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A quick lesson on the importance of authenticity & differentiation.
It was 2010. The start of a new decade and a new life for me and Emily. We were recently married and had just decided to make a go of being full time entrepreneurs. No more corporate job, no benefits and no safety net. We were hopelessly in love and blissfully ignorant. If we had known how hard it would be and how many mistakes we would make, I would likely be a mid level executive in corporate America right now.
I shutter to think.
After years in the hospitality industry, relationship marketing was my jam so we were headed out the door to a networking event at the House of Blues in Dallas. Business cards, check. Authentic marketing pitch, check. Unwavering enthusiasm for our new business and all the connections we were gonna make, check.
The joint was jumping so we worked the room separately to cover more territory. We smiled and shook hands with more people than we could count only to meet up a bit later each wearing a slightly forced smile and with a noticeable decline in our enthusiasm.
That's because many if not most of the people at the party were, you guessed it, photographers. Turns out we were not taking a dip in a lush lagoon full of opportunity; we were in a shark tank full of our very capable competition. And, those cards and that marketing pitch we thought were so authentic looked and sounded an awful lot like everyone else's.
We were deflated as we hopped in the car to head home. It's been over fifteen years and I still remember how it felt and exactly where we were when something occurred to me. Our disappointing experience wasn't the crushing blow we thought it was. It was a cleverly disguised lesson on the importance of authenticity & differentiation. Every entrepreneurial market will be over saturated and fiercely competitive. Professional photography was no different.
As we approached NorthPark Center (Dallas' fanciest monument to consumerism) I saw the illuminated signs in the distance and thought about all the iconic luxury brands that global consumers lust after for years, if not decades before becoming a customer. When they're finally able to make that satisfying purchase, it's worth every penny because it's an investment, not an expense.
In that moment, we decided that rather than worry about something we had absolutely ZERO control over (our competition) we would dedicate all our focus and attention to all the things we could control.
In the hours and days to come we decided we would conceptualize, create and build an iconic brand that would get the attention of our ideal audience, be the clear choice for our dream clients and render our competition irrelevant because nobody can be who we are and no company can do what we do.
What about you? Is your brand an authentic icon? Tell me more...
Next Week: Building Our Iconic Brand
