Welcome to part two of the Consistency series! If you missed part one last week, be sure to check out that post to get up to speed! Last week we talked about the importance of showing up consistently and this week we are talking about the visual part of consistency- creating a consistent business aesthetic! This refers to all the visual representations of your business- your brand, your work, online presence, etc. So let’s dive in!

Having a cohesive and consistent visual aesthetic across your business is going to do a lot of great things for you! This is what is going to give your audience a very clear and well-defined sense of your style. This is also what is going to help you to attract and book your specific ideal client! (Check out this post for more tips on attracting your ideal client!) For example, let’s say there is a bride looking for a photographer that specializes in light & airy photos, She comes across your website and sees that you work is exactly what she’s looking for. All the photos on your website and in your galleries have that style and aesthetic she is looking for. And she also subconsciously notices that your website and brand themselves have a light and airy look and feel to them. And then when she hops over to your instagram, your feed also has that same look and style. At this point, this bride now knows for sure that you are going to produce the type of product she is looking for. Not only because your work was what she was looking for, but also because the rest of your business aesthetic was cohesive and consistent with the look of your photos.

So now that you are convinced of the importance of having a consistent business aesthetic, let’s talk about how you can make that happen!

 

Create a strong cohesive brand

Your brand is obviously going to play a big role in the visual aesthetics of your business. The colors, fonts, graphics, etc. So you’ll want to make sure that your brand not only matches the aesthetic of your work, but is also cohesive with your personal life! This is going to send a strong and trustworthy message to your audience! Here are some of the ways you can create a strong brand!

Create a brand suite. The best piece of advice I can give you when creating your brand is invest in a professional!! Branding is not the place to skimp- it is worth the investment to hire someone who can do it right! Otherwise, you will probably find yourself rebranding often to get the look you want! But whether you are creating the brand yourself (nothing wrong with that!) or have invested in a professional, you are still going to want to take these things into consideration!

• Pick a color scheme that is cohesive within itself AND with the rest of your life. Look to your life for inspiration- what colors do you wear, how do you like to decorate your house, etc. Then look to the work that you like to create. What colors and color tones do you find showing up most often? This will help guide you into picking a color scheme that will flow with your business and personal life!
• Pick a font or two. Once you have a sense of the feel and style of your brand, pick a font or two that go with it. I recommend a main font and an accent font. Then once you have those selected, make sure you are using those fonts exclusively throughout your business. This means any graphics that you create- blog post graphics, stationary, welcome guides, website, etc- should be using these fonts. A big mistake I see people making is using different fonts all over the place! This is a wasted opportunity to have a strong recognizable brand!
• Have different variations of your logo. You’ll be displaying your logo in various places, so it makes sense to have different variations of your logo so you can display the one that fits that space best. So at the top of your website, you’ll probably display the most detailed and intricate version of your logo since you’ll have the space to make it big and prominent. But then maybe you want to also put a smaller logo at the bottom corner of the page. It was be better to display a simpler version of your logo there.

 

Let me show you how I implemented these things in my own branding suite. I hired the amazing Krista Jones to do my brand- definitely recommend her! Below is the suite we came up with. I would describe the aesthetic are minimalistic and southern chic with neutral tones throughout. If you follow me on social media, then you’ll know that also describes my personal aesthetic! The clothes I wear, the way I decorate my house, etc. We have different variations of my logo that I can use in different ways. We also created a custom magnolia flower graphic that you’ll see throughout my branding. And because I use that flower in so many places, I can now use just the flower alone as a version of my logo because people now recognize that flower as a part of my brand!

 

Produce consistent images

In my opinion, the sign of a great photographer is the consistency of their work. It’s one thing to get a few great images when the light is perfect and the setting is gorgeous, but can they create that same kind of work on another day? What about when the weather is bad or the light is less than ideal? You want to be able to show your clients that you produce the same level of quality AND style in everything you shoot! This is what is going to instill that trust we talked about last week! Having consistent images will instill trust in those prospective clients making them more likely to book you AND to pay more for your services! So here’s some tips on how to do that!

Master your craft. Creating consistent images in every scenario is easier said than done, right?? Getting to a place where you are producing consistent images takes time. If you are feeling frustrated with the inconsistency of your work, don’t fret! This takes years to master! The first thing you’ll need to do is practice, practice, practice! Get out there and shoot anything and everything! Shoot in midday sun, in the rain, at sunset, etc. Then you can look at your work and see where you need improvement. Lighting? Editing? Camera settings? Posing? All the above? Then invest in some education (workshops, mentoring, conferences, etc) to help fix these issues! One thing I will say is that lighting is the KEY to consistent images! When I really started to understand light- how to manipulate and control it- is when I really started to notice more consistency in my images!

Curate with intention. But no matter how good you get, not every single photo you take is going to be perfect and consistent. This is where curating comes in. With our online platforms, we have the power to only show what we want to show. So when you are choosing images for your blog, instagram, online galleries, etc, choose images that are consistent in quality AND style! By style I mean the color tones (warm or cool?), the actual colors in the image (colorful or muted and neutral?), the emotion conveyed (candid or posed?), etc. So for me, I am going to pick images with a lot of white space, neutral colors and joyful or romantic emotion being conveyed. So if I were to shoot a really bright and colorful wedding, I wouldn’t put images of the super colorful bouquets in my online galleries or on my instagram because it wouldn’t go with the rest of my business aesthetic.

 

Consistency across online platforms

Say a bride is looking for a photographer and comes across your website. She falls in love with your images and is impressed by the professionalism of your website. Then she hops over to your instagram and it is nothing like what she saw on your website. Your feed is not curated like your online gallery and it looks like it’s a totally different business or person running that instagram account! Now she is confused and has lost trust in the quality and style of your product or service. Same goes for the other way around! You have a perfectly curated instagram feed, but your website is seriously outdated and is displaying old work that doesn’t reflect your current style! If your online platforms are not up to date and consistent across the board, you could be losing potential clients!

So once you have determine what your business aesthetic should look like, check out all your online platforms to make sure they are all cohesive and consistent with that aesthetic! Instagram, website, facebook, blog, etc. Here’s an example of a few of my platforms and how I am being intentionally consistent. From left to right we have the front page of my website, my instagram profile and the front page of my blog. You’ll notice right away how the colors and color tones are consistent across the board. You’ll also notice the use my ‘signature’ taupe color that is my main brand color. You’ll also see my consistent use of fonts throughout all my graphics. And you’ll see how I am using that custom flower graphic that we talked about earlier. All of these design choices are very intentional in order to display consistency across all my online platforms.

 

Phew, ok! If you made it this far, then you’re a champ! This post itself could have been split up into a series! But I still feel like I could say so much more about just this topic! So I’ll be doing another Instagram live today to talk about this topic! I find that it’s easier to go into greater detail in a video than in a blog post! So join me today on instagram at 4:00 PM to talk more about this topic!

And here are some other posts that you may find helpful!

Top 3 Ways Brides Find Me

4 Ways To Create A Personal Brand

5 Way to Make Your Online Presence Inquiry Friendly

3 Steps to Attract Your Ideal Client

 

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