Jennifer DiDio didn’t go to school to become a photographer. Instead, photography found her. Her friends and family complimented her pictures and encouraged her to go into photography as a business… so, she did.
Jennifer admits that she was naive about the business of photography, photography marketing and pricing when she started out. She imagined that she’d easily be able to work around the schedules of her young boys and that charging $550 for a CD would replace the income she’d had as a teacher. What she discovered instead was that she’d traded a 40 – 50 hour per week job for a 24/7 job. And, to her dismay, $550 wasn’t nearly enough to keep her photography business afloat.
“I learned photography on my own because I love that, but I had to discipline myself to begin to train as a business.”
Jennifer raised her prices and continued to focus on providing her clients with a one-of-a-kind experience and the most beautiful professional images that they had ever seen of themselves and their family.
“If 95% or even 99% of people say you’re too expensive it’s ok. That 1 – 5% can float your business.”
Unexpectedly, Jennifer discovered that by raising her prices she not only make more money but also the sales process became easier and even more joyful.
“The ideal client is the person who has a high value for custom portraiture.”
Unveil Your Cinderella
Jennifer’s new brand, Unveil Your Cinderella, evolved out of her regular portrait work. Women regularly told her that they had never seen such beautiful portraits of themselves and would then hire her for a boudoir session. Boudoir session images aren’t very sharable though, so she started having women come in a beautiful dress so they would also have images to share with all of their friends. She added hair and makeup to the experience too, so that women wouldn’t have to run around the morning of the session. In a sense, the whole day could just be about being pampered and feeling beautiful.
“It’s the one day that you’re at the top of the “To Do” list.”
As the idea of Unveil Your Cinderella developed, Jennifer knew that her new business needed it’s own custom website and brand and that it needed to be “stupid easy” for people to understand what it was and how it worked. The best way to do that was with a video.
When Jennifer shared the promotional video she created on her Facebook page it got about 1,000 views in 48 hours and several inquiries. She was happy with that, but her media consultant suggested to improve her photography marketing she go one step further and pay to promote it. Within a few days, the promotional video had been viewed over 75,000 times and her inbox and phone blew up with inquiries and bookings.
To hear more of Jennifer’s story, tips for launching a new photography brand, working with a videographer and getting the most bang for your buck on Facebook watch or listen to the interview.
