What is Social Selling?

Social selling is all about building relationships online via Facebook, LinkedIn and Social Media.

To successfully socially sell you need to exactly know who the people are within your online network.

What the demographics for your audience are?

What they like and dislike?

What they do for a living?

What interests do they have?

What deposable income bracket do they fall into?

What big brands, fashions or trends do they follow?

Once you know a lot more about your ideal client and social followers then you can post content that is of real interest to them on your social media platforms. Socially selling involves 3 key stages. The first stage is to be informative. Give plenty of free information away, be there as a hub of advice and a resource for your potential client.

Tell them the benefits of a product or how best to solve a problem, topics that relate to them alone and that you know will be of interest, this may involve a bit trial and error but don’t try to sell at this stage, just be helpful.

The next stage is to build the relationship further. Building the relationship further can be done by giving away something for free, chose something that is normally at the smaller price bracket around £50 – £100 and give that away for free but to your followers only. This is exclusively for them in return for their loyalty and ongoing following, make a point of stating this in your posts .

You can give away vouchers or give away a free trail offer, this allows a potential client to try you at a zero risk or reduced fee, but will always lead to a much bigger potential upsell after the trial or free session.

Remember, don’t go straight for the kill with a big high ticket item - build the relationship up first. Let them see the value of what you do.

The 3rd key is aspect of social selling and final step is to sell to the right people at the right time. Remember not everybody is going to want your product all of the time. Some people are going to want your product at certain times a year.

So once you know your ideal customer, you then need to know when they would mostly like to buy your product. This will then be right time to start selling your product on social media but don’t over sell.

Remember only one in every ten posts you make should be a selling post. Build a relationship and give value of money to your followers and when they are ready to buy from you they will.

Check out my You Tube Video below for even more top tips and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for regular free marketing hacks and advice.

How to Get a Lot More Connections on Linkedin

In order to get more connections on Linkedin you need to have a first-rate connection message. The connection message is your opening introduction to anyone who wants to join your network.

It’s got to be right, it’s got to be brief and it’s got to be powerful. You are limited to just 300 characters per message, so you really have got to get the benefit of connecting home in a very short amount of characters.

Your connection message should NOT be something that directs people to your website and says something very weak like ‘I’m a commercial photographer, I take great pictures have a look at www.yourwebsite.com.....’.

You have got to give them something of value. Let’s say you are a hospitality trade photographer, you start your message with something like ‘Hi I’d love to connect. I take fantastic images that really builds your social media engagement and brings more bookings to your restaurant. I’ve got some great restaurant social media tips I’d love to share with you’.

For example, my own connection message runs along the lines of ‘Hi my name is Jeff I’m a photography marketing mentor. I try and take the magic and mystery out of marketing by giving loads of free useful tips and advice to my photographer followers. I’d love to connect.’

That’s basically it, you are giving something for free, giving something of value away in return for the connection. You are offering people something that is going to build a relationship, you don’t want to try and sell on your first message.

What you are looking to do is to get them to connect with you, so you can build a great relationship further down the line. A relationship that will enable you to sell to them in future messages, but first you must give in-order to receive and build their trust.

Do you want 1000’s of new connections, a highly viewed profile and more importantly connections that become your ideal paying clients here on LinkedIn? Well if you can spare 45minutes a day following my process you can do it easy without spending a penny on adverts or sales funnels and landing pages?

In my Private Facebook Group “The Awesome Photographers” I’ve put together an entire LinkedIn for Photographers Training Program.

This includes how to totally optimise your profile, write connection messages that really work, build an awesome company page, convert connections in clients and build a huge wealth network on LinkedIn.

I’ve also included a FREE copy of my Best Selling Book The Photographers Missing “Link”edIn which you can download inside the group.

Come and try The Awesome Photographers Group for just $1 joining fee today.

Check out my You Tube Video below for even more top tips and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for regular free marketing hacks and advice.

Top Tip 11: Use Tags to Build Relationships

WEDDING AND EVENT PHOTOGRAPHERS - ARE YOU TAGGING EVERY TIME?

Wedding and Event Photographers you need to use the power of the TAG in ALL your Facebook and Social Media posts to get the maximum benefit from your content.

When you upload photos from live events or a wedding make sure you ask your followers to tag themselves. This gets your photos in front of your fans, their friends and family too, massively extending your visibility and reach.

For example; if you've photographed a wedding party of 50 people, ask the bride to tag her friends and family in the group shot. That way your photo will appear on the profile of everyone who's tagged. You could reach thousands this way!

When I upload photos like this from a wedding I always say "Please feel free to TAG & SHARE with your friends, all I ask is you LIKE my page in return, thank you Jeff ".

You should also mention and tag the venue and any other vendors that were involved in the wedding. It is always a good idea to try and nurture friendly and professional relationships with others in the industry, that way you can recommend each other's services to potential clients.

Take a photo of the happy couple outside the venue next to their wedding car, compliment the awesome venue in your post and also say something like “beautiful Rolls Royce supplied by the fantastic ***** Wedding Cars” and tag in the company’s Facebook Page.

The chances are many vendors will connect with you to ask your permission to use the photograph in their marketing, this opens the door to possible joint ventures and commission-based referral schemes with everyone from bridal shops to cake suppliers.

Think about various stages of the wedding day and how you can tag in vendors, for example; the bride by herself looking like a million dollars and a post saying dress supplied by and tag in the bridal shop, the couple cutting the cake again tag in the cake supplier.

Always give images freely to other vendors, don’t hold onto copyright for the sake of one or two images this will only make you look like you’re only after money. The key to building great relationships is giving without expecting in return, be genuine and you’ll soon start to build solid joint ventures.

Another great idea is to have Facebook Invite cards made up. These are just smaller than postcard size and on the front have the "Like Us on Facebook Logo" with your Facebook URL, then underneath say something like ‘I hope you've had a fantastic day, I'll be uploading weddings images for everyone to see in the next few days, be sure to like my page so you don't miss them’. Then on the reverse you can include a little advert for your business. I always ask the bride to give these cards to the venue to place on the tables at the reception.

One last tip; once your post starts getting plenty of Likes, Tags and Shares be sure to click on the like button next to the post to see who's liked it then invite everyone individually to like your page if they haven't already. You'll see an "Invite” button next to their name if they don't already like your page.

Hope you guys have found this useful. As always, please feel free to leave a comment or drop me a message if you'd like to know more about my Photography Marketing & Mentoring Program.

Remember you'll only ever hit that 6 figure turnover if your marketing is up to scratch, you can be the best photographer in the world but if you can't market your work you'll never make the big money!!

Thank You, Jeff

Top Tip 9: DOUBLE YOUR PRICES

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DOUBLE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY PRICES

When I work with photographers on My 6 Steps to Success Program one of the biggest concerns they have is increasing their prices.  Many photographers, possibly yourself included, limit their true worth because they don’t feel their photography can achieve a higher price.

I say let your clients be the judge of your work not yourself, remember our customers view photographs differently than we do.  Our customers are NOT photography critics they do not have degrees in photography and they are not dissecting fine technical details of your work.

If you receive an enquiry through your website or social media page then it’s a done deal that your standard of work appeals to that potential client, so get over the self-critical shit and be confident about your pricing and your true worth.

To double your prices you don’t need to take a Masters in Photography or win a loads of photography awards or spend shit loads of money on expensive kit you don’t need, but you do need a brand that reflects the higher prices you are charging.

There comes a point when your brand will reach its value limit and your clients will feel that your prices are not worth the investment because you don’t have the brand or the image to back it up.  This can be changed and very fast, you can even out-source your design costs on sites like Fiverr.com or drop me a message I know a few great and very reasonably priced designers myself.

Supermarkets are great at using branding and design to allow them to charge more for certain product lines, it’s a known fact that these product lines are very profitable to produce.  Just look at any of their “Exclusive, Especially for You, Taste the Difference and Finest Ranges and you’ll see how the packaging wording and design are all aimed to project a premium and luxury feel to the range.  You’ll gladly part with your money because you convince yourself it’s a real treat.  You’re getting the best of the best, only the finest ingredients, but most of the extra production cost goes on the packaging and not the product inside.  Yet despite this people will reach for the often more expensive items time and time again because the branding cleverly represents its worth.

So instead of copying another photographer take a walk down to your local supermarket and notice how they do it, you’ll spot a theme straight away.  The fonts used are very contemporary, the colours are often golds, silvers and purples, the colours associated with luxury plus the wording on the packaging is an art.

Notice how the fine dine restaurant menu use enticingly and often lengthy worded descriptions for their dishes with the price in a reduced size font because they are selling the product not the price.  By contrast the 2 for 1 meal deal type restaurants often have a very brief description of their meals with the price in a bold or larger font as the price is the selling part of their offer.

Start thinking how you can improve your brand to increase your prices, if you need any tips or advice feel free to drop me a message I’d be only too happy to help. 

Check out my You Tube Video below for even more top tips and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for regular free marketing hacks and advice.

Top Tip 6: WHAT'S YOUR BRAND?

DO YOU HAVE A PHOTOGRAPHY BRAND?

Does your photography have a Brand?

If you think that Brand is just a logo then think again.  Brand is everything your customer thinks, believes, feels and imagines about your business.  If you want to build an awesome brand your brand message needs to be consistent and very customer focused.

You can’t build a brand that suits everyone its just impossible.  Too many photographers think they just want to take photographs for anyone who’ll pay for their services.  When this happens you don’t have a real brand, you aren’t unique and because there’s nothing special about what you do and you don’t particularly appeal to anyone, all you can do is sell on price alone which means you have to be cheap to win business.

To build a truly awesome brand you need to have your ideal customers in mind and focus your brand and your offering on what it is they really want.  You can’t brand yourself as a commercial photographer and be offering new born portraits on the same website, it just dilutes your brand and devalues your commercial photography.

For example, you may be a wedding photographer and brand your photography according.  Build a website and brand that appeals to women from 24-40 years old with a good disposable income in a 50 mile radius of your post code.  Start to think about your ideal client, what she does for a living, where she shops, what brands does she purchase.  Then look at how these major brands market to their ideal clients because their clients are your clients too.

Brands like Tiffany, Michael Kors, Mercedes, Miller & Carter, Jimmy Choo and many more, spend tens of thousands on market research and branding to attract their clients.  Its these brands you should be copying from, NOT another local photographer with a £100 marketing budget.

If you want to aim high end then your message needs to reflect that.  I’ve helped clients double and triple their prices over the course of a few phone calls and their bookings have increased.  The reason for this is if you increase your prices your brand and message need to reflect this throughout.  Its essential that the wording on your website and packages is strongly emotionally based, you need to portray the feeling of a quality and a premier service but in a way that is personal, friendly and approachable.  People buy from people they like, simple as that, come across as impersonal or someone you are not and your clients will see through you in an instant.

Look at the way premium brands word their packages and services, it’s all benefit related i.e. “what’s in it for the client”, how can they benefit from what you offer.  Sometimes it pays to spell out the benefit.   For example, don’t just say “fully edited high res images on a USB”, instead offer them “professionally edited, copyright free images they can share with their family and friends, all supplied on a luxury personalised USB key complete with a hand-crafted keepsake box”.

Try to prefix your words and services, it’s not wedding photography its beautifully bespoke wedding photography, its not a wedding album it’s a luxury Italian leather bound wedding story book.  Think like British retailer Marks & Spencer’s they never just sell “chocolate cake” -  they sell “extra special, rich and indulging, double layered, caramel topped chocolate cake”.  Get descriptive with your brand and use words to enhance and project your premium service.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.  Brand is something I’m very passionate about and I’m always happy to help and advise on.

Check out my You Tube Video below for even more top tips and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for regular free marketing hacks and advice.

Top Tip 5: BE PRODUCTIVE

IS BEING BUSY STOPPING YOU FROM BEING BUSY?

Answer me this simple question, do you plan out your day or week in advance?

Most of the photographers who sign up for my mentoring program tell me they have just been far too busy to concentrate on any form of marketing but when we get deeper into it they are often just busy being busy.

As photographers a large chunk of our working day is spent in front of a computer with our mobile phones sitting on the desk next to us just waiting to distract us at any given moment.  It’s just far too easy to get taken away from the job in hand by a text message or an email that really could have been dealt with later in the day.

When I work with photographers on my One 2 One training programs the first thing we cover together is goal setting and time management.  You need to have goals because without them you’ll never reach your full potential and when you know your goals it’s essential that each week you do one task towards a goal each day.

It’s all too easy to write a big “to do list” then start by doing all the little jobs so it looks like you achieved a lot but in business our success is measured by the brand we create and income we build.  Often we put off the bigger jobs because they look like a mammoth task but if you assess each and every job on your “to do list” by whether it will either bring you closer to your goal or generate more income then you’ll soon realise which jobs you need to start first.

Its better to complete one task that will bring you closer to your goals than 10 little tasks that really could of waited.  No sooner are those little tasks crossed off then you’ll find more menial tasks to replace them and again these will stand in the way of you achieving your goals and making a lot more money.

Plan out your week every Sunday evening, make a point of putting your social media posting and income generating tasks or goal achieving task on your AM (Morning) “to do list”.  These must be completed before lunch or before you go on to do any of the smaller “to do list” items, what I call non-essential jobs.

Get into a habit of posting to social media every morning before checking your emails or responding to messages.  Then once you have posted and after following up on any enquiries, do just one of your goal achieving or income generating tasks.  Don’t over load your “to do list”, break big goals down into smaller daily steps.  For example, if you are building a new website, Monday just complete the Home Page, Tuesday the About Page, Wednesday the Weddings Page, Thursday the Contact Page and Friday your SEO.

When I started to write my first book, a job I’d put off for 2 years, I decided to just write about a side of A4 per day.  An easy and achievable task, then in just 8 weeks I had a finished and published the book which is ranked on the Amazon best seller chart and earns me an income each month - all that from about 60 minutes a day.

If you have any questions on time management or goal setting for your business, then drop me a message I’d be only too happy to help you out.

Check out my You Tube Video below for even more top tips and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for regular free marketing hacks and advice. 

Top Tip 2: QUESTION YOUR MARKETING

THE BIG MISTAKE MOST PHOTOGRAPHERS MAKE!

Are you struggling for bookings?
Do you wish you could charge more for your services?
Do you fail to convert enquiries into paying clients time and time again?

Well, if this is the case you are not alone.  We’ve worked with many photographers worldwide who have faced the same problem and many photographers who are just stuck in a rut going nowhere.

The biggest mistake you can make as a photographer is to blame your photography for your current position.  If you really, really do think your photography isn’t good enough to charge more then drop us a message today and we’ll give you a FREE and honest portfolio review. 

The main contributing factor to most photographers’ struggling position is lack of marketing.  For most photographers marketing just isn’t something they really understand or enjoy, so they put up a portfolio style website, build a Facebook page and hope for the best.  When the bookings don’t come in or people want to book just on price alone then we believe it’s because our photographs just aren’t good enough.

The good news is its NOT your photographs that are to blame, its more than likely your lack of marketing and the fact you don’t have any real brand behind your photography offering.

Brand is not just a logo, brand is everything.  Brand is what your clients think, feel and believe about your photography.  If your brand strongly speaks of luxury, quality and first-class customer service and your clients truly believe you are the best then when you market to clients that fit your brand image, you can charge a premium price because your brand dictates it.  In fact, charging anything less would counteract the brand image.  People assess quality with a higher price as the two go hand in hand.

When you don’t have a brand and you try to market to anyone who’ll buy your services then 9 times out of 10 you can only sell on price.  This leads to the cut-priced end of the market which is oversaturated with budget photographers, amateurs and weekend warriors.

Instead of looking at other photographers’ websites start looking at the brands your ideal clients purchase.  These might be designer clothing manufacturers, trendy chain restaurants and luxury hotels etc.

Notice the styles, fonts and colours used in their brochures and websites, the type of words, brand message and how they use this message to create a premium quality feel.  Remember these companies have spent thousands and thousands on market research, often paying top designers and graphic artists to build a concept that appeals to their ideal client - those clients just happen to be yours too.  Take a leaf out of their books.  Copy their styles and ideas not those of another local photographer whose idea of market research is to copy another local photographer.

Branding is the foundation of every successful business large and small, and it’s the first of my 6 steps to Success on the training program and workshops.  If you’re serious about turning your business around or you’d like a bit more information about my services then simply drop me a message, I’m are here to help. 

Check out my You Tube Video below for even more top tips and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for regular free marketing hacks and advice.