You’ve probably heard that your photography business needs a brand. But what is “a brand,” anyway? To keep it simple: a brand is how people identify your business. From written voice to color selection to font, your brand is a series of shortcuts people use to know that, oh hey, it’s you. Like curly Coke font, the bright white Apple boxes, or the friendly staff at Trader Joe’s, brands use various tools to stand apart from the crowd. But how does branding for photographers work?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, boys and girls, but unfortunately this beautiful word has been overused (and incorrectly used) until all meaning has been pretty much wrung out of it. But that’s okay! The great news is that there are plenty of other, more specific words to choose from to illustrate what you mean when you’d naturally reach for “authentic.” So, let’s dig into a few of my favorites so you can find the ones that perfectly match your style.

Whether you photograph weddings or newborns, families or entrepreneurs, one thing’s for sure: you encounter endless amounts of fun every time you head out with your camera! But reusing the same three-letter word over and over can get mighty tired. So, let’s try a few new, more specific options on for size.

Deposits needs to be paid. Questionnaires need to be filled out. Timelines need to be settled. Outfits need to be chosen. And on and on and on. Sure, it’s all very important…but when you reuse the word “important” over and over to describe everything — from the mildly important to the your-wedding-day-will-literally-fall-apart important — it loses its impact and your point can get lost.

In the modern era, you can’t just manage your own business. You have to become a brand. And, y’all, that’s freaking draining! You don’t get to shut it down and go home after your 9 to 5. You have to be “on” every time you answer an email, post to social media or respond to a comment. And when “on” means adopting a tone — a personality — that isn’t yours, it’s ten times as hard.

The ability to share a distinct, evocative, deliberate answer both in person and online signals to potential clients that you know exactly who you are — and this is a ridiculously attractive quality in business and humanity in general. We like to work with people who understand exactly who they are and who they’re not. Distilling the aesthetic of your images into words doesn’t just tell potential clients what your art is, it also clearly expresses what it isn’t.

As a photographer, you interact with and document countless amazing things. A surprise proposal on a mountaintop as the sun sets behind them. A newborn baby. A bride on her wedding day. They are all transcendently amazing…which can make writing about them in blog posts singularly challenging. So, instead of saying “amazing” over and over and overandoverandover again, give one of these 10+ words a try.

Just about every moment of a photographer’s day is defined by love. But when the time comes to write about it in bios and blog posts, this beautiful, incredible word gets repeated over and over and over so often that it starts to lose its meaning. So, the next time you write content for your website and are tempted to use the word love, try one of these 10 words on for size instead.