I’m a big believer in the importance of it. It’s a key component to a business and once you realize that for yourself you’ll be much further along. You should always hire a trained designer/agency to develop your brand on the graphical side, but we all know that takes a good chunk of change. A brand development like mine can cost anywhere from $5-10K. There is a whole process behind the development and it’s unique to who you are. Its one of the most important things you can do for your business next to taking pictures. Perception is reality (in the visual branding sense), and that is what people take you for on a first impression. Unless you are a trained designer, you should never do your own brand. If you have that kind of cash to spend on developing your brand that’s awesome, and is a great investment, but you should also have shot for a few years and have a good sense of who you are as a photographer because that plays into your visual brand.

That said, I know how hard it is to come up with that kind of cash to hire a designer to create your brand during the first few years of your business. Trust me, I lived off of peanuts and ramen for the first few years of my photography journey because every penny I had went back into my business. Buying equipment is not cheap! That’s where your initial investment should reside because that directly makes you money, and you need to have a product before you can build a brand around it.

You can get away with doing it yourself for a little while, but if you want to get the big work, you need to hire a professional.