Marketing. It’s a whole lot more fun than running numbers, right? But marketing is actually all about numbers too. Marketing is about getting enough of the right eyes on your business to bring the right people through your doors. So yeah, it’s a bit of a numbers game. But there’s so much more to it than that.

Let me bring up branding very briefly because sometimes there is confusion between branding and marketing. Branding is about what people think and say about your business. It’s about the experience they have with it and their perception of what your business does and stands for. Branding is huge and cannot be ignored.

Now this episode is not about branding, but nowadays, marketing has shifted somewhat into branding. They are intertwined a little bit. More on that in a few minutes.

But if branding is about what people think of your business, marketing is about the tools we use to get our brand in front of those people. Marketing is about getting the attention of the people you want to work with.

The thing with marketing is that it has to be simple and strategic. It has to be laser focused. A laser points in one direction. How many different directions is your laser ricocheting out into the world? How many services do you offer? Senior sessions, newborn sessions, headshots, weddings, corporate events, sports?

When you confuse your audience or try to serve too many audiences, you confuse everyone. So if this is the only thing you take out of this podcast please hear this - simplify, simplify, simplify. Get known for something in your area. That may take some time. It won’t happen overnight. But you can start giving more attention to the part of the business you love & is hopefully the most profitable & start weeding out the rest.

I am going to back peddle just a little bit here because I want to make something very clear. Marketing isn’t all about getting more clients in the door and more dollars in our bank accounts though. Marketing is about change. Marketing is about making the world a better place. Marketing is about causing a ruckus in the norm for people around us. Marketing is about shaking things up. Marketing is about standing out in the crowd.

That sounds expensive, right? Well, it can be. But it doesn’t have to be.

How do you market? You have to bring them in a little closer, make them want to pay attention, give them something to believe in, show them how you can help & then deliver on what you promised.

If you aren’t as busy as you want to be, then you have a marketing problem.

You are either not visible enough. People don’t know who you are.
Or you are visible but there’s a disconnect somewhere - maybe with your pricing, maybe with your messaging or possibly with your systems when it comes to getting a person from a lead to a client.

Today we are going to focus on the first aspect of that marketing problem - visibility. And I’m going to give you some ideas for getting your name out there that won’t break the bank. The second part of that marketing problem, the disconnect, is something we talk about extensively inside Studio Secrets. If you aren’t on the waitlist for the next round, pause this right now & get on that list. Here’s the link: www.seniorstudiosuccess.com/studiosecrets

Before we get started with the scrappy marketing ideas, I want to touch on one thing. Discounting is not marketing. Low balling is not marketing. Undercutting your competition is not marketing. If you are competing on price, nobody wins. Well, except for maybe your client who got one heck of a deal!

Marketing isn’t about who can be the loudest anymore either. Marketing isn’t about who can be seen the most either. Times have changed. And this is what I was referring to at the beginning of the episode when I said that branding & marketing have started to merge. Marketing is no longer just advertising. Marketing is now about serving. Yes, advertising still has its place. But it’s not what it used to be.

So, where can you add value?

Where can you help your community?

Where can you be seen & serve?

Where can you impact someone’s life for the better?

This is marketing today.

Seth Godin says that marketing is about being missed when you are gone. So let me ask you this. Are you building something that people would miss if it were gone? Have you built something that people connect with & believe in?

It’s a long road, and the last mile is always the least crowded. I think I said that in last week’s episode! :)

Marketing takes patience. It takes doing something different to get noticed. It takes showing up consistently. It takes building trust.

That consistent message & a willingness to serve your ideal client will not only draw attention, generate buzz & build trust. It will also drive your audience to action.

But keep this in mind. It’s worth repeating. What you say about you isn’t important. What others say about you & your business is what matters. Marketing then, isn’t about you. It’s about them. It isn’t about your business. It’s about what your business can do for them.

Is it starting to make more sense now?

So how can you stand out? What can you do that is different from all the rest? Well, that’s going to vary for all of us. Only you know your audience. But I’m gonna give you a few ideas to get your wheels turning.

We can probably all agree that marketing comes at a cost. It certainly isn’t free. You are either gonna pay for it in time or dollars. When you’re building your business it makes sense that you’ll have more time on your hands and less money in the bank account because you’ll have less clients. But as your marketing starts to work, you’ll be able to invest more dollars and less time towards bringing in more clients.

So let’s dive into these zero and low-cost marketing ideas:

1. Obviously social media (as aggravating as it is, it’s still free you guys)

Social media is a great tool (if you use it like that - a tool - not a trap)
Remember who you are talking to when you post though. Whether it’s a story, a reel, or a post, that messaging should be for ONE person and align with your brand.

2. Send a video or voice DM to new followers (make the personal connections)

3. Happy birthday post to clients (give them something to talk about)

4. Share something your clients posted & brag about them (make them feel special)

5. BFF Contest - Have your audience tell you in a story why they want a session with their BFF. Let your audience vote on who should get the session.

This is great for getting in front of lots of new eyes.

6. Handwritten thank you / congratulations / thinking of you notes (builds trust & loyalty)

7. Blogging is a great resource for us too. Other than hosting, which you probably already pay for anyway for your website, I would consider this free.

You aren’t going to get immediate results from blogging, which is why most people don’t stick with it. You have to be consistent. Blogging & SEO are a long game, but they will pay off if you do the work.

8. Google Reviews - get as many as you possibly can (from real clients). It’s really obvious when they’re not authentic. Don’t play that game.

9. Get involved at the schools. Get known & make connections.

Teaching a photography lesson to the students on the yearbook team
Do a fundraiser with a booster club
Volunteer with mock interviews for high school students

10. How about a giveaway of some sort?

Be sure it’s something a senior would want, if that’s the audience you’re going after.
This could be a BFF Session, a makeup kid, a gift card to a cool local boutique.
Teaming up with a local business could get even more eyes on your own business.

11. Let’s talk about local collaborations for a minute. Who could you team up with? It should be a business or an organization that serves the same client but doesn’t compete with your business. I brainstormed a few for senior photographers:

Prom Dress Shops
Nail Salons
Hair Salons
Custom Party Shops
Custom Embroidery Shops
Dentists
Orthodontists
Bakeries
Coffee Shops
Tutoring Centers
Drivers Education Instructors
Movie Theaters
Event Coordinators / Party Planners
Athletic Trainers
Charitable Organizations
Any school event - sports, extracurricular, meetings, etc.

12. Places I would not advise you to spend money when you are just starting out:

Yearbook ads
Coupon clipper magazines
Program ads
This is “advertising” not marketing.

There are so many fun things you can do in your community to get involved & get in front of people. If you have more time than money for marketing, my best advice would be to go old school & pretend social media wasn’t around. Get out & meet people. Put yourself in situations where you can make the right connections. Sometimes it just takes meeting that one mom who has lots of influence and a big friend group. That’s how I got started when I moved 2 hours away.

Nobody knew my name in the new area I was in. So I went to the local high school, dropped $2000 to sponsor the football team & prayed like crazy that it would work. (I had been in business for about 10 years at that point, so I could afford to do that). Well, it did work. The booster club mom found me in a Google search. Went to ask her husband if she could hire me. He recognized my name as a new sponsor & was all in. I got hired for senior portraits for their baby & then they asked me to photograph the seniors on the football team & cheer team. Those banners surrounded the home section of the stadium that season.

Everybody knew my name & my business started to take off in a brand new area. I don’t think that would have happened just by the sponsorship. It was that mama. She sent so many clients to me & still does to this day - 7 years later. So yeah, it worked.

Make the connections you guys. Yes, it’s tough to put yourself out there. It’s a lot easier to hide behind our phones, post pretty pictures & then whine that nothing is working. In the social media world you are fighting for attention among thousands of distractions & other accounts. But that’s not the case in real life. Go make connections. Get involved. Do something different & make an impact on your community. That’s marketing.

Hey if you found this episode or any of the others helpful, would you take 2 minutes to leave a rating & review? It helps so much with getting the word out about what we are trying to do here - create a better situation for all of us, pushing you to build a more profitable, productive & purposeful business so that you can spend more time doing what you love with the ones you love.

As always, let’s continue the conversation over in the Senior Studio Success Facebook Group. I’m always up for a good business chat. Or you can find me over on Instagram. Send me a DM there. Have a great week y’all!

“Discounting is not marketing”
“If you are competing on price, nobody wins”
“Marketing isn’t about your business. It’s about what your business can do for them.”
“Marketing is about being missed when you are gone.” - Seth Godin

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