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Targeting Niche Markets: Glamour

We're breaking in the glamour. These air things were actively trying. Okay, so right. We want to be glamour photographers. We want to go after this part of the market. But the question is, how how do we start going after it now, if you're in new york and chicago and and on the west coast it's not a tough sell, right? People do it. My new york brides, they almost expect to be doing it. But man in st louis so conservative trying to convince them that they should have a glamour session is very, very difficult. In fact, when we first started out back in two thousand seven on our pricing sheet, we called it, uh, getting audie okay, I thought was pretty clever getting audie, and then all of a sudden brides and their moms would come in and they would go, um, what's that right? And then they made me feel like I was, like, some perverted degenerate because I'm like, well, ok, this is kind of like a sexy shoot, right? And you're suddenly you have no confidence in what you're talking about anymor...

e. Uh, you know, you just like, forget it. Cross it off, we don't offer that anymore. And so now, after about four years, right st louis, the midwest is a little slow to catch up to the rest of the country. Now this is starting become really popular, in fact, that the last bridal show we did, we had a double booth set up just for our glamour line, and so that was really cool to see some of the expressions of people who walked by somewhere horrified somewhere very intrigued on would come into the booth and asked for more information, so we're going to try. We're not giving up on this, but here's, what we're going to do to our current brides, which, by the way, are the natural target. If you will write my brides it's the part of their life, they look the best. They're going to get married, they're gonna have kids, they're going to get older. This is a great time in their lives to document it as a gift for their husband. We're gonna offer them fifty percent off coupon when they sign up with us when they contract with us. Ok, you know, for you, lisa, this is perfect. You have a salon right? Thatyou won't you have a built in client base all age groups, by the way, they could be the twenty something all the way up to the fifty something that would be perfect, right? So you've gotta work on this and start incorporating that. So we're gonna put that coupon in fifty percent off book by so what's, my first line of client base is my bride that's, who I'm going after that's what I'm looking for, um, flyers at high end salons trade, right? So if you've got a salon, I want I want to come in and I want to get involved with you and do that stuff, right? So how can I do that? How can I trade with you for that? And you've got to figure that out. So she's got a salon so it's easy, but the rest of you make that connection with them. Maybe I trade headshots of all your staff. Okay, give me a point of sale that I could have. Maybe I give all of them at the salon a free glamour session so that they know exact. Think about the power right now. Here you go. You've got all these hair style is all these people at the salon, you take them through what a glamour session is, they become your ambassadors, they start talking about the experience, and now they've got these coupons sitting out there counters, and maybe each hair stylist gets a special coupon code. And you're going to give them credit for and by the way, I'm like improvising as we're talking about this right now so every how many silas you have working for you none right now. Okay, so let's pretend you had ten we're going with ten, okay, all ten get ah coupon with their own coupon codes, right? So one for susie one for ah uh billy one for you know, whoever else we got working in there they're all going to get their coupon codes and hey, here's my reward to you ah, stylist I'm going to give you twenty five dollars for everyone who books with me. I'm gonna give you twenty five dollars studio credit. I'm gonna give you twenty five dollars cash for every one of your clients, right? Because make no mistake hairstylist have their own clientele so I don't just want a generic coupon at the point of sale I would rather have my hair stylist who went through the process recommend me I would rather have my hairstyle was going oh my god, I did this with salvador cicada and sound taylor were amazing you've got to try it, you get married, you gotta try yeah, I'll just add to that real quick just from when I did have people working for me a great thing to do in salons just for you guys if you're going to approach the lawns, have them do a contest among themselves and do do the glamorous sessions and things like that little competition between him to see who can get the most I love it what do they win if they win the competition? It's a great idea right? Maybe they went out hundred bucks cash you start getting all these referrals hundred bucks two hundred bucks and all they're doing is talking about the experience and handing that handing the card over that's powerful powerful referral engine for you that becomes a no brainer what about advertising in women's magazines locally right look for lok get your sexy on maybe that's the campaign okay we'll be a little aggressive get your sexy on and shows sexy peach picture right? I'm not talking about trashy so let's make sure we understand that gentlemen out there no trashy that's not what we're looking to sell we want glamour and so that's that they're gonna have the biggest draw for us especially in the midwest I can't go over the edge with what we're doing especially want to get traction and magazines and salons and things like that so make sure your defining your style in what your calling glamour verse what people are expecting glamour or boudoir to be we all know there's a hill first overcome when we're talking glamour first thought that comes into anybody's mind especially on my client side boudoir and that's not necessarily the same thing they are in fact different I'm not looking to do boudoir I don't want trashy not saying that boudoir is trashy but it's just not what I'm looking to do glamour there's another challenge there when you're dealing with that thirty five to forty something year old when you say glamour I think glamour shots that's the first thing that comes to mind so that is a negative connotation right there glamour tosses fine right when you're talking to other professionals when soo's talking to professionals that's great glamour makes sense we understand it but now I've got to think about consumer behavior on the consumer side that thirty five to forty five year old here in the united states thinks glamour shots and that's never a good thing I don't want to I don't want them thinking about that so we've got a branding issue that we're trying to overcome how do I convey sexy without going over the top and being trashy? So this is the battle I'm fighting and I'm still trying to figure it out um how about display and partner at a plastic surgeon's office now? We talked about that in detail yesterday so I'm not going to do it again but I think that's a great idea a great opportunity to start branding your business and going after these people but here's the thing why not create an ambassador program just like we would for our seniors why wouldn't we do the same thing for our glamour clients? Oh my god can you imagine just go to the salon they become your ambassadors let's create fliers for him to hand out with their picture on it that they're comfortable handing out they become your many sales force that is the ultimate goal because now you're can you imagine if I went up to around my hey baby you look very sexy right? I want to take your picture let's get your sexy on that's not going to come across right they're going to do you are free get away from me, man. All right, where's my marine husband okay, so, um what instead though imagine if you girls talking to each other we're promoting this on my behalf where you're talking about because you know how it is when girls talk you're going to go hey, you talk to your girlfriend oh my god. Look at my pictures your girlfriend's gonna go who did that? Oh, southend kata the photographer he's a guy that's gonna be the first question that comes up he's a guy? Absolutely. But he does it with his wife it's not weird at all. I promise you you're gonna have a great time there so professional gotti adi otto that's what I'm looking for I could never convey that to a potential client because she wouldn't even ask me that ok but when it's girls talking to each other different things they're going to come up so there is power in having an ambassador program for your glamour line and what's in it for you all right jules let's say I did your pictures and you're going to become my ambassador now you're going to go off hey every person you refer to me I'm gonna give you a studio credit I'm gonna give you twenty five dollars studio credit just like I would my ambassador program but if you hit five referrals I'm gonna give you a thousand dollars worth of free product and services okay now this starts really getting some momentum ous faras referrals go anybody any any of you doing glamor now at all you started experiment with it successfully our glamour stuff is more along the pinup girl line right on your work it's tanked the last a few ones we've tried to dio tanked in the sense of sales have been bad or no bookings no booking so we've tried a couple different ways but I can't give you feedback yes please I think pinup is done it's played out its been there it's over you gotta move on you gotta keep innovating right not to say you don't come back to pin up you don't still have certain client request but there was a time where pinup was hot right it's not hot anymore so you're what's the next hot thing you've got to keep innovating your business don't get stuck and be like this is what we do we're going down with the ship right it ain't working fix it if it ain't broke then you leave it alone so move on to some of this glamour aunt try you know reinventing yourself don't be afraid of that you know you might like I assume you like the pinup right that's your thing I know you but you've got it you've got to move on and find that different client base so this is kind of what I do because it started with the whole campaign I'm doing coming in for makeovers like I was taking basically my mom's friends was how it started was I started with that age group the mid fifties and they love it they love coming in they love having their hair and make up then they love feeling sexy again and pretty and just you know glamorous historically you're set you're no longer set you realize everything you just said you're not selling pictures you're selling an experience glamour is the perfect way to sell experience can you imagine if when your clients come in for their glamour session you've got wine champagne cheese platter out okay you've got some nice music plan you've got this amazing makeup artist there it's gonna have a blast with him you're helping them xilai's there shoot whether it's lingerie or they're bringing their stuff or you're helping them put it all together right that's the experience you know when we started our line that's what we started doing so with laure where that's what we're doing with our clients that coming in we're doing things with them and it's an amazing experience because for me when you come in and photograph with us, you've got me there. Taylor elissa my makeup artist so there's four of us just working working on you and working with you to get what you need and it's an amazing experience for them to get that and it's anything not if you've ever been on one of the chutes it's anything but sexy right when you've got four, five people around just you know, talking about your dress doing this doing that and trying to get you to arch your back to this it's not it's not overly sexy okay, but you don't understand it unless you've been on one of those chutes eso but again it's about education most people don't understand it they see this dreamy ah sexy image and they're like, you know like especially guys our husbands okay, so for me I've photographed two or three of my best friends wives okay? And unfortunately I've had to be there when they gave the husband or boyfriend the book right? So I usually fear for my life when they're handing this gift over because this can go one of two ways okay and you know my first round we gave it to him it was like their five year anniversary he gets it he looks at the book he looks at me you know what he's like I don't know whether to look at this book or punch you in the face right now, right? But he gets it you know they understand that there's nothing creepy about what we're doing on that we are looking out for them and taylor was there right? So it's not this weird thing but man there's an educational thing ah that's that's absolutely targets but may I hope everybody sees that peace ambassador program has got tons of potential to get this thing moving but this one I really, really love girls night out actually gonna step back for a second you were talking about doing it for your ah your mom's friends I think there's a couple of different targets you can go after it's your bride who's that twenty some the next one is the forty something year old right? And you know what I'm talking about my seniors moms my seniors moms are that like a ce far as I'm concerned behind my brides are the number one candidate to go after my seniors moms come in every year seventy five to one hundred of my kids come in and the moms are watching their daughters get a complete makeover. Okay, have this amazing experience? Mom probably has not had a photograph taken of her in over twenty years. Okay? Beyond, like, a family picture, she probably hates the way she looks most of the time. And now they're watching their daughter have this amazing experience. She is my number one candidate right then and there. How about taylor softly suggests a glamour session. That's what we're starting to do, right? So, taylor, during the sales pitch, when she comes in, she might say to the daughter and mom, you guys have a good time and mom's gonna go oh, my god, it was a lot of fun. The moms have a blast when we're on a photo shoot and they're working with me they have just as much fun as the kids. And so taylor might suggest you know, mom, we do glamour sessions let me show you some pictures. If it's something you're interested in, let me know when we can make it your time now, right? So that's, how taylor's pitching it no marketing, no advertising of it it's a very, very soft sell to the mom and I think that's very, very important, but let's jump now too, and then, of course, there's your the fifty something year old, right? So it's, that bride, that mom of my senior and then that fifty something I think those air three distinct markets that we can go after with different campaigns. So quick question is, uh, fred wants to know, and this is a probably basic questions you can answer quickly is, oh, what's the difference between a glamour and boudoir photography and that's a loaded question. I think it all depends on who you talk to getting the answer. I think in my opinion, this is my definition of it. Boudoir tends to be a little bit edgier, maybe trashier glamour. You're dialing it back a little bit. It's more about the essence of the woman, I think. Right? So finding who she is and making it more personalized that's my personal definition. I don't know if you're gonna look that up anywhere and find that definition. But to me that's the difference between that boudoir, which is a little bit more out on the edge, maybe even full nudity. Verse glamour. Where it's, about it's just about that person and getting the sexiest, most beautiful version of them. Ah, people are wondering what the average age is for glamour. I think it's anywhere from your bride the average age is going anywhere from your bride that's going to be that twenty something year old all the way out to you know, a fifty something year old, you know, as far as I'm concerned but I think the meat of the market again my opinion is going to be that forty something year old mom whose kid is, like twenty years old now out of the house going to college eighteen to twenty that mom is the one I want because now it's her time it's her time to do something sexy for her and her husband. Of course he is the recipient of all the, uh, great images. Um all right, so let's, jump to girls night out. I think this is a great idea. Just like we were talking this fashion show that we were going to do it yesterday. You know what? The mall? Well, girls night out. What a great opportunity to throw a party. So now have your bride, your forty something year old mom throw a party, bring ten of her friends. They're going to come to the studio on a friday night, we're gonna have wine, champagne, cheese it is going to be a giant party music's playing, we got a make up artist and we're having many sessions okay, we're shooting tethered so tethered is one option okay? We're still working out the kinks on this. This is new force so imagine I've got the lighting set up I'm not going through twenty backdrops isjust a simple charcoal gray backdrop and the lighting set up simple lighting right it's a two or three lights set up we're photographing we get them comfortable boom they go change all right and then they go see taylor because I'm shooting tethered so the images are showing up in the other room on the screen so all their girlfriends khun see ah the images right so it is a party where they're all doing it together girls are telling each other how beautiful they look okay there drinking champagne there drinking wine there having a good time getting their makeup done maybe you do one outfit maybe you do too outfits for each of them righteous depends on time. The whole point here this is not meant to be a full session thes air meant to be many sessions have a good time and if anybody had a great time they can come in and do a full on session with you and maybe that's what you're offering them that night hey, if you hit this package will give you fifty percent off ah full session with us or it's everybody who comes tonight gets fifty percent off a full session okay, so you could have multiple outfits, but they're just little many micro sessions now you don't have to shoot tether you could just do a normal shoot as well. You know, some people get really flustered when you're shooting tethered, but what a great opportunity I photograph you right now and as soon as I'm done, I'm just applying normal generic presets to your images, right? But keep in mind what's not gonna happen, there won't be any beauty at its to them, right? So we wouldn't be able to use the skinny tool or anything like that, and that could impact your sale but that's up to you to figure out what's gonna work or I just shoot normal, I don't show them anything but here's where you're going to get into a challenge. Here's the challenge we're finding vibrant ten, ten women in for these little mini sessions. How my showing them their images I don't have time to do ten mini session previews, so now we're trying to figure out that we bring everybody back in that could become a challenge. Your best bet is to try and photograph tethered, show them in the other room have somebody running the sale session right then and there so are all the girls together talking about the images, and then we're going to try this guide them on here's what we can do to this image, but I don't have this all flushed out yet these are things that we're trying this just goes to show you I am continuously experimenting with my business to try and figure out what will work, what won't work. I don't like the idea of showing them an unpolished image and buy on polish only color corrected I mean, skin softened, skinny tool, that kind of stuff. I want them to see that final image, so I know when you tether you're going into light room, then taylor's showing them the light room image. What about just putting the tv up on the wall where it's only like a and have previa and that is done then on to the next photo, so they don't have that chance to stare at it. The only reason I'm doing the preview for the sale so even even if we do what you're saying where she's cycling through that's totally fine that's not what I'm worried about, I need them to buy that night, that's what I'm suggesting the sale cycles so for that we can't cycle through that quickly, we have to be able to go back and forth between images so that they see him does that make more sense? Yeah, yeah it's just a preview to get him excited. I agree with you we do that we just popped out of a job boom, you're looking great. Go on but if I'm gonna get them to buy, the only way to get them to buy is too in fact have taylor in the other room doing it so that people are buying and it creates this mo mentum you know, you know how that stuff works if somebody loves their images everybody loves her image is right and you just you want to keep that stuff going so let's keep going here who's who you're doing glamour is this you gotta take away from this? Yeah, yeah, I think I think the big thing for me because I have a full clientele that I'm trying to incorporate all this and it's it's that convincing like I said, I did my mom's friends, so being able to show the photos of the slightly older women that loved it that look amazing afterwards is definitely helping me the plastic surgeon thing. And I think maybe aestheticians like all of that, I think there's a raul really good places I think that is a goldmine for leads, right? But remember you're not going to just knock on the door and be like, hey it's salomon photographer and they're gonna welcome you with open arms you're gonna have to work these relationships and make it a win win with them right? But I'm giving you the tools to go after that and figure out how to get there rob oh, I just want to say I pushed pretty hard on the glamour thing special around valentine's day this year and it got a lot of lot of action a lot of people that booked but never followed through with it and I mean it's probably because one of the male into your mail it probably helps you having a female team behind you which I'm gonna get lindsey did you know you come to this with me but lindsay needs to step it up she's a slacker get it together, lindsay no, so you do I think you have to have it is I know there's males out there who do this successfully, but it is it is a challenge in today's day and age and I need that female touch behind me so that we removed we just create that that barrier or that layer if you will, between me and the client so they're still connected to me but then that weirdness is gone so I don't want to be the one pushing on them to do this uh and you know, I think you're going the right direction so get her more involved, but we'll keep working on this stuff