The biggest challenge a photographer faces is how to make a living but still remain creative. How can you satisfy the client's needs but feel like your personal vision is satiated at the same time? In order to fulfill this goal, let's take an inspiring approach and, for the moment, have you envision yourself as a brand. After all, brands are like people - they are born, they mature, they change and they must interact with the world around them. Basically, in order to be happy and prosperous, they must remain relevant.

There are three main keys to being a successful brand:

  1. Know your strengths and capitalize on them
  2. Understand your market and differentiate yourself from the competition
  3. Get ahead by staying current or better yet, aim for the future to keep ahead of the competition

To clarify, let's take a look at our favorite brands. Why do they take up brain space and get to live among us day to day? People love to shop at retail giant Target because the company changed the status quo and raised the retail consumer experience. Thanks to brand partnerships like Martha Stewart at Kmart and Michael Graves at Target, the notion of "mass class" (high design and quality for low everyday prices) permeated our culture. It is everywhere from Classico tomato sauces to Method dish soap. Just a few years ago, who knew it would be possible to buy an Isaac Mizahi dress at Target for $35?

Or, consider Apple, a technology brand that has changed the way we look at portable music players. It has changed the entire paradigm of handheld technology. Constantly innovating, Apple surpasses its competitors by keeping its eye on where consumers are headed and finding ways to plug into that lifestyle.

As a photographer, it's just as important to treat your vision as a brand. You need to know your visual style, its strengths, understand your market and stay current with prospective targets. If you are a family or children's photographer, you should already be very familiar with the family and kid-related magazines carried by your neighborhood magazine shop. Here, potential clients are lined up in alphabetical order, just waiting for you to copy down the relevant contacts and addresses from the mastheads. If you are thinking ahead, you've also taken note of the visual styles of the magazines. Usually, you only need to look at a few stories to see if the photo editor likes a clean composition or an authentic editorial look.

Define Your Market

Now let's look past the photography to the marketplace. How do you think magazines like Parents, Wondertime, and Cookie brand themselves? Conde Nast's media kit (found online at www.condenastmediakit.com) states Cookie magazine's mission is "believing that being a good parent and maintaining your sense of style are not mutually exclusive". They describe their relationship as being moms between 25 to 44 (36 being the median age). Their target moms have a family income of $75,000 or more, and 67.6 percent are employed full or part time. Their children are newborn to 9 years of age, 40 percent being newborn to 2 years old and 37.4 percent being 6 years and older.

When you look at your portfolio, how old do your moms look? Are they upper middle class to upper class? How old are the kids? How much does styling play a part in your images? What activities and concepts are you shooting? Now ask yourself if I were the photo editor at Cookie would I hire a photographer simply because he or she has nice work or a photographer who has pictures targeted to the subjects and style I need? Branding your vision can help you position your work, stay current and keep ahead of the competition. The best way to understand your clients is to look beyond what they publish, to connect with their customers. If a magazine's audience is a mother, then you need to break down what is important to Mom. This is exactly the same process they employ at the magazine.

Trend Awareness

Next time you are watching TV, reading a magazine or walking through the airport, look closely at each ad you see. Look beyond the image itself and try to discern the underlying message the advertisers are seeking to communicate. What is their strategy? Who are they targeting? How are they trying to define themselves as a brand? Eventually, you will start to find themes and similarities- what we at Spark refer to as notions.

For example, have you noticed how "green" our culture, and the subsequent advertising, has become? When driving down the highway, do you see the increase of windmills in Middle America? Or, did you know that WalMart has gone organic? Or have you heard that the top selling car is the Toyota Prius Hybrid? Culture and advertising naturally go hand in hand.

If you witness a shift in your everyday life or behavior patterns, chances are advertisers are aware of it and are finding ways to connect this shift in consumer lifestyle to their brand vision. Stock agencies, which supply editorial, advertising and corporate clients, are also aware of this drive for images that keep up with the needs of the marketplace and are on the lookout for photographers that understand this underlying demand.

By being aware of and tapping into current ideas, trends and cultural shifts, we clue into those same notions on which advertisers capitalize. In other words, by speaking the language of the client and understanding their brand values, you can successfully align your vision with theirs, or better yet- connect with those clients whose aesthetics are similar to your own.

As a creator, you personal vision is your brand. This practice isn't about compromising that vision but incorporating an additional layer of educated research into the needs of your targeted audience. Not only do you prove that you are in the know and aware of your clients' brand needs and market, you also challenge your own eye, thereby keeping it fresh and forward thinking.

Reprinted with permission of Spark Visual Research