455: Lindsay Walden – Building a luxury photography brand with digital file sales

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area.

Lindsay Walden of www.lindsaywaldenphotography.com is a Texas-based mother of three, newborn and maternity photographer who is not only super talented; she's also damn good at business. Lindsay has a sales average any photographer would LOVE, and her number one product is… the digital file! 

I don't know about you, but the about page is my first stop when I visit a photographer's website. I want to know who's work I'm seeing and reading about.

In the case of Lindsay, visit her about page, and you'll know immediately… this is a professional photographer's studio. The lead image is a total WOW factor for photographers, and I'm sure clients too.

Check the pricing page, and you'll see her clients all attend a pre-session design consultation to discuss everything they need to know about their newborn or family session.

They learn about a booking fee starting at $350 and collections starting at $2900.

My next stop was her finished artwork page, where an embedded video says it all!

A mum sees her amazing photos for the first time, and her husband's expression tells you… he knows he'll be spending big today, no matter what his plans were before coming in. How could he possibly say no to anything after seeing his wife light up as she does.

In this interview, Lindsay opens up, and we go behind the scenes of her business to discover how she generates leads to happy clients collecting their artwork. 

Here's some more of what we cover in the interview:

• Offering hair and makeup add-ons to create an exceptional photoshoot experience
• The importance of building rapport with your clients
• Lindsay's revenue
• The usual cost of running a successful photography business
• Outsourcing
• Factors that led to an increase in revenue
• Creating a sense of exclusivity when building a luxury brand
• Lindsay's after-sales strategy
• Charging a high premium for digital files
• Lindsay's pricing structure
• You don't need to sell wall art to be successful
• Is the photographers value really in the digital files
• Lindsay's booking rate and inquiry process
• The need to build value first instead of telling clients how much they will spend
• What makes Lindsay's business model unique
• Lindsay's target clients and where she finds them
• Which is better, marketing to past clients or new referrals
• Lindsay's strategy to have clients come back
• How to create that deep connection with clients
• Marketing strategies Lindsay applies to her business
• Who is a better client? A newborn mom or a maternity session client

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 interview – the full length and more revealing version where you hear the absolute best tips and advice from every guest.

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.

I never thought I would be good at sales but I'm good at helping and that's what good sales really is — just helping clients to achieve and get everything that they want and making sure they don't walk out the door with anything that they might have possibly wanted. – Lindsay Walden

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.

Seriously, that's not all.

In addition to everything above, you'll get access 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 Lindsay 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 today's episode.

I love what I do. I love my clients and I love helping other photographers too. – Lindsay Walden

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Lindsay 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 or Google 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 and Google are the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean 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 or https://photobizx.com/google 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 keywords or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has made a difference to you and your photography business.​

Here's the latest review…

★★★★★ Two new photography bookings ALREADY!

Via Google reviews by Chris Miller of MIL Pet Photography, the Windsor and Ascot based Dog Photographer in the UK on the 7th March 2022

The VLOG Challenge from Andrew has completely changed my confidence and online engagement in the three weeks that the course runs for. I never would have thought that it would have paid for itself BEFORE the course finished!!

If Andrew had suggested to me three weeks ago that by the end of the course I’d be using Bonjoro for video client enquiry follow-ups and would have a weekly video post series on LinkedIn, I’d never have believed him.

My first client enquiry follows ups as video personal messages through Bonjoro have created two confirmed and paid for new photoshoots – more than covering the cost of the course!!

In addition, I have now launched a weekly video series on LinkedIn – inside the first 24 hours, over 680 views and truly engaged comments with an increase of 30 LinkedIn followers the same day!

Andrew’s personal coaching and the generous feedback from the rest of the class has given me the confidence to just do it …. Thank you so much.