"If you cannot clearly state what makes you unique, you have more work to do before you can effectively rebrand."
~ Hand Crafted HoneyBee
I 100% agree with this statement, but a minor adjustment:
If you don't know what makes you different, that is exactly why you should work with an expert branding firm on a rebrand.
I just finished reading the amazing journey story of the husband and wife visionaries behind HandCrafted HoneyBee.
They slogged through some incoherent years thinking they were in one market, when all along they were really positioned in another without knowing it. Here are a couple more nuggets of honey wisdom from the duo:
"If I’m being totally honest, our attempt at design was all over the place. We werefailing to curate a single coherent identity. People didn’t know what we stood for or what they could expect from us. We were confusing people more often than we were connecting with them."
I actually wrote the word "WOW" (yes, in all caps) next to this next bombshell.
Especially after reading they had spent an entire year's salary with a design & marketing firm on their new brand:
"Purchase your freedom by hiring someone else to do it for you. We could focus on the parts of our business that absolutely required us, and leave the rest in the hands of experts. We gained back precious time to focus on making our business the best it could be, rather than wasting time overworking for “good enough.”
Not much else to say here. If you take a look at their current branding, website & messaging (not to mention awesome products), you will see a vibrant, healthy, elegant brand eco-system doing the hard work of business engagement for them 24/7. The sky is the limit with this kind of dedication and vision.
This could be you and your photography business.
One of my mantra's here at hoops is that how I WISH oh wish I had a 16 Hoops at my disposable 12 years ago when I started my wedding photography business. I would have very gladly, blissfully paid them a large sum to start my business. It would have saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of headaches and missed opportunities.
Hand Crafted HoneyBees will likely say in 5, 10, 20 years from now that hiring a design firm to warp speed their business to where it is today was one of the best business decisions they ever made.
So whether you know what makes you different, or if you are just curious to start on this journey...do yourself a favor and take their advice by spending your own precious time making your business the best it can be, and bring on an expert to help with the rest.