In this interview, small business marketing expert, Tim (Timbo) Reid shares why today is the best time EVER for marketing and what you can do to improve yours. We specifically talk about big marketing ideas on a small photography business budget and some simple concepts that are easily implementable by any wedding or portrait photographer… with or without technical know how.

Tim also dispels the 3 biggest marketing myths; lack of time, money and knowledge that many photographers use as an excuse to not implement effective marketing strategies.

With an openly love hate relationship with social media, he understands its importance in todays market. As a marketing speaker, Tim Reid has a simple and interesting approach to using Facebook that he has converted to and promotes after some enlightening posts and testing on his business page.

Another big topic that Tim dives into is the importance of building an email list for your business and why content really needs to be at the forefront of what you are doing if you want to stay visible in todays market.

Here's a list of topics covered in this episode:

  • Why marketing is better for small business today than ever before
  • 3 limiting beliefs about marketing today and overcoming them
  • Building your own virtual marketing team with outsourcing
  • Why content should be the forefront of your marketing strategy
  • What outcome should you be aiming for with your website
  • Making it easy for clients to get in touch with you with a very simple design idea
  • Why you need to be building a list to market to
  • Why Facebook isn't the silver bullet for your business success
  • What is the best content for social media to improve engagement?
  • The social media mindset and how to get involved
  • Any marketing can work for any business if done properly
  • Is printed media still important in the current online world?
If you want to hear more from Tim, make sure you check out and subscribe to his interview based business podcast, Small Business Big Marketing, where I discovered him and have picked up plenty of great actionable tips for my photography business.

Check out Tim's podcast - Small Business, Big Marketing, you'll love it.

Check out Tim's podcast – Small Business, Big Marketing, you'll love it.

Premium Members

It's difficult to improve what you can't measure in your photography marketing. In this extra audio, Tim shares ideas and tools you can use to measure and advance the way your website converts visitors into clients. By tracking your website traffic movements and testing, you'll have the best possible chance of a website that really works for you rather than a site that simply looks good.

Also, an EXTRA bonus for premium members this week – Jean Smith from the last episode of the podcast has come back and offered a free issue of Mozi Magazine for you – all the instructions on how to get your copy, the current issue or any from the back catalogue, are in the members area. Enjoy!

Free copy of Mozi Magazine

An added bonus for premium members this week – go check the members area for your free copy.

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview with Timbo, 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 he had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

Are you taking action?

I was thrilled to receive a detailed email outlining the things that Richard and Trish from RT Photos have been implementing as a result of the podcast. With Trish's permission, here is the email – check out how busy these guys have been:

Hi Andrew

OMG – where do I start??!! Firstly the podcast is amazing, and has totally changed our business! I have a business partner – Richard (and he listens too) and Richard has threatened to call you and ask you to pause the podcasts as it's prompting so many ideas in me that we can't keep up lol.

Where do I start?

We've changed our pricing. Big one. We didn't put them up hugely, but enough that I think we are sitting a lot closer to our target market now with wedding photography. For portraits, that pricing has gone up dramatically and I no longer feel guilty charging what our time is worth. We've invested in software to help us grow the business too.

Firstly – ProSelect. Wow! That software is amazing and I used it for the first time yesterday for a wedding sales session, and it's paid for itself already.

Secondly – we've invested in Animoto. So many of the people you've interviewed use it and I thought it would be a good investment and an added product. DVD slideshows, and yes – my wedding couple yesterday have ordered one of those too 🙂

Thirdly – we decided we really needed some sort of database. We've been growing and I really needed something to keep track of what we were doing so have signed up for Spectra. Totally suits our needs and the bonus is that it's free for the light version and as we grow we'll upgrade to the bigger package.

We've changed the way we put together our packages for weddings. Bernie Griffiths made sense when he suggested that charging for hours wasn't exactly what brides were looking for. So instead of a four, six or ten hour package, it's now based on what's included. Like from the B&G getting ready, ceremony and a photoshoot before the reception etc. We've only just done this, but have booked one wedding already.

We've also taken the DVD with high res images out of the equation, and charge extra for this. The wedding we booked were happy with not getting all the high res images – once we explained that they got all the low res images, and that we wanted to make sure that any printing from high res images was something we wanted to control so that they got only the best image, they were happy with that.

I already posted a reply to one of the interviews that we did a small album for a wedding recently and gave it to the B&G and that went down really, really well. We also did two framed prints for the B&G to give to the bride's mother and the groom's mother – and that was also a huge success (and extra cash!).

Lastly – Charlotte Reeves and Caitlin McColl have inspired me with their pet photography. It's an area I've always been interested in (being a dog lover). We've always included families pets in their portrait sessions if they wanted it, but I wanted to do more. So we are about to launch a new business – The Puparazzi! It will be a high end pet photography business and I'll be able to indulge my passion for pets as well as photography. We are almost ready to go live, and I already have one firm booking and a handful of interested people.

Because we are in Canberra and all the activity that's happening with same sex marriage here – we've also registered a business solely for same sex wedding photography. If the bill doesn't get overturned in the high court, we'll be ready to go!

The two new businesses have been because the podcast has helped me think outside the square, and go with my instincts for business ideas.

So – a huge thank you from both of us (Richard and me) the podcasts have been exactly what we needed to spur us onto the next level.

Trish

Rereading the email, I'm still blown away by the action both Trish and Richard are taking in their business. I'm sure I speak on behalf of every listener to the podcast when I wish you both every success!

What changes have you made in your business this week? Leave a voicemail by clicking the button at the bottom of this page, leave a comment below or shoot me an email, I truly am interested.

iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs

One iTunes review this week, for which I'm thankful – a big thanks to Vince de George!

Photo Biz Xposed iTunes reviews

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.

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!

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

Tim's podcast and business forum home – Small Business Big Marketing

The Ideas Guy

timreid.com

Tim on Facebook

Cha Ching – Tim's recently published book

Self publishing your own book – Blurb

Self publishing your own book – Lulu

Outsourcing website to find help – E Lance cha_ching_small_business_marketing_book-240x300

Outsourcing website to find help – O Desk

Outsourcing website to find help (for $5.00) – Fiverr

Outsourcing website to find help – Freelancer

The “life changing book” by Tim Ferris – The Four Hour Work Week

Seth Godin, marketing guru and prolific author – http://www.sethgodin.com/

Seth's book mentioned by Tim – Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

Mac software to record videos from your monitor – ScreenFlow

Windows software to record videos from your monitor – Camtasia

Email auto-responder software for list building – Aweber

Email auto-responder software for list building – Mail Chimp

Email auto-responder software for list building – Campaign Monitor

Tim's go-to guy for website maintenance and work – Mick The Mechanic

Google Analytics

Matt and Katie's podcast interview

Matt and Katie's Workshops 

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