Today I am bringing you a workshop style training all about the marketing funnel for photographers. Get ready because, we’re about to dive in to the marketing funnel that you need to know to see success. It is the basis for what I teach inside of the Broke to Booked Blueprint. Thanks to the Blueprint this is going to be your best year yet. I am going to be teaching all kinds of topics I’ve never talked about before while taking the marketing up a notch. We’re gonna dive deep! This truly is a step by step roadmap to success for photographers.
The Exposure Stage
The very top part of your marketing funnel is called exposure. This is when someone figures out that you exist. Before this step, we do a lot of work inside the Blueprint program to make sure people are able to find you. Once people find you, then they are in the exposure category of the marketing funnel. This is the first time someone comes across you…whether on they saw you while scrolling on social media or heard about you from a friend. In this stage people find out about you thanks to the hashtags you’re using, business cards, online ads, community marketing, etc.
They find out you exist and look at your social media to get a glimpse of who you are and what you’re about. Then, they decide whether they’re interested or not. If they are interested, they move right along to the next phase of the funnel, which is the interest stage.
The Interest Stage
Now that they know about your business, they’re likely going to be interested. They are now in the interest stage where they’re going to try to learn lots more about you. They’ll discover your photography style, client experience and pricing before deciding whether or not they’re going to move on to someone else or make a buying decision. This stage is where your social media really takes the spotlight.
Sometimes people make a quick decision after seeing your work and are ready to invest in what you have to offer while others may take quite a bit of time to decide. I know this to be true in my own business, because I have had clients who followed me for two days and booked a session and then other clients who followed me for years before booking.
There’s no guarantee of how long someone is in this phase of the marketing funnel, but this is when you really have to get strategic with the type of content that you are putting out. I want you to think about the interest stage, like a first date. This is when your potential client wants to get to know you on a more personal level. They’re interested in hearing a little bit more about you and how you operate your business. They want to see if they can find value in working with you. The goal of the first date is to either get a second date or land that kiss.
In this scenario, that kiss is going to be them reaching out and asking how to work with you. If your social media isn’t providing your potential client with this type of information, then they’re going to ask for the check and go find someone else. If you do this phase of the marketing funnel correctly, they’re going to move from interest to desire.
The Desire Stage
Once your potential client has reached the desire stage, you are right on the edge of booking a new client. Now there’s really only one factor that can make or break your chances and that is your website. This is where you can convert your leads into clients or not. If they go to your website and see that it’s on brand and everything that they were desiring, then you’re probably going to book that client. The opposite is also true though. If they get to your website, and it’s just thrown together or completely off brand or hard to navigate, you’re going to lose that client to someone else.
Having a website is no longer optional. It is a must. Your website is either going to welcome that potential client with arms wide open or it’s going to send them running to your competitor. Once they go from that desire point to your website and are convinced that you are the photographer for them, they are typically going to take action. This action is the very beginning of your booking process.
The Action Stage
The action stage is where the client is choosing to work with you and going through your booking process. It is also when they are reaching out to you and asking what your pricing is, how they can work with you or what you have to offer. The action here is them reaching out to you to potentially book you.
Congratulations, you’re successfully at this point in the marketing funnel and have taken someone from interested to booking with you. That’s incredible! While that’s something worth celebrating, you’ve only won half the battle. This stage is where the most amount of problems arise. Once they take action, they are waiting for you to wow them as they are learning to trust you. The beginning stages of trust can happen earlier on in the marketing funnel, but in order to close the deal and get someone to truly trust you, there’s an additional phase of trust.
The Trust Stage
The trust stage is crucial if you’re looking for your clients to rave about you and be a source of referrals. This is the stage where you’ve got to have some emotional connection take place. It includes your client experience along with consistent communication. I think a lot of problems happen, because of lack of communication between photographers and clients. In these two parts of your business. client experience and communication, you are able to go from an average photographer to completely exceeding client expectations.
If you don’t have a solid idea of why you’re doing what you’re doing or what you want your client experience to look like, then you’re going to not have that amazing client experience. Some questions you can ask in this stage of trust are: How can I serve my client exceptionally? How often do I need to be communicating with my client and in what format? How can I outline all of the expectations my client might have? and How can I be proactive for potential issues that may arise while working with this particular person? Once you get through this, then you’re moving into the nurture stage.
The Nurture Stage
The nurture stage is where you are sealing the deal with your experience. So far you have given your client an amazing experience, incredible images and a wonderful session. Now they’re done working with you for right now. Then, there’s this extra stage within the roadmap that everybody forgets about. It is all about what you do in between the sessions.
Here are some things to consider: How do you serve your clients when you’re not actively working with them on a session? How do you continue to stay top of mind? This is the stage where we really go hardcore inside of the Blueprint Program, so make sure you save your seat for the next round!
The Loyalty Stage
The final stage in the marketing funnel is the loyalty stage. This is where you have a raving client who not only gives you their business, but refers other people to you over and over again. You’re now referral worthy at this stage, because you gave your client a top notch experience that cannot be matched. It doesn’t matter that there’s 19 other family photographers in your neighborhood, because you have provided an amazing client experience and continue to wow them from A to Z. You now have a loyal client and that is going to do amazing things for your business.
Now that we’ve gone through this marketing funnel, you can see there are a lot of stages in this roadmap. The next step for your business is to put a solid marketing strategy in place. Inside of the Blueprint, we dive deep into marketing strategy by giving you a complete roadmap for exactly what you need to know. If you have not already, please go save your seat for the next round of the Broke to Booked Blueprint. This is my number one signature program for photographers. If you are trying to go full time in your business or at least make full time income, then this program is for you. I hope to see you inside of the Blueprint program!
Want to hear even more marketing funnels and how you navigate them within your business? Then head over to the Book More Clients podcast. You can also find the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.
Looking for the exact business framework for photographers? Join the From Broke to Booked Blueprint Program today!
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