Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area.
Mike Lloyd of www.mikelloydphoto.com specialises in creative and cinematic portraits, uniquely customized to his clients. He says on his website, you get artistic personalised imagery you won't find anywhere else. The majority of his client work is focused on families, couples and high school seniors. Mike describes his sessions as “un-portrait experiences” where you get photography you never knew you could have.
In this interview, Mike shares how his rebrand took him from one in a crowd of photographers to someone unique and sought after by clients. On the brink of giving it all away, Mike started shooting in the style and with clients he actually wanted to and since then, business has been improving exponentially after a scary, slow start. The big message; start shooting the way you want and attract the clients who love what you do.
In addition to his photography, Mike has an online community, Photogs Unite! Where he's helping photographers become better at photography and developing their style.
Here’s some more of what we cover in this interview:
What’s on Offer for Premium Members
If you’re a premium member, you have a bonus “members only” episode coming to you this week. Look out for that interview, it will drop into your podcast feed later in the week.
As a color blind photographer, if I can do this anybody can. – Mike Lloyd
If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.
Plus special member-only interviews.
You'll also receive access to the members only Secret Facebook Group where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. There are also FB live video tutorials, role play interviews and special live interviews happening in the group.
You will not find more friendly, more motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.
Joining a Mastermind Group (encouraged by Andrew) has been incredibly valuable and fun, I look forward to connecting with my group members every week. Jina Zheng, Premium Member and Melbourne Children photographer.
And that's not all… you get a set of steak knives… I'm kidding!
Seriously though, that's not all. In addition to everything above, you'll get access to and instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable and build friendships with other pro photographers with similar motives to you – to build a more successful photography business.
What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Mike shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in todays episode.
Not that everyday at work needs to be the best day of your life, but there's a difference between dreading every single day and then not being excited. – Mike Lloyd
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Mike or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.
iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs
Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!
Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners means more interviews and ultimately a better show.
If you have left a review in the past, thank you!
If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.
Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast and email me your key words or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.
New eBook to help you get more portrait clients
I've just released a new ebook: Book EVEN More Portraits Than You Ever Thought Possible.
It's a follow up to the first book and focuses on a more easily implementable version of 3rd Party Marketing. (If you don't have the first one click on the link in the sidebar and download it – it's FREE).
What I cover in this book is a well known strategy and one that comes up in a lot of interviews but is often brushed over because it is widely used.
The book goes into DETAIL on how to get a 3rd party promo set up – which businesses to partner with, what to say, what to bring to the meeting, sample .psd files you can use (copy), scripts, everything you'll need to get this set up.
I'd love to give this away to you guys but it's taken a lot of work and I know is a bargain at the launch price of $47. It's going up shortly.
If you're ONLY using FB Ads and you need to add another marketing tactic to your portrait photography business, you should be doing this.
This book isn't for you if you already run 3rd Party Marketing promos and have everything running well.
Feel free to ask questions below and of course, if you're not happy with anything, you get your $$$ back and you can keep the book.
Along with the book purchase is a link to the resource page where you can access related interviews, the downloadable artwork and more.
Here's the link again: https://photobizx.com/ebook2
We have a WINNER… Something pretty damn special for Ryan Teague!
When recording these interviews, I let each guest know I'll be saving the best part of the interview for members. In Mark's case, he wanted to go one better. In his words, he wants a chance to give back as a thanks to all the people who have helped him get where he is today. And because of that, Mark is absolutely spoiling one lucky Premium member with a 12 month mentorship!
And the WINNER is Ryan Teague of Feather and Finch Photography on the Gold Coast.
Ryan sent in a heartfelt and well thought out email which included a video recording explaining why this 12 month mentorship would be so good for him and his business.
I'm looking forward to following Ryan's progress and seeing how his film shooting and business progresses over the next 12 months.
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Photogs Unite! beprepared page
Book EVEN More Portraits Than You Ever Thought Possible – eBook
Thank you!
Thanks again for listening and thanks to Mike for coming on and sharing so much about his business, marketing, tactics and strategies for todays episode.
If you are not an expert in something and cannot confidently sell your services at a high professional rate to somebody else, then hire a professional to do it. – Mike Lloyd
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!
That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!
Thanks and speak soon
Andrew
Hi Mike. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ideas and tactics. One of them is something I’ve often thought about but never done. That’s doing mini sessions at another business, like a dance school, or horse stables etc. You mentioned $10 sessions and the thing that has always put me off is I wonder if those mini ‘production line’ sessions devalue your main sessions. It’s hard to justify going from $10 to $1000+, even if there is more time and planning – especially if they already love the mini session photographs. What do you think? On another note, you mentioned that you’d be sceptical of a marketing company that guaranteed results. If they put it in writing and were specific then it would help me trust them more. I offer a guarantee in my photography business and the great marketeer Drayton Bird guarantees his marketing too. The key is to stand behind that guarantee. Sadly most SEO companies that guarantee top spot on Google are just saying it and not backing it up in a contract. Anyway, thanks again and I love the phrase ‘Unportraits’. Dan
Hi Dan! Thanks for listening to our chat, and for the kind words! Doing a day of mini sessions is all about how you position it. I had lights and a backdrop set up in the store so they could get photos trying on outfits in the clothing store. I wasn’t offering a portrait session. It was 3-5 poses in the outfit that would go on my Facebook page. The couldn’t buy prints and the didn’t get any additional images. It was meant to drive traffic to my page and for them to share the photos on social media.
It is really easy for mini sessions to cannibalize your regular portrait sessions, which is why I I’m careful about how I do them. The trick is to offer one look that serves one purpose, and they can not buy the usual items you sell to your portrait clients. You have to make it a discernibly different product and service. For example, you can do mini sessions for holiday cards, and if they want prints, they can get $50 off and book you for a regular session. A mini session should entice them to buy the real thing. You have to be strategic about your positioning, available products, and then utilize it as a sales tool.
Regarding the marketing guarantee, like you said, it’s about what they are guaranteeing. You can’t promise that a specific campaign will work, but promising to work at it and guaranteeing that you will find a way to get results is a good thing for any business to do.
Cheers! Thanks again!