This blog post was written by Avalon Mohns Photography, a brand photographer based in Toronto. Stalk her work here. 🙂

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We’ve all been there – as new business owners we settle for a logo and branding that we can afford, and we find ourselves rebranding a couple years later. If you’re like me, you’re probably guilty of doing this more than once.

We are bombarded with trends, new strategies and hot takes everyday on social media, that it’s hard to stay confident in our own marketing and branding choices.

It becomes very easy to change with the tide when our brand was built on someone else’s vision because, well, it never really felt like you.

As a brand photographer, I’ve seen my clients go through this because they think they need to stuff themselves into a box to get business. When we start to work together, they send over Pinterest boards full of white walls, beige furnishings and pant suits (and these are all fine if they are authentic to you and speak to your idea client, which will get into later). It’s why I’ve designed my business to always push for something more creative; I want you to fall in love with your brand so you don’t have to change it every year.

So here’s a couple ‘secrets’ to developing a brand that truly lights you up, and because we’re looking at what you ideal client cares about it, it will even bring in more business!

All Good Branding Starts With Target Audience Research

If you know me, you know there’s nothing I talk about more than understanding who your ideal client is.

I see new business owner’s make the mistake of building a brand just off their tastes and preferences, and wonder why only Gen Z, teenyboppers are buying. Every business has an ideal client or customer they want so we need to work backwards from that.

Whether you’re hiring a brand designer, web designer, or photographer, make sure they are doing a deep dive on who your target audience is. This should always be the first step and all the design inspo can be filtered through it later.

Questions like: where does my ideal customer live? How much money do they make? What are they struggling with right now? Where do they hang out? What do they wish they were feeling more of in their life? What is their dream lifestyle? Answering these questions differently could create hundreds of different brands.

I intentionally ask a bunch of questions that can be easily translated into visuals (Sarah does a great job of this, btw). For example: your client likes hanging out in indie coffee shops, we shoot at a cool coffee shop; your clients wants to feel excitement in their business again so we choose locations, poses, and outfits that feel very expressive and exciting.

Hire Creative Professionals You Connect With 

I’ve DIY-ed a lot of my things in my day and I’m never fully satisfied with them – let me tell you why. We tend to overthink things, we’re our own harshest critics, so anything that we run past ourselves is biased. It is so refreshing and freeing to collaborate with someone else.

Now I am a brand photographer, but when I was wanting to do my website, yet again, I vowed I would hold out for the right solution and the right person.

Eventually, I stumbled across Sarah’s website and I was blown away. I had a long list of potential web designers to work with but Sarah’s vibe was like a catchy song stuck in my head – I could not stop thinking about. Because she is the face of her brand, I felt an instant connection and had an intuitive knowing that she would kill it.

After our discovery call, I had no doubt in my mind that she was the web designer for me. I signed the dotted line and the rest is history (if you’d like to check out my amazing website, designed by Sarah, you can view it here.)

When hiring someone quality of work is obviously important, but I think having a good connection with someone is not emphasized enough.

You want to work with someone who shares your values, is enthusiastic about your success, and can take feedback like a champ (this one is so important because if you don’t feel comfortable giving feedback, you probably won’t get an end product you are happy with.)

Take a Personal Brand Approach

Last – but certainly not least – is taking a personal brand approach when it comes to creating your brand. Personal branding is creating a distinctive online identity, of which you are at the forefront.

Instead of hiding behind your products or services, you are becoming the poster child of your business. You still promote your products and services but you also lean into sharing your story and your values.

The benefits of becoming the face of your brand are endless. It’s helps foster trust, builds connection, makes it very easy to get fresh content and revamp your brand (because you just need updated photos of you instead of overhauling everything!) 

A personal brand also effortlessly differentiates your business from the competition because no one can do what you do, exactly how you do it (read that again, if you need to.) Instead of having to make our product the best and the brightest, we gain an unshakable confidence knowing we are the best thing about our business.

Stepping into your personal brand era is intimidating but so exciting. It’s a way of celebrating yourself, attracting clients that become your bffs, and weeding out those who just don’t get it.

Sarah Kleist is a personal branding queen and it’s the reason I needed her to do my website. I did not feel that connection with anyone else. I am also a huge personal brand advocate so I knew we’d be on the same page.

These are some great practical tips to creating a brand you absolutely love, but I would also say follow your intuition. We get so wrapped up in following what the marketing gurus on Instagram say, that we forget that we actually know our customers best. And if something doesn’t work for you, don’t be afraid to pivot.

I am all about doing marketing and branding in way that feels like hell yes but also moves the needle in our businesses – who says we can’t have both?

And if you’re wanting to build out that epic brand vision, photos are a great place to start. I am a brand photographer who specializes in helping female biz owners get photos that allow them to feel confident as the face of their brand.

I do the digging to figure where you want your business to go so you can show up as the woman who makes it happen. I uncover what activates your dream clients so your visuals speak clearly to them. And most importantly, we do all the legwork so your energy is protected to keep making big moves while we build the brand of your dreams.

I am based in Toronto and available for travel. You can check out all my brand packages here. 

And now that you have these incredible brand photos, hire Sarah to do your website 😉 You won’t regret it.