Why I rebranded and where I’m heading
Hey there, welcome to my first blog. So glad you’re here in my tiny corner of the internet. I’m new to all of this blog business, and honestly - I have no idea if I’m doing it right. Let’s figure it out together! I’m ready to jump in and share more of my knowledge after years in the biz, and hopefully brighten up your day a bit with the antics of my life. The latest of which was a full rebrand of my business, a complete overhaul of my systems, look and goals. It’s been months in the making. I had no idea how involved this would be - but lordy am I glad to have gone through this process. Big shout out to Known By - an incredible Branding and Marketing duo who kick ass on the daily in this area. So talented and such an amazing guide and creative powerhouse with this task. Have I raved about them enough? Check them out. They're amazing.
Let’s dive into the details of why I rebranded and how it all came about!
Why
I guess the first question is why the heck did I even bother with a rebrand? So glad you asked. The surface answer is I wanted to refresh my look after years of the same colours and vibes, have a funky new logo and have my brand explode with colour on your screens. Easy enough to achieve in a DIY type way if I wanted to.
I had also been thinking for quite a few months that I was feeling ho-hum about my business as a whole. I loved my clients, I loved that I was able to jump about in nature with a camera and call it work, and I loved capturing gorgeous love moments between families, couples and friends. I’m so lucky to even have work - so why was I feeling so unfulfilled?
The little nugget of truth that I was hiding from was that I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to do - not what I wanted to do in my business. I bet there’s a few of you out there that can relate. Any fellow people pleasers feeling that in their souls?
I wishy-washied my way through the decision, after listening to a crap tonne of podcasts and audiobooks about business and healing money trauma (topics for another time!). I was finally willing to hire an incredible team to try and help me sort my shit. Didn’t know what I was getting into at all, it was scary AF to spend money but off I went. Blindly and full of false bravado and anxiety (my usual state of existence).
My new brand values
Give support
Provide fist pumping encouragement
Bring joy everyday
Shake up expectations’
How
First things first - this process taught me I know nothing about branding or marketing. I humbly accept defeat against this massive area of business. I went into this process with specific ideas and direction - I came out with a completely opposite plan, look and vibe. I dig that the evolution of this led me all around the place and taught me so much.
First steps involved multiple workshops, where I was asked to be vulnerable and intimate and open about my life and future. Like WTF, this is a branding job? TRUST the process, is all I can say for that. I came through it with such a clear understanding of what I want to create, how I want to live and the future I want to build. It looked nothing like what I planned. At this point, my branding process was also therapy. God bless the team for putting up with THAT (sorry guys). Establishing the foundation of what I want my business to be, what makes me excited to run my business and FINALLY feeling true to myself with what I’m creating - fucking epic. From here I could confidently launch into design, manifesto, website content, photography packages - fully craft something that represents me, makes me so excited to work everyday and hopefully reaches clients that are equally into the things I am.
My new biz WHY statement
‘Hold space for true colour,
so that you are free to sparkle’
What
My only consistent ‘superficial’ request throughout this whole process was, for the love of holy jeebus, give me colour. Give me fun, sparkly, wonky, joyful colour. I don’t have a beige bone in my body (so to speak), I want the colour to kindly slap people in the face when they come across me. I feel like we achieved this, don't you agree? Ha!
Understanding my new brand and direction gave me the content to build an entirely new tone, future and it turns out that is visually represented with an explosion of colour, soft joyful wonky logos and typeface, words written in my voice not a neutral professional one and a lack of fear to be anything other than me.
A new colour palette, font, branding assets, branded merch and phenomenal website was born. All suited to me and my vibe - down to a T. A space to create art with my clients, capture the raw, gritty moments of love and life as they are. A place to show messy chaotic kids, exhausted but joyful parents, family grief, newfound love, how we truly live our lives.
So much time and effort over designing the perfect box to deliver photos that will make clients smile, how to create a voucher that someone is psyched to receive, how to help a client move through the photography process fully informed, and excited to hang out and make art. Here’s where I do another shout out to the duo at Known By - gosh darn it they know what they're doing. These details are so fun, and super cool to work on for sure - and they are all rooted in the branding and clarity that this process helped define for me.
I am still on the fence about one thing. Do I include actual glitter and sparkles for my clients? I’m here for it, but also wonder whether you will curse the day I was born when the glitter explodes from your prints onto the carpet. Is this chaotic good, or chaotic evil?
My new biz voice
LOUD.
ENCOURAGING.
REAL.
FUN.
The Future
So - what now? Other than a crap tonne of anxiety on my behalf about whether this will work (it will, I’m just an overthinker) - the future's looking bright. I feel more aligned with my business than I have in years, I’m so excited to create and evolve where this new path takes me. I’m pumped to meet new clients, reconnect with old clients and hold space for new and exciting humans to enter my world. I’m so happy to share this process with you, and give you art that makes your heart sing everytime you look at it. My heart sings with the thought of you all, years from now, looking at your images and feeling all the emotions and memories flood back. Sad, happy, tense, joyful, proud, LOVE. Your life is art. Let’s celebrate it, let’s capture it.
I can’t wait to meet you all, and be besties. I guarantee obnoxious cheerleading from me about how amazing you are. I guarantee laughs, intimacy and connection. And the photos to show how full of life you are. How complex, evolving and epic your life is.