361 - Eliminate your Marketing Speedbumps

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Eliminate your Marketing Speedbumps"

This Can't Be That Hard – Episode 361
Host: Annemie Tonken (Guest: Dana, Consistency Club)
Date: March 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively, actionable episode, guest host Dana brings Annemie Tonken back onto the show to conclude "Marketing Madness Month" by diving deep into the last two quadrants of successful photography marketing: email and social media. Together, they explore how these channels—while sometimes feeling repetitive to business owners—play crucial roles in client decision-making, and more importantly, how to strategically use them to identify and eliminate "marketing speedbumps" that keep potential clients from booking. The focus is on practical, empathetic strategies that every photographer can use to proactively address client hesitations, both emotional and logistical, smoothing the path to conversion.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The “Highway” Analogy: Repetition and Visibility

• Repetition Is Not Redundancy:
  Dana and Annemie emphasize that while constantly creating content for email and social can feel redundant to the creator, repetition is necessary for audience awareness.
  • Quote (Annemie, 02:55):
    “That consistency feels like repetition to you, but… [for] your clients… it’s necessary. They need to see you again and again… to build that trust.”
• The Billboard Example:
  Dana likens marketing touchpoints to seeing repeated billboards along a highway—each repetition is intentional, as clients need to encounter your brand multiple times before it sticks.
  • Quote (Dana, 03:54):
    “The first time you see the billboard, you don’t even see it... the rule of seven, people need to see something seven times before it… sticks for them.”

2. The Marketing Quadrants and Client Journey

• Marketing Quadrants:
  Referencing the month's earlier concepts, they explain how different marketing “quadrants” serve different stages of the client journey—awareness, interest, consideration, and finally decision.
  • Quote (Annemie, 06:49):
    “The first, your rocks are sort of that awareness… The pebbles is where you...show them, like, I specialize in this... And what we're doing now is we’re showing up again and again... until there is, at some point, that decision point.”

3. Marketing Speedbumps: What Slows Clients Down?

Their focus turns to the mental or logistical "speedbumps" that prevent clients from booking sessions. Dana stresses the importance of addressing these proactively in email and social content.

Common Speedbumps and How to Address Them

A. Pricing and Money Talk

• Don’t Hide, Don’t Overwhelm:
  Clients need to feel comfortable about potential investment, but too little or too much information can create roadblocks.
  • Annemie's Pricing Philosophy (19:09):
    “I've always been like a Goldilocks person on this: not too much, not too little, just right. This is what prices start at and this is what the average is…”
  • Suggests giving context about service levels and “collections range from X to Y” rather than exhaustive breakdowns, especially on social media.
• Communicate Payment Structures:
  Share about deposits, payment plans, and booking flow—without needing to state exact amounts—to give clients confidence.
  • Dana, 21:09:
    “You can talk about money…by doing things like, you basically put down a deposit… or we offer payment plans… You're just talking about money in a way that is helping people feel comfortable.”

B. Emotional Hesitations

• Common client worries: their house isn’t nice enough, kids are wild, pets are reactive, they're not confident in photos.
  • Addressing These Directly:
    Use social/email to show “Instagram vs. reality” (behind-the-scenes or before-and-after visuals), and to tell stories of clients overcoming similar hesitations.
  • Annemie, 24:27:
    “You want to break down those barriers and those myths for people… This is where it’s like, great opportunities to show...what you see versus what you get.”
  • Dana, 26:08:
    “Instagram versus reality. I feel like that is content you can’t look away from because we are constantly… being like, ugh, my house looks terrible.”

C. The Process (Logistics as Barrier)

• Many clients are intimidated because they don’t know "how it actually works."
  • Share the Steps:
    Don’t hide your process! Simplify it, break it down into three stages (e.g., inquiry, session, receiving photos) and present it repeatedly in content.
  • Annemie, 27:44:
    “Pull back the curtain and start sharing that information before someone books… The more that you can make it feel accessible, feel actionable… you can handle most of it for them, smooths out that speed bump.”

D. Clear Calls to Action

• Don’t make clients work to find out how to book you!
  • Be Direct and Specific:
    Every email, post, or story should provide a next step (e.g., "Click here to book", "Send me a DM", "Only 3 sessions left for April—grab yours now").
  • Annemie, 33:23:
    “Don’t make people work hard to book you. You want to audit that process to reduce the speed bumps as much as possible.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Repetition and Client Trust:
  • Annemie (02:55): “That consistency feels like repetition to you, but… it’s necessary.”
• On the Emotional Side of Booking:
  • Annemie (24:27): “Your lizard brain starts throwing up a thousand different ways that this could go so, so wrong…”
• On Pricing Strategies:
  • Annemie (19:09): “I've always been like a Goldilocks person on this: not too much, not too little, just right.”
  • Dana (21:09): “You're just talking about money in a way that is helping people feel comfortable… especially when it comes to their money.”
• On Calls to Action:
  • Annemie (33:23): “Don’t make people work hard to book you.”
  • Dana (34:44): “If you say double tap if you like this photo… you will get so many more likes.”
• On Creating Mind-Reading Content:
  • Annemie (30:11): “It was like you were reading my mind… you are doing this part just right.”

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Action Steps and Takeaways

• Audit Your Email & Social Content:
  Are you anticipating and addressing the most common speedbumps for your clients?
• Make a List:
  Start with the FAQs and prep materials you already have—these are your topics for content.
• Experiment & Measure:
  Try a social post talking about investment or addressing a specific hesitation—note which ones get responses or increased inquiries.
• Pin Evergreen Content:
  Posts about your process, pricing (in context), and emotional reassurance should be visibly accessible.
• Be Explicit with Your CTAs:
  Always provide a clear next step; don’t assume clients know what to do next. Be as specific as possible.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:54] – The “billboard” analogy: repetition in marketing
• [06:49] – Understanding the marketing quadrants & the client journey
• [09:53] – Defining "marketing speedbumps" and their impact
• [15:20] – How to talk about money and pricing in your content
• [24:27] – Tackling emotional hesitations: showing the “realness” of sessions
• [27:44] – Demystifying the process: making it easy to understand how booking works
• [33:23] – The often-missed call to action: telling people exactly how to book

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a must-listen for photographers who struggle with booking fall-off or who want to improve client experience from first interest to conversion. The bottom line: Use your email and social channels to anticipate hesitations, address them empathetically and proactively, and never be shy about clarifying how to work with you. Smoothing these marketing “speedbumps” will help the “right clients say yes to you more quickly”—and with a lot less resistance on both sides.

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Next Episode Teaser:
Dana and Annemie hint at an upcoming discussion about what happens after these speedbumps—the “bad word deli”—suggesting a fun, insightful finale to Marketing Madness Month.

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For further resources, action step checklists, and community, listeners are encouraged to join “The Dark Room” via the podcast website.

Transcript

[Dana]

Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to week four of the Marketing Madness month. This is Dana. In case you guys have missed it, I am guest hosting this month of the podcast where we are talking about all things marketing. In the last couple weeks, we have talked about SEO, we have talked about events and big rock marketing, and this week we're talking about those last two quadrants of your marketing, email and social media. So of course I had to bring anime back to talk about these with me because this is what we do inside the Consistency Club. We help photographers ease the burden of their marketing by creating email and social media content for them. Email and social media do probably the heaviest lifting on the day to day in your business. So in this episode we wanted to talk specifically about how to use them strategically to smell, smooth out those speed bumps that keep potential clients from actually booking with you. Because let's be real, you guys, it's not that people don't like your work. It's that something small gets in the way, whether that's like emotional or logistical or some other things that you're going to hear in this episode. So today we're going to talk about how you can use your email and social to anticipate those hesitations and address them proactively to make it easier for the right clients to say yes to you more quickly. All right, without further ado, let's cue the music and jump in.

[Anna Mi Tonkin]

Welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Anna Mi Tonkin and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it and I can show you how.

[Dana]

Anna, meet Tonkin. Welcome back to the podcast.

[Anime]

Thank you so much. It is so great to be here. And I have to say I have so enjoyed listening to the last couple of weeks of episodes of my own podcast without me and them. It's so fun.

[Dana]

Well, I'm sure everybody has been missing you and I'm really excited to bring you back for this. We're talking about the last two quadrants today of our marketing and I knew that you were the perfect person to bring back because you and I are co hosts in the Consistency Club and that's what we do in the Consistency Club. We help people with their social and their email. So I was like, you know what? Look, bring the OG back.

[Anime]

Let's bring Automy back.

[Dana]

Let's talk about this last two quadrants of our market. And so I knew that Atomy was the perfect person to bring back to talk about these last two quadrants of our marketing.

[Anime]

Well, and certainly you and I have spent a lot of time talking about these, thinking about these. They're in many ways the most important two pieces of your marketing strategy, because it's where everybody is. It's just kind of like, you know, if you're not doing email and social, I don't know exactly what you're doing for marketing, but. But it's also kind of the hardest in that it's just this relentless content machine. Right. You have to just be constantly cranking stuff out. And that consistency feels like repetition to you, but it is on the receiving end from your clients. It's like, it's necessary. They need to see you again and again and again to build those that trust to answer the questions to, you know, remind them of your name and who you are and what you do and all that sort of stuff until the day comes when they're like, you know what? I do need to hire that photographer.

[Dana]

So I have said this multiple times that I always envision this part of marketing, like driving down a highway and you see the same. Like, if you've ever done like a long road trip, like, I always think about when I lived in LA and I would drive to San Francisco, and you drive the i5 and you're on it for six hours, and you would see the same billboard, like literally probably 10 times during that road trip. And that is intentional because they want anchor themselves in your mind over and over again. Right. And I've talked about this before too, the rule of seven, which is like, people need to see something seven times before it, like, you know, kind of sticks for them. And this is where the bulk of that marketing is done. This is the billboards, like, you need to keep, you know, and the first time you see the billboard, you're. You don't even see it, literally. Then the second time you see the billboard, you're like, did I see the billboard before? And then the third time you see it, you're like, what is this billboard for? And then the. The fourth time you're like, you know what? We kind of do need a new mattress. But by the fourth time you see it.

[Anime]

Yeah, especially when you're born. Yeah, but. But there's also the one where it's like, for something like McDonald's, now nobody needs a billboard to tell them about a restaurant called McDonald's. Right. That everybody knows it. However, they spend lots of money on billboards all over the place. Because once you know about what a thing is, then having that billboard show up again and again and again, it doesn't even affect you until your stomach starts to growl. And then you're like, oh, you know what can you pull off on exit 365? Like, I need some chickenuggies. Totally. I mean, that's a very, like, obviously tested strategy that McDonald's has put in place where they're like, yeah, we don't have to increase awareness. We just have to remind people and point them directly to, you know, hey, it's this next exit because some number of people are going to be hungry right now.

[Dana]

And that's. That's so perfect because that's exactly what your social media and email marketing should be doing. McDonald's isn't like, hey, we're McDonald's. We make fast food burgers. Like, we know what McDonald's does. Okay. So it's the same thing for your photo. It's like the job of email and social media isn't to be like, hi, I'm a photographer. This is what, a family photographer or whatever. Right.

[Anime]

You do that, like, every once in a while. You do.

[Dana]

But the main point is to be like, hello, I'm here. If you're, you know, if you're hungry, pull off on exit 352. Yeah, that is the job. And so, yeah, by its nature, it does get a little repetitive when you're the person doing it over and over again. But if you can keep that visual in your mind that, like, your clients are just driving down the highway, they're trying to, like, they're doing their life right. And they just need a reminder, hey, it's time, you know, it's time to book a session that you need to be that billboard for them all of the time.

[Anime]

Yeah. So let's go back. I love this concept of the road, right?

[Dana]

You're on.

[Anime]

Your clients are on a road. And you have been talking this month about these four quadrants. And when you think about the way that the quadrants work, they really, all of them serve different jobs. We talked about this in the last episode that we did together. So the first, you know, your rocks are sort of that awareness. So, like, taking somebody from I don't know who that person or that business is to. Oh, yeah, I've heard of them, or I met that person or whatever. And then the pebbles is where you take, you know, you grab hold of that interest that they give you and you kind of show them like, no, no, I'm not just any photographer. I'm. I specialize in this and I'm an expert in this and whatever. So that goes like awareness and then interest. And what we're doing now is we're showing up again and again because they're in the process of whether they're actively considering you or not. They're sort of mulling your business over. It's kind of tumbling around. And then there is at some point, that decision point. Like you're, you know, we were saying like, oop, my stomach is rumbling. Oop, I'm expecting a baby. Oop, I'm going to get married. Whatever the case is that like now I need a photographer and I'm ready to hire this person.

[Dana]

Yeah, perfect. I love that. So, you know, you've got your quadrants, your clients are on this sort of like journey. They call this, I think they call it the client journey.

[Anime]

Like, client journey.

[Dana]

Yeah, yeah. Down the road of like, again, you know, you become aware, then you're like, oh, newborn photography is even a thing.

[Anime]

Yeah.

[Dana]

And then, you know, you start to like, pique some interest in newborn photographers. And then I like that idea of like tumbling around. I really like that. In the consideration phase, as maybe you're deciding between which ones or maybe you're considering, do I even want to get newborn photography? There's a lot of different types of consideration until they finally are like, okay, it's time to make a decision.

[Anime]

But as soon as they start to actually think about hiring you, you know, whether that's like whatever that person's hang up is, it's like they're going to spend time, they're going to spend money, they're going to put themselves into that awkward I'm in front of the camera thing. All of a sudden somebody that they're like, oh, yeah, if I had to hire a photographer, I'd totally hire them. Like the second that they're like, I'm ready to hire, then their brain starts to like, spit out all kinds of wait. Be careful, proceed with caution. Because. Especially because photography is A, not 100% necessary and B, often it's a bigger price tag. Kind of a luxury. Good. Right. A lot of us struggle with those kinds of decisions where we're like, oh, I want to do this, but is it worth it? Am I going to be happy? Am I going to regret spending this money? Whatever. So if we're going to continue this road analogy, if they're on this road, all of A sudden, those are like a bunch of speed bumps that come up for them as they're actually getting ready to take that exit and show up at your door. Yep.

[Dana]

And this is a well known, I think, something that they teach you in sales, which is like, how to sort of overcome speed bumps. But I actually think that this is an issue I see in people's marketing all of the time, is that they aren't taking the time to address the mental speed bumps that people are going through, and then they lose people. So I'm going to give another personal example. I have been moving, and so we have been recently looking to buy a new couch. Right now, as you know, couches can range from, like, $300 to, like, $20,000. Like, why are couches like.

[Anime]

I don't know. It's such a big purchase. Yeah.

[Dana]

It's insane. So you're, you know, and there's so many options out there. And so I was like, on this one website, and I was trying to just be like, am I even in the right range here? Like, is this a $20,000 couch or is it a $2,000 couch? And I could find no information about pricing on their website. And I was like, see, like, they completely lost me because I was like, you're making this too difficult for me. And that is part of the, like, a marketing speed bump. Right. So I see people doing this, and I, you know, I wrote down, like, a couple that I see pretty consistently that we're not taking the time to in our marketing. Actually, it's not just about, you know, like, sharing beautiful photographs. It's also about getting people the information that they need to get over these little speed bumps. So pricing is one of them. Let's.

[Anime]

Okay, let.

[Dana]

Yes.

[Anime]

And I just want to, like, call out the fact that this is exactly where these two quadrants, email and social media, shine, because you are kind of doing this over and over and over again. But it's like, if you can anticipate what those speed bumps are for most of your clients, and they're always going to be a little bit different because everybody's situation is a little bit different. Everybody's budget is a little bit different. Whatever. You're trying to be honest about what your business is, who your business serves, all that sort of stuff, because this also, remember, marketing isn't just about getting more clients. It's about getting the right clients. So you want to address these speed bumps. Kind of like if you're out there with a, I don't know, sander or something. You're sanding them down before somebody even takes the exit so that you've kind of pre gotten rid of those answers or those hesitations, or if you haven't been like chipping away at them over time for that particular person, let's say they're ready to hire you or they're thinking about hiring you. And then they go back and they scroll through your last couple of months worth of Instagram posts and they're reading your captions. You may very well be addressing exactly the kinds of issues that are coming up for them. And oftentimes, if you can do that in your email and social media, it makes the conversion part, the part where they actually have to like pull their credit card out, much, much, much easier.

[Dana]

Much easier. And so as you're thinking about what are these feed bumps? The answer is what are the questions you get all the time from people? Like, are people like, what if my dog is reactive? You know, and do we use leashes in sessions? Like all of the questions that you.

[Anime]

The free, most frequently asked questions FAQs.

[Dana]

Yeah, I was gonna say it's your f. It's your prep guide. It's the things that people DM you and ask, like, you know, what about when it rains? Like all of those things. So you could make a list, like brainstorm all of those questions, go to your prep guide, go to your FAQ section, make a list of these, and boom, those are your email and social media marketing topics for the next ever forever.

[Anime]

Hang on guys, I have a quick message for you.

[Dana]

Hey friends, it's Dana. Just popping in here with a quick reminder in case you haven't signed up for it yet. The Dark Room is our free companion app for the podcast and inside there you will find weekly action steps to go along with every week's episode so that you can actually start accomplishing things that you are hearing about on the podcast. And then what you might not know is that also inside the darkroom, we have a special offer each month for the people who are members. And this month, because it's Marketing month, the deal is when you join the Consistency club, you get the Lead Magnet Lab for free. The Lead Magnet Lab is an AI powered tool that helps you really quickly brainstorm and create a lead magnet that will help you attract new clients. It's really cool. So just head on over to thiscan'tbethard.com Darkroom, sign up for free and start checking things off your to do list.

[Anime]

Yep, you can just attack them from different angles over and over and over. Again, yeah.

[Dana]

But I did write down four that I want to bounce off you because, you know, you're the photographer and I would like to know, how do you handle these? Because I think sometimes people specifically shy away from not talking about these. And I think that if we can start to address them, like you said, it's actually going to make the conversion easier in the end. Yeah. So I brought up the money thing. I think this is probably the biggest one. It's like, how do you talk about money without talking about money? Like, what's the right balance to strike there? Because what I'll often see is people, you know, just like not talking about money at all on. Especially on social media and certainly also in their email. So how do you recommend people do that?

[Anime]

Yeah, like, price points aren't always going to come up in social and email, but it's is a major thing that people need to know to, you know, like, you going to this SOFA website and not being able to find any information about pricing, that's a big turnoff for most people. Yeah. And. And so I think that without going into detail about your pricing, like, this is how much it costs on social or email, and especially on social, because unless you're going back and pulling posts down later, you know, if your prices change and somebody's deep in the, like, history of your social, you may not want to lock yourself in. If it's like this spring mini session, you know, cost is 600 or whatever, that. That's different. Okay. So I love that we're talking about money. The thing is that the money issue is complicated. It's complicated for everybody, but it sort of. I feel like with photographers almost, there's like a split here. There are the photographers who are doing what you're talking about on the SOFA website, where they just, they like, don't want to talk about money at all. And so they have almost no information on their website about pricing. And that's a big turnoff to a lot of potential clients. However, there's the other camp of people who are like, let me tell you about every single penny that you might ever spend with me. You know, you go to their pricing page and it like, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll. And it's full of jargon. It's like, well, a day in the life session is this and a blah, blah, blah session and a flat lay album with 20 pages is this much and 30 pages is this much in each additional page. And if you get the such and such finish, like, that is the wrong level of detail to put yeah, it's tmi. It's too much information. And so I understand that there's this knee jerk reaction where you're like, I either don't want to talk about money at all or I want to be totally transparent. And I underst, I can sort of empathize with both of those camps. The problem is that they are both creating more speed bumps than they are solving them. I think that what we need to remember is that if we're going to go back to the road, if there's a billboard, the person needs to anticipate, is this a fast food restaurant or is this going to be like we sit and we put on our dinner jackets and like go in and spend two hours having a sit down meal and forking out the money that we anticipate doing at the same time. So you have to give people some context so that they can plan and so that they can know if this is the right stop for them this particular time.

[Dana]

Yeah, go ahead.

I was gonna say I think the best way to do that and why I think social and email are a great, like, obviously I think you're gonna, you should have some pricing info on your website and I'd love to hear how you suggest people handle that. But I think in email and social media, again, you're in conversation with people, Right? I agree. You should not, you know, say like, this is exactly the price when on social media. Because people could scroll back and then be like, but you said the price was this. But I do think there's ways to talk about the investment without mentioning actual pricing. Yeah. And that will give people like subtle clues as to. Yeah, I'm barking up the right tree here. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, what I feel comfortable spending and in email I think you might even be able to get a little more detailed. Like I think in email you actually could spend some time talking about like, hey, did you know that like I offer these three different types of sessions and like you could dedicate an email to like breaking those down for people so that they understand the different types of sessions that you offer.

[Anime]

Right. Even if you're not putting the actual dollar value. When people start to understand the level of service that you're providing, whatever that level is. Right. Then they get a better sense of what they're in for financially and it starts to mentally prepare them, it like anchors their thinking around what that investment is going to be. So you mentioned like how much information should be on your website. I have always been like a Goldilocks person on this where I'm like, not too much, not too little, just right. And, and I think that that should be, this is what prices start at and this is what the average is. Or like in my case, I use a simple sales method. So it's always been this is your session fee. And then collections range from X to Y. And what that does is it allows someone to look at that and say that is or is not within my budget. It gets them prepared so that when I talk to them they're not going to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is a crazy amount of money.

[Dana]

Yep.

[Anime]

But it does, it leaves them wondering, well, what does that include? Because that gives me the chance to then have that conversation with them where I can set the value before we get into the nitty gritty of like nickels and dimes. And so I think that if we take it out of the website and actual inquiry process and back it out into email and social media, what you're doing with your email and social media is laying that groundwork so that nothing comes as a huge surprise again with McDonald's versus like the sit down fancy dinner. Those two billboards are going to look very different. And so you need to think about what your price point is in your market, like where you fall in the market and the level of service that you provide and start to create email and social media content that mentally prepares people for that experience. Yep.

[Dana]

And I think you can also talk about money and pricing without again, numbers by doing things like, you know, I, the way you work is like you basically put down a deposit or you book your session fee and then later you decide what collection you want. Like that's giving people signals that like, hey, I'm not asking for all this money up front or I, you know, we offer payment plans. Like if you're doing maybe like a whole year long session of like a baby's first year of life, you're like, you know, I offer payment plans throughout the whole year. You're not saying anything about numbers, but you're just talking about money in a way that is helping people feel comfortable that they can ask you questions and also that you've got it figured out on the back end. Because really people just want to feel comfortable that like you know what you're doing, especially when it comes to their money.

[Anime]

Yeah. And hopefully, presumably everybody has a reason for doing their running their business the way that they run their business and charging the money that they charge. And I think that it's completely not just a good idea but like required that you own the style of business that you have. You have to kind of pre sell people on that. So if you're all inclusive, you're going to want to talk about the value of. You don't have to think about this. It's just all included and you get, you know, you get your files and there's no big sales, song and dance and whatever. So you're selling the benefit because you believe in that. If you are doing in person sales, you are going to sell people on the idea that this is a big investment. You need to have your handheld every step of the way. You want white glove service, blah, blah, blah. And if you're doing simple sales, then you're saying you get the best of both worlds. You get to pick just what you want, just what you need. You get digital files and print credit, but you're not going to have somebody selling to you in your face. It's not going to be high pressure. So I think that you want to be talking about again, it doesn't have to be the actual dollar value of what that thing is. And you don't want to give too much information. But telling people, giving people a sense of what they're getting into ahead of time, it just sands down those speed bumps that come up for people. And money is, you're absolutely right. It is the biggie for so many people. So getting out ahead of it, you're just doing, you know, it feels vulnerable for you. But remember, they're also feeling vulnerable. So just being open and honest about is like the way to go.

[Dana]

Yeah. And so as an experiment, I challenge you guys to like, you know, do a social media post just like what we're talking about and see what that opens up for people. And like if people ask you questions or you get more inquiries and send an email about it, like send an email to your list who presumably already like know you and it kind of break that down for them and see, see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Anime]

Absolutely.

[Dana]

Okay, let's move on to speed bump number two, which I feel like is the second one I see. The most common thing is like when people are like. But I have like this big emotional hesitation that I feel like is why I can't, you know, like again I said like my dog is reactive or like my kid is a terror right now or my house is messy or I don't feel confident about my body. You know, like all these things that people feel like, like a more emotional reason why they can't have a session. Yeah.

[Anime]

This is the. Hey, I'm thinking about in. In my mind, right. I'm thinking about hiring a photographer. And then immediately your lizard brain starts throwing up a thousand different ways that, like, this could go so, so wrong. Like, you've got a toddler who won't sleep the night before. Or, like, look at this person's Instagram account. All these beautiful in home sessions. And I live in a rented apartment. Like, obviously this isn't the photographer for me. And I think that this is such perfect content. This is like a great source of content and almost endless content because you want to break down those barriers and those myths for people by being like these. This is where it's like, great opportunities to show. I don't want to say before and after, but, like, the pullback, like, what you see versus what you get. Right. So, like, here we are in this boring looking backyard, and, like, dad stepped back and took a photo of me taking a photo with his phone. And let me show you that photo first and then let me show you the edited photo that came out of that exact scenario. People are blown away by that, and it gives them the ability to look at that phone photo and be like, oh, my yard is just like that. Or like, yeah, mine's even better than that, or whatever. So I think that removing that mystery and saying, oh, here's this photo of this baby three seconds before this photo, and one the baby's screaming and the next one, they look like an angel. All of those kinds of things really help people whose lizard brain gets real loud.

[Dana]

Yep. Instagram versus reality. And I agree. I feel like that is content you can't look away from because we are constantly, like, scanning and being like, ugh. But, like, you know, my house looks terrible. So, like, yeah, I love that idea of, like, showing. And I don't even think you need to get the dad to take the photo for you. I think you can just get in the habit of being like, this is what I was working with and this is what the photo came out as. Right. Yeah. So, yeah. And.

[Anime]

And it.

[Dana]

Yeah.

[Anime]

It also lends itself really well to storytelling.

[Dana]

Yeah.

[Anime]

Where you can share about, like, my client was worried about this, and then this happened. So that layers in social proof. It layers in, you know, confidence building. It gives people a sense of, like, oh, those. You know, it's not that every single house that this person photographs in is. Should be an architectural digest. It's just that she knows how to get good light and get good angles.

[Dana]

And I don't need to stress about that. Because she's going to handle it. Yeah.

[Anime]

Yeah.

[Dana]

Okay. Amazing. So then I think speed bump three, that I see people dive. We'll address this one a little bit more. But I still think it's worth mentioning is like, okay, you guys do this all the time. On the other side of things, we're like, but how does it work? Like, what do you mean? Like, what's the first thing that happens? And then what happens? And, like, what time do I show up? And, like, what's magic hour? And then what happens afterwards? Like, again, the minute that you are ready to make an investment, your brain starts asking a million questions about, like, okay, but tell me all the details. How does this actually. Yeah.

[Anime]

And I actually would push back. You said, I feel like people do a better job of this. This is an area that I feel like has tons of room for growth. It's not that photographers don't have this content. Everybody's got a prep guide or, like, the material that they send their clients. Once somebody has booked. Why not, like, pull back the curtain and start sharing that information before someone books to increase their confidence about booking? Having a process. We all have a process. Like, if you have ever photographed a client, you've got some sort of process. But taking that process and thinking it through and then breaking it. I always like to break it into three. Like, step one, do this. Step two, do this. Step three, ding. You have beautiful photos hanging on your wall. It doesn't have to be quite that simplistic. But when you can give people, here are the steps that will lead you to this amazing thing that you want this photo. It really makes it feel easier. I have heard this talked about, or I have talked about it maybe in the past. Like, think of something that it feels really intimidating to you, like picking out a 401k plan or buying insurance, and you're like, I don't even know where to start. This just feels overwhelming. Whatever that is. How a lot of people feel about booking a photographer and the process of working with a photographer. So the more that you can make it feel accessible, feel actionable, like, all you need to do is, you know, fill out this form, we'll have the session, and then you're. I'm gonna handle everything else. I think at the end of the day, showing people that you have a process and that you can handle most of it for them smooths out that speed bump for 99% of people.

[Dana]

Yep. And this is a great piece of content on social media. Like, this is a great one that you could Spend some time. Like, you could write a blog post, send it out as an email, make it into a carousel, and pin it to the top of your social media page. Because this is evergreen content to your point that people are always, always looking for. And if you remember, in the first episode we did, we talked about, you know, people are like, pinging around between all of these quadrants. So if somebody's doing a deep dive on your Instagram and they're like wondering how it works, and you've got a, a post pinned there that is like, this is how it works, that goes a long way in helping them be ready to be like, okay, click the link. Let's book now. Yeah.

[Anime]

What you will find, if you haven't already gotten this in the past, is that the more of this kind of content that you create where you are addressing fears and you are making what feels complicated seem simple, the more you will get people saying to you oftentimes after they've hired you and maybe even after they've like gotten their photos back, is, it was like I was trying to figure out who to hire and I landed on your whatever website, I was reading your email, I was looking at your social media and it was like, you were reading my mind. If somebody says it was like you were reading my mind, you are doing this part just right. It's such a good thing because that you're reading my mind phrase basically says, we're on the same page. And when someone feels like you get them and you understand what they're worried about, they implicitly or in some cases explicitly feel like they can trust you. So, yeah.

[Dana]

And if you are struggling to be like, I don't know, what should I say here? This is great place to like, grab your bestie and be like, what questions would you have about book? Like, ask somebody to kind of like go through this with you. Because I do think that when you are, you know, inside of anything, like, for me, I'm just like, then you just post it. You go post a reel and people are like, what's a reel? How do you do that? How you. Like there's a million questions, right? When you're on the inside of it, it feels like second nature to you. So sometimes you need to get that outside perspective to get that mind reading vibe.

[Anime]

I want to bring up. I know we're supposed to be wrapping up, but I have one more speed bump that I feel like is one that I see all the time. And since we were talking about the, the billboard thing and the McDonald's billboard in particular, this occurred to me. And it's kind of like a weird, sneaky speed bump, but it's such a big one. Imagine that you're on that road and you have all these billboards and they're like, this restaurant, this restaurant, this restaurant. You're like, oh, man, I am so hungry. But none of those billboards say, take exit 215 and make a right at the end of the ramp or whatever. Like, they're not inviting the actual, like, stop and buy now. Yeah, come eat at our restaurant right now. And I feel like this is a huge one for photographers, where they're always like, look at this amazing photo. Isn't it amazing? And everybody who's like, scrolling Instagram or, like, reading this feel good email is like, oh, man, I really love this photographer. Asking them to then be like, I'm gonna. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna hunt down, like, how to book with them. Or, you know, it is such a mistake. And so it's not exactly the speed bumps that we were talking about before, where it's like somebody has decided to book a photographer and then the speed bumps come up. This is one that's just like, you're just missing opportunities. You are a business. Everyone knows that. Your business relies on people actually booking. And there is absolutely no shame and nothing to lose by saying in every. At every turn, if you are ready to book, click here.

[Dana]

Yep.

[Anime]

When you are ready to have a conversation, fill out this form. Whatever your call to action is, you need to make it consistently make it very clear. Don't make people work hard to book you. You want to audit that process to reduce the speed bumps as much as possible.

[Dana]

Yeah. Don't vague book, like, make it super clear for them. And I say, I actually say this in terms of everything, especially on social media. It is wild. Try it sometime. If you say double tap, if you like this photo, tell people to like your photo, you will get so many more likes. Because when we are reading an email or we're on social media, we're just in scroll mode. So you actually do, from like, a psychological perspective, need to tell people. It might feel stupid to you. You're like, everybody knows to go to link in the bio. Or like, if they really want to book me, they should. They'll know to send me a dm. You really do need to tell people. This is the next step. If you want this, do this. It really does increase your conversion rate. And it, like, it hits our brain in a little bit of a Different way when we're like, oh, I need to take action on this if I, if I want to do something right. Comment this word or like, send me this dm. And I think to take this to the next level, actually, the more specific you can be about what you're asking them to do. So, like, instead of just being like, you know, book now at the link in my bio, you could say, I've got three sessions left in April. Yeah, grab one at the link in my bio. That creates a little bit of urgency and scarcity that will incur. And then they're like, oh, I gotta click that link in the bio because I wanna get one of those, those last three sessions. Or, you know, summer only has X weekends. So like, grab your weekend at the link in my bio before they're go or whatever.

[Anime]

Yeah, no, absolutely. Specificity and that just the call to action, like, it bears repeating because it really does work. So do yourself and your clients a favor by being clear. And speaking of action, I guess we should give people actions to take this week. Obviously, you know, go to the dark room. If you haven't already download your bracket. By now you should be getting, you know, like, pretty close to filling that in. And we would love for you. Dana, aren't you doing some, like, sharing with the brackets? Yeah.

[Dana]

So make sure that you guys, if you are filling out your brackets, you can take a screenshot. This is a great thing to share in, like stories or something. And tag us and we'll reshare your ideas. Because I love the community that we're creating, especially in stories. And this can't be that hard just like sharing our different marketing ideas and like just creating that community there so that you don't feel so alone when you're running this business that you are running as a solopreneur.

[Anime]

Love that. And then, yeah, as you are sort of mulling over this speed bump thing, just kind of audit the way that you present information and talk about stuff in your business, especially in your email and social media marketing. Are you helping to like, address these speed bumps before somebody even gets to the point where they're reaching out to you? If you are, you are making the booking process so, so, so much easier on them and ultimately on you as well. Everybody has a way to improve in this particular arena.

[Dana]

Yes. So look at what your speed bumps are and try to start addressing them regularly. When you get in the habit of doing it, it'll just become second nature for you. And when you do this, we said this at the top of the episode, but I want to repeat it here because when you do this, when you sort of like anime said, sand down. I don't know if that's how you actually get rid of a speed bump, but whatever. When you sand down a speed bump, right, it makes the next part of this process that everybody hates so much easier. So stay tuned for next week when we're going to be talking about the next part of this process, which is the bad word deli.

[Anime]

I can not wait for this next episode. Dana's idea for our sort of final Anchor Marketing Madness episode was so genius and we are going to have so much fun with it. So tune in next week. We will see you there. And in the meantime, stop by the Dark Room and let us know how you're feeling about this month's theme.

[Dana]

Have a great week, everybody.

[Anime]

Bye. Well, that's it for this week's episode

[Anna Mi Tonkin]

of this Can't Be that Hard. I'll be back same time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode along with all the relevant links, notes and [e-mail] learn. If you like the podcast, be sure

[Anime]

to hit the subscribe button.

[Anna Mi Tonkin]

Even better, share the love by leaving a review in itunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.