How to “show up” without a clear brand vision
Worried you don’t know your brand yet? Don’t let that stop you from putting your CURRENT best foot forward!
Here’s the deal – we all start somewhere. Yup. Every expert was once a beginner. That is the beauty of growth. But let me tell you from experience – growth doesn’t just happen by wishing for it. You have to SHOW UP. You have to put in the work!
I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU TALKING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS!
IT’S TIME TO START USING WHAT YOU HAVE TO MAKE MOVES FORWARD.
I know, I know… you might not have a crystal clear vision of your brand. Or you might not know exactly who your ideal customer is yet. You might not even have a social media account! Gasp! Alas, you’re not alone or the first to start from bare bones. So how the HECK are you expected to show up for people without those things!? … you just eat the frog. As Mark Twain once said “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” ... Eating the frog means to just do it, otherwise the frog will eat you, meaning that you'll end up procrastinating the whole day. So my dear… eat the damn frog already.
I know it’s daunting to show up for your customers when you don’t feel like you have a clear roadmap to do it. It can be overwhelming! So so true. But I feel like we need to have a business heart-to-heart for a moment. If you never put yourself out there, no one will ever know you’re out there. If you never market yourself, you’ll never sell anything. If you aren’t confident in yourself, your clients won’t be confident in you either.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY THAT WILL CREATE PROGRESS?
Let me show you what I mean. I’ll eat a piece of humble pie for a second here and share this screenshot of my Instagram post from June 17, 2014. This is still live on my feed today – go give it a like if you so desire. The reason I don’t delete my past posts is because I think it shows how much I’ve grown as a photographer, woman and business owner. Trust me – my OCD wishes I’d delete them all to have a perfect, beautiful feed but that’s not true to who I am, or what I want my business to be.
Let’s time travel back to 2014 for a second. I had been in business for 4 years at this point and I had JUST joined Instagram. I had NO idea what I was doing. I posted overly filtered photos from my phone or screenshots from my computer, along with generic text and random hashtags and barely received any engagement. **whomp whomp**
But guess what? I kept posting.
It wasn’t about getting more likes than the other photographers I knew. It was about showing up to the best of my ability at the time. Have I learned a lot since then? Hell yes. Would I have learned that much if I never started an Instagram account back in 2014? Hell no.
It takes commitment, consistency and confidence. If no one is engaging with your content – don’t stop. Analyze. Recalibrate. But for the love of Pete – don’t stop. Your audience is out there. You have value to give to them. Keep showing up for them, even if they haven’t found you yet. Because the day they do find you – they’ll think to themselves “this is exactly what I needed.”
Here are a few things you can do to find your ideal audience and build engagement:
Join Facebook groups where your ideal customer will be, and ENGAGE with the conversations taking place. When you show up in those circles, they will start to recognize you and your business. (but please – don’t be spammy. This isn’t the time to self-promote. Just engage like a normal human. You don’t need to sell in every comment you make.)
Use hashtags that your ideal client will be searching or following. For example: if you’re a florist, use the hashtag #bachelornation and talk about the bouquet you’d design for the Bachelor wedding! This is a great way to engage with your ideal audience and align with your business and brand.
Bonus hashtag tip: I like to use hashtags that are only in the thousands of followers, not the millions. This way my content doesn’t just get buried instantly when I use the #. Do a simple search in the “tags” section for what hashtag you’re wanting to use and it’ll tell you how many people use that hashtag. See the example of using #bachelornation vs. #bachelor.
Ask yourself what is a reasonable/doable amount of posting per week? Commit to that and follow through posting on a schedule. If that’s 3 times per week, or twice a day, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re consistently showing up in that capacity. Be reliable to your audience.
SHOW YOUR FACE!!!! I know this one can be scary… but if your business is showing up without a face, your identity can appear impersonal and even cold to your consumers. People are much more likely to engage when they are having real conversations with a real person. It is much easier for them to engage with you if they feel like they already know who they’re talking to.
So put your kick ass light-up shoes on and put your best foot forward! What is one actionable step you can take TODAY to make your business more visible?
Then, once you start showing up, put some strategy behind your presence. Think about your messaging. Your brand. Your imagery. But until then – just show up.
I’m rooting for you! I know you can do this!
If you want to chat more about branding photography and visual marketing strategies, contact me here!
