The Branding Journey...

I knew I needed help with my branding....

So, I looked to a lot of people to help me, But if you know Photographers at all, you'd know that we all have such very different opinions and every one of us has a different way of doing the same thing.  I learned this very valuable lesson in Photography School.  I was getting confused not sure what to do...I was hoping I would have learned how to brand my business in Photography School, but it must be something they teach in Business School or maybe by attending one of the many workshops that other Photographers offer....

I Finally connected with a Photographer who does consulting. You might already know Anne Ruthmann...we made arrangements for our first meeting...and Oh Boy was it intense.  I really love her honesty and bluntness. I needed someone to direct me in the right direction.  I almost cried when she told me I had to let go of the Logo I spent a good year trying to perfect, but I knew it was for the better of my business.  For the sake of anyone learning from my mistakes I'll include it here. 

I was given instructions before our meeting. I had to bring a list of answers to the questions I was e-mailed, a 100 images, and a shoe box of Miscellaneous items. 

Items that....

• represented me
• made me feel good 
• I used regularly 

Items that would eventually determine my brand (although I didn't know it).  I had to really think about the questions they weren't simple yes or no answers. The images were easy to choose I just grabbed my favorites. The box was easy, I didn't really have to think about what to throw in, it just came natural. 

Here's what I put in the box. 

I showed up to my meeting in a Zebra Striped Shirt and a purple Handbag. I chose My outfit carefully because I wanted her to really see who I was. (You'll Understand this better in Post #2) Within the first meeting we had agreed on colors and my consultant had actually sketched, while I spoke, what she thought represented my brand best. Yes ladies and gentlemen within 5 hours of our consulting we knew what I was going to do...Fabulous you might say Right?

HOWEVER.....

Getting it done has been a whole different story. I'm in the process of trying to find a designer for my new LOGO. This my friends has NOT been an easy task, after being sure about who I was going to use and finding out that working with a designer and expressing your ideas for someone else to develop is not an easy task. I paid and had to ask for a refund because I was incredibly disappointed.  There are sooo many options out there that it is a little difficult to actually find one person to work with unless your paying thousands of dollars of course, but Small businesses don't have that kind of money :-/

There is also the option of doing a competition entry through Logo Sauce or Logo tournament...The Problem I find with that is that you pay a Prize fee, but what happens if you don't like ANY of the entries you get.  I haven't made a final decision but I would love to have 100+ concepts designed for me...but I would also like to just communicate my ideas with a person that is going to extract my logo from my brain exactly how I see it. 

So Frustration is setting in and I hope there is a solution soon...because we (Anne & I) set timelines for certain tasks to be done.....And my time is running OUT....

Stay tuned for part 2 of this post. When I get to share with you what I actually decided on and accomplished.

Happy Wednesday!!