I knew very little about todays guest, Mathew Sacco from the Evoke Company and it was a suggestion by listener Paul Pennell that prompted this episode. Paul told me that Mat should be on the podcast because he's new to the business of  wedding photography and he's killing it! Mat, it seemed, would be the perfect guest for any listener finding your way with a new wedding photography business.

Mat has been shooting professionally since 2009 after leaving his full time graphic design job and is consistently photographing 60 plus weddings each year – all this as a 100% sole operator, the main income earner for his family and a super saturated part of the country when it comes to wedding photographers.

Looking around online before this interview, interestingly, there was very little I could find about Mat which just ma be part of his grand plans. Here's all I could find about Mat, and this was from his website: Specialising in wedding and portrait photography as well as flowers and styling. I can't wait to share this interview with a down to earth and genuinely lovely bloke.

Here's some more of what we cover:

  • Moving to full-time photography from a secure day job as a graphic designer
  • Shooting 60 weddings per year as a 100% solo operator while supporting a family
  • SEO strategies that include hiring a specialist to look after your website
  • What you can do to appear in search engine results on top of paid SEO
  • How much does it cost to dominate your search terms in the search rankings
  • How to measure your website's ranking performance
  • Why Mathew spends what he does on paid SEO
  • Working from home, the good and the bad
  • How to balance work and family time as a working from home wedding photographer
  • Mathew's work flow from shoot to collection including sneak peeks, blogging and FB strategies
  • Building a routine to free up more of your time to enjoy the reason for having your own photography business
  • What Mat is doing to attract so many bookings as a new photographer in a photographer saturated area
  • What Mathew believes is the reason for his rapid success
  • Mathew's bookings come form  – 50% word of mouth, 50% social media – we discuss both strategies
  • Learn why couples refer Mathew's business to their friends
  • How Mat attracts the right clients for his business and how you can do the same for yours
  • Blogging strategies; frequency, number of images, tagging and sharing to increase blog traffic
  • Predicting the traffic you will gain from your blogs and how to use it to your advantage
  • Using Facebook to attract traffic to your website and how Mat does it
  • The importance of tagging venues and suppliers to your current wedding blog
  • Facebook tagging
  • Strategies you can employ when finding and adding clients as friends on Facebook
  • Getting to know your clients via Facebook
  • Managing both personal and business Facebook accounts
  • Why you need to have a good plan of attack before fully engaging on different social media platforms
  • Using Pinterest for clients to reference wedding details, locations and photography inspirations

No matter where you are in your business growth, following this interview with Mat, it should be obvious that you can build a successful wedding photography business no matter the competition, the area your'e drawing from and the style of photography you like to shoot. Following a marketing and social media strategy that suits you and just repeating over and over looks to be the perfect approach.

Bride and groom caught in a candid moment while touching noses

 

What's on Offer for Premium Members

If you're a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this episode or have seen it pop up in your podcast app, where you can hear lots more implementable content from where we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed hard for that include:

  • Why paid Facebook posts are not worth the cost and don't convert to business leads
  • Strategies you can implement during the ‘quiet' periods to gain more bookings
  • Tracking your marketing strategies to measure their effectiveness
  • What makes Evoke Company unique
  • Getting better at the business of photography

Bride and groom standing at the door of a barn at night and backlit beautifully from their wedding reception lights. Shot in black and white and showing plenty of night sky.

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or learnt from what was shared? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you'd like to ask or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.

If you'd like an easy way to show Mat your thanks, and support for the show at the same time, click the link to create a tweet and automatically let him know you're listening: https://photobizx.com/tweet

Bride and groom small in the bottom centre of the frame being dwarfed by the autumn colours of a large bush or tree

The Resources Page

Remember the ever expanding resources page that has a listing of products, programs, hardware, books and directories mentioned in each episode of the show. If you’re looking for something that a guest has mentioned on a previous episode but just can’t remember who or what it was – you’ll find it listed in order on the resources page.

iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs

Each week before recording the podcast I check iTunes for any reviews and each week I'm excited to see what you've had to say about the podcast. This week I was blown away to see five fantastic reviews! Thanks you so much to:

Tracy Lee of Tracy Lee Photography in Canberra Australia who has a beautiful website and a blog post just published and definitely worth a read and look if you've never entered any photography awards or not part of a photography association. Here's the link: http://tracyleephotography.net/Blog/?p=1726

Also, a big shout out to Dawn Dixon from I believe the USA. Dawn is a premium member and has had some difficulty getting the premium episodes that we've worked through.

Sincerely, thanks so much for your ratings and reviews, I appreciate the time you've taken and it's a big help for the show. It's these iTunes reviews that make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes.

PhotoBizX iTunes Reviews

Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask. Don't be shy about leaving your business name in the review either – that way I can add a link in the show-notes and show my appreciation with a proper thanks and a Google loving back-link to your website.

Last Weeks for Super Cheap PremiumMemberships

A quick reminder about the price of the premium memberships doubling to $20 per month at the end of the month. If you'd like to beat the price rise and lock your membership in at the current price of $10, you'll have to get onboard before October 2014.

If you'd prefer the 6 month ($60.00) or 12 month ($100.00) options instead of the monthly payments. Let me know and I can organise an invoice and get you going right away.

Remember, your premium membership gets you access to ALL existing premium content plus the new episodes as they are released. That means you get access right back to week one of the premium content when you sign up.

Get in Touch or Leave a Voicemail Message

A big thanks to Andrea Riofrio from Andrea Riofrio Photography for her two voicemail messages this week. Although I love to hear about listener takeaways, I was particularly taken with Andrea's reason for becoming a photographer and feel that her success is almost guaranteed if she keeps those reasons as a focus in her photography.

Do you know why you are a photographer? have you ever lost sight of your reasons? Leave a voicemail or get in touch and let me and other listeners know about your circumstances and how you stay focussed, on track and true to your vision. Maybe you haven't and you ‘d like to share your thoughts about that… I'd love to hear from you.

If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on Twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!

A couple standing in embrace on train tracks covered in overhanging greenery and backed by a dark tunnel

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Mathew Sacco's Website

Mathew Sacco's Blog

Mathew Sacco on Facebook

Mathew Sacco on Pinterest

Mathew Sacco on Instagram

Photo Mechanic – http://www.camerabits.com/products/

 

Equipment

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM Wide Angle Lens

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens

Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens

A couple in the woods with teh guy whispering or nuzzling his girlfriend who has bright red lipstick and enjoying the attention

That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

If you've been enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to tell another photographer about it – it could be in a Facebook Group you're a part of, a photography forum, with a photographer friend or on twitter.

If you do have a twitter account, simply click here: https://photobizx.com/tweet or use the share buttons below.

Thanks and speak soon Andrew