Remember all those long-term projects and yearly goals you set for yourself back in January? Time for a mid-year reality check. How’s it going?

Summer can be a time to relax, and coast for a few months as seemingly everyone you know goes on holiday, your weekends fill up with BBQs, concerts and pool parties, and the kids are home from school and needing constant attention. But don’t let June, July and August get away from you as a small business owner.

There’s no better time to work on your marketing, sales and innovation goals than right now. This blog will help you push through the dog days of summer, make rewarding headway on your long-term goals and keep your business thriving.

Do a Mid-Year Check-in Instead of Checking Out for the Summer

I’m a photographer by trade, and have built several photography-based brands as my small business has grown. You might be in charge of a construction company, or a consulting firm, or a bakery. But the chances are somewhere in the goals you and your team set at the beginning of the year is a goal or two about marketing.

Did you plan to establish your brand’s authority? Are you aiming to make your website more approachable and user friendly? How about strengthening your social media presence to draw in more potential customers through helpful answers to common questions? If these goals sound familiar, keep reading.

The summertime is a great time to revisit your goals and double down on completing them before the end of the year. This is especially true if you own a seasonal business and summer is your slow time of year.

Common Goals and the Solutions You Need to Achieve Them

I’ve got solutions to many common long-term marketing goals for your small business. Let’s tackle common marketing goals and the solutions I can offer with services from Taylored Photo. I’m always aiming to provide solutions that can help you successfully conquer your goals.

GOAL: Establish Brand Authority

WHAT IS IT?

Brand authority is the trust your brand has earned among customers and the degree to which they view your brand as an industry expert. 

SOLUTION: 

Build out your blog, your website, your podcast and any social media accounts you use for your business with high-quality educational content that gives potential customers answers to the questions they are asking. You’ll build your reputation by being consistent.

By attending a Content Day s from Taylored Photo you’ll get eye-catching visual assets you can post quickly, easily and repeatedly that tell your story and show your expertise. If you don’t have a gallery of your own professional photographs then you’re relying on stock photography (which can be generic AND expensive), or worse yet, iPhone photos you’ve taken yourself – which makes you look like an amateur. You’re not an amateur brick layer, but you probably are an amateur photographer. Hire a pro to show you’re a pro.

GOAL: Update Marketing Materials to Better Reflect the Business

WHAT IS IT?

Your marketing materials may include business cards, headshots, direct mailers, print advertisements or any number of other pieces in your marketing arsenal. If yours are looking outdated or tired, you need to commit to redoing your marketing materials as your business grows.

SOLUTION:

Taylored Photo can help bring your marketing materials back to life with new or refreshed photography that reflects updates, upgrades and improvements at your business..

For example, if you’re like me, your mailbox is bombarded with mass marketing fliers, envelopes and magazines from companies like ValPak and The Home Mag. The same companies advertise in those things every month and many of them send out the same ad over and over. I’m sure they get results, or they wouldn’t keep advertising in them. But if you take time to analyze the ads from a design standpoint you’ll see that they’re filled with advertisements using poor photos. I frequently ask myself, “Who’s spending the money to advertise in these glorified coupon books but not spending the money on professional photos?” 

Whether you’re considering a print piece or are going all-in on digital advertising, making use of good photography is always important. Stand out amongst the crowded messaging and advertising landscape your customers face on a daily basis by using personalized, professional photographs that reflect the level of service, and the quality products your small business offers. Spend some time this summer on the marketing materials that make better first impressions. Book a session, now so you can send fresh images to your ad designer. They’ll thank you and your customers will recognize the difference between the old you and the new you, or you and your competition.

GOAL: Make Website More Approachable

WHAT IS IT?

Like it or not, Google is your friend and your customers are more than likely finding you through the giant search engine. Once potential customers are on your website, they need to like what they see. If not, they’ll click back to the results and click on the next listing. Don’t lose them because your website isn’t approachable.

SOLUTION:

In order to immediately infuse people with confidence that they’ve found the right company to reach out to, and the professional that they need to solve their problems, your website needs to look the part. Broken links, “Coming soon” banners and unflattering photography & design elements are like poison. But it’s easy to correct this with brand photography, lifestyle photography, and product photography from Taylored Photo.

Start by clearly defining what you want your images to say, then choose some of your brand photos to match that message.

Make sure your brand photos fit onto your website and help to push customers to purchase, instead of distracting them.

Ensure your photos don’t make it hard for your site visitors to navigate it, especially when it comes to the digital shopping cart feature.

Brand photography on your website can help make difficult subjects clear, give more background to a process or system or add context to abstract topics.

GOAL: Strengthen Social Media Presence

WHAT IS IT?

While all the influencers of the world are busy trying to go viral, you should be using your social media pages to meet customers where they are. You’ll still want to tell your brand story and communicate why your company is worthy of someone’s business. This is more about putting your content in a format that matches the platform, than it is trying to keep up with the latest trend.

SOLUTION:

I suggest you sign up for one of my monthly Content Days with one of my professional photographers and like-minded small business owners and entrepreneurs. In these sessions you’ll get guidance and collaboration so that you can create a gallery of images you can dip into 3 or 4 times a week to create social media posts that are relevant to your business. 

Attendance at one Content Day qualifies you to sign up for a 3-month membership which provides three Private 1-on-1 Content Days so you can really boost your collection of digital assets, and give your audience the content they crave.

Each session will get you enough incredible images to last at least a month, and just when it’s starting to feel like your posts are getting too repetitive, we’ll hold another 1-on-1 Content Day for you!

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

The long days of summer mean that you can spend all day behind the desk working on your business and still have daylight hours at quittin’ time to enjoy the outdoors. Get in touch with my team and I to join one of our summer Content Days. It’s a good way to get out of the office and do something different while still being productive. It’s time to make your summer plans include your business plans!

Somewhere along the line, every successful small business owner needs to take some chances.

This might include steps such as adopting a promising new technology, embracing an expensive employee training program or forging new relationships with potential partners.

But when it comes to creating social media marketing content for your brand, I think it’s best to take risks while still being yourself. Take risks that you feel comfortable with because they’re authentic to who you are and what your business is all about.

I’m not saying to play it safe by just going with what has worked for you in the past, or what works for the guy in the next town over. And I’m also not recommending you try to do something that you know in your heart doesn’t fit for you and your company.

Being yourself is being unique and different. It’s good to be different.

Different Stands Out

I just finished reading a great marketing book by Mike Michalowicz called, “Get Different”. In it he argues that your marketing pitch can make millions of dollars in a millisecond, if that millisecond grabs your audience’s attention, gets them engaged with the prospect of a new opportunity or benefit for them, and convinces them to act the way you want them to — by purchasing your product or service.

He calls it the D.A.D. marketing framework. Differentiate. Attract. Direct. It’s effective because the human brain notices what is different in an environment, instantly assesses whether it is a threat or a benefit, and decides to either run towards it or away from it.

If you can introduce a different marketing message than your ideal prospect has seen before, you’re on the right track. And if you can convince them it’s beneficial, you’re two thirds of the way there. The only remaining thing you need to do is tell them how to act.

In this blog I want to focus on the first part of his framework. Being different, because I built my business by being different and you can too.

Be an Expert

Having a successful company makes you an expert in something. If you own a landscaping business, your customers come to you because you know what you’re doing. You’re their landscaping expert! You should be proud to know how to install an automatic irrigation system. You should take pride in the tools you’ve accumulated that help you do your landscaping work.

In order to turn your expertise into marketing gold, just put your knowledge on display. Make videos that show you being yourself on a jobsite. Be the hedge trimmer hero. Make yourself into the drip line diva. Act as if you’re the artificial turf action star.

Making useful content doesn’t take a content expert. It just takes a subject expert and a video camera. Get a coworker to film you. Do some basic editing. Post often, and see what works. Once you can convince people you’re an expert, they’ll remember you when they need your services or product.

Make A Plan

In order to create your social media marketing content plan I want you to be yourself. Showcase your personality, your style and skillset so that people can connect with you easier on a human level.

Pick a topic you’d like to make your content about. For example, a Day in the Life of a Landscaper.

Then take a couple minutes to think about the steps that you’ve been so accustomed to doing that you don’t normally have to think about them. Write them out in a bullet list and then film each step. You could make several pieces of content by just going through your daily routine in detail and sharing your thought process.

Video 1 – How to Load Up Your Landscape Trailer Before Heading to a Jobsite

Video 2- A Landscaper’s Pick for Top Trailers

Video 3 – What I Want in My Next Landscaping Trailer

Video 4 – Don’t Do This 1 Thing When Loading Your Landscape Trailer

See, there’s four great pieces of social media content and you haven’t even pulled out of the driveway yet on your Day in the Life of a Landscaper series!

Your plan needs to include you. What makes you unique? Tap into it and stick to it.

Be Known for Being You

Actor and comedian Tim Allen has essentially built a whole career around the stand up comedy he wrote and performed about his own interests in the 1970s and ‘80s. His ‘Men Are Pigs’ routine and on stage persona plus his personal interest in DIY home improvement shows such as ‘This Old House’ exploded into an 8-season sitcom run on ABC in the ‘90s and he’s never looked back.

He was doing well as a touring comic, but ‘Home Improvement’ sent him to super stardom. He went on to play basically the same dopey, lovable father-figure character in two subsequent sitcoms, and on the big screen in several roles. You can even argue that his voice over in the Toy Story series, as Buzz Lightyear, is just a variation of the same man he’d been playing for years.

But in the 1980s he was the only one that was grunting like a caveman to solicit laughs about the differences between men and women while telling jokes about filling his garage’s pegboard with Craftsman tools from Sears. He wasn’t the first one to speak about the differences between the sexes.

It’s a topic as old as time. But he did it differently. He did it his way. If he can become rich and famous by being himself, after a stint in prison for trafficking cocaine, then whatever struggles you’re facing are certainly hurdles you can overcome!

Find Your Unique

The Las Vegas wedding industry is monstrous. It employs about 18,000 people and generates $2.5 Billion in economic impact for the city. But in 2016, when my husband and I got married on our own terms with a private outdoor ceremony at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, no one was offering all-inclusive luxury elopements or micro weddings. So we had to put it together ourselves, because it was what we wanted.

That’s how I found my unique. My Cactus Collective Weddings company now performs hundreds of all-inclusive micro weddings and luxury elopements a year.

What do you do that’s different? Once you figure it out, own it. Live it every day. Use it as the backbone for your marketing content.

If you’d like more help building your brand I encourage you to sign up for one of my monthly Content Creation Days. You’ll meet like minded small business owners looking for an edge in their marketing plan. We share ideas and help each other shoot videos and take pictures that will strengthen your brand’s identity by showcasing who you are! I can’t wait to see you at one soon.

The importance of having and maintaining a collection of proper brand assets to use promoting your yoga business as a part of your overall marketing strategy cannot be overstated.

Whether you want to position your yoga business to be as silly as Swami Sivananda Saraswati who prioritized humor in yoga or as by-the-book as Swami Kuvalayananda who pioneered the scientific foundations of yoga, you still need to be businesslike with your branding.

At the end of the day, you want (no, you NEED!) to be seen as a professional yoga instructor and a small business owner who has their act together.

Your customers may not know the difference between half moon pose and a crescent lunge, but if you can show them a compelling set of seamless brand assets across your marketing pieces, then you’ll capture more leads, book more yoga sessions and make more money.

Whether you’re in the early stages of creating your yoga based brand or have had one for a while that could maybe use a refresh, it’s always a good time to work through the checklist.

Getting off to a good start is as important as a good restart. You may even find it helpful to do on a regular basis. No matter what, defining your yoga brand is an important step on the journey to success.

Why might you need a checklist?

For each statement below, answer “Yes” or “No.” If the answer is even one is “Yes,” then it’s a good time to revisit the brand checklist.

Inconsistent Branding

Is your brand’s image fragmented due to inconsistent use of logos, colors, messaging or other elements?

Customer Confusion

Do your customers struggle to understand what your business stands for, its values or even what it sells?

Market Competition

Has increased competition made it harder for you to capture the attention of your ideal prospects, prompting the need for differentiation?

Business Growth

Are you trying to attract larger clients or bigger bookings as part of your growth strategy?

Launch of New Products/Services

Are you planning to launch a new product or service but haven’t considered how it will integrate with your existing brand?

Digital Presence

Has a push to enhance your online presence revealed gaps in your branding strategy?

Rebranding Effort

Is your business undergoing a rebranding effort, requiring systematic updates to all brand elements?

Employee Onboarding

Do new employees lack a clear understanding of your brand, leading to inconsistencies in customer interactions and marketing efforts?

How often should you visit your brand checklist?

Certainly you want to work through the branding checklist when you first create your company. Going forward you should do it about once a year as it coincides with a business need.

If ever it feels like something is dragging your marketing efforts down, it’s time to circle back to the checklist and see if you can pinpoint what’s causing it. The solution might be as simple as a fresh set of brand photos that can better tell your brand story.

Maybe the recent service you added isn’t coming off quite right and a little more industry research could turn it around.

If you notice a drop-off in new business that’s more than just a seasonal dip, give the checklist another chance to work its magic. Some fresh messaging can draw some attention and jump-start your sales.

You can do a complete overhaul or you can give it a once over and make small course adjustments. Think of it as using a few tons of rocket fuel to launch your business, and then while you’re on the way to the moon, just give it a little flick of the throttle now and then to stay on the correct trajectory. 

With a thoughtful brand identity you’ll get recognized and be remembered. 

The Yoga Business Brand Checklist

I’ve placed these brand standards in more or less a chronological order. Start at the top and work your way down; decisions you make in one step will inform the next.

You can work on a handful of them at a time and by the time you get to the bottom you’ll be way in front of a majority of business owners.

Brand Mission Statement

Writing your brand’s mission statement gives your company a reason to exist and states what its purpose is. Anyone who reads it will know what your brand is all about. There’s a good reason answering the “why” is job number one.

Vision Statement

This is an aspirational statement. It’s the place to put your long term goal in writing. With your vision statement, you’ll be going boldly where no brand has gone before.

Values

Stating what’s important to your brand attracts like-minded individuals. This goes for employees and customers. Defining your values and sticking to them will give you loyal followers.

Industry Research

Now’s the time to do a deep dive. The industry already has best practices and standard procedures in place, so you’ll want to study the field and figure out where you fit in. Discover where to follow the leaders and where to break the mold to differentiate yourself.

Core Offering

Figure out what you’ll provide to your customers and what they’ll get out of it. When what you’re offering matches a need, you’ve nailed it.

Competitors

When your offering matches a need better than the competition’s, you’re on your way to the moon. Figure out what you’re up against, where you fit in and how you can beat them.

As a bonus, you’ll see their branding and can use it for inspiration when completing the creative parts of the brand checklist.

Target Audience

This is a big one. When aiming at your target you should use a sniper rifle, not a shotgun. Hitting the center of the bullseye when going after your customers is better than scattering your efforts all over the place.

Knowing the details of who your customers are is as important as pinpointing your product. 

Customer Personas

Use your imagination to create the perfect made up customers.

Who are they? Where are they from? What do they do on weekends? What makes them tick?

Come up with a handful of fictional characters that are representations of your target audience. Knowing who they are will help you market to them in real life.

Brand Mood Board

Now come the really creative bits. Put together a collection of ideas, pictures, color swatches and other things that embody your brand.

Answer this question: What is the vibe? What does it look like and feel like? If you’re artistically challenged, try ripping pages from magazines, printing images off your computer or make photo copies from books.

Bring it all to the table and then start piecing together the puzzle in your mind. This will most likely stay as an internal document, but like the next step, it’s where you start to flesh out the skeleton you’ve built up until now.

Brand Voice

What sort of language will your brand have? Is it calm and soothing or is it aggressive and bold? Pick out the words you will use. Are they youthful, classic, luxury or spicy words?

Shoot to develop a bank of words and concepts you will always be able to pull from that defines your brand through thick and thin.

Brand Messaging

You’ll need a set of core messages that will be repeated throughout the brand’s life. Repetition breeds familiarity, which is what you’re after. Tell people about your brand in a way that resonates with them and meets their needs, wants and beliefs.

Brand Story

This will weave together the history of your brand. Tell the narrative of who built it, how they built it and why they built it. This includes how the brand’s history drives the brand’s present and future. 

Color Palette

When picking the brand colors, consider the emotions those colors evoke. Colors go a long way to giving your brand a personality. Make sure it matches the brand voice, the story and is true to your mood board.

Fonts

Don’t let fonts become an afterthought. This design element can be a secret weapon. Pick a good one and it will look like it was meant to be; pick a bad one and you’ll be hating it for the rest of the brand’s life. The font should reflect the brand’s personality. Make it count.

Logo

The first thing that people think of comes at the end of the brand checklist. Because if the logo is what customers see and think of first when encountering your brand, then you want it to be the most informed piece of your branding arsenal.

Lay the groundwork and then dazzle them with a professionally designed logo. A good graphic designer will need to have the MVV, the story, the voice and all the other pieces to do their job well for you, so don’t skip any of the prior steps.

Do it right and you’ll be rewarded.

Brand Photos

Your yoga business will benefit from a gallery of useful brand photography because it increases your conversion rate. 

People seeking a more mindful life through yoga are likely to appreciate a pleasant interaction with marketing materials that have been designed with the customer journey at the fore.

Photographs that present your yoga brand’s story in an inviting manner make your customer’s experience stress-free and unpretentious.

Your photos shouldn’t put potential clients through a mental workout or make them do emotional gymnastics in order to convince themselves that your yoga business is the best choice for them.

A professional collection of brand photos allows your yoga clients to be comfortable with reaching out to you to book services.

Introducing yourself to people via brand photos, taken by a professional photographer who understands the powerful ways to use them is a sure fire way to supercharge your yoga brand and your marketing efforts. 

Get the Assets That Make Them Say “YES”

I start each day fired up to help small businesses tell their stories through timeless photography that bucks the trends and stays true to the moment.

I know any new branding endeavor can be daunting. And as someone who does yoga myself, I also know it’s not possible to perfect a new pose on the first try.

With experience and effort comes growth. It’s taken me years to turn my passion for storytelling into a branding model that I can share with others, and I’d love to share more of what I’ve learned with you and your yoga business.

With my camera, I specialize in capturing the essence of your unique brand through trustworthy and marketable imagery. Get in touch so that we can start creating a reflection of you that you’ll be proud to share with the world.

Plan and schedule a shoot and you’ll soon have a complete set of personal brand photographs along with a personalized plan for how to successfully use it.