PhotoSpark

How do you know you are ready to rebrand your photography business? Britt & Kelsey of Launch Your Daydream are here to help! If you're feeling less than excited about your current brand, this is the episode for you!

Second shooting is amazing for a myriad of reasons. Not only does it allow you to practice & hone your skills, but it allows you to network with other photographers & make some money without the pressure of booking your own weddings. 

In this episode, Julie chats about the do's & don'ts of second shooting.

If you've been in business for awhile, you'll know how often marketing methods change. When I first started, search engines were really the only way people would find your business. If you weren't paying for advertising, chances are you were struggling a bit. Then Facebook added business pages and that became the new place to be to nab new clients. Now, Instagram seems to be the way to go! Is anyone else here having a hard time growing your Instagram following? Julie & I have been working on upping our Instagram game lately (have you noticed?? Be sure to follow us!) & couldn't help but notice friend of the show Melissa McClure's amazingly successful Instagram account. This girl has 11.2k followers and gets HUNDREDS of likes and comments on her posts. We invited her to join us for a chat about growing your Instagram following!

Key Takeaways

• Follow & Observe. Follow accounts that are doing what you want to be doing. Watch what they do! When do they post? How often do they post? What are their captions like? What type of content seems to be getting engagement? If you can watch and emulate your favorite accounts, you'll likely be on the right track to growing your Instagram following too!
• Quality over quantity. The most important aspect of Instagram is engagement. You want to have a LOT of likes and comments, and ideally you want to spark conversations in your comment section. Be sure to reply to every single comment you receive; that DOUBLES your comment number just by itself! DMs also count as engagement, so be sure you're messaging people back when they message you. You should also be messaging others... introduce yourself & let them know what you like about their content! Make sure your captions are fun & add calls to action... it's the best way to get people to comment!
• Get over your fear of stories & just do them already! We get it... stories are SCARY. The best stories usually involve other people seeing your face, and that's something most of us are terrified of. Do we have enough makeup on? Is our hair done? Are we a sweaty mess after a 10 hour wedding? NONE of those things matter... what matters is people seeing YOU & getting to know you beyond your images. Stories are a great way for potential & current clients to see glimpses into your personal life and they DON'T CARE if you have makeup on. In fact, the more real you come across, the better!

Melissa has about 30 million more amazing tips during this episode regarding everything from hashtags to sketchy ways to grow your Instagram following, and more. Be sure to tune in to hear the rest!

Also, be sure to check out Melissa at instagram.com/chasingbacklight as well as melissamcclure.com. And if you haven't heard her previous episodes, you can find them here:

http://photosparkshow.com/episode-10-taxes-are-no-joke/

http://photosparkshow.com/the-other-side-of-the-lens/

What's more fun than a styled shoot? You not only get to take pretty pictures, but you get to meet new vendors, and basically design your ideal shoot! We always preach showing off what you want to shoot more of, and this is a GREAT way to do it!

Sarah Kay Love joins us on today's episode! Sarah is a Creative Consultant, specializing in content strategy and digital marketing, devoted to helping companies build brands that differentiate themselves and increase business. She chats with us today about ALL things styled shoots, especially how to set them up, WHY to set them up, and how to get the most out of them! Here are a few of our favorite takeaways from this episode.

• Styled shoots help build vendor relationships: If your business comes through a large amount of referrals, this is ideal way to connect with industry leaders and gain recognition and make friends! It's also a great way to get to know the people you'll likely be working on future weddings with. You want to make the process as easy as possible for them, so we suggest explaining the expectations of the shoot clearly beforehand, as well as making the file delivery/download process quick & easy as well. If you're easy to work with, they're likely to refer you to their clients in the future!
• Market towards your ideal client: Again, this goes back to showing what you want to shoot. For example, setting up a high-end styled shoot will help you get into the high-end wedding market. It will give you a plethora of awesome images for your Instagram & blog, which will help you attract the right type of client. If you're wanting to go for more boho weddings, setting up a boho-themed shoot will attract that type of client. Basically, a styled shoot is a great way to showcase the type of work you want.
• Exposure! Ok normally "exposure" is a bad word in our industry. People often ask us for free stuff in exchange for exposure. Usually, that's not going to help you a ton, and we have always advised against it. However! Doing a styled shoot will get you in front of potential clients; they can see that your work reflects exactly the aesthetic they're looking for. It will also increase your SEO as you're tagging & being tagged by multiple vendors on Instagram, blog posts, etc. Styled shoots are also a great for publications. Focus on making your shoot as attractive & unique as possible, so it really stands out to publications.

We don't really have anyone we can vent to or ask advice from on a daily basis unless we connect with other photographers who understand! While we all LOVE our jobs, I'm sure, there are definitely times where it's not all rainbows & butterflies. In this episode, Julie & Kate commiserate a little about some of the less awesome parts of our jobs and common photographer pet peeves. We chat about frustrations & we help each other solve issues & work toward preventing them in the future!

Here's just a quick sneak peek at some of the stuff we chat about on today's episode!

"Reasonably priced" photo shoot seekers: I'm sure we've ALL received inquiries looking for a reasonably priced photographer. What does that even MEAN?! Do we cave in and give a discount if we're desperate enough?! The correct answer, of course, is NO... but when we receive these emails it can at times be tempting to negotiate with people. The solution to this is to make sure we know our value by figuring out our cost of doing business, goal-setting, and deciding how much our time is worth, and then stick to your guns!!

Crickets upon file delivery: What's worse than delivering a gallery to a client and never hearing back?! NOTHING! It sucks! If you're anything like me, it makes you question whether or not they're happy with the photos, which in turn can make you question your talent & your work. Here's the thing... most people are really busy. They might not think that they need to reply. They know your work is good & they hired you because of it. They're going to assume that YOU know your work is good, and they don't need to tell you so. The solution? Reach out & follow up with past clients! Pop into their inbox & tell them you want to check in & make sure they received their gallery/prints/album and everything is good! This is a great way to tie your session up with a bow & ensure they have a good feeling about their shoot!

Taking the blame for situations out of your control: Dad's late getting home from work, traffic on the way to the shoot is horrible, & baby spit up on their outfit, and by the time they arrive at their shoot, everyone is stressed beyond belief. And now it's up to you to take the reins and wrangle everyone into some awesome photos. There's only so much you can do. It's certainly frustrating when this happens, but you really want to do your best to manage expectations before the shoot even starts. Tell them about anything they need to know about the location (dog poop, flies, sand, etc). Try to emphasize the importance of picking outfits ahead of time & leaving work early... anything you can do to manage the stress of photo shoot day for your clients.

"Can we just get like... ONE photo tomorrow for our Christmas cards/birthday invites/business card?" Nope. Hahaha, basically that's the gist of it. The best way to handle this situation is to have a rush policy/fee. Something like "gallery will be delivered within 48 hours for X amount of money," Make it high enough that most clients won't want to pay it (because it's definitely stressful), but high enough that if they DO pay it, it's worth it for you.

We have a few more points in our vent sesh/brainstorming sesh, so be sure to tune into the episode. You can listen by clicking the link below. Be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes as well!

Hugs, Julie & Kate

We are joined by Amber Dugger, founder of Profit For Keeps, a system developed for online entrepreneurs to end the stress and anxiety around numbers.  It is a holistic system combining personal finance and business cash flow strategies using Profit First and YNAB (You Need a Budget).  She has helped hundreds of coaches implement this system and has helped thousands more calculate revenue goals that actually make sense!