Lessons

Lesson Info

Attracting Ideal Client: Q&A

Alright, let's dive in to a little bit of a Q and A, does anybody want to get started? Yes, let's go there. Length. When you're talking content, do you have a guideline as far as how much information should we be putting in each of these? That's such a great question. Okay. So, I started my business with a blog. I didn't have a website because I didn't have money for a website, and, in 2006, the internet game was so different. Long form was king. People loved reading blogs, following blogs, commenting on blogs, and then like three or four years ago, that completely changed. So as a result, my blog posts have gotten much shorter. I think that a sweet spot is three to five hundred words for a content blog, and then give a resource for them to opt into, to sign up for your news letter or whatever, if they want more information. Because what I see is people writing these long, nine hundred, a thousand word blog posts and people just skim. And so if you're gonna skim and I'm gonna spend...

all this time for you to skim I would rather you actually have an exchange. A mutual exchange of respect and time. You give me your e-mail address, you get all of the information and then some, and then people peruse it because they have it, they downloaded it, it's on their phone, and to me that's a stronger way. Yes, three to five hundred. Is there another question? Yes. I'm gonna have you stand up. Alright, so, I feel like you're my Puerto Rican sister, you know. Ah yes, (speaking foreign language). Okay! But uh, I feel like, for me personally, I like a lot of different things, and I think pairing it down is pretty difficult, you seem like you like a lot of different things, and maybe JD is your help to bring it back in a little bit? No, God, that poor man. No? His spirit is like a unicorn, and rainbows, he loves everything. Okay, okay, great, So for me, I'm always trying to find out or figure out how I can bring it back because I wanna do everything, always. Okay, let's just get real. Throw it out. Okay, so like, photography is my, my new passion. Okay, how long is this new passion? So, professionally, since May of last year, Okay, cool. And I've done two weddings and I've done, like, 30 other shoots, you know, random, everything. I'm enjoying it and I'm feeling like I'm growing a lot because of it but how do I bring it to center? Because I want to do more weddings, I love weddings, Okay. But I also want still like doing the other stuff too, I mean, you were saying having three different sites, like three different, maybe three different sites or three different sections. Does that get too much if I'm doing, you know, events, and I'm doing newborn and I'm doing wedding, is that too much? Where do you see yourself in two years? Like, what is the most of what you're doing? Like, perfect world, we have no limitations right now, what are you doing in two years? The most of it, what makes you happy? What's giving you life? What is the thing that you're doing the most? For me personally, my wife and I have talked about this, she says that, you know, the one thing that she would love to do is actually edit for me, so for me it would be great if we were working together in some capacity, kind of like you and JD do, Great. But also for me to be focusing more on weddings, Because I just, I love everything about weddings, she hates weddings, she's like I'm glad we only have to do this once. You know. For us, right, but for me I wanna be doing more weddings but obviously I can't do them with her shooting because that's not what she wants to do, so, And don't make her do it. Yeah, right, of course. That's marital advice. Yeah, yeah yeah. You can thank me for that. Thank you, I'm gonna be more than just, yeah. Okay. I see where you're going with it and I like doing a lot of stuff, I like shooting a lot of stuff, I actually like shooting yogi practitioners. I love it. I don't share it very often. I shoot a lot of things for me. I love lifestyle sessions for entrepreneurs. I love it. I don't share it. So the thing that I'm sharing is the thing, ultimately, that I want to attract. And, is it hard and is it difficult? Yes. But if you have a personal Facebook page and you want to sports photography or event photography, share that. Or if you're being able to monetize your ability and resources as a second photographer for corporate events, throw together a small, small, sub-blog, right? You can find it as like sub-blog.yourwebsite.com, instead of your blog, and you can just direct everybody for that type of niche business, obviously you're not trying to attract every first photographer. Have an online small portfolio, showcase what you do, still find a way to monetize it but not necessarily put all your outward facing endeavors for it. Because when you do that it becomes diluted, you become very overwhelmed, you're like, who am I speaking to? Why does my feed look messy? So focus on that thing, and then find outside ways to monetize maybe not outward facing. Okay, cool. Awesome, thank you. We have two online questions: we're in fine art. Any suggestions for marketing content when not addressing a problem, but rather addressing a desire? Oh, Sondra. What we're doing here is making the same assumption that graphic designers said: 10 things to know when you're working with a graphic designer. I'm venturing to guess, I'm not venturing, I know this. I'm in the industry. Nobody is sitting here saying "I desire fine art." We're assuming that our client is highly educated in the descriptions of the things that we provide and they are not. They just know this is pretty to me. They don't know why it's pretty. And this is not just for photography, This is even for life coaching. They don't know what they need until you start verbalizing: are you unhappy in the workplace? I know what it feels like to be stuck in a cubicle. Me too! Right, so they don't know what they want, so let's just parse that away. What you need to create content, is content to be found, period. And once they're there, let your stuff sell the work. Period. Blog about wedding timelines. Blogging about if you hire a film photographer, the extra time that you need for family photos. If you're hiring a film photography, the turnaround time, blogging about the difference of if you're a film photographer versus a digital photographer you're going to get about one third of the images that a digital photographer is providing. I can go on for days. People aren't saying, "I need to find an "art photographer, what's the best way?" They are searching for photographers, get found as a photographer, then let your work do the selling. Period, the end. I sound so mean. I do. But it's just what it is. Now, if you knew your ideal client, and you knew what she was saying in bed late at night, she's thinking about: "ah, I have to do seating arrangements. "I didn't get the, how am I going to buy "these vintage stamps that I saw in Martha Stewart?" Write an article about the best place to find vintage stamps on Etsy. Get found. I can tell you the first year of my business, so many good things happened because all I was doing was creating content for blogs and there was one really active bride on The Knot forums, The Knot forums aren't as popular as they were when they first started like 10 years ago. And she kept on saying like, "Oh, "I just found this timeline, oh, do "you guys want good bridal party photos? "This photographer put together a tips "and tricks for all of my bridesmaids. "I'm going to send this to my bridesmaids." And so all of the sudden all these other, like, little bees were buzzing around the queen bee to be like, oh! People kept on coming, people kept on coming. When you create content for the things that people are searching for, they come. Truly. Let's go to question number two. This is from Hannahkuk. Struggling to think of a relevant content for client. Holiday home on a beach. Rental client. How do you tap into less tangible offers, selling a weekend or week break, not a physical product? Okay, cool, so in this case, if I'm understanding correctly, in this case I wouldn't create like, I would create some helpful content like things to look for in a rental home. How to read reviews. Are there ways to get contacted with other reviewers? Find a specific review spot or space. Follow people on VRBO. Because there's a good chance that you're renting a rental home, this is not your first time at the rodeo. You know what to be searching for, can you, who should they be following on rental properties? What are the values, and that type of thing. And furthermore, that would be cursory for me, I would go deep. Where am I in this community if I'm on... I tried to be Cory and I forgot. Okay, the Hamptons. You can see I'm not cool, That doesn't come to me. If I had a vacation home in Jesus's name in the Hamptons, if I had it and I'm trying to rent it out, I'm not talking about vacation things to look for, I'm finding the cutest restaurants, I'm going to be doing a food tour of downtown Hampton, what's the reason for wearing white in the Hamptons in the summer? Like, what are the next trends for Hampton style? Get found. Get found for where people are going, create content and then all of the sudden they didn't know they wanted a rental house because they thought they wanted to stay at the five star, but once you show them the beachfront property, and the striped linens, and the nautical themes, then they're sold. Does this make sense? Cool. Are there any, I think there was another question. Yes. I'm gonna have you, first and foremost, I'm going to have her, can you stand up with the mic. And then I'll move to you later. Thank you. Okay, so, Instagram. If you have two different niches, so me, I'm a photographer, and I do weddings and I also do family sessions because we live in a touristy town. Cool. It's not necessarily something I wanna put on my main Instagram, would I create a separate Instagram for that? Okay, so, I'm going to answer this question differently. You told me what your trajectory was, I'm not trying to put this out on my feed, You answered your own question. Okay. So you're gonna answer, hold on, let's work this through for other people who are watching. Because people who are doing, see, my thoughts are moving much faster than my mouth. (audience laughs) You are trying to do two niche markets but there are some people who want to blend the two. Right. I would, in your case, pin down easily, create two Instagram accounts that are highly focused, and to me those are going to be the most effective, they're just going to take more time. Now, if there was somebody in your position, to me, that seems like a seamless brand navigation. You get married, you have babies, you have a family. So theoretically, grid work wise, continuity wise, client maturation process wise, it works. Now if you want to do weddings and motorcycles. Distinctly break apart. Anything that seems seamless across brands and experiences can be seen in the same account if you curate it well. Okay. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. So, wedding photographer, during wedding season it's like crazy hard to blog, and blog properly, did you ever find, like, the right number of times a week, a month, to get good content out there? So, and I say this not from like a wedding photographer standpoint or perspective, now I went to your blog and you write so much. Like, you can literally cut your blogs in by two thirds. You're only showcasing a third. And I know that you have your clients give you feedback and I think that that's really cute, trim, trim, trim, trim, trim. Because you have to remember that what you putting out is actually an advertisement. And I don't see any of the biggest companies putting out six pages, six scrolls, of advertisement. Keep it short, keep it tight. So that should be freeing to you, so that you don't have to feel shackled to preexisting expectations. And how many times a week? Well, I'm blogging now, two to three times a week, and I would highly encourage anybody at least once a week, because a lot of the times I'd go to blogs and people weren't blogging for like, months. And to me, here's the the thing that we know as business owners. There's a good chance you're not blogging because you're really busy. But me, as a consumer, I go to your blog and what do I think? You have nothing to show. You're not busy. So we have to understand that when we put ourselves in our clients' shoes we understand what they're thinking. So if this is not your cup of tea, and you're just thinking I can't, I won't, I refuse; take the blog down. You're going to be doing a greater service and driving traffic more directed to where you want them to go. But I do believe that blogs were not there, definitely not what they were in the past. I will say that, I used to get massive amounts of traffic to my blog. And now I'd be lucky that I get one-tenth of that on a daily basis. However, social platforms have extended the reach far beyond my capability, I just can't go as deep. And because I can't go as deep and build these like, strong relationships, I must go a little bit more active, more frequent, have intention, be strategic, and create the type of engagement that I want. Those are great questions. Yes. I'm gonna have you stand up. You bring up a good issue about people like, not engaged on the blog, but do you think that's because maybe there's some people that are like, putting more into their Instagram posts? And maybe that's a good idea to put maybe not the whole blog, but 250 words isn't that long, maybe put half of that and lead in, maybe get people to come back that way? Absolutely. Here's the thing: I never function under the assumption, no I have to tell you that I was in this exact same position as I started the content for CreativeLive, because I know that I've spoken about ideal clients, I know I've spoken about it, and everything about me would be like I can't start the session off with like, day old bread. But I'm like, it's sustenance. This is the foundation. And so, to me, I have to function under the assumption that not everybody is going to read 100% of the things that I put out. Not everybody is gonna follow every, 100% of my Instagram posts. So do I think that you can hit people in two different directions and there's a good chance, studies show, because the exit link on Instagram is only one, and you wanna make that sure it's preserved, and the thing you want it to go to, you're not constantly swapping out your exit links, right? So I put in a hard code, like, go to CreativeLive.com forward slash Jasmine, like, I know it's very slim, but if you can start building a little bit of depth, a little bit of depth, over time, that the trust process becomes a good thing. And once they trust you enough to say, he's not going to waste my time when I go to the full blog post, then you win. And they'll take that time to cut and paste. Absolutely, absolutely. Awesome. Let's dive into, oh yes, let's go. Camille. Yes, thanks. So I know you've mentioned about having an opinion about the things that we know about, obviously, but it still feels really one sided, like, because obviously we all have lots of opinions about what we do because we're experts doing it, Yes. How do you write it so it just doesn't seem like every, it's just you talking about stuff that bothers you, about this or thinks this is a good idea, or it just feels really opinionated, like, by the time you get a hundred posts-- I would be very cautious about, unless you're like a pundit, unless you're like the home construction pundit, I would be very cautious of you having opinions. You are there to facilitate and educate, period, with your content. So my question to you, so let's work through this, and your answer could change, so I'm not holding you to anything. Do you think that your business, so like the value, we know you do kitchen remodeling, perfect, but remember, we had to find value, and I think value can be described just for easiest sake, you help people, you empower people accomplish something, or you diminish fear. What do you think your services as a female construction connoisseur, what do you do? Help, empower, or diminish fear? All three of those. Choose one. So I would say, empower would be empowering women to not get ripped off, to not get taken advantage off, because they actually know what things really cost, what they should, how they should really do it, so really-- So empowering is your want, you think? And I'm saying this because, remember, I started this by saying I'm gonna push you, I'm gonna push you, I'm gonna push you. Because when you become all things, your messages become diluted. It could still work. When you become, like, I empower, I empower women, period. That should become part of your tag line, that should become the thing that you do. You know your ideal client is a female every time, You start a blog post, and I don't think that this is your verbiage, but you could still be like "hey girlfriend." Something along the lines so you're edging it in, edging it in. I know what it feels like to be taken advantage of, this blog post is to ensure that kitchen knobs don't get the best of you. Then you have: here, kitchen knobs, the standard markup is 10%, three hundred words, I'll see you next week for how not to get ripped off on bathtub nozzles. (audience laughs) Like, that's it! And you need to lean into that, now you could also do, I could do a helpful blog post, let's do a cross comparison between kitchen knobs and cabinet knobs, you could, and you could also diminish the fear, do you know how much women, women are six times more likely to get ripped off by contractors. Okay, you could do all of those, but I'm telling you, when the message becomes again, again and again, people describe you as she's all about protecting women in the construction field. That's how you become described. And when people sell you, you've become hands off marketing. That is the strongest thing that you can do. So I encourage, not just Camille, everybody, you can do all three, I know you can do all three, you've been trying to do all three, you want to do all three and you just learned about all three just today. Choose one. Let me save you some time, lean heavily into that. Now all of the sudden if you get there and you realize that you're brand messaging and that value proposition is slightly changed, change it. Totally cool. But lean into one so that you can adequately assess where you are. Alissa, you're smiling boo, thank you so much. Okay, let's do one more question before we get into the next section. So with, with my ideal client, they are more the influencer, so they're the one that they're gonna go and make a recommendation to their boss, to say, we should hire them. So we do corporate events. Yes you do. And do them well. Oh, thank you. So, with the blog, which I have not blogged in a while, Uh huh. Who should I be, I mean, I don't think the, I don't think-- So you're going for the influencer. Going for the influencer. You're not going for the CEO. You're going to the person who's going to be the voice in the ear. Right. You're going to be the voice of the person, you're going after the person, which is why I feel like, I think that a good strategy for a lot of different businesses could be catered to a spouse, could be catered to a child taking care of an elderly parent, you can choose whoever, you can choose the decision maker. Right. But always choose the decision maker. Right. Those are great questions. The decision maker or the influencer? Influencer, excuse me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Well, I mean, at the end of the day, like, depending on how strong that relationship is between the decision maker and the CEO, they could be almost synonymous, But yes, the influencer. Okay. Yeah, great question. That was great. Thank you.