Whether it’s their first enquiry, the day of the shoot or the day they receive their beautiful prints, every interaction with your client shapes their impression of you and your brand.  Here’s a straightforward process to analyse and improve your client experience, step by step. 1. Understand the customer journey Start by listing all the steps your clients take when working with you — their initial enquiry, the booking, your pre-shoot communications, the shoot itself, and product selection and delivery. Any others? Identify the key moments and To View More >>

At Izo Photography, outsourcing frees up time to do the things they love. Photography is a form of self expression, and that's why Jimmy from Izo Photography fell in love with it. After picking up his partner Shona's old DSLR camera, and discovering it was for him, he began to pursue a career in professional photography, which he absolutely loves.   After "practice, practice and more practice", Jimmy's advice to photographers is to outsource work from as early on as possible. When Izo first started out they did everything themselves, but they soon To View More >>

Written by: Clare Breheny When I worked in a corporate environment we would have literally hundreds of company-specific terms and acronyms that we used in meetings and emails to describe processes, systems, customers, products etc etc. When someone new joined the company we’d forget and spout out all these three letter acronyms, and we would see their face glaze over as if we were speaking a foreign language. For us, that was how things worked and what things were called. It was our day-to-day language and modus operandi. It would take a new person joining to remind us that To View More >>

The average wedding photographer works a lot harder today than they did ten to thirty years ago. The promise that digital photography would make life easier and cheaper just hasn’t eventuated. We've been keeping statistics about our albums for thirty years, and I thought sharing a few numbers might reinforce that cliche, “We’re our own worst enemies”. We’re talking averages here, and everybody's different, but this is how it looks to us. Old World Wedding Photography • Medium format camera, 120 roll film, 10 rolls x 12 exp. = 120 shots. • Typical album: 12 To View More >>

Four years in, and Suzanne Black could teach a lot of people a lot of things…especially about marketing and surviving when times get tough. I had a chat with her about what she thinks are the keys to success, how she turns 90% of her enquiries into bookings and why albums are so important to her business. Positivity is contagious. Suzanne is feeling positive right now. I haven't heard that response to a question about the state of the economy in a long time, but after chatting I've decided describing her as "positive" is an understatement... She says, “In the current climate I think it's more To View More >>

Welcome to the second interview in our series featuring clients whose businesses are thriving despite the current economic climate. Click here to read the first interview with Christian Oth. In the same year they had their first child, Chris and Darcie Siiteri started their Austin (Texas) photography business, Innovative Photography. Fifteen years later they’re still at it and doing better than ever. I gave an initially nervous Darcie an early morning call to chat about how they approach their album sales, and what they do to ensure their clients have an amazing experience and to foster relationships To View More >>

Remember your first time? Doing whatever. Maybe photographing your first wedding? Years back when Subway turned up in New Zealand it took me 10 minutes and enough questions to drive mum up the wall to finally place my order. Why? Because I didn't know how. I've just committed to spending a lot of money on our wedding photography, but before I did, I was nervous. Not so much because of the money, but because I wasn't sure what I'd get for it. It was my first time. I'm in the industry, talk to photographers all the time, and write articles about marketing and business every day.  But I still felt To View More >>

When people contact us about their wedding, if they are doing a general search, they most often ask, 'How much to shoot our wedding?' Eventually they get around to 'What do I get?' and finally 'Are you available?' This email just came in. It says it all really.To whom it may concern,Would it be possible to be sent a full price list of your wedding packages?Thanks, Justin We all want our clients to care, because it is the caring that makes them better clients. So what are we selling? Are we selling a product at a price? Are we selling our ability to make great photographs? Are we selling our ability To View More >>

Tupperware 'fan boys' are everywhere. Prodding the skeptical, hosting Tupperware parties, and enthusiastically trying to convince their peers of the benefits. Their argument: Once you try it, you'll understand. And most people do. The experience of using Tupperware's product is usually enough to quickly switch a sceptic's loyalties, and soon enough they'll be passionately promoting the product themselves. That's (loosely) Tupperware's business model, and you can see how it would have a snowball effect. They've built a brand around positive customer experience and word of mouth marketing.  As To View More >>