Some of the most creative ideas come from rising high school seniors. They love having their pictures taken and typically have a style all their own. But it's more than creating great images it's about developing a brand that is recognized by raising seniors from different high schools. 

My goal is to create a brand ambassador program that is a marketing campaign that puts our company's message in the hands of the ambassadors with specific goals in mind, such as improving sales, cultivating a reputation, and building brand recognition. 

Each year we try to find one or two raising seniors at as many high schools as possible with a set goal of them finding at least ten friends interested in having a more personalized senior portrait session than what is offered by the school. The problem many times is the school's contracted company creates the same exact photos for all seniors because they are in the volume business not unique individual business. 

Most schools contracted photographers are trained to push the shutter down on a camera based on a set and established camera parameters. There is no creativity since the photographers are not able to change the camera settings, location, or lighting setup.

This is great for most seniors because they get good-quality images at a low price point. I will be the first to let parents know that there is nothing wrong with the school-contracted photographer if they don't mind having their student represented exactly like all other seniors.

This is where a professional senior photographer steps in. We have the ability to create images that are unique to each student, and by only offering a set number of sessions per high school we keep our brand exclusive and senior's portraits special and unique to them.

We don't want to get into the volume portrait business we want to create portraits for individuals. That means planning, creating, and organizing with parents and students. We ensure that we have a makeup artist and hair stylist available for each of our shoots. We offer suggestions on what outfits to bring based on the portrait themes and locations.

Of course, being a brand ambassador is a temporary partnership that lasts only during students' senior year of high school. But the relationship lasts indefinitely. Either way, a brand ambassador partnership does involve a contract that the parent and student sign that is negotiated and has compensation for the ambassador's work and effort. 

Our partnerships benefit both our business, the student, and parents because it helps increases our sales and brand awareness. Parents are not out money for all the portraits and photography sessions, and the student has a lifetime of memories they can pass down to their children.