My name is Petronella Lugemwa. I own Petronella Photography, a boutique New York area wedding and portrait photography business that specializes in telling stylish multicultural love and life stories using photographs.
Before pursuing photography professionally, I worked in consumer brand management on big household brands including Pepsi, Advil, Avon and Splenda. As part of those brand teams, I had responsibility for developing campaigns to increase brand awareness, household penetration, usage, defend against generic imitator brands and general online and offline promotion strategies.
For a few years, I had loosely applied the branding strategies I’d learned in the corporate world to my photography business but never formally married the two experiences together until one day when it hit me, being a photographer in this saturated and competitive industry is similar to the work I’d done developing strategies to differentiate my brands versus generic brands. My mission is to help wedding professionals build authentic, distinct brands that are differentiable and price insensitive by sharing my branding insights and opinions.
So what do detergent brands have in common with photography brands?
In this article, I’ll explain how photographers can leverage 5 key insights from well-known detergent brands to begin to create distinct photography brands.
A good brand makes a distinct statement about who it is and what it stands for and then consistently reinforces that statement in everything it does offline and online.
Walking through the store looking at detergent, I quickly noticed that the highest priced detergents have distinct messaging and positioning and therefore, they don’t have to compete on price, even though in general, there’s not a substantial difference between detergent ingredients. These brands know who they are and consistently perpetuate their value proposition in everything they do.
Below is the pricing for all the detergents I picked up: with the total price you see on the shelf and the calculated price per pound.
In this post, I’ll break down the two most expensive brands in the detergent category and share high level insights that you can apply to your photography brand and business.
Dreft Detergent
Dreft is the most expensive detergent at $11.76 and is positioned as the detergent specially formulated for baby clothes and most recommended by pediatricians. Dreft has a very distinct positioning and target consumer. Among detergents made for baby clothes, it’s the market leader, so it’s a specialty niche brand that can command this high price. Additionally, it leverages the well known and trusted Pampers brand equity and has a pediatrician most recommended claim to further build trust with the consumer, very smart branding and marketing because these association are valuable to new parents.
Key Takeaways for Photographers
1. Don’t be afraid to target a clear specific client or niche
2. Stand for something and don’t try to be everything to everyone. Though they may not always agree with you, people respect brands that stand for something, not everything.
3. Borrow brand equity by aligning yourself with or partnering with a well-known and respected wedding vendor or brand to help your clients understand what you stand for. It's similar to how some photographers show Jimmy Choo shoes to convey a perception about their brand.
Tide Detergent
In the United States, when you think of detergent, Tide most likely comes to mind. Within the detergent category, it’s the clear market leader. Over many years, it has built a brand known for superior cleansing power using compelling cleaning technology claims and slogans that directly address what’s on every consumer’s mind: “if I spill spaghetti sauce on my white shirt, will it easily and effectively take the stain out?” In the past, Tide has used slogans and claims like “grease fighting technology,” “Keeps clothes looking newer 50% longer” and “if it’s got to be clean, it’s got to be Tide” to position itself as THE stain fighter. These claims are further highlighted by Tide’s bold orange and yellow bulls-eye logo.
In addition, Tide is a leader in its category, which has helped achieve its #1 detergent status including being the first to advertise detergent on television, the first to provide detergent samples inside new washing machines and the first with color safe bleach. Since then, Tide has continued to innovate more than any other detergent brand maintaining its #1 status in its category.
Key Takeaways for Photographers
1. It’s easy to just follow what others are doing, but being a follower will never make you stand out. Be a leader and constantly take risks and try innovative methods of marketing, shooting and delivering on your clients needs.
2. Identify what your business does better than others and create a compelling claim that you can share with your clients. An example of a compelling claim is this: our 2013 surveys show that 90% of our clients are satisfied with our photography service. That’s a compelling, distinct claim that few other photography studios could state.
Stay tuned for subsequent blog posts where I break down and share key branding tactics.
In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more, I’ll be speaking more about branding at the 2013 NYC Styled Bridal Shoot and Business of Photography Workshop together with Syed Yaqeen of SYPhotography, Segun Olotu of Sottu Photography on Sunday, Nov 3, 2013 from 11am to 3pm.
Tiffany of Tiffany Chalk Events has pulled together a glamorous styled shoot with the inspiring speaker, actor, model Johan Luis as the groom.
We’re also so excited to have Munaluchi Bridal Magazine on board as the media sponsor for this workshop, which gives all participants the awesome opportunity to have their photos featured in this premiere online wedding and bridal resource.
Please note: Petronella is also offering a special promotion to all Tiffinbox readers for 5% off the registration fee using code: Tiffinbox. For more details and to register, visit { HERE }
