Hi! My name is Rachel. If we’ve not met before, I’m a wedding photographer and business coach on a mission to help wedding professionals elevate the quality of clients you attract, craft a luxury client experience, by focusing on what matters and profitably automating everything else.
Today we are talking about effective lead generation for wedding photographers, as this is one of the most common issues that I see folks struggling with.
My focus will always be on getting more of the right leads, because I know that you can get 20 of the wrong leads and you’ll be worse off than if you got 2 of the right leads.
In fact, I’ve been noticing more and more the negative effects of attracting the wrong clients all the time. It’s not just a neutral thing, it’s an active bad thing. Because if you’re commenting in bride Facebook groups all the time, running deal ads on Facebook or Instagram, or your getting inquiries through your website coming from yelp or wedding wire, and they are budget shoppers looking for the best deal, or they just ghost when they see your pricing, your brain goes into troubleshoot mode:
Is it me? Are my photos that bad? I only need a few, why can’t I just get a few? Is my pricing really too high?
And you just start spinning your wheels trying to find the problem, and all the self-doubt comes crashing in. You cave to what you perceive to be the market instead of learning how to get into a better market. Soon you believe that your market is only full of budget shoppers, people who ghost, and you start hearing yourself saying things like:
“The economy is really bad right now, that’s why people aren’t booking”
“I’m in a low income area, people just can’t afford photography here”
“I’m so burnt out with this generation of brides, all they care about is how much it costs”
You think about lowering your rates, and you feel guilty for even thinking that because you think it’s “wrong”.
You see others seemingly having the success you want and you can’t help feeling a little jealous and you feel guilty about that too.
And this is all because you are attracting or looking for the wrong leads. This can happen whether you’re starting your pricing at $1200 or $4500+. Chasing or attracting the wrong leads will always lead to frustration and self-doubt.
So let’s commit today to focus your attention on what really matters-attracting the RIGHT leads.
Attracting the right leads begins with focusing your efforts. This is actually very simple, but often overlooked.
All you need to do is figure out the best source of your best leads and do more of that!
So go into your records and take a look at how your best clients found you, and if you don’t know, reach out and ask. You’ll know they are your best clients because they paid the most and you liked working with them the most.
For a lot of people they are going to find Google to be a high quality source, as well as referrals from other vendors. Maybe there’s one venue that refers you all the time. Maybe you’re getting awesome clients from Instagram.
Whatever you find out, begin to nurture those things and try to duplicate them.
You’ll most likely find that best sources were personal and/or didn’t pit you up against other photographers offering exactly the same thing- like Wedding Wire, the Knot, Facebook group posts, do. When you’re put in a listing, you’re forced to compete- usually on price. This often overrides the personal connection, but that personal connection is gold.
Many photographers make the mistake of trying to be everywhere, competing with everyone, instead of focusing on one or two places that are the RIGHT places. Again, this leads to burnout and self-doubt.
Don’t try and market everywhere, just find the best source of the best leads and do more of that. Simple and effective.
So now you might be thinking, okay, I’m doing that, but not seeing the results I want. There must be more too this.
That’s correct. Once you’re positioned in the right place, you need to become magnetic to your soulmate clients. There’s a few ways you do this:
1. Show what you want to book. You will not book what you’re not showing. And I don’t just mean not showing barn venues if you don’t want to book barn venues. I mean show the emotion that your soulmate clients want to feel. I mean curating your marketing to the exact desire of your soulmate client.
2. Say the quiet part out loud. What do your soulmate clients want to feel, experience, and remember? What is really important to them to get right? Those are the things you should talk about!
3. Be your unique self. Don’t try to put on someone else’s personality or business because it seems more “professional” to you. It’s like wearing someone else’s clothes. 9 times out of 10 it won’t look good on you. How do you uniquely meet your soulmate clients needs and desires for their wedding? What do you do that’s different than anyone else? What do you do that resolves fear, discomfort, or frustration for your soulmate clients?
These are the questions that you need to answer in order to become magnetic. When you know the
answers to these questions you can much more easily write copy and choose images that speak to a very specific bride-one that will be so perfect to work with and so excited and eager to work with you.
Now that you’ve worked on becoming magnetic to your specific bride, and you have an idea of where your best leads are coming from, NOW it’s time to amplify.
Notice I saved this for last.
It’s because amplifying the wrong message in the wrong places will get you nowhere. This is why consistent posting on Instagram doesn’t work for some people, this is why Facebook ads don’t work for some people, this is why a lot of marketing techniques don’t work! It’s because the proverbial cart was put before the horse, you didn’t get your message right before you started amplifying. Louder doesn’t equal more effective.
I heard this the other day: When you’re “bad” at marketing, no marketing channel will work. When you’re “good” at marketing, the right marketing channel will work. Don’t blame the channel; improve your skill.
So what did you discover?
Did you discover that working on your SEO is your next best step?
Did you discover that networking with other vendors is where you should focus your efforts?
Did you discover that you actually don’t know enough about your soulmate clients to answer the questions that lead to becoming magnetic?
Let me know in the comments.
If you want some personalized help with your marketing and seeing where you can improve and infuse that magnetism into your branding, your website copy and images, you know that I offer free 15 minute business audits. These audits are not sales calls, they are literally there to help you get clarity on all this, and to help you take that first step forward. If you want to have a free 15 minute audit with me, go ahead and follow this link to book yours right away!
https://racheljordaneducation.com/audit/
