Branding… A cliché?

If you’ve been reading my blog you’ve heard me talk about branding before. Branding yourself is extremely important. Today I attribute10-15% of my sales to the brand I’ve created. For me that translates into over $10,000 USD per month—have I gotten your attention yet?
Since I first wrote about the importance of branding yourself as a photographer, things in the microstock industry have changed and the concept has gotten even more important.

Why you must brand

Let’s use Shutterstock as an example. When I first wrote about branding, Shutterstock was accepting about 30,000 new images per week. This week, almost 80,000 new images were accepted. Think about that: 80,000 new images this week alone! This is an astronomical amount of new product added each week. Many people wonder if that quantity is really sustainable. The answer is yes, and I predict these image libraries will continue to grow at a breakneck pace. Like it or not, there is huge competition out there and this is just the beginning.

But guess what? I like it. Why? Because this huge volume of photographs can actually work in your favor if you’re careful to stand out from the crowd. Buyers are utterly overwhelmed by new images and new content. They drown in page after page of options. Most are in a rush, working on a deadline, and need to find great images fast. So what do they do? They develop favorite photographers and artists. People they can go to for consistent freshness and quality without the hassle of groping for a needle in a haystack. That’s how our buyers are navigating this cluttered landscape today. And guess what? If you aren’t anyone’s favorite…well, you do the math.

There are two things that support my assumption. One is some interesting backend information the CEO of Crestock shared with me. He said that the most converting search string in their search bar was a search for “Yuri Arcurs”. If you’re not too familiar with SEO terms, “conversion factor” refers to the number of browsing visitors that actually “convert” into customers. So, apparently people went to the Crestock site and searched for my name, and if they got a result, they would sign up for an account (my name was not the only one on the list). To sell you must be seen. If you get a loyal following of buyers, they’ll look for you specifically. That translates into a win-win for both sides.

Building a brand 101

Follow these four tips and you’ll be well on your way to developing a great brand for yourself.
First, have great taste. Edit your own submissions in a very tough and optimized way. Don’t settle for mediocre. Every picture in your portfolio represents you. If you are discerning and focused, your buyers don’t have to root through any junk. A happy buyer is a repeat buyer.

Second, size matters. Yes, unfortunately you really need a lot of images. And not just any images, you need a large quantity of great stuff. Otherwise, you end up with a huge portfolio that’s more like a garbage-bin of everything in your life that looks just a little stock—not appealing.

Third, don’t copycat. Do your research elsewhere—don’t just do what other microstock photographers are doing. The goal isn’t to blend in, it’s to be unique. I intentionally do not look for inspiration in microstock. Why shoot the same stuff that everybody is competing so hard for while so much is still untouched in micro?

I find my inspiration from the following sources:
Walking around in my hometown looking at advertisements and window displays: 10%
Looking at my own earlier shoots with a critical eye: 10%
Browsing the web: 10%
Magazines: 20%
Traditional agencies (macrostock): 10%
Microstock agencies: 0-5%
Brainstorming and storyboard building (often with my stylist): 30%
Talking to my partner Cecilie about my shoots: 5%

Fourth, do the unthinkable. I’d say that about 20% of the time I spend on a shoot I spend taking pictures that are off the wall and different. I have absolutely no idea about whether these ideas will sell or not. But by pushing the boundaries, using your instinct and working with a good model, you may just come up with something great in the end. Not a lot, but something, and it’s this special extra oomph that really make your shoots stand out from the crowd.
If you follow these basic ideas your brand will begin to grow in size and strength. Nowadays, with almost 100,000 new images accepted at Shutterstock each week, being “favorite worthy” is more important than ever.

(17) Comments...What do you think?

  1. Andrea

    Hey man, you are a grate person, share this all information, and I dont talk just about this article, all the posts. I think and see that you have a grate sense of sharing, and maybe work team, you have a different perspective of competition, you could keep this tips just for yourself, but you help as very much. I hope some I could share some relevant information of microstock photography. Thanks.

  2. Hi Yuri, I agree completly with your inspiration sources. I do it in a very similar way with great success.
    All the best.
    Uwe from Germany

  3. Good info again Yuri.

    Your inspiration list is something I try to do too especially checking magazines and Shop windows – and guess what? I see alot of your images out there. I find it utterly inspirational to see you sharing this well thought out information and I can see that you and your team are reaping the benefits due to that.

    I’m in the process of building my brand and agree entirely that this is the way forward and the way to stand out along with trying to be different. However, as a one man band with a part time helper building the brand is a slower process then I would like. However, when I have a good team in place I will spend more time blogging and directing traffic to my site but until then I will have to be patient. Correct me if I’m wrong but when you first started shooting for microstock things were very different and branding would of been the last thing on your mind and shooting, retouching, keywording and uploading took priority – as you so rightly said ‘you need lots of images’ so of course this takes priority. I take so long on retouching my images, just so I can compete, i can only dedicate 2%-5% of my time to anything else.

    This all sounds very negative but believe me I’m not trying to be, what I’m saying is if you want to compete in the microstock world you need to have a ‘BRAND’ that has a big team behind it. Going full time as a microstocker means building a work force to make your mark. This takes dedication, 100% effort, time and great and talented people. Something I believe you have.

    Great stuff as always. Love reading your blogs.

    Cheers

    Dean

  4. I think you should write my book.

  5. I ask you about specializing, and you later turn out an article on branding. Excellent piece, although I would be interested in the process of building a brand, so I can get a better idea of what my portfolio is best suited for. My downloads are mostly concentrate in very generic still-life stuff — not what I want to shoot.

    I guess that would all come together and in research and writing.

  6. Miguel Pinheiro

    Your inspirational sources sure look solid! I do a lot of “research” on magazines and billboard ads… Recently I saw my self discussing the technical details of a picture in an ad with my girlfriend… she’s not a stocker (yet) but she has got a good eye for these stuff! Getting to know what designers use to produce their work is definitely what sells. I don’t have a team nor time to build a brand yet… with little over 100 images in my portfolio I only aspire to reach another zero in my portfolio and then I think about new strategies!

    Yuri, what do you fell sells more? People outdoor in lifestyle situations or shooting people in studio over white background? I ask this because those are two very large groups to create a brand… I think maybe shooting over white may sell more, but in smaller sizes, while outdoor can give less download but bigger sizes… Do you see a connection between these two sets or is it just me? 🙂

    Thanks again for sharing! One day you can sell a book with all these posts 😉

    Miguel

  7. Ellen. Take and steal as much as you want. 🙂 Good to see you at my blog. For the guys that don’t know Ellen, she is an industry specialist and one of the most knowledgeable people in this business. WELCOME!

  8. I like to read You even if it’s not true 😉 You’ve got the style.
    And most of my ideas came when i take a shower – problems with writing down ! and fall asleep but my notepad is always near.

  9. I wanted to say “even if it wouldn’t be true”, Greetings

  10. Thanks for all the support you give to your fellow stockers. I have been doing many model shoots lately and suffer from processing inexperience and I think the branding issue. I am wondering, I have a nice bedroom type series and I’ve uploaded a couple of those images, should I wait to upload the series at once or here and there? I do plan to process the rest and upload at same time, about 15 images in the series. I am working on the branding issue as I’m tired of putting in all of these hours, not to mention financial investment w/ very little return. Cheers.

  11. My wife has been doing stock photography for about 9 months now, in addition to her regular photography work. While she is great at photography and editing, she’s not that interested in all the ‘other stuff’ related to running it like a business. Fortunately, I am and that is how I came across your blog. Your articles provide us with a lot of useful hints and advice to help develop our business and build our passive income (which I am a great fan of!) Thank you for being one of those few people who are willing to share their expertise and experiences with others, rather than guard everthing jealously. You obviously understand the true meaning of being successful and the concept of abundance. So, from one Yuri to another, once again, thank you and all the best.

    Jyri

  12. Great article Yuri! Thanks for sharing all that wisdom! 🙂

  13. I think that everybody have to agree with you … great information of course as usual 😉
    Thank you again for a nice article.

    Kind regards from Germany,
    youngstart th 😉 😀

  14. As someone who has a background in adventure photography and fine art; I found this article very informative (along with your blog) and a great light in the mist of my ignorance to how stock photographers generate incomes.

    Myself, I have been selling traditional licenses here and there to specialist clients that seek me out. Microstock is an industry I am trying to study the language of.

    Thanks for the dictionary.

  15. Yuri, I’ve learned more from watching your videos than any other source. Keep it coming, please!

  16. That´s absolutely right! Thanks for the great inspiration.
    Klaus

  17. Thank you for sharing, Yuri!

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