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Day 7: Marketing Part 1

and the first thing on today is a list of ways to market, and I'm gonna go through them. But you've got a little checklist here to go through, and if you're already doing it, mark it off. If you need to be doing it, market it. And then there's a maybe later category for maybe something that you think. Yep, I need to be doing that. But I'm not going to get on it tomorrow, and that's okay because we need a, you know, narrow things down and prioritize. So let's go through and just the definition of marketing. Branding is who you are, and marketing is what you do. A lot of times we confuse those those two things when we're thinking about our brand, our image, our look and then you know marketing is actually going out, and getting new clients in is what marketing is is reaching out and communicating to clients. She and Kennedy says marketing is the number one job of small business owners or entrepreneurs. You know, that's a pretty powerful statement when you stop to think about it that if w...

e have a small business, our number one job is marketing because we can put all the other pieces together. We could be a great photographer. You know, we can have all our ducks in a row, but if we're if we don't have people in the door, it doesn't matter. We have to market. We have to let the community know our target client Know what we're doing, what we're all about. So a couple things and I'm just gonna go through these pretty quickly. We do have ah, bonus video for you guys. When you purchase the course, you're going to get lots of details on all this stuff. But I'm gonna go through some of this pretty quickly as we go through here today. Just just mentioning them. But again, you can. You can see the full meal deal on our boat bonus segment. But website professional website is a great way to be marketing the website that I use. It's photo biz dot com highly recommend them. Their customer service is amazing, and they can help you get set up. Your blawg is gonna be a great way to market. We talked about a little bit about that in our setting up shop day and then an extension of that. One way to make sure that your blog's marketing for you is to put something together that allows your clients to let people know what's going on on your blawg. And that's our blogged card. And the block card is something that gets emailed to the mom, and it says your child's been featured on the Lord North's from Studio Blogger or on the website. I can change it to website if I want to, but it goes out to her and then I'm encouraging her. You know, forward this on to your friends and family and let them know that your child's been featured on the blogger on the website, and what that does for me is now I've got her whole mailing base, her database that she is sending this block card out to they can click on it and go straight to the website or straight to the Blawg from this. So I'm just embedding the link very easy to do, and then mom is now marketing for me, you know, and most of us take advantage of getting images on our block on our website or on Facebook, wherever you're posting your images from your session, I would encourage you to only post ordered images that something I feel pretty strongly about. But you know, But when you do that, let your client take the next step of actually marketing that for you. That's gonna give you a a whole lot of power there. The newsletter is the next thing, and sending out a newsletter is a great way to market something new that's going on in your business. Special sessions. But I also always want to tie in someone else to our newsletter and even on the block. You know, if you've got other people involved, if your telling other people's stories, you're gonna have a lot more power in your newsletter. In your block social media, we can market through social media. I told you guys before that I pretty much used social media to just keep up with my clients. I want to find out what's going on in their lives, and I want to be a part of it. And so I'm using social media in those ways. Of course, there are tons of ways to actually market through social media. I am choosing not to do that. Most of the time in my business. Instead, I am looking for, you know, for a while there I was actually doing searches on Twitter for Des Moines, newborn Des Moines, Mommy and just doing searches for those hashtags and finding people that we're talking about having their new baby. We're talking out people that were doing mommy things, Mommy events that were hash tagging those things in my area. And by doing that, then I could send a tweet out and at that person and just say Congratulations on the new baby. I'm not hard core messaging this person or marketing to this person, but I'm using social media by looking for what's going on in my area. And then if I'm tweeting and saying Congratulations on the new baby, of course, if she doesn't know me, she's gonna be clicking, going, Who's this? That's telling me. Congratulations. And then she gets to go to my page ago. Wow, she's a photographer and click on the photography link to the website. And so you know all those things tying in together, and that's a great way for me to use. Social media is just, you know, mentioning things and keeping up with people. I also want to be tagging other businesses. If there's a business that is serving my target client, I want to be connected with them on social media. Is a great way to do that. It makes it so easy for us these days. Well, you Did you have a question? You do. Um, do you have any advice? If you don't fully understand Twitter or Hashtags or that aspect of it of where we can get good resource is hopefully maximize that, Um, I would say Google it. There's just so much available to you right now. And there are great great even Creativelive has done. There's been Amy Porterfield that's been here. I think she's Facebook master, right? Yet we've had a number. We had a whole Social media week. So instead of Google it, I was gonna say Thio going over, I find creative are alive. But I gather is I am definitely not a social media expert, but you know, But I've used it in those ways to really to stay up with my client. And most of most of our social media outlets are pretty self explanatory. As far as getting set up setting up your profile and, you know, having the how to helps when you go there. So, um, you know, don't miss out on those things. Definitely be looking for that. So easy now to Google and toe. Really? You know, stock your target client even if you don't know someone specifically you Congar Gle You know Des Moines, Mommy groups and come up with 20 a list of 20 mommy groups that I might want to be involved with, you know, So we'll talk a little bit more about that when we talk about marketing and networking. But think about the ways that you can use social media just to reach out press print products, I believe are a huge marketing tool for my business. And these air not products that I'm printing these. I'm not talking about marketing pieces. I'm talking about pieces that my clients are actually buying from me. And I know I hear a lot of times from photographers that no, I don't want to do cards and that kind of thing for my clients because they take a lot of time and I don't make a lot of money on him. And I you know I hear you. They do said Time and they, you know it's not a huge profit point for us. What they are such great marketing tools. No, I've said over the years so many times that I would I would offer greeting cards and playdate cards and any print press items I can get into my client's hands, even if I wasn't making a dime on him. And you know, when we do, we make money on them. It's always an add on. We're not letting people concentrate on these things. But, you know, having these in our client's hands gives them a marketing piece to either read mailing out to someone that they love that you know, kind of breeding that target client and or handing it to somebody if it's a played a card or a you know, something like that. So we want to make sure that I'm I want to make sure that I'm always getting press print products in my client's hands. Having an open house is a great way to market to your community and to your target client. And an open house is something that you can do even if you don't have a studio, even if you're just on location. Hartner up with one of those businesses that we listed when we went through our target client and partner up with them. And tell them, You know, I love to host an open house for you. And so don't make excuses for not doing certain things to get in front of your target client to market to that target client. No partner up with somebody you could. You could do an open house in your own home. Or you could maybe do an open house even in a client's home. Let them know. I know you're super excited, excited to start showing off what we've what we've done, what we have hanging here. And I'd love to host an open house for you. Inviting your friends will do an unveiling, and I'll take care of the snacks and wine. No, there's lots of ways that you can do that. Joe Calloway wrote a book Indispensable, and he says, Stop advertising and start hanging out. You know, networking really is the name of the game, and so get in front of people. That's the best way to market these days. Get involved get involved in your communities, get involved in those organizations, those groups where you know that Target client is spending time and be a part of that. Have a presence there. Throw a party. Same idea Just getting in front of people. Any time you can get people together, you're gonna be breeding that target client and you'll be surprised when you get people together, how you find little connections, and you're also able to, you know, connect other people. And it's always great People love connectors. And so if you can get two people together and connect to people that either have same interests or maybe one has a business that you know the other would love to use and connect those people. You know, you're really building that community that you have for your business, local events or another thing that we've been really trying to get involved in in my area. I don't have a lot of clients in my little town, but we've developed different product lines and different things that we're doing in the business to market right. Teoh our community to try to build that database and local events are one of those things We've got banners that hang in our windows on bike nights, and you know, bike night probably doesn't sound like that would be my target client, but it's actually a huge family event. And on bike night it's once a month, all summer and into early fall in our area. And there's entertainment on our downtown square. There's Booth set up with all kinds of food and games, and there's tons of kids on the square times of families, and they all come down and and, yes, bikers come in. But it's amazing to see, like the families that are actually there for bike night and, you know, coming in. So we decided, you know, how can we market to these people during bike night? So I've got banners that hang in our window, and I just pulled images all the image that I could find with motorcycles in them and, you know, have those hanging in the windows. And this is another opportunity that even if you don't have that retail location partner up with another business that does, that's got a presence and hang banners in their window. You know, there's a lot of things you can do Teoh do cooperative marketing like that. The local events we definitely want toe be a part of local groups as well. You know, just getting involved, getting there and having a presence. And if you've got a specialty, if you define that niche, it's very easy to have a very impactful presidents in small groups. Because you do have that specialty. We probably can't have a whole lot of impact if we're just a photographer. But if we go in as a specialist in something that we can have a lot more impact and that a lot of time is going to lead to presentations and you know all local groups that meet, whether it's a mommy group or a business group, you know, whatever they are, they all bring speakers in. And so come up with some ideas. And we've got some ideas for you in the workbook, but on different topics that you could be presenting as a photographer, specialists photographer in these groups. So, you know, think about the presentations and getting in front of your target client that way. Charity events are definitely a great way to market, and it's a great way to build a great reputation in your community as well, and we were going to spend an entire day on charity events. Auctions are an extension of that. A lot of times with, you know, a charity or organization that is fundraising, they're gonna have an auction, and we'll talk a little bit more about how to make those auctions very impactful for your business instead of feeling like, no, I know for me, I've got a retail location, and so constantly people are coming in my door asking for donations for something. And so we've kind of figured out a way to categorise that, and I'll talk to you about that. But to make the one that we need to be, have a presence in more impactful but still be able to donate to the other ones without hurting the business. Local publications definitely definitely would love to see you guys get involved in your local publications. And, uh, and again on all of these things where I go into lots of detail on these in our bonus video that you'll have when you purchase these this course. So lots of how to and things that I have worked for me, things that have not worked for me in working in these marketing different areas, radio and TV. I have never marketed assed faras paid advertising on TV or radio, but I have been on TV a lot, and I've been on the radio a lot. But that's all about networking and creating partnerships with different media outlets. And, you know, charitable marketing is huge for that. When you start getting involved in charitable ways and organizations in your community, people want to talk about it. And so it's great for your businesses. Well, um, I again I have not paid for radio or TV advertising, so I can't speak to that as faras how I feel that is beneficial or not for your business. But I will tell you that, you know, is with all the businesses that I worked with and in my business itself over the 15 years, the most powerful former marketing is word of mouth and networking. You know, that is where it's at, and most of these things that are on this list have something to do with one or the other of those radio and television. You can have a presence in those areas if you want to. I am on our Christian radio station and locally quite a bit because I donate things to them. If they do a contest on for Mother's Day, I'm gonna donate to the basket that's given away to the mom that wins. And so it's my name over and over and over on the station, and it's just, you know, giving them things. It's being available when they need me and networking in those ways. So there are ways to do that without actually paying for it. Marketing to current clients And you know, this is something that's really important. I know I'm speeding through all this really fast, but don't forget about your current clients. I think a lot of times we get so bogged down and marketing and reaching out and trying to get new people in the door that we forget to take care of our current clients. And so one of the things that I want to always make sure that I have available is a referral campaign, and so I think about ways that I can ask our clients for referrals. So I literally verbally asked them for clients, and that's something that I had to put a script in a plan together for it's not easy to do the first few times, but now it's part of the process. And as long as I've enjoyed working with that client, then I'm gonna say to them when when were you know, through the process, I'm gonna say I've loved working with you, and I know I would love working with your friends. Now, is there anybody that you can think of that would enjoy this experience and just get them to start thinking about it and then putting a plan in place to ask them for referrals, encourage them and then make sure we're thanking them. And so this is our referral card that our clients are gonna get when they refer someone to me. They're gonna get a $50 credit in the mail that's towards their next session. And no, I do not care if they come in with 10 of them. You know that that's great. That means that they sent me 10 new clients, and so we want to make sure that we're always using this and utilizing it and really thanking our best clients for referring us hand written notes. I told you guys that we would talk about again. We've got handwritten notes in place in our workflow several times. One is after the first phone call who are thanking every person that calls whether they book with me or not. I'm sending them a thank you know and telling them is great to talk to you if they didn't book. I can even say it is great to talk to you. I enjoyed hearing about your kids, whatever the situation, and then let them know if there's anything I could do for you in the future. Don't hesitate to give me a call. It was just staying connected to them. If they do book, I'm thinking them. I'm talking a little bit about their session that I'm looking forward to seeing the snapshots of their walls that they're going to send me. Can't wait to meet their kids or see their kids if we have seen them before. So after the first phone call, we're sending out a card. I'm sending out another card after the session. So after the session is done, I'm gonna write a card, either to Mom or to the child. If the child is of that age where they're gonna get excited to get mail because nobody does anymore. And so that card is going to go out, and then we're gonna send another card after the order appointment. At that card, we're gonna tell them you made such great decisions. I can't wait to see your You're finished. Portrait. It's It's gonna look amazing in your living room, you know, and really communicate back some of the things that we've gone through those processes and tell them you made good decisions, that something that I want to, you know, keep telling them over and over. And then the fourth time in the workflow is about six weeks after our clients get their portrait's. I want to send out another handwritten note to them that just lets them know that I hope they're enjoying their portrait's hanging in their home and to please let me know if there is anything that I could do for them. If they have any questions, I want to make sure everything is going as planned. And by doing that, that one last little step, you know, I do hear back from people from time to time. Most of the time it's good. But every once in a while I do hear about a problem that I would not have heard about if I wouldn't have reached out. And so I feel like that last step of follow up is really, really important. So those hand written notes are in our workflow at four different times in the process, and that's marketing to those current clients and then phone calls. I want to make sure that I am making those phone calls to current clients just even to check up on them. I might call and just say, You know, Hey, haven't heard from you guys in a while How are the kids? And just start a conversation and phone calls are free. You know, if you have a slow time in your business schedule a time for phone calls on your calendar, where you are actually picking up the phone and calling those past clients. We also call past clients when it gets to be about fall were, you know, super busy, all of us that have busy studios. This is this season where we can't sit down, and so I want to make sure that my target client gets on my calendar. So we're literally picking up the phone and saying, You know, Hey, this is Laurie. I'm looking my calendar right now for our fall and holiday sessions, and I want to make sure that I get you on my calendar if you're interested in getting scheduled and almost every time. I mean, it's literally nine times out of 10 that our clients will say, Oh my gosh, we've been thinking about you. I can't believe you called Yes, we want to get on your schedule And so you know, it's just taking that extra little effort of personal marketing, picking up the phone and taking care of those past clients. And then we want to make sure that our clients keep coming back. And so one of the things that we've incorporated is a birthday club, and this is our birthday clubs for any client who has gone through our process and, you know I want I want to keep seeing them. I want to work with them again. We used to only do it for our first your clients. Now we do it for anybody and what the birthday club is is the birthday child gets a free session the month of their birthday every year till they're 14. And so it's really just the opportunity to communicate back with those past clients and get those kids in my business. So we aren't photographing families for this. We are photographing just the kids, but, you know, think about the different plans that you could put in place for returning clients. Another thing that I am so happy to dio we've got a session fee that's established. But if it's a great client, I will tell them your sessions are free for, you know, the lifetime of us working together. I just want them coming back. And if I'm giving them free sessions, you know, yes, they're going to come back. They're gonna work with me again. And so, you know, maybe it's not free sessions for life. You know, that's something we do with our wedding clients as well. Five photographing a wedding and they're paying me what I charge for a wedding. I want their babies in my studio when they start a family. And so I'm telling them, you're recession fees are on me for, you know, as long as I'm in business. And so you know what programs could be put in place to make sure you've got repeating recurring clients. Here's that buzz worthy baby campaign that I talked to you guys about, and this is the gift basket that goes out. It's actually done up with cellophane and ribbons, so it's finished. But inside the little frame there is a gift certificate to the studio, and that's what our client is actually gifting to their friends who have had a baby. And it's going to either the shower or the hospital and gifting them with a portrait session into the studio. And remember that I'm not giving these to anybody, except those that I know are my target client. That means that I can communicate to them, you know, really who it is that I'm looking for. And you do you know of anybody who would enjoy this experience. We're doing these cool hand painted frames for nurseries, you know, with the wild sorbet, and I'm telling them I love helping new mommies decorate their nurseries. Do you know of anybody who would be excited about that? I want to give them with this gift basket that's coming from their friend. It looks like it's a gift from them. And so all of those things are really great ways to be marketing and, you know, just a list of them. And tomorrow, as we go through, we'll be talking about ways to actually implement some of those things. So we did it. I spent through that, and our download for today is a block card, and a set of three played a cards. I showed you guys the block card and the way to, you know, get that that news out to the moms that your photo have put their kids on your website or on their blawg. And so this is a layer template that you can drop your images into into. You're going to get a senior blonde card and a baby ball card. And then we've also got these playdate carts and cards and those air those print press pieces that we want to get into our clients hands so that they can hand about a market for us. I really love the concept Laurie of, of giving your clients the ability to market for you, so a lot of times we talk about how it's word of mouth. It's word of mouth. But when we don't provide people with the ability to easily do that word of mouth marketing, um, then it's just it's brilliant. Then they don't they don't keep it top of mine. So I really love the idea of those playdate cards in particular. So once again, that was. We've now done a day seven and again, if you are in your workbook when you purchase the course, you're on page we're talking about all these different ways to market. You have identified again what you're you're already doing, what you need to do and what you might put on a later list. But thank you for looking at all of these options on one page, I think is really, really helpful to not get overwhelmed. So absolutely. And it's really easy because you're like I have all these different things that I could do. Which one do I do? I love it. You have any questions from anyone here in the audience, but a couple minutes right up front and just wondering how you communicate the when you're comping sessions to really great clients how they can sort of spread the word about you without saying Well, she photographs me for free. So how do you word that to sort of get the word out? Well, so the question is, how do I word it to the client so that she's not telling her friends that I photographed her for exactly. So all of a sudden you're photographing everyone all the time? Well, and I think that that is, you know, and you could even make it incentive. Based where, You know, once a client has invested this much with me than the rest of their client, their sessions for life are on me. Love it. We do have one from someone online. We've got Krista Marie who says, How would you get it out to the public that you're having an open house or throwing a party or something like that? Maybe this is something we're covering in the next section. Tactic. ALS. But what do you think? Yeah, that's great. And but, you know, one of the ways you're you're always gonna want to be building your database. That's something that's really important. But when we talk about networking, we'll talk about tying in with other businesses that can help you spread the news about the things that are going on. Another thing is, if you're doing a low, uh, open house in your local, you know, make sure that you're involved with your chamber of commerce and, you know, with other organizations that can help you spread the word and so you want to tie to them. You know, one of the things that I have found, and we'll talk about this a little bit more in marketing. But you know, if you can tie in other businesses even with if you know a business is serving your target client, go and interview them. Do something fun for your blogged. Take a photo of them in their workspace and and, you know, in the same article you can also talk about your open house. So now she is sending this article on your blogged or your news letter out to all of her people because she has been featured and all of a sudden, now your marketing that open house to a whole new database that you didn't have access to before. So lots of ways to do that and even even posting things when you have an open house. Usually one of the things that I like to do is I like to make sure that we have V I p guests always. And so if I have, if I'm doing it in my studio and I've got new a new display hanging. But I'm gonna have the people in the display be my V I p. Guest and ask them to invite their friends and family. And, you know, and you can do that in many different ways. And you know, whether it's your Facebook or an email invite or actually a physical postcard invite that they could send out for you. Well, of the great, we have another question that is, from Kayla. How do you get information to actually male the note cards? If they don't book with you? I find that went then, when it's a not a good fit with my clients, they're hesitant. Teoh provide any information? Yeah, If somebody doesn't book with me, I'm gonna let them know I would love to stay in contact with them and let them know about any specials that we have coming up or any special events and, you know would love Teoh grab their email address and their mailing address to let them get them that information. And so it's it really is just a that script, that system of knowing, you know, this is how we're gonna answer that. We're gonna let them know we want to keep in touch, and then most people, if they called you, they're going to give you their email address and they're at mailing address. If they don't, that's OK. We don't want him. But usually, if you ask, they're you know, they're very fine with providing it and staying in touch. Well of that And one final clarification from Ben Leo, I assume the referral credit is given when the referred client actually books. Not just when they do say, Hey, friends, you should do this. That is a good question. I I actually I give our clients a $50 credit. Even if they refer someone that did not book. If I ever had a problem with that, if I felt like somebody was sending me 10 people to call and that you know we're booking with me, I would change that policy. But right now I feel like they've done their job, and so I'm going to reward them for doing that job. My job then becomes booking the client. So So my answer is yes, I give it to him whether they book or not. I like that. I like that. Your general philosophy that I'm starting to pick up on here, which is that it's your responsibility to run your business well. And if you're not doing that, it's You need to improve. Not somebody else's not doing something right. I like that it's respectable.