Local Partnership Ideas to Help you Book More

Summary

In this conversation, Christa discusses the importance of long-term collaborations and the value of nurturing relationships over time. She emphasizes the significance of follow-up in business connections and how patience can lead to fruitful partnerships.

Takeaways

• There's a mentor that I have that I love following her stuff.
• When she does collaborations, she only takes them if they don't expect results until a year later.
• She's so focused on those long-term beautiful relationships and connections.
• Maybe it's not a yes right now.
• You can present this to a few businesses and they're really busy right now.
• Power's in the follow-up.
• It's a matter of circling back.
• Long-term relationships can yield better results.
• Nurturing connections takes time and effort.
• Patience is key in building successful collaborations.

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Transcript

Christa (00:01.57)
I'm going to be sharing today some ideas that you can use to actually connect with businesses in your local area. So there's a couple of things I want to encourage you with when we talk about marketing and we really have to set this scene correctly to get the biggest impact. And the first one is that when we're doing word of mouth, right, business to business marketing, it's all about connections. And just like, let's say you're on a dating app, okay. And that's starting the relationship. There comes a point where you do need to meet that person in person.

You don't want to accept a proposal that you've just been communicating with someone over an app for. Your relationship is only going to get to a certain level. Those same principles of building relationships and connecting are going to apply to your business as well. And so some of these things that I'm going to share, I tried and actually a result did not reap right away, but I still kept moving with it. And that is the hugest difference I see in photographers who go really far. And the ones who get stuck in marketing and say, I just give up or throw in the towel on X, Y, and Z is

They're not seeing bigger picture. And I would say actually the most strong marketing principles that you can use, they do take some time to facilitate. So while I do give a lot of ideas for cash injections and things, this can lead to both. This can lead to a cash injection now, but I also don't want you to miss that bigger picture of what's possible. I have a colleague who helps me coach in my containers, Andy from Costola. She has done 20 to $40,000 weddings using this principle without using Facebook ads, without doing paid Google ads.

but by building relationships and doing that with other local businesses. So I really want us to approach this with very upper level thinking, knowing that of Krista, even if like the cool thing about what I'm sharing is you could say Krista, even if this doesn't lead to something right away, it built and the foundation for something in the future. have multiple examples that I'm going to sprinkle through here, but the very first one that I'm going to use is I was able to connect with a local business here in my town.

And the reason I found them is because I actually had a client that was incredibly ideal. And so as far as choosing, let's start here with what businesses to connect with. You want businesses, your ideal clients are interacting with or visiting. If they can be local and track more of your local presence, that's ideal. So like if I do a big collaboration with the entire company of anthropology, that's not going to help me if people in California are seeing my work and want me for a portrait session, but I'm not in California. So first of all, it needs to be someone local. Now.

Christa (02:27.402)
It might be a sub branch of a larger business. That's okay. But like if I'm tagging them and they're resharing, it really is only going to benefit me if my local people see it. I don't really care if I go viral or have a lot of followers. If it's not people that like could be ideal paying customers, right? That's not going to benefit me. So I really want to keep that in mind with how I'm moving forward, with how I'm viewing these relationships. The other thing that I want you to enter in is knowing you're going to get told no.

And I understand it's really hard getting told no. I understand that when you're charging a really low shoot and burn rate, you don't get told no as much or you just get ghosted and don't really feel it versus when you really step out, maybe you're shifting to full service, you're hearing no more. That's very normal. As your rates go up, same if you're in the wedding space, if you make a jump, you're going to hear no more. It's more of a big decision. And I heard no from a lot of businesses about doing these things. And I say that to say if someone reaches out and they're like, Hey, someone told me no. I'm like, just one person told you no. That's actually really good.

Let me tell put yourself out there more. And we had a coach in on CAP that actually said, look for the nose, try to get as many noses as you can. And I love, love, that mentality. But the really great thing about this is you have nothing to lose. You don't have to pay to start implementing this. So let's jump in again with that example. So I had a client that was super ideal. So I said, where does your dog get groomed? And she told me this local doggy boutique. And I went there with my dog, even though I ended up paying more than I did at the other place. And I connected with the owner there.

And I started talking with her. And I said, I would love to do your photos. Do you guys have any needs? And you might say, did you march in there with your script? No, that would have been weird and icky, right? Just like you wouldn't march into a first date with 20 questions to ask them. You just talk to the person and got clear on like, hey, what's going on for you? What are your needs? Like, hey, do you have any photo needs? Is there anything I can help you with right now? And that led to a beautiful relationship and friendship. I had the joy of photographing her family multiple times. She referred two neighbors to me.

She had a pop-up event where Santa came with the doggies, which was such an awesome marketing move for her. So I photographed that and multiple of those people became clients and then other business owners were there. So I connected with one of those business owners. They became a client of mine for branding photos. And then one of their clients that shopped with them became a client, right? Do you see how this ball just escalates and moves? And it didn't all happen right out once. But by building that relationship and that connection, it led to many, many more relationships and connections. So no matter what your marketing is,

Christa (04:51.724)
Even if you've filled your, I have a student who has filled her calendar using paid ads, but is wanting me to help her build these local relationships. If you're like where I was at and I didn't have clients, I didn't really know how ads worked. This is something really, really powerful that you can do now, right here this week. So I want to give you multiple ideas on what to do. So the very first thing, remember, who do we connect with? People that your ideal client are visiting, places they're going, they're interacting with them online.

And you can ask chat GBT for a prompt with that. You could say, Hey, chat GBT, I am in this city. This is about me. This is what I do. And the more specific about what you could do, better. Don't just say I'm a photographer. I am a motherhood photographer for moms who really value a high touch full experience. And they want to work with a photographer documenting those moments for print, for the wall. They want that high touch experience. Quality matters to them. Experience matters to them.

My top clients are, here's some things about them. A lot of my clients had dogs, so that worked to connect with the dog. You saw a lot of my clients have dogs and they shop at these stores. Put as much information as you can and then say, I would love 50 local businesses that could be a good fit that I could partner with for a collaboration that would resonate with my brand and we'd share an ideal client. And you can ask ChatGBT to crank that out for you. Ask for their Instagram handles, ask for their email addresses, ask for their phone numbers.

So once we have that down and we have some people to reach out to, I'm just gonna do one person and then they get told no. And I'm like, well, this didn't work, right? Remember, you're gonna get told no, okay? So you might say, well, what do I pitch? I'm gonna give you some ideas, but the very first thing is if you march in or with this is what I wanna do with you, it feels really icky and weird and I know, cause I did that. I tried that a few times and it was like, this isn't great. This isn't great. Just like if I, like I said, went on a date with someone and which I don't, I'm happily married, but like.

went on a date with someone or let's just say a business lunch with someone and they had a list of questions to like get to know me. It's like, that's so weird. Okay. Instead just talk to them and hear their needs, find out what's important to them. So one time I did this and the lady that owned the business was pregnant and we talked about that and that came up and I gave her a gift card for her maternity photos that aligned really well. And then she hired me for her newborn photos and became a friend of mine. Other times it's, their business is really important to them. They just want photos inside their store.

Christa (07:13.912)
Come on in and just talk to them and share and be willing to give. So what we can do is actually form an even bigger collaboration past just giving them a gift card, which if you're full service, the gift card is cool because it can cover the session fee in a few images and leave plenty of room for them to upsell, which is awesome. If you're shooting for and that's going to be a little bit trickier, do something for them. Don't just march in and present yourself and ask for full price. I like to do something if I'm presenting myself and pitching myself after we chat.

But there's some really cool things that you can do. want to run by you. And one of them that can be really effective is to do like a joint giveaway with multiple local businesses in your area. Now here's the kicker. I made sure it was clear. I'll facilitate everything. I will create the graphics. I'll create the wording for posts. Here's just what's expected on your end. And I made it really easy for them. I didn't make five loopholes. They have to jump through and they have to sign a contract and all this stuff. I made it incredibly simple and said, here's how it will benefit you. We'll join together. We'll attract, you know, all of our audiences together.

we'll cross over and see your page as well. And if you could just contribute something, I'm going to contribute a $500 gift card. You can do whatever feels aligned to you and let's do this together. And then you can make it where, you you become each other's collaborators or they just have to enter on one of the posts. I take care of entries. Maybe it's follow everyone tag, drop two, you know, comment to friends, share on stories, right? Like the idea is to get in front of those different audiences and share how you're benefiting them.

And when I did this, actually started with businesses I thought were the most quick to say yes. And then you can use that as leverage for other businesses. Like, hey, I'm doing this. This boutique that you know of is doing this. Why don't you come with us? I wouldn't do similar crossover businesses, just like I don't really want to do a collab with a photographer who's a competitor. They're doing the same thing I'm doing. That doesn't align really well. So I would find different categories of businesses you could do this with. So I did it with a high end women's boutique, a dental spa, the doggy day spa, a...

person, a person day spa and none of those businesses overlapped, but it all worked really well in tandem together and gained a lot of traction for all of us, which is great. And then what you can do is reach out to that winner, but you can also reach out to everyone else who went entered. And if you're full service, you could do a smaller gift card that gets some in the door in an image or two and then upsell to them. It's a great way you could fill your calendar by borrowing an audience. Another thing that you can do is collaborating with a pop-up event.

Christa (09:32.898)
So I had a student do this where she was doing heirloom pop-ups, the really classic portrait with the child's head and the white vignette, really beautiful. And she's up in New England and found a boutique that had a very high end children's clothes, the type of clothing you would wear for this. And they partnered together on that. And that's really cool because you're borrowing their audience so they can be a collaborator on your posts. You may host it like at their place of business. So all of their clients are seeing it too. And their clients are excited for it and it benefits them because you're also bringing awareness to their page saying, and if you need an outfit,

come shop at XYZ Boutique, they'll give you 20 % off, right? It's a great way to partner together and get in front of each other's audiences. So those are like a few different things you could do. The other thing you could do is let's say you want to give something to them to give to their top clients. So think of a realtor for instance, you could give a big gift card for homes they sell over a hundred thousand where it's like, hey, I'd love if you included this in an exchange, let me give you a gift card for your headshots. I want to have a chance to work with you and you to see my experience or use it towards your family photos.

And I would love to offer this to your clients so that when they're moving into their new home, we can fill their homes with updated family portraits and wall art. Okay. I'm going to my notes here to see if I'm missing anything. If you DM me on Instagram, the word holiday to Krista Renee, Krista with a C H underscore Renee, R E N E. I actually have 11 ways that you can bring this up to another level. 11 ways that you can partner with businesses. So DM me the word holiday all by itself and I'll send that to you. But

I want to share that when you're doing this proactively, there's so many ways to getting clients. There's never a reason you shouldn't have any clients on the calendar. And I definitely would lean into using social media. I definitely would lean into connecting and collaborating with other businesses. But here's the key, it needs to be about them. And the moment you walk in and really want to do something that's self-focused and that's only about driving your business forward,

People can see right through that. And I get like, it is a win-win. I'm doing this because it benefits me as well. But the reason that I don't get super hung up on Krista, there was a great boutique I offered to do her photos. She took me up on it. She didn't upsell and didn't even post the images. Now I'm really angry. You can't get hung up on things like that. Why? Because I always see the bigger picture in marketing. There's a mentor that I have that I love following her stuff who says when she does collaborations, she only takes them if they don't expect results until a year later, because she's so focused on those long-term beautiful

Christa (11:54.54)
relationships and connections. And what you can do is maybe it's not a yes right now. Maybe you present this to a few businesses and they're really busy right now. Power's in the follow-up. So maybe it's a matter of circling back come January or February. Maybe it's a matter of putting them one day a month, a marketing calendar where you go and visit local businesses just to stay top of mind for them. Now, if you're talking to the 18 year old on summer break who doesn't really care, you're not going to get very far. And that's when I would ask like, hey, I'd love to do some photos for you guys.

I'm working on expanding my reach and just love to give this to you. What would that look like? Who could I connect with? That's great. And notice I'm talking about going in person and that's gonna be my little piece of advice to you. Is I love social media. It's a great way to connect. It's a great way to reshare. I'm encouraging you to utilize it. It's free. It's a great way to get in front of others audiences when you're visiting these places, post on your stories of how great they are, tagging them, they'll reshare. And the idea is that your ideal client goes on social media.

or goes into these stores and like, you're just everywhere. And that definitely happened where like my ideal client, I was all the places that they were. The doggy boutique, the high-end women's boutique. I pitched myself to the place, a lot of their kids get clothes, nothing came of it and that's okay. But the idea is they're seeing you over and over and it's gonna build that like, know and trust. It takes seeing something multiple times and that's gonna be way more powerful than a quick ad that they might see or quick Instagram post is knowing, okay, they used Krista. they're validating that decision. That is awesome.

So it's really, powerful to do this along with whatever marketing plans you have. Now, what I want to end with this is, while I know it's easy to hide behind your phone and use social media, and while I do want you reaching out to local businesses and people that you can collaborate with, the powers are really going to be most effective in person. And you might say, I don't have time for this. And I understand, which is why I would encourage really stacking these. I would encourage

Having a day where you get dressed up and look really nice and presentable. I hold myself to a high standard. I didn't do this wearing leggings and a t-shirt. I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing, that I was successful, that if they sent clients my way, they knew I treated it very professionally. And go around and visit these stores. And if you need a gift, one time I needed a gift from my mom. So instead of going on Amazon or something, I was like, great, I'll use their place of business. And I'll approach them and I'll buy it from them and I'll be an actual customer of them. And the cool thing is,

Christa (14:18.542)
When I did that, you're organically going to just talk to the owner. You're gonna connect. And the cool thing is they're a business owner. They're gonna eventually ask about you. So I don't have to march in and say, I'm Krista and I'm a photographer here. I can just say your store is beautiful. I am obsessed with these. Any gift for my mom? How long have you been doing this? This is amazing. Oh my gosh, I love that. And usually they'll be like, Krista, tell me about you. And I'm like, hey, I'm a photographer. I love connecting with other local women owned businesses. Hey, you mentioned.

You know, you're having something big coming up. Do you need a photographer for that? Hey, you mentioned that you have a six month old at home. Do you need milestone photos for that? Can I give you a gift card just as a chance to get to know each other and do this for you? I'd love to help you with this. And going in person will be most effective, but I am fine if you want to lay the groundwork with an Instagram DM, but keep in mind, don't overload it with information. I would keep it really simple. I'd start off with your name and that you're in the area.

and that you'd love to connect and offer them a free session and what do they have needs for? And then follow up and ask if you can come by and actually meet them and share some ideas of what you could do for them. Because the truth is every business needs photos, every single one, every business owner needs photos. Even if it's not business, they need personal photos. It doesn't matter if they worked with another photographer before, you don't know the story there or why they worked with them. And the worst thing that they can say is no, and I actually want you to look for the no's. I want you have a spreadsheet of who you're reaching out to and follow up at least twice.

And when they say no, that's okay. And maybe it's not enough now, maybe it's in the future and you laid the groundwork for that. So I want to end with this story. I was visiting, I built up a business about four hours away from me in Hilton Head and there's a little town outside of it called Bluffton. And I loved going there in the summers. My average was really high there and clients would book me there and not even realize I didn't live there and it still worked. My full service process can be done virtually. had regular three grand plus sales there, which was really exciting. So while I was there, I visited a local boutique and I absolutely loved it.

And while I was there, I got to know the owner and I would come about every time I went there and I would just talk to her. And the first time I was there, said, Hey, my camera's in the car. Can I just snap some quick photos for you on me? And you might say, Christ, I can't believe you did that for her for free. Bigger picture, bigger picture. didn't charge her. Now she's going to expect that every time. Bigger picture. And no, I always make sure that there's clear boundaries. And she didn't expect that because I said, Hey, I'd love to do this for you just this time. Took some photos, sent them to her. It was great. Guess what? Another boutique I did that to.

Christa (16:42.25)
nothing came of it. One time I offered a boutique photos for free and they said, no, that's okay. That's okay. I only need a few yeses. So I go in there, I take photos for free. And every time I'm down there, I connect with her and I talked to her. And that was probably six, seven years ago. We just were down in the low country this past summer for a shoot, went by and saw her again and said, Hey, like she knows now me and my husband, we met her before we had kids. Now we have two, like it's, it's become such a wonderful thing. Just popping in a couple, like literally a couple times a year. That's it. Do you buy something from her? Yeah, I do.

I do. And guess what? When her employee needed some pictures, guess what she said? my gosh, Krista comes in a lot. Krista's really great. She's photographer. She came in and did photos for us. You should hire her. And her family, that was one of my highest sales because they wanted a lot of wall art. It was their extended family. They were all together. And that led to a beautiful connection. Another place locally in town, it was a boutique. So many boutiques, they didn't give me the time of day and that was okay. But what I did is I came in and I got to meet the owner.

And do you know what she did? We connected and I was open to photographing her. got to photograph her and her dog. I said, whatever you need, I got you. She referred two of the girls who worked their weddings to me. And then when her friend needed photos that she knew from college, some branding photos, she said, you gotta hire Krista. Hires me, has been a wonderful client ever since. Right? So do you see how this springboards and rolls? But I wanted to give you some collab ideas for the holidays if you just need something now. So.

I hope this was helpful. DM me the word holiday on Instagram at KristaRenee with a C-H underscore Renee, R-E-N-E, if you want a typed out Google Doc list of 11 ways you could collaborate with local businesses.