Today we’re excited to talk to Katelyn James about the “KJ Experience.” In this interview Katelyn shares how she structures her wedding collection, the importance of online marketing and how why having a mobile friendly website is critical.
When Katelyn started her photography business eight years ago, she was barely twenty years old. She hit the ground running and did a lot of blogging and social media marketing. Her goal was to make 24k a year and she was able to do that – by photographing twenty weddings at $1600 per wedding. The business grew quickly but Katelyn knew that if her business was to have long term success, $1600 weddings wouldn’t be a high enough price point.
“I needed to raise my prices and I needed to increase what I was offering in value. I needed to make people realize that you’re not just getting Katelyn James’ images, you’re getting the Katelyn James experience.”
Within two years, she had doubled what she charged for wedding photography.
The KJ Experience
Today Katelyn photographs 25-30 weddings a year. She focuses on personal marketing and creating community with her past, current and future brides.
“The experience is only worth a certain amount without
Katelyn and Michael…Katelyn and Michael
is where the value is.”
Katelyn has improved her photography marketing by establishing value in being what’s known as a “KJ Bride”. Her brides get a highly sought after, exclusive experience that she limits to only 25-30 girls per year. Among other things, Katelyn hosts private events, including a group spa day, has a private Facebook page group for her brides and encourages her brides to use the hashtag #KJBride for all of their wedding related posts to social media. Her goal is to connect with her brides on a personal level so that they know that Katelyn and Michael care about them as people and that it’s about more than just their pictures.
Going Mobile
For several years, Katelyn knew that she wanted and needed a more user friendly and cohesive photography website. She finally took the plunge and hired Jen Olmstead of Tonic Sites to make a custom mobile friendly website. Katelyn admits that the process was more expensive than she thought it would be. Was it worth it?
“I would have paid double. Now that I see what it’s bringing me, I would pay double and I would have done it a year sooner.”
Katelyn’s new web site and blog are also mobile friendly. For years, Katelyn admits that she didn’t pay much attention to where her website traffic was coming from. However, when she started using Google Analytics she was astounded by how much of her traffic was mobile and by how short those visits were.
Her new site is designed so that visitors see the important information clearly and so that they can easily find content in the site without ever being confused. People are spending three times as much time on her site as they used to and 70% of her inquiries come from mobile devices.
“Mobile is where it’s at. If you’re not mobile, you have no idea what you could be missing.”