Kristen Jensen from the USA is my guest today and as an ex-Ford supermodel, she has a lot of experience being on the other side of the camera which she draws on in her own business today. We talk about how that work has affected what she does today which leads to the conclusion that diversification is key for a home based wedding photography business.
Being in such a competitive market, Kristen has done plenty to separate herself from the competition as well as focusing on not just one style or genre of work but many. This has led to multiple income streams or income from multiple areas of photography.
Being home based and successful, Kristen has recently published a book, “How to Start a Home-based Wedding Photography Business” and she shares much of what she’s learnt in this interview.
Here’s some of what we cover:
- Marketing
- Branding
- Sponsorship
- Event and commercial photography
- Shooting video for your clients
- How to separate yourself from your competition so your prospective clients notice you
- Reception venue referrals and how to get them
- Getting involved with community projects and how it can help your business
- Donating your services for greater referrals
- Having a database and why it’s so important
- Paying a referral fee to wedding coordinators and planners
- Having multiple websites for each niche
- Staying on top and in control of your business
- Software to run a successful business
- Hand written notes
- Online sales
- The importance of knowing your competition
There is no doubt after my chat with Kristen that having great contacts and relationships (networking) is massively important to her business and it’s something that anyone can use to help grow their business. Although Kristen is super busy, she always finds time to do that little extra for her suppliers and her clients which comes back through referrals and more work.
If this is something you’re not doing in your business, listen in to find out what you may be missing out on in regard to more bookings.
What is your big takeaway?
One interesting thing I picked up on while chatting to Kristen was the way she knew exactly what her competition were doing and offering. She uses this information to help stay one step in front and to motivate her to be better. This is a different approach to what I’ve heard from most guests in the past – what are your thoughts?
After listening to this episode, what is you takeaway, what’s the one thing you’d like to implement in your business as a result of what Kristen had to say? Get involved, leave a comment below and let me know… I really am interested.
Also, if you disagree with something that was said or feel I left a question unasked, leave a note in the comments and I’ll chase Kristen up for an answer.
iTunes ratings and reviews
Only one iTunes rating and review this week but it was an absolute beauty from John Colson of www.johncolson.com - thanks so much John! Love that you’re enjoying the podcast and am totally rapt you commented on the production quality of the podcast. You’re the first person to mention that and it’s something I work hard on. Great to have you tuning in!
If you’d like to leave a review like John did, simply click here and follow the directions in the “review” tab in iTunes.
After receiving a few emails this week, there were a few more shout outs.
Hanna Jacobs of www.hannajacobs.co.za - thanks for getting involved and wishing you a super successful photography business.
Shauna Donnelly who was listening in China – I love that!
Matt from www.rmw-photo.com - great to chat during the week and good luck with the growth of your business.
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Kristen main website:Â http://www.kristenjensen.com
Kristen Wedding website:Â http://kristenjensenweddings.com
Kristen on Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/KristenJensenWeddings
Kristen on Twitter:Â https://twitter.com/KristensVision
Pictage.com for prints, orders, album design
Constant Contact (like Aweber and Mail Chimp) for sending out automated emails and email “blasts”
That’s it for me this week, have a great one and leave a comment below to let me know what you took away from this interview.
Speak soon
Andrew
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