Does marketing have you feeling overwhelmed? Today on the Book More Clients Photography Podcast, I’m sitting down with Elizabeth Combs for a live coaching call on what is the most effective way to market today.

In today’s LIVE coaching call session on the Book More Clients Photography Podcast with Elizabeth Combs, we’re discussing what the most effective marketing strategy is for growing her photography business.

Who is Elizabeth Combs?

Elizabeth is a family photographer located in Nashville, TN; she specializes in family, maternity & motherhood.

What do you see as the most effective way to market today?

Elizabeth: Facebook and Instagram seem to be such a disappointment; I have zero reach and it’s as if I’ve been shut down from getting the word out about my business.

Brooke: Your frustration is so common; I would love for everyone to understand we’re all feeling it, whether we have been in the game for a few years, or whether you are brand new, you’re not alone.

This is happening to everyone.

There are two reasons; the first reason is that these platforms are pushing pay to play.

The second reason of why engagement and reach are the constant change or tweak these platforms are making. Every single time they change something, or they tweak their algorithm, or they release a new feature, our reach and engagement goes down. It’s happening for everybody.

Social media is not the end all be all when it comes to effective marketing

We cannot put all of our eggs in our social media basket.

• Are there still marketing strategies that work?
• Should you still show up?
• Does there still need to be an effort put into creating content?

Yes, absolutely, yes.

Even when engagement drops, you still need to put in an effort & show up. Just keep doing what you’re doing but take the pressure off yourself.

From there, let’s go put some more eggs and other baskets: this is a lot of what I teach inside of the blueprint program. We focus on how to create websites that convert & show up in SEO results?

How can we utilize Google My Business to work for us? So, when someone is searching for something, how can we get our content, website and social media channel links to the top of that search page.

A lot of it is consistency.

I know everybody loves that word, but a lot of it really is consistency. So, what I would say for you is you told me before we started recording that you have really been working on blogs, which are going to be very good for your SEO and your location. Continue to do those and get them published on a regular basis.

Blogs are not something you necessarily want to write 15 in a day and publish them all, too. Instead, you want to schedule them out to where they’re dripping out over 15 weeks; one blog per week, that’s going to show Google and the other algorithms that you are being consistent.

Find some way to have a community of people; so, for you, and for every photographer, you have to do the work in your business and figure out where the majority of your leads and bookings are coming from. Which platform? Go all in on that platform and figure out how you can create community.

• Is that a Facebook group?
• Do you want to create community by showing up via Instagram stories?
• Or are you taking an off social media approach? Which you still have to have a social media presence, but your main goal is to get people to join your email list or something like that.

You have to pick what works best for you, your business and your client.

This takes a little bit of research. I have in depth trainings of this inside of the blueprint program, and I give personalized coaching advice. So, you don’t want to only be using social media you want to hone in on one of those platforms, and focus on how can you use an offline marketing and an off social media marketing platform?

Running out of marketing ideas

Elizabeth: I guess as far as that goes with blogging, sometimes I feel like I run out of what to say with the blogs and trying to stir up that community. I do have a pretty large group of moms that follow me, I don’t want to sound cliche, “this is you know what to wear for a session” or otherwise. Do you feel it’s important to always reach the emotional level? Or do you feel it’s more your key words, location, and a basic session rewrite?

Brooke: Basically, it’s creating content. What you would talk about in an Instagram story could be the very same thing you write a blog about. It doesn’t matter where the content is. The creating content piece is dipping in from your different buckets. Sometimes it is going to be a more logical, sometimes it is going to be storytelling and getting into those emotions. Other times, it’s going to be giving how-tos and educational advice. You have to circulate throughout those buckets.

Is this helpful?

Elizabeth: Yes, thank you; that’s huge for me right now, trying to focus on SEO and marketing AND DIYing it myself.

Want more marketing tips, content ideas, prompts and more? Tune into the Book More Clients Photography Podcast.