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!!!!!
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……
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
This beautiful day way unlike any wedding I have ever photographed before. It’s hard to put into words how powerful and inspiring it was.
If you’ve been following my updates since I got the R6 two years ago, you know I LOVE it!! It has been a game changer for me! But there is ONE mistake that I’ve made that cannot be fixed afterwards!
There are things that EVERY photographer should have on their website! We will walk through some students’ websites to see how small changes can impact their perceived value, and for you to see if what they’re missing is something that you are too!
You know what I’m realizing? I’m realizing I am loving getting to see people I love and miss in this very busy season of our life.
We’re gearing up for wedding season and there are so many ways to market yourself DURING a wedding to keep new clients coming in! I have been a wedding photographer for 13 years, and I have never paid for ‘traditional’ advertising!
I am eating my words again! For years, I have used InDesign for everything… but Canva had a HUGE update last year which changed everything!!