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Marketing Your Business and Events

One of the big buzz things over lunch was we talked about wild survey and the great frames on and I had mentioned to you guys being able to sell right from the catalogs before and unfortunately, we crashed wild sorbet um, a little while ago, but they're back up now, so that's all good, so go check him out again, but three catalogs, I'm not even sure this must have been two thousand eleven. This is the current one, two thousand twelve, but just going through here, uh, as you can see, I now by catalogues from them because I want to actually give them to my clients because there's just great fun design ideas all the way through it and, you know, just showing off all the fun frames. And like I said before, I even had one of these hanging in my studio. I could just pull out the catalogue and flip through it, and people would, you know, go. I gotta have that. I want that. And so it's a great selling tool for being able to really have that perception of being a high end business, a high end s...

tudio, that boutique business that we want we all want to be, um, you know, just by incorporating one little thing that now it's, not about selling pictures. It's not just about you know the photos which we all know everybody khun d'oh not everybody is going to take it to the next level and get something done toe hang on their home that's been custom designed for them and so it's a great way to just set yourself apart and offer something unique they also for those of you who can't stand the idea of actually framing yourself um they do offer a service and it's just a little up charge on that antenna will probably kill me for saying this but they do do it you can actually have your prince drop shipped from the lab to wild survey and they'll frame them for you and send them to you framed um traditional framing that's it also available with both handcrafted framing it's available through a c I color lab you can order your prints and order your frame right there it all comes to finish so really there is no excuse anymore for not offering that completed service. And even when I was in a home studio, I would literally I had a roll of carpet that I would roll out on my kitchen table one day a week due on my framing roll it back up, it went under my bed and you know there's just in my opinion just no excuse for delivering a final product instead of a bunch of prints and you guys probably all noah's. Well, I know when my kids were little I would go and have them photographed and I'd get this nice little envelope full of pictures and would go in a drawer you know? And that again I mean it's almost like a cd. What a disservice to the client not give them away to enjoy it every single day, so take it to the next level. All right, um this was the other buzz I should mention this to. This is this is from katori and it's. Just a leather cuff with the photo charm on it. And this was the other thing that everybody keeps asking about and so check them out they've got awesome photo jewelry and they're really dedicated to the photographer in the business of the photographer. Um you guys will get a cool little sales guide from them. Um how to add on a boutique items onto your two regular sales but they do not sell to any consumers only two professional photographers so and could use a bailout hitori for those inventory is ko t o r I thank you and it's my katori dot com so that's the other thing if you get a quick tory dot com, you get something funky and I remember what it is, but so is myka tory don't come all right ok, we're moving on to the target client defining your target client and so this morning we we went through really defining your niche and um I mentioned dan kennedy this morning he's that master marketer ah that I've always followed and one of his sayings his slogans is uh there's mitch there's riches and niches and I love that because you know when you really think about clearly defining that path um you're you're really the narrow your photo focused the broader europe he'll you know and and we think of specialties our specialist in any category whatever their businesses you know, people always using the analogy that you don't want to go to a general practitioner when you've got a head injury you want to go to the neurologist I want to go to the specialist and it's kind of that same same thing and I remember being on a plane one time and sitting next to a girl and she was telling me all about her business and she designed couture gowns for high school senior prom's and very completely nit she wasn't doing wedding out she wasn't doing, you know, party dresses any of these everything she was high school prom's and couture gown she let the girls come in and actually designed their own gowns and she was and you know, she could have sat there and said I'm a seamstress and I would've went well that's nice you know, but she really passionately described her niche and I'll always remember her, you know and I think about that is I am out describing my business and in the beginning it's it's so tempting to say oh, I do a little bit of everything you know, that's kind of the normal answer ho your photographer what do you do? Oh, you know, a little bit of this little of that anything you know, I've even heard people say, you know, well, who's your target client oh, anybody with a wallet, I mean, and that just like, blows my mind if you heard that yes, um you know, and so you want to get clearly define a little bit of everything really means nothing when you're describing it, but if I can passionately described what excites me what I love to do, then people will remember that and what happens? And I told you in the beginning I was so clearly niche to black and white hand painted portrait of children that was on everything that in real life those have been my two taglines, but that didn't stop people from asking me if I did weddings and it didn't stop people from asking me if I photographed high school seniors and you know, these other things extended families, which is not my favorite thing to do you know, but what it does is it allows you to be in the place to say no when the time comes, but you can also absolutely take on those things you know, even being the specialist there going to be attracted to you they're gonna be attracted to your style, your personality and who you are and that's why people are coming to you and that's why they're buying your product is is it's all about you and so being clearly nichd and having that that focus that people go that's the specialist in this you know, somebody's having a baby you need to go to her this person is doing having a family there's uh there's a photographer in des moines that's that town that's forty five minutes for me that specializes in large family groupings and they do an amazing job. So for me that's not my passion I don't get excited about that if it's not a past client for me anymore I don't take those jobs. I refer them to this other photographer especially a father and son thomas and bruce and they do an amazing, amazing job. Why why would I want to kill myself with that business for somebody who's not really my target client um when there's somebody else that can do it beautifully and that also means, you know, I'm building these relationships with other photographers that have specialties and they're going to refer to me my specialty so those things they're great um thinking about your target client think about the power of the hedge and being on edge there's, a book called love marks by kevin roberts and part of the message and love marks and the overall message in love marks is to be a brand that your clients can't live without. So one of those things, like if somebody says what's your favorite restaurant in town usually people know right away what's your play favorite place to shop for clothes and usually people can give you an answer very quickly, typically it's not even about, um just the food or just the and as you know, ernie, you know, going in it's, not just that you had delicious food, it was probably because you came out and actually talk to the clients were because you had a great waitstaff or whatever it might be when I'm in ecuador, we dio in cuenca, we go to a restaurant that's known all over the world and typically I mean it's, a third world country, and we're in not great conditions all week, and so this one night we take everybody and we go to this really night nice restaurant called t estos and the chef there comes out to the table talks to us he just counts how many people are there we don't even have to order food I actually have never I've been to this restaurant probably a dozen times and I've never seen a menu when he just brings it out he knows I'm vegetarian so key brings something just for me and eggplant dish that he makes its fabulous you know and it's yes the food's great but it's that personal service that makes it a love mark it makes it were taken people there every single time we go to ecuador so think about the things that make you stand out that make you special those things we talked about earlier that make people want to come back again and again and tell their friends about it too all right defining your target client I don't know hopefully guys can read this but this is just a list of questions and it doesn't even have to be this specific this isn't your guys his workbook so you guys have it in front of you um but just for me, any time that I am going to bring on a new product line I'm going to start this portrait event um system, you know, whatever I'm going to do in the studio, I want to say ok, who is my target client for this product line? So when we're sitting down or we're creating our high school senior campaign we're defining our target client I know for example for high school seniors my target client is not always a senior I want them to come and I want them to have a great time and I want there to see it them to tell their friends about it but my target client is the mom I want the mom who wants her daughter photographs like I would photograph my own daughter if they want bikinis and you know hot stuff then there's another photographer that can do that and that's great again we can all be in business that way but I want that mom who says I know my daughter's gonna feel special and feel beautiful and laurie's going to take care of her and you know we're all gonna have a great experience doing this together and it's the mom that's really involved usually in her daughter session they've been talking about it and planning about it together for a long time that's my target client where somebody else their high school the high school seniors gonna be their target client they want him to feel, you know, sexy and outrageous and you know and whatever else and that's great but we have to know who that target client is before we can start marketing to them that makes sense so defining a target client for a children's product line these air some questions that you can ask yourself and you may not have the perfect client to model this after if you don't that's. Okay, you make her up, but we all know somebody that's kind of that picture of that perfect client in our mind. And so just think about that what that is, you know who you want to attract. So you know how many kids does she have a shia brand new mom? Does she have older kids? Um, what does that look like? What does her husband do for a living? Does she work outside the home? Um, where her kids in school or daycare, where does she work out? You know, all these things we can find out so much about somebody about their priorities and about what's important to them by really digging in and thinking about where they're spending time and where they're spending money. Those two things are so important to defining your product line and thinking about, you know, what type of dick or does she have, you know, that's kind of a random question, but I'm gonna market completely differently, too. The stay at home mom who has pottery burn furniture that you know, the kids crawl on top of and, you know, and it's, a place where all the kids come after school and she's got cookies waiting and um kids are jumping on couches, you know, whatever it's it's kind of that cozy homey atmosphere and I'm gonna communicate differently to that mom than the mom who has a career job she's got white carpeting and the kids have to take off their shoes when they come in the door there might even be a room in the house they can't go in you know she when she is planning parties it's not cookies after school it's going to be, you know, bring in her friends for cocktail hour or whatever you know and you can kind of visualize the profiles in your mind neither one is right or wrong, but they're a completely different target, so we have to learn toe really define who we want to mark it to and then market on ly to that person and it doesn't mean you know again that that other person is not ever going to come to us. We have to know how to communicate too both but as we're marketing and putting ourselves out there, we're going after one certain target and by doing that again that's going to allow you to really you know, to be that big splash in a little pond instead of lost in the giant ocean you know, um so think about all all of those questions and make up some of your own and we might even um I don't know if anybody will have time during the break toe actually fill out some of this, but it be fun to kind of profile when you guys is target clients, so, um so think about that don't write it now um, not again the narrow the focus, the broader the appeal and, um, I don't I don't know where I first heard that, but I heard it again from beverly walden was doing a program a while back, and, um and she was talking about this very specifically, um and again and, you know, marketing books that you read now I've read tons of books, and I mean, this is a very common theme, the narrow you can get, the broader that you're goingto the people's going to be, people want to come to somebody who specializes in something larry wing it says, and he wrote the pit bull of personal development, which is you have to put your blinders on when you're reading this book as he's pretty crass, but he says your time and money always follow your priorities, and that is so true. So if you're going through and you're defining that target client and thinking about those two things, you know, think about the life cycle of a client, what they do throughout an entire week or an entire month and where they're spending time and where they're spending money and we can do that we know so much about what's important to them we know about what experiences they're going to be expecting from us we know so many things so if someone is a target chopper they're goingto expect a completely different experience than if there a louis vuitton shopper you know are they what are they expecting when they come to you and so I like to think about all the different places that I go back to again and again so whether it's a place where I go buy clothes or the car dealership you know whatever it is if I'm if I'm making repeat purchases I stop and think about okay why why did I go back and by another land rover again when I know that my land rover is goingto crap out um because they're known teo you know but I keep buying them oh don't say that I have won hee there's always something wrong with the computer in the in the land rover but you know we're going back to buy clothes from a certain place because they call you by name when you come in or they write your name on the door whatever you know, whatever those things are I used to take jackson to a pediatric dentist and this was the dentist and and the dennis had his his logo was the fund in ist that was, is like it's tagline. And they really marketed that all the way through the entire experience. You know, he would go in and play video games in the ceiling. They had tvs in the ceiling and the kid. I mean, he liked going to the dentist, you know? And and one of the things that I learned ah, from this experience was when we would go in to the dentist office. They would actually call jackson by name. They would ask him about what sport he was playing right now. They would ask him about jake the dog. You know, they were asking him all these very personal questions and, you know, as a mom, it was one of those things that I loved about this place, and we all know if somebody loves your kid, you're going to love that person. Um, you know, and so so I appreciated that even my twenty six year old, when somebody says not something nice about josh, I really like that person. You know, that makes you feel good as a parent. And so they would, asking these personal questions. And as a business person, I knew there's no way these people remembered all their clients and all these things about all these kids. And so you know, as a business person I said how can I incorporate that into my own business? Well, there are obviously writing things down so when jackson comes in and their asking him questions and he mentions jake the dog the writing down jackson has a dog named jake they're writing down that he plays football and basketball and soccer and you know everything baseball everything you play doesn't play baseball anymore but um you know, at the time he literally was in every sport and they were actually communicating that with him and I loved that and so that's something that I feel is really important and our businesses especially because it is a relationship driven we are building you know, these these lifelong relationships hopefully we all want that client for life and you know, what better way to do it then to make somebody feel special and feel remembered and, um, you know, back to that feeling, um whatever the word was well liked like, just like way all want to feel loved, you know, we all want that admiration that like button. So you know, think about ways that you can do that in your business and it's it's very, very important tio to track with their clients from the very first phone call start writing things down right about the kids and what they're like sarin what's um our client's that'll come in tomorrow I asked each one of them what's your what is what are they into right now to me the ages of your children and what are they into and um you're going to hear one of those calls in a minute but um you know and ask him if they have any food allergies anything they can or cannot have or anything that would be fun for them to have we ask all kinds of questions like that and write everything down after the session as well I want to make notes about anything that was discussed during the session or something funny they did and we used those things in further communication as well as the thank you notes that we write and you know any way we can it's just a quick question just preview by the way I haven't looked yet use it does it have a space you've sent it out had client management and there doesn't have space in there to write about notes when I'm booking that I have it right head says yes um you contract it right in there it has a place to put that all the kids names ages birthdays of anna notes player take your notes yet perfect because I have a hard time being organized so I need systems to be organized here you all right? So those two things where is she spending time and where she's spending money um those are the things that we really want to find out and determined and we all know that ninety nine point nine percent of our clients are women so even when the whole family is there unless it's an executive head shot which even with an executive head shot there's probably a woman who got him there so our target cried as women and so that's why I keep saying she but um you know, thinking about the whole life cycle of a client really helps you to narrow that down it also is going to help us develop those relationships those connections and conversations instead of a sales pitch and if we really are from the first phone call really communicating with people about who they are how they got found us who we're gonna be photographing finding out a little bit more about their personalities even before they walk in the door we're going to be able to start that communication process and you know, relationships in general are hard work and it's no different with our clients we have to be willing to invest that time in our clients and you know I've I've said for years and years you know, if one of my clients chooses to go to another photographer for any reason I have to know that there's someplace that I let the relationship down and so you know if you think about it in that way if I'm cultivating relationships I'm working on those relationships they're not going to go anywhere else they're invested in us as people so that all starts from from getting to know who they are just by kind of narrowing and onto on the target market it creates instant can activity when you meet with these people for the first time typically if you have really clearly defined your target market once you start working with people and they start referring you to other people all of a sudden you've kind of got this little try but that all knows each other and you know, and I've had people say to me all through the years you photograph everyone in the world like they that's what they think because I photographed there five best friends you know? And but once you start photographing one person and it has that ripple effect and they talk about it um and then even as you're bringing people together for an open house or you know something that you have going on even if you don't have a place personally to do an open house, you can partner with another business and that's the that's the next thing that happens once you go through that list of defining your target client, not only are you looking at the people where you're looking at the business is to connect with so all of it just provides all that instantaneous collectivity um these days the statistic is that just like in the last five years I think this statistic was there's a seventy five percent increase in advertising and we are all paying less and less attention so you know advertising isn't the way to go anymore. We all have to do this personal relationship marketing you know that's what's going to take your business to the next level in zag and I mentioned zag already but um hey says we're exposed to over three thousand marketing messages a day and we can on lee even absorb we cannot even recognize one hundred of them and a hundred is still that is old lot of marketing messages but I don't know about you guys but back in the myspace days he talked about that um kind of well I'm already dated but back in the myspace days I remember a seeming but behind j see my daughter one day and um we were sitting there and she was on myspace and there was this ad that popped up in this ad that popped up on something else blinking over here and all the stuff going on I was like, oh my gosh doesn't all that stuff drive you crazy and she's like what? And I said all those ads and all you know and she's like what you talking about and I mean it knocked me over the head that there's we have so much overload of information and technology and distraction and all these things going on all day long for all of us and a lot of it we just don't even it doesn't even faze us anymore um you guys probably all know you know when we first started on facebook we really paid attention to those ads that would come on up on the side now they're even mohr and more and more personal to each one of us individually not all of us see the same adds none of us see the same ads they are totally related to the things you click on the people that you follow the pages that you like they're completely targeting what you're seeing on the side of your page but none of a seat anymore we rarely so I think that's a pretty powerful message to think about that you know the more personal that we can get ah the more powerful our market is going to be even into the referrals and um you know some of the other ways that we can build those relationships and keep it going so from that list from that target market list um you can develop a list of marketing partners and I mentioned to you guys before about displays and how displays built my business in the beginning and I totally believe in that however um and not that you should not try to build relationships and get displays but in two thousand twelve and we're almost a two thousand thirteen um it is getting more and more difficult to get displays because there are so many people going after them and that's the one of the things that I hear a lot from photographers is, well, everything in my area is already already has a photographer in it and you know and what what I want teo propose to you is that you don't just think for example, with the children's product line, we're thinking about children's fatigues um maybe a pediatrician, you know, we kind of have this streamline thought process I can't even think about the streamlined process anymore because I think about the big picture but going through that list and feel really think about those things and go through those questions where she buying her kid's clothes um who is she buying her house from where she buying her her car? Um, whatever those things are, if you if you can do that and really think about where that person is many times, many money, then you've got this list of marketing partners and even if it's not a display, you can work with another business too go in on a gift certificate you can work with another business, too do maybe a monthly gift basket where you've got six businesses coming together and each of the six businesses eyes getting drawings for the monthly prize that has a prize from all different every one of the vendors all six businesses so at the end of the month one person gets all the names from all the different businesses compiles a list so you're all growing your list and one person gets the prize from all six businesses so um you know, there's different ways that you can work with people one of the things that I've done in the past that has worked really well for me was to work with specific businesses to do a gift basket so the gift basket would have something specific to what I want to photograph so example would be a like a toy that they sold or you know, something that I could actually purchase from the business and then in that gift basket would also be a gift card to the studio and it's it is for the amount of a session, so if my session fee is one hundred eighty five dollars, I'm going to do like one hundred fifty dollars a two hundred dollar gift card basically is what it is, but I'm going to allow that business to sell that gift basket and they're going to get to keep one hundred percent of the of the profit and I will tell you if you'll go into it with the mindset that I'm targeting this business because they have my target client they have the person that I want to photograph, so if I could go into it with I want their business, how can I get them to give me their business by providing them with a product to sell that they get one hundred percent of the profit on there is nothing else in their business they can sell and have all of the money from it, you know, anything that we buy? We've got to put a mark up on, we have to take out, cost the sale, they're going to get it all out of this. I'm going to get a qualified client in my door, and so who can tell me what is going to happen when they call and they book a session? They say I bought this gift certificate from such and such or got this from, you know, someone who purchased it, and they call and say, um, I'd like to book my session, does anything else come with that? Janice? Um, no, yes, then you're only giving them the free session, then they're going to come in. So you're going to say, well, the session, isn't it? The session is freeze, including the gift certificate, and then you're open to buying any of the products we offer. Something like that. Something like that. So, yes, we're gonna walk you right through the process, just like a regular client. Okay? Just like a regular client. Okay. Anything you'd like to purchase that's. Great. Not that's. Ok, too, typically with gift certificates a little bit different if it's purchased. But anything that you want to give away like that that's is definitely the answer, but there's all kinds of things that you can do to partner up with other businesses. I've worked with different businesses on anything from going in and doing a you know, I hate to call it a lecture, because that sounds bad, but, you know, but doing a like little mini seminar for them or whatever, um, you know, and it might be on hanging portrait ce in your home, designing with portrait's that might be taking better pictures of your kids at home and you know it. It could be any number of topics that might be of interest in the of them, but it's getting me in front of their client, and again, if I've targeted my target client, if I know where she's where she is, I want to be there. I'm gonna get there however I can, so any of those places that you can network with market with a lot of times when I'm going in and I know I want to work with another business I'm not going in and saying, you know, hey, I'm a photographer, and I want to come see me hang some pictures in here, you know? I mean, anybody today is going to say, I don't think that's gonna work, but what I want to do is instead, as I want to go in and just say, I'd love to sit down and chat with you for about five minutes. I love what you're doing here, and I've got some ideas on ways that we might partner up together and do some marketing together, and I've got some ideas it won't cost you anything, and I'd really love just five minutes of your of your time and, you know, and hear your ideas as well, and so it puts the ball back in their court and just getting that five minutes often leads into a great relationship that weaken network and partnered together. Yeah, so we have some questions for the county and use a couple one from lana banana, whose name I just love in the charity and she's asking, are you just talking about small businesses is to partner up with what about big stores like victoria's secret if I photographed boudoir beauty? Um, a lot of the big stores are corporate and chains and so it's. Not impossible to get in with them, but you have to go beyond the management. Um, victoria secret actually might be one. I have a friend who was a manager for victoria secret, and it might be one that you could actually work with someone local. I know. For instance, pottery barn. They bring in local interior designers that host workshops within pop the pottery market stores. And if you could get partnered up with one of them and do you know, like a little, uh, interior design class on arranging portrait? So we're designing the portrait again? You could use preview and just, you know, do that designed the preview right there? I work with a couple of interior designers in des moines that actually used that preview software just like ideo and what I found, and this is kind of off topic. Um, but what I found with interior designers is I had a couple of years where I would have clients that would say, either my interior designer says not to hang family portrait ce on my lower level or they would say, you know, like, just random things like my hand here designer says, you know, I shouldn't do this or shouldn't do that in regards family porridge it's and I'd be like punching in the face but uh but what I found and going to interior designers and saying, you know, hey, I would love to work with you um finally won one gal and it was when I was living in colorado I just asked her and I said, you know, why would you tell a family that they shouldn't hang a family portrait on their wall? I mean that's that's celebrating the life of the family that doesn't make sense to me and she said, well, we don't make commission on family portrait ce hi I mean, janie being and so I you know, when I said to her, how would you feel if I gave you a commission on selling family portrait and she became a sales person for may? And so and so now that's any interior designer that I could work with if they sell the grouping, the commission's theirs and typically it's going to be higher than our salespeople because they're used to earning between ten and fifteen percent on a piece of art that they would hang on a wall so that's what I give them and I'll even ask them, you know, what's a typical commission on a on a campus that you would sell from this x y z store whatever that they worked there and they'll tell me and so I'll tell them if you was if you secure client for me and design a wall gallery that fifteen percent is yours so that has gotten me some really, really good clients to work with and, um, you know and and working with somebody that they already trust as their designer and then that designer instead of telling them, oh, don't hang family portrait in on your bottom level that's tacky? Well, I would say that anyway, but but instead of saying that they're now saying, you know, this would be the perfect place for a family grouping, you know, this is where you eat dinner together together every evening and what a better place to enjoy a family moment together and now they're selling it instead of objecting to it, would you cold call so sorry, but would you called call? And if I don't know any attorney designers in my neighborhood, although I know some people must choose interior designers, I have asked my friends what who they're using, I guess, and then when you just approach them like cold, absolutely same thing you'd come just like a display just come and say, you know, hey, I love what you do, you know, if you do ask a client, then you know, say we have this client and common okay, and, you know, here's what I'm looking at doing in her home or whatever, but you can say, um, I'd love to sit down with you and chad on how we might network together. I've got some ideas for you, and I love to hear yours. Brilliant, you're fabulous! And was there another question their wass jin court would like to know? Arjun corleone says, describing example, describe what example of display you know where you did it, uh, what you did on the display, what is a display of what it's like in a display is going to be typically almost like I have hanging here, you know, it's going to be a siri's of images or a grouping of images? You always want to show what you want to sell, even if it's in another business and so, for example, we could go to a children's toy store and say, I love what you guys doing are doing. I have a lot of clients who were buying toys from you. I'd even have had a few incorporated into sessions. I'd love to sit down with you and talk about how we might partner up on some marketing. I've got some great ideas for you, and I would love to hear yours. And then I'm gonna go to that toy store I'm gonna go that children's furniture store I'm gonna go to you know the baby boutique I'm going to go I have a display in a high doctor's office you know and and typically you wouldn't think about a night dr office but the's this eye doctor office has um very very high end clientele they're in a very high end area and lemoyne and I knew that's where my target client wass you know so I went to them that same conversation after sitting down with them and yes, I wanted to display out of it but I'm not going to go in there saying that I'm going to sit down and start building the relationship I'm gonna talk to them about who their market is and who you know what, what kinds of things they're doing to market and how I could help them. Um one other thing that I will say that is this is a huge tip for anyone that's considering doing this whether it's just networking with another business or actually hanging on display but one of the things that I found years ago was I would go in and I'd put a beautiful display in and leave him a stack of cards and they would be, you know, thrilled and excited and we love all your stuff and I you know, I wouldn't get any business from it and and it's not really even about honest and I'll tell you I'll explain this little bit more I'm taking away from some of my slides but that's good but they would you know they throw him in the trash or put him on a drawer or whatever and and the cars wouldn't go out and so what I learned was if I can go to that person and say, you know say it's a toy store um what bit of information would you liketo have in every single one of your clients hands and everyone will tell you something they all want something whether it's a children's bookstore or you know they're going to say the types of books and how they're labeled for each stage they're going toe you know toy store is going to talk about developmental toys you know and what's appropriate at what stage is again um you know, a pediatrician office might talk about the best time tio take your child from liquids to solid foods you know, I mean it's always something that they that they want to convey the message they went to convey so what we do is then create that piece for them that has the message on it and then on the back of it it has my information and so my information gets in every single person's hands because it also has what they message that they want on it um so that that was a huge turning point for me in my displays um however, with displays one of the things that make them very profitable and get you new clients is actually hanging the displays and so a lot of times I'm talking to photographers and they you know, I got this great display at the store and here's what's going on and they're taking stuff off of their studio walls or they're buying stuff from past sessions and they're hanging it well that defeats the whole purpose of the display the display is to get new clients, so I want to talk to the toy store owner and I want to say you know and of course this is after we've built this relationship we've started talking about how we can partner together we're talking about, you know, hey let's do a newsletter together once a month I'll you know, photograph a special family for you, we can feature them in the newsletter newsletters should always be about somebody else besides you um or your sale that you've got going on or whatever else I should be celebrating someone else that's going to get your message out, but you know, we're going to partner up on these different things and then I'm going to say, you know what? I would love to hang some fun portrait's in here of kids just playing with your toys you know how you know, how would you feel about that? And, you know, of course we're incorporating what they do, you know? Yeah, it's a great idea, I would love that, too, and so my first thing is going to be to ask them whether it's, the owner manager, whoever I'm talking to, you know, who's important to you do you have a child, a grandchild, whatever the situation is that you would like to be photographed, everybody has somebody special to them, um, you know, so they're going to tell me I'm going to say, great, you know what other key employees that do you have that you would like tio celebrate and get up on the walls, and they'll tell me, and then I'll ask him, you know, well, do you have maybe a list of five to ten of your very best clients and people who come back again and again, and they'll say, yeah, you know, we've we've got cem, cem, great client that we love, you know? Well, let's, celebrate that relationship that you've built with them, um, I'll call him for you, and I'll let him know we're going to do new artwork at the toy store, and they have chosen you to be the models. And that way we're you know we're celebrating the relationship that you've built we're giving them a reason to shout out to all their friends to come in and buy toys from you and to see their portrait now we can really start building this idea of community and so now we're not just talking about I want to hang pictures in your store because it's all about me and I want new clients we're talking about them and the benefits to them and we're I'm getting new clients out of it by saying let's celebrate your favorite people and put those people in the gallery and the portrait and so what happens then janice eyes I'm gonna call those people and I'm going to say you know hi this is lori nordstrom and I'm working with x y z toy store and we're doing new artwork there in their business and they have chosen your family your kids to be the models for that new artwork and so we're going to chat I've done this over twelve years of time I even did it for tim flanagan fifteen years ago when got displaced for him nobody's ever said no but when you use the word model I would be scared to say model for you because then they'd be like that implies my child should be getting paid if you want me oh is there danger of using that word or rather used I've always you could featured is a great word think I would probably speech I've always thinking pain I've always have use model, but I live in the midwest, there are no models, thank you, nbc those parents are way more smooth, you know, in l a you probably have to say feature, yeah still, you know, so really I everything I think that's pretty territorial, but that's great feature is a great word, but they've chosen your family to be featured your children to be future, whatever that is and again, no one has ever told me no, but what happens is they were well either then or very soon after on the consultation caller, whatever the next step is they will say, am I going to get to see all these? Am I going to get to buy something? You know, they will ask you okay? And so what happens is absolutely we're going to bring you right through the process held your hand just like a regular client, you're going to get to come and see all your images, anything you'd like to purchase that's great if not that's ok too, so we've walked them through this process again. I have a new client it's now my job, I've got the right client in my door, I'm providing them the service, giving them the experience photographing them and so what now? It's my job to turn them into a client, and but it does happen every single time. And so what happens for these displays is I am purchasing the display. So whether it's a campus rap or, you know, and and that's how I'm going to be based on the business day cora's, well, because I wanna hang something that looks great in their space. So, like for the eye care center, they have campus calorie wraps hanging there, they've got real traditional furniture, it's, it's, office space, you know? And and then I have other places where I've got wild sorbet I've got other place where got traditional framing, and so it all just is based on their decor style, but I'm going to do the same thing. I'm just going to come in and snap a picture of their walls loaded into preview designed their their walls for them, I don't put it, even put pictures in them, I just show him, you know what their space is gonna look like with framing or the campus rap or whatever and it's very hard for someone to say no to that when they're it's not costing them anything. You know they're excited about their thrilled and they're even you know they're even excited about sharing their clients with them um the one thing that I will do I've had a couple businesses here and there that don't want to give me a list of ten names they would rather make the phone call themselves and so I just write out a little script for them and it's basically the same thing you know hey, this is such and such from the toy store and we're going to get new artwork here we've got a photographer that's going to be photographing a few families and we love your kids so much we love seeing them in the store and we want to see their faces every day you know, whatever the cases we're going to write out a little script for them so that they could make that phone call then they they make the connection with me and then I can go on from there what happens when you deliver the display like and then do you make a, um associated marketing piece for them or for you or how do you draw ten game piece it's going to be that piece that you know what? What message do you want to put in every person's hands and I'm gonna create that piece for them and put my information on the other side so it's um and again that is an initial expense however it's something that is guaranteed that they're going to put in every bag they're going to hand every person and so you know with that if you consider that if that if that expenses paid for once um and you get one client out of it to return it's a return yeah you have different releases for every single session that you do sometimes I have a model releases that you're asking yes every every session I photograph everybody signs a lot of release yes um one of the things that you know also doing it this way they already know they're going to be on display but and as you'll see tomorrow everybody will sign a model release that comes but I will tell them this is so that we've got the paperwork all taking care of um if we use your images on the website or on the block or you know, in the mall whatever we've got the paperwork taken care of but I will let you know before that happens and so they do have the opportunity and I think I mean, we may have had one or two people in all of the years I've been doing this that have said I don't want my my child you know, these days and you know, I could see that happening early on and the digital were hold but these days anybody can find out anything about anybody any time so here's a model release at like you have one on your iphone and you have a paper I have both and I do use the app when I'm on location but one that you make paper pretty much staring at you man there's something I've been looking at through different ones and I'm like how do I choose which one to use I I'll find them the name of it if you guys remind me at the break um katherine hall has a moderately sap and I don't remember the name of it do you? I say I remember it was like the next top america's next top model so so next hop up we'll find it ok husband meaning I've been researching and I haven't been able to choose so yeah, I'm going and yeah there's some great acts out there and especially now when you can just take a little snapshot of then they sign right there on your phone so there's absolutely no way they could ever say they didn't sign a release you know I'm incorporate your the model released into your contracts like do you have? Do you have people sign contracts when you book sessions or I don't have contracts in and honestly I think that's part of I think that's a style issue you know on and it's all personal there are some people that are very, you know, contract and policy driven I don't have one policy written anywhere I don't have a contract written anywhere for me and my personality it's so much about the relationship that it would not even be right for me to slide a contract over and have somebody sign it you know the only reason I get I get signatures on minus because my model releases in it and I don't know why everybody signs model release and and you guys will see that and actually you have a copy of it but at the bottom of and everyone who purchases will have that as well it's the it's a client profile sheet where that they fill out with all their information and then it's a model release and notice a copyright so that's all verbally communicated that's one of the things that I like about having a piece of paper is I could actually just talk to them about it they can stay positive it's all fun happy and you know they sign it it's it's good to go and that app is called the top model release act by katherine hall and that's top model release dot com or think you can find it in roles release thank you. Yeah thank you uh I mean, all the marketing piece and a lot of it I look at I go okay this is just grassroots marketing, you know? I mean everything is, um is ok almost but lately I've been getting hounded by living social group on so thoughts on because I'm in state from going accelerated away accelerate business and and some people have said you should try not their client I went I don't know about s o I thought that well, I actually did a living social um I think and the reason I did it is because I was starting a new photographer in the studio and so I wanted to just jump start her and get her shooting and so we you know, and we did have higher end deal it was, you know, a session and a couple of portrait's I don't remember exactly what it was they really pushed me to do digital files because that's what everybody does and I did not do it, I refused and we, you know, we kept with our product line and, um and we did it and I, you know, it was fine for what it was, but exactly what janice said it's, not your target client um, you know what if you can really think about who your target client is and, you know, I know you know, there's there's probably somebody out there who is your target client that buys restaurant deals on group on or whatever, but I know most of the people that I know they would never take a coupon in to a restaurant you know, a high end restaurant they just would not do that um I even you know, I've got friends who by the the when jackson's outselling football cards that have the discount on him you know they'll buy him to support the football team but they would never take it in someplace to you you know? So you have to kind of think that through when you're you know when you're thinking about who your target client isn't what you want to accomplish with it if it's just to build a portfolio it's a great thing to dio because it gets you shooting you know, but if you want to make money with it or reach somebody that's going to continue to come back to you it's not a good reason I got to get back and focus here kind of went off there for louis and we're going to come back through displaced lives often just lit the room, but if we have any questions when you get there, you guys can ask but um developed starting your your list of contacts and once you've determined who your client is that your target klein is excuse me and again I'm going I'm going to do this for any product line that I start, so when I decided back in two thousand nine we're going to do real kids is a product line well feel free to take a break and have some water there laurie because well just just gonna go chug on this we're second we'll just edit that out are you guys doing e you guys doing out there audience it is that time of year for sure let's see as anybody else say drink studio said just bought the model release app have ever any of you guys ever used are you sign easy on my ipad and I I've I've tested it out a couple times and I actually really really like it it's you can upload your own custom pdf ce and you khun um your client's consign within the afp and you can also edit things in you can add dates and times and that kind of thing and so far I like it um but I think I'm going to phase out contracts completely and just focus harder releases now so it might the obsolete but it's a good at sign easy tracks uh any pdf you can upload any pdf that you need signed um that's branded with your logo and everything yeah and then you can email it you email it to your clients and pretty useful yep yeah so the only thing that I've ever ever had a contract for was when I did a hospital on display but that was a job that I was commissioned for had a bid you know, get the job and then um I hung fifty thirty by forties in this hospital and then when they did a second hospital they did like a women's facility second, second hospital um they commissioned me to do that one as well, so so twice I've had a contract for anything in the fifteen years I've been doing business, so but again, I think that's a personality thing and uh not necessarily, eh? Probably not the best business decision I've ever made, you know? I mean, I'm not saying that that's the way to go I'm just saying that and honestly, anything that we talk about today tomorrow, sunday um I will never ever say this is the only way this is the best way this is what's worked for me and hopefully everybody can take bits and pieces of what's worked for me and make it work for you and, you know, and and that's part of the process that we went through this morning is really thinking about near strengths and who you are in your personality and it all melds into the rest of this process that melds into putting this system into place and making it work for you because if it comes from you to start with, you're going to be able to make it work you know, for who you are so that's why I took you through that process in the beginning and we didn't just jump into here's how to do this portrait system because I wanted you to have some some groundwork in some basis for whatever you decide to do so um so going through this and defining that target client and, uh making that list of business contacts and people contest tax you can start thinking of people that you might want to contact for your first portrait event well that's gonna be your host context and um you know and I've said that this works for even people that are brand new to an area or starting over and from my perspective in my business when I started the real kids events it was for a little bit lesser of her product line than I have in the studio it's twenty percent off its packages it's different but for somebody else it may be you know, ernie I got to stop selling dvds. You know, I got to do a hold of her product line to market to a different segment of the marketplace I'm going to do this higher end it's going to be different and and what happens when you could do that is it only has to start with one person one host is all you need so even if your brand new justice to a place you know you may see somebody at church and you think you know she is beautiful, our kids are beautiful, she dresses stylishly like she's the person that I want wantto take shopping with me pick out clothes you know I mean go tat with her and tell her no, this is something that's going on in my business I would love to sit and chat with you about it you seem like you're so well connected and very put together and I just love to chat and get your ideas and a lot of times it just does take just sitting down with that one person and you know, even if if they believe you're just bouncing ideas off of them you know you're going to get some great feedback on what you're doing so let's start making that list and think of, you know, different people and it's the same process and will walk through this thank you. Um creative live has this magic tea e that I started drinking yesterday when I got here and started feeling better almost instantly so they've been feeding it to me all day throat coat it's ah yeah some throat coat thing that's just him and I came yesterday like I couldn't even swallow my throat hurts so bad and now I'm talking all day so z magic, huh? Let's see s o those host contacts as well as those business contacts but I think I may have already said that um that you're going to create your business contacts with it