036: Charlotte Reeves, A Diversified Income Stream for Photography Success is Key

In this interview, pet photographer Charlotte Reeves reveals how a diversified income stream for photography is the key to success in todays market. Not only does it remove all the eggs from one basket, it leads to a more interesting business and one that can grow in all different directions, not solely reliant on pet portrait photography.

In Charlotte’s case, her varied streams include the ‘traditional’ pet photography, commercial pet photography for product images, wrapping and advertisements, a dog modelling data base (yes, you did read that correctly) and an ebook with another on the way.

Also learn about the importance of a unique and content rich website is for Charlotte’s business and how she measures her number one and different sources of client bookings, something EVERY wedding and portrait photographer should be doing to maximise enquiries, conversions and profits in their business.

• Multiple income streams and what they consist of
• The importance of location scouting and finding “dog friendly” areas that also appeal to the clients
• Why NOW is the best time to be starting a photography business as a pet photographer
• Two shoots per week is perfect to keep the clients experience exceptional
• Having a minimum spend for bookings to weed out the “no spenders”
• Client management systems to manage workflow from enquiry to print collection – contracts, ordering, invoicing etc
• The benefits of a substantial, content and information rich website
• Creating personalised emails to establish a bond with your prospective clients
• 2nd shooting while building your own business as another form of income diversification
• Why being seen as an expert in the field you specialise in will generate more bookings and in turn, income
• Using mentoring, training and teaching to be seen as the expert
• Why training your competition may not be a bad thing
• Implementing new ideas and cutting the things not working is key for business growth
• You may suspect business is coming from one source, like Facebook, but without measuring, you may be way off
• Using Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools to measure, test and evaluate your website traffic
• Why being able to make changes to your own website is invaluable for testing
• Going from the 1st page of google to the very top with Adwords
• Getting potential clients emotionally invested in your story can help website conversions
• Using email newsletters and specials to stay in touch with your email list
• The red hot tip for photography marketing in this episode is coffee shops and cafes
• QR Codes, they do work but may not be for every photography business
• Should you be sending clients to your Facebook page or your website – it’s not what you think, and for good reason
• Sneak peek strategies on Facebook to keep clients excited about seeing their photos
• Using YouTube to establish yourself as the expert in your field
• Belonging to a community and contributing is a big help in staying motivated and on track

It’s easy to see after the interview with Charlotte that although she is focused on pet photography, there is absolutely no reason why ‘traditional’ portrait and wedding photographers can’t be implementing strategies covered in this episode of the podcast into their businesses. The question is, what can we be doing to diversify our income stream and what is currently working in our businesses to bring us clients that we can improve and exploit. Once we have that sorted, it’s off to work if we want any chance of keeping up with the likes of Charlotte and her fantastic business.

If you’ve ever considered pet photography as a business or adding pet photography as an addition to your existing photography business, you need to get your hands on Charlotte’s eBook, Fetching Photos, before you start heading down the wrong track. This book would also perfectly suit any photographer that is looking to incorporate dogs into their normal portrait work with say families or children.

Premium members, head to the membership area to get your Fetching Photos Ebook Promo Code and save $20 on the list price.

Following this interview with Charlotte, I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you’d like to implement or remember from what she had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

If you have any questions regarding pet photography that I missed or a specific question for Charlotte, feel free to add them below and she’ll happily answer them for you. There are absolutely no silly questions and chances are, if you’re wanting to know the answer to something, other listeners will too. Get the conversation started by using the comments area below.

A couple of great iTunes review this week from Chris Boland of Distant Cloud Photography in the UK and the wonderful Caitlin McColl of Ragamuffin Pet Photography  - thanks guys, it’s wonderful and encouraging to read your reviews and they both mean a lot. Thank you.

It’s the iTunes reviews that make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes. Don’t feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask.

Also, a few shout-outs to photographers/listeners that have made contact via email or social media this week:

Neil Graham of http://neilgrahamphotography.com

Chris Allen of http://iwillshootu.com

Warren Knower of http://volarephotography.com.au

Dan Biggins of http://volarephotography.com.au

Chris Pyke from http://owlcreekphotography.com

Bryan and Brittany Weiss from http://bweissphotography.com

Lee Jones at https://www.facebook.com/leemacjones who brought a smile to my face and my attention to the different interpretations of certain phrases between countries:

Andrew I loved the last comment you made on this weeks show. I think in the UK it may have a slightly different slang term.

“I’m going to be coming home smashed tonight, then I’ve got a wedding tomorrow.”

If someone told me they were going to get smashed on a night out over here I’d expect them to be very drunk and hungover for a few days too!! I nearly spat out my drink all over the inside of the car with laughing when I heard it (in a good way I mean!)

Thanks guys, it’s been great chatting and hearing from every single one of you this week. If you’d like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at http://photobizx.com/facebook - I’d love to hear from you!

Charlotte Reeves’ website - http://www.charlottereeves.com.au

Charlotte Reeves’ blog - http://www.charlottereeves.com.au/blog/

Charlotte Reeves on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/charlottereevesphotography

Charlotte Reeves on Twitter - https://twitter.com/neighwoofmeow

Charlotte Reeves on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fireflymairi

Charlotte Reeves on Instagram - http://instagram.com/neighwoofmeow

Charlotte Reeves on Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/charlottereeves/

Charlotte Reeves on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/neighwoofmeow

Charlotte’s eBook – Fetching Photos - http://www.charlottereeves.com.au/dog-photography-e-book.html

Google Analytics - http://www.google.com/analytics/

Google Webmaster Tools - http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/

TAVE Client Management Software/Studio Management Software  - http://www.tave.com

Shoot Q Client Management Software (more geared toward wedding photographers) - http://web.shootq.com

ModX Website Platform - http://modx.com

Psychology For Photographers - http://psychologyforphotographers.com

Mail Chimp, newsletter and email auto responder software - http://mailchimp.com

Easy Dog collars and leads for dogs - http://www.ezydog.com.au

Beautiful Beasties Website, a resource for pet photographers - http://www.beautifulbeasties.com

NOTE:  Charlotte talked a lot about the importance of her website, the benefits of custom design and CMS (modx) during the interview. Here is a link to the website design company she used to work for: www.e-cbd.com – who are based on the Gold Coast Australia. Charlotte insists they do amazing work and because she doesn’t do any website design work any more (other than her own site) she thought it could be a good recommendation if you’re looking for someone to help with your website.

Visitor flow for the Photo Biz Xposed website taken from Google Analytics – you can access the same information plus a heap more by setting up your own Analytics and Webmaster Tools accounts.

Finally, here is the letter from David Rook and link to the Media Watch story about photographers being asked to work for FREE by Tennis Australia who generate over $200 million per year. (You’ll find the photography story at 5min 50sec mark once you’ve downloaded the file).

Hey Andrew 
 
Great work on the podcast. It keeps me incredibly busy improving my business every week.
 
Please download episode 37  http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/video/ of media watch. At about half way along it talks about how Tennis Australia wants to offer photographers the opportunity to work for FREE to get exposure. I am hoping that all photographers would respond in a similar way  ”Go ‘f” yourself Tennis Australia”.
 
Just thought you might want to add it to your podcast.
 
Keep up the good work 
Dave 

That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business. I’d love for you to leave a comment below about your biggest takeaway from this episode.

Speak soon

Andrew

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