entrepreneur

153: Maria Oliva- Hot Instagram Tips for Wedding and Portrait Photographers

“If you were going to a networking event in person, what would you do, how would you respond to people approaching you, what would you share with them? These are the exact same things that you would do on your Instagram profile.”

Today, our hostess and Mastercraftsman Photographer Luci Dumas sits down with María Oliva, Founder and CEO of SMS Media, a social media coaching business for wedding vendors based in the DC area. She is on a mission to change the way wedding vendors approach Instagram by helping them create sustainable and fun strategies!

153: Maria Oliva- Hot Instagram Tips for Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Listen in as the digital marketing master shares how Instagram can become your go-to tool for attracting dream clients and why it’s important to niche down in order to maximize your ability to reach and start building relationships with those clients.

Referring to Instagram as “a free networking platform online,” Maria encourages any photographer looking to build a brand to be proactive in starting and continuing conversations, and to personally extend invitations to those who interact positively with their posts to join their community.

She continues on to offer a treasure trove of practical tips and strategies to grow your Instagram following and, ultimately, your client base. These include using hashtags effectively, creating posts based on your content pillars, finding opportunities to collaborate with local vendors, and visual branding best practices.

Key Topics:

  • Why Instagram is a great tool for attracting your dream clients (5:25)
  • Overcoming excuses that stop you from investing in your business (10:49)
  • How to build a community on Instagram (15:41)
  • Using hashtags effectively (23:45)
  • Establishing your content pillars (29:41)
  • Collaboration with vendors on Instagram (33:37)
  • Making money on Instagram (36:11)
  • Understanding the buyer’s journey (38:44)
  • Visual branding on how to provide value on Instagram (41:49)
  • Get María’s freebie and stay connected (49:35)
  • Luci’s wrap up (50:23)

Resources:

Get María Oliva’s free Instagram selling guide:

https://smsmediapr.lpages.co/instagram-selling-guide-freebie/

Get in touch with María Oliva at:

Website: https://smsmediapr.lpages.co/our-services/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sms_mediapr/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sms-media-group-inc/

Photography Business Coach Luci Dumas’ Programs:

lucidumascoaching.com

https://www.instagram.com/theprofitablephotographer_pod/

https://www.facebook.com/LuciDumasCoaching

152: Luci Dumas Shares Her Coaching Secrets to Selling Tons of Wall Portraits

“You’re going to need a telephone and you’re going to need to know how to use it. I could make a better living with my cellphone and nothing else, than having a great camera, and a computer where I only communicate via email and text and such.”

Today, our hostess, Photography Business Coach Luci Dumas shares her best tips and strategies to set up your photography business for massive success.

Just as photography is an art, Luci believes that selling is an art. Likewise, just as photography is a skill, selling is a skill. That means anyone with the passion and tenacity to succeed in this industry has the opportunity to learn the skills they need to improve both their photography and ability to sell their work.

Luci invites us to set the goal of becoming a full-service photographer. Strive to be able to create an experience for the client in which, from their first interaction with you to the last, you deliver not only what they want, but also what they didn’t know they wanted.

In fact, full-service photographers are not just photographers. They are designers. They are clothing consultants. They are makeup guides. By embracing your role as a salesperson, you are also your clients’ trusted advisor.

You don’t need to be the world’s greatest photographer. Just being the best full-service photographer you can be gives both you and your client immense joy. They become raving fans of you, and you learn how to be a better photographer and business owner.

Listen in as Luci shares her checklist of nine things every photographer needs to do when establishing their new business and the rewards that await, as well as her five steps to onboarding a new client.

Key Topics:

  • Photography and selling as an both art and skill (4:09)
  • Creating a long-term win-win relationship with your clients (10:26)
  • Addressing misconceptions around selling (13:50)
  • Nine things you need to get started in this business (21:57)
  • Three rewards of having a strong photography business (36:50)
  • Five steps to taking on a new client (39:25)
  • A brief overview of Luci’s sales system (41:59)
  • SSS – Secret Sales Sauce (44:45)

Find out more about my programs at:

lucidumascoaching.com

https://www.instagram.com/theprofitablephotographer_pod/

https://www.facebook.com/LuciDumasCoaching

151: Mitche Graf- Life Design for Photographers and other Humans

“If you live life with intention, as if every day is a Saturday, it changes your perspective. It changes what you do, what you say, and how you live your life. Every day can be a Saturday with the right perspective and the right attitude.”

Today, our hostess, Photography Business Coach Luci Dumas sits down with Mitche Graf, a daddy of 3, bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, internationally renowned business speaker, nationally syndicated radio show host, and former All American Track & Field athlete.

The amazing Mitche has been a passionate serial entrepreneur for over 25 years, dangling his toes into the ponds of many intriguing industries along the way. From selling used bicycle parts out of his garage in the seventh grade to running four companies today, he has prided himself on knowing how to squeeze every drop of potential out of his endeavors.

151: Mitche Graf- Life Design for Photographers and other Humans

Listen in as Mitche challenges business owners everywhere to find ways to charge more for your services by offering your clients even more value than you already do. In a similar vein, he speaks on the value of investing in your business sooner rather than later. He also offers advice on targeting your marketing toward your ideal client, and why you should never offer discounts.

The latter half of our conversation is all about lifestyle design, which is at the very center of everything Mitche teaches and does. He tells us, as entrepreneurs, to focus on the 5% of the activities that bring 95% of our results.

Key Topics:

  • What brought Mitche down his current path (3:28)
  • Overcoming excuses that stop you from investing in your business (7:44)
  • Attracting your ideal client (13:28)
  • Knowing when to pivot (16:24)
  • Pre-empting customer objections (23:17)
  • All about lifestyle design (26:49)
  • Working smart in addition to working hard (35:26)
  • Life is too short for regrets (42:16)
  • Everyday can be a Saturday (50:28)
  • Luci’s wrap-up (52:23)

Resources:

Get Mitche Graf’s free book: powermarketing101.com/freebook

Get in touch with Mitche Graf at: sales@mitchegraf.com

Other books by Mitche mentioned in the episode:

Business Basics BootCamp: The Ultimate Crash Course

Customer Service is DEAD: Delivering 6-Start Service In A 1-Star World

Other episodes mentioned:

044 Luci Dumas- Surviving and Thriving

019 Bruce and Josh Hudson: Keeping Clients Coming Back for More – The Power of Relationship Marketing

Find out more about my programs at:

lucidumascoaching.com

https://www.instagram.com/theprofitablephotographer_pod/

https://www.facebook.com/LuciDumasCoaching

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