Are you ready to step up your marketing? In today’s episode, I’m continuing my series all about branding, and diving into proving your value with brand photographer Rachael Leigh. Rachel shares her thoughts on maximizing the impact of your brand shoot, motivating your audience through CTAs, plus increasing your visibility online. 

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Today’s episode is brought to you by The Green House, my resource garden for photographers! Let me help you AMPLIFY your heart online and in real life to turn bridesmaids into future brides through templates, workshops, and freebies!

Review The Show Notes:

Rachael’s Definition Of Marketing (2:33)

Updating Your Online Presence (3:45)

Where To Use Your Brand Images (10:57)

Prove Your Value With Branding (16:38)

Increasing Visibility Outside Of Our Own Marketing (20:33)

Who Are You Relating To? (30:55)

The Impact Of CTAs On Your Marketing Success (32:34)

The Brand Audit (42:04)

Key Tip From Rachael (44:13)

Connect With Rachael:

Website: rachaelleigh.com

Instagram: instagram.com/rachaelleighphotos/

The Marketing Audit: rachaelleigh.com/marketing-audit

Connect with Quianna:
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
Pinterest

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SEO Strategies with Sara Dunn

Sharing Your Client Experience To Prove Your Authority Online

11 Images Every Brand Session Needs

Review the Transcript:

Quianna: What if your photos could sell your offers and products without saying a word? Talk about the ultimate first impressions that lead to more revenue. Today, I have the honor of introducing you to another professional branding photographer. This conversation is going to blow your mind with marketing strategies.

growth opportunities, and ways to prove your value through your visuals and messaging. Including Rachel Lee as a guest speaker in this branding series is truly an honor. Rachel is a talented branding photographer that also offers content strategy, marketing, and coaching for creatives nationwide. Rachel and I share a similar background in wedding photography with a pivot to more branding and small business marketing.

Rachel has a passion for listening to your ideas, picturing the visions in your mind, and curating a beautiful portfolio of branding and lifestyle photos that help articulate all of those thoughts in your mind. Today, we’re going to pull out our notebooks and start with a strong foundation of what marketing really means.

Learn how to maximize the exposure and outreach of our recent brand session. Learn new strategies for brand awareness that builds trust and proves our value. Plus, we even chat more about CTAs and ways to help create even more resources that align ourselves as the expert in our industries. From Cincinnati to Scottsdale with a warm hug.

Please welcome Rachel Lee. Welcome to Kiana Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen. Photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at kianamarie.

com slash podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Let’s go.

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the party. Rachel. It is truly a joy to have you here. I’m not even kidding. I’m fangirling that we get to have this conversation today. How are you? Oh, I’m doing so well. Yeah. Like I’m

Rachael: so excited to be here. Yes.

Quianna: Yes. Well, this is the conversation that needs to be had as brand photographers, marketing gurus, and content strategists.

I feel like, and you can agree, that after these galleries are delivered, what’s the biggest question? Now what? Right? Like, what, what is next? And I would just love to kick off this conversation with what exactly is marketing and what is your definition of that? Oh

Rachael: my gosh. I feel like anytime somebody asks me like what is marketing, we’re kind of opening a can of worms of everybody’s opinions because we have everybody from like the marketing bros online to Seth Godin to like all of us creative entrepreneurs that wanted to just be simple.

But I feel like my favorite definition I’ve ever heard of marketing is that marketing itself is simply sharing. It’s sharing the solutions, the transformations in the work that you create with people who need it. So they’ll come in the door and conserve them because at the end of the day, selling is a service because you’re helping someone get.

To where they want to go with whatever you’re offering. So marketing is just spreading the word about that thing. And it’s simply just sharing.

Quianna: That’s incredible. And the way you simplify that makes perfect sense. Because you’re right. There’s so many things that go into marketing. I mean, some of the businesses that we’re even working with have a huge team of marketing.

And when you ask them their jobs, you’re kind of like, well, what exactly do you do? Right? Like, how does that play out? But I love how you simplify that to remind us that it’s just sharing. And that’s one of my taglines, one of my favorite things to say is, we just need more people to know about you. So please tell us, I would love to kind of get into the nitty gritty here.

And you know, let’s pretend that we’ve just invested in a professional brand session. Where do we start with a full audit for updating our online presence? Let’s start there.

Rachael: Number one, I always tell a client like grab your favorite beverage and sit down at your computer because you got to start with the right atmosphere to be able to tackle the like, uh, implementation phase of the brand photos.

But typically, as silly as it sounds, step number one is just please download your entire gallery to your desktop and then stick it in like Google Drive or somewhere online where you can access it all the time. And then go through the gallery and pick out not just your favorites, but I would say sort them through by how you’re going to use them.

Because a lot of the time you can look at a gallery of like 300 to 350 photos and you’re like, Oh my gosh, I’m already overwhelmed. I’m just going to close this tab and then I’m never going to look at them again. But you just invested thousands of dollars in these photos that are supposed to elevate and refine your brand.

And so if that is true, then we got to start sorting them out so you know where they’re supposed to go. So that is what I would say is like, number one, that’s not the like the sexy stuff. That’s not the thing that it’s like, put it in this place and it’s going to earn you this much more money. But if you start and you’re like, okay, this is for a website photos.

This is for Instagram photos. These are Instagram story photos. Then it makes it easier when you go to create content later or use the photos later to know exactly what photos are going to be going where. That’s what I would say is like step number one. After that, I would say the first thing you need to update is your website.

There are so many of my clients that download their galleries immediately start using them on Instagram and they never make it to their website. But the thing is, is like the website is like the front door to your business. And so if you got all these brand new photos and you don’t put them on your website, you’re immediately losing ROI because the photos are meant to create connection, to drive emotion, to pull people in the door and act as a magnet for your business.

So if you’re not putting them in the places that, let’s see, make the most sense, or what is it like, is that the millennial joke that we sit down on our computers for like big girl purchases? Like I’m not going to do it on my phone. And so like, if your brand photos aren’t involved in the like big girl purchase conversation, depending on what you offer, then you’re really losing out.

So first thing I would say is like, go through your website and start swapping out the photos. You’re going to find that your brand photographer probably took some that are meant to go in specific places. If you want, please ask them. Ask them their opinion on certain things and say like, Hey, I mean, I always like it when clients do that of like, which photos did you say to put here?

Like, which ones would you say to put here? And not every brand photographer thinks through it that way. I know when I’m on set, I’m often looking at the client and I’m like, okay, this photo is, I’m taking this specific fear about page because you, like, I know you need one where you’re positioned to the right so that you can have text on the left.

And then it tells this specific story. And then I took these for this little about me section that you have, or you’re going to have like one, two, three, four things with like facts. And so a lot of the time your brand photographer is walking into the shoot knowing enough about your brand and what you need that they’re taking those photos to put in those specific places.

So do yourself a favor if they didn’t tell you at the shoot and you don’t remember or if all that whole day, if that whole day was a blur, then also ask them their opinion. So, I would say, like, after you go through, you’ve downloaded your gallery, you’ve gone through and done the first draft on your website of putting all the photos there and uploading them, then make sure, please, upload them to Canva, or whatever place that you use to make all of your digital guides and whatnot, and do yourself a favor, create folders in Canva and in whatever your website developer is.

That are labeled with like either sort them by like if it’s a product photo or a brand photo or a lifestyle photo, like you can do it that nitty gritty or at least just put them in like 2024 brand photo folder. So then that way it makes it easier for execution. You’re not having to sort through your entire uploads folder on your Canva.

And then after that, I would say like, it’s just implementing into social content. It’s putting them into your guides. It’s going in and uploading and like updating your, you know, your landing pages in your email list. It’s putting them to where you can grab them to make email graphics. It’s just putting them in places where you’re going to remember to use them.

Because if you sit down and put it to create a piece of content and you didn’t already with forethought, upload your photos. To wherever you’re making that content, you’re not going to use the photo because it’s too hard you’ve made it. And so it’s like, is it, is it James clear that talks about like making it easy to be the person that you want to be.

So like, let’s just use that with whatever your brand is, like make it really easy to use the thing that you’ve invested in. Because if you forget about it, you’re not going to get ROI on it. And so we’ve got to start out by doing the unsexy stuff. Of sorting through them and putting them where they need to go.

Do you need to create a folder on your phone with. Your new brand photos that when you go to upload an Instagram story, you’re not using that phone photo that you took three years ago. Again, you’re going to use the new photos that you’ve gotten taken. Like, I mean, I need to also, now that I’m listening to myself, talk this through, I need to do this for myself.

Yes. I’m taking notes too. I’m like, do you know how many times I plug my external hard drive back in just to find that one headshot of myself when somebody asks, Hey, can you send one to me, like if I made it easier on myself and just threw them in a folder. On my desktop or on my phone or wherever I would use them more often.

And the more often you use them, that’s breeding consistency and cohesion and clarity in your business with ease. It’s just happening as you’re doing the things you’re already doing. If you’re using the photos that your photographer created to create that cohesion.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. I love this so much, Rachel.

I feel like this is exactly where this conversation needs to start with these foundations so we can make it so much. Easier on ourselves, right? And I, I do feel, and I’m totally speaking candidly here that oftentimes small business owners and creatives, they truly don’t see the value in these branding sessions.

We feel like we can scream to the rooftops. This is why you need it. Just trust us. But I am noticing this pattern that. Some business owners are investing and they’re truly not utilizing them to their potential. And that starts with, we just need easy swipe copy, right? We need easy templates. We need easy graphics and all of the photos to be accessible.

And when we have this foundation created, that’s when those RMI start happening. That’s when the marketing really, I feel like it goes from like a lowercase, like chicken scratch on your notebook to like, old marketing on a website, right? Like that’s the difference that this is creating all caps marketing when you are actually utilizing these.

And I love that you mentioned, so creating these folders, creating these easy access, grab and goes. And what else? I know we’re going to get into this a little bit deeper in the conversation, but I feel like This needs to be mentioned now. Where else are we using these photos besides just our headshot update and website updates?

Like what, let’s start there and share like the potential of where these branding images actually need to be splashed for our online presence.

Rachael: Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh. There are so many places. And obviously this depends on where, like what type of business you have. So if I’m giving ideas for places that they could go, you have a brain that can think critically.

And so put yourself in the shoes as I’m, like, speaking through this specifically for, like, a brand that’s similar to, like, mine or Tiana’s. Like, think through what that looks like for yours. I’m going to rattle off some ideas. But just knowing that, that this is going to be a one off solution for everybody.

But places that, uh, clients have used them are like slide decks. Um, I have had so many clients just put them into a slide deck and the slide deck instantly feels more like them. Let’s see what else. All of your client collateral, like in HoneyBook, like use your brand photos in HoneyBook, Dubsado. Session like whatever that looks like for you use those there because that’s it.

It’s creating a touch point everywhere, especially in this is this is me getting like really picky. But if I were giving you advice for one specific thing, it would be to use the same headshot. As the first thing, like the first headshot, your client sees on your website. It’s also your icon on Instagram and all your social platforms.

And it’s also the headshot that’s in your email signature, because that one bit of like you looking in the camera and smiling is making eye contact at every one of those touch points, but it’s also creating this sense of cohesion. and consistency, which builds trust faster. If you just very strategically pick a couple of photos, they’re going to make it in a lot of different places.

It doesn’t feel repetitive to the client that’s experiencing it. It creates a sense of familiarity a lot faster. So that’s like one little tidbit, but I would say, yeah, like email signatures, um, put them like product based businesses. Like you’re going to use them, like, please update your product photos on your website, please do that.

I’ve had so many product based businesses that invest in there. Like instantly they take to Instagram and you’re like, I love this, that you’re taking it to Instagram and you’re going to post that, put those all over the place. But if you neglect your website, your client’s going to encounter the really great product photo on Instagram and you’re not going to put it in your product pages on your site and then it doesn’t have that same cohesion.

I’m trying to think of like where else because there are so many places that I’ve used them.

Quianna: I love email marketing. So they’re in my flow desk templates. I have a whole little like template guide for that where I’m just once again creating that cohesiveness. Right. If that’s a word. I’m trying to think of what else, where else going on.

I’m like,

Rachael: I’ve had clients use them as YouTube thumbnails. I’ve had clients use it as their podcast cover. I’ve had clients use it, you know, they kind of use them everywhere. And there are some clients that I’m like, man, you’re using these better than I ever have. Yeah. And the cool part is, especially within Canva, like you can use one photo one way, but then because we give people such high resolution images, they can stretch the image and use a corner of it.

And it looks completely different. You can background remove. And stick yourself on like a, like a clean, like, obviously be choosy with this because sometimes it looks cheesy, but you can like background remove and put yourself on a clean background and you’ve taken that one photo that you use other places and made it feel a little bit more evergreen.

And so get creative with the way that you use your photos. Don’t just be a one and done. Um, and also don’t. only put this is me being really picky. When you’re on your website, don’t just make a photo opaque to put text on it. Try to choose a photo that was made for text.

Quianna: Oh, good point. So what does that mean?

That means like shoving you to the side, like making room, like for a text, like we’re with the blank. Yeah, you

Rachael: can do it that way. Yeah. So like, More than likely your brand photographer, if they were being intentional, gave you some, some photos that like they left the middle blank or they intentionally put some space to the left or to the right, or they gave you a photo that like feels super simple and clean.

And so it’s, it’s made to be not, it’s not as distracting. And when you put text on a photo that has a lot of things in it. Your brain doesn’t know where to look. And I see clients all the time, just like they really like the photos. So they just stick it on their website and then they bring down the opacity and they stick a darker or a lighter color behind it, but then it still feels very cluttered and we already have a really hard time with.

Grabbing people’s attention. Like Donald Miller said years ago in story brand, you know, where he talks about, like if they have to burn calories in order to understand it, you’ve lost them and the same is true in design and the way that you use your photos, like be really intentional with where you put the photos that you put, and I know it requires extra thought and you’re like, I just want to plug and play everywhere because I just love them and they’re beautiful, but you have to think about the person that’s receiving the marketing piece that you’re putting out.

That’s reading the bit of copy with the photos on your website. Like. Keep it contextual because the goal is that your, your brand photos will magnify your messages and make it easier for people to understand what you do. Um, so that they buy from you quicker, they trust you faster, or they remember you more.

And if that is true, then being super intentional with where you put the photos and how you align those with like the customer journey all throughout your marketing makes it just simpler for people to get it. without having to think about it as hard.

Quianna: Yes. Yes. I love this. So I would love to take a little bit deeper into the marketing and the brand messaging.

And I would love to know your opinion, Rachel, and how do we. through our value with our branding visuals and our marketing, right? I feel like we just spent the first little portion here explaining why branding photos are so important. And I just would love to kind of, kind of put that in the hands of the consumer or of the client.

How can they use their images to prove their value?

Rachael: I would say number one, just use them because the reality is. Brand photos in and of themselves, like the rate is that people process information 60, 000, like photos 60, 000 times faster than text. And a lot of the time, I don’t remember what the exact stat is, but there is a stat out there that talks about the fact that most businesses don’t have cohesion all throughout their entire visual brand.

But when they do, consumers trust them faster. And so you already have the stats on your side. I will go find the stat and come back. If you want to email me or whatever, I’ll find it for you and send it. I don’t have it right in front of me, but that’s the reality is that when they see that consistency, they trust you faster and they put a higher value on it.

It’s the same. The same is true with the fact that like different colors. We’ll communicate a different thing, right? You see, there’s a difference between target and anthropology and the colors that they choose in their branding. So like target’s going to have bright, loud, bold colors, and it doesn’t mean that they’re not a trustworthy brand per se, right, that they have their affordable, their products and those things, but like, they’re going to communicate a completely different message with different things.

The same is true with your business. If you have a competitor that isn’t investing nearly as much. In their visuals or the cohesion or the clarity in their brand, a consumer is going to pull up both tabs and look at their website and look at yours. And if you’re actually putting your stuff to work, their brain is just going to register that you have higher value, higher quality visuals and stuff that feels more polished and put together naturally makes us lean, lean in and trust it more.

Obviously it’s not the only thing that’s going to determine the value for them. Because I was watching something yesterday that talked about the fact that like somebody can go into a store and try on a pair of jeans. And if the jeans don’t fit their butt, well, they’re not going to buy the jeans. It doesn’t matter exactly how, like how much you market it to them.

It doesn’t matter if the mirror inside the thing says you look great. If they don’t think that you look, if like, if they don’t think they look great, they’re not going to buy the jeans. And the same is true with your products. So you have to know when you’re marketing, like, value is subjective. And so don’t go after people that don’t value what you value.

Create products for the people that are looking for the products that you create and value the things that you value. And then when you market to that person with those values at the center, they’re going to be drawn in like a magnet, and it won’t be so hard to convince them to value those things. As long as you’re allowing your values and the things that your clients values, the intersection of both those things to drive the way that you curate your experience, the way that you put your products together, the way that you market, the way that you brand, as long as they are all within that hub, the client’s going to pick up what you’re putting down and they’re going to value things.

But if there’s disconnects, That’s when the problem starts to happen.

Quianna: Yes. I love that so much. It always brings back to mind the juicy peach theory, right? Like we always say this, this is totally over said and right and it’s true. Like you could have the perfect product. You can do all the best marketing, but there’s some people that just don’t like peaches.

There’s some people that speaking of peaches that just don’t fit well in their genes, right? Like it just doesn’t work. And I love that so much. I think that’s a beautiful reminder that. We can add so much value to what we’re doing, and sometimes it just doesn’t align. And that’s fine. That just goes back to more eyeballs, right?

More visibility. So I feel like this is the perfect segue into the next question, where I just would love to discuss what are some ways that we can boost visibility online. That, and I know this doesn’t make sense, so bear with me here, but how can we increase visibility that’s out of our control, right?

So what I mean by that is like, how can we get our own customers to be excited about what we’re sharing and right, kind of maybe tapping into a little bit of the UGC, right? The user generated content, just the fun stuff and ways that we can build brand awareness around art. Brand, um, that’s outside of our website.

Could we chat about that?

Rachael: Yeah. Okay. This is a really fun topic because I had a stint in the last, uh, year and a half where I essentially, like when you were talking about the value, like how do we prove our value, I realized that like my, my sales funnel was working. Once people saw me, they were coming in the door, they were booking and they were going through the entire experience.

My problem wasn’t a product or a sales problem. It was an eyeballs problem. And so I went down this like a little bit of an internal case study of like, how do I get more eyes on my business without having to pay for it?

Quianna: Yes. Yes.

Rachael: Because you know, like sometimes you don’t have the money to invest in marketing.

And so when I was trying to figure that out, one of the, there are two easy ways. One that’s really big is collaborating. And so like find people online. That could run parallel and whatever they do to what you do. So for me, like there were a couple of times where I’ve worked with, um, or collaborated with copywriters specifically because usually we come into the rebranding journey at the same time.

So we’ve done collaborative posts online. We did Instagram lives. She even did a webinar with me. And, uh, another person that I’ve done that with is a wardrobe stylist, because theoretically. Like we’re serving the same client. So anytime you do a collaboration, make sure that it’s somebody that’s going to serve your audience well, and make sure that their audience is also your audience, that is the prequalifier.

The values conversation enters into the collaborate, like the collaboration conversation. Make sure you align first. But then after that, Instagram has made it really easy for us to, to share, like, and to get in front of other people’s audiences easily. Um, so that’s what I would say, like, is a big one. If that doesn’t work for you, put your, it’s gonna take some effort, but try really hard to make shareable content.

I think that the memes entertaining side of Instagram shows us this really well. It’s easy to drive traffic and to get more eyeballs when you create things that people want to share. So in your client experience, People love showing other people the things they’ve invested in or the things that they love.

And so if you’re a service provider, you can talk about some of the behind the scenes parts of your process or say that you’re creating something. So like my friend, that’s an artist, she’s currently doing, uh, she works with brand colors and she’s doing a brand color analysis for me right now, just to kind of make sure that some of my like internal stuff is as zhuzhed up as it, like it has the same reasoning instead of the fact that I just.

pulled colors and slapped them on my website, right? But she made it really easy for me to talk about her brand color analysis because I got excited when she showed my inspiration and started pulling colors from those. And I was like, okay, everybody needs to know about this. I’m so excited. She made it really easy for me to be like, Hey guys, go book yourself a brand color analysis.

I haven’t even received my deliverable yet. And I was already sharing about it. And so just find really simple ways. To just allow your client or your customer to share in the product. If you are a product based business and you need some of that user generated content, I, I know a couple of clients that they just make it a practice of resharing when people tag them.

And if you consistently reshare, whatever people tag you in, obviously use a measure of discernment. But if you do that, it shows people that you’re like, Hey, I pay attention to, I value you. And you’ll start to see more of this. I think it’s Tonic that talked about this a lot, actually, not very long ago, like Tonic Siteshop, if you don’t know them, phenomenal website templates.

They were talking about the fact that they upped their UGC online just by starting to like, respond to DMs and reshare what people were tagging them in. And it’s that like, put out what you want to receive. If you want people to share about you, you share about them. You go and engage in, it’s like, it’s not like there’s nothing new under the sun.

And so some of these things you’ve probably heard a thousand times over, but they’re the things that we forget because they’re the things that we don’t love doing, or it feels like it’s hard work, but I feel like that’s probably some of the easiest ways to get in front of new audiences. And grow in brand awareness other ways.

If you, if you write an email list, I don’t know. It just depends on where you are, um, like who your provider is. I use convert kit convert kit made it really easy for me to grow my audience there because they have a creator network internally where you can go and you can post it’s kind of like sub stack, but on convert kit the other way, just like generic referrals.

Would probably be the other thing because at the end of the day, like testimonials and referrals are going to be more like some of the most valuable sources of leads that you can have, um, especially with where we’re at and people there’s a measure of distrust all throughout the market because of so there’s just so much online.

And people are going to value real words from real people and real recommendations from real people. And so at the end of the day, like it comes back to just serve your, serve your people so well. Be generous. You can do the whole under promise over deliver mindset if you want. That’s been around for a while, but yeah, at the end of the day, just have a heart for people and for serving people and for being a giver.

And it’s just kind of the way that the world works is that you reap what you sow.

Quianna: Yes, I love all these tips so much. And I feel like this thought that’s coming in right now too, especially for personal brands, is to consider not just what you’re doing, right? Like doing in your business, but also consider where you’re going.

And the thought that came through was I absolutely love you and I both know that’s how we connected through and I have this hashtag workshopaholic where we’ve invested. So much in conferences and events, and now we have the opportunity to speak at these events, which has just been such a blessing. And I remember Pope Taylor, actually one of my very first workshops back in the day, she had created this graphic.

So after you purchase a ticket to attend her event, she would create this little graphic. And it was just, it was just an email that came out to everyone that was joining and said, I’m attending the hope Taylor workshop. And I just thought that was. So cool, because ping, ping, ping, all these new attendees, these new friends that I’ve never met around the country or sharing these.

And like you said, it turned into very shareable stuff. And I feel like that did two very powerful things. One is it proved, Hey, I value myself as a personal brand, as a personal business, because I’m showing up and I’m excited to learn. And then two, it just created that almost like that FOMO, right? It created that, um, excitement for an event that I was excited to invest in my business and to just show up, right.

And to prove that value once again to my potential clients. So yeah, I just love that idea of sharing, not just your client experience, going full out on appreciating and being grateful for your current clients, because I truly believe they are your best little, like, worker bees to refer you and share you and be excited to work with you, even like you mentioned With your color analysis before you’ve even done, like before you even got your deliverables, you were excited to share.

And I just think that is so incredible.

Rachael: And I think just like for other examples of super shareable content, you know, it doesn’t just have to be funny memes and entertaining stuff, right? It just has to be something that your clients relate to. And this comes back to the thing of like. To be a marketer, like to be a really good marketer, you have to have a measure of empathy, like those two things go hand in hand and empathy means being able to look at where, like where someone is.

physically, emotionally, relationally, and have enough empathy to step not, you can’t step into their shoes fully, but you can step into the room with them and say, I’m here. I want to get to know you. And anytime, you know, somebody, you can relate to that person. And half of the time marketing is just being able to relate to other human beings.

And create things for them, not for yourself. And so if that is true, I mean, think about the fact that how many of us have Instagram DM threads with friends, where all we do is just send memes or videos that make us think about them, right? I have certain friends. I send certain things to, what is that for your client?

What is the thing they need to hear? Do they need some, and all of this is all very different for different people. I probably, I’m still trying to figure out what my shareable content is, to be honest. Because I’ve gone back and forth of like, do I want to do some things that are funny and witty and coy?

Or am I more of the like, I’m sending that person the cold that they need to hear when they need to hear it, right? If you look at James Clear, literally all he posts, or all his team posts probably, is Just quote foxes, and that is it. There’s entire accounts. Morgan, Harper Nichols, another person that creates such relatable, shareable content that has nothing to do with like voice dubs on an Instagram reel.

And so there are like, this is at the end of the day and it’s so hard for me to just be like, how do you get more eyes? How do you drive, drive, drive more traffic? How do you do all these things? It’s, it’s really just knowing the people that you wanna reach. And being able to relate to them and to create only for that person.

Again, it’s going to feel like I’m a broken record because this is what everybody says. But at the end of the day, that’s the main,

Quianna: that’s the main way. Yes. And I would love to take a quick commercial break and, and I say that when I have a thought bubble and like the thought is consider who you’re relating to.

And I know there’s a lot of photographers listening. And so if you find yourself noticing for any niche or any industry, if you find yourself noticing that you’re getting a lot of peer. Engagement, right? So maybe other photographers, right? So the first thing that comes to mind is are you relating and are you creating shareable content for other photographers to do air quote, to connect with you, to laugh at something that’s part of your business, whether it’s editing, whether it’s showing up on a wedding day and having these things.

Right. And so I challenge you to. Possibly maybe pump the brakes on that type of content, unless photographers are purchasing from you if they’re right, if that peer is actually a part of your client experience and like the client journey that you’re offering with your digital products or whatever, but just make sure that you’re actually speaking to.

So, for example, and this is the first thing that comes to mind as you know, as we have our wedding photography background, are you speaking to other photographers or are you Speaking through the POV or the point of view through a bridesmaid or a bride or groom or right? Like what type of content is that generating?

So I had to have a little commercial break to just kind of like crack into that conversation where yes, we’re creating shareable content, but are you sharing that content intentionally for your peers and your friends and your other industry peers or your clients? So I just wanted to like. Commercial break over.

Rachael: Yeah. And that’s the hardest thing. Like when your ideal client is not you as a person, it’s so hard to get out of your head and into theirs and to create for them. But if you can do that, you will go so far.

Quianna: Oh my gosh. I love this so much. So now that we are. Rocking and rolling. Okay. We have a system. We have a good foundation for our photos.

We are showing up online. We are tapping into the shareable content that we’re creating for our clients. I would love Rachel, if you could please share some CTAs and what the heck does CTA even mean and why are they very important for our marketing outreach?

Rachael: Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, CTA means call to action.

Every marketing piece that you have out there needs to have some sort of a CTA. Now granted, that’s only the action that you want this person to take. It doesn’t always mean conversion. So a lot of the time we talk about conversion, and conversion can be anything from they converted and Put that many chat word that you had in your caption or in your reel into the, into the comments below.

And they converted basically a conversion is anytime a lead takes the action you want them to take. So if we’re going back to call to action, a call to action is just giving that person something to do because at the end it say, this is an email, right? If you just write an email and you are a business owner, people are expecting you at some point in time to sell.

Simple CTS, one thing, only give them one. Please only give them one CTA unless for some reason it’s like your home page on your website where you have very strategic places where you can give them more than one. But you don’t want to confuse people. If people are going to take an action, you want that action to be very clear.

So if this is an Instagram post and you’re wanting, your goal is to get more engagement from people, tell them how they’re going to engage. Right. Whether that’s commenting below, whether that’s sending a DM, obviously the, it’s just some of the older tactics that have been around for a while. And so some of them might not work at a CTA can also be when you put a question box in your Instagram story, but it can also be that silly little emoji button that you hit any action that you get them to take, it can be like a little action in disguise, but a lot of the time, like clarity is going to be kindness.

We’re going to want to be like witty and fun. And we’re going to want to sometimes try to sound funny with our stuff, or maybe you’re the ethereal person who likes to use very beautiful words and you’re not on the witty, coy, fun side of like marketing. It’s okay. You’re we’re very, we all, we’d all be different people and have different styles, but at the end of the day, if your call to action is confusing, they’re not going to take the action.

And so you need to, when you’re stepping up to create a piece of marketing, start with knowing what that CTA is going to be. What is the goal in mind when you’re creating that? Is it to have somebody click through, to go to a link, to go download your lead magnet? Is it to get on a waitlist for the sessions that you have coming up in six months?

Is it to go purchase the course that you just launched? Or, Is it to DM you to ask for your coffee that you just made, right? It can be something that’s relationally driven to start engagement, to start conversations, to start building that rapport in that way, or it can be conversion driven and it’s to go and to get someone’s email because you created an incredible guide for them.

Or it can be to make a sale. Most of the time, you’re not going to make sales on social media. So we got to keep those like. You might make sales on social media, but you’re probably more likely going to make your sales in your email. And so if you’re writing an email specifically leave one CTA, you can give multiple links.

But one CTA. Don’t give them a ton of different places to go if your goal is conversion.

Quianna: I’m so happy that you cleared that up because I do think CTAs sometimes get confused with conversion, right? Like get confused with, okay, so I asked you to do something. So now go purchase my 500 course, right? Or I asked you to do something and now you’re experiencing this or you’re purchasing something.

And I love the clarification on your CTAs are literally just. Like going back to your house, right? Like your brand is your home. Like just opening the door, it’s just welcoming them into your space. They can perusal, they could possibly purchase something or just build those relationships with you and, and determine if you are the answer to what they’re looking for.

And most of the time, people don’t even realize that we need them. We, like, we, so that’s where the call to actions come in, is it gets them, like, in our stratosphere, into our ecosystem, and then we can continue to serve them. And that’s when, back to the beginning of the conversation, that’s when the marketing truly kicks off, right?

I love that little full circle moment.

Rachael: Yeah. And if, if I’m honest, sometimes my CTAs are just a test to see how people respond to me. And what they’re looking for. So I’ve been in a season in my email list where I’m like, I’m kind of trying a little bit of everything to figure out what my thing is going to be in email.

And so there’s been a couple of times where I’ve been watching, um, what we call a click through rate. And so click through rate is essentially when, like, your open rate is when somebody opens the email. The click through rate usually tells me that they opened the email, they read the email, and then they got far enough to actually click on the links that I put in the email, right?

That they’re actually an engaged reader. And so I’m like, what are the things that got them to go and click through? Did they click through on my skincare line that I linked in my like favorite things section? Or did they click on the lead magnet that I created for them that was this very specific thing?

And so it’s interesting paying attention to CTAs only to see what makes people engage. Because whatever makes them engage and talk back to you or do the action that you wanted them to do, do more of that. It’s just telling you what to do more of. And if you’re stuck on like, what do I even do with my CTAs?

I would encourage you to go find and follow people that you really like what they create, like what content they create and start making note of what their CTAs are. So there are a lot of brands out there that we look up to that are serving a similar clientele to who we serve, or they’re serving the people that you would like to serve, and they’re already really great marketers.

So go and become a student of their stuff. Don’t copy them. Because people will be able to tell if you’re copying, but I think it’s awesome. Cleo and see like an artist that talks about like copy, like copy and duplicate your heroes because where you fall short is where you find yourself because we can never fully duplicate.

And so you’ll find your thing by copying those people and then figuring out how you do it differently.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. Add your little, add your little magic touch to that. I love that. And you know what’s crazy, too? I love that you said that, but like, I know this sounds so silly, but even driving down the highway, there’s CTAs, right?

It’s, oh, turn around, or, oh, McDonald’s is two exits up the road. Like, we, we feel like sometimes these, these letters, these words, CTA, SEO, like all these words, and like acronyms can be a little Just overwhelming and not too sure, but we’ve been exposed to this our entire life. So, so the fact that you are suggesting that we go start researching and checking out these, these creators, these brands and these businesses, even the TV commercials have CTAs, right?

I mean, this is just insane to. Just kind of like shift our mindset to be more aware of it, right? So we’re not telling you to like, don’t have to go through your entire marketing plan today and just, you know, turn it upside down and start fresh. We don’t need to go crazy and burn everything down, but just be mindful of what we’re being exposed to and how we can apply it to our own industry.

I love that so much.

Rachael: Oh, because majority of the time, like, It’s what they say in therapy and it applies everywhere. Like awareness is half the battle. If you’re not aware that something exists or like even of how you as a human being and a consumer respond to something that is going to make it much harder when you’re in the shoes of the person that’s having to create the thing.

And so just start like a good marketer is also just curious. They’re empathetic and they’re curious. And so just start getting curious about the way that you respond to different CTAs. What are the things that actually get you to pop down into the comment box and fill it out? What are the things that actually make you like essentially propose in an Instagram story, when you fill out a question box, you actually DM the person.

Like, what does that look like for you as a human being? Because getting curious about those things in the way you respond. Again, not, we’re not all that different. A lot of we’re so similar as a society, like as human beings are like, obviously we have different backgrounds, we have different things, but a lot of the time we’re more similar than we think we are.

And so getting curious about the way that you interact with the marketing and the things that are in your everyday life and what gets you to take action will give you a little bit more insight into how to, to drive that for the people that you’re wanting to work with.

Quianna: Oh my gosh, this is so helpful. I feel like you are just such a wealth of knowledge.

And I feel like this is even more of a testament to your superhero power with brand photos and the whole branding experience, Rachel, because you truly are capturing. So much like you’re thinking ahead, and I think this is so beautiful that we need to investigate photographers, right? So whether you were hiring one of us for your next branding session or you are doing your research for some local photographers Having this knowledge and having this before Beforehand, knowing that everything that we do has a purpose, right?

We are, we’re just natural marketers. We’re excited to help you excel and to be seen, be heard and get more eyeballs on you. This is just, this is so amazing. So I know you have a freebie. You have your, the brand audit, which is just so incredible. And I would love for you to kind of chat more about that.

Rachael: Yeah. So a lot of the time people are like, what do I do? I feel so lost. I feel so overwhelmed. The easiest way to figure out what your next step is to pay attention to what you did the last 10 steps. Like, you have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going. It’s like, we’re plotting our spot on the map and we’re like, Like, when you’re lost on a trail or in a park and they say, um, you are here, you can figure out the where I need to go, but I’m knowing where you’re starting.

And so, because of that, a regular practice that we need to start. Doing in our businesses is an audit and audit allows you to pull up your last, you know, six to 12 months worth of content and just do a quick skim. And, and I’ve put together a guide that, that tells you what exactly you need to pull together.

And then what questions you’re asking of that content and then what to do with the insights. You can do it in an afternoon. You can use it as an excuse to have a second coffee for the day, if you want. But knowing what things you’ve said, well. What things your people actually commented back on what things got somebody to take us like what what got them to take an action, right?

You’re not no longer stumbling around in the dark when you do an audit and you know exactly where you are. It’s like you go from a room that has barely any light at all. And you just stubbed your knee on the coffee table to then you flipped on a lamp and you can actually see. And obviously it doesn’t tell you where you need to go 10 steps ahead of you.

But it tells you what next step you should take. And that’s what I would say is like, audits are not, it’s not the sexiest content out there, right? It’s not the thing that I’m going to be like, I’m going to see transformation tomorrow, but the more that you do an audit, the more you sharpen your critical thinking and your critical eye and your eye for curation and your own content, which will just make you a better content creator and a better marketer.

Quianna: Yes. Oh my gosh. So incredible. Well, you are the light, Rachel. You are the lamp that we get to flip on and help with these audits. Oh my goodness. I love this conversation so much. So one question I love to ask every single guest, what is your key tip, Rachel? What is something that you wish you knew sooner and something you’d like to share with entrepreneurs today?

Rachael: I think the thing I wish I knew sooner is to hold things loosely. I think early on in business, I got really, really particular about what my brands looked like, about what my offers looked like, and, and following after people who had done it really, really well. And I was like, this is the only way to do it.

I’m planting my flag in the sand, and I’m only doing it that way. But then as we learn as business owners, the market evolves, and we evolve as human beings. Like you are growing as a human alongside whatever brand and business that you’re growing. Somebody said that owning a business is one of the biggest social experiments you’ll ever perform on yourself.

Quianna: Totally. And

Rachael: had I realized that it was about, obviously about growing a business and owning a business and doing things with excellence, yes. But it’s also more about the person I’m becoming as I’m doing that thing. I probably would have gotten to brand photography a lot faster. And saved myself a lot of zero dollar months, honestly.

Yeah.

Quianna: That is such incredible advice. And I literally, the thought that’s coming through is I, I’m taking that advice. I’m listening and I’m, I’m soaking this in because I am a white knuckler. I like to do things. I weigh and, you know, I like to say that, yes, I like to control things, but, you know, I’m, I’m healing that piece of my business and on my life where no, it’s okay, right?

We can, we can have these big goals and, you know, we could be in the car on our way there, but the roads are going to change, right? Like sometimes you’re flying down a highway. Sometimes you’re kind of experiencing a closed bumpy road. I find myself on those off grid roads a lot, right? Like just in real life in general.

So I love that message. Thank you for sharing that key tip. I think all of us definitely need to receive that today. So I would love to know, Rachel, how could we connect with you? How could we become your BFF?

Rachael: I would say the easiest place. Well, there are two. I would say Instagram is probably the easiest place to find me.

Um, I’m hoping that you’re linking out in the show notes because, uh, my business name is Rachel Lee, but my parents decided to give me two very difficult spellings of my name. So it’s a little bit confusing sometimes, but yeah, you can pop down to the show notes and find me on Instagram at Rachel Lee photos.

And then also I would say in this season, I’m probably giving some of the best, like look behind the scenes and content on my email list. And so you can grab the, you know, the marketing audit if you feel like you need that, or you can just pop onto the list simply through the link in my bio. And I would love to have you in there.

I think that’s the place that I kind of guarantee where I show up right now.

Quianna: Yeah. Yes. I love that. And you have so many resources. You are cooking up so many incredible opportunities to polish your brand, definitely ignite your marketing. And it’s just so nice to have you in my circle and I’m just so grateful for you.

Thank you so much for this chat today.

Rachael: Oh, I’m thankful for you. It’s been such a joy and an honor.

Quianna: Wow. I am always blown away by the guests and educators that we get to chat with, and I’m so grateful for this conversation. I’m legit taking notes over here to start implementing these strategies. Do you have any that you’re excited to get started with?

Please shoot me a DM to start chatting about ways we can help market your business. I love learning new strategies and trying new things. So slide into those teams so we can chat. Make sure to follow along with Rachel on Instagram. It’s Rachel Lee photos, but I just want to make sure you spell it correctly.

It’s R a C H a E L. And the Lee is L E I G H photos. Make sure to follow along with her on Instagram. She’s always posting really beautifully curated, fun posts that are educational and very inspiring. And don’t forget to check out the show notes for her marketing audit. You can grab that for free. Check out the link in the show notes and she even has incredible resources and guides and just really fun stuff to follow along with.

This is your sign to take your branding portfolio and to make it work for you. You are sitting on a bank of a beautiful headshots, portfolio pillars, and lifestyle photos. Use them, baby, make your investment in us, create a booming ROI for you and your business. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today and for joining this conversation.

If you have just two minutes, please share a review. Every review counts and I read every single one. And if you have the time, please screenshot it and share it online. I will happily reshare it and I would love to connect with you in case no one has told you yet today, your heart is so pure and magical.

We need more people to know about you. You can’t do God’s work and fulfill your wildest dreams with a broke bank account. Okay. Let’s link arms and crush those goals together. I am always cheering for you. Keep on dancing, baby. That’s a wrap on another episode of Kiana Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support.

You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at kianamarie. com. I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app until next time, keep on dancing.