How to plan a brand shoot: nailing your brand identity.

Photo shoot planning- what’s it all about?

The key to making your brand and message shine in your imagery? Planning.

Whether you’re taking your own photos or hiring a photographer, this process is designed to walk you through the planning step by step.  You can go as high-level or as detailed as you like- the steps work just as well for taking five minutes to set up that daily insta shot as they do for an in-depth planning session for a full brand shoot. 

I break the brand shoot planning process down into three steps:

• brand identity

• image requirements

• shoot plan

Break the brand shoot planning process down into three steps:

- brand identity

- image requirements

- shoot plan

And at the end, you’ll have a clear plan for creating imagery that aligns with your brand and helps your message land with your audience. 

I’m delving into each of the three steps in turn in this planning series.

Planning a brand shoot: Brand identity

It's an obvious point, but sometimes lost in the planning- your images are a powerful way to let people know who you are.

So before getting into the detail, make sure you're clear on your brand's identity- which then becomes the anchor point for planning the rest of the shoot.

Use these five prompts to anchor your brand identity:

Question 1: What words best describe your brand?

Consider your brand's values, and the words you'd like people to use when they think of your brand. 

 Write down all the words you can think of, then narrow it down to 5, if you can.

Also, is there anything in particular your brand is *not* about? That can be helpful to note, as well!

Question 2: Who is your customer/client?

The "paint a picture of your ideal customer" idea can be a bit cringe, but it's useful to consider the common threads between people who might use your product or service. 

What do they do? What are they interested in? What are they looking for from you? Where are they based? 

That way you make sure you're speaking to *your* customers, not to your peers, or your peers' customers, who might be slightly different to yours.

Make sure you’re speaking to *your* customers

Question 3: How do you want your customers to feel?

We're all so prone to think about how people see us, what message we want to give them... but centring your customer or client, and considering how you want them to feel when they interact with you, helps you *land* your message, not just send it.

Question 4: What are your brand’s key visual elements?

This is probably what most of us think of when we think about brands- the colours, the logos.

So, what are your brand's key colours? Textures?

Any other visual elements that represent your brand- pops of colour, sunbursts, a particular visual style (light/bright/moody/shadowy?)

Consider brand colours, textures

Question 5: What sets you apart in your industry?

Noting points of difference- the particular way your brand is unique to you- is key, as then we can make sure that sings out in your images!

So then what?

Once you've got your brand identity anchor, it's time to focus in on the specifics of what images you need, and how to capture them.

On which, stay tuned…