I’m just being honest here…. this wasn’t on the blog calendar! This post is an excerpt from my WPPI talk that I’m working on as I type. No literally…. I’m typing on here, then I switch over to keynote and I add a slide and then I’m back to blogging. It’s just the way my brain is working right about now!! So there are a few things I realized while preparing my talk. I don’t just want to write about MY experience… I want to hear from you guys. If you’re a photographer, you can help me write my WPPI talk and I want you to be a part of this!!! I need your personal experience to validate this point!
So my talk at WPPI is all about BALANCE. The official title is “Dueling Identities : 10 Ways to balance Personal and Professional Marketing”. The more I prepare for this talk, the more I’m wondering why I haven’t written this content before now! This topic literally affects EVERYONE in business!
I’m a firm believer that personal marketing is a must-have in some capacity if you’re trying to run a modern day photography business. It has TRANSFORMED our brand and we’ll never market ourselves any other way. Now strategies may change in the future… but ultimately, our personalities will always be present in our business no matter what!
That brings me to my point. When you’re marketing personally, it’s only natural that you’ll become friends with your clients. 95% of the time (I totally just made up that percentage… I have a habit of doing that) this is a BRILLIANT idea …. 5% of the time, it doesn’t work in some photographer’s favor. Being FRIENDS with my brides is one of the GREATEST joys of my business… but you have to know where your boundaries are!
I stand firm behind this quote. Being friends with your brides should never belittle your business. What I mean by this is, your brides need to be friends who love and respect you… not friends that try to nickel and dime you….. I mean, are they even friends at that point? Using a friendship to get a discount isn’t friendship. If you’re letting your friendships with clients get in the way of running your business, something is wrong. There is something missing here!! There HAS to be a balance and a level of respect present in your relationship with clients and that comes from personal marketing. The more we share about our talent, tastes and technical knowledge, the more our brides respect us and come to love and appreciate us…. and this forms a genuine, authentic and respected friendship. It’s VERY similar to your friendship with your all time favorite teacher in high school or college.
If you’re confused, keep reading! I definitely had a favorite teacher in high school. Ms. Z! She loved me and she loved my sister and she loved Michael! She’s awesome and she actually came to our WEDDING!! We respected her and her authority but we could also have a ton of fun with her and would hang out outside of school. Even though we were friends with Ms. Z….. we would NEVER ask her to change the grading scale. We would NEVER ask her to help us cheat. Why? Because we respected her. I’m SO thankful that my KJ Brides can be friends with me but they don’t take advantage of our friendship. We have a mutual love and respect for each other and I know my brides would never initiate a friendship with me just to weasel their way into a discount. (Ps. I’m not talking about a bride inquiring about a discount via email… I’m talking about a bride becoming friends JUST for the sake of a discount. There’s no denying that’s just plain wrong!)
The brides that we get to work with day in and day out are just amazing. They are genuine and full of integrity and we are so thankful our friendships with them don’t belittle our business. For some photographers out there, I really believe that they are struggling with an unhealthy balance in this area of their business and it is causing tension and bitterness towards their clients. If this is you, obviously I don’t want you to write your name… but I want to know that I’m not just making this up!! I want to know that this struggle is real and that when I speak at WPPI and mention this point, I don’t get all blank stares! If this struck a cord at ALL…. use a fake name and let me know! :) You’re helping me with my talk more than you know and I’m so thankful for you!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing!
PS. If you’re coming to WPPI and want to hear the REST of my talk, you can! MARCH 1st 12pm!! Ah! I’m nervous already!! SIGNUP to WIN A FREE TRIP TO SHOOT WITH US TOO!
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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