How to Book More of the Right Client

Summary

In this conversation, Christa discusses the importance of identifying and attracting ideal clients in the photography business. She emphasizes the need for photographers to shift their mindset from trying to cater to everyone to focusing on a specific target audience. By understanding their ideal client, photographers can create a sustainable business model that allows them to charge appropriately and avoid burnout. Christa also shares strategies for building connections with other businesses and utilizing marketing techniques to attract the right clientele.

Takeaways

• Photographers should not aim to be for everyone.
• Identifying your ideal client is crucial for business growth.
• Your ideal client may change over time.
• A higher-level CEO mindset is essential for sustainability.
• Raising prices can lead to losing some clients, but it's necessary.
• Curate your portfolio to attract your ideal clients.
• Engage with past clients to understand your ideal audience better.
• Collaborate with local businesses to reach new clients.
• Consistent content is key to attracting ideal clients.
• SEO strategies can help you connect with your target audience.

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Transcript

Christa (00:00.674)
We're gonna talk about how to book a more ideal clients consistently. That's one of the biggest things when I do polls that photographers see a biggest gap is really that marketing piece. But the first thing is that I wanna touch on is we don't just wanna be the photographer for anyone and everyone. That only gets us so far. It's going to lead to burnout. It's going to lead to often not really charging what we need to be charging if we're trying to be accessible to literally everybody.

And I understand to really get business going, there's some key things. Or maybe you're shooting things that you don't want to shoot long term, but are still figuring out what you love. That's fine. I'm going to speak to a photographer who is a couple steps into their photo journey and is realizing, hey, I see a type of session that I want more of, a client that I want more of. Krista, how do I get to that next step? And so doing these things is how I got from like a $400 $500 average to an over two grand average consistently with

Plenty of clients when I'm in a very very saturated area. Okay So the first thing that we have to do is we need to number one get clear on who our ideal client is I give you permission and I'm here to tell you this is gonna change throughout your photography journey your ideal client avatar that you created two years ago or three years ago or five years ago when you started your business might look different now

And that's okay. And I think photographers sometimes feel a lot of guilt or a lot of shame for not being the photographer for everyone. And I just want to encourage you to really put that CEO, that business hat on, because if you keep yourself stuck in a place where you're like, but I want to be accessible to everyone and be the photographer for everyone, that often leads to burnout, which often leads to closing up shop. And that doesn't help anyone in your business. Now that I'm a mom, my time is so valuable away from my baby that I'm not going to prioritize.

me feeling guilty for not being the photographer for everyone over spending time with my daughter. There's a mindset shift in there. And the sooner that you can step into that higher level CEO mindset of understanding, I want to be sustainable. I want to be able to serve my clients really, really, really well, even if I'm not the best fit for everyone. And that's okay. That can actually and will actually lead to a much stronger business is definitely going to be key here.

Christa (02:10.648)
I kid you not y 'all, have a screenshot of when I quoted someone $25 for their senior session back in high school. Okay. Thank goodness I'm not doing that now, but the thing is when I went from 25 to $50, I lost clients. When I went from $50 to a hundred dollars, I lost clients. Can you imagine if I had let that stop me and stayed charging a hundred dollars for years and years? I wouldn't be able to. It's not sustainable. I wouldn't be able to pay the expenses to run my business effectively. Obviously now it wouldn't be worth leaving my daughter for.

And that's something that I see a lot of photographers get stuck in is so much into the whole, okay, I want to be, I want to fit this specific client's mold instead of reverse engineering that of like, who's the client that you want to serve? So for me, it's a client who does value this photo experience and they do want a lot of things taken off of their shoulder. They do value a high touch experience. They're not looking for a quick in and out. Don't.

really get to know the photographer. Just she's just kind of a workhorse there. I just want this cheap and I don't really want to do anything with these images. There's a photographer for that and that's totally fine. I don't mean to put that down because there are actually needs for that in the world, right? For photographers like that. That's just not the fit that I wanted my business to the client that I wanted my business to attract. And that's OK. So you need to get clear on your avatar so.

You might have a client. First thing through that, do you have a client that you worked with that you were like, yes, they understood it. Like they got it. They listened to my style tips. They really showed up ready. They really seemed to care about the things that I was trying to prep them for. They really loved working with me. I left feeling very energized. I really liked working with them. If you're full service, they really enjoyed this product process or

If I'm not full service yet, but want to be, I think they really would have loved even those extra touch points to help take care of products for them. So maybe you already have a client like that. You can base it off of them and then dig deep on who they are. And we're gonna go into more in a little bit. Maybe you're at a place and you're like, Krista, honestly, none of the clients I booked this year really did that for me. I think, I don't really think I'm reaching my ideal client yet. That's okay too. And it's okay to see that and to still serve clients.

Christa (04:31.638)
Right? And serve them really well and pour your heart and soul into it, even if they might not be ideal to help get you to that next step. But we need to take proactive steps to get you to where you in your business want to be. So even if you haven't had a client like that, maybe there's someone in your life that you know of that totally would be an ideal client based on what they do, where they shop, like what they wear, what their kids do, how they value their experiences. Maybe it's someone that you just make up. Okay?

but we need to have an idea and get to know who that client is really well. So again, if it's someone that you actually know of and is a past client, you can dig in deep with them. So I'm gonna give you an example. My ideal client has shifted several times throughout my business journey, and that's okay. And there was a client specifically that I really enjoyed working with, and I felt like that where I'm like, they just, get it.

I really love how they showed up for their shoot. They showed up ready to go. They invested in their outfits. They truly cared about the experience. They just were wonderful, nice people to work with. Like they felt like a friend, which to me was really important. I love that personal connection. They have a dog. A lot of my clients have dogs, which I love. That was something that was a big part of my brand. And I actually asked them questions about, where do you go? Where does your dog go to get groomed? And I actually dug deep with them and you can totally do that.

You don't have to be creepy and weird about it. You can just say, hey, I loved serving you. I would love to serve more clients like you. Can I just ask, like, just kind of dive in with you deep a few questions about that. You can even ask them for referrals and you can word it in a way where it's very complimentary, but you're getting clear on where do they shop? Where do their kids buy shoes? Where do they buy shoes? Where do they get their hair done? Where do they get their, where'd they get their professional makeup done before the shoot? Where does their doggy go to get groomed?

You can dig as deep as you as you want. And where do you buy furniture? Your custom furniture? Who designed your house? You know what interior designer did you use and in doing that I can create like this arsenal of other businesses that are local. So I'm not going to go. I'm not going to DM anthropology and be like let's work together, right? Because it's a huge national brand, but I can get clear locally on where places that I can connect.

Christa (06:53.634)
that can introduce me to more of those clients. That can be a win -win. I can do something for that business and get in front of more of my ideal client size. Maybe it's a joint giveaway that you do. I've done that before, but there's a lot of things I can do to step into the upper level clientele when it comes to marketing. Okay, so the next thing that we need to do is we need to make sure that we're posting images that will attract that ideal client. So if I want my ideal client,

and this might not be you, I'm using this as an example. But if I want my ideal client dressed to the nines, maybe a really polished downtown city look, and that is what I want my brand to be around, I'm not gonna post images on my feed of clients in ball caps and jeans. Is there a problem with that? Absolutely not. If I book a client like that, am I gonna serve them so well? Yes, but I'm going to curate my feed to attract more of what I want to book. And this is where I see a lot of photographers go wrong, where they'll be like, I want to...

Krista, book more of XYZ. And I'm like, I would have never known that by looking on your feed or your website. I'm actually seeing very little of that. Krista, I wanna shift into more of lifestyle newborns from weddings. Okay, well you have to be showing up with images from that and of that and of clients that your ideal client would resonate with. If I wanna photograph more clients with dogs, and that's something I'm really passionate about and important to me, I have to be photographing and sharing clients with dogs.

Now, if you say, I don't have the content to post it consistently, then I need to get myself out there and get my little kick, my little booty and gear and bring in clients with that. And I can do that with a model call. And it's really cool with my uncapped system. You can actually give them a credit to buy some of their favorites and even products. And then they have the option if they do want to do more and have wall art of this and albums and more images of this, they can purchase it. So it benefits you because you're building your portfolio.

and giving them something in exchange, but you can still have over $1 ,000 sales from people modeling for you. It's a win -win. It doesn't have to be just fully for free. But you can also just personally invite people in and do the same thing. Hey, come on in and model for me. So I'm actually doing this now. launching, I'm doing a push for heirloom portraits. And so I haven't done any in a while. I kind of wanted to test some different lightings. So I reached out to some of my top clients.

Christa (09:14.634)
that are connected with ideal clients and I'm having their kids model for me and I'm giving them an exchange one digital for this heirloom portrait. But I'm also going to show them if you want me to take care of framing it for you, I can. And it's a win -win because they're going to then share those images and more of my ideal clients will see because they're ideal clients. And I also have the opportunity possibly to upsell them as well. It's a win -win. But we have to be showing up with that consistent content consistently.

in order to book more of that ideal client. Now, speaking of personally inviting people in, I wanna circle back to talking about connecting business to business. So this is a great way to get yourself in front of a brand new audience. Yes, there's things like social media we can use and email list building, but there might be circles that we're actually not introduced to. They're not following us on social media. So be creative and find ways in your community that you can connect with other businesses and step in front.

What we don't want to do is march into a business and say, hey, I want to connect with you and all of your clients. That's so self -focused and so ick. Instead, find ways that you can help that business and that business owner out. And you can think of cool ways to collaborate with them. Maybe it's a joint giveaway. Maybe it's a fun event that you do together. There's a lot of things you can do business to business to get in front of your ideal client. Besides that, as you're showing up, do what you can to be ranking for SEO for

What are my ideal clients searching on Google? What are they looking for on Instagram? And I want to show up there.