I’m going to be honest with all of you; I’m pretty exhausted! I was out in Las Vegas last week for WPPI, a conference for professional photographers. It’s been eight years since I was last at this event and, boy, has it changed! It’s smaller, more intimate (as intimate as you can be with 8,000 people, but that’s better than the 15,000 it used to be).
I came away from this event with a lot of takeaways. Here are a few big themes that I noticed from multiple speakers that are applicable to you if you are a photographer running a business or if you are a customer in search of a photographer.
1. VIDEO. If you are running a business in 2020 and you are not incorporating video into your marketing and sales strategy in one form or another, you better get on it. This can be anything from Instagram stories, IGTV, a Youtube channel, videos on your website that introduce you to your client….the list goes on. Get on it!! And for clients looking to hire a photographer, these videos are really important. It’s going to give you a more personal look at the professional you might want to hire. Pay attention to these videos. The curated feed is nice, but the best stuff are going to be found in their short video clips.
2. HOW WE TALK TO CUSTOMERS. This where we start talking about the copy of our website, the words we use to introduce ourselves to clients and get them to hire us. 5-10 years ago it was cute and trendy to say things like, “I like coffee and my cute dog and this is why you should hire me.” Those days are gone. Yes, finding commonality is good, but this can’t be your first pitch. Customers want to know how we can solve their problems with the hiring of a photographer, because they do have problems (they might just not know it). And I’m going to leave this here for now because I’ve got a whole other post on this that I’m going to expand on soon.
3. THE UNIVERSE LISTENS. What you put out into the world, you will get back in return. Oprah just said this at a conference in LA THIS week! But this is not a new concept, people! And if you think it sounds woowoo, well, get used to it. Coming to this conference, meeting the people I’ve met, arranging an impromptu, in-person wedding consultation while I was there last week…none of this happens by accident! Start asking for the things you want and the universe provides!
I’m so grateful for this past week and the opportunities that have been afforded to me. I’m so lucky to have people like my dear friend Christine Tremoulet in my life. Thank you, friend, for everything last week and for being the best conference wife one could ask for. Thanks for snapping this shot of me out in my happy place too. For those of you that know me you know I’m happiest in nature, and getting off the strip last week was the BEST decision ever. And if you’re looking at this photo and thinking, “totally posed!” you would be dead wrong. We did take a few portraits of each other while at Red Rock Canyon, but this is straight up candid. Christine snapped this of me while I was taking in the beauty of the orange/red rock faces in the park. I’ve never been anywhere like this and I’m starting to think that the desert and I could be fast friends.
