Leveraging Custom Photos to Build Your Personal Brand

Erin Peterson, professional educator turned blogger, Instagram influencer and social medial manager, is the founder of local lifestyle brand, Spokane Guild. The guild highlights and promotes restaurants, hospitality establishments and entertainment events in the Spokane area. She also offers done-for-you social media strategy for businesses and organizations.

Erin understands the importance of amazing photos for building a personal brand. She hired WorkStory to create photos for her social media posts, marketing, thumbnail photos, website pics, media kits, newsletters, etc.

And she's leveraged the heck out of those photos. 

I sat down for an interview to chat with Erin about how she has used photography to grow her personal brand and how you can, too.

Here are highlights from the video:

Why did Erin choose WorkStory photography?

Erin explains that Instagram needs crisp and professional photos, especially if you are on social media in a professional capacity.

"I WANTED SOMEONE WHO REALLY UNDERSTOOD A WOMAN’S BODY AND HOW IT LOOKS BEST IN THE 2D FORMAT OF PHOTOGRAPHY. I NEEDED SOMEONE WHO HAD GREAT COLOR BALANCE AND EXPERIENCE WITH NATURAL AND REAL LIFE LOOKING PHOTOGRAPHS; AND THAT WAS YOU!!"

My planning process for her Spokane branding photoshoot was something Erin had never experienced and she was blow away by it. It even influenced her own client on-boarding process to be more of a collaborative and full get-to-know you experience. 

The photoshoot was a breeze because we already had a plan in place and both parties knew exactly what shots were needed. Erin says, “Most of the photos that I got back didn’t even need any retouching and that is thanks to a great photographer and a great makeup artist. ”

"MY BUSINESS INCREASED AT LEAST 300% AFTER HIRING WORKSTORY FOR MY BRANDING PHOTOS. I FINALLY FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH DOING THIS (RUNNING MY OWN BUSINESS) AND ONLY THIS FULL TIME!"

6 ways to grow your personal brand online:

1. Really LOVE what you are talking about – Find your niche and run with it. With passion and consistency you will be successful, no matter how many “followers” you have.
2. Prioritize quality when it comes to your brand – This includes your logo, branding colors, your mission, and of course professional photographs! If you can’t afford it now, save up! It will benefit you if you wait and just get great pictures. Need just a few HIGH QUALITY pictures to start out right now? Contact WorkStory to talk about what you need and we will make a package that works for your business!
3. Hashtag research – Finding the right hashtags for social media can literally make or break your business; especially local hashtags, if your business caters to the local community. Pro tip: spend 20 minutes a day engaging on a few hashtag groups, liking and commenting on others posts. If you find that some of those businesses could use your services, form a relationship with them and then you can bring up your services organically later.  A few local and very great hashtags are #spokanegram, #spokanewa, #libertylake, #spokanedoesntsuck, #visitspokane, #spokanemoms
4. Be mentally prepared for cyber bullying and harassment – Be confident in your decisions and resilient enough to know that you will get flack for being in the online space. Don’t stress out about perfection, just be yourself and when you get flack, think to yourself, “enough people are seeing my content to have an opinion about it, good or bad. Woo Hoo!”
5. Be consistent – It could take about 60 different contacts before someone will trust you enough to take the leap and work with you so be consistent in your content. If you are going to cold contact someone, offer something free and a way to get to know you better. Also, the “compliment sandwich” works really well. Example. “Hi [name], Your eyes pop so much in that jacket! I would love to be able to photograph you and maybe help you with your branding. I look forward to more content you are putting out because you are rocking it!”
6. Take it a step at a time –  Network and learn from other creatives; what to do and what NOT to do. Also, be able to give and take constructive criticism in a respectful way. It will take time and CONSISTENCY!

"THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMEBODY LESS QUALIFIED THAN YOU WHO IS DOING EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT TO DO AND IS BEING VERY SUCCESSFUL AT IT."

Want to follow Erin on her journey?

Follow Erin at @SpokaneGuild on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. For a more personal view into Erin’s life, follower her at @ErinPeterson on Instagram. Find her on all major podcasting platforms: Trending Spokane Podcast