IT *IS* POSSIBLE TO LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS AND COMPANY WITH CLEAR INTENTIONS

What are CLEAR intentions when it comes to running a business? … IMO they are:

your target market or hopeful target market
your brand
your visuals (photos used to support your business and its vision, fonts, layout)
social media that supports that
a website that supports that
a team that supports that

There is a reason that my clients are so successful with the websites I build for them … it’s not an accident that I go into each website with a VERY HIGH BAR … whether they are just starting out or not.

I’M NOT INTO THE MINDSET OF: THIS IS THE BEST I HAVE SOOOO…

Let’s use the best AVAILABLE instead … what does that mean?? Let’s take each of the items above and dissect them:

TARGET MARKET

There is a difference between ONLY accepting clients who are your target market and only SHOWING the clients who are in your target market … If you mean business and want to launch your business in a way that SHOOTS YOU FORWARD quickly and doesn’t get you stuck, it is VITAL that you only share visuals that attract YOUR TARGET MARKET. Now, that doesn’t mean not taking business from clients because they aren’t a perfect match for your goals … we all have bills to pay!! … but when you get the ‘gems’ that you know are your jam and what you want a lot more of, you need to only broadcast those events on social media, your website, submissions to be featured, etc.

TOUGH CALL TO MAKE: when the vendor team wants to submit a wedding or event that you feel will tarnish your ‘target market’ or your ‘brand’ and promote you in a way that holds you back: ask NOT to be credited in the feature. I know, I know << what!!??? But think about it … you may save yourself from getting way way more of what you don’t want to focus on …

YOUR BRAND

An ugly font to you may be beautiful to some … I know there are still people out there who love Papyrus (shudder) and so it’s EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you choose a font for your brand that attracts your goals for business, clients, and what other vendors want to work with you!

YES ^^ your logo will also either turn off or turn on other professionals … so this decision isn’t just about your clients, but those who could be REFERRING you clients ;)

TOUGH CALL TO MAKE: Is your picker a bit off?? If you don’t trust yourself to choose fonts wisely, then hire a professional logo designer who has a list of clients that you look up to! If those business owners trusted that logo designer and are getting the business YOU WANT, then perhaps you should trust them too!

bonus post: can you be trusted to make branding decisions for your company?

YOUR VISUALS

While a logo is definitely a visual that is important, for the sake of this part I am going to refer to: PHOTOS, IMAGES, PHOTOGRAPHY … the thing that you can NOT f*ck up … seriously, you just can’t … you have less than 5 seconds to impress your website visitor or someone who sees your Instagram post … if the photo they see makes them want to run screaming, whelp, you just lost a potential client.

Now, you may be saying: I need to work with great photographers to get those images and that isn’t something I can always control … yes, you’d be correct, which is why I bring up:

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY

There is ZERO shame in getting scrappy when you are running a business or trying to get one started. This is not the time to ‘just use what you have’ and cross your fingers … this is the time to WOW … you can launch your business with CLEAR INTENTIONS.

TOUGH CALL TO MAKE: Is it ‘lying’ to showcase images of weddings and events that you didn’t design, plan, etc? Stock photography is there for a reason .. it exists because it’s not realistic for everyone to hit the ground with events and weddings that are AMAZING … but only you can decide if it’s morally acceptable for you to use stock photography to attract the target market you are after.

SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS

This is getting back to photos again … now, here’s the tricky part … I don’t think you should have an entire Instagram feed filled with stock photography … but what’s probable is that even in the scariest ‘libraries’ of images from one of your events or weddings, there are probably at least 4 useable images that you can disguise as ‘not truly terrible’ … lol … so be CHOOSEY when you go through the images that photographers send you … make a folder of images you feel comfy sharing and stick to ONLY THOSE … and then in between, you can pepper your feed with stock photography ;)

TOUGH CALL TO MAKE: How often you are posting when you have limited images to work with while you wait on better ones … my suggestion would be to post once or twice a week on your actual feed and then STORY every day if possible … even if it means walking around a high end boutique and sharing things that inspire you creatively … Stories have a lot more wiggle room with what you can do, whereas your actual feed takes a lot more strategic planning ;)

A BUSINESS WEBSITE

As a website designer, I personally see what happens after a website I design launches … the success for my clients grows almost instantly … and why is that??? Because I am VERY VERY VERY VERY PICKY!!! Literally, I’m the worst … but in the best possible way … I will not use ugly sh*t to design a website with … and when those high standards are injected into a website, well, let’s just say: it works very nicely ;)

TOUGH CALL TO MAKE: To invest money into your website or to try to design it yourself. This is a decision lots of business owners are faced with, since it is quite an investment to make! I will say that my clients typically see a 400% increase in traffic, inquiries, and ‘budget’ that their clients are willing to spend … so the ROI is pretty good.

YOUR PEOPLE

The saying ‘you’ll be known by the company you keep’ couldn’t be truer … especially when it comes to running a business. Fair?? Maybe not … Judgmental? Yep! But TRUE???? Absolutely. Choose your people wisely when it comes to business relationships … Your friends are your friends and IMO that is separate from the vendors you choose to work with and who refer you and who you refer … if your goal is to be in a very specific target market and designing a very specific ‘style’ then it is key that you choose to build relationships with other business owners who share that same esthetic.

TOUGH CALL TO MAKE: If you have a vendor reach out to you for a styled shoot or for networking and you know 100% that is not your direction or it is someone you don’t want to be affiliated with, you may have to decline the invitation. I have said ‘no’ to speaking engagements before because I know the vibe isn’t one I want for myself … I have also not taken certain clients before because it’s not a good fit for me. There are hard decisions to make when it comes to truly sticking by your focus and your intentions as a business owner.

XO~ Heather