November 19, 2024 • 20 mins
Ever wonder what it really takes to build a thriving photography business in today’s fast-paced world? Everyone has a camera, and this career is not for the faint of heart. Looking back at my 20-year journey, I’ve managed to evolve, scale, and continuously bridge the gap between how I started my business and how I’d do it if starting from scratch 2025. In this episode, I get real about the steps I took back then—the wins, the mistakes, and everything in between—and compare them to the strategies I’d use today to launch and grow a successful photography and marketing business in 2024.
From learning to adapt to social media trends to building lasting client relationships, I’ll share the lessons that have shaped my approach to entrepreneurship. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your current strategy, this episode is packed with actionable tips to help you navigate today’s business landscape.
Stay tuned as I uncover the strategies that have helped build my successful photography business. From leveraging the power of Google reviews to maintaining consistent branding and engaging effectively on social media, I’ve learned the importance of adapting to trends and client preferences. Discover the significance of genuine five-star reviews and the evolving nature of social media engagement, especially among high school seniors. By understanding these dynamics, I’ve managed to connect better with clients and maintain a balance between professional success and personal fulfillment. I invite you to engage with our conversation further, and your feedback is invaluable as we continue on this journey together.
Let’s dive into the evolution of business-building together, and as always, I’d love to hear how you’re applying these insights to your own journey. Because sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs come when we reimagine what’s possible. #entrepreneurjourney #smallbusinesssuccess #photographerlife #marketingstrategies #businessgrowth
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My business really exploded with senior photography
.
Then I discovered the power offive-star reviews.
Welcome to another episode ofBoost your Visibility.
(00:22):
Today we're gonna talk abouthow to grow your business, how I
grew my business and what Iwould do differently.
So my main core of my businessis photography.
I started out as a newbornphotographer.
I knew no one in the town thatI am in.
Now we moved from many milesaway and we had young kids and
(00:45):
this was just something thathelped me to replace my
radiology career so that I couldbe home with my kids and have a
lot of flexibility.
So what I did to grow mybusiness was because I worked
with newborns in the beginning.
I worked with newborns in thebeginning.
(01:05):
It was mostly just getting outthere with my kids and meeting
people and forcing this extremeintroverted nature that I have
to get out and meet people.
It's very, very hard for me.
I am not an extrovert by anymeans and it was very good for
my kids that I got out and, youknow, took them to play groups
and different activities and metother moms who, of course, saw
(01:28):
me with my camera and I wouldtake pictures just for fun and
share them and, naturally,without me asking or pushing it.
People would ask me hey, couldyou just take some pictures of
my family?
And that grew into familyphotography, pictures of my
family and that grew into familyphotography.
(01:48):
Well, it wasn't long beforesomeone that was a newborn
client it was her secondmarriage.
She also had a high schoolsenior and she asked me if I
would take her daughter's seniorpictures.
And I'm like whoa, that is atotally different thing that I
am not qualified for.
I was young and new and stillnew and a little nervous doing
newborn photography and I'm likeI cannot do it.
(02:09):
And she really talked me intoit.
She's like I love what you didfor my baby and now I would like
for you to take senior picturesof my daughter.
I just feel like you're easy tobe around and that really is a
key is just really being myself,being yourself and being super
authentic and real with peopleand they're just naturally
attracted to working with you.
(02:30):
So that started the wholegrowth of my business.
My business really explodedwith senior photography.
I never would have thought,because for the first two or
three years that I was workingwith seniors I would say you
know, I'm a newborn photographer.
I just I don't do seniorpictures, but because you know
(02:52):
Tawny, who was my first senior,I'll do your pictures too.
And I kept saying that over andover.
And after two or three years,I'm like well, I guess I take
senior pictures.
Now, two or three years, I'mlike, well, I guess I take
senior pictures.
Now I have this whole portfolioand I was still learning and I
(03:14):
was willing to make mistakes andlearn.
And then I got to know the ideaof a spokesmodel program.
Now, I don't know that thatwould work in this current time,
because in order to have aspokesmodel program that works,
you really need to haverepresentation of people from
very different groups, andthere's a lot of heated debate
about what that would mean.
And for me at the time I justthought, like a high schooler,
(03:38):
I'm like, okay, so I wantsomeone that's like the
president of the chess club.
I would like someone that's incheer.
I would love to have somebodythat's more of a book the chess
club, I would like someonethat's in cheer.
I would love to have somebodythat's more of a book reader,
introvert, like myself, just areally balanced group of people.
And I started out by only havingfour.
It was twin boys that playedfootball, and then two girls
(04:00):
that one had a horse and theother didn't really have an
activity outside of school, butshe was just up for pretty
pictures.
And that's what we did.
And that Caveat was in orderfor them to get quite a discount
on senior pictures.
They had to share thosepictures on social media and
they did.
And at that time that's whenFacebook was in its prime, but
(04:22):
it still, to this day, works onInstagram.
I don't use a spokesmodelprogram anymore, but I do find
very creative ways to encouragemy seniors to share their
pictures and I'm going to getinto that.
But the spokes model programwas huge for me.
That grew into a revenuegenerator in and of itself.
(04:45):
The last year that I had doneit was 2020, 2019 to 2020.
And I had 20 spokesels.
So they received six minisessions from March of their
junior year all the way throughsenior year, and together they
helped to decide what the themeswere, and by themes it was
(05:08):
mostly locations, so it waswhatever was cool at the time.
We did the sunflower field forone.
We did winter, of course, youknow, with hats, mittens, you
know, cute coats, whatever.
We did the carnival, where wewent really early to our local
carnival and they sat on therides and like, brought cotton
candy and just did more themedpictures and then at the end,
(05:31):
the last two mini sessions werejust done by themselves, not in
a group setting, with all theother spokesmodels.
Then their family pictures thatwas a part.
They got a lot for that moneyand a lot for that time.
During that time they wereposting on Instagram and tagging
me.
It worked, it was powerful.
(05:52):
Then COVID happened and changedeverything.
It worked and it was powerful.
And then COVID happened andchanged everything and it was.
I'm not glad COVID happened,but it was a way of me being
able to release that because Iwas not in grow mode anymore and
it wasn't necessary.
I just really loved workingwith those seniors, getting to
know them during, you know, sixsessions.
There's nothing like thatbecause by the time we got to
their own unique session andtoward the end of the experience
(06:15):
usually July of their senioryear I just really knew them.
I knew the angles they liked, Iknew their style and we just
really understood each other andthe pictures were always
amazing.
As a result, we were just socomfortable with each other and
it was fun and we laughed a lot,so the spokesmodel program was
huge.
(06:36):
Then I discovered the power offive-star reviews.
Now, if I were to do one thingright now, in 2024, 2025, if I
were brand new, what I wouldfocus on is having a website
that has good wording, thattalks to Google with a lot of
local wording meaning Madison,wisconsin senior pictures,
(07:00):
verona, wisconsin seniorphotographer, that kind of thing
but have it in very naturalwording on the website and I
would focus on five-star reviewsbecause people do search Google
.
They also now have connectedBing to ChatGPT, which people
are replacing Google searcheswith.
(07:22):
Often they're going to ChatGPTand asking either verbally or
typing in, who's the bestlandscaper in Chicago?
And what comes up the listingson Bing.
Well, if you go into GoogleBusiness, you can connect to
Bing and whenever you make achange on Google Business, it
automatically updates on Bing.
(07:43):
So you can see the power ofunderstanding social media or
online organic marketing, andthat became a passion for me
Once I started to see thatGoogle really changed the game,
because I was one of threephotographers when I first
started out in my area.
There were only three realphotographers and I don't even
(08:04):
know that I was real, but I gotto see the beginning of the real
usefulness of Google inbusiness and the beginning of
Facebook and Instagram, and it'sbeen fun to watch how that use
changed and how it grows everyday.
It's totally different now andagain.
I'll talk about that in aminute here.
(08:25):
So spokesmodel program Googlereviews.
I also did a lot ofvolunteering at our high school.
I didn't just show up at gameslike the creeper with a camera.
I would contact coaches and say, hey, I'm a photographer you
probably had never heard of me,but trying to grow my business.
(08:45):
If there's ever an opportunityto do either free pictures at a
game or at a practice just forfun, or taking pictures for
their senior banners, I'm allfor it.
I did it all for free because Ishould have been charging at
certain points, but the amount,the volume of people that came
to me because they knew me andthey saw me out on the sidelines
(09:10):
or at a basketball game or at adance recital with my camera, I
just became that person thateverybody goes to.
And that spokesmodel programshowing up for everything
possible within the high schooland my daughter's dance studio
was huge and just getting to be.
You know, being good to peoplegoes so so far.
(09:32):
But as all those things werehappening, as I was really
working extremely hard to makeall of those things happen, I
was making sure I was asking forGoogle reviews every single
time.
When someone would say we're sograteful, we love your work, I
would say the biggest complimentyou can give me is a five-star
(09:53):
review.
The biggest compliment you cangive me is a five-star review.
If I were to start over againwebsite Google business like get
that, set up your Googlebusiness and ask for five-star
reviews from everybody you can.
Don't ask your mom and yourcousins and don't have friends
do it for no reason.
Google is picking up on allthat stuff.
(10:13):
It needs to be real people thatgive thoughtful reviews.
Please search my name online,actually Search Brenda Eckhart,
and read the reviews that peoplehave given.
And it's not again me beingbraggy McBragerson's.
There is power in really beingreal with people and just caring
about people, and Googlereviews really made a huge
(10:36):
difference for my business and Ilook at my Google reviews as my
literal legacy for my kids, mygrandkids.
For them.
They'll be there forever andthey can read that and see that
what I did mattered to someoneSuper important and I know I
take things very seriously, butthat comes with success too
right, like I actually reallycare, and I know that you
(10:58):
actually really care aboutwhatever it is that you're
trying to build, so I would geta website set up, I would get
Google reviews going and, ofcourse, be on all the platforms
with the same exact name.
Don't change it.
Don't have slightly differentnames per platform, like TikTok
is your own name and then yourInstagram is your business name.
(11:20):
Don't do that.
Have it all be the same thingand I always recommend using
your name that's searchable anddon't you want to build like a
real business where peopleactually feel like they know you
and they can like you're theperson to go to.
So if I were rebuilding now onInstagram, let's just use that
as an example.
The days are gone of high schoolseniors or families tagging
(11:43):
their photographer.
The loyalty isn't there, evenif they adore you and you're
their person.
I have customers that have cometo me every year for the last
20 years that still have notliked my Facebook page or
followed me on Instagram, andthe reason and I've asked why
because I keep inviting them orI keep, you know, bringing it up
(12:06):
at their session each year.
Like as a joke, like why aren'tyou following me?
Why are you not following me onInstagram?
I want to post your pictures.
They're private.
People are very, very privateand they don't want to look like
they're flaunting anything.
A lot of people don't wanteverybody knowing their business
or who they use as a serviceprovider of any kind.
(12:28):
People are very, very privateand that includes high school
seniors.
They will never be the first topost their senior pictures.
They usually like it if I postand tag them, because that is
not as in the face of theirfollowers, if that makes sense,
like it's a compliment to themthat their photographer posted
their pictures, and then usuallythey'll share it to their
(12:49):
stories.
And that's the first, the firststep, like the first baby step.
That helps them to feel lessawkward about sharing their
senior pictures.
So that's usually done.
You know, senior pictures aretaken June to October.
So usually in June, july,august they're being tagged by
their photographers.
If their photographers know howto squeeze social media for all
(13:13):
it's worth, for free, likeInstagram, like I do, they tag
their clients.
So these seniors then share itto their stories and then
usually in September, seniorPictures Sunday starts, where
high school seniors use thehashtag SPS as a thing, or even
as a caption, and they'll postlike a series of three senior
(13:37):
pictures that are all very, verysimilar same outfit, same
location and they mind you havea hundred other senior pictures
that they could post, but theyare not going to blast them all
out there like seniors did in2018, 2010.
They're not going to put awhole album up.
They're curating their contentjust like we business owners do,
(13:58):
and some of the things thatthey do is so cool, like one
senior picture and you slide inits's.
Next it's a baby picture andthen they have a really cute
caption of we did it, you know,like graduation.
Who would have thought thislittle girl would be in, you
know, in this off whatever.
That's a lame example, but youget the idea.
(14:19):
They're just so awesome withtheir curation of how they post
and, as marketers, I can tellyou that businesses will need to
be doing that in a year.
Thoughtfulness like that and thecuration of a post sounds like
a lot of work.
It's really not.
It's just really payingattention to what is coming in
social media and authenticity iscoming in social media for next
(14:42):
year.
Curation, but not overdone, notobnoxious.
So that's pretty much how Istarted my business.
I mean, there was a heck of alot of work.
I made sure that I wasavailable to my kids number one,
but if they were in school, Iwas working and when I saw that
the bus was coming down the road, I locked the studio and went
(15:06):
in the house and made supperwith them and did homework.
So now was I always here.
No, things got really busy andreally crazy for a while and I
had to reel it back in, becauseit's easy to get sort of
addicted to knowing you're theperson that everybody wants to
go to for senior pictures andgetting caught up in that.
I'm no longer caught up in that.
(15:27):
I'm probably not even thatperson anymore, which is amazing
.
This is my favorite part of mycareer right now, because I
don't have to care, I don't needto be everybody's everything
and I do this because I love it.
I could easily be done withphotography, but I feel like
senior pictures are like a partof my soul.
Maybe I'm stunted as a 16 yearold, I don't know, but I learned
(15:50):
so much about marketing fromthem that it's insane.
I don't script these podcasts.
I try to keep it as real as Ican and I'm really trying to
reflect on on how I grew mybusiness and really it was just
getting involved in my communityand for me it wasn't
necessarily like downtownbusiness groups or networking
(16:11):
groups or anything like that.
I tried that.
That's not me.
I am not a social person, I'm aone-on-one person.
You put me one-on-one withanybody and usually we end up
being like amazing friends for areally long time, if not
forever, but you put me in aroom full of people and I feel
like I want to die.
So, yeah, I hope this givessome background on how I grew my
(16:33):
business.
I mean, obviously, leveragingorganic marketing was huge and
keeping up with the growth ofInstagram, facebook, now TikTok
and finding ways to leverage.
I'm still kind of on the benchwith TikTok.
That doesn't mean that I'm notusing it or going to use it.
I'm just not going to jump inuntil I fully understand where
(16:56):
my if my people are there andhow they want to receive the
information there, because Ineed to kind of detox from the
Instagram aesthetic thing of2020.
You know what I mean?
Like everybody had theirperfect feed and I had to buy
into all that because that'swhat people wanted, even from
(17:17):
businesses.
And now I feel like in a lot ofways I'm sort of dumbing down.
Even though I have professionalpictures you know, professional
videos, reels for, like, if I'mworking with a remodeler and
making these incredible reels,I'm still trying to figure out
how can I really talk about thaton TikTok and not make it look
(17:39):
too over produced.
That makes sense.
It's hard to be an artist onsomething like TikTok because
people want to be sitting in thefront seat of their car, they
want to feel like they'retalking to you face to face,
like this, and they don't reallywant to see perfect.
They want to see real and raw.
So I have a list ofconversations that I'm looking
(18:02):
to start on TikTok when I'mready.
I'm just not quite ready and Ihave a lot of other things I'm
doing.
I'm creating a course.
I have something that couldreally help you.
If you're and I'm not trying tohard sell this and just telling
you what I've created and ifyou want it, great, and if you
don't, that's okay I created thefive-star formula, which helps
you to know how to ask forfive-star reviews, how to time
(18:27):
your ask, what exactly to sayand how to respond to five-star
reviews so that you can get yourdigital footprint really
started.
That would be a number onefirst thing I would do if you
ever wanted to work with me.
Before you do anything, I wouldbuy the five-star formula, use
it it's not expensive andimplement it into your business.
(18:50):
Figure out how you can make ita part of your process so that
you can get those five-starreviews rolling in.
You can't just ask 20 people inan email for five-star reviews
and expect success.
Not to mention, google is nowshutting down Google business
accounts people that get morethan a few reviews within a week
(19:13):
, so that's a big, big no-no.
But the good thing to do is toget your reviews rolling
organically and that will reallyhelp you to grow naturally in
your business.
Now, thinking from aphotographer perspective,
because I know a lot ofphotographers listen to this
podcast we're going into aquieter season and this is
(19:35):
typically when I go through andmake a list of what worked well
for me and what didn't and Istart to fix those things that
need to be fixed and plan forthe spring and it's natural to
convince yourself, pretty muchfrom March to June, that you're
going out of business.
Nobody cares, you're irrelevant, you're.
You know, nobody wants yourwork, it's out of style.
(19:58):
All the things that artistshave go through their mind when
there's no work to be had,because it's just seasonal.
And then July 4th comes andgoes and you wonder why you ever
thought that and wish thatsomebody would turn the faucet
down a little bit.
So there's a natural dance tohow the season goes, and I'm
(20:19):
sure that's the case with anybusiness, and that's just the
part of the fun, right?
It keeps us on our toes andkeeps us growing.
So I hope you enjoyed this.
Let me know if you havequestions.
I would love it if yousubscribed or hit the like
button on my podcast.
If you're on iTunes, I wouldlove it if you gave a review.
I appreciate you being here andI'm always here if you have
(20:40):
questions, and I look forward totalking to you on the next
episode.
My business really exploded with senior photography
.
Then I discovered the power offive-star reviews.
Welcome to another episode ofBoost your Visibility.
(00:22):
Today we're gonna talk abouthow to grow your business, how I
grew my business and what Iwould do differently.
So my main core of my businessis photography.
I started out as a newbornphotographer.
I knew no one in the town thatI am in.
Now we moved from many milesaway and we had young kids and
(00:45):
this was just something thathelped me to replace my
radiology career so that I couldbe home with my kids and have a
lot of flexibility.
So what I did to grow mybusiness was because I worked
with newborns in the beginning.
I worked with newborns in thebeginning.
(01:05):
It was mostly just getting outthere with my kids and meeting
people and forcing this extremeintroverted nature that I have
to get out and meet people.
It's very, very hard for me.
I am not an extrovert by anymeans and it was very good for
my kids that I got out and, youknow, took them to play groups
and different activities and metother moms who, of course, saw
(01:28):
me with my camera and I wouldtake pictures just for fun and
share them and, naturally,without me asking or pushing it.
People would ask me hey, couldyou just take some pictures of
my family?
And that grew into familyphotography, pictures of my
family and that grew into familyphotography.
(01:48):
Well, it wasn't long beforesomeone that was a newborn
client it was her secondmarriage.
She also had a high schoolsenior and she asked me if I
would take her daughter's seniorpictures.
And I'm like whoa, that is atotally different thing that I
am not qualified for.
I was young and new and stillnew and a little nervous doing
newborn photography and I'm likeI cannot do it.
(02:09):
And she really talked me intoit.
She's like I love what you didfor my baby and now I would like
for you to take senior picturesof my daughter.
I just feel like you're easy tobe around and that really is a
key is just really being myself,being yourself and being super
authentic and real with peopleand they're just naturally
attracted to working with you.
(02:30):
So that started the wholegrowth of my business.
My business really explodedwith senior photography.
I never would have thought,because for the first two or
three years that I was workingwith seniors I would say you
know, I'm a newborn photographer.
I just I don't do seniorpictures, but because you know
(02:52):
Tawny, who was my first senior,I'll do your pictures too.
And I kept saying that over andover.
And after two or three years,I'm like well, I guess I take
senior pictures.
Now, two or three years, I'mlike, well, I guess I take
senior pictures.
Now I have this whole portfolioand I was still learning and I
(03:14):
was willing to make mistakes andlearn.
And then I got to know the ideaof a spokesmodel program.
Now, I don't know that thatwould work in this current time,
because in order to have aspokesmodel program that works,
you really need to haverepresentation of people from
very different groups, andthere's a lot of heated debate
about what that would mean.
And for me at the time I justthought, like a high schooler,
(03:38):
I'm like, okay, so I wantsomeone that's like the
president of the chess club.
I would like someone that's incheer.
I would love to have somebodythat's more of a book the chess
club, I would like someonethat's in cheer.
I would love to have somebodythat's more of a book reader,
introvert, like myself, just areally balanced group of people.
And I started out by only havingfour.
It was twin boys that playedfootball, and then two girls
(04:00):
that one had a horse and theother didn't really have an
activity outside of school, butshe was just up for pretty
pictures.
And that's what we did.
And that Caveat was in orderfor them to get quite a discount
on senior pictures.
They had to share thosepictures on social media and
they did.
And at that time that's whenFacebook was in its prime, but
(04:22):
it still, to this day, works onInstagram.
I don't use a spokesmodelprogram anymore, but I do find
very creative ways to encouragemy seniors to share their
pictures and I'm going to getinto that.
But the spokes model programwas huge for me.
That grew into a revenuegenerator in and of itself.
(04:45):
The last year that I had doneit was 2020, 2019 to 2020.
And I had 20 spokesels.
So they received six minisessions from March of their
junior year all the way throughsenior year, and together they
helped to decide what the themeswere, and by themes it was
(05:08):
mostly locations, so it waswhatever was cool at the time.
We did the sunflower field forone.
We did winter, of course, youknow, with hats, mittens, you
know, cute coats, whatever.
We did the carnival, where wewent really early to our local
carnival and they sat on therides and like, brought cotton
candy and just did more themedpictures and then at the end,
(05:31):
the last two mini sessions werejust done by themselves, not in
a group setting, with all theother spokesmodels.
Then their family pictures thatwas a part.
They got a lot for that moneyand a lot for that time.
During that time they wereposting on Instagram and tagging
me.
It worked, it was powerful.
(05:52):
Then COVID happened and changedeverything.
It worked and it was powerful.
And then COVID happened andchanged everything and it was.
I'm not glad COVID happened,but it was a way of me being
able to release that because Iwas not in grow mode anymore and
it wasn't necessary.
I just really loved workingwith those seniors, getting to
know them during, you know, sixsessions.
There's nothing like thatbecause by the time we got to
their own unique session andtoward the end of the experience
(06:15):
usually July of their senioryear I just really knew them.
I knew the angles they liked, Iknew their style and we just
really understood each other andthe pictures were always
amazing.
As a result, we were just socomfortable with each other and
it was fun and we laughed a lot,so the spokesmodel program was
huge.
(06:36):
Then I discovered the power offive-star reviews.
Now, if I were to do one thingright now, in 2024, 2025, if I
were brand new, what I wouldfocus on is having a website
that has good wording, thattalks to Google with a lot of
local wording meaning Madison,wisconsin senior pictures,
(07:00):
verona, wisconsin seniorphotographer, that kind of thing
but have it in very naturalwording on the website and I
would focus on five-star reviewsbecause people do search Google
.
They also now have connectedBing to ChatGPT, which people
are replacing Google searcheswith.
(07:22):
Often they're going to ChatGPTand asking either verbally or
typing in, who's the bestlandscaper in Chicago?
And what comes up the listingson Bing.
Well, if you go into GoogleBusiness, you can connect to
Bing and whenever you make achange on Google Business, it
automatically updates on Bing.
(07:43):
So you can see the power ofunderstanding social media or
online organic marketing, andthat became a passion for me
Once I started to see thatGoogle really changed the game,
because I was one of threephotographers when I first
started out in my area.
There were only three realphotographers and I don't even
(08:04):
know that I was real, but I gotto see the beginning of the real
usefulness of Google inbusiness and the beginning of
Facebook and Instagram, and it'sbeen fun to watch how that use
changed and how it grows everyday.
It's totally different now andagain.
I'll talk about that in aminute here.
(08:25):
So spokesmodel program Googlereviews.
I also did a lot ofvolunteering at our high school.
I didn't just show up at gameslike the creeper with a camera.
I would contact coaches and say, hey, I'm a photographer you
probably had never heard of me,but trying to grow my business.
(08:45):
If there's ever an opportunityto do either free pictures at a
game or at a practice just forfun, or taking pictures for
their senior banners, I'm allfor it.
I did it all for free because Ishould have been charging at
certain points, but the amount,the volume of people that came
to me because they knew me andthey saw me out on the sidelines
(09:10):
or at a basketball game or at adance recital with my camera, I
just became that person thateverybody goes to.
And that spokesmodel programshowing up for everything
possible within the high schooland my daughter's dance studio
was huge and just getting to be.
You know, being good to peoplegoes so so far.
(09:32):
But as all those things werehappening, as I was really
working extremely hard to makeall of those things happen, I
was making sure I was asking forGoogle reviews every single
time.
When someone would say we're sograteful, we love your work, I
would say the biggest complimentyou can give me is a five-star
(09:53):
review.
The biggest compliment you cangive me is a five-star review.
If I were to start over againwebsite Google business like get
that, set up your Googlebusiness and ask for five-star
reviews from everybody you can.
Don't ask your mom and yourcousins and don't have friends
do it for no reason.
Google is picking up on allthat stuff.
(10:13):
It needs to be real people thatgive thoughtful reviews.
Please search my name online,actually Search Brenda Eckhart,
and read the reviews that peoplehave given.
And it's not again me beingbraggy McBragerson's.
There is power in really beingreal with people and just caring
about people, and Googlereviews really made a huge
(10:36):
difference for my business and Ilook at my Google reviews as my
literal legacy for my kids, mygrandkids.
For them.
They'll be there forever andthey can read that and see that
what I did mattered to someoneSuper important and I know I
take things very seriously, butthat comes with success too
right, like I actually reallycare, and I know that you
(10:58):
actually really care aboutwhatever it is that you're
trying to build, so I would geta website set up, I would get
Google reviews going and, ofcourse, be on all the platforms
with the same exact name.
Don't change it.
Don't have slightly differentnames per platform, like TikTok
is your own name and then yourInstagram is your business name.
(11:20):
Don't do that.
Have it all be the same thingand I always recommend using
your name that's searchable anddon't you want to build like a
real business where peopleactually feel like they know you
and they can like you're theperson to go to.
So if I were rebuilding now onInstagram, let's just use that
as an example.
The days are gone of high schoolseniors or families tagging
(11:43):
their photographer.
The loyalty isn't there, evenif they adore you and you're
their person.
I have customers that have cometo me every year for the last
20 years that still have notliked my Facebook page or
followed me on Instagram, andthe reason and I've asked why
because I keep inviting them orI keep, you know, bringing it up
(12:06):
at their session each year.
Like as a joke, like why aren'tyou following me?
Why are you not following me onInstagram?
I want to post your pictures.
They're private.
People are very, very privateand they don't want to look like
they're flaunting anything.
A lot of people don't wanteverybody knowing their business
or who they use as a serviceprovider of any kind.
(12:28):
People are very, very privateand that includes high school
seniors.
They will never be the first topost their senior pictures.
They usually like it if I postand tag them, because that is
not as in the face of theirfollowers, if that makes sense,
like it's a compliment to themthat their photographer posted
their pictures, and then usuallythey'll share it to their
(12:49):
stories.
And that's the first, the firststep, like the first baby step.
That helps them to feel lessawkward about sharing their
senior pictures.
So that's usually done.
You know, senior pictures aretaken June to October.
So usually in June, july,august they're being tagged by
their photographers.
If their photographers know howto squeeze social media for all
(13:13):
it's worth, for free, likeInstagram, like I do, they tag
their clients.
So these seniors then share itto their stories and then
usually in September, seniorPictures Sunday starts, where
high school seniors use thehashtag SPS as a thing, or even
as a caption, and they'll postlike a series of three senior
(13:37):
pictures that are all very, verysimilar same outfit, same
location and they mind you havea hundred other senior pictures
that they could post, but theyare not going to blast them all
out there like seniors did in2018, 2010.
They're not going to put awhole album up.
They're curating their contentjust like we business owners do,
(13:58):
and some of the things thatthey do is so cool, like one
senior picture and you slide inits's.
Next it's a baby picture andthen they have a really cute
caption of we did it, you know,like graduation.
Who would have thought thislittle girl would be in, you
know, in this off whatever.
That's a lame example, but youget the idea.
(14:19):
They're just so awesome withtheir curation of how they post
and, as marketers, I can tellyou that businesses will need to
be doing that in a year.
Thoughtfulness like that and thecuration of a post sounds like
a lot of work.
It's really not.
It's just really payingattention to what is coming in
social media and authenticity iscoming in social media for next
(14:42):
year.
Curation, but not overdone, notobnoxious.
So that's pretty much how Istarted my business.
I mean, there was a heck of alot of work.
I made sure that I wasavailable to my kids number one,
but if they were in school, Iwas working and when I saw that
the bus was coming down the road, I locked the studio and went
(15:06):
in the house and made supperwith them and did homework.
So now was I always here.
No, things got really busy andreally crazy for a while and I
had to reel it back in, becauseit's easy to get sort of
addicted to knowing you're theperson that everybody wants to
go to for senior pictures andgetting caught up in that.
I'm no longer caught up in that.
(15:27):
I'm probably not even thatperson anymore, which is amazing
.
This is my favorite part of mycareer right now, because I
don't have to care, I don't needto be everybody's everything
and I do this because I love it.
I could easily be done withphotography, but I feel like
senior pictures are like a partof my soul.
Maybe I'm stunted as a 16 yearold, I don't know, but I learned
(15:50):
so much about marketing fromthem that it's insane.
I don't script these podcasts.
I try to keep it as real as Ican and I'm really trying to
reflect on on how I grew mybusiness and really it was just
getting involved in my communityand for me it wasn't
necessarily like downtownbusiness groups or networking
(16:11):
groups or anything like that.
I tried that.
That's not me.
I am not a social person, I'm aone-on-one person.
You put me one-on-one withanybody and usually we end up
being like amazing friends for areally long time, if not
forever, but you put me in aroom full of people and I feel
like I want to die.
So, yeah, I hope this givessome background on how I grew my
(16:33):
business.
I mean, obviously, leveragingorganic marketing was huge and
keeping up with the growth ofInstagram, facebook, now TikTok
and finding ways to leverage.
I'm still kind of on the benchwith TikTok.
That doesn't mean that I'm notusing it or going to use it.
I'm just not going to jump inuntil I fully understand where
(16:56):
my if my people are there andhow they want to receive the
information there, because Ineed to kind of detox from the
Instagram aesthetic thing of2020.
You know what I mean?
Like everybody had theirperfect feed and I had to buy
into all that because that'swhat people wanted, even from
(17:17):
businesses.
And now I feel like in a lot ofways I'm sort of dumbing down.
Even though I have professionalpictures you know, professional
videos, reels for, like, if I'mworking with a remodeler and
making these incredible reels,I'm still trying to figure out
how can I really talk about thaton TikTok and not make it look
(17:39):
too over produced.
That makes sense.
It's hard to be an artist onsomething like TikTok because
people want to be sitting in thefront seat of their car, they
want to feel like they'retalking to you face to face,
like this, and they don't reallywant to see perfect.
They want to see real and raw.
So I have a list ofconversations that I'm looking
(18:02):
to start on TikTok when I'mready.
I'm just not quite ready and Ihave a lot of other things I'm
doing.
I'm creating a course.
I have something that couldreally help you.
If you're and I'm not trying tohard sell this and just telling
you what I've created and ifyou want it, great, and if you
don't, that's okay I created thefive-star formula, which helps
you to know how to ask forfive-star reviews, how to time
(18:27):
your ask, what exactly to sayand how to respond to five-star
reviews so that you can get yourdigital footprint really
started.
That would be a number onefirst thing I would do if you
ever wanted to work with me.
Before you do anything, I wouldbuy the five-star formula, use
it it's not expensive andimplement it into your business.
(18:50):
Figure out how you can make ita part of your process so that
you can get those five-starreviews rolling in.
You can't just ask 20 people inan email for five-star reviews
and expect success.
Not to mention, google is nowshutting down Google business
accounts people that get morethan a few reviews within a week
(19:13):
, so that's a big, big no-no.
But the good thing to do is toget your reviews rolling
organically and that will reallyhelp you to grow naturally in
your business.
Now, thinking from aphotographer perspective,
because I know a lot ofphotographers listen to this
podcast we're going into aquieter season and this is
(19:35):
typically when I go through andmake a list of what worked well
for me and what didn't and Istart to fix those things that
need to be fixed and plan forthe spring and it's natural to
convince yourself, pretty muchfrom March to June, that you're
going out of business.
Nobody cares, you're irrelevant, you're.
You know, nobody wants yourwork, it's out of style.
(19:58):
All the things that artistshave go through their mind when
there's no work to be had,because it's just seasonal.
And then July 4th comes andgoes and you wonder why you ever
thought that and wish thatsomebody would turn the faucet
down a little bit.
So there's a natural dance tohow the season goes, and I'm
(20:19):
sure that's the case with anybusiness, and that's just the
part of the fun, right?
It keeps us on our toes andkeeps us growing.
So I hope you enjoyed this.
Let me know if you havequestions.
I would love it if yousubscribed or hit the like
button on my podcast.
If you're on iTunes, I wouldlove it if you gave a review.
I appreciate you being here andI'm always here if you have
(20:40):
questions, and I look forward totalking to you on the next
episode.
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