Heidi is a UK based marketing expert that focuses solely on working with vendors in the wedding niche and has some strong views on what is the perfect wedding photography success recipe. Get focused and stop trying to appeal to everyone – you need to be targeting your dream clients only.

Too many wedding photographers target any and every potential client which is damaging your business. Heidi says you need to think less about what your client wants and start shooting for yourself to really attract the right clients for you.

If social media marketing is a real drain on your marketing time, Heidi shares a bunch of strategies to get it done in one hour per week and how to find an endless source of helpful, targeted content from the web, other vendors.

Here's some of what we cover:

  • Bringing in the right customer and converting them into clients
  • How to figure out who you don't want to work with to find the clients you do want
  • It's your business, you can say no to working with everyone
  • Your photography doesn't have to be all about the client, it needs to be about you too
  • How to profile your target client (or favourite clients) to know where to focus your marketing efforts
  • Be the “go to person” for your target niche or style of photography – be that expert
  • The wording on your website has to reflect the language your target client uses
  • Why you shouldn't just blog your weddings, blog helpful content for the client you're aiming to attract
  • Why clicking “publish” on your blog post is just the beginning of the marketing cycle
  • What are the best tools to cut down your social media time?
  • How to optimise your blog post for Pinterest
  • How to structure and “drip feed” your tweets and Facebook posts to get multiple posts from a single blog post
  • Why you should NOT ask vendors to share your posts – even if they are mentioned in the post
  • Your pinnable images should clearly show what your blog post is about – if not, add text to the image
  • Why you need to be using localised keywords in your Pinterest descriptions to be found by local clients
  • Build credibility by sending your visitors to other vendors websites and Facebook pages
  • Why you need to be aware of the terms you're using on your website and how they may be making your clients feel silly
  • Not every visitor to your site will be ready to talk to you and that's why you need to “trade” them to leave their email address so you can stay in touch
  • Why you should never use the word “Newsletter” when staying in touch with your clients
  • Using free CRM software to keep track of what's said and generate repeat business
  • Using private lists on Twitter
Following this interview, I'd be surprised if you don't make changes to your social media efforts (and time spent on them), the wording and language on your blog, start an email list and install a few very cool apps.

Photography Business Marketing Interview

Evernote is one of the Apps that gets a big rap in this interview. Heidi uses it to keep everything organised and synced.

More Treats from Heidi

Make sure you check out Heidis's free course: Mind The Gap, to guide you how to identify your perfect client with the included videos and worksheets then how to actually attract them to your photography business.

Also from Heidi that she has put together to make your life easier – a super helpful PDF to get you started with the Buffer App. You heard in the interview how much time is saved posting to Facebook and Twitter with this application. The link will take you to her Facebook Page where the PDF is located and can be downloaded from there.

Getting started with any new software can be a drain on time and thinking power. Use the “cheat sheet” to get you up and running fast.

Premium Members

You save a whopping $100 of Heidi's in depth marketing course for businesses in the wedding niche that really want to get their marketing and targeting nailed: Evolve Your Wedding Business is an online video course and you can find more details about the course and savings in the Members area of the website.

Photography Business Marketing Interview

Check out the free three part course to get a taste of what's inside Mind The Gap

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview with Heidi, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or remember from what she had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

If you have any questions regarding my interview with Heidi that I missed or a specific question, feel free to add them below and she'll happily answer them for you. There are absolutely no silly questions and chances are, if you're wanting to know the answer to something, other listeners will too. Get the conversation started by using the comments area below.

iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs

Each week I go through the ‘”ritual” of checking for any iTunes review for the Photo Biz Xposed podcast and I'd by lying if I didn't say it's a real thrill to see a new post. It feels like a pat on the back, a sign of support, of community; and a little wink from you, clarifying that I'm on the right track with this thing.

This week I was blown away!

Thanks you so much Lonsy of http://www.lonsy.co.uk, Anita Watkins of http://anitawatkinsphotography.com, Ces White of http://www.dexine.me,  Mark from the UK and Lena Postnova of  http://lenapostnova.com.au – each of you alone have made my week and collectively, humbled me… thank you for your support.

Photography Business Marketing Interview

It's the 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. Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask.

This week on social media and email, I've had the pleasure of chatting to a bunch of cool people and want to give shout outs to:

Alan Moyle of http://photobat.net

Lisa Huelin of http://lisahuelin.com.au

Dalibor Acimic of http://www.acimicphotography.com

Tim McIvor of http://timmcivorphotography.com.au

Eric Williams of http://www.wattpakstudio.com

The Guys from ShootZilla at http://www.shootzilla.com

Kristin Mitchell of http://struvephotography.co.uk

Martin Pawlett of http://www.martinpawlett.co.uk

Dan Biggins of http://www.danbiggins.com

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!

Photography Business Marketing Interview

Buffer app can help you get all your social media content scheduled and done in one hour per week.

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

Evolveyourweddingbusiness.com

Follow Heidi on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Evolveyourbizuk

The free course from Heidi – mindthegapcourse.com

Buffer App – compose, save and drip feed your social media posts

Social Media Simplified – Heidi's PDF to get you started with Buffer App

PicMonkey – simple image editing software

Canva – simple image editing software

Pixelied – Create Stunning Designs in Seconds

High Rise CRM Software – https://highrisehq.com

Click here for the High Rise Free Plan (difficult to find link  on the site)

Evernote – the totally flexible software to save… Everything and be able to find it later

Evernote forums to learn how others are using this software

Aweber – software to build your email list

Mail Chimp – software to build your email list

Mozi Magazine – online and print magazine for wedding and portrait photographers

That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business. I'd love for you to leave a comment below about your biggest takeaway from this episode.

Speak soon

Andrew