Original subtitles

I mentioned in previous lessons that pricing, or

workflow, or editing probably isn't my cup of

tea.

But when we talk about marketing, well, now

I'm excited.

This kind of just is a pep in

my step.

This is my jam right about here.

So if you're watching this and you happen

to find your strengths in album design and

post-processing, but marketing isn't your thing, hang

on to your hats, because we're going to

be flying.

And I'm going to be showing you results,

like real-time results from some of the

marketing efforts that we put in via social

media.

Now, I make no qualms with my love

affair with marketing.

I absolutely love it.

I love photography, but I cannot do photography

unless I actually have a business.

So if I'm going to err on the

side of one thing when I'm currently working

now and when I first started, that was

I need to build a strong business in

order for me to actually do photography.

And in order for me to build a

strong business, I actually have to have a

strong marketing sense.

So for those of you who aren't aware,

marketing is defined as an action or business

of promoting and selling products or services.

So what I do is photography.

What I sell are my services.

And that small little distinction is very powerful,

because so often I see photographers selling photography.

Now, if I were to sell photography, chances

are I would lose, or I just wouldn't

be as successful.

That's what I think.

If we're going to go head-to-head

strictly on photography, I wouldn't be where I

am today.

But we're not going head-to-head on

just photography.

We're going head-to-head on photography and

services.

And where my services outshine with photography 10

to 1.

And that has made the biggest difference.

That is what has made me a strong

contender in one of the most competitive wedding

photography markets in the world, which is Southern

California.

Now, some people might disagree, and I completely

understand.

But I believe, from my experience over the

past 10 years, that people are investing in

me as much as they are investing in

my services.

So that's the thing that I really need

to showcase again and again.

Yes, the photos are important.

But the person making the photos is equally

as important.

And so often we hide behind that.

We just say, well, here are the photos.

Here are the photos.

How can you interject yourself as the creator,

as the curator, and then as the sharer

of those images?

Now, I think that one of the things

I want to compete on is not just

photos.

I want to compete on my personality.

I want to compete on my brand.

I want to compete, first and foremost, on

an experience.

Now, if we just talk about the definition

of a brand, a brand is a series

of sets of expectations and experiences that one

client chooses one service over another.

That was defined, that really awful paraphrase was

from Seth Godin.

He says that people choose one business over

another, one service over another based on personal

experiences.

So if we understand that people are choosing

based on experience and we are not infusing

ourselves into the experience of photography, we are

doing ourselves a disservice.

So what you will see me going into

when it comes to marketing is personality, service,

experience.

Yes, the photos.

But how can I be competitive?

By adding things that make me unique.

How can you be competitive?

By adding things that make you unique.

So I'm going to show you my marketing

forces so that you can utilize them in

the future as well.

Now, this is going to be a review.

One thing to note is that this slide

might be familiar because earlier on in the

lessons, and some people are nodding, like yes,

thank you so much for paying attention and

going through the journey.

JD had said when I was stressing out

around midnight last night, he's like, why don't

you just use some of the photos that

you've used in the past and just put

new text on it?

I was like, people notice.

And he's like, people don't notice.

Well, you just proved that.

I said, you might notice this photo.

And she's like, yes, I do.

I do notice it.

So boom, they notice.

So that lack of sleep last night was

so worth it.

But I'm going to use this image and

use this idea of creating evangelists to jar

your memory.

Image association.

Now, when I talk about evangelists, these are

basically people who are zealous advocates of something.

You don't want to have a client who's

simply satisfied while effective.

It's not going to get you where you

need to be.

You need a zealous advocate.

Now, when I refer to my efforts and

myself, I will say that I am marketing

or I am a marketer.

When I refer to people who are talking

up my services on my behalf, I call

them evangelists.

So that's going to be a key marker

as we go into it.

Now, basically you want to create evangelists for

your work because they're going to take care

of your business far better than you could

take care of your business in regards to

talking about it.

Because I can go up to you and

be like, my business is so great.

My business is like so great.

So great, so great.

Business is great.

Great, great, great.

I'm great.

My business is great.

It sounds funny when I say this, but

when we listen to the radio, what do

people say?

Our beer is great.

Our food is great.

Our shoes are great.

When you listen to, when you watch TV,

our beer is great.

Our food is great.

Our shoes are great, right?

So we're trying to compete with this onslaught

of pay attention to me.

I'm great, I'm great.

But what if your sister came to you

and said, Jasmine's great.

You would trust her so much more.

That's the evangelist.

That's the zealous advocate I want to create.

So how do we first kind of create

and get into those advocates?

First, I want to prepare my images so

that my advocates can use them, so that

my evangelists can use them.

So the first step that I use to

make sure that my images are gonna go

out in the most effective way is BlogStomp.

Now, BlogStomp will rock your world.

Now, people who are using it are just

like, mm-hmm, that's right.

We just went to church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Mm-hmm, BlogStomp, amen.

Because what we do is in a single

button, we have watermarked all of our images.

Yes, but wait, there's more.

I'm gonna show you how this actually happens.

It is an app, and it will revolutionize

the way that you approach.

Sometimes my biggest complaint that I hear from

photographers is that it takes me so long

to blog.

It takes me so long to share my

images.

Well, we're gonna talk about how easy it

is.

Now, as a clarification, I have received emails

I've read in the Facebook group.

When do you watermark, and when do you

not?

Rule of thumb, I don't watermark.

So if anybody's gonna walk away with something,

it's that, I don't watermark.

However, if I do watermark, I want to

clarify, I do watermark, but I don't want

people saying that, I don't want people perceiving

that I give my vendors watermarks, that I

give my clients watermarks, no, no, no.

People who have participated in the event and

that are close to the event do not

get watermarked images.

I watermark the images that will go out

in that first marketing campaign.

Because people on Pinterest, people on Twitter, on

Instagram, they're going to be seeing my images,

and I really want to be able to

be sourced back to that.

At least initially, that's where the biggest push

comes, and that's my largest concern.

So why I don't watermark images for my

vendors, for the creative team, is because I

want them to know that I trust them.

I want them, I send an email, and

I have a template email when I send

to the creative team to cite me when

they use the images.

In print, online, any sort of promotional campaign,

I say, I do not watermark the images,

but please cite Photo Credit as Jazz and

Star.

So I'm letting them know.

Now, by and large, the creative team takes

care of me, because I have taken care

of them.

Have there been instances in the past where

a vendor will use the images and not

cite the source?

Yes, that has happened.

And the next time I work with that

vendor, do I send them images without my

name on them?

No.

First time, shame on you.

Second time, shame on me.

So once we have established that, but 9

.5 times out of 10, everybody's doing it

the way that I should.

Now, I don't watermark images for my clients,

because some photographers might disagree, but my clients

are just as much of an owner of

the images as I am.

I could not do what I do without

them.

Why would I give them watermarked images for

them to make them feel like they're having

to promote me?

I would prefer to inspire them to promote

me.

I'm gonna talk about what that looks like.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm going

to get into a demo of BlogStomp, so

that you guys can kind of see what

that looks like and how quickly and efficiently

this is working.

So we're gonna bring that on up.

Great.

So this is BlogStomp.

This is an app that you download.

Now, very basic, very intuitive.

So let me just follow some directions.

Go on, drag some photos in here.

Well, let's grab 41 images, all high-res.

So what it's doing for me automatically is

populating them in my box.

Okay, cool.

So why don't we just do a little

preview of what it would look like?

Well, I can select this photo and look

at here in the lower right-hand corner.

My watermark is already there.

Now, you can add borders.

You can add your own type font within

the app.

I have uploaded a PNG file because it's

the font that I want, but you're capable

of doing that, too.

Let's just say that I wanna create some

sort of diptych for a blog post, for

social media, or a triptych.

A diptych are two photos next to each

other.

A triptych, three photos.

Maybe I wanna add a quadric.

I don't even know if that's a technical

word, but it makes me sound really smart.

Let's just technically try a couple things here.

Why don't we pull, let's see.

Let's go, so we're gonna click on Freestyle,

and then I'm gonna select.

This is probably great.

So what it's doing is like, do I

like what's going on here?

I don't know, let's try this one.

Oh, let me redesign here.

Or redesign here.

Okay, how easy, boom.

Let's go back to batch, right?

So let's just say I don't wanna create

any sort of collages.

Let's just say that I want to watermark

all of these images, all 41 images.

One sec.

What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna simply

say stomp it.

Look it down here.

Go on, girl, get your blog stomp on.

41 images stomped to your folder.

Now I have a folder on my desktop

called Stomped.

All 41 images in here.

Watermark, watermark, watermark, watermark, watermark.

Can we get an amen?

That's right, amen, Mount Zion.

Okay, so what I do is I get

all of my images that I think will

go on the blog post and I think

will go on social media.

An average blog post for me has around

30 images from a wedding and eight images

from an engagement session.

I've gone to blog posts in the past

where photographers will have 50, 60 photos on

their blog post and I think that that's

way too many because most of the time

people aren't scrolling.

You want what's online to be your best

work.

Anything beyond your absolute best work, put it

into a slideshow.

We're gonna get into a slideshow right there.

So I wanted to do that demo.

And a lot of the teammates that I'm

talking about today, let's see, we're gonna talk

about, in a past lesson we talked about

photographer's edit, we're talking about blog stuff, we're

talking about my album design, we're talking about

Totally Red actions.

All of these sponsors have come on board

with the bootcamp to offer discount codes.

You can find the discount codes on the

course page.

So definitely dig into that.

So that is what it looks like to

prepare the images.

Now these are how my images are prepared

for my blog.

Once I have the images for my blog,

then I know that they're also prepared for

Facebook, for Twitter, for Instagram.

It's a one-time thing.

So let's dig in back.

Now that we have the images set up

to go, we're gonna get back into the

keynote.

So once the images are blog ready, after

using BlogSum, the first thing I'm going to

do is the images are gonna be prepped

online and I'm going to blog them.

My first marketing coup, blogging.

And we've talked about in a previous lesson

why I personalize each blog post.

If you have not seen that lesson, please

go back and review it because I can't

get into the reasonings why I personalize every

post, but just trust me and when I

say that it works, that is it effective

and it makes your clients feel like you

are there.

I'm gonna take a second and I'm just

going to read the first few sentences of

the story because what I want to do

when I write is draw someone in.

You are a photographer, but you are also

a curator.

You have to sell people why these photos

are important.

At least I believe.

I'm speaking very directly, but it's all or

nothing with me.

I want you guys to, I know, poor

thing, she's like, what did I get myself

into?

It's all or nothing.

It's very pleasant.

Okay, it was aptly described as a wedding

for friends and family from far and farther

to gather in Sonoma for what promised to

be a day filled with love, laughter, and

contentment.

But it was filled with so much more

simply because a boy fell in love with

a girl whose soul lights the world on

fire.

Samantha can walk into any room and make

someone feel like they're the most special person

she could spend her time with and no

one knows this better than Taylor, the man

who acts like the match to Samantha's flame.

For as much as the couple ignites love

around them, people can't help but be attracted

to their light.

They emit a positive, joyful energy and invite

others into their love as if they had

been there, just waiting for the right moment

for their paths to intersect.

This was apparent when they said I do

in front of 125 of their closest friends

and family at Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma.

I go into a little bit more about

explaining about the Not Dream wedding.

And then at the end of every single

blog post when I blog about a wedding,

I write a personal note to the client.

Photographers often wonder or ask why I blog.

And to be honest, I'm gonna be very

forthcoming.

I don't blog for the industry and I

don't blog for photographers.

I blog for my clients and I blog

for their friends and I blog for their

family so that when they read this, they

understand that I hope I was not commissioned

as any other creative member of their team.

I was commissioned for my voice and because

I was there with them and present.

Sam and Taylor, I don't have all the

right words to say but what I came

up with this is thank you.

This is rather a small thing to say

for how much I appreciate and adore you

but it's all I have.

You made me feel like the luckiest photographer

to document your love and I'm happy to

call you friends.

Cheers to health, joy, and making memories.

Much love and appreciation, J-Star.

What I did know in this situation is

usually I will say have fun in Greece

or enjoy Tahiti but they had one honeymoon

to Tahiti but because of Samantha's mom, they

had decided to postpone so I made no

mention of the honeymoon during this time.

That's why I think making these small little

notations, people ask if I write notes on

the wedding day.

No, I'm fully present on the wedding day

but if you have a lot of stuff

on your mind, that's okay.

Step away from guests, step inside, go to

the bathroom and write notes on your phone

so that at a later point in time,

if you have to revisit it to write

the blog post, you can review what you

wrote about the day.

So now what we're gonna do is I'm

gonna highlight a few things that I do

strategically.

So yes, the first part of the blog

post is for the client, is for their

friends and family but let's talk about how

we can leverage the rest of the blog

post to really help us from a business

perspective.

Now, I try to write verbiage in between

each photo and I'm doing this strategically because

it's important to personalize absolutely the blog post.

One, it makes the clients feel special and

it makes them feel like you're paying attention

but two, it gives Google more of a

way for my images to come up in

an organic search.

How?

Google reads text.

This is gonna be super important.

So, the vineyard at Chateau Saint-Jean was

lush and green, too perfect.

Linking to Chateau Saint-Jean.

The wedding reception was at Chateau Saint-Jean

in Sonoma, one of the prettiest wineries in

Sonoma and the best makers of wine.

I may or may not have nominated myself

as the official taste tester, obvs.

A few seconds into the first dance, the

music stopped and the couple was surprised to

hear that one of their favorite country singers,

Kanan Smith, was going to serenade them with

a special song.

This was their reaction.

Couple photos later.

As part of the Not Dream wedding, the

couple participated in an episode of the Food

Network's Cake Wars.

The cake was debuted at the wedding.

Another one.

Once guests departed, I had some time for

bridal party photos along the Saint-Jean property.

I'm using Chateau Saint-Jean all the time

and hyperlinking it.

That makes my post come up higher.

I have labeled the photos in the post

Chateau-Saint-Jean-wedding-photo, underscore, number.

When somebody types in Google Images, Chateau-Saint

-Jean-wedding, I want my image to come

up at the top.

When somebody says, first dance, Kanan Smith, I

want my blog post to come up.

I'm thinking about what people can search for.

Winery wedding, Sonoma.

How many times did I mention wedding?

How many times did I mention Sonoma?

How many times did I mention winery?

There was other things, like for the florals.

I described what the florals were.

Peonies, chartreuse, pops of colors, vineyard.

I'm typing out searchable items.

This is all done strategically.

So once, I need to smile more.

I've just decided that.

Everyone is just like, and I'm just like,

I think I'm a scary force right now.

Let's make this pleasant.

Let's make this pleasant.

Okay, so once we have this blog post

live, and once you guys know the strategy

behind what it is that I'm doing, I'm

going to get attention to this blog post

in three main ways.

One, Twitter.

Two, Instagram.

Three, Facebook.

And the order of their importance is starting

with least to greatest.

Essentially, I'm maximizing my ways to get reach.

Now, I understand that some people like Twitter.

Other people hate it.

Some people are on Facebook.

Some people can't stand it.

So what I'm trying to do is I'm

going to pick and choose what marketing vehicles

play to my strengths, and then I'm going

to tap all of them, hopefully finding one

outlet that connects with different people.

Even you yourself as a business owner, and

then you yourself as just you, you have

a personal preference, like, oh, for business, this

one works.

But for personal, I just love this one,

right?

So now what I'm trying to do is

tap into four different wells, my blog, Twitter,

Instagram, Facebook.

Those have been by far the most effective

in regards to getting more business.

So what I'm going to move into is

I'm going to reveal my blog efforts, the

results from blogging.

This just happened a day ago.

So blog marketing efforts, well, in less than

12 hours, the blog was viewed 11,500

times.

7,000 of those were unique blog views.

There were 35 comments, and there were 30

likes on that post.

I'm aggregating these stats yesterday to bring them

here today.

This number will be greater in a week.

And when the Not Dream wedding happens again

in the future, and people are Googling the

Not Dream wedding, I will have some sort

of activity then too.

Cool.

Again, smile.

Here we go.

Now what I want to do is I

want to talk about Twitter.

Remember, because we started off, what I'm going

to do is I'm going to talk about

the four mechanisms in which I employ, and

then I'm going to show you the results

of each of them.

So now you're going to call me to

the carpet, and I'm going to show you

that I'm not talking trash.

At least I hope I'm not.

So on Twitter, blogged at the Not hashtag

Dream Wedding Today, loved this day.

I kept it short because I needed to

include a link to my blog post.

And then I strategically chose three vendors who

I could fit in 140 characters.

And how I chose these vendors was strategically,

those with the largest followings.

Large followings indicates there's activity on Twitter.

The venue, Chateau Saint-Jean, had less than

100 followers, but they don't tweet.

So why would it make sense for me

to highlight Chateau Saint-Jean if there's a

really low likelihood of them retweeting me?

The goal always is to get a retweet

or to notify those people that I'm writing.

So I chose the Not, Details Genie, the

coordinator, and Farm Girl Flowers.

And I included a photo.

Give people a reason to actually stop and

look.

Now, what I want to do is highlight

one of the vendors who highlighted the photos.

So this was from the Not.

Can't get over these gorgeous at, or I'm

sorry, can't get over these gorgeous hashtag the

not dream wedding photos from at Jasmine Star.

Now, one thing I want to talk about

was that the creative team shared images by

way of Twitter.

This is one particular look at the Not,

but others who shared were the coordinator, the

florist, the venue, the linen company, and Creative

Live.

So, knowing those things, let's talk about what

resulted from these Twitter efforts.

So our Twitter marketing efforts.

In less than two days, we had the

potential to reach 304,000 followers.

This is incredible.

Do I think that all 304,000 followers

saw it?

No.

But do I think a chunk of them

did?

Yes.

In my marketing theories, you throw enough mud

on the wall, some of it's gonna stick.

So, let's move in to Instagram.

So, this was a sneak peek that I

shared after the wedding day.

This goes back to a question that I

get quite often, is how do you get

the contact from all the vendors?

And in a previous lesson, I talked about

what I do in advance.

I will find out from the bride or

the coordinator who's involved with the wedding, and

then I will do my homework in advance

because I want their Instagram handles, I want

everything ready.

So, this was after the wedding day happened.

I highlighted, I tagged the bride, so I

tagged Samantha, I tagged the Not, Details Jeannie,

and everybody else who was on Instagram.

I used the hashtag, because I want, yes,

for my images to come up and when

somebody looks for Sonoma, oh, Sonoma wedding, Chateau

St. Jean, the Not Dream wedding, I added

all of those.

Now, because I was working with a new

creative team, by and large, everybody, I was

new to everybody, and everybody was new to

me.

So, how do I go out and find

how to create those connections?

Because my goal was to get everybody involved.

So, there's somebody who told me that a

rising tide raises all ships.

So, what could I do to help raise

the tide?

I sent an email.

So, what happens is a few days before

the wedding, which happens quite often with a

coordinator, and if it does not happen, if

you're not working with a coordinator, you can

do it on your own.

She sent an email to the creative team

and said, here is the timeline.

This is what time everybody's starting.

These are the cameras that'll be there, yada,

yada, yada.

So, when she sent that email that had

everybody listed on it, I was like, gold

mine, you just did my work.

So, I emailed everybody back and I didn't

ask for permission.

So, this is what transpired.

Jeannie, the coordinator, you are a dream to

work with and for.

Thank you for all your hard work.

I can't wait to see it come to

life.

Happy face.

For those of you who I don't know,

my name is Jasmine Starr and I'll be

photographing the wedding.

I can't wait to document your artisanship later

this week.

Because this is such a great opportunity for

us to collaborate, I put together an Instagram

cheat sheet in case you want to share

the images as part of this event.

I tried to make it as easy as

possible to simply copy and paste.

The hashtag not dream wedding by at the

not for serendipity.

I listed everybody and I highlighted what everybody

did, right?

So, simply copy and paste.

I did my best to find everyone's Instagram

from their websites, but if I missed you,

please feel free to add.

Lastly, my goal is to send the team

20 to 25 sneak peek images from the

wedding day, no later than 6 p.m.

on the same day as the wedding.

So, yes, you will be able to share

the same day sneak peeks that I'll be

sending to press.

The entire wedding gallery will be completed a

few days after the wedding on Tuesday, June

9th, 2015.

The creative team will have full access to

the high res images for you to use

and share as part of this amazing event.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate

to drop me a line, shine on, JSTAR,

and then I listed all forms of my

social media, to be honest, to prove credence.

I listed my Facebook because I have a

following.

I listed my Twitter because I have a

following.

That I'm not following, excuse me, that I'm

active on the, even if you have 20

followers on Twitter, but you're active, it shows

that you're using it.

I'm putting out that I'm active on Instagram.

So in case anyone's like, who is this

girl?

So, let's talk about how things transpired.

Brief overview.

The Knot shared my images.

Jeannie, the coordinator, shared my images multiple times,

multiple times, multiple times.

Flower Farm Girls, twice.

The Linen Company.

The band.

The fact that everybody was prepared to know

who did what, made it very effective.

So I can't help but wonder, maybe this

would have happened organically, but I didn't want

to leave it to chance.

I didn't want to say, hey you guys,

maybe you can give me photo credit, or

hey maybe, no, let's all do this together.

So, let's talk about our Instagram marketing effects.

Efforts, excuse me.

Our Instagram marketing efforts.

In less than two days, we reached at

minimum, 591,000 people.

There were over, that I know of, 10

,500 likes.

And over 225 comments on photos that I'm

just aware of.

There's other stuff that's floating around.

Do I think that I worked and had

a hand to contribute to this type of

success?

Yes.

Do I think that this type of success

is relegated just to me?

Never.

What I just showed you, please copy and

paste it, and send it to your creative

team at the next wedding.

Set yourself up for this type of success,

and start growing your following incrementally.

So, that was just an Instagram.

So now let's hit the money maker.

Let's go to Facebook.

Now, we're not even including the sneak peek.

Remember, because we already talked about the sneak

peek.

The sneak peek was addressed in a previous

lesson on Facebook when it came to expressing

appreciation.

Now we're just getting solely into wedding marketing.

Beyond thrilled to share tagging, the Not Dream

Wedding.

I blogged it here.

So, one thing I want to talk about,

honestly, is I know that Facebook, I get

the most drive from Facebook.

So if I get the most drive from

Facebook, I want to share my wedding on

Facebook twice.

Twice.

But in two different ways.

I simply can't copy and paste the same

update.

So this is the first of two.

Now, I'm going to update with a link

to my blog.

Statistics show that people in Facebook do not

like to leave the organic platform in which

they are in.

So, I know that.

So I know that I'm not gonna get

as much punch from this link.

But I'm still gonna do it for those

who are willing to bounce over.

Now, what I want you to notice is

that there were over 66,000 people who

reached this post just for my page.

There were over 1,500 likes.

There were 95 comments, and there were four

shares.

Okay, so this is approach one on Facebook

on the day that I blogged it.

Now what I want to do is go

to approach two.

Now, for those who don't like to leave

the organic platform of Facebook, I will, about

three, four hours later, update a folder of

images.

So I update a folder of images, and

all of these images that go in the

folder are the exact same images that were

on the blog.

I am not doing any extra work.

I'm simply dragging those photos on over, and

I'm including the story.

That story that I posted on my blog

goes into the body of this folder.

I'm not doing any extra work, but I'm

finding a way to personalize this approach on

Facebook.

Now, when I upload the folder, the folder,

not the first update, the folder, I'm linking

to every creative vendor.

So I'm linking to Jeannie Savage of Details

Details.

I'm linking to her page.

I'm linking to The Knot.

I'm linking to Farmacle Flowers.

I'm linking to Wildflower Linen.

A rising tide raises ships.

If I want another business to link to

my page, I must link to their page.

It's etiquette.

It is absolute etiquette.

Now, this particular post reached over 40,000

people, reached, it had 1,200 likes, it

had 75 comments, and it had 12 shares.

So I wanna highlight what The Knot did.

The day couldn't have been any more beautiful.

Photo, link to my page, sharing images from

the wedding that I had sent as part

of that first push.

And I can't tell you how many people

it reached because I'm not an owner to

that page.

You will only be able to see reach

if you are an owner of that page.

What I do know is that The Knot

has 400,000 likes on their page.

So do I think they had a great

reach?

I do, I do.

So let's talk about our Facebook marketing efforts.

In less than 12 hours, this is what

transpired.

108,000 people reached, 2,700 likes, 170

comments, 16 shares.

Now, this is not including the sneak peek

that I did a couple days earlier, and

this is not including anybody else's Facebook pages.

This is not Peony Farms, this is not

Farm Girl Flowers, this is not Jeannie, this

is not The Knot because I couldn't get

those numbers.

I could guess, but what does that do

for us?

Nothing, I just know that it's happening and

it's happening good.

This right here is solely my network.

This is solely your network.

This is the stuff that fires me up.

This is not me serving my current clients,

this is me getting new clients.

I'm in the business of new, taking care

of my present, but they already paid me.

You gotta go hustle for the new stuff.

So, we just spoke about all the online

marketing that we've been doing.

So I'm gonna grab a little something.

Now, I like to, for weddings that I

think I want to work more with the

creative team for weddings, so I think JD

and I, well not JD, I tell JD,

that there are certain weddings in our business

that we refer to as unicorn weddings, that

they're just so magical and everything worked, like

the timeline worked, the light worked, the venue

worked, the details worked, right?

So what I want to shoot more of,

I must show more of.

So, what I wanted to do is, for

wedding vendors who I really want to work

more with, Farm Girl Flowers, she's based here

in San Francisco.

She does great stuff, like she ships internationally

and she gets her bouquets and she wraps

them in burlap, and even if burlap isn't

your judge, even if you aren't like the

shabby chic, she just does it right.

And I'm like, I like you, I want

to work more with you.

So, what I want to do is create

promo cards.

Now, because we're literally, like I'm editing these

photos, I hopped on a plane, I got

here, I didn't have an opportunity to make

the cards and have them printed for today.

I want to show you a card that

I did for a recent wedding and I'm

gonna show you how all of this comes

together.

Stick with me, stick with me.

So, right here, let me first show you,

first and foremost, anything that leaves my studio

is accompanied by a handwritten card, I have

customized stationery.

Now, before you say, oh, customized stationery, must

be nice, I first started with customized stationery

that cost me about 75 cents to make.

I had a friend, my mom's friend from

church did something called Creative Memories where they

just kind of make cards, they used to

make albums with like stickum paper.

Well, I said, can you make a card

for me that's similar to an album, just

put my logo and have a little ribbon,

and she said yes, and she was gonna

charge me a dollar.

And I said, okay, that's great, I'll buy

20.

I could afford 20 cards.

So, I paid her $20 and she made

me these customized cards.

I now have letterpress cards I'm about to

show you.

So, yes, my business has grown and my

stationery's gotten fancier, but it doesn't mean that

anybody else isn't in that position.

And in worst case scenario, if you're really

hard up, you can walk to Paper Source

or Papyrus, get 10 cards for $12, anything

to personalize that experience.

So, this is the card, I will have

it in another envelope and it will have

my address, I'm not including it in my

address, because we're not tight like that, have

my address, the studio stuff, they open it

out and it's handwritten with their name.

So, then they open this up and I

want all of my cards to be branded.

So, this is my card, and when you

pull out the card, there's a little note,

and it says, let me pull it all

the way out, a note from the heart

and an invitation to call me, enjoy a

cocktail, join me for yoga, walk on the

beach, watch the sunset, all of the above.

So, I will choose one of these things.

Usually, it's all of the above or else

I look rude.

And then I note, as a child, I

begged my mom, I begged my mother for

a pen pal.

Every month, I'd faithfully write my new friend

in Sydney, Australia, imagining a koala reading over

her shoulder.

Years later, I'm thrilled to send a note

to you because there's nothing better than a

handwritten note sent with the utmost care.

Here's to scribbled words, notes, and koalas.

And then there's a space for my signature,

and that's why I write there.

And then what they'll do, they pull out

the card, it's letterpress with my name and

I have a handwritten note here.

So what I will say, when the cards

are ready, and maybe I'll do a blog

post, but I'll say, dear Jeannie, thank you

so much for everything at The Knot, it

was fantastic, I'll list a personal memory, much

love, let me know if you need anything

else.

Then what I will do is I'll send

promo cards.

These are five by seven promo cards that

I had printed at White House Custom Color.

And what these are, and you can make

it this template, I literally cropped these pictures

into squares and I dropped them on a

five by seven card.

And then what I did is, so this

was a wedding that I shot in December

in Chicago.

I shot this wedding in December in Chicago

and the team that I worked with was

fantastic.

And I had a really good feeling about

this wedding, and this wedding will be featured

in the Chicago Knot edition magazine this coming

season.

And when I was shooting it, I knew

that it was gonna be something good and

I liked the team that I was working

with.

So this is Kehoe Designs in Chicago.

So what I did is I got designs,

I got his flowers, I got the hutba,

more flowers, the bride and groom in front

of the hutba, it was a nighttime wedding.

I got all of his floral details and

an overview.

Then I went to his website and I

just grabbed the JPEG from his website and

I cropped it into a square and I

plopped it in here and I went and

I got these images.

I ordered them from White House Custom Color.

Now, if anybody notices, my name isn't on

this card.

My question is, to you, why do we

feel we must make marketing material for ourselves

and expect somebody else to pass it out

for us?

What if I did the same thing and

then right here, I put Jazz and Star

Photography?

Good, not as good.

When I send Kehoe Designs, I've made them

a marketing material, but guess what?

I gave myself photo credit, right?

So what I'm going to do is these

sets come in 20.

These are from White House Custom Color.

This is a small investment, correct me, but

give me a little bit of grace.

It's around $25 or $30 for a set

of 20.

This is fantastic.

I ordered a set of 20.

Now, what I'm going to do for the

knot, I'm going to do the same thing.

And in Photoshop, I just saved this template.

So now what I'm going to do is

I'm just going to drag and drop this

other set of photos from the Knot Dream

Wedding and what I'm going to do here

is I'm going to change this out to

every vendor.

I want to work with Farm Girl.

I want to send one to Jeannie.

I'm going to send one to the Chateau

St. Jean.

Why?

Why?

Why do I want to send it to

the Chateau?

So I go back to Chateau.

Yeah, I want to go to Napa.

You need to pay me so I can

go and drink.

Yeah, okay.

Yes, so that's what I'm going to do.

And I might change the design slightly to

raise it up, make the scores a little

bit smaller, and at the bottom, I will

say the Knot Dream Wedding because I do

think that's a very important marketing component that

I'm going to be taking care of them

and I will have my photo credit in

the back.

This right here is a $30 investment and

my stationery was $1.50 a piece or

actually I think it was a little bit

more.

JD's like, no.

We went back and forth.

He's like, you want to pay how much

for stationery?

I was like, but it's part of the

brand.

I think my cards were like $4.75

a piece.

Yeah, I know.

But you know what?

I go to Paper Source and I buy

expensive cards.

I do, it's terrible and I love it

that when I go through my cards and

I handwrite, like my birthday, if you have

a birthday and I send you a card,

know that I probably spent an hour trying

to find the perfect card for you.

That's just me.

But guess what?

I attract it in my clients.

I can't tell you how many clients will

email me like, I got your note card,

I love it.

Great, if you like it, we're already really

well prepared for a really great experience.

He gave us a card and we were

both like, oh, that's so sweet.

Aw, okay, so Ashley's not in a mic.

I have it, so it does work.

I'll pay you later.

So Ashley didn't have a mic.

Ashley modeled for a workshop.

I had in Orange County and I'm a

firm believer in writing handwritten thank you notes.

So I wrote Ashley and her husband Kaya

a note saying thank you so much for

being here.

You've literally helped photographers around the world by

coming here and modeling for us.

And the fact that Ashley said that when

she opened it, she said, aw, and the

fact that she still has it in her

possession months later is a testament that it

works.

Personal touches work.

That's the era of marketing.

So one thing I want to do is

I want to take a second because where

we are now, slideshows, a photographer's commercial.

So I'm gonna be prepping to show you

what my slideshow looks like online.

But one thing I want to make sure

is this is something I've said, I'm gonna

take a second to take it a step

back, is that we are a photographer, but

we are first and secondly, a curator.

We are gonna be sifting through hundreds of

images.

How then can we put the best foot

forward?

Now I create a slideshow for my clients.

So the way that it works is I

will blog.

The images, I will share on social media.

And they get to see other people validating

on social media.

When I tag my clients from my Facebook

page, because I will only tag from my

Facebook page, not from my personal page.

My Facebook business page, not my Facebook personal

page.

And then when other people are leaving comments

like what a great day, how beautiful, her

hair was great, look at the light, and

my clients are reading that, they are feeling

great and they are feeling validated by their

decision to hire me.

So once they have all these warm and

fuzzies, now what I want to do is

I want to come in and, no, I

don't want to punch them again.

I want to hug them again.

It's that one-two hug, right?

I want to go in and I want

to set the expectations of seeing that 20,

25, 30 images on Facebook, and then I'm

gonna come back and I'm gonna show them

a slideshow.

An average slideshow for me.

So I'm blogging and sharing in the morning

and I'll send the slideshow a late afternoon.

These slideshows are empowering my evangelist to talk

more about me.

That is all marketing is, having people talk

about you.

So I must empower my clients to talk

about me, but I can do that by

giving them things to pre-qualify my work.

What these essentially become are a commercial.

This is a Jasmine Star commercial starring Samantha

and Taylor, and when Samantha and Taylor send

their slideshow to their friends and family, they

are pre-qualifying me as their photographer.

When she updated her Facebook, she said only

nice things about me and then gave a

link.

So I'm going to share what that slideshow

looks like for me now.

So one thing I wanted to point out

that I had said specifically, we are curators

of our work.

We are curators, we are curators, we are

curators.

You must have noticed because you were there

with me at the wedding, that the wedding

did not unfold this way.

And I'm not talking theoretically, I'm actually talking

about timeline.

Really, I had to incorporate, not I had

to, I chose to incorporate bridal party photos

and bride and groom photos out of order.

I could not sell the story of the

day, I could not sell the arc of

the day if we had actually followed what

transpired.

So if you're with us, you know that

we didn't do bride and groom photos until

after everybody had left.

We didn't do the group bridal party until

after everybody had left.

How do I tell that story?

There's dancing, and then all of a sudden

there's just bridal party, it just didn't make

sense.

So what I needed to do is because,

yes, the slideshow is for my clients.

A thousand percent, it is only for them.

But ancillary, I get to use it as

a commercial for my business.

So that if somebody inquires and says, I'm

getting married in Sonoma next year, what I'm

going to say is, funny, I shot in

Sonoma, let me send you something.

So that slideshow will be, hey, I can

shoot in Sonoma, I have done a Sonoma

story, but do I want to sell weddings

that where I shoot bride and groom after

in a hot vineyard?

No, I have to sell the story that

I ultimately want to book.

That's going to be the thing, the types

of decisions that I was making.

So what I want to do is I

want to hop back into my keynote.

Now let's talk about what actually transpired as

a result.

This is an email from Taylor.

Hey Jasmine, thank you so much for the

kind words.

You and JD are seriously the best.

I sincerely appreciate everything you said in this

email and your offer to take photos with

her mom if her health ever allows.

That means the world to us both, and

I just wanted you to know, my only

goal in life that matters to me truly

is making Sam happy.

So I can only say thank you for

helping me do this with your photos, memories,

and just for being you.

I will keep you posted on her mom's

health, and if we think photos are reality

at some point in the near future.

And if we think photos are reality at

some point in the near future.

Much love back, Taylor.

Oh, your slideshow had me bawling by myself

in my house.

It was absolutely perfect, Jasmine.

This is from Samantha.

Jasmine, I wish you could have been a

fly on the wall in the hospital when

I showed.

Oh my God, sorry.

Oh man, okay, okay, hold on.

Okay, okay, I'm so sorry.

Forgive me.

Jasmine, I wish you could have been a

fly on the wall at the hospital when

I showed this slideshow to my mom this

morning.

It was the first truly happy smile I

have seen from her in a while.

She was so mesmerized by your photos and

fell so in love with the moments you

captured.

Thank you so much for sending this to

me and for all the love you continuously

sent our way, Sam.

Forgive me, I'm so sorry.

This email I got yesterday, so I feel

like, I don't know, just being close to

it is a little difficult.

But here's the thing, that I can choose

to see the sad or I can choose

to see the good that are my photos,

our collective photos by you guys joining the

journey with me.

It's offering her mom something.

Her mom wasn't there, but she was able

to join us on a very important day.

And for that, I am honored and I

take it very seriously.

So, why this marketing approach works.

The marketing approach works is because I'm not

gonna get into debate about what is more

effective.

What I do know is that I'm a

fan of this type of marketing because it's

available to every photographer.

Myself and the photographer who's been doing this

one year.

This is a new generation of marketing.

Advertisements are powerful, but they are not powerful

in the traditional sense.

So we see commercials and radio stints and

pop-up ads on the internet.

Those are effective, but they are not half

as effective as marketing that chooses to be

heartfelt, that marketing that chooses to be real,

and that marketing that chooses to be helpful.

The best part of this marketing, if you

have not noticed by now, is that it

is free.

I haven't spent a dime.

But this marketing takes a lot of work.

This marketing takes a lot of time.

And this type of marketing takes a lot

of dedication.

But it pays off in big ways to

enhance and outshine your current state of the

portfolio.

I look forward to seeing how you guys

employ these type of marketing techniques because I

hopefully show that they work and they are

very effective.

I wanna say thank you guys.

We have about five, 10 minutes of Q

&A if you guys are willing to get

into it.

So we'll make sure that the mics are

passed around for anybody who has it.

And please forgive me for that cry fest.

Ah, took my throat a couple times there.

Do we have any mics to go around?

Do you have it?

Oh, great, sorry.

Okay, I'm sure you've been asked this before,

but do you blog every single wedding?

Yes, I do.

I'm gonna tell you, I blog every single

wedding for two reasons.

One, it puts the fire under my butt

to perform every single wedding, even if I

feel like I can't.

There have been weddings where I show up

and I'm like, oh my God, still to

this day.

Oh my God, what am I gonna show?

How am I gonna tell the story?

Like, oh my God, oh my God, oh

my God.

And it's too easy for me to say,

oh, this one's not making the blog.

And then I just go through the motions.

What this does is keeps the fire at

my back, get better, make the not so

pretty beautiful.

Second reason I do that is because I

have had photos of my husband and I

taken, and this photographer blogs quite frequently, and

our photo session did not get blogged.

And I remember thinking, like I had that

14-year-old girl moment.

Am I not good enough?

Did I have a bad hair day?

It must have been my makeup, right?

And here's what I think.

I did not get a homie hookup.

I paid full asking price.

I went to this photographer as a paying

client.

How I was made to feel was that

I was second guessing.

Far be it from me to ever make

my client feel that way.

So 1,000%, yes and yes.

And it's a great marketing opportunity.

And if you don't see it as such,

you're not working hard enough.

That sounds mean, but it's true.

I need to make this warm and fuzzy.

Are there any, yes, we have a mic,

great.

How long after you send the clients their

gallery, are you, this is a two-part

question.

So how long after you send them the

gallery, are you doing the blog posts and

the social media push?

And are you sending them the links to

the blogs that they can see it right

away?

Fantastic, I don't send the gallery first.

That's a great clarification.

So the way that this chronologically works is

that I will prepare the photos for marketing

purposes.

And then I blog, and then I do

social media.

And I don't actually email my clients and

tell them that they're on the blog.

Why?

Because I'm updating my fan page, so maybe

organically they would see it like that.

But when I get into the second Facebook

push and I upload the album, I'm tagging

my clients.

And there's a link to my blog post

within that.

And even if they don't go to the

blog post, they're reading the verbiage that I

wrote, they're seeing the photos.

So they're having a quasi-blog experience within

Facebook if they so choose.

So I do not need to follow up

with it.

I always assume that my clients will see

it because most of my clients are very

active on Facebook.

So if I were to tag them and

then they see that, I will only follow

up with them later that afternoon to send

them the slideshow.

Now what I'm doing is I'm creating baby

steps of anticipation.

So they see the blog post, they see

the images on Facebook, and they're feeling excited,

and people are publicly validating their decision to

use me.

And then I create the slideshow, which empowers

them to share it with their personal friends

on a personal front because they may or

may not share my album.

Most clients do, but some clients don't.

If I give them another reason to tap

into that network, I absolutely will.

That's what the slideshow becomes.

So then they usually will send back emails

like, Sam and Taylor, thank you so much.

We're on our honeymoon.

My mom was crying.

Why didn't you tell me I needed Kleenex?

We get these emails, right?

And so what's their emotions right now?

Sky high.

They're loving it.

They're feeling validated.

They're feeling empowered.

They feel like they made a good decision.

Then I send the gallery.

Because can I...

Are they in the same day?

No, the next day.

Because I can control how they feel about

80 to 100 photos.

I may or may not be able to

control what they can feel about 800 images.

So the baby steps to anticipation is making

it really effective marketing.

We have one and then two.

Question for you.

I know that you mentioned this in a

past class, but for those who maybe didn't

see it, who do you...

What do you or who do you use

for your slideshow?

And then do you post the slideshow on

Facebook or do you just email your clients?

First answer to the question is I use

soundslides.com.

S-O-U-N-D-S-L-I

-D-E-S, soundslides.com.

I use it and love it because it's

a one-time fee.

So I downloaded it and I upload the

slideshows to my server.

So I have made hundreds of slideshows and

it has paid off in dividends.

But I also looked into a lot of

different slideshow options.

And for me, this works great.

It's very simple.

It's not fancy.

It doesn't have a lot of bells and

whistles, but it's fully compatible with mobile devices,

which is where my clients are usually experiencing

it.

They're experiencing it abroad, on their phones or

on their iPads.

I want to make sure that they can

then share.

Now, I don't post it on Facebook because

there's a lot of images in there that

I think work on a very personal level,

but maybe not on a business level.

And if I put it on Facebook and

then I shared it, it does not give

my clients a reason to validate the deeper

marketing.

It's important for me to use my resources,

but I want to tap into their circles

and the slideshow allows me to do that.

Yes, we'll have a question.

Mine goes back to sharing to the blog

and to Facebook.

And have you had the problem where maybe

the couple isn't into social media that much

and seeing their pictures on your blog or

Facebook before seeing them privately or sharing them

with their family and friends privately before the

world sees them?

I think that's a great question.

I'm gonna answer it confidently.

So the first part of the question is,

have I had clients who aren't on social

media?

I don't want to share on social media

at all.

I'm not gonna answer that question.

Here's why.

Well, I'll answer it, but not in the

way that you think.

I'm so nice.

Clients find me online.

It is the nature of the beast.

When they sign my contract, they are agreeing

to how I do it.

However, you can't play both sides.

You can't have a dead Facebook page and

then all of a sudden you shoot this

great wedding and then you wanna go and

plaster it with 40 photos because your clients

aren't expecting your pattern, your routine.

We are all animals and instinctual by nature.

We love and crave patterns.

If I am, which I am, which I

do, every week I'm posting new folder of

wedding images.

Every week I say, oh, I'm in Sonoma.

Three days later, here's a sneak peek from

me in Sonoma.

Here's the blog post from me in Sonoma.

Here's the folder of me in Sonoma.

And then the following, oh, here I am

in Newport Beach at a sneak peek.

Here I am with the folder.

Here I am with the push.

It's like they know that this is the

pattern.

So people aren't coming to me and being

like, why am I, why?

So if you're a photographer and you're in

the point to where you have not created

a pattern, you have to start slowly because

you do run the risk if you kind

of aren't really active on social media and

then after this course you're like, I'm going,

I'm gonna do it.

And then clients are just like, well, why

didn't you get my approval?

You can't hold them accountable for the changes

that you're making internally.

So slowly start ramping it up.

But no, I have never had a client

email me and be like, why did you

post that picture?

Or why this or why that?

Not once in 10 years, because I think

that they understand that my force is that

push force.

It is.

And if I had said, hey, look at

this great wedding that I shot in Sonoma

and I made it, how do I, okay,

I'm just gonna say it for what it

is.

Sometimes I read photographer updates and it just

sounds like so pretentious.

I'm so blessed to be shooting in the

Bahamas and we stayed at the Ritz Carlton

and we went scuba diving right before the

groom surprised his bride with a 14 carat

yellow diamond.

It's like, wah, wah.

It just sounds like promotion for you, promotion

for you.

But my promotions are highlight who the wedding's

about.

Highlight the marriage, not just the wedding.

And I think people feel that.

So when people feel loved and feel respected,

then it empowers them to share.

Versus I shot a wedding in Sonoma, it's

here's a love story about two amazing people

who got married.

And that changes the dynamic.

On that note, I want to say thank

you.

I look forward to seeing how you guys

change your marketing approach.

And remember, personalization is the strongest form of

marketing that you guys can create.

Thank you.

Thank you.