Personal Branding Guide [for Photographers]
The Saturday Creative
April 27, 2024
Read the online version here.
Yo, what is up my friend,
Are you a photographer?
Someone who'd like to start growing their personal brand online?
And start to make money with your passion?
That's what I wanted for years too.
After soon 7 years after starting photography, I’ve hit 1 €17,500 month, a €13,000 month (from selling my photos digitally) - and now making thousands teaching others online.
There’s still room to grow. I want to hit a €20,000 month this year. But I still have to remind myself how far I’ve come.
Still last fall, I was stuck, not growing on IG. Although, I had made those huge months before that.
But I wanted creative freedom, to do what I love, and not let anyone else dictate what photos to take.
See, I was stuck around 7 months ago.
Around 8 months ago I made the €17,500 month.
Around 2.5 years ago I made €13,000 in 3 weeks.
And around 3 years ago… I wasn’t making nearly anything.
Think where can you be in 5 years time.
Heck, even in 6 months to a year when you commit to something.
I bet you’re closer than you think.
But think how exciting it is - your potential is nearly limitless.
You can achieve anything.
The only thing that can stop you, is you.
If you either quit or don’t keep learning all the time.
Learning something new consistently is required in today’s age.
You either improve, or you get worse.
That’s the rule of physics.
Everything moves to chaos if you don’t combat that with energy. (The law of entropy)
Now that you’re thinking of ways you can get to your full potential, some people, take the wrong path.
They listen to those people who promise you’ll make a million overnight.
Or they’ll buy followers because “that’d make a difference for you”.
Don’t do those things.
Learn the correct way.
So - how do you build a personal brand as a photographer?
There’s a lot to dive deep into, but these are the main things:
Become amazing at content creation
Showcase what you’re good at
Get people to pages to buy your products and services.
Let’s cover more in detail.
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Reminder: The Enrollments for Social Media for Photographers are open!
Secure your spot via the link below.
→ Enroll now ←
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1) Content
Content is one of the biggest levers of our age.
One could do a lot of cold emails. Or cold calling.
But if you had a content system, a lot of people could find you that way.
See - I have over 134k followers.
I can reach tens of thousands of people daily, on the low end.
Why would I spend time cold emailing now?
I could do it - but content is my biggest leverage - and driver of business.
Once you got it set up, and linked well with your business, you’ll have a huge advantage.
Okay, but how to get good at making content?
Yes, you can learn from others. I recommend that.
But making a ton of content is the way you get better at it.
It’s been studied many times.
Those who do a lot of stuff, get better at it compared to those perfecting a single thing.
This same applies to making content.
This is the 1st feed video I posted.
See the improvement?
And here’s my 1st ever talking video - you barely can see me, lol. (27 slides in)
But that’s how I got started.
Imagine how good your content will be when you’ve done this for 6 months daily.
You’ll have improved insanely much.
But… how do you get a lot of content made?
That’s where systems come into play.
When you have systems, you have predictability.
You know how to get stuff out fast. And you won’t run out of content ideas either.
There are many different kinds of systems.
I’ve learned from many. And put together my own.
It’s a long thing to teach - so I can’t go into it here.
But I will teach all of it to you in Social Media for Photographers.
But basically, you want to make sure, you:
never run out of ideas
you know what you’re posting every week
you know different goals for your posts
you want everything aligned with those you want to attract (aka your dream followers.)
2) Show you what you're good at
OK, so as you want to make money out of this, you must be seen as an authority in what you’re doing.
Basically, share stuff you’re good at.
And the more you share it, the more authority you gain.
I share photography, that’s what I feel I’m good at.
The same thing with content on social media.
Why don’t I talk about drawing?
It’s because I (still) am bad at it.
You want your audience:
sees what you’re good at
respects you
relates to something about you.
(The 3rd one is that will make you stand out. And make more sales. That’s why you want to share something about yourself with your audience.)
What if you feel you aren’t good enough yet?
Look, you are 100% better at something than someone else.
When it comes to photography, do you know what’s ISO?
If you do, AMAZING!
Most people don’t know that.
You can teach to those who are just starting out!
You don’t need to teach to everyone.
Some people will find your stuff helpful.
What if you haven’t mastered the basics of photography yet?
Don’t worry! Just share what you’re learning on the way.
This way, people will see you as their teacher anyway.
That’s what I have done with this Newsletter too.
At times, I’ve taken a topic I want to learn about and just shared those lessons with you.
And me teaching that stuff for you, makes me an authority.
But make sure you know this:
You don’t only want authority. You want authenticity too.
As my mentor Tom Noske has put it.
“…Authenticity is equally as important (as authority). Otherwise, you’re not better than an instruction manual.”
I feel he nailed that, lol.
See, you don’t want to be like a camera’s instruction manual, do you?
You want to share some of your “unique ingredients” with your audience.
The parts that make you, you.
See, why have I shared my love for coffee with butter?
Yes, to showcase my other interests.
Think about it:
Someone who loves coffee with butter - and wants to learn about photography or social media, who will they buy from?
Me, right?
See, you don’t have competition anymore when you share unique parts of yourself.
That’s why authenticity is the key.
Next up, let’s talk about...
3) Monetization
When to monetize your account?
I used to think it was not good to monetize early.
But thankfully, I didn’t wait until now to monetize.
Imagine if you’d put out your 1st product or service at 100k+ followers.
Making products is a skill. And your 1st product is probably gonna suck.
So what would happen if you launched your product or service when you’ve “already made it” - and if it sucked?
It could end your career.
But what if you launched a worse product at 500 followers? Or 5 followers? Then it’d not have as big of a harm.
You want to start monetizing immediately.
What to start with?
It depends on your position - how many followers you have, how badly you need to make money and so on.
But there’s 1 thing you should know - something I wish I had learned earlier:
You need to promote, a lot.
That’s what I’ve done with the cohort.
I posted about my waitlist daily for 4 weeks - before launching the product.
Now, the launch week, I've been promoting this insanely much too.
Why?
Because nobody will promote it for me.
I’ve done 2 product launches before. And both failed financially.
I didn’t make much money - although the products were great in my opinion.
Why didn’t I make a lot of money?
I didn’t promote enough. And I didn’t know how to promote it.
So if you haven’t made a product yet - or launched a service:
Make one - and fast
Test it out with people
Get feedback and improve.
That’s what I did with my 1-1 Social Media Coaching Program.
I launched it. I got results for people. I saw where to improve. And now I’m launching the same thing but for you as a group coaching.
And make sure, you’re delivering INSANELY much for your students.
More than they expect.
That’s what I’ve done with all my 1-1 students.
And they’ve started to recommend me forward. And now that’s free marketing for me.
Oh - and if your stuff is bad - people will spread the word about that too.
So don’t make sh*t. Make amazing stuff. Leave everyone stoked. And you’ll have a much easier time making the money you dream of.
Why have my students seen good results?
It’s because I don’t hide info.
I give my all to them - my best information.
I guide them on their way.
I answer all their questions.
(Do this for your upcoming students too.)
And I provide them with all the systems and formulas I’ve used to get my success so far.
I’ve not had a single student yet with whom I’ve finished, who has not seen either 1) growth in followers or 2) other virality - who has followed the plan.
It comes down to this:
If you make 730 pieces of content in 2 years, how could you not be successful?
Have my students worked that much?
Haha, no. But Vlad had posted daily for 6 months, got my coaching, and quickly started seeing results he was stoked with.
He only needed to adjust a few things. He knew he was missing those. And he got those from me - and saw results.
OJ worked for months and slowly kept gaining followers. He was happy. But then, he absolutely blew up and gained 23,000+ followers in 30 days.
Jukka posted consistently (even though he missed some days of posting) and since our last session in February, he has got 2 videos both over 1 million views. (The Reel on the right has surpassed 1 million now.)
They followed the plan and advice.
If you put in the work and don’t give up, you’ll win.
Sustainability is the "unsexy" key to success. (As I wrote in my previous letter.)
If you want me to personally guide you, inject my best knowledge, secrets and formulas into you, that allowed me to blow up on social media, and start making my living doing what I love…
Social Media for Photographers is for you.
There are limited spots.
So - if you want to get in, please do so now.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity.
I don’t want you to stumble alone in the darkness.
Let me show you where the path goes.
All you gotta do is walk on the path, and not turn back. And you’ll win.
See you inside.
Last words
Hope you've all been doing well, my friends.
It's been a hectic week at the Hugo office with the launch.
Next week onwards, we'll be focusing on other topics for at least a bit.
I feel I've been writing about personal branding so much the last month, lol.
And well, it's important. Hope you see the potential with this all.
But indeed, next week we'll chat on something else.
Have a beautiful weekend,
Hugo
(P.s. Feel free to forward this to your friend. If you were forwarded, you can subscribe to receive these weekly here.)
