PC3: Branding and Marketing

The process of branding can be as valuable as using outputs to voice you as a brand. A good design stands out your style through outputs and people would easily remember you are a professional. Various things you could use as branding, for instance, business cards or other physicals, logo, website, social media, newsletters and you represent your branding.

Business cards are like a mini portfolio for most creators to put images on it. The image could be your logo. Good photographer’s business card is having one image at front, details at back. You could print out different images rather than just using one image to represent yourself.

Ways to approach marketing and branding is first you must identify who exactly you’re trying to serve. Then, define how you’ll reach them and how to present your business as an appealing

option. This will define your branding as well as your tactical marketing programmes. The easiest way is creating a social media account, post your practice and follow the main magazine and orginasations like BJP, The Photographer’s Gallery. Moreover, meeting people in the know is another way to show your branding, joining the private view, going to photo festivals, attending guest lectures etc., which enables you to build your network, and keep researching and up-to-date on your website or blog.

Before working on branding, I think the best way is to do research to target people I can approach and event I can go to. Like the book fairs, for me is always a chance to talk to book artists, book binder and publishers. I spoke to few book binders in BABE, they said they are worried about the field as they want to pass their techniques to younger generation in case the skills would be missing but young people don’t make books or they show their less interests on this particular aspect. Well I believe this is the place I can meet people and share my experience of book making so that I could build up my network. Business cards are mostly important for everyone, I haven’t printed out my business card, but the rough idea of it would be a different size than normal one, having image at front information at back. Considering I should have business cards like last time when people saw my books, I did talk to them but I lost the opportunity to get them remember me as the branding, when they turned over, they might forget me. That’s the first time I realised that how important than carry with business cards with you.