The Word Bank

What on earth is a "Word Bank"?

This is my go-to resource for anything that I am branding, marketing, writing about, choosing images for ... it's basically your beginners guidelines for what to say and how to say it. And more importantly, how NOT to say it.

You need a Word Bank for every market you photograph: seniors, children, families, weddings, couples, engagement, maternity, you name it.

A Word Bank is your guide. This is how you start to communicate your brand. It should include as many words - even sentences - as you can think of.

Don't worry about all of them being brand-right at first, just go with your gut. This is probably the most simple, but one of the most helpful things you will do for your marketing.

1. Get a sheet of paper. Write the market at the top (Seniors, Families, etc). One per page.

2. Write your Value Statement just under that.
                                                           If you don't have a value statement, now's time to create one!

3. Write down every single word/sentence that that market makes you think of. Aim for emotion words. Emotion words sell.

4. Brainstorm. Ask all of your friends, families, clients, colleagues what they think of.

5. Now its time for brand check. Go through the list and cross out any that aren't brand right, or they don't feel natural to you.

6. Type up the list of what you have left over. I know this sounds silly, but it will help you feel more organized, and give you a tangible piece to start your effective writing with. Put it in your binder for that market.

The next time you have a post to write, a tweet to share, a marketing piece to create, start with your Word Bank. It'll get you going in the right direction!

Tip of the day: Leave out the backstory. They don't need the why, they just need to know what's in it for them. We see so many photogs who give out WAY too much information: "We're making changes, we will make your session amazing, we we we"... if it's not about your clients, leave it out. Talk about them and the benefits to them in EVERYTHING you write. It'll make a BIG difference.

Planning your Marketing Year

You're ready to plan your marketing year ... but what should you do, and why? And when? The first thing you need is a marketing plan. 

A marketing plan is similar to a business plan. You should have one for each market you target. 

It will talk about your overall goals for that market, each marketing medium you will use (print, direct mail, email, twitter, facebook, blog, web, etc). 

It will outline objectives, plans, ideas and truly define how you will use them. 

It will also identify your major promotions. Under each promo, you note which mediums you'll be using, and how. You will also note your low projection for response, and high projection, plus projected expenses and income. 

A marketing plan looks a little like:

Summary of plan

Specific Goals for the plan

Analysis of how you're currently doing in the area, as detailed as possible

Analysis of Ideal Clients and Current Clients (how do they shop, age, income, sex, household, lifestyle, social media interaction, etc)

Analysis of competition, as detailed as possible (they're marketing, charges, etc)

Strength and Weakness Analysis of your business (where do you realistically think you'll have a hard time, where will it be easy for you)

Your promos and detailed goals, plans etc

Marketing Strategies (what, how, when, why -- FB, twitter, web, etc)

Short and Long term projections, low range and high range, and summary of estimated costs vs. income

**

The calendar then pulls from this.

I recommend using a binder for each target market. Include the marketing calendar for that market, along with the marketing plan, marketing pieces you've used or ones that inspire you, the word bank, the color swatches, and then a benchmark sheet where you can keep track of actual bookings, actual responses to ads, number of inquiries from the promotion, and actual expenses and income, etc. 

Then, have a master calendar (on the office wall) of promotions. It should be color coded (one color per market), and tells you when you'll need photos done for a promotion, when to send out email blasts, when you need to post on FB or twitter, when it needs to go live on the blog, mailers, etc. 

It takes a lot of the guess work out of the year, and helps you focus on doing what you love best. You won't be trying to come up with promotions at the last minute, or try to remember if a promotion worked last year. 

It's a Rep Sale!

Ok, so here goes. The "Rep 10-hour Sale". (I avoid using One Day Sale in any marketing/advertising. A big name retailer uses it and it now draws only those looking for brand name at garage sale prices - not the kind of clients we want, right?).

First, contact all your reps and find out when most of their friends are online or see FB. You only need a day, not the hours. Choose the most popular day. Give yourself at least a week to prep so you can email blast, prep your reps and they can hype it up to their friends.

How it works – Each rep chooses an image from the ones you've provided them (even better if it's a digital version of their rep card). It has to stay as their profile pic during the entire day. It has to have your logo on it (no cropping it out). They also change their status to your marketing message for the day.

Then they post the marketing picture (you provide this – a nice jpg with pictures and info about the special), and they share it/tag friends with all their friends on their page that are seniors within your target market. They also post a note with the marketing message you've sent them and share it with their friends as well (with a link to your Facebook page)

Note: Everything is about Urgent Call to Action. But don't sound sales-y.

The special I run is usually 50% off the session fee (more than the studio's current discount for regular clients, so they feel special), and 1 free Facebook image plus 16 wallets (this is what they get from the rep card anyways) if they call today, mention the 10 hour sale and book their session (pay their session fee). Depending on how much response I want, sometimes I do 3 Facebook images instead of 1.

Reps then earn a free sibling session for taking part in the promo (you can do credit or points, its up to you. The free session averages $500 sales when I use it). They also earn double credit for each referral that day only (huge call to action for them, and it pays off) … plus they can earn another Facebook image. Keep in mind, they don't get credit until the person is photographed.

A Facebook Status Messages for Reps: “Class of 2012 friends – I got my senior portraits done! Have you? I had the best experience ever, because I went to ________. Just for knowing me, they'll give you 50% off your session and a bunch of free stuff, but you have to call by 5pm today! Don't forget to tell them _______ told you to call!”

They can re-word it a little, but you need to approve it before they do. They should have their status message to you by the day before if they want to change it up so you can say yes or no.

Your image should include all of the sale info – details about session fees, when they have to call by, your facebook and webpage, etc.

Also let your reps know, if their friends leave a comment on your page during the week before, both that friend and the rep will be entered in a drawing for some great prizes (think free wallets, $10 iTunes gift card, etc). Hold the drawing every hour on the day of the sale and post winners – they have to be a fan to win.

The reps can compete against eachother as well, the rep that gets the most referrals booked that day wins a prize, too!

Then, be prepared for phone calls from an hour before the sale to a couple of hours after. :)