Business Development...what next?

[DGMPhotography]

Hey folks, so I've been doing a lot of development of my business lately, and really making the effort to learn about the business and marketing side of what I do. Historically I've been lazy with this (just Craiglist and Facebook ads), and just waited for people to come to me, but now I am focusing on making my business more sales oriented.

I'd like to get your feedback on a couple of things.

1. I've updated my website to be more sales focused. I now have a call to action in my footer which shows on every page, and an email sign up for a wedding planning guide I made. I've also re-done my SEO keywords to be "Enchanted Weddings | Richmond Wedding Photography by Daryll Morgan" instead of "Enchanted Weddings | Daryll Morgan Photography." I also updated some of the images on my site.
   
   
2. I've finally created a database of all my clients so I can go through and do some direct email marketing to past clients. Here is an example of an email I've drafted (I'm open to feedback/changes):
   • Hi (name),
     
     Hope you are well!
     
     What's new in your life?
     
     Fall has begun and now is a great time to start thinking about family portraits for your Christmas and other holiday cards! Many people start booking their shoots now, before life gets hectic with the holidays, so that way they're able to focus on spending time with their families.
     
     I wanted to let you know that I'm now booking, and am running a special for $50 off if you book by next Friday! The actual shoot day can be any time.
     
     Let me know if this is something you'd like to talk about, or if there is anything else I can do for you! I look forward to catching up with you!
     
     Best wishes,
     
3. I'm reading The Psychology of Salesmanship, as per recommendation of KmH, and as soon as I get some capital, I'm planning to do some Google and Facebook ads.
   
   
4. I'm reaching out to local wedding blogs, and fellow vendors, to plan some styled shoots, and offering my services pro bono in exchange for back links and exposure to boost SEO.
   
   
5. As soon as I get more work, I hope to be more active on social media.
   
   
6. Thinking of creating a webinar, but that's just a thought in the back of my mind.
   
   
7. Hopefully doing another wedding expo in a couple of months.

So I'd love some feedback on any/all of these points, and would love suggestions on other things I can do as well.

Thanks!

 

[waday]

I've finally created a database of all my clients so I can go through and do some direct email marketing to past clients. Here is an example of an email I've drafted (I'm open to feedback/changes):

• Hi (name),
  
  Hope you are well!
  
  What's new in your life?
  
  Fall has begun and now is a great time to start thinking about family portraits for your Christmas and other holiday cards! Many people start booking their shoots now, before life gets hectic with the holidays, so that way they're able to focus on spending time with their families.
  
  I wanted to let you know that I'm now booking, and am running a special for $50 off if you book by next Friday! The actual shoot day can be any time.
  
  Let me know if this is something you'd like to talk about, or if there is anything else I can do for you! I look forward to catching up with you!
  
  Best wishes,

My thoughts on this. I'd highly recommend adding a personal touch, if you can. The salespeople that keep my attention are those that actually remember me, not remember me via a database. If they remember my wife's name, daughter's name, and other details, they are likely to get a sale from me (assuming I'm interested).

FWIW, if I get the sense it's a form letter, I usually lose interest quickly. I think your email is good, but needs to be a bit more personal. My personal email gets bombarded with about 100 emails a day from newsletters/stores. My work email gets 50+ emails a day that I need to respond to, read, or take action on (in addition to my actual work, haha). I often don't have much time to read each one. So, adding a personal touch will grab my attention. YMMV.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I've finally created a database of all my clients so I can go through and do some direct email marketing to past clients. Here is an example of an email I've drafted (I'm open to feedback/changes):

• Hi (name),
  
  Hope you are well!
  
  What's new in your life?
  
  Fall has begun and now is a great time to start thinking about family portraits for your Christmas and other holiday cards! Many people start booking their shoots now, before life gets hectic with the holidays, so that way they're able to focus on spending time with their families.
  
  I wanted to let you know that I'm now booking, and am running a special for $50 off if you book by next Friday! The actual shoot day can be any time.
  
  Let me know if this is something you'd like to talk about, or if there is anything else I can do for you! I look forward to catching up with you!
  
  Best wishes,

My thoughts on this. I'd highly recommend adding a personal touch, if you can. The salespeople that keep my attention are those that actually remember me, not remember me via a database. If they remember my wife's name, daughter's name, and other details, they are likely to get a sale from me (assuming I'm interested).

FWIW, if I get the sense it's a form letter, I usually lose interest quickly. I think your email is good, but needs to be a bit more personal. My personal email gets bombarded with about 100 emails a day from newsletters/stores. My work email gets 50+ emails a day that I need to respond to, read, or take action on (in addition to my actual work, haha). I often don't have much time to read each one. So, adding a personal touch will grab my attention. YMMV.

Yes, I agree. Any suggestions?

 

[waday]

I've finally created a database of all my clients so I can go through and do some direct email marketing to past clients. Here is an example of an email I've drafted (I'm open to feedback/changes):

• Hi (name),
  
  Hope you are well!
  
  What's new in your life?
  
  Fall has begun and now is a great time to start thinking about family portraits for your Christmas and other holiday cards! Many people start booking their shoots now, before life gets hectic with the holidays, so that way they're able to focus on spending time with their families.
  
  I wanted to let you know that I'm now booking, and am running a special for $50 off if you book by next Friday! The actual shoot day can be any time.
  
  Let me know if this is something you'd like to talk about, or if there is anything else I can do for you! I look forward to catching up with you!
  
  Best wishes,

My thoughts on this. I'd highly recommend adding a personal touch, if you can. The salespeople that keep my attention are those that actually remember me, not remember me via a database. If they remember my wife's name, daughter's name, and other details, they are likely to get a sale from me (assuming I'm interested).

FWIW, if I get the sense it's a form letter, I usually lose interest quickly. I think your email is good, but needs to be a bit more personal. My personal email gets bombarded with about 100 emails a day from newsletters/stores. My work email gets 50+ emails a day that I need to respond to, read, or take action on (in addition to my actual work, haha). I often don't have much time to read each one. So, adding a personal touch will grab my attention. YMMV.

Yes, I agree. Any suggestions?

Yes, add a personal touch...

Hi Karen,

I hope you are well, and that you enjoyed the portraits we took in March! Did your family and friends like them? How is your husband John doing?

I wanted to let you know that fall has begun and....​

 

[adamhiram]

Daryll,

Some additional thoughts I had after looking at your website and social media links.

• Website: Looks great, but I would suggest a few tweaks. My eyes immediately skipped over your name, saw the beautiful photo of the couple, then went right to "Call now for a FREE wedding album!" Then a chat window pops up. I would suggest making your name a little more prominent, I don't know that I would lead with a discount offer, and unless you have a 3rd party service replying to chats, I can't imaging that chat window is all that useful. Great job showcasing some great photos of happy couples though, and the contact link is easy to find, and very clear and concise.
• Facebook: My initial impression here is good, but I think it could use come cleanup. As soon as I click on "Videos", I see your arm around a Brazilian model for a photo shoot by the pool, some cosplay stuff, and footage from your zombie themed shoot. When looking for a wedding photographer, I think most people want to see that's what you're focused on.
• Twitter: My first impression here is you shoot cosplay and work primarily with professional models in the studio. This doesn't say "wedding photographer" to me.
• Instagram: Great! Lots of beautiful photos of happy couples getting married.
• Youtube: All I see here are videos of a cappella groups and cover bands. Not sure I would promote this site if it's not being used for your business.
• Tumblr: Do people still use Tumblr for marketing? This just looks like the same content as your twitter account.

And some notes on SEO

• Google: When I search for "Richmond VA wedding photographers", your name doesn't come up on the first 5 pages of results. I'm not sure how many people find a wedding photographer this way, but it would be nice if you could improve this. Google also returns a directory of wedding photographers in the area and I didn't see your name listed.
• TheKnot.com: I think a lot of couples start here when they don't know where to start. When I search for wedding photographers in Richmond, VA, your name doesn't come up at all. However when I search for your name, not only do you come up, but there are several 4 and 5 star reviews for you here. What's missing is an actual listing, and the correct category (it comes up under "photo booth rental"). I'm not sure what the cost is here, but with the positive reviews already there, it could be useful to have a listing.

And some positive feedback...

• You do great work and it shows
• Facebook page looks great as long as you don't look at older content - just needs a little clean-up
• Instagram is perfect
• Website presents very well, but could use a little tweaking
• Great reviews for you already out there, just need to associate them with your business listing
• Very easy to find by name - Facebook page and website come up immediately if I google you by name, even if I spell it wrong (i.e. "darryl" instead of "daryl")

I hope this was helpful, and I wish you success!

 

[waday]

Instagram: Great! Lots of beautiful photos of happy couples getting married.

Instagram is perfect

My only complaint with your IG is that you post far too infrequently. The last time you posted was over a week ago. You need to post daily to get in front of people.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Daryll,

Some additional thoughts I had after looking at your website and social media links.

• Website: Looks great, but I would suggest a few tweaks. My eyes immediately skipped over your name, saw the beautiful photo of the couple, then went right to "Call now for a FREE wedding album!" Then a chat window pops up. I would suggest making your name a little more prominent, I don't know that I would lead with a discount offer, and unless you have a 3rd party service replying to chats, I can't imaging that chat window is all that useful. Great job showcasing some great photos of happy couples though, and the contact link is easy to find, and very clear and concise.
• Facebook: My initial impression here is good, but I think it could use come cleanup. As soon as I click on "Videos", I see your arm around a Brazilian model for a photo shoot by the pool, some cosplay stuff, and footage from your zombie themed shoot. When looking for a wedding photographer, I think most people want to see that's what you're focused on.
• Twitter: My first impression here is you shoot cosplay and work primarily with professional models in the studio. This doesn't say "wedding photographer" to me.
• Instagram: Great! Lots of beautiful photos of happy couples getting married.
• Youtube: All I see here are videos of a cappella groups and cover bands. Not sure I would promote this site if it's not being used for your business.
• Tumblr: Do people still use Tumblr for marketing? This just looks like the same content as your twitter account.

And some notes on SEO

• Google: When I search for "Richmond VA wedding photographers", your name doesn't come up on the first 5 pages of results. I'm not sure how many people find a wedding photographer this way, but it would be nice if you could improve this. Google also returns a directory of wedding photographers in the area and I didn't see your name listed.
• TheKnot.com: I think a lot of couples start here when they don't know where to start. When I search for wedding photographers in Richmond, VA, your name doesn't come up at all. However when I search for your name, not only do you come up, but there are several 4 and 5 star reviews for you here. What's missing is an actual listing, and the correct category (it comes up under "photo booth rental"). I'm not sure what the cost is here, but with the positive reviews already there, it could be useful to have a listing.

And some positive feedback...

• You do great work and it shows
• Facebook page looks great as long as you don't look at older content - just needs a little clean-up
• Instagram is perfect
• Website presents very well, but could use a little tweaking
• Great reviews for you already out there, just need to associate them with your business listing
• Very easy to find by name - Facebook page and website come up immediately if I google you by name, even if I spell it wrong (i.e. "darryl" instead of "daryl")

I hope this was helpful, and I wish you success!

Thanks for the feedback. I made some changes to the website - let me know what you think. The chat box sends notifications right to my phone so that I'm able to respond to people.

As for Facebook, when I did my rebrand awhile back, I totally forgot about the video section. Thanks for pointing that out, I've now removed the irrelevant videos.

And as for TheKnot, I do have reviews on there because I asked for them, because I want to start getting that page set up. But it's $100/month to have an official listing with them, and I just can't afford that right now. I want to, and hopefully will be able to soon.

Twitter, Youtube, and Tumblr are not part of the Daryll Morgan Photography brand. You can see on my website there are no links to them, and I don't advertise those pages. It's only listed here in my forum signature, because I use those for my other brand, Daryll Morgan Studios.

Instagram: Great! Lots of beautiful photos of happy couples getting married.

Instagram is perfect

My only complaint with your IG is that you post far too infrequently. The last time you posted was over a week ago. You need to post daily to get in front of people.

Yes, I know I need to post more. Part of the difficulty is my infrequency of shoots. I might get a relevant shoot once or twice a month if I'm lucky, and it's hard to stretch that for 30 days.

 

[Gary A.]

For starters:

Money talks, offer a significant kickback on all referrals something like 5% (whatever makes economic sense). Offer some pro bono work for churches/temples/mosques/et al. Remind the leaders of the churches/temples/mosques/et al your kickback opportunity. Many couples cannot afford a pro photog ... let the church leaders know your willing to do some type of deal (you figure out the deal) so the economically challenged couple can have one of the most important event in their lives, documented by a pro photog. (Research the wedding of religious sects that you are not aquatinted with. Which will allow you to speak intelligently and sensitively with the couple and the religious leader.)

Print up profession looking flyers. Always ... Always deliver more than promised/agreed to. While the money is the most important thing for you ... capturing the event(s) is the most important thing for your client(s). Understand your needs is different than your clients needs ... be willing to negotiate ... think about payment terms. Every wedding client is potentially a lifetime of work. Offer packages which span years of marriage bliss. Five year anniversaries, children, holidays, extended family every five years, offer family web pages which you maintain, et cetera ... think long term ... think persistence. Treat clients like family.

 

[480sparky]

Guerrilla Marketing : Inexpensive Strategies for Business.

 

[grrr8scott]

Not sure who you are marketing your services to, but you might contact wedding planners in your area. They often recommend vendors to their clients.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Thank you all for your feedback. Any other thoughts?

 

[smoke665]

You're looking for work and I keep turning it down, as I have no desire to go down that pathway. I will say, that as Gary pointed out above, most of those inquires came via referral, by those who've seen my work.

Expanding on Gary's money comment. Maybe you already accept credit cards, but if you don't that would be something to look at. Maybe offer step billing, so much to book, so much day of shoot, so much when the proofs are ready and balance on delivery.

 

[waday]

Maybe you already accept credit cards, but if you don't that would be something to look at.

This is an excellent point. I rarely carry cash with me, and I think I have a checkbook somewhere in the house? I'm much more likely to pull out my debit card, which I have on my person every time I have my wallet.

And... if I have to pay an extra 3% to use a credit/debit card, I'm not doing it. Now, if a place offers a 3% DISCOUNT for cash, that's a different story. But a 3% surcharge for credit cards annoys me very much as a consumer.

 

[smoke665]

. if I have to pay an extra 3% to use a credit/debit card, I'm not doing it. Now, if a place offers a 3% DISCOUNT for cash, that's a different story.

Ummm, Waday that place that offers the 3% discount for cash likely has the 3% card fee built into the price. They're just giving you the amount that would have gone to the card company. So, in essence you're paying the convenience fee on every credit card purchase. I get a part of that back by using cash back cards.

 

[Vtec44]

You're looking for work and I keep turning it down, as I have no desire to go down that pathway.

Probably people don't see you as a sales person but more as a passionate artist.