To move your photography business substantially forward requires innovation. Innovation requires DEEP WORK. Get off the hamster wheel and grow your photography business.
The word “investment” sounds better than “pricing,” right? It must!
But in reality, it allows every photographer out there who is intimidated by or finds unpleasant the fact they have to actually sell their products and run a business to procrastinate even further.
Time to make 2018 the Year of Purposeful Marketing. The goal?
No more stabbing in the dark at random social media platforms hoping and praying someone will notice you. Instead an airtight marketing plan that will zero in on your ideal client like a heat seeking missile.
Inspire Photo Retreat's mission is to foster & maintain a supportive community where photographers are encouraged & empowered to grow in their lives and businesses through innovative curriculum in the areas of Craft, Vision & Business.
Asking "couldn't I just do this website on my own" is similar to when a client asks you "couldn't I just take a photo of my kids on my iphone?"
We all dread that moment when a well-meaning client shows us a Pinterest board of "inspiration" for their photo shoot or wedding. We all know that, if it's on a board, it's been done ad nauseum already. Do you want your website to evoke something that's been "done" already?
There are a couple of caveats: You have to invest your million in your business. You can’t just pay yourself more. And you have to spend it all in one year.
What would you do?
Instead of struggling against reality (and complaining)--which strengthens your old, bad habits--lean into reality instead.
Don't concentrate on how things "should be." Instead, be open like a vessel to a new framework of possibility.
We've read a million and one high-falutin' and even confusing definitions of marketing. But we here at 16 Hoops only have one way to explain marketing. It cuts to the chase nicely.
The best businesses do the hard work to first uncover their own expertise, and then build a brand that expresses that expertise perfectly to their ideal customer. Effective branding is like a pheromone to your perfect customer. They are drawn to it instinctively, like bears to honey.
Saying you are a photographer is like saying you are a human. Anyone with a homo sapiens brain and a pulse is a human. Ergo, anyone with a camera and a business card is a photographer.
I just HAD to know why what I was doing didn’t work as well as I wanted to. What was I doing wrong? After meditating and researching and thinking about it for almost 18 months, I found the answer.
The problem I keep seeing over and over again with this industry is the complete lack of actual expertise in the photography market, despite more “experts” than ever before.
After thinking hard about what I wanted to bring to my space, what kind of knowledge I wanted to share and how I wanted to share it, I formed 16 Hoops: a strategic design and branding firm for photographers.