92: Why Your Best Marketing Asset Is Your Perspective

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One-On-One Mentorship on Marketing 

I dig into why a clear perspective beats trend chasing and how consistent offers, honest portfolios, and human copy build trust that books. How to incorporate your perspective into your marketing. 

• choosing one or two sustainable offers
• monthly money habits that create bandwidth
• popularity versus profitability perspective
• trust through consistent work and messaging
• aligning website tone with social voice
• writing copy that describes your viewpoint
• bold positioning that repels and attracts
• creating tangible next steps after inquiry

Current Limited Time Offer: If you want one-on-one, it’s $600 for three calls if you’re in the membership, $750 if you’re not. Join the membership for weekly live Q&A and offer alignment support.

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Transcript

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Perspective As A Marketing Superpower

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everybody. Okay, so today we're going to be talking about why your perspective is your superpower in marketing and how to put how to apply it, how to apply it to your marketing. Um, so I'm deep in many, many marketing conversations, as I always am, which is so helpful because it gives me really a front row seat into what everyone is struggling with. And I would say that what the majority of photographers that are struggling with right now, what they are struggling with, is deciding, like making the concrete decision on what they're going to offer. Um, so they have a lot of ideas swirling, that creates overwhelm. Then maybe they try marketing one idea. It they get data that is a very short runway of data, and they decide from that bad data that that offer is not right. So then they go to the next offer and then they try the same thing, and then before you know it, winter season is gone, you haven't made the money you want to make. We're going into spring, you're now trying to do motherhood, wildflowers. It feels like this desperate grabbing at offers and throwing them out to a bad pool of people to get data from and then making that decision instead of

The Offer Overwhelm Trap

SPEAKER_00 1:24

picking an offer that's based on what you like to shoot, what can make you money, what is sustainable, and then going all in on that one thing or two things. Two things is just about the max that the average person who's not a complete marketing machine can do. So that is the number one issue that I see. So much so that I'm creating a new um call in. So I think I'm thinking I'm gonna split these up. So within the marketing membership, I have a money call every month in the middle of the month that's like a check-in. It's basically I want people to just check in and be like, am I gonna hit the goal this month? If not, what could I change? It's sort of like just it's based off the profit first system. So we talk a lot about that. Um, and how to how to handle the money that does come into your business. The goal would be that you feel after you've implemented the system that you're not hiding from your money, that you are you know how much money your business costs you every single month. That amount has its own special category. You're paying yourself, you have some financial goals, and the the idea there is to make that a habitual system so that when you hit busy season, your money isn't just flying all over the place with no direction or goal. Um, and the goal, overreach, overarching goal is to have it feel like a business that is running every month with consist some sort of consistency, even though I know it's very, very rare that there is a family photographer who has a consistent income every single month. I want the system to be consistent just so it gives you back a little bit of control, which ties into marketing because that gives you bandwidth for marketing, which is honestly all of our pretty much number one job if we're in growth mode. In addition to that call, I can't decide if I want to do in addition or separate. I'm gonna start doing an offer alignment call where people can just hop on and ask about their offer and what if it if it's a good idea. And obviously, a group, another group of family photographers is not gonna be giving you the 100% answer on whether your offer is a good idea. Um, but I feel like what it can do is give people permission to focus on one thing. Um, majority of family photographers that I'm talking to, the excuse me, the main thing I'm trying to help them do is line out what they want to do, what they want to focus on. And obviously, this work is more than just a 20-minute call once a month. So this is the main conversation that I'm having with my one-on-one uh marketing mentoring people is what the heck are you talking about? It seems so simple, but it isn't because we are creatives, we're driven

Money Systems That Create Bandwidth

SPEAKER_00 4:17

by excitement and fun, and we have good taste, and we see something that someone else does, and we really like it, and we think like that that would be so fun. A lot of times the business can feel draining and almost like unfun. And so we start grasping at that fun and that creativity because that's the way our heart is oriented, and it doesn't always serve us because it makes us confusing and untrustworthy to a prospective client because they're like, what the heck is going on with this person? They're coming out with a new offer every single month, they're talking about it for three weeks, and then they're disappeared, and that offer's gone, and now what are they doing? And there's no long-term stability. So if you're in that place where you're like, oh my gosh, I have no idea where to start, I'm not going to be able to offer the one-on-ones starting probably in April when I hit my own busy season. So if you want one-on-one, it's three calls. It's literally so helpful to just be able to talk to someone who's looking directly at your website and your marketing and your messaging and telling them this is what I want it to look like and having them help you get there. That's the whole goal of these calls. So if you want one, snag one. If you want to join the membership, we're gonna be talking about offers in there as well. Okay, so back to this um this topic. So sometimes we feel our perspective of our work is that what we actually are is invisible and interchangeable. So, like your work is the same as everyone else's work, everyone's doing the same thing, we're all copying trends, everything is sort of watered down. So the issue is not a lack of talent, because I want to say that the vast majority of photographers are comparing themselves again to the tibi top, creativity-wise, lighting-wise, styling-wise. I mean, literally, like I just shared a session with a friend, um, and I was like, this seems to be the epitome of what everyone is going for. And it's literally the most stylish family that you've ever seen. Like it could be, they could be in a magazine. Their home was could be on house, if you know what that is. It's like a design home design site. It could be featured. Everyone is beautiful, right? And so, of course, that is the session that gets featured everywhere, and everyone's drooling over all the family photographers, and everyone's like, this is the epitome of success, and and so the perspective is so off because that's as I've said 10 million bajillion times, those people, those situations, those creative tippy top sessions are not the path most often that I found to profitability and a consistent business. So if you want to be popular in the family photography world, just run a lot of model calls and say exactly what you want and hyper style every session and ignore the people with the dark kitchens and go for the people with the bright white space and ignore the people who look like everyday people and go for the people that look like supermodels. It's not rocket science. The in the exact same thing happens in the bridal industry and the wedding industry and the engagement industry, every industry. The same thing with seniors. I see these seniors and the people that they're showcasing are just knowing having teenage girls myself. I'm like, okay, well, I know those girls are like the most beautiful girls in the school. Um, so it doesn't, it it's not, it's not, it's just misaligned perspective on what success is, and this is what's hurting all of us. Perspective, your perspective, your unique, amazing perspective that you yourself have lost in the sea of this comparison is the way you see families, moments, seasons, connections. It's it has shaped your entire

Offer Alignment And Focus

SPEAKER_00 8:24

life, your values, your experiences, the things that you notice. It shows up in the way that you talk, it shows up in what you care about. We know this, we know perspective is so, so unique for every person because two photographers can show up at the same exact session with the same exact family in the same exact light and tell two different stories. It's the way you interact with the family, it's how you make the family feel, it's the light that you look for. That's your perspective, that's your essence. It's emotional and relational, and there's only one you and clients, prospective clients, they don't know about Sony versus Nikon. And they don't know about Prime Lens versus Zoom, they respond to that perspective, they buy into your perspective, and then they look for consistency because what is their number one fear? That they will see something they love of yours, hire you, and get something that's a 180 result. And those are the types of complaints we see on all the family photography Facebook group complaints, right? It's like, this doesn't feel like your work, or I sent off this gallery and the client didn't like it. And then you look at the person's thing and you're like, well, yeah, because you're showcasing your top 1% of sessions, and then you're not doing everything in your power to make sure that this client had the same result. All your whole entire brand is golden hour. You made this client shoot on a gray day. So we have to be so careful with that consistency through our perspective. That's what builds trust. Perspective consistent, adhering consistently to your perspective as an artist builds trust faster than this perceived perfection. Right? So we're chasing this perfection, we're chasing what gets featured, what gets seen, what goes trending, what goes viral, having a viral reel right now, do not, it's just a huge, it's it's what it's fun, you know, like when a celebrity shares it, you're like, ooh, fun, but doesn't do anything because it the reel was misaligned for what I'm trying to do. It was aligned for my worldview, misaligned for my business goals. If you had an aligned reel that went viral and your perspective was so clear, and that perspective clearly, consistently showed through your work, then that could be a great boost for your business. As opposed to if you had something go viral for yourself that was a one-off session, and then when a prospective client goes to your feed, your website, everywhere else you have work, and it's clear that that was a one-off, trust is gone. They're not gonna, they're not gonna be like, okay, I'll take a chance that she can do this with for me at a high cost. High cost is totally dependent on every different person. So some I was talking to someone the other day and they were like, I could never charge more than X amount of dollars where like I wouldn't even leave the house for that amount. So everyone's perspective is different on cost, everyone's perspective is different on worth. So that's not the conversation to get in. The conversation to get in is can you consistently showcase your perspective? That is your number one job as a family photographer. So you want your perspective families to feel understood by your vision. They you want them to be seen and you want the people who are not ideal to be like, oh, this isn't me at all. Polish work without perspective, without your like if you were to copy someone else's perspective, it would feel distant to you because it's

Popularity Versus Profitability

SPEAKER_00 12:17

not how you want it to feel. How honest perspective feels warm, safe, and relatable to the right people. So it's how you describe a session experience. It's the moments that you say matter the most to you and the family during the session, whether it's how you talk about chaos or emotion or imperfection. So the thing that's silencing this true nature of your artistry that is inside of you, but your brand looks off is comparison. That is, and so many of you guys are still so stuck in it. Like you can't release. And I understand that it's really hard and it's a habit and it's an it's almost an addiction, but it's it's not allowing you to come through because it's like a it's like a it's like a fog that you can't your own artistry can't pass through. You have to be more honest in your marketing about who you truly are, and the right people will connect to that. We don't want a cookie cutter for everybody businesses, and we also don't want misaligned trend-seeking businesses. So here's some ways to think about your own perspective and how it could tie into your purpose as a photographer. So, what are the things that you notice first during a session? Like what when you when you're doing a session and you're lighting up internally because you're like, ooh, this is gonna be good. What is that? What helps families connect to each other that you say and do? That's your essence, that's your perspective on this family coming through. What makes you emotional when you're editing images? What images, you know, we're calling through, so which is like same, same, same, and then you stop. And what are the images that you're like, ooh, I want to get that on my social media? Describe that image. If you can't describe it, it'd be good use of time to pop it into the old robot and ask it what is what it sees. Just to give you some copy, to give you some ideas of how to break this down in a way, because I know a lot of photographers are very visual. It's hard to be it's hard to translate that vision into copy, so you can get some help with that. Okay, what type of experience do you want people to have? I feel like the experience isn't talked about enough, or it's talked about with language that's way too inclusive, like capturing life's most special moments. That doesn't mean anything to me. What is it? What is it, the what is it that you're drawing from families? It's all the things. If you spend time, that's why that that um exercise of going through and pulling your best 20 images from 2025 into one gallery, one gallery, almost like it was an art gallery that you could physically walk through, but you could just make it like you were delivering to a client a gallery page and just spend a lot of time in there and align yourself to what's connecting those images, what makes you happy about them, how do you describe them? How can you pull this idea of your perspective from this batch of images? So, how do we use perspective in everyday marketing? That would be writing captions that reflect on how you see your work, talking about sessions as experiences, not products. You let your website sound like a conversation, not a brochure. This is this is another thing that I talk about to pretty much every one-on-one marketing student is that when I go on their Instagram, it often feels really playful and vulnerable, and their website feels very static and professional, and there's a mismatch there of their perspective. Bringing that playful, vulnerable energy onto the website is only going to help you. The idea of choosing words that really truly describe what you're trying to do. Like my words are like very clear. If you are this, then I am for you. If you are this, I am not for you. You want to be as clear as possible because I don't want to drag people along just to have them in front of my lens because it's not a good experience for either of us. My perspective is an adventure, adventurous, playful family who likes to be in better than average clothes and adventure to gorgeous places in our state is going to have a good time with me. So, how do I showcase that through my marketing? So you don't need to justify your approach, you need to confidently own your approach. If you offer a type of session that's a little bit out there and different, be bold about that. Tell people why it's different. Say you have no interest. Like I saw this one photographer and um she was doing in-home stuff. This was a couple years ago, and this was before my brain became a little bit untriggered. And her tagline was something like, Who wants to get dressed up and who wants to get dressed up and run around in a field in a dress they don't like when you could just do photos at home? That was like her tagline, right? In the beginning, I was like, oh, triggering is a little triggering to me. I wanted to be like, well, I it doesn't matter. It's not my perspective, it's not my artistic perspective. It's a bold stance from her. It's a clear, clear indication of her perspective and the people that don't want to, first of all, the people that don't want to do what she described. I have no interest in in home sessions. So those are not my people. We have to also be able to give up these groups

Perspective Builds Trust

SPEAKER_00 18:20

of the population. You're not gonna be for every person, and that is good. But a lot of you are trying to be too many things to too many people. You want it to be that the right clients feel uh relief when they see your perspective. They're like, oh yes, I've had this experience. I haven't wanted this experience. I had this experience, but it wasn't quite right. She seems to be offering something that resonates with me. So it's not about convincing everyone, it's about being a beacon because you're boldly standing behind your artistic perspective to draw the right people in. Hold on, I kind of moved my page, it's gonna be loud, and I don't want to edit this, so you just have to deal with it. Okay. Next thing, you want to give people something tangible to do. Like, what is the next step? That is missing from so many marketing paths. People are stepping up their game in the copy department, they're stepping up their game in the clarity department, they're working on this idea of creating content for only the person they're talking to, but that next tangible step is often missing, or it's a letdown. So, in the call in the marketing membership, on the offer call, we talked about someone who does IPS. Is there a way to not make that experience have this major dip in the middle while everyone's waiting for the call to talk about what the session is like? There's like this inevitable emotional dip where the client has been on a high, they're really excited, they love. Imagery, they want to learn more, now they're waiting to connect with you. How can we make that space in between more exciting? For people who don't do online booking, how can you write your emails in a way that keeps that energy high and assumes a booking as opposed to assuming you still need to sell this person on the thing? That could be a huge game changer in the number of people that book. If you write to me and you say, hi, I'm writing, which rarely happens to me because of online booking, but let's say it did, I'm writing to learn about your family sessions in the mountains. If I wrote back to you assuming that you were gonna book, that's a completely different email and a way more high trust way to communicate with someone. We're already on the same page. You went through my website, you took precious time out of your day to send me a message. I'm gonna assume, barring some weird thing, that we're a go. And if you're like, oh never mind, I don't want to book it, well, I would rather have met you with that energy than let me know if you have any more questions. You know what I mean? Okay, so closing it down here, because I want to keep this short so you can really think about it. Every time bring it back to trust. And the trust has to start with yourself. You may never be featured, you may never go viral. You may never be the most popular photographer in your town, you may never be the most trendy person. Your photography may lack the creativity that you admire in other photographers, and all of that can be true and you can still run a successful business. You have to learn to trust your own perspective. And for many of you, the only way that you're gonna be able to do that is by getting some sort of giant vacuum and sucking this comparison fog out of your way. Stop comparing. I'm gonna show up at someone's house. That'll be like my my thing. I'm gonna like fly across country to some listener's house and like knock on the door and then I'll say the door, I'm like, I know what you're doing. I know what you're doing, Susanna. You are comparing with every freaking other photographer in here when you could be pouring that energy into your own perspective, your own artistic perspective. The reason that you chase comparison is because you have good taste. You see it. You're like, ooh, it's pretty. Ooh, it's aesthetic. Ooh, I love the light. You're a fan. You're a fan of photography. That's why the reason you became a photographer, but that fan is blowing the that fangirling is blowing the comparison fog all open in your face. You can't see shite out here. So you need to get rid of it. Your work is good, but you're not letting it be seen. You're too quiet. Your marketing needs to reflect who you are as an artist. It needs to invite people excitedly and boldly into your brand, not be a little puddle of milk. Oh, I don't know where I'm going with that. That was wrong. I don't know. I don't even know. I don't even know what a puddle of milk does. Anyway, your puddle of milk, become a puddle of Fanta that spurts little star spurts into the air and not afraid of its own self. Stop being milk. Be Fanta. That's the bottom line. You need to be the amazing, spectacular brand that you are, even if it's only amazing and spectacular because you're a very consistent artist

Consistency Over Virality

SPEAKER_00 23:45

who gives her clients an amazing experience. Okay. I hope that gives you a little boost in the pantaloons to do some work on your own brain. Um, again, if you want to do a one-on-one snag one, I probably have time for one more this month. Start to start one more this month. It's $600 for three calls that are super in-depth. Um, I do I'm trying to do loom walkthroughs of everybody's website so you get that to have, you can refer back to um after we get them all fixed up. So uh $600 if you're in the membership, $750 if you're not. So super good deal. I love doing them. I've had really good response so far. If you just need a little bit of extra support and you want to get going every single Monday, listening to me ranty rant and answer questions on live, join the membership. Um, so yeah, I hope you guys have a good week.