How to Break Into Personal Brand Photography (Comprehensive Guide!)

How to Break Into Personal Brand Photography

The StorySession System
Part 5 of 5: By Jamie M Swanson

How to Break Into Personal Brand Photography

The StorySession System
Part 5 of 5: By Jamie M Swanson

Here’s what we know so far:

Most photographers are struggling to book clients (it’s not just you) because they don't see or understand how the market has changed. (Part 1)
Business Owners need a steady stream of new images to market their business (and they don't want to DIY it. They are happy to hire an expert that saves them time and takes high-quality images that grow their personal brand). (Part 2)
Many former best practices that used to help you grow your business are now outdated, turning clients away and losing you business. (Part 3)
There has never been a better time than NOW to take action and pivot into Personal Brand Photography (but it is quickly becoming popular, so don't wait!)(Part 4)

Can I share a little secret with you?

When I first started The Modern Tog, my online business teaching photographers how to get clients, I intentionally focused on growing the business brand instead of my personal brand.

I did NOT want a personal brand.

I'm a disheveled mom with 6 kids.

The honest truth? I'm lucky if I shower 2x per week, and it's not at all unusual for me to wear the same clothes several days in a row.

I just didn't want all that attention.

I was SUPER awkward on camera.

And it just felt like a ton of pressure to have to be interesting and worth following.

I knew you didn't HAVE to have a personal brand to be successful.

But then suddenly when everything became crazy saturated online, and I started paying attention to what the successful people were doing, they all had one big thing in common.

The most successful entrepreneurs and influencers were using their personal brand to connect with their audience.

I had one of the first marketing courses for photographers online, and it was super successful.

But then, many other photographers started selling marketing programs online too (with several of these courses coming from my own students!!!!)

Suddenly everything began to change.

With lots of similar courses on the market, why would anyone buy from The Modern Tog brand instead of from the photographer that they've gotten to know personally through their online brand?

People connect with people more than they will ever connect with a business, and they will buy from those they feel most connected to.

So deciding to grow a personal brand was a huge paradigm shift for me.

In fact, I started a behind-the-scenes podcast where I've been sharing the entire process and what I'm learning so that I can help others make this transition, too.

I started to study the biggest personal brands to figure out how they did it.

There was one big thing they all had in common.

The biggest personal brands all used Story.

I was no stranger to the power of stories.

I had been telling stories in my emails, blog posts, courses, marketing materials, and more for years.

I'm even using it here, right now.

People engage with stories and remember stories far easier than random facts, and even spend $43 BILLION dollars on watching stories every year, just in the US alone.

Storytelling in business is growing in a big way because it works.

In fact, when we hear a story, it changes our brain.

Uri Hasson, a neuroscientist based at Princeton University, found that when people listen to the same personal story together, their brain activity becomes synced.

This means that Story shapes how people think.

Do you see how powerful that is?

Hasson warned that this can make people with a platform "disproportionately powerful", with even a single sentence being enough to change how people interpret a story.

How our brains respond to story by Uri Hasson

Psychology Today dug into this more deeply and found that when you tell a story to someone, they feel what you feel.

They empathize.

And as you relate someone's desires through a story, their become the desires of the audience.

When you tell a Story, you've got your audience's attention.

When people feel what you feel, experience what you experience, and want what you want, it builds a MASSIVE connection to you.

This is why Story is at the heart of every strong Personal Brand.

This is why I created a story-based framework called the StorySession System to help photographers become successful Personal Brand Photographers.

Because when you bring story into the images you create for your clients, they can transform their business.

(We saw this back in part 2 with Sandra McLemore, where Personal Brand Photography helped her 10x her online business).

If you don't understand and incorporate Story into your images, you're just doing another generic portrait session that anyone could do, and it's not going to actually help your clients grow their business.

Story makes you the expert worth paying for.

Understanding the importance of Story and becoming an expert #Storytaker (that is, someone who uses the StorySession System to take their clients stories and bring them to life in images) will set you apart.

You can know all the marketing tactics in the world for getting clients, but without story, it's just as dry and uninspiring as a marriage without love.

So let's dive into the StorySession System, shall we?

The StorySession System

In full disclosure, I want to let you know that the StorySession System is a 6-week in-depth paid course that I usually run once or twice a year.

I get a group of photographers together and spend 6 weeks diving deep with them into each step of this process and answering all their questions as they implement the system.

I am currently not sure when the next class will be at this point, as I'm working on a big secret project, which is part of why I'm sharing this overview and wrote this entire free series for you now.

Don't want to wait?

If you don't want to miss out on getting this up and running before the market is saturated and want to check out the Self-Study version of the course right away, Click Here to Request an Invitation now!

Step 1: Understand Their Story

The first step in the StorySession System is by far the most important, and it's one that most people struggle with the most.

But when you can get this figured out, everything becomes easy.

You've got to get inside the mind of your ideal client and truly come to understand how they think.

You need to know their about photography, what would help them most in growing their business and personal brand, their struggles and frustrations, what their dream scenario would be, and more.

You need to fully understand their story.

When you show that you understand them and have thought through how this can help them, then hiring you is a no-brainer.

This is not at all unique to Personal Brand Photography, but it is absolutely vital to start here.

How you market to the higher-end entrepreneur or influencer or business owner is going to be VERY different from how you market to someone just starting out.

For example, the high-end client is more likely to need someone who can act as an ongoing team member.

They want someone who understands their brand, the stories they tell, their clients, and plays a big part in helping them plan out what photos to take and how to use them.

They'll usually want to work with you somewhere between every quarter to more frequently like a few times a month and would be more likely to sign a long-term 1 to 2-year contract with you to secure their spot as one of your clients.

Speaking of contracts, I worked with an Intellectual Property Lawyer to create a Personal Brand Photography Contract Template Bundle that perfectly aligns with the StorySession System and requires very little modification.

It comes with 2 versions of the contract, one for a single session, and one that covers a long-term multi-session contract like the one I was just talking about. Plus it has 2 model releases (for adults and minors) so you'll have everything you need.

As a thank you for actually reading this entire series, you can save $70 by using code ireadtheseries (all lowercase). Only good for new purchases, cannot be applied to past purchases, thanks for understanding.

You can learn all about it and purchase it here.

BTW, if you know someone else looking to buy it, instead of just passing the code to them, I'd appreciate it if you'd encourage them to give this a read too and hint strongly that they might find a coupon code in it. *wink wink* Thanks!

If you're working with someone who is just getting their buisness started, you'll be more successful offering a lower-priced middle-market starter package that gives them what they need to get going, such as images for a website banner and social media profiles.

They have so many things they are still investing in and building that they likely won't have the budget to do this on an on-going basis yet. So you'll just immediately lose them if that's what you try to offer without understanding them.

But when they grow, if you served them well and helped early on, they're more likely to come back and hire you on an ongoing basis when they need that steady stream of images.

There's far more opportunity for business in the middle market (there will always be more people just starting out than who are successful), but going after the high-end recurrring clients where you are more of a team member is definitely better for you (steady stream of income you can count on!) so that's what I recommend.

It does take longer to find these recurring clients, so you may want to also offer some themed starter packages until you get to that point.

I'll tell you more about how to find them below when we talk about finding clients.

So how do you truly find out what they want and need?

It's relatively simple.

You just talk to them and ask them.

In fact, in the full StorySession System course I share an interview I did with several online entrepreneurs and influencers and asked them all about what they wanted and needed from photography.

Even I was surprised by some of their responses (and I'm basically the ideal client for this too!)

But their responses helped me shape this entire system into something that works.

So go out and get to know some of the people you'd like to work with and talk through what their needs are.

Get involved in online groups where your ideal client hangs out and ask them what they want.

The more you can really learn who they are and what they need, the better the rest of the system will work for you.

Step 2: Create the Ideal Business for Your Client

This step is the biggest step that takes the most time.

Once you understand your ideal client inside and out, your job is to think about what the PERFECT Personal Brand Photography business would be like for them, and then create that.

We want this to be love at first sight.

Instead of thinking about what most people are doing and how things generally work (which we both know is more likely to push them away), we need to get creative and make this a "Hell yes!" kind of decision for them once they find us.

Want to be seen as the expert in your area?

Then you'll likely need to separate this from the other kinds of photography you're already doing.

If you mix it all together, you'll be seen as a generalist and not truly the expert, and if you want recurring, high-end clients, you need to be seen as the expert.

This may require a new name & brand for your business, depending on your current brand, and it may require a new website and workflow and everything.

Feeling overwhelmed yet?

Don't.

Here's why.

First, you don't need a full website or blog for this at all.

All you need is a simple one-page website called a "Landing page" that has all the basic information they need, like a place to see your work, an explanation of what you offer, your pricing, and how to contact you.

These clients aren't going to Google first to find a photographer. With how saturated the market is, that's way too overwhelming of a task. I'll explain how they are finding photographers below.

Think of this kind of like an online business card extension that just gives them the basic info that they need to see if this is a good fit for them or not.

In the StorySession System course, I go through each piece of information that you need on here, how to write each section, and even provide free access to software that makes this easy to create.

It's genuinely not as bad as you think. Keep it simple and think about what they need to know to decide to hire you, and focus on that.

"Done" is better than "Perfect".

I live by that phrase. It's what I talked about in part 4 of this series, and it's why most people don't actually succeed in this.

Don't let that be you!

It'll never be perfect anyways.

Our desire for perfection is just our own fear of being judged, so don't let that hold you back.

Next, you need to determine your pricing.

I create packages based on the number of stories that we are going to photograph and the number of images I'll deliver, NOT based on the amount of time the sessions take.

More time is NOT more value. Time is their most valuable asset, so do NOT waste it!

Your pricing will vary significantly based on what market you're trying to serve.

For the middle market, it'll be a lower price, closer to what you'd see for a regular portrait session or extended headshot session in your area.

For the high-end clients, where you are going to be a full-service team member, this may range to several thousand dollars per quarter, or even far more than the top high-end wedding photograhpers are making for a single wedding.

To figure out accurate pricing, you'll need to do a full market assessment (which I walk through in the course) and also understand your own personal goals and desires for your business.

The perfect pricing mixes your needs and what your market can bear.

A photographer in Iowa will really struggle if they try to charge the same prices as a photographer in LA, simply because the markets are SO different. You've absolutely got to know how to adjust prices for your marketplace.

Next, map out your entire workflow

Think through each step from the moment of inquiry until the photos are delivered and you're planning the next session.

How can you make this as easy as possible for your client?

How will you plan out their session and learn about their story so you can accurately portray that in your photos?

Create the emails you'll use to communicate with them throughout the process so they are pre-written and ready to go.

Create a questionnaire that gives you all the information you need to understand and tell their story, but that doesn't waste their time with questions that you don't actually use.

Remember, we are not brand strategists. We are experts in taking their current brand and showing their stories through images!

If they don't know their brand, this is a great opportunity for you to partner with a brand strategist and refer clients to each other!

Determine how you'll have them sign the contract, send payment, how you'll deliver the images, and all those details that are so easy to overlook.

And as you do this, constantly be thinking about how you can make this easier and more efficient for both your client AND for you.

DO NOT just do what you've always done or been told to do by others, because that's how you get into trouble and end up losing clients with outdated "best practices". Think through each step!

In the actual StorySession System course, I provide all of these as a done-for-you resources to save time and not have to re-create the wheel on all this stuff.

Step 3: Create Story-based Images

Next, you have to learn how to truly tell your clients' stories in their images.

This is so much more than just learning how to pose them to look good.

This involves figuring out what weird things and rituals they have in common with THEIR audience and how you can show them in the images.

Most strong personal brands have 3-7 main themes that they repeat over and over again.

For example, I'm a mom & wife, an entrepreneur, a trail runner who loves the rugged area of MN that I live in, I'm a believer, and I'm a creative.

So when I plan out my sessions with my own photographer, we select "Stories" that she can photograph that I can use.

We always do images with my husband and family.

We do a lot of images of me outside skiing, hiking, rollerskiing, or just enjoying nature.

We take images of me working, me with devices, and me interacting with other people.

And we bring in different body language and emotions so I can tell stories about how I'm feeling when I'm not just happy.

We always shoot the same themes, but we do different stories within those themes.

This is the heart of the StorySession System.

We talk about this in-depth and have several resources for how to learn to do this in the StorySession System course.

I also have a podcast episode where I talk about how to identify these stories and themes.

When this is done well, our clients will get fantastic results that they're going to want to share.

Step 4: How to Find Clients

So how do we find these incredible new clients?

What we do to get our first clients is different from what we do to get future clients once we're more established.

The first step is to get some images and work with a few clients.

I'd do this before you do all the other steps above, because you are going to need images to create your landing page and all the other business stuff, plus this will be a great way to help you understand your clients and talk to them.

You can do this for free for 2-3 people to build your protfolio, which is the way I did it at first.

But then I realized a much better way to do this.

There are SO many people who need this, and if you don't know someone personally, chances are that someone you know has a friend who really could use this.

So instead of just shooting for free, I wrote up a word-for-word Starter Script that I gave to photographers to post on their social media accounts and we did it together as this big 1K Weekend event, where we attempted to get 2 clients for $500 each, making 1K in a weekend.

It worked smashingly well.

That script has helped bring in over a half-million dollars of income for photographers from paying portfolio-building clients in the last year that I've shared it.

I shared lots of testimonials from it back in Part 1 of this series.

I'd give it to you now to try for yourself, but we hit a snag last time we did it.

Facebook and Instagram now HATES duplicate content.

So if you post the same thing word-for-word in 2 different groups, for example, it'll basically not show it to hardly anyone.

If you were to post the script now, it wouldn't get seen by anyone and so no one would even know you're offering this.

We learned this the hard way.

So instead of writing it for you, let me explain how to write your own version.

The goal is to keep it relatively short so it can be in a fb post. They can always ask you for more information (good!!!) so don't feel you have to put it all there.

But you MUST put the price in it or people will think it's free and get pissed (trust me on this one), so don't omit that.

Start by asking of anyone knows the type of person you're looking to work with, and explain that you'd like to start doing photography for them and that you're offering a discounted rate of $X (I recommend $499 for most areas, but you can modify it) for a SPECIFIC number of people (you pick this and tell them how many, then STICK to that number).

Make sure theer's a reason WHY you're doing the discount now, and that it's clear that it won't be this price in the future, or it'll be ignored as just another "Sale". We want to use scarcity and urgency here.

Next tell them what you are going to give them. How many images, how it works, how it's story-based, etc.

Finally, tell them how to contact you to book the session. Make it super easy, like DM me or having them comment below if they're interested. Make sure that they understand that payment will be required to actually book the session right away. Don't wait to collect payment until later because you want them fully committed.

Bonus points if you can tell them why they need to connet with you RIGHT NOW instead of waiting.

Also, know that if you use typical salesy words like "book now", Facebook & IG will throttle the reach as well, so anytime you can get creative and say something more casual like "get it all set up" that's way better.

Don't overthink this. Just go and post it on social media, email it to friends, and really just do whatever you can to get it in front of people.

People need this so badly. Demand is high. If you've written it clearly and asked people to pass it to people they know who might be a good fit, you will likely be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Seriously, do this today.

Don't procrastinate.

Done is better than perfect.

Now, the next step is to provide both incredible images AND an incredible experience for your portfolio building clients.

Our goal is to exceed their expectations so that they want to give us a testimonial.

This is just their story of working with you and how awesome it was.

So do the session, be amazing, and create images and an experience they are excited to talk about.

Make sure to CAPTURE their Story!

Now that you've got happy clients and awesome images, you need to use these to get FULL-paying clients!

The images will go in your portfolio and on your landing page and social media accounts.

But you'll need to capture your client's story as well.

You can do this through a video interview, through screenshots of kind things they say online or via email, through a feedback form, or in all sorts of different ways.

Then use these on your landing page, as part of your social media strategy, and more. Just get their stories out.

Focus on what things were like before working with you, what it was like to work with you, and what it's like now having these images in their business.

The more other people see these success stories, the more they will want to work with you as well.

Once you're more established, your marketing efforts shift.

While you'll always continue to collect and share success stories from your clients to help you get new ones, you've got to find a way to get the word out to more ideal people so they can actually SEE these success stories.

There are TONS of different marketing tactics out there, from SEO, blogging, paid ads, social media, and more.

I recommend you ignore pretty much ALL of them.

They are shiny objects that will distract you from actually getting clients fast.

The most effective way to get Persronal Brand Photograrphy clients it through building relationships and networking.

Trust me on this one. You'll get way better results by going DEEP in one area of marketing (where you kill it better than everyone else) than by doing a little bit of everything and don't stand out at all and are overstretched.

Think of it like dating.

First, you need to find someone who seems like a good fit.

Second, you internet stalk them so you can get to know as much as you can about them (admit it, we all do it!), then you try and attract their attention in a non-creepy way.

Third, once you're on their radar, you spend some time getting to know each other.

Finally, when the time is right, you have that "define the relationship" conversation and see if they'd like to become clients. It's totally appropriate to ask about it at this point.

Most people do this all wrong and just go in for the ask right away, which is just awkward, sleezy, and frankly does not usually work.

Here's why I think this is THE way to do it.

No one is googling to find a photographer anymore.

They are asking friends if they know someone good.

Or, they're going into Facebook groups and asking if anyone knows someone.

Seriously, go into any of the Facebook groups you're part of and start looking at how many posts are simply people asking for recommendations.

Even if the people you are connecting with don't become clients of yours, if you become known by them as the Personal Brand Photographer in the area, they will recommend you when others are looking for someone and ask.

This is the way that all marketing is going in the future. It's totally referral-based.

And that's why you need to build as many relationships as you can. Become KNOWN as the go-to Personal Brand Photograhper in your area.

This is why you can stop wasting money on other marketing courses from others that just don't SEE how everything has changed and are still teaching outdated practices.

Sure, they may still kind of work. But they won't for long.

And the StorySession System was totally, 100% created based on what is happening NOW and based on this massive shift that is taking place.

It's as much of a done-for-you system as possible, and it lays out the entire roadmap so you're not wasting time doing stuff that won't actually book you clients.

Because I'm not sure when I'm going to be doing a live class again at the moment, I've decided to open up a Self-Study version of the course.

Request an Invitation to the StorySession System Self-Study Course

The main difference between the self-study version and the live class is that you get all the content up-front at one time (no waiting for it to be released week-by-week) and you won't have the 6 weeks of Q&A from me specifically, although you WILL get access to our private Alumni group with hundred of past students who are happy to help answer questions!

Did you find this free series helpful and KNOW that you want to do this, that Personal Brand Photography is for you?

Don't want to wait several months for the next class to learn the full StorySession System, and chance someone else becoming the go-to photographer in your area first?

Do you want to be ahead of the market shift that's happened and no longer fight for clients that don't value photography anymore?

Then request an invitation to join the Self Study version of the course by clicking the button below now.

You'll enter your best email address, and I'll send you an email with all the details on what exactly is in the course and how you can enroll for the self-study version.