You may have a business that provides a product or service that’s very similar to another business. But your brand is still unique. Why? Because of Y-O-U!
Before I ever picked up a camera professionally, I spent 19 years as a speech therapist who specialized in the rehabilitation of injured voices (a.k.a. voice therapist). I never expected that career to follow me into brand photography, but it did. Turns out, the most important thing I learned about voices is also the most important thing I know about brands.
No two are exactly alike.
Every Voice is Built From the Same Parts
Bear with me while we get a little science-y for a moment. Every human voice is made from the same basic equipment:
- the lungs
- the vocal folds
- the internal resonating spaces
Your lungs push air up through your vocal folds causing them to vibrate. Now, with just those two parts, the sound that would occur would be a very mechanical sound. But, then that vibration is shaped by the other open spaces of your head and neck, creating a sound that we not only recognize as a human voice but your specific human voice.
That last bit is where this gets super interesting and fun! When explaining this to patients, I used to always say:
“You could take my vocal folds, put them in your throat, and the sound that would come out wouldn’t sound like me. It would sound like YOU!”
Why? Because the size and shape of each human’s resonating spaces are unique to them.
Nobody else has your exact resonance and nobody ever will.
Your Brand Has a Resonance Too
I know what you’re thinking – “So…what exactly does this have to do with my business?”
I’m so glad you asked!
There are other people or brands who offer what you offer. They may even offer it:
- at a similar price point
- for a similar client
- with a similar list of services.
On paper, your businesses may look nearly identical. The difference is, their brand has them and yours has you and with you comes:
- your passions, strengths, and weaknesses
- your knowledge and lived experience
- the unique way that you see the world
- the hard seasons that taught you things no course ever could
That’s your resonating space!
It shapes everything you offer into something no one else can replicate, no matter how similar the service looks from the outside.
Your People Are Primed to Connect to You
Lean in, friend, because this is where it starts to get really good.
There’s an acoustic phenomenon called “sympathetic resonance.” This is basically when a sound connects with an object’s natural frequency causing that object to vibrate in response. For example:
- sing the right note near a piano and one of its strings will vibrate and hum along
- strike a tuning fork and one tuned to the same pitch will start to sound on its own
Your audience works the same way! (Stick with me here, because I know this might sound a little “woo-woo”.)
The people who are meant to work with you respond to your frequency specifically. They don’t respond because you are louder or more polished than everyone else.
They respond because what you put out matches something in them.
So when you catch yourself thinking “Why bother? She’s already doing the same thing I do”…take a breath.
You two were never competing for the same listeners. Her people are tuned in to her. Yours are tuned into you.
Same Song, Different Singer
Dolly Parton wrote and recorded “I Will Always Love You” in the 1970s. Twenty-ish years later, Whitney Houston recorded it and her version became a worldwide phenomenon. Both versions are still beloved, but often by different people for different reasons.
Nobody heard Whitney’s version and said, “Well, Dolly already did that one.”
Maybe people would have said that if Whitney sang it exactly the same way Dolly did. But she didn’t. She sang it with her own arrangement, phrasing, interpretation, and with flourishes that catered to her specific strengths and abilities…her overall brand vibe as a vocalist (hello, key change!).
Singers who know their voices well know how and when to move a (possibly familiar) song into a key that better fits their instrument.
The same goes for trends. By all means, follow one if it’s useful for you/your audience. Just make sure to “sing it in a key” that works for you. And AI? Well, let’s just say it can hand you the sheet music, but it can’t sing the song for you.
What Does This Have To Do With Brand Photos?
Everything, actually. Here’s why.
Your audience can’t respond to a frequency they never hear.
Most people will see your business before they ever hear you speak. Your website, social media feed, bio photos, newsletters, etc are all the places where your resonance and messaging has to carry even when you aren’t physically in the room.
Brand imagery is how it gets there.
Generic images “sound” like someone else.
Stock photos, borrowed aesthetics, or a session that could have been shot for anyone else in your industry all share the same problem. They’re probably technically fine, but they just aren’t you. Your imagery should be planned around:
- what makes you resonate
- how you do what you do in the way that only you can do it
- your specific marketing needs
- the audience that’s tuned in to you (or the one you want tuned in)
Why Being Authentically You Is Easier (For Everyone)
As a voice therapist, I spent years helping people find their optimum resonance – the way their voice works best. When a voice lands there, speaking and singing are actually easier. Your internal acoustics do most of the work for carrying the sound so your muscles don’t have to work so hard. Because of that listeners don’t have to work as hard to hear it either.
A voice that resonates well is both easier for speaker or singer to produce and for the listener to hear and understand.
As a brand photographer, I do the same thing because showing up as yourself works the same way. That’s why aaallllll of this matters for your business.
When you’re performing a version of your brand that isn’t really you or you’re forcing an aesthetic simply because that’s what’s trending, every post takes more effort. Like a voice pushing through tension it doesn’t need, it’s exhausting, and it’s harder for the right people (your people) to hear you.
When you show up in the way that only you can, showing up gets easier…so does being found.
That’s why the initial consultation before booking a brand photo shoot shapes everything that follows. What I hear in our first conversation becomes the jumping off point for your shoot plan: the settings, the moments, and the stories your imagery needs to tell. I hear it in that first conversation. Then on shoot day, I make sure the camera sees it.
Your Brand, In Perfect Harmony
Wanna know my favorite thing about music? It’s harmony. (Shocking, I know…)
Harmony isn’t everyone singing the same note. It’s different voices, each one distinct, building something richer than any one of them could make alone.
Your brand works like that too. Your imagery, your website, your words, your offers…and YOU. When every part of that is built around your resonance all those individual parts stop competing and start supporting each other. Specifically:
- Your photos look like the business you actually run.
- Your website sounds like the person clients will meet.
- Showing up stops feeling like a performance.
That’s brand harmony and it is exactly what Harmonie House Images was built around.
Your logo, your colors, and your website all matter. But they’re all built around one thing – YOU.
YOU ARE THE BRAND.
Someone else may be singing a similar song, and that’s ok. Your people are listening for your voice.
If you’re ready for imagery that resonates both with you and for you, let’s talk. Every session starts with a conversation. Tell me about your business…I’ll be listening.
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