It’s getting close to THAT time if the year again…. the time of the year that I start getting nervous… the time of the year when I think to myself “Why did I signup for this?!”. It’s almost WPPI season. We’re speaking again this year and I’m SO honored to be asked back…. but this conference has a level of intensity that is unlike any other conference. It’s one of the largest photography conferences in the WORLD. Photographers fly in from all over the globe to attend! New, old, young, part-time, full-time, portrait based, wedding based….
there are SO many photographers there with different stories and experiences. This is why I’m excited for my talk! I’ve realized over the last 7 years that no matter what your business strategy is, EVERY single photography business has to incorporate personal marketing into their marketing strategy in some way, shape or form. This is a PERSONAL service that we provide. We aren’t a image factory that just cranks out work without any relational representation!! We have actually found that the more PERSONAL we are in our marketing and our client experience, the better the OVERALL experience is for our clients. The more our community of brides gets to know us, the stronger our reputation is! The stronger our reputation is, the more valuable our services are. So basically, the more personal you are, the more value you’re adding to your brand! I always tell people during their coaching sessions “You have to add YOU into your brand! If someone took Michael and I out of the wedding package we offer, we could probably only charge $3200!” Michael and I ARE THE EXPERIENCE…. and the images are an amazing and necessary product of that experience.
So! If you want to increase the value of your experience… whether you’re in portraits or weddings… you HAVE to know how to insert your personality into your marketing while STILL being professional! This is HARD to do!!! It’s actually a “give and take” kind of situation. The more PROFESSIONAL you are, the more freedom you have to share fun, personal aspects of your life. For example, say I didn’t have a strong online presence. My blog was just a standard Blogger site without any customization. The colors don’t REALLY match my logo and the layout of the site was difficult to navigate. If I had an online presence like that and I blogged about loving Gummy Bears, I would be a joke to a lot of people. However, if I had a professional presence online, I would already be taken seriously that would give me more freedom in my personal marketing!
Finding the happy medium between personal and professional marketing is the greatest balancing act of this generation of photographers! So! That’s my topic for WPPI!!!!!
Dueling Identities: Ten Steps to Balancing Personal and Professional Marketing
This balance happens with online marketing but it ALSO happens on the wedding day with how we interact and treat our clients! ATTENTION: Things are about to get CRAZY!!!! Ok, continue……We realized it’s hard to give photographers a clear picture of what a REAL, LIVE WEDDING DAY looks like with us…… but we’re actually going to give someone at WPPI the opportunity to experience it!!! For FREE! Like, we’re paying for their flights, their lodging AND they are going to accompany us on a wedding day to experience the most raw type of training! They are going to watch and learn from us during a REAL wedding day and while that makes me a little nervous… I’m SO excited about this because we know this person is going to learn so much about the client experience, posing, timeline management, location scouting, shooting details, our OCF approach, how we run family formals, etc. etc!!! So, here’s the deal……
- You can enter to win at ANY time leading up to our WPPI Platform talk that is taking place on SUNDAY MARCH 1st at 12pm in room 312-317!
- Use the giveaway entry form below to enter! You can increase your entries up to 5x by sharing and posting about the giveaway!
- YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT OUR WPPI PLATFORM TALK TO WIN! If we call your name out from the stage and you’re not there, it doesn’t matter if your BFF is there, you will be disqualified. You must be present to win!
- Why share this like crazy with all of your WPPI buddies? Because if we reach 600 entries, we’re giving away TWO LIVE KJ LEARNING EXPERIENCES! That’s right, if you help us get 1,000 entries, we’re DOUBLING your chances to win!
- What if you don’t win?! Well, the good news is that we’re giving away FIVE $250 GIFTCARDS to The Collection as well! We will pull names from this entry and so again, you must be present at our talk to win if your name is selected.
This is kind of crazy for us! It’s a BIG giveaway and we’re hoping that all of our WPPI friends will enter to win because we’d love to give you a FREE trip to Virginia AND a LIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE at a REAL wedding!!!! Enter below! Sending good luck your way!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
MORE RECENT POSTS
It’s been a while since I’ve photographed an engagement session at beautiful Maymont Park. Meeting Ryan and Danielle there was perfect even though I totally forgot that Maymont closes so early! We heard a reminder that the park would be closing soon and just as I started to feel a bit panicked, the clouds cleared, the sun started to shine and I was able to capture the most beautiful light before we unexpectedly had to leave the park!
This beautiful day began in the historic manor house at Belmont Country Club. Abby was showing me her details and then she gave me a gift and told me to open it. I questioned her because it just didn’t seem right for the photographer to be opening a gift on the bride’s wedding day but she insisted! Abby had made me a custom cross-stitch of Michael and I with cameras in our hands! It looks JUST like us and I was just amazed at her talent and thoughtfulness!
Ah! It’s our FINAL STUDENT SPOTLIGHT!!! This July post has been a long time coming but it’s HERE and it’s LIVE and I want you to help me celebrate these amazing photographers who are making their dreams happen!!!
This six month update feels like it’s weirdly disproportionate compared to other monthly updates! Why is that? Well, last month I posted a couple of sets of images that were actually at the beginning of his sixth month and THEN we photographed multiple weddings, had several trips away from home for a few days and the dads were for several days!
Hope and Jesse are the sweetest couple. You can just feel it when you’re with them! You can see it when you watch them interact. You can hear it in the stories that their family members and best friends shared about them. They are truly soulmates and best friends. They have an undeniable love for one another and that is why even a rainy, misty wedding day could be incredibly vibrant, warm and joyful!!
Rhett’s fifth month was full of fun. It’s crazy to me that I know I only take my big camera to about 10% of the things we do in a month and yet each month is SO full.
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