Business Coaching For Senior Photographers
Branding, pricing, workflow and marketing strategies for senior photographers with a mix of productivity tips for your senior photography business.
Avoiding these common senior photography website mistakes will keep potential clients on your website longer and give them clear path to booking a session. Book more senior photography sessions with clear messaging and call to action. Learn how here in this blog post. #seniorphotography #seniorstudiosuccess
Read MoreI absolutely LOVE watching Instastories from other senior photographers! Your creativity amazes me! But sometimes there seems to be a little disconnect between the creativity of your work and the creativity you bring to your Instagram stories. And I want to help you guys with that today.
Our Instagram followers want to see more than just pretty pictures. They want to see behind the scenes (and not just from our senior sessions). They want to know who we are. They want to be able to relate to us and know that they can trust us and be comfortable with us at their own sessions too. That’s why our stories are so important! The Instagram feed is for the pretty stuff. But in our stories we can be playful, fun and let them really see our personality and who they are going to be working with.
There are a few mistakes being made out there when it comes to using Instagram stories that I do want to touch on though. Some of these are just missed opportunities that can easily be avoided. So let’s talk about the ones I see the most.
Posting & ghosting - Be sure you are circling back around a few times a day to see who is viewing & engaging with your stories. Go give them some love too! Don’t just post a story in the morning and disappear until that evening. You’ll get the best results by posting consistently throughout the day. (Let me be the first to say, I know this isn’t realistic sometimes. I’m a mom & business owner too! Believe me I get it! Haha!)
Not location tagging - This one is pretty simple. Make sure you are taking advantage of the location sticker so that your local audience has a better chance of seeing your story. You can tag your city, your county, a school, a local restaurant or shop too.
Not following up with engagement - When your followers vote in a poll, answer a question, DM you or take a quiz be sure you are acknowledging them! Take 10 minutes a day to go through those and give them a quick “hey, thanks for voting! me too!” message. Head over to their stories and engage with them too!
Ignoring feedback - When your audience tells you what they like and don’t like, LISTEN TO THEM! If they want something different from you, give it to them! Hey, I’m stubborn too and want to post what I want to post, but at the end of the day we are doing this for them and to drive business to our studios. They may not actually “tell” you that they don’t like something, but paying attention to your story analytics will give you a lot of insight into what they do and do not like.
Speaking to the wrong audience - Remember who you are posting for when creating a story! We are creating for teens and sometimes their moms too. So many times I see photographers who have missed this somehow. They are obviously posting for peers and feature accounts instead of for clients and potential clients. Remind yourself of your purpose and mission before ever going to your stories.
BONUS! How about not engaging at all? It really surprises me how many times I’ll put a fun poll out there that I KNOW everyone has an opinion on and there are so few photographers voting on it. Guys, we have to GIVE what we want to GET! If you want to get the engagement you are craving then you have to be willing to give it first. It’s not that tough. Click a button. Dealing it to you straight - if you don’t play the game, you can’t complain when your followers don’t either. Love ya! Mean it :)
Are you exhausted from the social media game and not book photography sessions from it?
If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.
The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.
Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together. It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics. This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE! And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.
If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.
Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th. Woohoo! I can’t wait to work with you!
Get real with me for a minute.
How real are you actually being in your Instastories? Are yours more like constant advertisements, sales and your work only?
If you are pausing to think about the answer to that question, then the answer is probably no, they do not.
We can change that though! And guess what?! It’s not all that tough!
I hear it all the time. Photographers (and other business owners) complaining about how they aren’t getting the engagement they want from Instagram, it’s not worth their time, their life isn’t interesting enough, the algorithm stinks and their followers aren’t seeing their posts.
Wanna know my response? You aren’t going to like it. But I’m a straight shooter so here goes. If something isn’t working in our social media accounts, it’s our fault, not the “algorithm”. As business owners, if something is broken we need to own up to it, take responsibility for figuring out how to fix it AND here’s the important thing - we have to take action and follow through. I’m talking to myself here too guys! It’s just the harsh reality of it.
They want to know who you are, they want to fall in love with you (not like in the ask you to marry them kind of love, but in the care about who you are and what you’re about kind of love), and they want to trust you. But you have to give them reasons to do each one of these things!
So that’s the secret. Get your followers to know you, to like you, to trust you.
You thought this blog post was about getting more engagement on your instagram stories, right? Oh it is my friend.
You get engagement when you show up in your stories consistently, when your followers get to know who the person is behind the business and the logo that is currently in place of your profile picture (big no-no), when they miss you when you are gone for a day or so, when they see something when they are out and think of you, when they know they can ask you a question and you will be there to answer it for them. That’s when you get the engagement you have been hoping for.
Ok, but how do you get to that point? How do you get that comfortable with your audience?
How do you get from “this is what I do” to “this is who I am”?
If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.
The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.
Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together. It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics. This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE! And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.
If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.
Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th. Woohoo! I can’t wait to work with you!
My senior studio instagram feed ran like a well oiled machine. Every Sunday I would plan my week of posts and have them all ready to go in Planoly, my online instagram scheduler. And every morning at 7am a fresh new image and text would hit the instagram feed. Sometimes when I was feeling overly enthusiastic there was 7am AND a 7pm posts rolling out. Seriously, it was like clockwork.
But I would be lying if I didn’t tell you it was exhausting too.
Here’s what I saw happening too. My audience knew what to expect. That was the good thing. It was also the not so good thing. It was almost too predictable and maybe even taken for granted that something pretty would just be there to see every morning. Don’t get me wrong! Consistency is great! But I needed to take a step back and re-evaluate my efforts and how I was spending my time.
Was I really getting the payoff from all the time I spent planning instagram posts? The answer was no.
I wanted more engagement. I wanted more followers in that 13 - 17 age bracket because they are my target audience for my senior photography studio. But how in the world was I going to get it?
The answer I stumbled upon? Less posting. More showing my face & having real conversations.
Engagement with your followers (and soon to be followers) is much more important AND effective than posting pretty images to your feed everyday.
Use the bookmark / save feature on Instagram. Go through your client list, current seniors and your model team. Put them into a save folder in Instagram. Now go through that folder once a day to like and comment on their posts and stories. This will tell Instagram that these are your people! You can use this same idea for local business and sports teams too.
Turn on post notifications for this same group of people. When they post look for the top comments. These are usually their best friends and ones you should have on your radar. Head over to their accounts and start engaging with them too :)
Train your audience. If you want REAL engagement then you have to give it first. Heart eyes and likes is what you will get if that is all you give. Now, I understand that there is a fine line between being creepy and being visible. Don’t go overboard here. We are dealing with teenagers! Just be cool, you know?
Pay attention to who is watching your stories. Give extra time to the people who are following your stories. Go through your viewers list and watch theirs too! If you see an opportunity to engage - a poll, a question, a quiz - DO IT!!!
Show your face! I’ll continue to repeat this one over and over y’all. People want to do business with people. Get in your stories, be real, be silly, have conversations, show up and be the expert in your area. Let your guard down a bit and bring some life into your own instastories!
Are you exhausted from the Instagram game and not booking any sessions from it?
If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.
The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.
Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together. It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics. This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE! And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.
If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.
Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th. Woohoo! I can’t wait to work with you!
The idea behind Pay It Forward is for a person to do something kind and in return that person does something kind for another. It’s supposed to keep going and going and going. As a senior photographer I wanted to create something for our senior girls to pass on to their friends to celebrate this day (hopefully lots of days actually) and encourage one another.
There’s just something about receiving a sweet message that can completely change your outlook on a day. In our studio we believe in building up confidence and inspiring each other to do big things. I hope our high school senior girls will use these little graphics to brighten someone else’s day, and I want to share them with you too to use in your own photography studios. Maybe challenge your model teams and your senior clients to do the same thing.
Happy Pay It Forward Day!
Related Posts:
April is full of wonderful days to celebrate, even in the middle of all this Corona. As photographers I believe we have the ability to bring a little joy to the world and brighten others’ days with our creativity. So, let’s use a few of these ideas in our Instagram stories and in our blog posts to feature our senior photography clients, spread awareness for some issues we are facing together and just be silly with our audiences.
Educate
Entertain
Inspire
Interact
And look at all the different opportunities we have this month to do that! Put on your creative thinking caps and let’s stay in front of our audiences. When we are silent, we are forgotten. Stay strong and stay the course, even sheltered in. I can’t wait to watch your beautiful work and your inspiring and silly stories this month. If you have a fun one you think I’d like to see be sure to tag @seniorstudiosuccess. I’d love to follow along with you :)
1 – April Fools Day #AprilFools #aprilfoolsday
2 – World Autism Day #AutismDay
3 – Find a Rainbow Day #FindARainbowDay #rainbowday #rainbow
3 - World Party Day #worldpartyday
4 – Jeep 4x4 Day #Jeep4x4Day
4 - Vitamin C Day #vitaminCday
5 – Caramel Day #CaramelDay
5 - Deep Dish Pizza Day #DeepDishPizzaDay
6 – Student Athlete Day #StudentAthleteDay
7 – World Health Day #worldhealthday #worldhealth
7 - No Housework Day #NationalNoHouseworkDay
8 - Passover
8 – All Is Ours Day #NationalAllIsOursDay
Observed each year on April 8th, National All Is Ours Day takes us along three views of appreciation. Either celebrate both approaches to the day or pick the one that best suits you.
The first approach to the day can be looked at as a time to reflect on all of the beauty of nature and all the wonderful things in life. Rarely do we have the time to explore all that nature offers us. Something as simple as the variety of birds that inhabit a local park or backyard can surprise us. Venturing further out, we can discover our National Parks or trail system. Whether we look up to the skies or closer at the new spring blooms, taking in our surroundings is a spectacular gift to enjoy.
The second way to celebrate the day is by appreciating everything we have. Even when we don’t have much, what we do have is a blessing. This approach encourages counting those blessings and avoiding thinking about the things we do not have.
A third way to view the day is by sharing all that we have. Regardless of what we have, sharing it seems to make tough times easier when we all work together. The greatest times and the greatest things in life are those that are shared. Source: National Day Calendar
9 – Unicorn Day #UnicornDay
10 - Hug Your Dog Day #hugyourdog
10 – Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay #lovemysiblings #siblingsgoals #siblingtime #siblingbonding #siblingselfie #siblings
11 – Pet Day #NationalPetDay #dogsofinstagram #doglover #instadog #petsofinstagram #dogoftheday #furbaby #catsofinstagram
12 – Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day #GrilledCheeseSandwichDay
12 - Easter #easter #easterbunny #eastereggs #happyeaster #easterbasket #GoodFriday #EasterSunday #EggHunt #alltheeggs #allthechocolate #HeIsRisen
13 – Scrabble Day #NationalScrabbleDay
14 – Look Up At The Sky Day #LookUpAtTheSkyDay
15 – Take A Wild Guess Day #TakeAWildGuessDay
16 – Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day #WearYourPajamasToWorkDay
16 - High Five Day #NationalHighFiveDay #High5Challenge
16 - Get To Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
17 – I got nothing. Other than it's my Dad's birthday :)
18 – Record Store Day #NationalRecordStoreDay
18 - Animal Cracker Day #NationalAnimalCrackersDay
18 - Husband Appreciation Day #husbandappreciationday #husbandappreciation
19 – Garlic Day #NationalGarlicDay #garlic
20 – Look Alike Day #NationalLookALikeDay
20 - Cheddar Fries Day #NationalCheddarFriesDay #CheddarFriesNation
21 – World Creativity and Innovation Day #CreativityandInnovationDay
21 - Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day #bulldogsarebeautiful
22 – Earth Day #EarthDay #earth #savetheplanet
22 - Jelly Bean Day #NationalJellyBeanDay
23 – World Book Day #WorldBookDay #bookday #bookstagram #booklover #bookworm #booksofinstagram
23 - Picnic Day #NationalPicnicDay
23 - Take A Chance Day #NationalTakeAChanceDay
24 – National Pigs in a Blanket Day #PigsInABlanket
25 – Telephone Day #NationalTelephoneDay
26 – Kids And Pets Day #NationalKidsAndPetsDay
27 – Tell A Story Day #NationalTellAStoryDay
28 – Pay it Forward Day #PayitForward #PayingItForward
29 – International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay #nationaldanceday #dancelife #dancemoves
30 – Hairstylist Day #HairstylistAppreciationDay
If you need some cute Instastory GIFS you can find tons of them here in this blog post :)
Need more ideas for your Instastories? Be sure to grab this download: 60 Instastory Ideas For Senior Photographers
Related Posts:
Before we talk about GIFs (and yes, I know that’s why you’re here) can we please talk about WHY we even need to be on Instastories as senior photographers? And what in the world we need to be posting!
And I do target my messaging to teenage girls because that is who I am trying to reach. Now I may not always hit the nail on the head, but I do give it my best shot. Let’s dive into these 3 areas for a minute.
Inspire - Images can definitely be inspiring, but so can our words. Believe it or not, they are reading our captions. The words we speak are really important in building our brands online. Words can be powerful and moving, just like images. So don’t just haphazardly throw an image in your feed with a few emojis as the caption and 30 feature account hashtags. You are missing a great opportunity to impact your instagram audience here if you do.
Entertain - Teens are extremely visual. They can scroll for days on end. I know! As a mom of teens I’ve watched it happen! So our images and stories have to not only entertain them but also stand out among the masses if we want to stop their scroll and better yet - engage with us. They also want to know that we are real people, with a sense of humor and some fun personality behind our logos. They want to know WHO WE ARE so if that means getting real and getting silly we need to do just that.
Educate - And yep, we need to educate and bring them value. We need to talk about the things they are too shy to ask about when it comes to our businesses and senior pictures. We need to tell the story of our businesses and the experience they could have with us. Pretty pictures are great, but are you educating your potential clients along the way about what a senior portrait experience with your photography business is all about?
I’ll do want to touch on another topic real quick. Ready?
Please. Show your face. We are photographers, and we are asking our clients to be bold and brave and step in front of our cameras. We need to show them that it’s not all that difficult (although, I know that sometimes it is). But we need to give what we expect in return. In a world of reality TV, Facetime, Tik Tok dances and YouTubers, teens want to know exactly who they will be working with. They want to like you, and they need to trust you first before they will ever fill out your contact form. They don’t need a perfectly polished look all the time. They actually prefer authenticity. That means no makeup from me on my stories sometimes. I will admit to loving filters though. Just sayin. Ok, off my soapbox :)
As senior photographers showing up on InstaStories is really important, right? And not doing the same things over and over is even more important - refer to point number 2 above ;) I am always on the hunt for some fun and interesting GIFs to add to my stories, and I thought you’d like some of the ones I’ve found recently too.
These GIFs are so much fun to play around with and can really add some interest to an image, video or boomerang in your Instagram Stories. Give some of them a try and let me know what you think! And if you know of some other great ones please share :)
Related Posts:
Your brand . .. what does it really consist of and how do you build a strong one?
A brand is not just a pretty logo, a typeset and color palette. Yes, that is some of the visual aspect of it but only a very small part of your company's brand. When it comes to building a brand, never start with the logo.
If I had to sum it up in just a few words, your brand is what people say about your business . . . but let’s dive in a little deeper.
“your brand is what people say about your business”
Your brand is how people perceive you and your business. It is everything your customer experiences, how your audience feels and what they think when they come into contact with your business.
It takes time to develop a strong brand, but the hard work will pay off for your studio as you generate those die-hard fans and an audience who would actually miss you if you disappeared from social media tomorrow. Would your audience miss you? What do you think? Have you shown up enough every day for that to happen?
Building a brand doesn’t happen overnight. Do I need to repeat that one more time for you guys? I will just in case ;)
Building a brand doesn’t happen overnight.
A brand is made up of a few things - your purpose, your messaging and your personality.
What do you stand for? Why are you photographing high school seniors? Besides pretty pictures, what does your client really need? There is an end goal behind all of those beautiful senior portraits . . . and it has a little something to do with building their confidence, showing them just how amazing they are, giving them something to document this special time in their lives and a treasure to pass down to their own children one day. There is always a bigger picture behind what we do. What is your purpose and your mission in your senior photography business?
Your dream clients want to hear you loud and clear. You’ll continue to build a strong brand when you speak to where they are in life, their current struggles and desires (aka, homework, college acceptance, prom, what to wear, skincare, etc). They can feel the passion for what you do when you speak boldly about why you love what you do, what you believe in and what you stand for. Be sure you have a consistent voice in all of your messaging to continue attracting your ideal client.
So when building your brand think about what you stand for, who you are for & yes, who you aren’t for (there’s nothing wrong with that). Defining your purpose and your core values will help tremendously. And then infuse those into everything you say and do.
Your brand will also develop its own personality and style. This is built through the stories you tell, the way you communicate with your audience and the visuals you use. The more consistent you can be here, the more your audience will get to know you, like you, trust you & hopefully book a session with you!
What sort of personality and style will your brand take on? Sophisticated? Funky? Fun? Witty? Rugged? Fashionable? Dreamy?
p.s. I think the best brands are the ones that take on their owner’s own natural personality :)
Don’t be afraid to let your sense of humor shine. Embrace your quirkiness and what makes you YOU! Letting your guard down and being real is something that teens absolutely love and can relate to!
As far as your visual style goes - yes, logos, fonts and colors are important. But they aren’t everything. These are just the things people see and recognize you by visually. What’s behind that logo is what is most important - your purpose, your message and your personality.
Strong relationships are built because of the time spent together. They are also built on authenticity and solid communication. Are you talking at your audience or are you having conversations with them? There a HUGE difference here. Spend time on the platform you want to build, speaking to the teens you want to build relationships with. Will they all book a session? Nope. But they will know your name and it will come up - in the lunchroom, in front of the bathroom mirror and all over social media. But you’ve got to put in the time to connect and nurture the relationships.
It takes time to develop strong relationships and connections. It takes showing up consistently on social media. It takes cohesiveness in your messaging, packaging and the products you offer. You can’t be a high end luxury brand one day with custom designed products & then offer slash sales, discounts and mini sessions with a Dropbox link the next day (because you need quick cash).
Side note on needing quick cash or having a lull in business. The slow season of senior photography can be a tough one to ride out. I’ve been there. I think we all have been. You have to do what is best for your family, but I couldn’t stress enough for you to have patience and to trust the process of building a solid brand. It has its pay off. Please believe me when I say that.
The purpose of building that strong brand is to differentiate your photography business from all the other senior photographers in your area. Your brand will help you attract your dream senior clients - by staying true to your purpose through your messaging, consistently building authentic connections and infusing your personality into everything you do. It will allow you to stand out from your competition, and it will get you the most out of your marketing efforts as your business grows.
But the only way that happens is by trusting the process and staying true to who you say you are. No more playing small. Build your brand. Stay consistent and book those sessions!
Are you still confused about how to create your senior photography business brand?
If you need somebody to come along beside you and help you do business the right way so that you can bring home a paycheck, spend more time with your family and save for retirement then you need Studio Secrets.
The doors open November 4th for something very special for a handful of photographers who are ready to get laser focused on their businesses.
Studio Secrets is a 6 month business coaching intensive where we dive deep into your business together. It’s not a DIY course on one or two topics. This is EVERYTHING you could ever need to know (and all the tools & resources) to run a senior photography business - branding, messaging, websites, pricing, sales, marketing, social media, senior model teams, systems, workflow, automation and SO MUCH MORE! And bonus - you get me to lead you through it in our hot seal calls and a private community to bounce ideas around with.
If you’re ready to turn your expensive hobby into a thriving business be sure you are on the wait list.
Plus you save $500 on launch day - November 4th. Woohoo! I can’t wait to work with you!
Related Posts:
The high school senior pictures market has changed so much over the last few years! It’s so tough to stay on top of the trends and stay relevant. The mindset about senior pictures is completely different now with Generation Z than it was with Millennials! There are definitely ways to generate consistent leads even with the seasonal senior photography business - mindset, messaging and marketing.
Read MoreWhen her husband was given an opportunity he couldn’t refuse with his job, the Huff family packed up and moved from Indiana to North Carolina. But with that move, Flavi had to start all over again in another state. Rebuilding her senior photography business proved to be quite a challenge, but she made it happen.
Read MoreWelcome to the Simply Successful Creative. I'm Jena. I teach creative entrepreneurs how to plan for a purposeful, productive and profitable life both in business and at home using strategies I've learned over the years in our studio and home life to take you from a frazzled mess to a streamlined success.
Hey there! I’m Jena!
Welcome to Senior Studio Success where I provide practical solutions for designing the most purposeful, productive and profitable photography business of your dreams.
