Marketing Beyond Social Media

Emily Thompson 0:02
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Kathleen Shannon 2:03
Okay, today we have a question from our clubhouse member Rachel Greermen. Here it is.

Rachel Greerman 2:10
Hi, my name is Rachel Greerman. And I am a documentary family photographer. Based in Denver, Colorado, I run a company called Granger stories made up of just me. And I mostly just photograph families in their homes and living their daily lives. So my goal with this business is to do longer sessions, six hours, 12 hours, and spend a lot of time with families. But mostly what I'm doing right now is a few of those and the one hour sessions which are more inexpensive, and the bulk of the clientele that I'm reaching once those. So I did an entire rebranding earlier this year of my site and business. And I learned that my ideal client is actually a mom that is super present with their kids all day, she's not on her phone throughout the day. She's on the floor with the kids invested in what the family is doing. And this makes for fantastic photos. But it makes it really hard for me to market to this kind of mob. Most of my referrals, actually all of my referrals are either word of mouth or Facebook right now. So I'm attracting a lot of the clients who want the one hour cheaper sessions, which is fine, I definitely offer them. But I would love to phase them out eventually, and just go after that market that wants the longer days. So my question is, what am I missing? Where should I be marketing? And how should I be marketing? If social media is not going to be the answer for me? Is there anything out of the box that I haven't thought of? Should I be trying to get in front of people physically? And what events exist for me to do that? Should I be handing business cards out? Yeah, I just kind of feel at a loss about where to go from here. And I would love any and all insights. So thanks.

Emily Thompson 4:17
So here's my thing, guys, is that social media is really great. And it's free, and you can market your business on it. But people play the business game before there was social media. So the fact that people see social media as the end all be all like if you can't make it on social, then you have to sort of rethink your business model all the things and I think Rachel, you're getting outside of your box a little bit with some suggestions that I think even you know could be helpful, but I challenge everyone to flex and strengthen your entrepreneurial muscle by getting back in the real world and marketing your business to people face to face. I think for I think for Rachel, I would love to see Have you tried to hook up with mommy groups? If you can't have one mom paying to have you come hang out for six hours at your home? Can you talk three moms into doing it a six hour trip to the zoo, or getting in touch with PTA groups or homeschool groups. Imagine talking to moms and to having you follow along with their kids at school field trips, you can do so many things that have nothing to do with social media, and everything to do with getting back into into your community and selling your business to people face to face.

Kathleen Shannon 5:34
That was great, Emily.

Emily Thompson 5:37
Why thanks, Kathleen.

Kathleen Shannon 5:41
I was my cheerful co host, I put my cheerful co host hat on.

Emily Thompson 5:47
Love it. Thank you.

Kathleen Shannon 5:48
Um, I, whenever I heard Rachel talking about this, I really started getting underneath not what you're doing, but who you're serving and what the value is. So I'm certainly not one of those super engaged parents that is on the floor. With my kids six to 12 hours a day is just not happening. Like he's on his iPad six to 12 hours a day, I still feel like I'm a really good mom. And I still love the idea of a documentary style shoot. But for me, one hour is all I need. And honestly, one hour is all I can handle. So something that I would really challenge you to think about Rachel is what the value is for your customer, what is the value of having a six to 12 hours a day documented, and what is really the difference between documenting one hour with a family and six to 12 hours with a family family. And I think that once you can communicate what the differences are, and where that value lies, you're gonna have a much easier time selling it no matter how or where you sell it. I also want you to think about the kinds of hurdles that someone would have to overcome and thinking about doing a six to 12 hour shoot, that is a long amount of time and they're naturally naturally going to have objections that come up. So I want you to think about the objections that would come up like what if my kid throws a fit? These are the same objections that show up in a one hour shoot time six to 12 hours, right? So how do you help your client overcome those objections and what those might be. Another thing that I want to talk about is this documentary style, hang out with someone for six to 12 hours, really almost becomes an art project. So I wonder if you can almost even reposition what you're offering, not as a portrait, and really positioning it in a different way than you would that one to two hour shoot. And so then that got me really thinking about like, maybe moms aren't necessarily your dream client, like Could it be someone who can handle a six to 12 hour shoot. So this could be another business who really needs to capture a day in the life of their business. It could be a extreme athlete who wants to show everything that's involved in being an athlete from waking up in the morning and training to the food that they're eating to their recovery sessions. You know, I mean, and that's just a silly example. But I'm almost wondering if your ideal client isn't actually a mom, because maybe there aren't that many moms actually sitting on the floor with our kid and being super present six to 12 hours a day. I might be blindsided by my own parenting experience right now. But that just feels like a lot. So I'm not trying to be a naysayer, by any means. Like, if it is the mom, I would really think about how you position this accordingly. What do you think about that, Emily?

Emily Thompson 8:37
Yeah, like it, I mean, making sure that the people you're trying to sell to are actually people you're trying to sell to is certainly the root of any marketing problem. If you can't sell what it is that you're trying to sell to the people you want to sell it to, you're not selling it to the right people. So definitely looking at making sure you are selling the right thing. But I also think in doing that, like once you do know that that is true, then the outside of your of your social media box. And again, like going back to if this is the thing that you want to do, if you do hook up with some mom groups, or some PTA, organ organizations to do longer photoshoots Sure, you probably don't want to work with mom groups or PTA groups for the rest of your life. But you get getting in a couple of those. A couple of those interactions will get you in front of the moms who will see an experience the value and want to pay you for it. Either one hour or 612 or eight or however many hours that may be so play with it. I think that you're in a place where you have a good grasp of what you want to do. You need to make sure you're doing it for the right people that the value is there and that you're putting it in front of people who will see the value in what you're trying to offer. And I'll tell you guys, social media isn't always that place. So hop up off the internet. Go into your community and Test your offering to the people you think actually wants it.

Kathleen Shannon 10:04
All right, good luck, Rachel, we hope the best for you and really start digging into who that customer is, what they really want, what they really need, how you can overcome their objections, how you can meet their desires. And then of course, where you're sharing all of that. This minisode is brought to you by aptiv. Try it for free. Get fitness on demand, a PT iv.com that's aptiv.com and enter being boss at the checkout to get your first 30 days for free. Hey, boss want even more actionable guidance from me and Emily, we're taking our expertise in branding, marketing and building profitable businesses to the being boss clubhouse. The clubhouse kicks off with a two day online retreat followed by a year of support and community. We've helped our clubhouse members get focused, double their revenue, launch their dream offering and market themselves like a boss. Learn more at www.beingboss.club/clubhouse again, that's www.beingboss.club/clubhouse.

Emily Thompson 11:12
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