How often do you receive a phone call from a ideal client?

Or do you occasionally get an email through your website, or maybe you’re getting DM’s through your social media and you just don’t know why you can’t get them on the phone and all they want to know is “how much is a shoot?”.

It’s about your visibility. How are people finding you and what does your business look like when they do find you.

If you’re searching for a new pair of shoes and you Google “Timberland Style Boot”. Let’s pretend you get 2 results.

One website shows the style of boots you’re looking for. However, the design of the website is terrible, a couple of the links are broken and the price is £9.95 plus £2.95 P&P. You start thinking, oh lordy they’ll fall apart in 2 minutes, let’s have a look at the other website.

Stroll on over to a stylist and fully working website. You connect with the brand, it’s clean and unfussy and the boots look good (by the way, probably the exact same boots from the same factory). Then a pop up pings in front of you, ‘sign up for a gifted design consultation’. You may or may not be interested but thats a 5* offering right there. These boots are £45 plus £10 P&P. You have decided from the branding and the price that these boots are much better made and won’t make your feet ache, they are in your budget and you know that the shipping is insured because it’s a decent price.

My point is, the boots are the same but your clients perception has come from the business, not the boots.

Next time you look at your business, try and do it from a third party point of view. What does your portfolio tell your new, potential client? What does your branding say and what does your price covey to them?

It’s a hard lesson to go through, but you may be putting off your ideal client before you’ve even spoken to them.

If you’d like to take control of your dream and build the business you’ll be proud of have a look through our current courses available with Emily and Hannah. 

Have you ever made a marketing plan before, or are you winging it? Do you know what a marketing plan looks like? We don’t mean to sound condescending, but neither of us knew what a true marketing plan looked like before we were mentored.

Is this you at the moment?

“I have a friend on a yard who is recommending me to her horsey friends and I post on social media every day”

I’m sorry to say, this is not a marketing plan and will not deliver the results you’re hoping for. In some companies they have entire marketing departments, because so much goes into getting in front of your ideal client.

We are going to teach you how to get in front of them AND get them to notice you. Without a huge department and without re-mortgaging your house for Facebook Ads.

Both of us have strong marketing plans, we know what we’re going to invest in, which shows we’ll exhibit at, the collaborations we’ll create and maybe an art installation or two. Whether we’re able to attend shows or are in lockdown you need to be getting your best foot forward when it comes to marketing.

We are literally brimming with marketing ideas. When you come to us with a connection that could help your business we will come up with so many ideas of making that work for you AND for them.

Here’s an example that you can use in your business.

Golden Nugget
Let’s say you have a connection with a target client on a medium sized livery yard. This is what you need to think about.
Connect with Lady A > Show her what you can do > give her THE BEST experience possible > get her connecting you to other people on the yard > get them booking the experience Lady A had > keep the circle moving.

In our forth 2 day session together on our 1yr Group Mentorship Programme we concentrate on your Marketing Plan. We will be going through real-life scenarios and telling you exactly what we did to get that ideal client promoting us and our talent to her like minded friends.

Because of this marketing plan Hannah received a phone call last week from someone who came through a dressage trainer that she’s close to. The lady literally said, “I don’t care how much it costs, I’ve seen the images you produced in Carlotta’s album and I want my daughter to have the same.”

Hannah says…

“Part of my marketing plan is connecting with people. Once someone has had a shoot with me, I know they will tell their circle of friends all about it and show off the images. I need to take that energy and turn it into new clients and bookings, and thats exactly what I do, because I plan it all out and my client or influencer understands what their role looks like”. 

By this point in the 1 Year Group Mentorship Programme you have solidified your portfolio, you know how to edit your images worthy of framing, you have a solid business plan and goal list is in place and you have a confidence building price guide. Now we market all of this along with your new portfolio of images, understanding of the shoot structure and 8 photo shoots under your belt to the perfect client.

Just some of the sessions we will be covering in the Marketing 2 days are:

• Target Clients – what do they look like and how do I connect to them?
• Building the perfect portfolio – where are your gaps and what does it say about you?
• Model Calls – Getting these right so they feed your network and grow your bookings.
• Shows – It’s all about being seen and heard.
• Exhibitions – Not just for traditional artists, host your own exhibition.

If this sounds too good to be true, it’s because it almost is, but we promise you this will change the way you do business and will make a difference as soon as you implement the ideas we create together.

_{If you’re anything like we were when we started, we looked like a deer in headlights and didn’t know where to start. Our to-do list was ever growing and expanding and everything felt rather daunting. Thank goodness those days are over, although we still have a to-do list, they’re filled with client work, exciting ideas and up levelling our creativity.}

At the start of each year we both write our business plan, goals and SWOT analysis. This guides us to our most important jobs and helps keep us accountable.

I happened to see my 2018 goals last week and here are some I am pleased to say I implemented (because I had written them down):

– New Email Templates
– New CRM System
– New Creative Collaborations
– Recognition in the industry (Associateship with the British Institute of Professional Photographers)
– New art installations in the Studio
– New art installation at a 5* Luxury Equestrian Centre and Hotel

Our 2nd Session Together on the 1 Year Group Mentorship Programme…

In our second get together we’ll be building your business plan and SWOT analysis together. This may sound like your worst nightmare and a total snore – not the way we do it! Together we get REALLY specific about what you want from your business. What impact is it going to have on your life, your talent, your bank balance and your future.

From this we create your GOAL LIST giving you a target to work towards every day, ensuring you and your business are moving forward on the right path.

Tough Love
Unless you’re getting the results you want from your business, something needs to change.

Even if you’ve been in business for 15 years, do you have your ideal client banging down your door?

For example, you may think to yourself “I have a business plan, I have an influencer and I post on social media everyday, therefore, I don’t need this course”.

Let me challenge you. Does your plan reflect the business of your dreams and are you committed to completing the jobs that will deliver a 5* experience? Or maybe your business plan says – ‘book more shoots’.

Booking more shoots doesn’t mean anything. HOW are you going to book more shoots and who is booking these shoots?

Do you want to book lots of shoots at £25 or fewer shoots at £500? The goal list looks very different depending on which one you pick.

Does your influencer attract paid work on a regular basis? Do you have a proper business relationship with your influencer and do they know how to get you new clients?

And what are you posting on social media? Does it engage with your perfect client and get them calling the phone?

We get super clear with your business plan and goals and you’ll go away with a proper to do list that will actually make a difference.

As always these 2 days together include 2 photo shoots. One portfolio and one masterclass.

The following studio day is all about your branding, website and social media. We get creative together and teach you what triggers your perfect client to fall in love with your style and branding.

Click the link below for more information about our 1 Year Group Mentorship Programme.

_{Are you starting a new business or up-levelling your existing one?}

Do you know where to start?

If not, let me tell you where our 1yr Group Mentorship Programme begins, and maybe this will help guide you.

“Only you can take control of your business and future. No one is going to do this for you and by committing to a plan you are showing that you are serious about this”
On our 1 Year Mentorship Course we have 12 full in-person days together over the year. These are crammed full of ‘in-studio’ business content and photo shoots.

We start the first day by assessing your current best images. You can’t move forward until you analyse where you are right now. In our first group critique session we will be looking at composition, editing, lighting, balance, emotion, technique and execution of your images.

We then have a full post-processing session where we edit live and talk you through how to be more efficient, how to get the best from your images and what clients are looking for. Plus a portfolio shoot together.

Day two starts with our shoot structure session. By learning and understanding our shoot structure this allows you to concentrate on your clients and your creativeness. Just think about that for a moment. You know where you’re going to start on your photo shoot. You know which outfit you’ll pick first and you have a solid plan for all the poses in that location. NOW you can concentrate on perfecting their hands, their smile, their interaction with their horse and having a bloomin’ good time with them. Doesn’t that sound like heaven?

Procrastinating is only putting off your own dream. Don’t let the overwhelming fear of getting it wrong stop you from progressing.

Join us and get it right from the start.
Invest in you and your business by grabbing a space on this course. Click the link below for more information and to fill out an application form.

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

“I haven’t even set up my business and I’m already overwhelmed”
” I wish I’d started earlier”
“No one is even enquiring, so how am I meant to book a new client?”
“Even though I only charge £45 I’m still not getting bookings, so why would I put my prices up?”

These are all completely valid thoughts and feelings and are very common for all of us. This is why Emily and Hannah run the Training Barn.

Thoughts like this come into your head and try to get in our way and you know why successful photographers are successful? Because they listen to the voice and then ask the question, well what can we do about that to smash those negative thoughts?

Lets take the most common… “”Even though I only charge £45 I’m still not getting bookings, so why would I put my prices up?”

A few years ago Hannah addressed this question about how to price yourself as an equine photographer on a Facebook live and many people still watch and get so much from this video. This is what Philip Yale had to say…

“After 12 months, I still keep going back to watching this video, and recommending anyone else I can think of to join this group and watch it too. It is, quite simply, the best, most concise, most relevant and motivational 30 minute explanation of how and why to price appropriately that I have ever watched.

It is because of this video that I finally doubled my shoot prices, and tripled my product prices. I intended to road-test the changes last year (which of course never happened!), but early signs this year are that it is already starting to yield positive results. I need to wait a bit longer to be certain, but I have no doubt at all that the principles are very sound indeed.
Thank you Hannah Freeland !”

GOLDEN NUGGET
Pricing yourself at £45 tells your potential clients so much about the experience you’re offering and the business you’re running. Just ask yourself, if you saw a jumper priced at £10 and another priced at £150, which one do you think was made better, fits better, looks better, has better customer service, nice branding and will last many years to come?Photography is exactly the same, if someone has £150 to spend on a jumper, they will buy the £150 jumper, they will not buy the £10 as the price has put them off.
We will be popping into your inbox a few times this week with tips and tricks and motivational content. Along with a step by step guide to our 1 Year Group Mentorship Programme. We only have a couple of spaces left for this 12 month course, starting in September so if you know that enough is enough and you want to make this business work then come and join us for the only 12 month in person equine photography course in the world!

Why not explore our information page about our 1 Year Mentorship Programme and let’s get started.