away with today is that that's okay.

You don't have to pick just one.

All right, who's up?

I think it's Kara.

Okay, so what I'm going to talk about after Kim gave that awesome.

All the definitions and the awesome intro is I'm going to do my very best to represent and talk about this in terms of what if we are the brands?

Like, we are the brand.

So we're talking about why you are the brand and how having those shared values can play a bigger role than we like to admit and why people are, I think today are choosing humans.

They're choosing real humans that they feel connected to over those, like, perfectly polished brands that we've seen historically.

You guys have seen the Dr. Pepper song.

We talked about this the other day.

So I was thinking about how Dr. Pepper is kind of a cool example about how they have always been a polished brand.

And then they chose to, like, go out with this gal that was.

I don't think that she was really known in the world of anything in terms of writing jingles.

And they fell in love with her Dr. Pepper jingle that she wrote on and put out on Tick Tock.

And it became like a huge thing for them and it just blew them up and like endeared people to them because they were looking at more like the human side and building that connectedness.

So that's kind of what I'm talking about here to some extent.

I think that our potential clients that are out there, our target market, they're not just out there hunting for those skills that we offer as equine photographers.

They want to work with people who they feel their values are aligned with and they want to be able to respect that person.

And they want to respect the person that they're paying money to or the business that they're paying money to.

And they want to feel good about support, supporting that business.

I've said this before, before I personally make a purchase from especially a small business or a new business that I've never shopped with before.

I spend time looking at their brand online.

I might go to their social media page.

I might go to their website because I'm looking for some kind of alignment or maybe even just Like a major unalignment.

Like I want to know are we aligned or are there things that, like, I'm not okay with spending my money to support, you know, in terms of a business.

So I think when you have an emotional alignment like that, that it's going to build confidence and any inquiries that come into your business or your services before a purchase is ever made.

So it's kind of like that way that people get a little glimpse of you and they start to develop a little bit of trust and like, of you before they ever work with you, because you have an instant connection there through your brand.

I think that more so than ever, it's less about like a niche service that, that you provide or maybe like a unique product that you carry and maybe even less today about like where you're located, you know, like in the world these days we can ship stuff, most of us are willing to travel, or we can even provide services virtually.

So it's less about the location and more about like the brand.

About the brand.

Who is the brand?

You is the brand.

I want to do a little caveat in saying that personal doesn't mean oversharing.

And I do think that sometimes that gets brands in trouble.

Sometimes it gets people that are representing brands in trouble.

And I think that it means more about being intentional about what you do share and then repeating that over and over, over time so that people start to recognize you.

I recommend choosing things that you're comfortable sharing that align with your brand and that will align you further with your target market.

So for example, I might talk about my horses or the fact that I'm a Shetland pony owner and the struggles of trying to keep a Shetland pony alive in Florida.

That's actually a tricky thing, believe it or not.

And other Floridians, horse owners, they understand.

I might talk about being a soccer mom to an almost teenager and what that's like trying to keep up with that experience and also run a small business.

I also have found myself talking more and more about being a middle aged midsize woman and what that's like because as a photographer, like I'm in a position to pose those people right and to help them feel like they can be in front of the camera too.

So those are just three areas that I have chosen personally that I feel comfortable talking about that have to do with my own life, that I bring those into my brand.

What you are the brand does not mean is processing everything publicly.

It's okay to take a beat and decide if that's a good Fit for your business.

It doesn't mean sharing every opinion that you have, and it doesn't mean that you have to invite everyone into every part of your life.

And that feels super tricky because we can go live anytime we want now.

You know, there's all these opportunities out there to share every little piece of our life.

We don't have to do that.

And I understand that most people don't feel comfortable doing that.

I don't feel comfortable doing that.

So what I think that that leads us to is just a realization that you can be personal and still be private.

And I think that leads me to just a short little comment around boundaries, and that boundaries are an important part of your brand.

They do have to be a part of your brand.

Understanding that boundaries build trust.

They don't put distance between you and your clients.

If you are the brand, then your boundaries will help define that brand, because boundaries tell clients that you're stable, that you're intentional, and that you're safe to work with.

When people see boundaries, they subconsciously think, this person knows who they are.

This person respects their time.

They respect their energy.

This person will respect my time and my energy as well.

And I think that creates trust.

But with that being said, the hard parts of being the brand are that when you're the brand, you will not be for everyone.

And that can feel super uncomfortable first, at first, especially if you're a people pleaser or you're someone that just, you know, you want to be liked by everyone, or you feel like you have to suck up all the clients that you can suck up into your little orbit.

That's going to feel really uncomfortable.

And some people are not going to resonate with your voice and how you do things.

They're going to scroll past you.

They won't reach out.

It does not mean that you've messed up.

It just means that you're getting clear on what your brand looks like and the types of people that you want to work with, and that can naturally filter people out.

And I think that the more specific and natural that your brand starts to feel, the less that it kind of becomes for everyone, the less universal it is, shall we say.

And honestly, that's not a terrible thing.

It's not a bad thing.

No, it's a good thing.

Right?

It helps the right people recognize you faster.

So, like, those people that can relate to you and they're, like, excited to see you pop up on their screen, like, they're going to be like, there's my person I want to work with.

That person so much faster.

And I think the last piece of this is like, trying to be liked by everyone is so exhausting.

It's usually when branding starts to feel forced.

If you're out there saying to yourself, every year, it's, I need to rebrand.

Oh, it's time for me to rebrand.

I really need to rebrand.

Being yourself might start to shrink your audience at first, but it strengthens the relationships that matter.

And that's really important because when you're out there saying, I'm going to rebrand.

Oh, I've got to rebrand again, you might be trying to please too many people, you know, or you're just.

I don't know, you're.

You're still trying to tweak things, and it's not quite working out.

So I don't know.

That was a long way to.

To say that, but I hope people got the idea what I was trying to say this time around.

I think they did.

And I want to add one thing to this that I know is on a lot of people's minds, and that is all of us being concerned that AI is coming for our jobs.

AI can do a lot of things, but it cannot replace the experience.

And that is really what Kara is talking about here, is when you become the brand, you also become the experience.

And people, as we move into the future, being a good experience and having a good experience for them, and that's going to be what they buy.

That is going to be your sales tactic.

That is going to be the thing that will keep your books full in a world where, yes, you can take a photo and send it through AI and make it look technically good, even if you don't have a ton of talent.

But here's the thing.

Can't replace that experience.

And that's where being photographers, that's where we have the advantage.

I'm sorry, but a computer cannot.

Cannot recreate the experiences that we create for our clients.

That's a good point.

Well said.

Well, I guess it's my turn.

It is.

That was a hard act to follow, you guys, so I'll do my best.

I'm going to talk about the positive effects of being diversified as a brand.

Phyllis.

That's me.

I'm supposed to talk about that.

Good job, Phyllis.

It is Groundhog Day everywhere around here.

Everybody gives that poor groundhog.

And we have one down here, too.

Well, I never even saw what happened.

What happened to him?

Did he see a shadow or not?

Of course he saw a shadow.

The sun was out.

I mean, Oh, I mean, my gosh.

That poor, poor, poor guy.

I feel bad.

Everybody.

And now they've come out with Phyllis, his wife.

His ex wife has moved to Florida.

You're screwed.

You're screwed.

Oh, good.

Phyllis.

Phyllis the groundhog.

Yeah.

Did you see your shadow today?

Phyllis.

Punxsutawney Phyllis.

So we basically could just send our Phyllis.

We should do a Cowgirls with cameras Groundhog Day Challenge.

Every year on February 2nd, we'll send Phyllis outside and we'll see if she sees her shadow.

Did Phyllis see her shadow?

I do not want all that backlash and all that.

All those hard feelings and all that.

Those negative comments about.

If I say it's going to be six more weeks of winter.

Oh,

so which one means what?

Since he saw his shadow, is that.

That means there's six more.

Six more weeks of winter?

Yeah.

So which?

I mean, duh, reality wise, it is

six more weeks of winter.

Oh, God.

Okay, okay.

Back to point.

Back to point.

Sorry.

Leave it to me to get off track here.

Well, we are recording this on Groundhog Day.

It was appropriate.

And we're supposed to be moving along here.

Okay.

I personally believe that diversification is especially important for photographers who want a career that's sustainable both creatively and financially.

A strong brand can be diverse without losing its identity, because your brand, like you guys already just said, your brand isn't what you photograph.

It's how you see the world.

It's how you tell stories.

It's how you make people feel.

It's how your work makes people feel.

Diversification doesn't dilute your brand.

It expands your market in a way that feels natural.

When you photograph different subjects, you're serving multiple adjacent audiences with the same core skills and visual voice for each subject that you photograph.

Your mastery of light, emotion, and composition travels between each market of our genre or whatever you're photographing instead of.

So you're increasing your value rather than diluting it for many audiences, increasing your value to put your work in front of different audiences.

And what I love, too, is that when one market kind of slows down, another carries the momentum.

Instead of forcing yourself into a box you've outgrown, diversification allows you to grow alongside your clients and potential clients, too.

This isn't about being scattered.

For me, it's really about intention.

And when your values and point of view stay consistent, your brand remains recognizable wherever your work shows up.

That's all I got.

That's a good amount.

And diversification.

You know, when I very first started my business, Phyllis, you know me, I am the queen of diversification.

I love a lot of different things, and I have been told so many times in my lifetime that I need to focus on one thing, and I can't do it.

I love the diversification.

I think if I did only one thing, I would have quit doing it because I would be way too bored with it.

And I think diversification, it keeps you fresh, it keeps you creative, and it really does add to the entire experience.

I feel like you don't get the full experience of Kim unless you come and experience Kim in multiple different fashions.

So if I'm going to be my brand, which at this point point, I have accepted that I am.

That took me a really long time, by the way, to.

To really identify.

I kept trying to make it all about the business, and in reality, everything I do is centered around me as the brand and what I bring to people and hopefully what they take away from that.

So, yeah, I think it is for each of us.

It is that way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's so easy to feel like you have to put yourself into, like, this, like, box.

Like, I see other business owners doing it this way, and they're presenting themselves this way and doing these things, and that is.

I can't even imagine Kim trying to shove somebody like you into one of those boxes and trying to work.

Right.

Like, this is how you're going to run a business that's going to be successful, and you're going to do it this way because that's what the people want, and that's just not the case.

Nope, not going to work.

And honestly, when we first started talking about this, I thought you meant, like, the powerful effects of being diversified.

Well, I thought it was meant, like, yeah, I like to shoot all kinds of different things, but that part of me brought different clients to me, and it brought different income streams to me.

So, yes, yeah, yeah.

One led to the other, you know, so I wouldn't be able to make the living I do now if I wasn't diversified.

So, yeah, there's safety and diversification because if one stream dries up, do you have a backup to get sustained from?

So it's.

It's much nicer to have more than one.

You can get too many balls in the air.

I am living proof of that.

That.

Because I do get behind on it.

However, I still like juggling all of them.

And how many podcasts did you say you had exactly?

We don't.

We don't want to talk about that.

But listen to me on all of them.

All right, you guys, thank you so much for hanging out with us today.

Kira, do you want to tell them all of the places that they can find us?

Because I will screw that up.

Yes, of course.

You can find us on social media at Cowgirls with cameras dot com.

We are on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok and you can follow us on all of those places and we would love to follow you back as well.

So give us a follow.

You can also find us@cowgirlswithcameras.com that's a great place to find out about the ways that you can join us at a shoot out in the field somewhere.

We've got some great events coming up.

And last but not least, if you're not in our online private community, you should be.

It's calgarycameras.community.

come check it out.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Cowgirls with Cameras.

Don't let the laughter and learning stop here.

Join our community on social media and be sure to visit our website for more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals.

Head to cowgirlswithcameras.com that's cowgirlswithcameras dot com See you next time.