PhotoSpark

This week we are joined in studio by Tracy Petrucci, an expert in social media marketing! Tracy owns a small business marketing agency here in San Diego, so she is the perfect person to chat with about marketing your photography business online! Brief Social Media Rundown 

• Instagram- As photographers, we should take advantage of the fact that our job automatically gives us really pretty images we can post to social media... specifically Instagram! Most business owners aren't so lucky! So we should definitely be posting consistently on Instagram.
• Facebook- Facebook ads are SUPER valuable! You have a TON of control over your money when using Facebook ads, which make them a pretty affordable means of social media marketing. You can set a budget of $20 or so, try out a target market, and see how the ad is working! If after a few days you aren't happy with the results, you can pause & change your ad to your liking until it works for you!
• Pinterest- Pinterest tends to be a bit better for businesses who are actually selling something online...for local photography businesses it can help gain followers but it's pretty tough to actually turn Pinterest posts into clients. However, it's a great idea to share Pinterest boards with your followers on other forms of social media to remind them to book a shoot with you!
• Newsletters- Email newsletters are super important to remind your clients that you exist! Consider including special offers or calls to action so readers will want to click on the links within your newsletter. Also, be sure to add a catchy subject line that will make people curious about what's inside your newsletter so they open it!!
• Twitter- Twitter is a GREAT way to supplement SEO. You might not see a huge return on investment from Twitter but it boosts your Google ranking quite a bit. Twitter's search function is also great because you can search for your PERFECT client and interact directly with them, which can lead to clients & sales!

Subscribe via itunes HERE. If you have any questions about this show, please contact us! RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Tracy Petrucci Schedugram

This week we are joined by the amazing Sophie Crew! Sophie specializes in newborn photography. Sophie has been photographing newborns since her oldest was born 10 1/2 years ago, but has been officially full time since 2009. Her style is whimsical, dreamy, and colorful... she has the most amazing, magical editing style!! One of our favorite parts from this episode is when Sophie chats about submitting her portfolio for approval in a group many years ago. She had a friend look it over and was told everything looked great except for her newborn images. Instead of taking those images out of the portfolio, Sophie took that constructive criticism as a challenge & improved upon her craft & learned everything she possibly could about newborn photography. We love that she faced that challenge head on and didn't get scared away!! Sophie's Tips:

• Age- Ideal age for newborn photos is 7-8 days. However, she still has luck with older babies, even up to 4 weeks old! They just take a little longer to get to sleep, and they're a little bigger so poses and props are different sometimes.
• The 5 S's- A soothing technique for babies! The 5 S's are: Side/stomach position, shushing, swinging, swaddling, and sucking. It's her go-to when babies are super fussy and having trouble falling asleep!
• White Noise- When making white noise/shushing, make it REALLY loud. Like... way louder than you think you should. Babies love it because it reminds them of the womb!
• Maternity Photos- Sophie also photographs maternity clients; she suggests scheduling between 34 & 36 weeks.
• Feeding- Sophie always sends out a pre-shoot email to her parents before a newborn shoot. In this email she suggests they feed the baby RIGHT before leaving for the studio. She also suggests they arrive a little early to the studio to feed once more. A full baby is a sleepy, happy baby!!
• Length- Sophie's typical newborn session lasts approximately 3 hours.

Subscribe via itunes HERE. If you have any questions about this show, please contact us! REFERENCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Sophie Crew Photography
• The 5 S's (from The Happiest Baby on the Block)

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This week, we stumbled upon an article that really blew our minds so we figured we would share it with you guys!! The article is titled 13 Habits of self-made millionaires, from a man who spent 5 years studying rich people & was written by Kathleen Elkins. In the article, she discusses 13 habits that Thomas C. Corley noted in his book Change Your Habits, Change Your Life. Thomas spent 5 years studying 177 self-made millionaires, and found some similarities in their daily habits! In this episode, we'll share some of these habits with you guys & discuss whether or not we're already doing these habits & chatting about how we can start! Our 5 Favorite Habits (you'll have to listen to hear more!):

1. They read consistently: Corley discovered that self-made millionaires tended to read often. Their books of choice tended to be biographies of other highly successful entrepreneurs, self help books, and history books. In our episode, Ashley & Julie chat about their favorite self-help books they've been reading recently & Kate admits she definitely needs to read more of these!!
2. They hang out with other successful people: Corley suggests hanging out with people who are optimistic & enthusiastic. We agree!! We love our Women In Photography Facebook group because it's full of optimistic and successful people!  It's amazing to surround ourselves with people who inspire us & have those role models who are successful photographers to help encourage and support us!
3. They have multiple sources of income: This is one of our favorites because we all admit that this is something we dream of & strive for, but something we could definitely improve in! We're even hoping to do a future episode on possible additional sources of income for photographers!
4. They don't follow the herd: We love this one because as artists we can be extremely self-critical... judging our worth and our work based on what else is already out there. It's SO important for us to remember that clients are looking for something different from photographer to photographer. So we love that we have all developed our own unique brand & style, which we know will help our clients be confident in their decision to book us!!
5. They help others succeed: This is our ultimate goal for PhotoSpark so we have to pick this one as a favorite!! We love that highly successful entrepreneurs tend to help others succeed & we started PhotoSpark because of a desire to chat with each other about photography-related stuff, but we also really love that we could totally be helping other photographers succeed just by chatting & hanging out! We aim to talk about the business side of photography because we felt like there was a void in this topic in the podcast world & we wanted to be able to help other people succeed in their businesses!

Tune in to hear 8 more habits of successful people!! Also, feel free to chime in on the conversation on our Facebook page... let us know what habits YOU do on a daily basis that contribute to your success!! RELATED LINKS:

• 13 Habits of self-made millionaires, from a man who spent 5 years studying rich people
• Change Your Habits, Change Your Life
• The Artist's Way
• Big Magic

One of the biggest discussions we've seen in online groups is the benefit of Yelp for photographers. Some people swear by it, some people swear it's the worst! This week we are joined by Corey Dane, the manager of local business outreach for Yelp!! The three of us have very different experiences with Yelp... Ashley & Kate have quite a few reviews, but Ashley chooses to advertise with Yelp & Kate does not. Julie only has 2 reviews & has had some experiences with Yelp that put a sour taste in her mouth. It was perfect to chat with Cory & ask him ALL our questions & get honest answers! Did you know that 82% of people use online reviews to research their decision before making a purchase? That means a LOT of your potential clients want to see reviews about your business before deciding to book you! Key Takeaways

1. Claim your Yelp Business Page: Corey emphasizes how important it is to take control over your business's page! The whole process takes about 2 minutes, and from there you can add unlimited photos, additional info, and reply to reviews. This allows you to put your best foot forward on your Yelp page!
2. Don't outright solicit for reviews: Corey suggests leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to let clients know you're on Yelp instead of asking for reviews, which can appear a little "spammy." You should mention your presence on Yelp (and your Yelp business page will have buttons & other tools you can display on your website) without being overly pushy about it!
3. What's the deal with reviews that are "not recommended?": Corey is very quick to point out that reviews are never "filtered." All reviews that are submitted to Yelp are online and available for potential clients to see, they are just either recommended or not recommended. About 74% of the content that is submitted to Yelp is recommended. Sometimes, a review is flagged as "not recommended" due to the quality of a review or an unestablished user account. If a client joins Yelp to write one review, it's likely that their review will be listed under the "not recommended" category. To help boost their profile, Yelp users can do the following:

• Upload a profile photo
• Fill out profile information
• Leave additional reviews for other businesses
• Add friends on Yelp
• Respond to all reviews: Corey suggests that as business owners we respond to ALL feedback, whether it's positive or negative. This shows potential clients that you value all feedback, and are an open communicator. He suggests personalizing the response by talking about each reviewer's specific shoot. For negative reviews, consider responding in a way that will get that client back on your side. This shows potential clients that you're willing to earn trust from your clients. Also, feel free to take the communication offline & reach out privately to the reviewer to remedy the situation.
• Advertising with Yelp: There is no truth the the rumors that advertising with Yelp helps hide negative reviews OR that NOT advertising will hide your business page. Advertising is completely optional, but can help your business be seen. Ashley definitely swears by Yelp advertising!

One of the best parts of this episode is when Corey breaks down Julie's Yelp profile & points out areas where she can add content to help boost her presence on Yelp! Even though Ashley & Kate are already having luck on Yelp, they both noticed they can add some content too. It was awesome to follow along & make some to-do lists to help build our Yelp profiles even more; be sure to listen to this week's episode to hear all of Corey's tips & tricks!! Subscribe via itunes HERE. If you have any questions about this show, please contact us! Recommended Links:

• biz.yelp.com

 

Hi guys! We're coming to you briefly today to share our first "Three Minute Tips" with you all! We decided that each of us has a plethora of knowledge about a TON of photography related stuff that maybe isn't enough content to fill a full episode. So each week we're going to share a 3 minute episode with you guys, highlighting three tips about various photography situations! Today's Three Minute Tips episode is brought to you by Ashley DuChene... tune in to hear her three most important client emails that she sends before & after each shoot! Ashley's Three Important Client Emails:

1. Before the session: This is the final details email, confirming the date, time, and location. It will also include a link to Ashley's pre-shoot guide & Pinterest boards for wardrobe inspiration. The key to this email is requiring them to reply, so she knows they're prepared and going to show up to their shoot!
2. Post-Session: Let clients know what to expect. Basically a quick "Photos look great, thank you, here is when your gallery will be ready" email. This keeps the client "when will it be ready" questions from the client at bay.
3. Post- Image Delivery: Confirm everything was received. Make sure they have it, see if they need adjustments, make sure that they are pleased with everything. Wrap it up with a bow.

Related Links: http://www.ashleyduchene.com  

We are fangirling out a little bit here over at PhotoSpark over our most recent guest! On this week's episode, we're joined by Leslie Kerrigan, the founder of Seniorologie! In case you're unfamiliar, Seniorologie is a GREAT tool for senior portrait photographers! It's a website & community that provides inspiration, knowledge, and resources to senior portrait photographers, as well as online and in person workshops & business tips! Keep reading for a quick outline of what we chatted about when we discussed senior portrait photography with Leslie Kerrigan! Key Takeaways:

1. Yearbook photos: Don't worry if your area has strict yearbook restrictions for senior portraits. Leslie mentions it's important to focus on lifestyle-type senior portrait photography even when your photo can't be in the yearbook. It's actually a benefit to us because we don't have to worry about the yearbook deadline & can photograph seniors all year!
2. Portfolio-Building: Don't be afraid to shoot for free! The more you shoot, the more clients you will have. The amount of freedom you have when doing a free shoot will allow you to photograph exactly what you'd like, and will help build your senior portrait portfolio. It's important to be able to show off enough senior portrait photos to get new clients in the door. Leslie says the perfect quote: "If you build it, they will come!"
3. Girls vs. Boys: We asked Leslie how her shoot routine changes a bit with girls vs boys because we know that photographing senior boys is extremely different from photographing senior girls! Boys do a bit better with a prop of some type. So always ask if they play baseball or guitar, etc, and have them bring something along so they have something to do with their hands. This helps them relax & be a little more comfortable during the shoot, whereas girls are typically automatically more comfortable with posing & relaxing in front of the lens. Also, just helping them relax a bit by finding something to laugh about (even if it's yourself!) will help boys look more natural in their photos & have more fun during their shoot!
4. Model Calls and Rep Programs: Model calls tend to occur when you are shooting for yourself... you can style the style, pick the model you want, and be creative with the shoot. Concept style shoots keep you shooting during your offseason, and lead to more bookings in the future. Rep Programs are more of a money maker than model calls. You select a few seniors to be your spokesmodels throughout the year. They refer their friends to you, promote you in their school, and end up getting rewards for their efforts. Everyone has success with different types of rep programs, so try a few things out & see if it works for you! If it doesn't, don't be afraid to change it for next year!
5. Organization: Leslie has her shoot organization down pat! She prefers paper over electronic organizational means (Kate approves!!). She has charts in her office & calendars of upcoming shoots. Each client also gets their own sheet in her binder, where she can mark off each milestone during their shoot process. Leslie runs her own senior portrait business, is the editor of Seniorologie, teaches workshops, AND is a mom... so she definitely needs to stay organized to stay on track!

The best news is that Leslie is coming to California over the summer! She chats a little bit about the next workshop she's doing with Seniorologie... they're road-tripping it from San Francisco to LA & doing four shootouts in different locations along the way! Check out more information on the Road Trip here! Thanks for listening!! Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments you have and be sure to subscribe on iTunes & follow us on social media! Related Links:

• Seniorologie
• Creative Live with Leslie Kerrigan

Hello again! We're excited to share another "Three Minute Tips" episode with you guys! In case you missed it last week, these quick episodes are basically bonus episodes that will be scattered throughout the week while you're waiting patiently for our next full episode! This week, Julie talks about the importance of staying organized on a daily basis! She gives us her three tips for maintaining an organized workspace every day! Julie's Tips for Maintaining an Organized Workspace:

1. Clear your Computer Desktop: For this tip, we aren't talking about your physical desktop, but your actual computer desktop! Julie suggests clearing the desktop every single day & organizing each of your files into folders. That way when you wake up in the morning, everything is neat & tidy, with only the files you need to work on visible from your desktop!
2. Clean your Physical Desktop: At the end of every workday, Julie cleans her actual desktop too! It's so easy to let your desk pile up with memory cards, pens, pencils, post-it notes, etc. If you take 2-5 minutes of your day to put everything in it's place, your next workday will be nice & stress-free!
3. Clean out your Drawers: No matter how clean your computer & desktop is, if your drawers are full of junk, you'll feel stressed out & unorganized. I know we're all guilty of shoving stuff into drawers without really paying attention to sorting it & keeping it organized... it's so easy to just hide it away! But if you keep your drawers clean, it will be easier to put away your desk at the end of the day & stay organized with your work! Plus, you'll find yourself feeling calmer, more zen, and less stressed out the cleaner they are!

Related Links: www.julieferneau.com

Hello everyone!! We are really excited about this week's episode because once we started brainstorming our ideas for it, we couldn't stop! This week we're chatting about 15 unprofessional habits of photographers! We are all guilty of some of these, so this is a no judgement zone, but we do think it's important to address a few of the most common faux-pas we see within our own businesses & other photographer's businesses to make sure you guys aren't doing any of these things! Key Takeaways: We aren't going to share EVERY bullet point with you here (you have to listen for that!) but here are our 5 favorites from the episode:

1. Typos on websites and emails: Oh man... huge pet peeve!! We totally understand that grammar/spelling isn't everyone's strong suit, but if you know this about yourself it's a good idea to have someone proofread your website, email templates, and online promotional ads! Typos, spelling errors, and grammatical errors could completely overshadow a beautiful portfolio on a website for some potential clients! Take the time to make sure everything looks correct before launching your website. If this is a weakness of yours, also consider maybe hiring someone to respond to emails for you!
2. Inconsistent style (editing especially): To us, nothing gives that "amateur" vibe quite as much as inconsistent style! We've all been there... you're starting your photography portfolio and have no idea what your personal style is yet, so you play around with a bunch of presets and actions & get so excited about how everything looks you just can't choose, so you end up with 5 different looking styles within one single shoot. Don't do that!! Take the time to discover your personal style first & display a cohesive look on your website so potential clients know exactly what type of photos and editing style to expect when they book you!
3. Taking too long to respond: Ashley is REALLY good at responding quickly to emails and oftentimes hears back from the client that she was the only one who responded in a prompt matter (or at all). What is that?! We totally get it... nobody decides to be a photographer for a living because they just can't wait to answer all their client's emails and phone calls. It might even be one of the worst parts of our business! However, it's necessary to answer emails in a prompt manner in order to not lose out on potential business. So put your telephonophobia aside & respond to your client inquiries!!
4. Casual clothing: There's a little bit of a divide here between wedding photographers & portrait photographers. We feel that portrait photographers can get away with dressing a little more casually than wedding photographers, especially when they're working with children and going to be crawling on the ground or traipsing through trails & fields, that sort of thing. All three of us are comfortable wearing jeans and a cute blouse or top to portrait sessions but would NEVER wear jeans to a wedding. For weddings, Julie typically opts for a cute dress (with shorts underneath JUST in case!). Kate's not a huge fan of shooting in dresses, but she always wore black dress slacks & a nice blouse when she shot weddings, but opts for jeans for family shoots. Ashley used to wear long skirts and cute tank tops for weddings, and accessorized with a lot of pretty jewelry to fancy it up even more. Basically as long as you look put together & nice, you'll look professional.
5. Tardiness: There is simply NO excuse to be late for a shoot. First off, we typically want to plan shoots for the best possible lighting windows, so if we're late, we're messing up the lighting for the shoot!  Clients should never have to wait for their photographer to show up (unless they're like.... insanely early in which case that's their own issue, although Kate's nuts enough about being early to shoots that she would still probably beat them there). Be sure to have everything ready to go for the shoot the night before (including gas in your car!) and leave your home early to account for any traffic, parking issues, or unforeseen circumstances that might cause you to be late!

Related Links:

• http://peek.usertesting.com
• https://www.fiverr.com

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We all agree that emails are NOT our favorite part about running a photography business. The three of us each have different theories on the right timeframe to answer emails, but Kate is a huge believer that email inboxes should be ignored while on vacation. In fact, her favorite part about going on vacation is setting up her vacation auto-reply before she leaves the house! The only problem with this is when she comes back from vacation, she's faced with an inbox that is sometimes hundreds of emails deep, and she knows she needs to get through them ASAP to avoid losing potential clients. On this week's Three Minute Tips episode, Kate gives three tips to help with quickly clearing your inbox! Kate's Tips for Quickly Clearing Your Inbox:

1. Unsubscribe: This is something you can do to prevent your inbox from getting overloaded in the first place! Be careful about what email lists you subscribe to; ONLY subscribe to lists that you absolutely NEED with your business email... use a personal email for other ones. Subscriptions can flood your inbox super quickly, making it hard to see just how many emails you have to respond to vs. how many emails are just trying to sell you something. Kate uses unroll.me which puts all subscriptions into one folder and makes it easy to unsubscribe from emails you aren't interested in.
2. Organize: Before replying to anything, sort & clear out any unneeded emails or messages that you don't need to respond to. After that, make a folder of the MOST urgent emails. This should be full of emails that absolutely require a response NOW. Answer those first, and then tackle the others that can be answered a little later. Using templates will help you get through these a little faster: make templates for the most common questions about pricing, availability, etc.
3. Disconnect from distractions: Websites like Facebook will TOTALLY affect your ability to focus on the email task at hand. Kate can easily get sucked into a Facebook hole while answering emails that is almost impossible to get out of. If this is an issue for you, consider using certain websites (listed below) that help you stay away from time suck websites like Facebook or Instagram while you're working on quickly clearing your inbox!

Related Links:

• unroll.me
• Self Control
• Cold Turkey

This week we are joined by San Diego photographer, Don Sheffler! Don is a great photographer in our community here & he does great work with skateboard/sport photography, senior portraits, and other genres as well. He chats with us about his philosophies regarding keeping photography fun! Don loved photography in the 80s, but he didn't do it professionally for another 20 years. In 2006, his son joined pop warner football & Don took the opportunity to become the team photographer, taking photos on auto the whole time & just having fun with it. He enjoyed it quite a bit & eventually took a photography class with his daughter (and his old high school photography teacher!), and the new DSLR cameras blew his mind! His knowledge of photography came flooding back & he purchased his first DSLR shortly thereafter. The rest is history!! Key Takeaways:

1. Working for free- Don is not afraid to do on-speck "free" stuff to get his foot in the door in the sports photography world, and it's paid off for sure! He also started out by tagging along with other photographers, learning everything he could about the business & having fun doing what he loved!
2. "Love your work or don't do it"- Don never wanted photography to be his sole source of income because he knew that would affect how he viewed photography in general, and how he approached shoots. This is a huge key in keeping photography fun if it's something that is possible for you!
3. Socializing vs. networking- Don feels there is a huge difference between socializing and networking. Networking tends to be a little more formal, with more pressure, whereas socializing is more fun & you still make great connections with other people in your industry, but without the pressure.
4. Licensing Rights- Don stresses the importance of always keeping the rights to your photos. If he does give licensing rights for stock photography or commissioned shoots, he gives very specific rights to the client while still reserving his right to use them. If a client wants licensing for something like packaging, Don gives a temporary, 1 year license and requires the business to renew if they want to keep using it. This is a great way to make some income from a shoot that happened years prior (I mean... making money from past shoots without having to do any extra work sounds like it could totally contribute to keeping photography fun!)
5. Finding your style- Don's style is very bold, bright, and a bit daring. His senior portraits & his sports photography both show this, and Don always shoots for himself first... he trusts his style & photography instincts and know that clients hire him for HIS style. He's not self conscious to be "that guy" carrying around heavy lights & flashes to skateboard competitions because he knows that's the style he wants to shoot! Nobody else was shooting that way, so he was quickly discovered by magazines & advertisers wanting to use his work. Standing out from the crowd is ALWAYS a good thing in this career!

Related Links:

• www.donsheffler.com
• www.donshots.com