On Developing the Brand
Research is arguably the most important skill someone can possess in the early stages of building a business. With so many tasks to accomplish and goals to achieve on your way to building a brand, it is important to know where and how to find best practices and procedures to follow. So where better to look than at other similar brands? Analyzing what they are doing to achieve their accomplishments and what they are doing or lessons they learned that slowed them down or set them back. Taking a look at these lessons and adapting them to your situation will help you accomplish building your own brand. This is a real life case study for myself analyzing the following individuals/ businesses to see what I can take away and apply to myself to build Martins Migration. Perhaps within the next couple years as my brand grows and I have my own lessons to share, someone will use martins Migration to do the exact same thing!
Business 1: Mark Denney Photography (Click HERE to go to his website)
Business Overview: I have been following Mark on Instagram and YouTube for YEARS. In fact, his tutorials on YouTube for editing in Lightroom and Photoshop are a massive reason I have a working knowledge of these programs to begin with. Mark has a similar story to my own of an on again off again relationship with photography. He worked a day job and did photography as a hobby in his free time but knew somewhere inside himself he wanted to try and make it his full time gig. He talks about how he is a naturally anxious person and enjoys using his photography as a platform to share stories about the importance of slowing down and enjoying the process and story. Not just always looking for the end result. This is something I can deeply relate with and the same message I hope to share through Martin’s Migration. Mark has a strong presence on YouTube where he shares all his lessons learned, business insights, editing techniques, on location setup, and so much more. He sells prints, tutorials, lightroom courses, one on one time slots to ask questions and edit photos together, and conducts workshops for people to buy slots to varying in length and location.
Valid Business Example for Martin’s Migration? Of Course! It posses a very similar message to viewers and clients as well as a similar story in the way photography came about to want to build a business out of. It doesn’t possess all the same aspects Martin’s Migration will possess. A prime example of this being Mountain Biking. But the foundation the business is built on is the part we are concerned about here. The nuisances are what make a business unique and special.
What works? Diversification is key. Utilizing multiple sources for revenue stream is vital. YouTube, Affiliate Marketing, Sponsorships, training sessions, Partnership content, Print sales, Virtual product sales, and workshops just to name a few. He discusses a quote he received that states “the market for landscape photography things is small, but the market for the landscape photography experience is massive.” In short he learned that in order to be successful he needed to deliver the expiernce of the photograph, not just the photograph itself. Being able to keep option open and give new revenue possibilities a shot without sacrificing the revenue streams that are working is key to discovering new ways to build revenue. In Mark’s case, YouTube, Workshops, Sponsorships, and Affiliate Marketing are his biggest revenue streams. But he attempted at least 10 different pathways before figuring out what streams to focus his energy into. Sometimes failing tremendously is exactly what is required to get pointed into the right direction. So in short, the streams that dedicate time to developing people through your work is what built him success. This is important to me. it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking “what can I sell to make money?” But taking his lessons to refocus and ask myself “How can I provide value to people to go out and have the expiernce for themselves?”
What doesn’t work? Tourism boards, media companies, social media as a revenue stream, print sales, and stock photography. These methods are so oversaturated with such stiff competition that getting seen is tremendously difficult. In short, selling an item (or in this case a photo print) is marketing to a small group with extreme competition. Now, is this to say that it is impossible to sell physical products as a profitable business platform as a photographer? Absolutely not! It just means the business model, and what Mark valued, didn’t align with this method. Thomas Heaton (another photographer that could be another great case study) has built his photography business on selling physical products such as books and calendars from his photos. Check him out HERE if you are curious! In short, selling in a manner that doesn’t suit your personality or business style will result in revenue that doesn’t work.
Business 2: Mahalo My Dude (Click HERE to go to their website)
Business Overview: Mahalo My Dude is a group of friends from BC Canada who share a love for mountain biking and filmmaking. They started out as friends filming each other on their mountain bike rides and sharing their experiences along the way and have since transitioned into a mountain biking apparel and sticker company. They are known for their satirical mountain bike music videos and comical mountain bike content on YouTube. I have followed this channel for years as well. In fact, my wife watches their channel and regularly gets the mountain biking itch on random weekday mornings because of it! They have a neat series called “Silent Mountain Biking” that is a bit more of a cinematic and tranquil mountain biking video series. It is content like this that is why this business is part of the case study.
Valid Business Example for Martin’s Migration? Where I do not think modeling Martin’s Migration after this business would lead me to success, I do think their are some key aspects to consider. They proved that mountain bikers love stickers. Fun and funny stickers specifically. They took their popular sticker designs and turned them into popular apparel for mountain bikers. I think it would be ultra fun to eventually be able to sell fun stickers and apparel items from Martin’s Migration. Where this is not the primary focus, it is certainly a focus to explore while exploring revenue stream options. It goes back to the quote Mark left that discussing creating an expiernce. If the apparel/ similar items are fun and create fun conversation or relatability then perhaps the revenue stream will match Martin’s Migration personality.
What Works? Where Mahalo is not a diversified business they know what they are really good at and have worked at perfecting it. They have their YouTube channel down to a science on content style and developed a specific apparel and accessories brand for mountain bikers. They focus on making their content fun, exciting, and relatable and make you feel like you belong there as if you are part of their friend group almost. There products match their personality on YouTube and are fun and exciting because of that. Additionally, they focus on content creation for other businesses within the industry and work with mountain biking stars to create promo ads/ videos. In doing so they have built a strong reputation and name within the industry for delivering high quality, energetic, and fun content.
What doesn’t work? Where I was unable to find any information over their business performance, I can identify what wouldn’t work for my brand. Making satirical mountain bike content or music videos is most certainly not where my skillset or personality strong suits exist. Being able to focus a brand on apparel sales before having a brand identity for people to relate to is also not feasible at this stage.
