About Your Expectations & Mine – Marketing for Photographers

If you are considering my coaching – or any marketing services/course – chances are you expect one thing above everything else: results.

Enquiries, bookings and sales.

After all, that’s what marketing promises and that’s what it should deliver. Pretty simple.

You know what?

Not only do I agree with this, I can also guarantee that the pressure on this side of the exchange is as high as it is on yours: I am not one to take any responsibility lightly, ever, and this is one I feel even more because I know how it is to trust someone to enter your business.

There is a much more important question, however, that we seem to have collectively forgotten after years of exposure to seducing ads promoting marketing miracles and success stories shared on social: while it is reasonable to expect results when investing in marketing, how long should these results take and how much work will be required for them to arrive?

Anyone who has worked in marketing and advertising at a professional, serious level will tell you that there is only one type of business that is guaranteed quick and easy marketing results no matter what: the one that is ALREADY getting results.

It is not a case that big advertising agencies charge monthly retainers in the range of thousands of £ or ask clients to provide proof that their sales funnel is already successful: by doing so, they limit their clientele to businesses that are already succeeding.

There is only one type of business that is guaranteed quick and easy marketing results no matter what: the one that is ALREADY getting results.

So what about everyone else?

The equation is pretty easy.

There are two currencies in marketing and advertising: your time and your budget. The bigger the budget, the higher the chances you can speed up the process to the max. The lower the budget, the more time you will need to get where you want.

Lacking both, you will need to compromise on the quality of your leads or evaluate alternative ways to breathe monetary oxygen into your business.

Diving deeper into the “how long?” question

Those listed below are all factors that WILL (not “might”) affect your business results. I suggest you go through this list and keep track of your “No”: the more “no”, the longer it might get for you to get results.

1. Have you served more than 200 paying clients since opening your business?
2. Are you already generating the minimum number of bookings necessary to go even every month? Of course, this requires that you have been tracking this with an updated Cost of Doing Business
3. Do you have more than 3k followers on Facebook (the size of your Instagram is not a real indication of anything unless you have “earn” most of your followers before the introduction of reels)?
4. Is the vast majority of your following made of potential clients (so no friends, other photographers, or people who have been there for way too long to be considered active clients)?
5. Have you had any success with online advertising before?
6. Are your prices in line with the average in your area (or below, not that I suggest they should)?

Now, if you have answered no to most of these questions there is no need to panic, marketing can absolutely still help and, in fact, I would consider marketing help necessary in your situation especially considering how challenging the market is these days!

Just know getting things to work might not be a matter of a few weeks – since the fundamentals of your business need work.

Now, what are MY expectations?

There are 3 things I expect from all clients, and these are non-negotiable:

1. I expect you to be honest about the above and your financial situation. As mentioned on my homepage and in several other pages, if you are in a financial emergency that should be addressed before you sign up for this coaching (or any coaching really).
   
   There are plenty of courses and coaches that target specifically people in a financial emergency and promise them a magic solution, but I am not in the business of exploiting people’s fears to sell my services.
   
2. You might have noticed that I don’t pressure people to sign up. My process allows for enough time and space for you to decide if you believe this is right for you.
   
   These are the steps we follow to help you decide:
   
   – My homepage offers you a checklist to help you understand if this is right for you
   – You have a free 1-hour call with me before you are even offered a space
   – Your offer email includes an additional “Is this right for you?” checklist
   – You are also invited to read the “What if your coaching does not work for me?” article
   – You are given a 30-day money-back guarantee
   – I am also happy to offer additional calls to clear doubts before you sign up

I take this process very seriously, and I expect you to do the same because I want you to sign up feeling confident and knowing you can trust me.

You know why?

Because the absolute worst we can do is to spend our time together trying to convince you that this was the right investment – I want to spend our time DOING THE WORK required for you to grow, succeed and feel amazing.

As someone amazing I recently met told me… “With your best interest at heart”,

Gi