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Death to the stock photo

Death to the stock photo

 

I’m taking some big steps at the moment to get my business properly off the ground. A whole summer of time off is coming up and while for some people that sounds like heaven… it is.. but I know that after the first week I’ll be climbing the walls.

One lesson I’ve learned lately is that when you’re thinking about where to go in terms of what you want your business to be, is to think about who your ideal client is. Don’t try to sell to the masses because you won’t appeal to everyone. Sit down and think about one person you want to sell your services or products to and aim at them. Now, this person is completely fictional. I’m not saying find a person and bombard them until they’ve made you rich (and themselves bankrupt) just think of someone, who is probably like you, who you want to appeal to.

As a photographer and designer, in the past I’ve tried to please everyone and that can get so overwhelming. You can feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions trying to make everyone happy. You find yourself giving discounts to desperately get customers leaving yourself out of pocket and just feeling bitter and resentful about your work.

By choosing a specific market/client, you’re narrowing things down so that you don’t get overwhelmed and you can tailor your services to make yourself more valuable. Set your prices to fit their budget and no one else’s. Keep your prices set in stone. That way you’re not undervaluing yourself and showing your true worth to the world.

With that, I’ve sat down with a pen and paper. (If you’re in the same position as me, I want you to do the same thing too) Think about what services you want to offer as a blogger/entrepreneur/creative. Once you’ve thought about what you want to offer, think about WHO you want to offer these services to.

My services/business boosts…

  • Branding for Bloggers, Photographers & Creative Entrepreneurs
  • Ebook templates
  • Business & Marketing templates
  • Logo design
  • Stock Photography
  • Web Design
  • Planners & Diaries
  • Stationary Design
  • E-books (offering advice and tips)
  • E-Courses
  • Subscription Based Services
  • Portraits (lifestyle & commercial)
  • Motivational Prints (Etsy)
  • Product Photography

 

My ideal (fictional) customer profile: 

Lillie (the name is my daughters idea) is in her late 20’s, early 30’s and after years of working soul destroying jobs, she’s decided to take the plunge and start her own business. She’s been interested in photography for a few years and wants to take things up a notch by offering wedding and portrait photography to clients in her area. She’s been on a few workshops and is very talented, her problem is mainly marketing herself as a professional and not someone who just takes pretty photos. 

She’s a keen blogger and has been showing her work on her blog for a while. Do this has gained her quite a following, she has lots of readers but no customers. She currently uses a free blogging template and theme that looks nice enough but doesn’t show her as a professional business owner. Her tech skills are pretty basic. She’s proficient enough with photo editing software such as photoshop and Lightroom but when it comes to design, she’d rather outsource that. 

This is where I come in. Lillie has photographed a few weddings recently so she has some money to invest in herself and her business. She thinks it’s time she created a professional website and brand to boost her business. She wants to integrate her blog and create marketing materials that match her brand. Things like business cards, flyers and welcome packs are items she also needs. 

To help with her website and branding, she needs some professional portraits of herself to add rather than the selfies she’s recently been using. This will make her look more professional. Her marketing materials need to be consistent with the look and feel of her brand as she’d like to use these at wedding fayres and be able to leave flyers and business cards in places where she wants to attract potential customers. 

Lillie needs help maintaining her website as things like wordpress, web hosting and design are completely new to her. So releasing ebooks and blogging about tips that can help her would be a huge help to her. Plus, having me on hand as her go to girl when she needs help with all that is also something thats useful to her. 

As she’s setting up her office too she’s also looking for some beautiful, motivational prints to display over her desk. She loves beautiful design and sometimes needs a little boost to keep her going. 

As a person, she’s introverted and calm. Her style is bohemian and she’s very creative. Flowers and pastel colours are things she wants to incorporate in the design of her branding.

So how does she sound then? I love her… I kind of wish she was real. We’d be great friends. 😉

Now that I’ve done that I personally feel so much clearer about who to aim my business at. It will make things easier in the design of my website and who to target advertising at.

If you’re doing a customer profile, leave a link in the comments. I’d love to see.

Now, go and create!!!