What does it look like to book, plan, and execute a brand photoshoot? For each client and each photographer it’s a little different, but Jodie Brim and her team have created options that serve a variety of clients based on their needs! From a standard brand experience to a quarterly brand photography membership to a dedicated VIP content day, your photoshoot(s) can be exactly what you need them to be! Listen in to this conversation with Jodie, where she explains how she developed these offerings, how they work for her clients, and what the different benefits are of each!

The Branded by Bernel Podcast is brought to you by Bernel Westbrook, lead designer and founder of Branded by Bernel, a design studio dedicated to building strong brands and Showit websites for creative entrepreneurs.

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Building a Brand Photography Business

When Jodie first built her business, she was working in weddings—not long after she was getting headshot requests. These eventually helped pivot her into brand photography, allowing her to create The Brand Experience for her clients.

The brand experience was built as a one and done experience, where you can expect to create and receive content for 6-12 months. Some clients will use their images for much longer based on how their business changes, but with the help of her team, she’s creating a solid experience for her brand photography clients.

In addition to creating the brand experience, Jodie wanted to offer services that better serve her clients in where they are in their business, including a Brand Photography Membership and a VIP Content Day.

The Brand Photography Membership

Imagine subscribing to a photographer like you do with Netflix. With Jodie’s three-month commitment, clients receive one 90-minute brand photoshoot per month. You’ll get access to her team for planning, get to explore different locations and sets based on your current plans in your business, and get updated photos each month.

Additionally, Jodie’s team offers even more services like video that are available as an add-on at a discounted rate!

With these limited spots, clients are put on a waiting list for when an existing client doesn’t renew their membership after their three months are up.

VIP Content Day

Some clients aren’t as comfortable in front of the camera or aren’t interested in monthly commitments, which is why Jodie decided to build out a brand photography based VIP Content Day. In this one-day shoot, clients can get photographed in more outfits in a shoot that helps create content in a way that serves their brand long-term.

With this shoot, clients get a guide that helps them plan the vibe of the shoot and the outfits, plus they’re offered the option to work with Jodie on a marketing plan to actually use their imagery.

But how do they prepare for the shoot to get the most out of it? It’s important to understand exactly what the client’s goals are with their imagery. The images that are created in your brand photoshoot should serve your business and speak to your audience.

Make sure you’re prepared for your next brand photoshoot, whether it’s in a single shoot, a membership shoot, or a full VIP content day by grabbing Jodie’s free, value-packed resource, Top Five Tips to Help You Rock Your Next Brand Shoot.

Connect with Jodie

jodiebrim.com

instagram.com/jodiebrim

Connect with Bernel

brandedbybernel.com

instagram.com/brandedbybernel

Review the Transcript:

Bernel
Hey, hun. Welcome to the Branded by bernel podcast. I’m your host Bernel. You may know me as the branding and web designer who obsesses over the details so you don’t have to. We all desire to be great at what we do. Although once we get there, no one seems to talk about the messy middle. This motivated me to set the table and invite industry peers over to share stories about living and working in the creative world. So grab the OJ and champagne, pull up a chair, join the creative community and be prepared to build a brand you fall in love with. This is the Branded by Bernel podcast.

Bernel
Good morning, guys. I am so excited because I have a special guest here today. Jodie brim. Jodie is the owner and lead photographer of Jodie Brim creative. She is a self taught photographer and combines her business savvy with the art of seeing the world through her unique lens. Crafting a career around capturing women who own their power and profession is exactly what Jodie brim has become known for in her business over the last decade. She has built a reputation for one of a kind brand photography and videography experiences that stand out not only because of the end result, but every single step of the client’s journey. Hi, Jodie, thank you for joining me today.

Jodie Brim
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited. Me too.

Bernel
Oh, my goodness. For those of you listening at home, I love Jodi’s energy, I recently had the honor to do her. I call it an honor, because little transparency moment when I started my business six years ago, that’s crazy to say now, there were two photographers that I started following six years ago, guys, little 21 year old me. There are two photographers, and at that time, I mean, they were both like 1000s of dollars. And I was just like, one day, I will be able to afford to work with them. Like I can’t you not That’s what I said. And believe it or not, they’re they’re like business besties um, I had one on the show last season. And now I get to have Jody on the show this season. So it’s super cool. And I have been able to brand them both and work with them both. So that is like, it’s crazy, because yummy. brag on

Jodie Brim
you real quick, okay, because the rebrand everything that I asked for, and didn’t even ask for you exceed it beyond anything I could have even envisioned for myself. All I said it was I want my brand to be a little bit like the iconic vibe. And I tell y’all, Bernau knocked it out of the park, she made such a one of a kind. You have to go see it if you haven’t looked already, but it’s just beautiful. And it’s so everything I want it and I’m just so thankful that you were able to do it for me, because this is a really, really big deal that I don’t want to change my brand ever again. And I want me changing my brand ever again. So I’m excited. Oh, well.

Bernel
Thank you. That is music to my ears. Yes, I was like when you said iconic because you didn’t give me a ton of details on it. And you said you really wanted it to look unique. And I was like, Oh my goodness. I was so excited.

Jodie Brim
Yes, you killed it. So then yes.

Bernel
Um, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today, guys, cuz we can talk about her rebrand experience all day because Jodie was an A one model client. But that’s not for this episode. This episode is to talk about her incredible brand photography. Her website was arguably one of the most beautiful websites I’ve ever created. And part of that was because her photography is just so good. And not even just her shooting style, but the fact that you capture each person’s personality uniquely, so no two shoots look identical.

Jodie Brim
Good. That’s the goal. That is that is the goal, because every one is unique in their own way. So that is my job to bring that out. Bring out your personality number one, that’s really what I go into it and, and building the relationship with my clients and learning just like their unique perspective on life and just you know, getting a touch of of their energy and bringing that out on camera.

Bernel
So yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that. So you mentioned in the onset, that you’ve been doing this for over a decade, so what certainly

Jodie Brim
believe that is 10 years will be December, December 2012. is when I started. We need to party. Yeah. And you know what, oh my gosh, yeah, I do need to have something I plan to definitely plan to, but I can’t believe it’s been a decade. Like, wow can old?

Bernel
No. Just getting started.

Unknown Speaker
That’s getting started. I do feel like it’s just getting started like for real seriously. But no, it’s been it has been a journey getting here in the quick, short version is I started as a wedding photographer, and then love that I love weddings, I really love weddings, but I changed and transition to into brand photography, just because it was a better fit for my life. And I had a baby and just being gone every single weekend just wasn’t ideal for me. So brand photography took off, I was doing a million headshots, and then we just kind of changed the game up and did our own thing. And, you know, made it more fun made it more custom made it more storytelling and not just hheadshots. So it’s been fun. I love what I do. I absolutely love what I do.

Bernel
I love that you saw the need to pivot not because you didn’t love what you were doing.

Jodie Brim
Now, yeah, it was that I have to have my business to fit around my life. I refuse, refuse, and I put some good boundaries up to make sure I stay sane. Because as an entrepreneur, I mean this you know, it’s hard. So we got to do stuff to you know, make sure we still love what we do. And when it comes to when it becomes too much too stressful, then now it’s time to it’s time to make a change. Which Yeah, I’m so glad I did. Because I love I love brand photography because it’s different. Every business is different. With wedding sometimes it’s hard to get like that unique. It bride and groom’s like sometimes you can kind of predict what’s gonna, what’s gonna be the music the song for the year, you know what I mean? You can kind of predict weddings from I mean, there’s so beautiful, but with brand photography, every business is unique. Every single person is different. You know what I mean? Like, and they want to stand out, they need to stand out. It’s a completely different world. I could talk about it all day.

Bernel
Yes, well, we’re gonna we’re gonna dive into that. But before we dive into the meat of our topic, because today, you’re gonna get an inside look into a brand photography membership. That’s really what we’re going to talk about with Jody, because she created this one of a kind brand photography experience. But before we get there, I do think it’s it’s good to talk about the journey to seeing a 10 year successful business.

Jodie Brim
Yeah, the journey, where would you like me to start?

Bernel
I guess I would like to hear kind of, what are some things that you had to overcome in growing your business? How did you do this, and we don’t have to get super deep into details. There are so many people who feel like they are facing giant like issues in their lives. And they’re like, I can get over that hill to steal my business. So what would you say maybe one of those potential roadblocks, where for you and how you navigated that?

Jodie Brim
That’s a really good question. I will say, when I decided to actually start a business, I had already been dabbling in the world of photography, event photography, and did some press photography, it was like and just you had to I had to try a lot of different things to really choose Okay, what am I going to go forward with and that was weddings. My lovely wedding photographer allowed me to shadow her and I just took the leap asked her she said yes, some people say no, she said yes, I got a lot of nose back in the day. So I will start there because when I started, I was still working a full time job. And I was full time I was I didn’t become full time in photography until 2013. But I will tell you, my husband and I made a plan that a lot of people may not be willing to do I feel like you have to be willing to sacrifice some things to be able to set your life up and your business up for success. And I was I had a very very high paying job my husband did as well. We lived extremely below our means when I tell you extremely below our means we had a mortgage of $400 for a townhome that we could have bought that $300,000 house we could have bought the new car we’d had no car payments, so my car I this is how I got to be full time I’m telling you because I don’t tell this story a lot. This is so good.

Bernel
I love it keep going if you got to see my face like my like on the ground, but

Jodie Brim
I sold my beautiful BMW Z four. Oh my gosh, that was a dream car anyway. I love that car. So sold it drove my car that I had two cars when I have two cars, two cars, two cars give me one car it’s already paid off. So job my paid off car my husband Joe his his paid off car. We paid off $100,000 in debt in a year. And that is how I got to be a full time entrepreneur. Now of course you have to have cash flow to get there we went to school I you know I’ve worked in corporate I had a I worked my way up the corporate ladder to be able to get that type of salary. So anyway, fast forward, I went full time in 2013. And I would say the hardest thing when I first started, was learning how to manage my time. Because, yes, I had experience I was the director of operations, but I had experience in that world. And I’m like, How do I put this in this world? Like, how do I navigate to the world of entrepreneurship? I promise you I will be I was working out of my sunroom back in the day. That’s where I started my business. I would do my little YouTube videos. Hopefully, I don’t go look that up. But I will do my little YouTube videos, my son. And I had no idea what I was doing no idea. I’m like, Okay, what do I do now? I have 10 hours before my husband gets out. What do I do with all this time? So I will say what changed? The game for me was when I just went hard of just asking people for help. Majority of the people said, No, I would reach out and ask for mentors, like, Hey, can I come shadow you? I promise you 95% of them said no, I remember the three people that said yes to me three. And I went for it. And those three people, I was able to expand and expand and expand and meet other people and grow my network. So and then I went to my first it was like a wedding networking event. I was terrified. Now I’m an extrovert. But I think I’m one of those like introvert extrovert type people, because back then hurt, right? Like, I bet then I was comfortable in the corporate world, I was not comfortable in the entrepreneur world. So going to that event, I will never forget, my heart was beating out my chest. I was so scared. But at that event, so thankful I went, I met a luxury wedding planner, event designer, and grew my network that way with high end weddings like we she went on to get me, you know, tons of bookings for high end brides. So it’s like, I was able to just keep growing and keep going and trying new things. And eventually, it just, I don’t know, it just took off. Just not stop it. You can’t quit, like it’s gonna be hard. And it’s gonna be unpredictable. But you have to remember that you can do hard things like I have. I had that on my little whiteboard. Like, remember, you can do hard things. So here we are. I think yes.

Bernel
I love that story. So much, um, primarily because you had acquired some of the the material things that she wanted through your corporate job, but it didn’t necessarily like feel your passion? No, it did. And I think that that’s so important, because so often people told me, they want to start their own businesses, because of money, because they’ve always really wanted to make money. And I mean, granted, money is nice, yes. I’m not knocking that that is a pro of having your own business. But I think it is, you know, advantageous to mention the fact that like, all the money in the world won’t really bring you that satisfaction unless you’re doing work that you love.

Jodie Brim
That’s it. That’s that’s what I needed. I needed that for me. And my husband and I are different, I now talk much about he’s a lot, he does a lot behind the scenes for my business, just being my support. He’s amazing. And marketing has a degree in marketing. So he has been that rock for me, and just seeing how he’s still in the corporate world. And I’m like, I’m so thankful I get to be the creative. But again, we plan for that, like you have to have a plan. Some people just take the leap, like I’m gonna take a leap of faith. I’m not for that. I’m not, please have a plan on how you’re going to actually pay or, you know, pay all the fees, because photography is expensive. Like, if you want to be that high in photography, you have to have really good gear to produce the high quality images you want to produce to attract those were we’d go down the road with that, like, yes, so it costs money. So, you know, anyway,

Bernel
I’m going Yes. Oh, my goodness, no, but I love I love the journey. I love that you made sacrifices. I feel like that is a heel that I stand on the top of and scream from, because we all had to make sacrifices to start our businesses like and whether that’s gonna be a time sacrifice, a financial sacrifice, whatever a hobby sacrifice, like you have to prioritize the end goal day and it sounds like that’s what you guys did you prioritize the angle of you being able to be a full time entrepreneur.

Jodie Brim
Yes. All right. So

Bernel
let’s fast forward. Okay, let me start this wedding photography business. You find your three mentors. You’re getting those luxury high end brides. Yeah, what happens?

Jodie Brim
Then what happens is I was getting a lot of requests for headshots, like, you think you have a bride you build this relationship and then okay, they go on to have a baby and then they go on to have a new career and their husband needs a headshot and it just kind of naturally and organically grew to having a bunch headshot request. So what I what I started doing and which was I can’t believe I did this. I used to have driveway photo shoots at my house. Listen, my neighbors would crack up where they Oh God, Hey, Daddy gotta shoot today, because I would legit put up a backdrop in front of my garage because that garage lighting is everything. And I will put a backdrop up and I will have people cut because I’m like, I’m not leaving my house because back then I was trying to like 50 bucks or a headshot, like, just hey, come Yeah, I’ll snap it. But I’m about leaving my house to hitch. So I used to have these driveway photos used and I still have photos that I could share from those.

Bernel
Okay, so at this 10 year anniversary party of Jodie Brim creative, I kinda want to see where it started how it

Jodie Brim
is, oh, my gosh, I need to do a real for that for sure. And so after that my husband’s like, beg No, this is too much now because it kept growing. I’m like, Okay, I have

Bernel
a line down the block. And your neighbors are like, Why are these people

Jodie Brim
working? Well, I just didn’t expect that. So I ended up getting a studio with three other photographers. We shared it. And then eventually they left and I kept the studio and then I got bored. I get bored very easily, very easily. So I have to do fun things. And then that’s when I got my studio that I’m in now in 2019 Because I was at the other studio in 2017. And yes, when that I’m in that,

Bernel
that makes sense, because I think I started following you and like the end of 2016, early 2017 Yeah, and I was like she was a studio and then I blinked and she has another studio.

Jodie Brim
Well that studio I made magic in that space. It was 100 square feet hit floor to ceiling windows. But it was so tiny. It was pretty oh my goodness for headshots, but not to really tell the story of a business owner and to really go deeper with their with their content marketing and creating that type of imagery. I couldn’t do it in that space. So

Bernel
yeah, I love that. I remember finding your page I don’t think I saw a lot of branding at that point. In this video and I think you were a revolution mill. So for you guys who aren’t familiar with the Greens brothers this like old restored mill built in so think super high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows brick, all of that just super industrial super high end once again, guys, I literally started a business at 21. So I was like, I don’t know, like what things are supposed to look like I just knew what that’s what like grown boss woman looked. And in this video what really caught my attention. It was not the subject of the video that you were shooting. It was that there were like these behind the scenes of like props on a table. And then like you hit like panned like the clothes hanging up or something. I don’t know if you remember this video because that video caught my attention because I had never really seen all the things that go into being like you don’t get to see the behind the scenes because if you run a business, you probably don’t have photoshoots on a regular basis.

Jodie Brim
Yeah, um, yeah, I love I love to show behind the scenes because I always say like, people are nosy. I’m nosy. I want to know, especially if I’m investing money. I want to know, okay, how are you going to do that for me? Okay, now some things I don’t care about, like, you know, you’re gonna hate my curtains at my house. Okay, just make them look pretty. But like when it comes to something that I have to personally be involved in. It’s such a personal aspect of photography, just working with personal brands. So yeah, I love to show the behind the scenes. I know what video you’re talking about. And Dorn, long. Aaron, he did that.

Bernel
Yeah. Yeah, well, and it’s funny because he did my very first brand. Because of the like, I was just like, horrible last video. Like I was just like this. I’ve never seen anything like this. And it really spoke to your process. I think that’s what I’m getting with my whole tangent over here. That there was a clear process and people could clearly see what they were gonna receive. Because a lot of people at the time, were just posting pretty pictures. Instagram was not video focused. So people were posting these pictures of women who look like models. And I was just like, but what about the everyday woman? Like, how can I turn into looking like that? And I feel like your video was one of the first things I saw of like, it showed the hair and makeup. It showed like, okay, she didn’t wake up like this. She’s not. I mean, she was really She was really pretty, but it definitely showed that there’s a process that anyone can attain that feeling. Absolutely,

Jodie Brim
absolutely. And I love that. It is definitely a process. And the thing is some people say well, I don’t want to be all glam. You don’t have to be glam and that’s, that’s where I really go deep in our planning together like curating everything for the shoot, we’re going to make it true to you. So if you’re not this glamazon and you don’t like all this makeup we’ll keep a natural look because photoshoot makeup is, is recommended just because you know, you don’t wanna look shiny on camera, but you don’t have to be all glammed up you can be definitely very natural too. So I love that I love our team, like they can do whatever looked at, you know, the client needs. So

Bernel
yes, indeed, yes, indeed. All right. So now that you guys have heard Jodi story heard how she got here? These are the two big services I really want to ask questions about and kind of dive in with you. The first one is your brand photography membership. That’s revolutionary, you mean to tell me that we can subscribe like Netflix?

Unknown Speaker
Yes, definitely. And you know, we have some people really now I will say the membership is for people who need fresh content, but they don’t really have the time to create the content, I created that membership out of a need. One of my clients said, Hey, I don’t need the full shebang. Because she’s going to need more than what she gets with the full. The membership, the brand experience, excuse me. So the brand experience is like you do that it’s one and done. It pretty much can give you content for like, I would say six months to a year some people still use it three years from now just depends on if your service has changed. So with her growth and her needs, she was constantly evolving, growing her team like so she needed, you know, updated photos consistently and videos too. So I was like, Okay, well, I don’t have this. So that’s how it all came about. I created it, she booked it and then offered it to other people. And it’s crazy. Now, what we do is and what I love about the membership, it is so custom with the membership, some have used it because I don’t I’m not a family photographer. But some of my clients want to feature the mompreneur side of their business and just kind of showing that real raw like, you know, like I do this but I also have four kids like because people want to know like when they’re looking at you and so if they want to be able to relate to you so so for that will include like photos with their family, they can have a photoshoot that’s not inside my studio like we go to Charlotte a lot we go to Raleigh so it’s just it’s so custom to whatever they need because some people have launches coming up so they need more specific content for that they want to showcase an event that they’re speaking at I go to that like so it’s really whatever you need to put out for your content marketing to really connect with the clientele you’re trying to bring in or the you know to get your product in the right face of the right customer so that’s that’s what the membership is for is it’s for people who need who don’t have time to DIY or go to sales but they can get this fresh new content and just stay ahead of the game with their with their content marketing. Yeah.

Bernel
Oh my goodness yes. So I love that because what is they say everything is content right the little Yeah. Yeah, so So that’s that’s perfect. How often does the membership shoot like so they

Jodie Brim
do it once a month so they commit to three months so it’s once a month they have the option to renew their membership after three months. But I mean we typically we have people renew and once somebody falls off we can let some a new person in because it’s still limited it’s me actually doing the photoshoot because we do have an associate photographer but there’s not a membership under them. So for me to you know be available for these members because they are a priority and then still have our brand experience which is where a whole team come together and collaborate to feature you know visuals for them and create visuals for them. So that’s like where my time is kind of like pulled is members and then our full our brand experience which is our signature offer.

Bernel
Yes oh my goodness I love that you mentioned video so is that is that an add on

Jodie Brim
members get discount everything so members they get so it’s a 90 minute session that they get and then if they want to add on a video it is super super discounted. So that is pretty ideal because some people like to make real so we’ve had some people that make reels for their email marketing they make videos for their email marketing for like newsletters, but we also can do like just real so some people opt for that like Hey, I just want to make six different reels that are you know, produce reels and you know this it’s really cool. I could do this for myself, but I don’t have time to do it for myself like

Bernel
Oh, no. Me. I don’t know why I’m sitting here going oh no, like I’m not in the same boat with you. I have not updated my website and like two years. list every month. Listen, you know, we’re working in our business not neccessarily on

Jodie Brim
for that, for that I do. Yeah, I need to set time to do that for me because it’s pretty awesome. And our team, like we have our process down, we have your planning session we curate every month. So we have a so the month before we’ll, we’ll have a Zoom meeting and we plan out all the details, the location, I have my my pool of all locations, spots that are my favorites. And, you know, I kind of like suggested, depending on the brand, make sure it aligns. And if it’s in studio, if it’s on location, if it’s somewhere else, if it’s an evening shoot, if it’s a crack of the morning shoot like that membership is the most flexible, because I want to keep it flexible, because I don’t I want to make sure it is going to be what they need for whatever they’re launching, or whatever ads is a lot of people use it for their ads, because they change them out. They have like a brand team and they have ads team. And that’s I will say a lot of them are like realtors, coaches, attorneys, those are like the main ones like that, that group need that fresh, regular rate, a lot of a lot of business coaches, for sure. Use the membership.

Bernel
Oh, that is awesome. Very good to know. Um, I work with a lot of coaches, a lot of service based providers in general. And I feel like we share a similar clientele. It’s funny, because sometimes they won’t even tell me like, they’ll just deliver their website images because I had sent a Google Drive folder. And I’m like, wait a minute, this looks like Jodie studio. And they’re like Oh, yeah. I love that. I love that each picture looks different. But you still have this signature look of just like professionalism. So thank you, that is really good. Okay, so we talked about the membership. Um, and I know that there are people. So if you’re listening at home, and this, this sounds like you and other people who are not local, who don’t necessarily need pictures on a membership basis. But a little birdie told me you launched a new service where you know, somebody could fly in town, drive in town walk into and get everything knocked out in a day.

Jodie Brim
So tell me that new service is what that is the VIP content day. And I will say a lot of our clients, I will say a good chunk percentage would get we’ve gotten more local people within the last two years. But before COVID majority of my clients 60% Were out of state. I mean, we had majority of people that came for our signature experience. So with the VIP content day you can fly in my studio is located in the heart of downtown Winston Salem, I am around six different hotels, literally not even half a block let us walk out in turn right there. The hotels right there is very easy and convenient, we have a whole process for people who are coming in from out of town. So it’s just easy and smooth. We have you know, if you need to get your nails done, we got our vendor set up and everything. So with the VIP content day, what’s awesome about that is you can literally get content for an entire year, just a one and done knock it out. This is where people who probably hate being in front of the camera don’t have time to be in front of the camera. And it’s like but they know that they need this for their business to just create that online presence if they don’t have one or just refresh their online presence and just stay ahead of the game. So I created that out of a need because a lot of our clients wanted more outfits photographed. And what I was noticing is with the packages that I already have with my main offering, I was I would tell them like hey, still bring like a couple extra outfits and I would still knock it out. Like I have it down to a tee of what I know they need because you don’t really need one outfit 30 fixtures in one outfit you really don’t know. So it’s best to just kind of okay, once you get the set, boom, boom, boom, boom, okay, go ahead and change so we can seriously knock out 10 different outfits is what this VIP content day, I probably could get could get more but I’m just gonna tell them baseline 10. And it was a lot but I have the process of how I do it down to a science like just I don’t know, it’s just, I guess cuz I’ve been doing it for a while. And now I just kind of know how to tailor it and know what I need. So yeah, and you know, at what point to switch over,

Bernel
it’s like, alright, we got the money shot next. Yeah,

Jodie Brim
the money shot. And so with that VIP content day, though, what I’m doing differently. What I don’t do with my other offerings is a post marketing strategy. So I will sit down and we can do a zoom meeting and I will actually share with them and create a marketing strategy on how to actually use these images because what I’ve noticed in the past and I’ve, I’ve sent people referrals to other like social media management companies just because it’s not something that I personally offer I want to. So this is kind of like my tester because I can tell you all day, but then people when you actually have to hold them accountable to like, Okay, this is what I need you to do and lay it out. It’s easier once they have a plan. And no, okay, oh, I didn’t know I could use it for that. Yeah, you can use these photos. And I have people that have come to me from 2017 Still using those same photos, because they still have the same services, but it’s the way they use them. It’s amazing. Like, they know how to use their photos. But I will say a lot of people don’t know you get this beautiful library of images. But what do I do with them? And don’t post them all at once? Please don’t do that.

Bernel
And don’t put all your beautiful images in one slider, right? Nine different outfits in the slider. And that was like, at least a month’s worth of content. Did you just

Jodie Brim
say you know that some some people just don’t they just need some guidance. So that has been a question that I’ve had for probably the last three years is do you have somebody that can help me plan out my social media, I’m like, Okay, I actually like it, I actually enjoy it. But it’s just a time thing for me. So now with this VIP content, when when it secured, I will carve out that time to help them and guide them through this social media planning, like how to use these images. How should you caption these images? based off what you’re trying to convey in your messaging? Because that is key. That’s the powers and the message. Okay. Yeah, it’s a beautiful photo, we see that you’re okay, your real estate agent. Okay, cool. But what now, like the caption, that’s what people struggle is, how do I capture these images? So I’ll be helping them with that. And we also even before that, before the photo shoot, the planning, the curation, is what’s going to really set your shoot up for success with the VIP content day because it is so many outfits is so many different, I will say locations and vignettes, that I create a photo shoot, shoot directive. So it’s basically a guide, a photoshoot guide, and it’ll kind of show you what the what the vibe is of the day what the vibe is for the for the aesthetic of your brand. The outfits like not the specific outfits because they have to provide their own outfits, but what type of outfits you should be, you know, bringing the day of so they have it all planned out, like colors, locations, location, location, location, everybody says that that is a number one thing like, Are you a brand that is more like a dark sultry brand, because, you know, maybe you need a different location that’s not super, super bright. You know what I mean? And all this natural light. So there’s, there’s so many things that go into it, and it can be overwhelming, which is why I want to really hold their hand through that process. Because I’ve seen, you know, just when people work with photographers that don’t do all of that, and they’ve come to me, it’s like, oh my gosh, like you’re actually helping me to pose because some photographers don’t have that. Well, they all they don’t pose like posing is a part of the experience. When I am shooting with a photographer, I expect them to tell me what to do because I am not that I’m not a model. Okay, so what do I look like? What should I do here? And that’s that really sets the tone is posing the right outfits? The location, your hair makeup on point? How are we shooting this? Why are we shooting it? What is it for? What is this photo gonna be used for? You know what I mean? Yeah, this much. Oh, my goodness.

Bernel
Yes, I recently did a brand photo. Well, I’m actually not recently it’s July. photo shoot in like January, so no, that was

Unknown Speaker
Time is flying.

Bernel
But I will tell you one thing that was stressful for me personally, and I have a very similar personality to yours. I feel like very type a very organized very like checklist and post it notes and all the things. And that was a hurdle for me guys, and I’m in marketing, but I was just like, Okay, what am I using these photos for? What is it when it came to like, okay, so I’m picking three outfits, but like I couldn’t, there was a disconnect of like, what we’re not putting this page, right? Like, what is it really for? I know, I like these outfits. I know that they’re my brand colors. But what are they for? And then I always have this, I have a fabulous brain photographer that I work with to always have this feeling after I get this beautiful picture. On my end. I’m just like, Okay, now. Okay, I want to save this one. But I don’t know really what I’m supposed to be using it for. So do I put it here? Or then I’ll use it for that. Yeah. So anyway, it’s just it’s a whole spiral in my own head. So that service that you mentioned, the post photoshoot content marketing strategy session. Yes. Gold, pure gold. Like I was over here, flailing my arms in the air, because I was just like, yeah, like, what what do we do after photos? And then there’s a lot that you don’t use when you have 30 pictures in the same outfit because, you know, as entrepreneurs, sometimes we ask for that. I’m guilty. I will take that I’m like, I love this dress. So let’s get me in all these different angles within, realistically, am I going to post

Jodie Brim
33 of them, you really might use three, maybe five, Max,

Bernel
three, three was real realistic. And this one, I just want to print these out and send some to my grandma and my aunts and uncles, because all of these pictures, but I’m in the same outfit. So anyway 10 outfits blows my mind. But equally as impressive is that post photoshoot content strategy session, I think that that’s really, really good. I know that just when I’ve asked people in branding projects of like, hey, I want you to be more consistent on your social media. You got these beautiful brand photos, you showed them to me? Like, why are you not posting and they say, I don’t know how to use them, or I don’t know what I want to caption them. Or they’re like, Well, I heard reels are a big thing. And I want to use it as the cover of my real job. I don’t have any real ideas.

Jodie Brim
So much, but I think I’m just doing just having one plan, like just okay for q4 coming up, and we’re oh my gosh, I cannot believe almost the end of the year. What is my goal? You know, what is my goal? Who do I want to work more with this last few months, and then into next year? Because you think about that, because that’s gonna come right around the corner. If you’re doing a photo shoot in September, you know what I mean? So it’s just, I feel like when you really write it out, and you write it down, I don’t know why that makes such a big difference in stuff. Everyone tells you to do it, write it down. But it really does write the vision. What do you want to see happen? Okay, from these photos, okay, I want to I want to have more clients buy my shea butter, the one that is my signature shea butter, I don’t know if it’s a product based business, or I want more clients to book my group coaching. So okay, let’s show that show them what that looks like, you know, and it’s not just photos of you. Because of his group coaching, we want to see some other stuff, too. So yeah, it’s just so much. But again, choosing the right photographer that can really convey that images for you is so important. I of course will always recommend someone who specializes in brand photography. Because when you do this year after year, year after year, you learn the trends. You learn what people need, you learn what works for people, and especially if you ask for feedback, like I definitely ask for feedback. And you kind of you stay ahead of the game, and you know what people you can anticipate their needs. So,

Bernel
yes. And then recently, something I’ve been seeing, and this is very designer specific. I know a lot of designers, graphic designers, aspiring web designers listen to my podcast. But a lot of what we have to do some time on our websites is supplement with stock photography, because at the end of the day, if I’m designing websites, people don’t really need to see a picture of me on every single page, not just posing in front of the camera, right. So with this content package, do you capture the product? V? You know, the hands move, and just different things that are not specifically all smiling. Geez,

Jodie Brim
thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Because that is something that I talked about in when we do our strategy session to plan out the photoshoot. Is it something that do you because I always will always will recommend that we take photos that’s not with their faces in it because some people some days you just don’t. You might not be feeling it and you want to tell something’s not with your picture in it. So we do offer custom like mockups, stock photography, that’s really or flatlays that’s related to your branding, and highly recommend with across the board, any photoshoot that you do you should have that just because especially with websites, if you want to as a cover something or if it’s a blog post or a Pinterest board, I don’t know, people I mean, there’s so many different platforms where you need different things. But custom stock photography is essential with any photo shoot, for sure. So yeah, I’ll do that too.

Bernel
I love it. Okay, guys, well, you heard it here. First. There is now a VIP content. De there’s limited spots. As Jodi mentioned,

Jodie Brim
actually 10 people that we’re working with, yeah, so when this comes out, I mean, yeah, hopefully. We still have Yeah, so

Bernel
hopefully there’s more spots. What I’m gonna do in the show notes of this episode, I will of course link to her website. I will link to how you can schedule a consultation for that VIP day, as well as Jodie on her website has an excellent resource. I don’t like to call it a freebie but is value packed. Yeah, but she has this excellent, complimentary resource is called the top five tips to help you rock your next branch. You spoiler alert, I designed it but I also think the content in it is incredible because literally, I kept a copy after I designed it. And I was just like, whoa, I’m gonna like write in here and learn. Um, so snag a copy of that. I will have that linked in the show notes as well. Jodie, where can people find you if they want to work with you?

Unknown Speaker
Well, I am I live on Instagram at Jody brand with an IE JOIE brim. But my website you can visit Jodie grooms.com. Instagram is probably your best bet, though. But my website is definitely we keep we keep our blog updated. So that’d be great to just you know, we put out free content there complimentary resources there on the blog. So definitely check out the blog. We try to have a new blog post every other week.

Bernel
So yeah, nice. Yes. Yeah, she’s doing better with blog. And then I told

Unknown Speaker
you I was gonna use it because Bernel said like, are you actually going to use your blog was uses on my website? Yes. Yes, we have been.

Bernel
Yes. That is awesome. And that is a huge q4 goal for me. Yeah, we are going to start blogging a couple times. A lot of

Jodie Brim
people have found me on Google, Google is trumping Instagram referrals now, which is crazy. So yeah.

Bernel
You guys know what that’s called? S E. O. Optimization.

Jodie Brim
I’m bound. Finally took some years but yeah, yeah. So Bernel. I appreciate you.

Bernel
Yes. Well, thank you so much for being on the show today, you gave so much value. And you guys listening at home, if you need brand photos, now you know where to go. If you are interested in starting your own brand photography company. If you’re in a season of your life where you feel like maybe wedding photography isn’t fitting you anymore. Maybe your corporate job isn’t fitting you anymore. Jody also offers mentoring. I know all the shameless plugs. I love to brag about her. Because you know she she’s an awesome personality. And I just feel like whether you need to be in front of her camera or you need her help standing beside you behind your camera. He’s a great person. Thank you so much. All right, Jodi. Well, I enjoyed it. Thanks for coming. Wow, that went by really fast. As always, thank you so much for showing up in my little corner of the internet. I would love to hear your thoughts on the show. So please, please subscribe, leave a review and share what you learned with friends. Some of the best things in life are freebies. So don’t forget to head over to branded by brunel.com to check out our free branding goodies, the show notes and more educational resources.