← Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
5 Strategies That Actually Fill Your Calendar With Photography Clients
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Welcome to the Book More Clients Photography Podcast. You can stop spending hours on Google and YouTube because you just found your number one resource for growing a profitable and sustainable photography business. Hi, I'm Brooke Jefferson. I'm a believer wife, mama to two and Oklahoma family photographer. I left the classroom in 2018 to pursue my photography career full time. Now I'm here to help you do the same. In this podcast we're covering the most asked about topics including pricing, marketing, client experience, and all things systems and workflows. You won't find any fluff or BS here. Just tried and true strategy. Are you ready? Grab your kids some snacks and charge those camera batteries. It's time to jump in. Foreign More clients isn't about doing more, it's about doing the right things consistently. If you're hoping to book more clients in your photography business, this is the episode for you. I'm walking you through five strategies that actually fill your calendar. Now, as a reminder, all month long we are celebrating seven years of podcasting by taking some of the most popular episodes and recreating them with up to date strategy. This is episode number 400. You guys. I cannot believe that there are 400 episodes on this podcast. That means that there are hours, hundreds of hours of free training and marketing strategy on this podcast for you to listen to and implement into your business. Plus, the fully booked method is on sale for 400 all month long as we are celebrating 400 episodes. I've got something to in the deal, but you're going to have to stick around at the end of the episode to find out what it is. Now let's get into it. Strategy number one. You are going to think that I'm being a broken record, but I want you to really hear everything that I'm saying. Strategy number one to filling your calendar is to have a niche. Okay? You have to have a niche. Now this doesn't mean that you can't experience photographing other things or that you can't take on other sessions outside of your niche. Niche is mainly for marketing purposes and it's also going to help you become that go to in your area. When you're someone that shoots a little bit of everything and you never specialize, it's a lot easier for people to forget that you exist or to forget that you know you're the go to for fill in the blank. And so when you're able to really find that type of photography that lights you up that you can become known for, that is already going to help you get more inquiries and More bookings because you're going to be top of mind for people. So the question is, what do you want to be top of mind for? Do you want to be the go to senior photographer? Do you want to be the first person someone calls when they find out they're pregnant? Do you want to be a wedding and elopement photographer? What do you want to be the go to for? Another way that I like to frame this question, especially when I'm working with one on one clients and, and doing coaching through the fully booked method, is I like to ask if you could book your calendar out 80% of the time with a specific type of session, what would it be? And the usually the first thing that comes to your mind is at first you're going to think of something and then you might start talking yourself out of it. But what is that thing that would light you up that 80% of the time you're going to commit to booking and that you want to see fill up your calendar? That is probably the direction that you need to go in. And so this is the importance of having a niche. Now I want to remind you that a niche is meant to help you stay top of mind. It's not meant to limit you. It's not me saying, hey, you have to pick one type of photography and you can never photograph anything else. Definitely not what I'm saying. But having a niche makes your marketing so much easier. You don't have to think about the type of content you need to show. You don't need to think about the person that you're talking to. There's no switching gears back and forth in your mind. You know exactly who you're speaking to and what you are trying to book and it makes your marketing 10 times easier. So take my word for it and please, please, please choose a niche that is strategy number one. Strategy number two is profitable pricing. So not just cool packages, not just pricing in general, but profitable pricing and packages. Okay, so you need to have pricing that 100% fit fits your lifestyle, your goals, your market and your location. And so there is a, there's a formula that you can put together. I do, I do give you guys my profitable pricing formula for free. So that is on my website, brook jefferson.com if you want to go grab that, it's on the four Photographers page. You can sign up for that and walk yourself through it. It's going to have you plug in your unique data, your unique numbers and that's going to give you a starting point on whether or not Your packages are even profitable. It's so important that you know your cost of doing business, because if you don't, then you're usually like, randomly just pricing something at what you think makes sense or what, maybe you've seen another photographer charge a certain number and so you automatically decided that you're going to do the same thing. The problem with that is that is the fastest way to burn out. You're going to hate the money side of photography if that is the only method of pricing that you use. You really want to make sure that not only are you, you know, taking into consideration your cost of doing business, but that you're also, you know, creating these packages that make sense for your ideal clients, for the people that are going to be looking at what you have to offer and making a decision to work with you. It has to make sense, right? And if you have a certain clientele that you're trying to book, especially after you commit to niche, it's really hard to do this if your pricing and packages don't align with that type of ideal client and what they're wanting or what they're, you know, what they're trying to hire in a photographer. So if you have really cheap prices, but you want to be more of a luxury photographer, that just doesn't make sense. And so you want to make sure that your niche and your pricing align completely with, with what your ideal clients are going to be seeing. So inflation right now is so real and so your prices that you set for your photography business, and I'm preaching to myself, okay, what we set for ourselves in 2020 and 2021 is not going to fly in 2026. It's just not. The cost of everything has gone up. And I don't know about you, but some of my photography stuff, specific expenses have gone through the roof. And so if I'm still expected to pay those expenses, then I'm going to have to raise my prices to still continue to hit my profit or my profit is going to suffer. So please take all of this into consideration. I have a ton of strategy that I teach inside the Fully booked method on profitable pricing, on how to create packages that convert, on how to get it to speak to your ideal client. I mean, I could go on for 12 different podcast episodes on all the things I want to say about pricing, but we don't have that luxury right now. So if you're wanting to dive more into this specific strategy, definitely check out the fully booked method. Or you can go back and listen to any of the Free podcast episodes where we talk about pricing. So again, strategy number two, profitable pricing and packages. Strategy number three. This one you'll probably have to circle if you're taking notes. This is probably where you are struggling the most. Because most photographers that I audit or that I glance at their business, this is one that they need to work on and that is a well known brand. Branding is not your logo, it's not your colors and it's not your fonts. It truly is the essence of your business as a whole. It's what people say about you, it's how you make your clients feel. It's how when I visit your website and I look through your portfolio like all of these are different pieces of your brand. There's physical parts to a brand, there's emotional parts to a brand. There's a lot of different parts that go into your brand. But the biggest thing is I'm not just talking about the logo and the colors. I am talking about your brand presence, how you're becoming the go to in your industry, in your town. Right? That's what I'm talking about. If you don't feel like you have a well known brand, this is the one area I really want you to work on. This is achieved through consistency across online channels and offline, right? How can you get the two to connect? How can you imitate the experience that your clients are having with you in person into a digital online experience? So we're talking about your website, your social media, your client experience, all the things, how do those mesh together and give an essence of who you are? If you had to give your business a personality, if it talked a certain way, if it walked a certain way, how would you describe those characteristics that is building pieces of your brand? Ask yourself this question. If someone landed on your Instagram and your website in the same week, would they feel like they found the same photographer? If your Instagram is giving a whole completely different experience and looks like a completely different photographer compared to your website, compared to your Google business, compared to your Facebook, right? That's not consistency. So you need to have an online brand that's very consistent and, and it needs to be consistent with what it's like to work with you in person as well. So right now more than ever, I'm giving you a little 2026 spin, okay? AI is everywhere. It is everywhere. And I, and I am still a big component that we can use it to help us in a lot of different ways. I don't think we ever need to completely let it overrule our entire life and business. I think that would be horrible. Horrible. So what is going to set you apart? Because a lot of people are going to choose the AI easy route. But what's going to set you apart is your personality and your point of view, right? The things that matter to you. What, what are your opinions? What are, what do you value? What are your morals? Like, how can you share things like this so that people get to know the human behind the camera? Don't hide behind your logo, right? We want to see the photographer, we want to be able to hear you, see you, feel like we know you. And so if you need to find ways that you can show up online, Instagram stories is your best way to truly do this. Utilize your stories on whatever platform you are using. And yes, it's so awkward at first, but if you will get on there and just share tidbits about your day or talk to camera a couple times a week, or share little, you know, pictures about where you're going and what you're doing and things like that, it's going to help people find a commonality and it's going to help them realize like, okay, I'm connecting with the human and the photographer and not just the photography images that I see all of the time. And so once you have all of these pieces in place, you're going to have a well known brand. And I'm telling you, this is your key to staying top of mind and having a fully booked Calendar strategy number four is visibility. If we were in a room right now or if I was on a zoom call and I could see you guys with your cameras on, I would say raise your hand if you feel like you are invisible or if you wish you had more clients and I guarantee you there would be a ton of hands that would fly into the air. Because visibility is usually like the traffic problem to why you're not getting enough leads and bookings. You can be the most talented photographer in your town and still be invisible if you're not utilizing visibility strategy. Visibility means that you're showing up where your ideal clients are. You're not just showing up on your own social media page and you're not connecting with people. It means you are going out and you're figuring out where are your ideal clients and how can I continue to show up in front of them both online and offline. Like in the real world, where would my ideal clients be and how can I get my name out there? So really think about these strategies. You know, think about that ideal Client. And here's the thing, you cannot have an ideal client, right? If, if your answer of an ideal client is someone that is willing to pay my prices, that is not an ideal client. But my point is, you can't have an ideal client if you don't go through the first three strategies we've already talked about. It's only after you implement the first three that you will ever get to strategy four, which is increasing your visibility. Because if you don't understand who that person is and who you are trying to target, then you'll never be able to figure out where they're hanging out online because you're going to have too many options. And then your message is not going to be cohesive and consistent, right? It's just going to, it's, it's going, it's like you're yelling in a stadium of 20,000 people. It's just gonna fall flat. No one's gonna hear you. So once you know your niche, you can create this ideal client and then you can really step in his or her shoes and think about what do they do on a daily basis, what do they enjoy doing, what social media platforms do they hang out the most on? Okay, if the answer is Instagram, are they only tapping through their stories of people that they know every single day, not even scrolling their feed, or are they the opposite? Do they scroll their feed and they rarely look at stories? These are things that you have to figure out for yourself. And then taking it offline, where are they physically showing up? So for example, if you're a wedding photographer, you are looking for newly engaged couples and you need to get way more like specific than that. Right? But your goal is, okay, where would these newly engaged couples be hanging out? Well, we know they're looking at wedding venues, so how can I get my name on the, you know, referred vendor list? Or you know, do I need to sign up for any of these big vendor events where I can go be a vendor and I can meet like a hundred couples in the six hour time frame that they're going to put this event on. So really think outside the box and think about where they're hanging out, where are they showing up? How can you naturally put yourself in front of your ideal client? And so that is visibility. Okay, Video I can tell you right now is going to be your biggest online strategy and your biggest offline strategy. 100% depends on you, where you're located and what your niche is. And once I know those three things, then I can give you more specific strategy. And coaching so that I can put you in front of your ideal client. And strategy number five, this one is going to be one of those where you slap your forehead and say duh. And that is a marketing system. You have to have a marketing system if you are going to book, like fully book your calendar. If you just want to sit back and take the bookings that come your way, that's amazing. But I know if you've listened this far to this specific episode that you want more than that. You want people seeking you out, but based on your marketing, right, you want your marketing to do something for you. You're tired of just throwing it up and hoping for the best. You want an actual strategy so that people will take the action that you want them to take. Whether that is sending you a message or clicking a link to go straight to your booking calendar, whatever that looks like. Posting randomly and hoping for bookings is not a strategy. It's not. It's crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. And sometimes that may work for you, but I'm willing to bet it has not worked very well for you. A system means that you are having consistent content, you are encouraging your people to take a specific app action, you have a way to track your leads and you have a follow up process in place as well. So you have an entire system. So you know what you're posting, you're doing it consistently, you're encouraging an action and then you're tracking the actions that are taken. That is a system. It is a cycle, is a step by step process. And you know exactly what, what happens at each of those stages. And it's a rinse and repeat cycle every day of your business. So if you don't have that in place, that is the very first place that I would start. Because what's the point of doing the rest of the strategies if you don't, if you're not ready to capture those leads, if you're not ready to actually walk someone through your booking system, you should not have to constantly reinvent the marketing wheel every single month. You need to learn one strategy. You need to get really good and consistent at it for three months, six months, 12 months before you throw in another strategy. And then the goal is that by the time that you're mastering each strategy, that by the time it's all done, you've done everything you can do. You're completely consistent. Maybe you even outsourced a little bit of your marketing, but your, your marketing and strategy seven different ways. That is my ultimate goal for you if that is what if you want consistent leads. I have seven different marketing strategies going at a time that doesn't mean ads. I don't pay a single dollar to an ad to get clients. Mine is 100% organic. Free leads and bookings. It has been since day one of my business. The only time that I ever poured money into advertising was when I had a commercial playing, had a videographer come out and I did like a voiceover and we had it running at our local movie theater for about three months. That's it. That's the only type of advertising I've ever done. Everything else is completely 100 organic. And so you should have seven different ways that you are marketing your business every single month, every single year. And most of those strategies will work for you. It's set it and forget it. Maybe go back every six months and check on it. But there is $0 ad spend. Make sure you have a marketing system. One that you don't have to constantly strategy hop, one that you don't have to be frustrated about. Just one that makes sense to you. And we go over a lot of this in the market like a tog membership as well. That's my marketing membership. So if you're not in that and you want to check it out, definitely come do that. It's $50 a month, it is a steal and you are going to get a lot of the content handed over to you. So come try that out. If you, if you're like I have no idea what you're talking about, I am very inconsistent. You would love, love, love the marketing membership. Okay, so let's recap the five strategies and then let me tell you how we are sweetening the deal. So five strategies to fill your calendar. 1. Have a niche. 2. Profitable pricing and packages. Step 3. A well known brand strategy. 4. Visibility and strategy 5. A marketing system. These five strategies are exactly what the fully booked method program is built around. It's the system that I wish I had when I started, but I created it for you so that you don't have to do as much guesswork as I did. You don't have to keep figuring it out and you're literally going to have a strategy handed to you. And not only that, you're going to get personalized coaching every single week. So as you go through, you're going to tackle one week at a time. You're going to turn in a homework Google form and then once I receive that, you're going to get coaching back from me every single week for Eight weeks. That is what we're doing. And then you get to keep the entire strategy, the entire course for life. So it's your information to keep even when the coaching is finished. And so right now that is on sale. This is episode 400. It is $400 in honor of our 400th episode. And so if you want to find out all the details, everything that you get, go to Brook jefferson.com fully booked. You can read all the things. You don't need any coupon codes. It is just on sale until April 30th. Now, if I see your name come through between now, April 16th is when this errors and April 30th, if you join between those dates in 2026, you are going to get one month free access from my marketing membership. And then we'll talk about when you can utilize the marketing membership because there's a few things you need to have in place before I let you jump in there. And so as soon as you have those things in place, we will unlock it. You will get 30 days of free content. That's a whole month's worth of content, free for your business only when you join between April 16 and April 30, 2026. That's my extra to sweeten the deal for you. Now, pick one of these five strategies and go really deep with it and see where you need to implement certain things in your photography business. You don't need all five working perfectly right this moment, but you need to start working on one of these strategies right now and you know which one is your right step. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for letting me publish 400 podcast episodes. I hope we're around for 400 more. So we'll see. But I will see you on the next episode. Sam.