Original subtitles

Okay, so before we get into SEO and

social media, which are two very popular and

common marketing techniques, I want to just take

a few minutes to discuss and explore some

other forms of marketing, some of which sit

in the more traditional forms, but are worthy

of mentioning.

Now, the reason I'm not going to spend

too long discussing these in greater detail is

purely because of the fact that they're techniques

that I either don't use or I've tried

and the results weren't good enough to justify

continuing with them.

But there are still some really strong lessons

in here.

And it starts with one of the most

important lessons of any marketing plan.

Can you track it?

If you are paying for any form of

marketing, either with money as a transactional relationship,

or with your time, so social media, blog

posts, etc.

You need to be able to calculate whether

that form of marketing is working for you.

If you can't track it, you're taking shots

in the dark with a blindfold on.

I've had plenty of mentees reach out to

me and a common conversation will be, yeah,

so I'm spending around £150 a month with

Google AdWords.

To which my response is, what's the conversion

like on that?

What kind of traffic is it driving you?

And on every occasion, the mentee's face does

this.

Hmm, I don't really know.

See, tracking allows you to recognise when a

form of marketing is working.

In which case, it gives you an opportunity

to further utilise that tactic and increase its

potential.

Or alternatively, when something isn't working.

In which case, you can cut it from

your expenses or save time, and redirect that

effort to another source, preferably to one that

is working.

And it's important to note here, before I

tell you about the techniques that didn't work

for me, that sometimes you just have to

try them.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

That said, you can and should do your

homework.

Is the captive audience right?

Do they align with your brand?

Is the company that you're about to hand

£600 to going to do their marketing bit

to bring in traffic?

Or are they just after a quick buck?

And also, something for you to think about

here.

Any successful or large business, you will find

they all have these two things.

One, a marketing department.

And two, a marketing budget.

On the first one, and it goes without

saying that generally, we are our marketing departments.

But no matter how busy you get when

the editing backlog kicks in, never neglect your

marketing.

Especially in this industry when your marketing efforts

affect the work and your income potential 18

months or two years down the line.

So even if you're busy shooting and editing,

and think business is good because you're busy,

if you aren't drip feeding your marketing department,

that's you, the knock on effect can come

18 months down the road.

Secondly, marketing budget.

Now, wedding photographers are notorious for having free

time during the week, given most of our

paid work takes place on a weekend.

So giving our time as an expenditure is

easy to do.

But you should also consider having a marketing

budget.

But as mentioned just previously, when you're spending

money, it's even more important to track it.

Because you can spend big money very quickly

with something like Google AdWords and not get

a return.

If you can, and you do get down

this road, it's also worth test marketing before

you commit to bigger spends.

So for example, if you want to target

a search term in your area, carry out

a small test spend first, analyze the results,

did it convert?

Did it drive the right traffic before you

commit bigger numbers to that term?

Let's just quickly mention the techniques I've tried

that didn't provide a return for me.

First up, advertising with a venue brochure.

I was five to six months into my

business and a local-ish venue called me

to ask if I'd like to visit them

and to see if I'd consider becoming one

of their recommended suppliers.

Naturally, I was flattered and made up here.

A venue liked me and wanted to recommend

me.

Yes, please.

But after driving 35 minutes to the venue,

spending an hour being shown around by the

event manager, they presented me the previous year's

brochure and delivered their sales pitch, asking if

I'd like to feature in the document, which

it turns out, surprise, surprise, wasn't going to

be free.

Now, if I could talk to myself back

then, I'd have told Sam to get in

his car and drive home.

The venue wasn't even that nice, but I

was a little naive and also super keen

to get my name out there.

So I duly handed over the best part

of £900 for a one-page advert in

their rather poorly designed venue brochure.

However, I did remember my marketing background and

within my advert, I had something that acted

as a hook and allowed me to track

its success.

A free engagement shoot with the venue name

as a referral code.

But one problem, it wasn't a success.

Quite the opposite, actually.

That was nine years ago.

And to this date, let me just think,

yeah, I've booked, I'm pretty sure, not a

single wedding at that venue.

Not even an inquiry.

Needless to say, a year later, when the

next brochure was being produced and a call

came in saying they love my work and

they really wanted me to feature, I kindly

told them I was no longer interested.

At the same time, I also got sucked

into a similar brochure with the local registry

office.

Again, not a single booking.

So yeah, paid brochure advertising wasn't for me.

I've also taken calls from local bridal shops

and the common, we can get you to

page one of Google call.

And I say no to both.

More on the latter call in the SEO

episode coming up.

A common technique in the industry that I've

never used is presenting your business at wedding

shows or venues.

I've simply never needed to.

It's not that it can't work for some

businesses.

It's just not for me.

So it won't be something I'm going to

advise on here.

My main and initial success came from advertising

with wedding blogs.

I ran two adverts over a period of

the first few years of my business.

The one real success for me came through

Rock My Wedding.

I also had an advert with Rock and

Roll Bride, but from monitoring the referral traffic

through Google analytics and asking inquiries how they

heard about me, it was clear after a

few months that Rock and Roll Bride wasn't

giving me a return on the investment.

So that just got canned.

And in hindsight, the reason I see that

it didn't work for me, whereas Rock My

Wedding did, was target audience.

The work I was producing and putting out

at the time was far more aligned with

the demographic and audience of Rock My Wedding.

And I'm not saying here that Rock and

Roll Bride isn't a potential marketing channel.

There will be plenty of photographers who get

huge benefits of advertising there.

It just wasn't for my brand.

But if I hadn't have tracked those adverts

or had any way of gauging where my

inquiries were coming from, that could and would

have been money down the drain.

One question I get now from a marketing

point of view is, what would you do

now?

Where would you start if you were starting

again?

And it's hard to give the right answer

here because I don't have the answer.

Just stick with me on this one.

The landscape has changed considerably since I started,

and you have to move with those changes.

All businesses have to adapt.

Those that don't simply die.

Rest in peace, Woolworths.

You have to work harder at marketing now

more than ever before.

You have to work for reach.

You have to be consistent.

You simply can't afford to neglect it.

Instagram, which we'll discuss shortly, is a hugely

powerful tool.

And one technique that has grown over the

past few years is styled shoots and workshops,

which are undoubtedly a great way to generate

content and network with other suppliers.

So there's no doubt I would be trying

that.

But I'd still blog.

I'd still make my website SEO friendly.

I'd go to every wedding wanting to create

my best work and to provide an amazing

experience.

I'd share content and network my skinny little

ass off.

I just wouldn't give any money to a

local venue wanting to recommend me.

So if I can save you £900 there,

this episode is absolutely worth it.

And the final caveat to this episode for

you, you can be the best photographer on

the planet, but if you can't market yourself,

you ain't going to find work.