Posed for Success

So many businesses are being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and we need to discuss how this will affect our businesses now and in the future.

Instead of being stressed or overwhelmed we need to focus on how this is going to help open doors for our business.

Here are THREE TIPS on how to help your business survive and thrive during a crisis.

BE CONSISTENT

Even when times are hard and a lot of things are changing it's so important that you remain consistent. We know that there's going to be a huge fallout from this health scare,  but we can't change any of that. The only thing that we have control over is what we do in our business.

So, be consistent. Make sure that you're still posting on your social media consistently. Make sure that you're still sending out your regular newsletters. Make sure that you are showing up over and over again to remain at the forefront of your client's minds. 

LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

What better opportunity  do we have then to take this time to really seek out the needs of our customers. Ask your customers questions to figure out what it is that they need. They're going to tell you exactly what they want to hear and see from you.

Make sure to show up with compassion. Everyone is experiencing this crisis through a difference lens. Compassion will go a long ways for your business.

DON'T STOP SELLING

If you have something of value it's okay to continue to charge for this. You have to understand that people still need you and your services. Focus on being service-oriented and helping people to avoid feeling "salesy". 

 A lot of happening for everyone and we don't know what the future is going to bring, but that doesn't mean that you should stop selling.  It just means that it's time for you to get creative. 

Take a few minutes and brainstorm all the things that you have to offer or could potentially offer to your clients.

The more we can run our business like normal and the more that we can continue to add value to the world, the faster we are going to get back to normal. 

Now is the very best time to  make sure that you have a strong personal brand. Take this time to focus on building your personal brand.  There is no better time than now to market your business on social media. As we are all isolating together, everybody is turning to online businesses. You want to be right there at the Forefront of their mind at all times. 

 This really is such an amazing time for us to evaluate the offers that we have in our business and to evaluate what it is we're going to do with our brand in order to reach and speak to our ideal customers.

I promise that if you start to be forward-thinking with your business and take action in your business now you are going to be so much further ahead. What you decide to do in the next 3 to 4 weeks is going to affect your business for the next 3 to 4 years. 

I wish you the best of luck right now.  My heart goes out to all of the families who are hurting and struggling at this time.  You are in my thoughts, you are in my heart, you are in my prayers.

Links Mentioned in this Podcast

Free One-on-One Coaching

Loom

The Proffitt Podcast 

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I've wanted to share my journey of gaining significant traction in my business. Because so many of you are in the beginning stages of building your business, I want to get you on the fast track.

One of the best things that I've ever done to help my business explode, is to find a good teacher and mentor.

I make sure to invest in myself and my business by attending at least one business conference or personal development conference each year. The take aways from these conferences are amazing.

My favorite conference from the past year was Amy Porterfield's Entrepreneur Experience. I'm sharing my key takeaways from my favorite presenters.

Rachel Hollis

Jasmine Star

Amy Porterfield

Listen for all the juicy details!

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Have you ever gone to a photoshoot or you’re getting ready to take pictures and you just don’t know what to do with your hands?

I’ve got some great tips for you to help make your next personal branding session be amazing!

This is a bit like a posing guide…but on steroids, because we are going to be focusing exclusively on what to do with your hands!

After years and years of working with women and posing people for pictures, I guarantee you that most people do not look natural when preparing to be in front of the camera.

So a little bit of guidance and knowledge helps in big ways.

If you are ever worried about posing or how you look, I always suggest that you start by practicing in front of a mirror.

Try a little exercise:

Take 3 minutes and without moving your feet, see how many different poses you can come up with by just moving your hands and arms. You could probably do at least 10…maybe more. 

This is so powerful! You’ll find that there are some poses that you think are terrible. But you will DEFINITELY find poses that you like.

It’s always great to experiment. Go ahead…get creative!

But if you need some tips to get those juices flowing….check out this mini posing guide on my website. You’ll be well on your way to hand posing confidence. 

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We all have blocks when it comes to taking our picture or getting our pictures taken. 

It may be that we don't like they way we look or smile. Perhaps the timing isn't right or you don't want to spend the money.

Or maybe you get stuck knowing if you should get a "fancy" camera to use in your business or not.

One of the questions I get asked the most is whether or not you need to have an amazing camera in order to take amazing pictures. 

Now while there is definitely a time and place to hire a personal branding photographer to help you with you images, you don't always need a professional taking pictures for your business.

YOU can be the person to take the pictures and you can use the tools that you already have available to you.

The question isn't, "Do I need a better camera?" But rather, "Do I know how to use the tools that I already have?"

Of course if you are preparing for a huge launch, have never had a professional headshot, or are releasing a huge marketing campaign, book your personal brand shoot immediately!

But if you are looking to build up a library of images to use on your social media or website, and have time to be creative, you can definitely get away with using your smartphone.

You don't need a $10,000 camera to post pictures to instagram. In fact, most audiences don't care to see that. They want you to show up on social media in a way that connects with them. Images that are real and engaging. 

Rarely is there a time when I am out and I have my large camera gear with me. When I want to share things about my life and business, I can guarantee that I have my phone with me, and with technology closing the gap between what a $10,000 DSLR and a $1,500 iphone can do, it make so much sense to learn how to shoot better pictures with your smartphone.

So do you need to get a fancy camera? No!

Should you have pictures taken with a fancy camera? Of course. 

Should you get the best of both worlds and use each of these tools in different ways and for different purposes? Absolutely.

If you’ve ever looked at the pictures you take on your smartphone and wondered why they aren't turning out the way you would like them to, check out my brand new course:

MAKE YOUR SMARTPHONE PICTURES LOOK PRO: The Three Secrets to Getting Better Pictures with Your Phone

We all carry these amazing cameras around with us all the time, but if you don't know  how to use them then you are not tapping into the full potential of these awesome devices. 

In this course I show you what simple, inexpensive tools and equipment you can use to help your photos. Plus, learn how to dramatically improve your lighting and composition. 

Click the button below find out more and check out my special bonuses I'm including!

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Did you know there is a whole psychology to how we view colors in branding and marketing?

This is legit scientific stuff...not just fluffy woo-woo. So even if you already have an established brand or just in the beginning stages and trying to work it all out, this information is for you!

One of the very first thing that most brand strategist have you do is work on what colors and logo you want for your brand. The shape and design of your logo is incredibly important, but research states that color is the most important aspect that you can choose when it comes to your brand. 

Color is so important because our vision is the most powerful sense that we use. In fact, studies show that consumers have 90 seconds or less to make a decision to buy and that 60% to 85% of our assessment for trying out of product alone is based on color. 

Remember, confused clients don't buy, so it's important to make sure that we build trust with our clients by using and sticking to a simple color pallet.

Think about some of your favorite brands. Most likely you would be able to tell me the colors that are associated with them right off the top of your head. For example, what is the color associated with Facebook? Target? Starbucks? These ones are so simple and I bet you were able to answer every single one of these in your head. That's because color psychology is such a powerful tool to use to connect and share messages to your audience. 

Let's start by breaking down a few colors and talk a little bit about  The psychology behind each one of them.

Yellow = optimism, warmth
Orange = friendly, cheerful, confident
Red = bold, exciting, strong, youthful
Purple/Pink = creative, imaginative, wisdom, femininity
Blue = trust, dependability, strength
Green = success, health, life, wellness
Black/White = powerful, strong, balanced, sophisticated

If you already have an established brand or brand colors and decide that they may not align with your messages, don't worry. It's never too late to update or freshen up your branding. Now I do not recommend that you do this often because once again that would cause confusion for your audience and your clients, but if you're just barely beginning and you really think that you can find something that aligns better with you then go ahead and switch it.

Once you have your branding colors down and they align with your business, go ahead and schedule a brand photography session. Make sure to incorporate your colors everywhere so that you can have a cohesive look and be constantly sending the messages to your clients that your brand colors have.

Resources:
Color Meaning and Psychology
Color Theory
The Power of Color

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If you haven't learned by now, my message is for all women for building online businesses to recognize that the most vital components of building a business is YOU.

That's what personal branding is all about. You want to be able to show up as the face of your brand because what you have to offer is unique to you and only you.

So why do you need photos for your personal brand? To show people who YOU are. So they can connect and resonate with your product, service or experience.

When it comes to standing out in any market, where you are bombarded by 7000 + advertisements a day, you're going to have to find a way to stand out from the crowd. If you are selling the same product as three hundred people in your neighborhood what are you going to do to stand out and make yourself look different from them?

So let's make sure we are getting Personal Branding Photos done for your business.

Not all photos are created equal. In fact, bad photos may be hurting your business or brand.

I'm talking about photos that are not taken with intention or that are not representing your brand to the best of its ability.

There are four ways that bad photos could be hurting your business.

How bad photos are hurting your business/brand

1. You won't be taken seriously
2. You're not seen as a professional
3. People will not engage or stay on your page or website
4. You will confuse your clients and confused clients don’t buy

What the right photo can do for you

1. Build rapport
2. Establishes you as a leader in your field
3. If you invest in yourself, you’ll invest in your clients
4. If you care for yourself you’ll care for your clients

Steps to get better photos in your business

1. Do a website or social media audit of your images (Sign up here for a free consultation and website audit with me.)
2. Hire a professional
3. Learn how to take better photos yourself

If you are interested in learning about how to take better pictures with your smartphone you are in luck. I have just released my mini course called MAKE YOUR SMARTPHONE PICTURES LOOK PRO!

This is an amazing mini course where we go over everything from the tools that you need to the techniques that you can learn to improve the photos you take with your smartphone. We even go over editing your photos! Head on over to: www.brittanybennionphotography.com/episode8 for more information 

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You’ve probably heard that Content Is King (or Queen). But what does that even mean? When it comes to helping your audience or customer know, like, and trust you, content creation is where it is at.

You can spend all the time in the world creating beautiful pictures and captions, but they won't do anybody any good if they are sitting on your computer or your phone because you don't put out your content on a regular basis.

When we are consistent with creating content and putting it out into the work, we allow our potential clients and customers to start to trust us. This is one of the BIGGEST ways to build trust with our audience.

If you find that you aren’t showing up on the regular, and you’ve never used an online scheduler, this tip may blow your mind.

There are a million different apps out there that will help you plan out and schedule your post or Instagrams stories or Pinterest pins. Many of them are free for their basic program and have a paid plan. But either way, the tools are game changers!

I have two tools that I use weekly to help me be consistent in producing content. 

ASANA - Asana is an online work management tool. This is where I map out all of the content I’ll be releasing….whether on social media, this podcast, or my newsletter. It all goes into Asana. I can map, calendar, and rearrange my content super easily. Another amazing program to try is TRELLO. Trello has similar features, but a simpler user interface.

PLANOLY - I live for Planoly. This is the simple way that I can map out my IG feed to look exactly how I want it. I can get stats telling me the best times to post and save hashtag groupings.

CREATOR STUDIO - This is a great free option to manage your scheduled posts in Facebook and IG if you don’t want to mess with a third-party app.

Another way is to make sure that you are consistent is with your messaging. You want the look, feel, and message that you are putting out to be extremely consistent. Because confused customers don’t buy. Your audience wants to be able to rely on the fact that she will show up at the same time and in the same place and in the same manner with the same message.

To create a consistent look, my go to resource is:

CANVA - I could tout all the great things about this program for hours. It’s an easy to use design tool with amazing features. You can create your own brand kit in both the free and paid version so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to create a new graphic, freebie, or instagram quote.

By scheduling your content ahead of time you’ll prevent the cycle of on-again-off-again posting.

Try your hand at scheduling your content ahead of time. Scheduling my content has been the number one thing to help me be incredibly consistent when it comes to showing up for my audience.

Podcasts Mentioned 

#6 - Intentional Content Creation

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This week we are getting intentional about the content we are creating. Business owners from every industry constantly need to create new content to be in the forefront of their audience’s minds. This can be as simple as an instagram post or as complicated as a long form sales page. But so many times we end up going about creating our content the wrong way.

Every piece of content that you produce should help guide your client along the know, like, and trust path. This is a marketing philosophy that a potential customer will not buy from you unless they know, like and trust you.

Know + Like + Trust = Customer for Life

Most people use their pictures to try and drum up content and captions around them, when it should be the other way around. If you think ahead of what important things will be happening for your business (i.e. a new product, an upcoming launch, an exciting collaboration) then you can create captivating images that support your offerings.

But I’m not going to leave you empty handed. I’ve got a free download for your. It’s my Mini Branding Roadmap. This simple guide will help you to brainstorm and get intentional about what images you need to create in order to strengthen your message. 

Mini Branding Roadmap

1. What business and marketing goals do you have for the next 3 months?
2. What steps do you need to take to get you to these goals? What products, services, offerings will you present your clients?
3. What looks or images do you need to show in order to guide your clients into purchasing with you?

Podcasts Mentioned

Posed for Success: Episode 5 - Styling Yourself

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Have you ever started thinking about your brand photoshoot and said, "WHAT DO I WEAR?!"

This is one of my most frequently asked questions. "I want to look put together." "I don't know what style I like." "I need to look professional but fun."

This episode is all about the dos and don'ts of preparing your wardrobe for your photoshoot!

I'm walking you through my five quick and easy steps to styling yourself for your next branding session. And as a bonus...these styling tips work for ANY time you are out and about for your business. Not just a photoshoot, but networking, client meetings, or a coffee date with your girlfriends!

These tips will help you create a cohesive look across all your platforms and will give you and your brand the credibility you've been craving.

When prepping for your session here are 5 quick and easy tips to get you looking your best:

1. Make sure your clothing fits right.

2. Choose clothing that matching your branding colors or style.

3. Create a mini capsule wardrobe to easily switch up looks while staying on brand.

4. Accessorize!

5. Prepare everything ahead of time and don't wait until the last minute.

But the goodies don't stop there! Grab your free Ultimate Wardrobe Guide over at www.brittanybennionphotography.com

This guide includes extra details and photo examples of how to choose what to wear. Plus grab your favorite pen because there's even a section for you to get those juices flowing and brainstorm your "look" for your next photo session!

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Let's dive into the thing that photographers obsess over the most....LIGHTING!

If you can get your lighting right, then you can dramatically improve the photos you take.

Here are the top takeaways from today's episode:

1. Natural Light always trumps Artificial Light
2. Use a window, door, or open shade for the best results with natural light
3. Play and experiment. This is the fastest way to understand each unique lighting situation you'll be in.

To learn more, hop over here!

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