Custom Brand Design and Showit Website for Wedding Photographer

“Thank you for taking my broad ideas and defining them into a brand that feels more like me and is a great representation of how I can easily book and serve my ideal clientele. It also gave me the confidence boost I needed to change what I was worth and for that, I’m grateful!” 

This is what Jessica Frey of Jessica Frey Photography said after relaunching her wedding photography brand — and we’re so happy to hear it! Even though most of the team here at Carrylove Designs have the job title photography website designer, we’re so much more than that. We’re also SEO-friendly copywriters, strategists, and overall branding nerds.

Some of you probably know what I’m going to say next, so say it with me: Your brand is so much more than a pretty logo. Multiple gears need to be put into place for your business to thrive. Jessica was feeling like she didn’t know where to start. She wasn’t sure how to showcase the personality of her brand. Simply changing your logo won’t change this all-too-common problem.

That’s why we set up the Signature Experience: To take businesses like Jessicas and transform them with brand strategy, brand messaging, SEO and copywriting, and intentional website design so they have a website and brand that not just sells but also books their ideal clients.

Step 1: Brand Strategy

Jessica came to us wanting to book more of her ideal clients and expand into other markets. While she was well-known in Austin already, she wanted to book higher-paying couples in Houston, Dallas and destination weddings too. And she knew her creativity flourished the most when she booked a certain type of couple. She could imagine these couples — whether they were from Austin, Dallas, or somewhere else in the world — but how could she attract them?

As photography website designers, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard a photographer struggle with this. Photographers are amazing at expressing themselves through their visual craft, but photos alone can’t sell, despite popular belief. That’s where the brand strategy step comes in handy.

Before we make any designs or start tapping away on the keyboard, we take a deep, deep dive into the profiles of our photographers’ ideal clients. For Jessica, we explored what kind of experience her perfect couple is looking for. What daily stressors do they deal with? What kinds of words/phrases do they find attractive? Getting to know our ideal client like the back of our hand helps us shape the rest of the elements of a brand relaunch, including the logo.

Jessica is an inspiriting and sophisticated gal and her ideal clients were the same. So we made sure that we established adjectives, phrases, colors, fonts, and a tone of voice that would speak directly to her ideal couple.

Step 2: Website copy and SEO strategy

Next up: The wordsmithery magic. (At least that’s what it seems like our copywriters do.)

During the copywriting stage, we take everything we figured out during the brand strategy stage to guide the words and messaging. The adjectives, the pain points her ideal clients want solved, the values that drive Jessica’s brand, the keywords we want to rank for — all of this went into crafting Jessica’s copy. We also created separate experience landing pages for each of her target locations: Austin, Dallas, and destination.

Again, a huge misconception with photographers is that their photos sell their experience or product. In reality, the photos are a great way to introduce and attract potential clients to the brand. But the copy creates rapport and persuades them to book. Jessica takes gorgeous wedding photos that drip with luxury and elegance, but they also have a dash of fun. Copy has the power to expand on these qualities. Now, her clients feel like they’re getting to know the real Jessica and it’s clear what her brand experience is all about.

Step 3: Intentional website design

By now you’re probably thinking, wow this is great information, but seriously… Where is the design aspect?! Don’t say we didn’t warn you! We’re photography website designers who create intentional design — not just a pretty website. That means we really have to go through the steps listed above before we get to this design stage if we want to create a website that has a nice aesthetic and sells.

We enhanced Jessica Frey Photography’s brand voice and messaging by using colors that exude luxury with a dash of playfulness. Light and dark blues were the perfect contrasting colors that also paid homage to some of the favorite places she traveled to for weddings. We also mostly used serif fonts to portray sophistication and her experience in the field.

The layout of the website is also strategic. Clients go on a clear-defined journey as they scroll to get to know who Jessica is and what it’s like to work with her. We also integrated three new menu items for each of her target locations (Austin, Dallas, and Destination) so potential clients can see exactly where she serves and easily navigate to their location.

Step 4: Relaunch and results

So was all this work worth it? After 30 days of launching Jessica had this to say about her results:

“Within a month of launching my new brand and website (alongside a new CRM system and mastermind group), I raised my prices by $2K and booked 4 weddings of ideal clients. I’ve been blown away by the positive praise and support by my vendor friends on how much the new brand fees like ‘me.’ now and truly represents my aesthetic, personality, and photography.”

Not only has she had monetary success, but she also feels more confident in her brand!

“Branding and developing a new website that converts is a fascinating and hard process. To truly level up and get the most out of it, you have to get all the pieces together. I’m happy with my final product and wish I had done it sooner. Thank you [Carrylove Designs] for taking my broad ideas and defining them into a brand that feels more like me and is a great representation of how I can easily book and serve my ideal clientele. It also gave me the confidence boost I needed to charge what I was worth. And for that, I’m grateful.”

Your business is more than a logo

I’m sure this phrase is going to be on my tombstone by now, but it’s the most fundamental piece of knowledge you need to know if you want to book your ideal clients and have a thriving business. We get it though: It can be overwhelming to tackle this enormous project on your own. If you’re feeling that way, the good news is: You don’t have to do it alone.

Check out our award-winning Signature Experience and drop us a note. Our very friendly team of photography website designers and copywriters would love to meet you and see how we can elevate your brand!