How to Stand Out in a Saturated Market

Hi friends, welcome to Episode 7 of the Beyond Natural Light podcast, I’m your host Sandra Coan, and today I want to talk to you about something that I KNOW a lot of photographers struggle with.  And that is…

How to stand out in a Saturated Market

Now, last week, in Episode 6, we talked about branding, specifically what a brand is and what a brand isn’t, and we learned that for photographers…your brand is your work, your style, your point of view, your personality. 

And I shared the 4 characteristics of a strong photography brand...which are... good photography brand is unique, instantly recognizable, trustworthy, and consistent.

And you guys, I got SO much feedback on this post, so many comments and questions… So today, I’d love to take this conversation on branding a little deeper.

I want to get into how you go about building a strong brand, and how doing so, will help you stand out in the saturated photography industry.

Let’s get to it, and start by talking about the first of the four characteristics that make up a strong brand… and that is being unique.

Creating a unique brand starts with the simple concept of knowing what it is that YOU do.

So, what do I mean by that?

 This is something I talk a lot about when speaking at conferences and it’s confusing to people at first.

 When I ask what you do, I’m not asking if you are a newborn photographer, or a family photographer, or whatever.  That’s your genre…

I’m asking about what YOU in that space.  What your take is, your philosophy, your point of view.

Listen, as artists, we all have things that we’re drawn to.  Our unique ways that we see the world.  

And I know I touched on this in last week’s episode… but it’s so important to understand.  

No two people on the planet will see something the same way.  We all have unique interests, personalities, and points of view that we bring to our work.

That way of seeing is probably what drew us into being an artist in the first place.

But for some reason, as artists, once we start selling our services, we start shying away from our uniqueness, and instead, we start looking at other people’s work and what’s on-trend and start thinking that maybe if we start doing more of that… we’ll be successful too.

And we all do this… Raise your hand if you’ve ever done that.  If you’ve ever compared your self to someone else’s work or business or second-guessed what you love and what you are drawn to photograph?

I know I have!

Friends, this is the number one mistake I see photographers make in their branding and in their business.  

They try to do all the things because they believe they should.  

And/or they try to be something they think they should… do work they don’t love or try a genre they are not into because they believe that is what they should do to be successful in their business, when in fact, the opposite is true.

What do we know about good brands?

We know that the most successful brands are unique, instantly recognizable, trustworthy, and consistent.  And there is a reason Unique is at the top of the list.  

You want your brand to stand out.  You WANT to be different.  You want to be Unique.  

And to do that you must either figure out/ or own what it is that you do and fearlessly do that.

And I say fearlessly because figuring that out can be really hard.  

But let me tell you how this worked for me in my own business.  

When I stopped trying to do all the things, and just focused like a laser on what I do, and what I love and on my point of view, my brand got stronger and stronger and my business grew.  Even though what I do is not trendy and even though I live in an incredibly saturated market.

Why?

Because when you focus on what you do, your own voice, when you do what you are naturally drawn to do, shot what you want to shoot in the way you want to do it… two things happen.

One, your work becomes authentic, and your clients and potential clients will feel that.  

The other thing that happens when you focus on what you do, is that your work will begin to take on a style that is 100% unique to you.

Remember, you are the ONLY person in the entire world that sees things the way you see them.

Lean into that, and that is how you create a unique brand.

And creating a unique brand is the only way to stand out in a saturated market.  

If you are chasing trends or just doing what you think you should do or what you think people want…  there will be nothing special about your work.  

There will be nothing to separate you from the 100s of other photographers that are doing the same thing… 

When you are just doing what you think you SHOULD do, you become one of many, and you don’t want that.

You want to be special. You want to stand out. You want to be unique.

Now to help you get more clarity around your brand and your business, I’ve created a brand new, totally free, 10-page, download for you called the Six Figure Photography Framework.  

In it, I share the three common mistakes photography often makes in their business, as well as the three things you need to know, to turn those mistakes around, and start building something that is both profitable and sustainable.

And if you liked this episode or any of the episodes you listened to, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a five-star review.