The importance of cultivating brand trust for your photography business

Building a brand that connects with your ideal clients is a huge task. But building a brand that people trust is something else again.

Trust is so important because people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

Let’s just say you’re in need of a business coach, and you’re choosing between the following two options…

Option 1: Julie’s life coaching

She has a simple, clean site that explains her back-story, provides her professional credentials and shares testimonials from previous happy clients. She’s included a short yet compelling video on her home page that outlines the process of working with her and tells exactly what you should do next. After visiting her site you feel like you know a lot about Julie, she seems friendly and down to earth and you have a pretty good idea of what it might be like to work with her.

Option 2: Rockstar life coaching services

This site looks professional, and has all the bells and whistles. There’s a ton of information on it, but it all feels fairly generic and uses stock photos everywhere. Although the site has a bunch of content on it, you’re left feeling unsure as to how to proceed. Information on pricing is non-existent and it seems the only way you can obtain it is to ‘get on a call with a consultant’ and it feels like it could be a bit of a hard sell.

Who would you be more interested in booking a session with?

Hopefully the above example illustrates my point. If someone doesn’t trust you or your business, you can forget about them spending money with you, period.

Trust takes time to cultivate. Trust is developed through the connection with your brand, your message, and you. Your brand will attract your ideal client initially, but trust in you and the service you provide is what keeps them coming back, and referring you to their friends!

So, the question is: how do I build a trusted brand?

Step 1: Understand the fears your potential clients have about hiring a professional photographer.

Step 2: Remove those fears through your communication and branding.

Remember, photography is a non-essential luxury for most people, so we have to work even harder to convince people to spend their hard earned money with us.

We do this by tapping into our ideal client’s needs, wants and desires and connecting with their emotions using the language they would use and then creating a desire within them for the service we provide.

Once we understand what’s important to them and how best to connect with them, we can create content, products, design aesthetics and copy that touches hearts and alleviates fears.

Another key aspect of building trust is setting expectations.

People don’t often realize just how involved it is to work with a professional photographer.

For me, I chat with clients over email or phone, then we set up a face-to-face planning session to discuss their session goals and get to know one another. From there we move on to the photography session, which is followed by the ordering appointment, and finally the order pick up four to six weeks later.

It’s quite a process from start to finish, and it’s super important that my client understands the whole process, including what’s expected of them, and what I’m going to provide throughout.

Setting expectations up front ensures both parties know exactly what’s going on so there are no surprises. Because as you know, it’s impossible to fill an expectation if you have no idea it exists!

Remember, build a brand and they will come. Build trust and they will buy.

Kim xoxo