Questions Answered in this Episode

• • How can you get started with your marketing plan?
  • Why is your ideal client important?
  • How can you create more engagement on your social media posts?

Show Notes

My business besty Angie McPherson speaks with me in this episode all about marketing. Angie McPherson worked in the marketing industry before she became a wedding photographer and she has been incorporating her marketing expertise into her photography business as a brand photographer. She helps wedding pros and other creative entrepreneurs and business owners with their marketing strategies and brand photography.

In this episode, Angie takes her expert marketing advice to expand on some of my marketing ideas from last week’s episode and helps explain marketing for all of us. Even though I talk to Angie every single day, I still left this conversation with tons of notes, so I hope you will too!

Talk to Your Ideal Client in Your Marketing

“If you don’t know who you’re talking to, you’re going to be talking to nobody. So at any point in your business, if you are new or way advanced but trying to reach a different market, whenever you’re putting out copy, whether it’s on your website, social media, or in an email, talk to that ideal client that you want to serve. I kind of look at it as a Venn diagram and putting all these qualities in the middle. You’re still going to get the people on the outside of the Venn diagram that kind of relate to something that you’re talking about. They’ll find you and they’ll still like you!”

You Have to Give to Receive

“People say, ‘Nobody is engaging with my Instagram, no one is following me.’ And I say, ‘Well are you doing that to other people?!’ We have to give to receive. We’re not a Kim Kardashian or some huge celebrity where we post something and everybody just wants to comment. We have to go out there and talk to our ideal client and talk to our peers.

I’ll take some time out of the day and sit on Instagram. I might search a hashtag or a geotag of my ideal client, people I want to work with, and just show them some love. Comment on some recent pictures, even DM one of their stories. Go out and find people instead of waiting for them to find you. I’ve cultivated so many friendships that way. If you have a business besty, engage with their followers. If you’re in the wedding industry and you’re a photographer and you like to work with a makeup artist, comment on photos of their clients and say they look amazing.”

Angie’s Favorite Marketing Tips

1. Create a Powerful Personal Brand – If you don’t have this already, take a sheet of paper and write these things down: who you are as a business owner and a person, what you do exactly, why you do it, who you do it for, and your unique value proposition. What makes your experience different? What makes you different? Write this as a story. Write down your brand words that describe you as a person. Take this story and these brand words and insert it into all of your content. My brand is in every single post and content that I put out there.
2. Identify and Reach Out to Your Ideal Client
3. Create Consistent Content to Reach that Ideal Client – If you build it they will come! If you build a profile that shows exactly who you want to serve, those are the people that are going to be attracted to your profile.

Takeaways

• Your ideal client is the key to your marketing plan. Figure out who they are!
• Create engagement by engaging with others.
• Be consistent!

Important Links

Work with Angie | Connect with Angie on Instagram | Angie’s Marketing Checklist

Planoly

Hampton Roads Creative Network

Guest Bio:

Angie McPherson is a wedding and personal branding photographer as well as a marketing maven! Before she pursued entrepreneurship full-time and catapulted into the wedding industry, she worked in marketing and public relations for eight years. She revamped those skills and experiences into marketing strategies for her wedding business and has watched her business flourish over the past 5 years. She inspires others to grow their business by building a personal brand, sharing their story and truly connecting with their audience!