Recently I launched my editing course, Embracing the Storm and as part of that launch we decided to throw in a bonus, the bonus was a 1 hour mastermind on marketing. When I was preparing material for the mastermind, I kept thinking about the marketing strategies that I have done in the past, what has worked and what hasn’t. I was trying to figure out if I had one big piece of advice that I could give to another photographer that would really take their calendars from lackluster to booked solid. Of course, I have all sorts of little nuggets of information to pass along but I would say that the biggest piece of advice that I have to give isn’t one that you will find in most marketing blogs…. 

Serving, Serving is the biggest and most valuable piece of advice that I have to give you. 

How are you serving your community?

How are you showing up for them?

How are you building their trust?

Do your marketing efforts only involve selling? 

The thing with selling your services or products is that people need to trust you, they need to know that you’re the real deal, that you have something valuable to share and that you have integrity and the easiest way that I have found to do that is to actually provide free content to my audience on a regular basis. It seems like a silly idea, right? When I serve my community by providing them with free content, I build my authority up and I solve their problems so when it does come time for me to turn around and sell something like a new course or product, they already trust me and know that I will be providing them with quality and value. 

One of the ways that I serve my community is by using Lead Magnets. What is a Lead Magnet? Lead magnets are small morsels of valuable content that will help my audience solve a very specific problem in exchange for them giving me their email address. If you’re reading this, you most likely came to this blog from my newsletter. If you’re on my newsletter, you most likely got there because I offered you something free and valuable and you signed up to receive it! 

Right now, I have 4 different Lead Magnets:

• How I use the Range Masking Tool
• Secrets to Live by. Lightroom Tips and Tricks
• 3 Marketing Mistakes Every Photographer Needs to Avoid
• Emotive Posing Cue Cards

How do you decide what type of Lead Magnet to make? Think about it like this, what problem can you solve for your ideal client? For me and Emotional Storytelling, my ideal clients are other photographers so I want to make sure that I am providing valuable content for photographers to use in their own business journey.

Start to brainstorm what type of problems your clients have and how you can help them. Are they overwhelmed with what to wear to their next session? Do they need posing tips? Do they need to know a few tips on how to get their kiddos prepared for their session? Maybe it’s time you share a discount? Write down your client’s top 3 “pain points” down and think of how you can solve them. Design a PDF/Ebook/Checklist etc using a graphic designer or Canva and give it to your community for free in exchange for their email address! Once you’re ready to sell to your email list, they will trust you and love you and feel confident knowing that you’re the real deal. 

Lead Magnets, not your thing? The same principles apply to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and all the other amazing platforms out there.  You can use social media to provide tips, microblogs, advice, bits of your story and anything else that you can think of to build that trust with your following. Before you sell, give give give!

I’m currently working hard at preparing to launch Navigate the Wild, my marketing course and the very core of this course is to teach you to give more to your community than you ask of them and help them solve their problems by providing real solutions. Of course, we go over all the platforms and I spill all my marketing secrets in the course too! Oh, and if you join my waitlist, I will share a discount with you… see?! That’s how you serve 🙂 

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