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Episode 011: Terri Baskin - Finding Your Niche in a Saturated Market
152 Plays7 years ago
Terri Baskin is a Virginia-based international wedding photographer whose style is authentic, romantic and fun. Terri genuinely approaches each client relationship seeking to understand their uniqueness and their love story. Terri connects with couples who value their authenticity yet trusts her creative process. Like many photographers, Terri started her photography business she was working full time. Terri has maintained a full-time job while effectively growing her business primarily though referrals.Terri has been fortunate enough to share experiences at the WeSpeak Conference, Black Bride Bridal Brunch, The Bridal Space Podcasts and Showit United 2017.
For the show notes, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-terri-baskin-episode-11/
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Transcript
Understanding Your Client and Evolving as a Photographer
00:00:07
Speaker
Being able to say no to the wrong client lets me available for the right client. And so that's probably been the biggest, if I had to offer like a piece of advice to anybody, know your client, know who's not your client and be okay saying no.
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands That Book Show, where we help creative businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Stevie Jones, and today we're chatting with Terri Baskin of Terri Baskin Photography. Terri is an international wedding photographer out of Virginia, and today she's chatting about how to find your niche within a saturated market.
Journey into Wedding Photography
00:00:47
Speaker
All right, Terry, I think we met for the first time at Show United this past year. I had the pleasure of hearing you give a five minute fuel. And, you know, it was one of those where I mean, it's only it's only five minutes long. But a lot of people were talking about it afterwards. And a lot of people mentioned how good of a job you did.
00:01:06
Speaker
And so as I was brainstorming for the podcast, you know, you came to mind immediately, Krista actually was the one that you need to ask Terry. You know, she did such a great job at Show United, and you have such a cool story.
00:01:22
Speaker
And since then, we've had the pleasure of working on your website, which I'm excited to talk about a little bit today as well. So can you just give us some background on how you get started? You're a photographer, you're based in Fredericksburg. So you mostly work in Virginia, Maryland, DC. I do. Can you give us some background on how you got started?
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah. So I am a, uh, I consider myself like a DMV or DC, Maryland, Virginia, wedding photographer. I live in Fredericksburg, but it's so funny because I rarely shoot weddings in Fredericksburg. I'm more in the Northern Virginia DC market. Um, but yeah, so I've been, I'm going into my, uh, six year of shooting weddings. Congratulations. Yeah. So.
00:02:10
Speaker
But the way that I actually fell into weddings was on accident. So I finished grad school at VCU, Virginia Commonwealth University, and I bought a camera as my graduation gift. And so I grew up, my dad was a photographer when I grew up, like old school, film days, he had his dark room, but the funny thing is, film is back. Yeah, we should get a little bit of film ourselves.
00:02:34
Speaker
And so basically when I bought my camera, graduated in December, went home for the holidays, he took me out and we just basically learned composition, different rules of photography, how to anticipate moments, those things, but just with general everyday life. And so there comes a time when I get back to Virginia where I'm like, okay, now I wanna try this for myself. And so I ask a friend,
00:03:03
Speaker
if I could take some maternity pictures for her. The pictures are horrible when I look back at them, but I thought they weren't so bad. And so she posted the pictures on Facebook. And so of course somebody asked her who took her photos because of course I wasn't looking for like photography credit or anything like that. And so a girlfriend of hers asked, you know, who took her photos and asked for my information.
00:03:31
Speaker
And so that turned into, um, one maternity session turned into another maternity session. I was like, okay, I think I like this.
Authentic Moments and Influences
00:03:39
Speaker
Um, still trying to learn, you know, the basics lighting and composition and all of that stuff posing. Um, and then she posted the photos on Facebook. And so from there, her friend who had just gotten engaged over the holidays, asked who took the photos and she gave her my contact information. So,
00:03:57
Speaker
her girlfriend that was engaged contacted me and Asked if I would take her engagement photos. I'm saying sure of course Get the photos again. I look back at those and I'm You know, but I think everybody does that you know And I think that that's the value to just getting started and putting yourself out there, you know How bad they were until I started looking back, but it's okay because they gave me a chance, right? They believe in me. They liked it well enough. They liked their photos
00:04:27
Speaker
And after I did her engagement photo, she basically asked me if I would shoot her wedding. Had not shot a wedding yet, but I had planned on second shooting and assisting later that year. But her wedding happened to me before I had an opportunity to assist her second shoot. So what I did was I accepted it. And then my dad actually had him come as my second shooter.
00:04:53
Speaker
So I was like, OK, my dad knows how weddings work, even though he shot weddings a long time ago. So he knew, you know, kind of like the important things, the important parts of wedding. And so he came along with me. And of course, weddings have changed a lot more now since the time he did, you know, he wasn't into like the prep, the full on like reception, dancing and all of that.
00:05:15
Speaker
So that was a long day for him. But it was probably pretty special for him to be able to come out and assist with you. So he brags now about just watching my photography career, like the journey. So that's a proud moment for him. But yeah, so my first three weddings, I actually booked three weddings that first year, he was my second shooter. And so that's cool for me and it's really cool for him.
00:05:41
Speaker
Oh, yeah, for sure. And so what what kind of photography was he doing primarily? You said he did some weddings. He was Yeah, he was a wedding photographer in North Carolina. And then he also did some portraits. So he had an in home studio. So I would meet, you know, people that would come to our house to have their photos taken. So it was cool. And then he I would hang out with him and his dog, he had a dark room in the house. And so I would watch him as he developed the film. So it was really cool.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's amazing. So were you getting into it as you were growing up, or was it something that was always kind of a side interest or hobby, or was it really not until college where you were interested in this? It's so funny because growing up, it almost sounds cliche, but I was always that friend that had the camera. So because my dad was a photographer all my life,
00:06:32
Speaker
he always gave me like little cameras, like the little 110 millimeter film cameras, or I was always that friend that had the camera. Then I would get my photos developed and show them to my friends. So yeah, it was never really, it was always like a sod hobby, but never really something that I was actively pursuing. The funny thing is before I moved to Virginia, I lived in Los Angeles and I tried acting.
00:06:59
Speaker
So I tried doing all of the in front of the camera stuff. So I did like a couple of like short films and projects and extra work on a few of the TV shows.
00:07:08
Speaker
And then it was later, I was like, you know, I really want to be behind the camera and not really in front of it. So yeah, so that's pretty much how that's incredible. Didn't know that about you. Yeah, that is. That's awesome. So eventually you got back to Virginia and you got you got into photography. So, you know, how did your you know, how does your your dad and you know, this concept of legacy play into, you know, your wife or photography and you know what you're doing now?
00:07:37
Speaker
So I think for me, it was important to one, remember why I became a photographer. And it's basically when I would look back at old photo albums, once I started shooting weddings, I was home for a visit and I went back and looked at some of his older photo albums, old photo albums where you slide the photos into, you know, the sleeve, the plastic sleeve. And so from there, I was really looking at what he captured and it was more
00:08:06
Speaker
moments, the special moments, the emotion, what made you feel connected to the photos. And I realized that for me, those photos spoke the most to me. I love the pretty. I love the prettiest every wedding, but the photos that really speak to me are the ones that have like the moments and the emotion, like in the pure joy, whether that's laughter or tears of a wedding
Building Trust and Organic Growth
00:08:32
Speaker
day. So incorporated into my why is
00:08:36
Speaker
telling those authentic moments. I have couples from a variety of backgrounds. So that's what I love about my business is that I get to meet so many diverse couples, so many ethnicities, so many cultures. And so being able to tell their story the way that their story is versus me trying to make it my story is really what's important to me. And so that's my why, just telling authentic stories.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, and that's awesome. And that's so cool that you can go back and you look at those photos that your dad took years and years ago. Something, as Chris and I, are expecting our first kid. That's just something that's been top of mind for us recently, going back and finding old pictures of my mom and dad and our parents when they were expecting us. And those really are. I'm just so thankful that those pictures exist. Yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker
So to be able to do that for others, and I think sometimes we forget that, you know, in the daily hustle and grind of our businesses, that what we do is making a difference, you know, that we have an opportunity in even the smallest of ways or smallest of details, you know, to impact somebody else's legacy. Yeah. I mean, that's essentially the start of their legacy, right? Once they get married. Well, of course, you know, the dating, but the official start.
00:09:58
Speaker
once they get married. So for them to be able to look back and relive that moment, that's special for me. So yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. So I want to go back to those first three weddings that you shot. And was it really just a compound of, you know, like, so you started with the maternity sessions, friend posting on Facebook, other friends asking, Hey, who was your photographer? Was it the same thing with the weddings? Like you shot the first wedding, those photos went up on Facebook, and then somebody else asked?
00:10:23
Speaker
Yeah, so by that point, I had already designed a website. It was, you know, just something to put up. I think it was linked to like smug mug or something. So anyway, it was linked to an online gallery where you could see the photos, but I was really proud of my work. So I was posting the photos on Facebook and then the couples were posting them as well. And so yeah, so one just
00:10:46
Speaker
pretty much led to another. So it's kind of cool the way that it happened. It was almost like organic. I didn't really go out looking for weddings to shoot. Yeah, they just kind of came my way. It's kind of cool.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, but at the same time, you did put yourself out there. I put myself out there, though I did. Yeah, I did. And I think there's value in that. Especially, I think some people get nervous because they're like, oh, I could do better than this. Knowing they can take better pictures and this and that, so they decide not to. But when you don't put yourself out there, right, then... No one knows that you're even out there, that you exist. And I think I realized I knew I wanted to get better.
00:11:28
Speaker
with it once I realized, okay, I really like doing this and I wanted to get better. I just didn't realize how far I had to go. Like I put those pictures up because I was proud of them. Now I look back and I'm like, yeah, okay. I see all the eras.
00:11:42
Speaker
all the mistakes, but they like the photos. So that worked out. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I think we're always in that state, right? I mean, I know even Krista was saying the other day, just even in design and talking about different improvements she's made over the course of the last year. And I think that she says that every year, and we say that every so often about our work. So it's just something that
00:12:07
Speaker
you know, like we're always working through. But I think realizing that and still putting yourself out there is key, you know, just getting out there and doing it. But when did you start booking weddings consistently? So pretty much the following year. So what I did was so I did the three weddings with my dad. And then I also started second shooting.
00:12:34
Speaker
And I was able to second shoot for a photographer that allowed me to also share the work of his clients on my website. So I was able to use those photos as well to basically build up my portfolio. So I'm very grateful that he even gave me that opportunity. And so from there, just still putting myself out there and still posting work allowed other people to find me.
Client Management and Niche Focus
00:12:59
Speaker
So yeah, it was basically through my website and at the time through Facebook.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's relatively rare to have a primary photographer let the second share their work. But the same thing happened for Krista when she was getting started in photography. The people that she's second for, they allowed her to share the work that she shot on her website. And that led to, and I think any second opportunity, anytime you can assist somebody is a good learning opportunity.
00:13:30
Speaker
You learn so much but that's huge for you know your portfolio and being able to show that you're out there and busy and And shooting your own work. So really it was after that that you started getting inquiries consistently. Yes After that, they yeah started getting them pretty consistently So at what point though, did you did you did you feel like okay, I you know, I've hit a rhythm This is the kind of client that I like working with How did you sort all of that out?
00:14:00
Speaker
I was just trying to do anything to please the client to make them happy, give them whatever they wanted. If that meant working really long days on a wedding, working over the amount of time, that was when I was.
00:14:10
Speaker
Like, oh yeah, I'll stay there the entire day, all day wedding photography. That came back to bite me. I think everybody goes through that phase where they have like an all day package where they just say, yeah, you know, for this amount of money. And there's really no amount of money that's going to, that's, you know, makes me want to be there literally all day. All day long. I literally learned that the hard way. All day coverage anymore. But yeah, so I think, yeah, the first probably two and a half years,
00:14:38
Speaker
I was really just trying to, one, still build my portfolio, still build it into weddings that I felt fit what brand I wanted to achieve. And so at that point, it was more of the, I wasn't high end, I was trying to be more of like middle, like middle high or middle to high end clients. And so I was still trying to make sure I got everything I needed plus giving them what they wanted.
00:15:07
Speaker
And so from there, I was able to, one, just learn from my mistakes, what to do, what not to do. And then still after every wedding, I think I learned a little something and was able to tweak my business.
00:15:17
Speaker
I meant to tweak my offerings based on what I learned. So how did you communicate that kind of stuff to clients? You know, because that can be difficult. Like client sends you a photo on Pinterest and it's super like, you're like, no, I can't get myself to take that picture of you. You know, this is not the picture that you're going to treasure 20 years from now. So how did you even go about like communicating to clients, you know, to make those changes in your business?
00:15:43
Speaker
I finally started. So of course, I think everybody's probably seen like the dreaded photo of you like no photo in particular, but a photo you're like, Yeah, I don't really want to do that. So I finally have gotten to the point where I told my clients like, just trust me. And one of the ways that I've really built trust with my clients, which I think probably many photographers do now is they offer in the engagement session.
00:16:09
Speaker
as a part of the wedding package. Well, I started offering the engagement session and from there I was able to build trust with the client because they were able to see, they were, one, we were able to get to know each other better and they were able to see my style and then see my ideas as well and I think that helped. So that way when it came to the wedding day, if they, like say if the bridal party were throwing out ideas or family members
00:16:37
Speaker
My clients would say, don't worry. You know, Terry has it. She has good. She's good. She's fine. So just building trust with the bride in the groom help the other family members and bride a party. Trust me, because the clients basically spoke up on my behalf. So I didn't find myself and I don't find myself actually anymore in those type of situations where I get
00:16:59
Speaker
tons of pictures or anything like that. So no. Yeah. Yeah. I think if you can find a way to show your clients, you know, even before the big event, if you can offer value early on, they're going to question you less. And the great thing about something like engagement photography is because we do something similar where we include the engagement session into pretty much any wedding collection.
00:17:19
Speaker
is that we found that family and bridal party, since they've probably seen the engagement photos beforehand, we have much less in the way of a mother or the bride coming up and saying, hey, make sure you get the, or hey, could you do this photo for us? Because they've seen the pictures, they like the pictures, and so they just trust that we'll do a good job with the wedding. And that really did, it makes a huge difference.
00:17:49
Speaker
And I think anytime you're repeatedly saying to yourself, oh, man, I wish this was different. You know, I wish the client would behave this way. There's probably a change like you made that, you know, that could educate the clients. I think early on.
00:18:05
Speaker
educating the client simply that just yeah yeah and i think early on it's uh it's it's difficult um you know to to or especially because it's our job you know like we do weddings dozens of times a year you know we've been to we've been to hundreds of weddings now so um it's easy for us to forget that oh this is the client's most likely their first time getting married you know they don't know you know they've they maybe been to other weddings they maybe have a couple friends who've gotten married
00:18:32
Speaker
but they just don't know. So taking opportunities to educate them along the way goes a long way. Yeah, absolutely. That's what I found as well.
00:18:40
Speaker
So what would you consider your niche? One thing that we hear from photographers, and I think this is true of most industries where people are getting into it and they just feel like it's super saturated and they're like, oh, there's so many photographers in my market. And I think that that's probably true of any market. It's certainly true of the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia area. So what would you consider your niche?
Leveraging Referrals and Online Presence
00:19:05
Speaker
How did you get there? And how do you stand out in a market like that?
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, so niche I guess in terms of within weddings is I have very, like I mentioned earlier, diverse clients. And so I tend to shoot a lot of multi-ethnic weddings, multicultural weddings, and then just regular weddings as well. But I think my niche is I tend to attract the, excuse me, the couple that
00:19:40
Speaker
Um, once, um, they have the pretty details, they want a pretty wedding, but then they also want all the fun moments kept of that wedding. So their wedding isn't so scripted to where I can't get fun moments and have fun with them. So I like to have fun with my couples. I like, excuse me, I like to joke around with their family. Um, and so that's one of the ways I just
00:20:04
Speaker
pour my personality into the day. I love joking with like relatives, especially during family formals, just to kind of lighten the mood. Sometimes at that point, people are ready to eat or they're, you know, you know, want to speed everything along. And so I just really like to have fun with them. But in terms of my niche, I think it's just couples that really have diverse backgrounds. They they just see themselves in my work.
00:20:33
Speaker
and couples that really want to feel like if someone missed their wedding, that they could look at the photos and feel like they were there. And how would you say that? What's the primary way that you get inquiries and bookings from other couples who are like that? It's so funny. My primary way used to be Google. I used to blog way more consistently than I do now. And so a lot of my SEO,
00:21:04
Speaker
Images will pop up through Google searches and they still do so some couples find me that way but my primary referral source now is Previous clients so previous clients find me from their friends that got married. I have a lot of clients I think this year most of my clients were referrals Either they were at the attended weddings that I shot or their friends referred them to me and then the secondary or the second
00:21:34
Speaker
way that people find me is Instagram.
00:21:36
Speaker
Okay. Wow. So Instagram is, you know, I've always, um, I've always tend to be like, I always, I feel like I have a love hate relationship with Instagram, you know? And so at one point I'm going to have to do a whole episode, uh, where somebody defends Instagram, you know, to me, but, uh, but that's awesome. So Instagram is one of your, your main referral, uh, yeah, areas of traffic. And, um, and when you say referrals, are you, do you think, uh, it's mostly from, you know, planners or from other vendors or from, um,
00:22:06
Speaker
Past clients or people who attended the wedding. It's actually all of the above Yeah, most of the most of my referrals come from previous clients Like their friends or family members that are getting married or people that attended a wedding where I was you know shooting And then I do get a lot of referrals from planners. So working with their clients as well previous planners that I've worked with you know, they have their sort of like their favorites or their their you know vendors that they refer often and so
00:22:36
Speaker
working, great working relationships with them has allowed me to get referrals from them as well.
00:22:44
Speaker
Imagine that so for I mean first of all showing up showing up high in Google is important Having it is or you know a presence on social media is important as well All of those are great sources of traffic word of mouth though I think is one of the highest converting sources of traffic because we we trust other people especially those people that were that were close with and so I imagine that standing out in a competitive market really helps to have a
00:23:10
Speaker
not only past clients in your praises, but planners as well. How did you go about developing that relationship with planners? Did you do anything to improve that relationship just so that planners were referring you or other vendors in general? Yeah. The funny thing is with the relationships I developed with planners, it was important for me to one, communicate with them early on in the process for the clients that we were sharing.
00:23:39
Speaker
and to let them know how much time I needed for photography and then showing up on the wedding day and just going above and beyond. So I try and show up to every wedding at least 30 minutes early just to kind of get in my groove and to get warmed up and then just making sure I am getting everything that the couple wants in terms of photography and then still also getting shots that
00:24:04
Speaker
the planners, the florist, the dress designer that other people can use as well. And I think the easiest way to build that relationship is send them images after the wedding, because now they have something that they can use to market their businesses as well. And then of course they know, okay, if I refer my next client to Terry, I know I'll get images from that wedding that I can continue to use to grow my business. So yeah, that's
00:24:28
Speaker
It's easy, but I didn't realize how often it does not happen. No, yeah, and that's the crazy part is it does seem like it's something that would be kind of obvious, right? But so many people don't do that. And so many people rely on the photographer for marketing collateral for their businesses.
00:24:45
Speaker
So I think photographers especially, it's maybe a little bit easier for them than some other vendors to build those relationships because it's just if you serve them well, if you take pictures of the things that they're providing for the wedding and send them those images, that kind of stuff really does go a long way. It does. And it's actually a win-win because if they know they're getting professional images from me, I don't have to worry about them trying to take their own photos and being in the way. So it's a win-win.
00:25:13
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So that, I mean, I think that's great advice. So how did you, you know, going back to your niche and shooting like, you know, different multinational, different ethnicities, this kind of bride and groom that really value good photography, but at the same time aren't super stiff or scripted, want to enjoy the day with their friends and family.
00:25:37
Speaker
How long did it take you to figure out, okay, this is my niche. This is really the kind of client that I want to work with and I want to go after. What did that process look like? So for me, before I book any client, I need to meet with them, whether it's in person or via Skype or telephone. And so what I do is I use my contact form on my website as
00:26:02
Speaker
pretty much my first filter. And some of the things I want to know about them are how they met or what their love story is. I also want to know if they're working with a planner because planners tend to help my day go a little bit easier, a lot easier, take that back. And then also just hearing how they met. So if they're willing to share with me the details of their love story, it helps me get to know them a little bit better. But if someone were to fill out my website and just leave that part blank,
00:26:33
Speaker
I want to know, okay, obviously they may be looking at multiple photographers, which is fine if they're doing their research. Um, but I really want to know if we connect on the phone or, you know, prior to meeting in person for an engagement session or prior to them booking me. I want to know if we connect. And so, um, early in my business, I was so afraid of saying no to the wrong client. Um, I've booked clients before I've booked clients before, um, that,
00:27:03
Speaker
were not a good fit. And I knew they were not a good fit before the wedding day. I went ahead and booked them anyway because I was afraid of saying no. I wanted the booking so badly that I took clients that were not right for me. And by not right for me, I just simply mean one, they were either very demanding or they didn't trust me as the photographer or they gave me that long list of every photo to take.
00:27:31
Speaker
Now, meeting with them, seeing how they tell their story, talking on the phone or a Skype meeting, it really gives me a chance to know, do I feel like they will trust me on their wedding day? And if not, I have gotten way more comfortable telling people I, unfortunately, I'm not available for your date. I have told clients before that I didn't think we were a good fit and I would send them referrals. That rarely goes over well.
00:28:01
Speaker
So I had to be okay with that. But at the end of the day, it actually being able to say no to the wrong client left me available for the right client. And so that's probably been the biggest, if I had to offer like a piece of advice to anybody, know your client, know who's not your client and be okay with saying no if they're not your client.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah and it probably takes, it does I think for anybody take a little while maybe it takes that two years for you kind of to sort that out. But you know I would agree and I think like when it doesn't go over well like if you are upfront with a client and you're like hey I don't think this is a good fit and they do not act appropriately. It's just confirmation that they weren't probably the right fit you know.
00:28:46
Speaker
Yeah, you know, and it's just and that's okay, you know, and so I think what we're when we get scared to give up a client, what we're doing is just delaying this, what's going to you know, so it's going to be uncomfortable for, you know, maybe maybe a couple minutes to tell somebody, hey, this isn't a good fit. But it's gonna be uncomfortable for eight plus hours and all the before and after.
00:29:11
Speaker
If you don't, you know, if you just delay, you know, if you just go through with it and especially for you and talking, you know, as we talked about staying out in a competitive or saturated market, you get so many referrals from past clients that you don't want referrals from, you know, clients that aren't a good fit. And you don't want, you know, to run the risk of, you know, that client realizing, okay, yeah, actually she wasn't a good fit and not giving you that referral. You know, so.
00:29:40
Speaker
There's definitely value in doing exactly what you do, which is just kind of sucking it up and telling people, hey, there's a better fit out there for you. It's a hard conversation, and I've gotten better with it. But yeah, in the beginning, it was very hard. And so now, anytime I cannot take a client, whether they're not a good fit or whether or not I'm booked,
00:30:04
Speaker
I referred them with someone I think will be a good fit for them. So that way I don't leave them hanging. They have someone else they can research and decide if they want to work with them. Yeah, for sure. And you're still serving them well by doing that. You know, you're connecting with something, even if they don't know it, you know, you're connecting it with somebody who they're going to probably connect with a little bit more, which is totally okay.
Website Redesign and Storytelling
00:30:23
Speaker
So anything else in terms of, you know, finding your niche and standing out in a competitive market that you want to share?
00:30:32
Speaker
Yeah. So I, so as you mentioned, I've been working with Krista on my website revamp. I really think the, my website has been, um, I've seen, I've seen conversations where, um, people are asking our website still necessary and gosh, heck yeah. I think so. We would agree. Um, but you're relying solely on social media. What happens if that goes down?
00:31:00
Speaker
Or if someone finds me on social media, I want that to be their first introduction to me and my work. But then I want them to be able to go to my website and learn more about me. So Christa has been helping me or has helped me with my revamped website. And more of the story that I'm telling on my website now is about the legacy. I'm including more about my dad and how he influenced
00:31:28
Speaker
my photography and now I'm trying to just tell more of me. So that way when a client is looking through my website and they're looking through my images, if they can't see themselves in my images, then hopefully they won't contact me. If they feel like they're going to have to change my style of photography to fit their needs, then hopefully they'll see through the website that I'm launching that it's
00:31:56
Speaker
not a good fit for them and then they'll see if they can find something somewhere else. So I feel like being more transparent about me, my background, what I love about photography and then my philosophy on shooting weddings will help really
00:32:12
Speaker
not have, where I don't have to have that conversation saying we're not a good fit. Sure. Sure. Yeah. You're, you're kind of, you're a qualifying people even before they contact you. And I think what you said, you know, I see that conversation occasionally too about websites. And I think what you said is so true. Like what happens if a social channel goes down, you know, I see.
00:32:29
Speaker
Yeah, or the algorithms, right? Things change all the time. And I think that your website is kind of like your home. It's an asset that, for the most part, you own. Kind of like an email list. I talk about email lists a lot as well because it's an asset that you own.
00:32:46
Speaker
And the different channels like social media and even search engines, things like that, they're different roads to your house. The more you have, the better, so it's good to show up in those places. I'm not talking about focusing on your website at the expense of social media.
00:33:01
Speaker
But at the end of the day, if Facebook, and I know it's kind of, I don't know what will eventually unseat Facebook, it's hard to even fathom that. But let's say it goes down and that's where you focus the entirety of your efforts. Now you're left with really nothing because you don't own that asset. So they can change the algorithms, they can change what your business page looks like without you ever agreeing to it. So I would totally agree with that.
00:33:28
Speaker
So, going back to your website, how did you know that you were ready for a new website? I think, oh gosh, I don't know. I feel like as my brand has evolved, I wanted more, I feel like more of my ideal client would be attracted to the new website. And that's simply some of the styling.
00:33:54
Speaker
I get really stylish couples who really want clean images and they dress up for their engagement photos. They have really nice wedding details, really pretty weddings. So I really just wanted the brand to evolve from what I had before was pretty. It was pretty, but what I wanted more of was pretty, but stylish, but also more of me and more emotion.
00:34:24
Speaker
So that way they're connecting on my website on a couple of different ways. They see the style. And so that came with changing some of the fonts. They see the emotion. I really look for the images that really pulled at my emotion. So hopefully that's what attracts them. And then they can see more of me. So they can feel like they get to know me. I never want to show up on a wedding day and feel like I'm just there to take the photos. I want to have a relationship with my clients. And then again, that helps with trust.
00:34:53
Speaker
And so I feel like the more that I can pour of me into my website and the more that I can show my uniqueness, which I feel like helps set me apart, the more that they feel like they know me and that we're friends is really what allows them to talk about me to their friends. So yeah, so I just think it was just an evolution of
00:35:12
Speaker
where I wanted to go with my work and how I saw more and more of my clients, although different, still similar, like in style, still similar in what they wanted from their photos. So yeah. And did you have a custom design before this one?
00:35:27
Speaker
I had a template before this one that I just changed to fit me. It looked good. I think as far as templates go, you did a good job with that for sure. One thing that I want to point out too is I think sometimes we talk to people who are just getting started in business. They're in that first two-year hustle that you were talking about earlier.
00:35:53
Speaker
and they want to invest in something that's more custom. We always tell them, not that we don't want to work with people, of course we want to work with people. We always tell them, hey listen, you might be better served by just going with a template and making that your own. Because there is a process, I think, to figuring out what your brand looks like. Going through your work, as you mentioned, and certainly was true of us, is going to evolve. You might be thinking you're shooting your best stuff now, but in four years, it's going to be better.
00:36:22
Speaker
And that's OK, you know, but you don't want to. I think there's a lot of changes in those first couple of years of business. So doing what you did. I think there's a ton of value. You sorted all of that out. You've designed your own website before. So I think you bring more value to the custom design process.
00:36:40
Speaker
in working with Krista because you can communicate, hey, very clearly, this is my couple. This is who I want to work with. This is my brand. And being able to articulate that, I think, goes a long way in the custom design process. So it's okay to have a template, especially to get started. And the funny thing is, so when I first started with Show It,
00:37:04
Speaker
Um, I did a full custom website with them and my website now looks nothing like that custom design. It's changed so much since then. And I'm looking like, okay, if I had to do that all over again, I would totally, I wouldn't go the custom route to start. I would start with a nice template and then figure out how my work evolves. So yeah, so it's definitely, I've
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, that would be my advice. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's just one of those things that we don't think a lot is going to change, you know, but it really does. And so we always encourage people in their first couple years of business. Hey, see what you can do with the template. And if you need a designer come alongside you and clean some things up totally, totally okay. But don't go spend, you know, eight $10,000 on a custom design in your first two years of business and that's going to eventually change.
00:37:53
Speaker
So, again, back to your website, what are your favorite parts? As this launches, and I think this episode will be launching right around the time that your website goes live, so people who are learning about you for the first time and going over to your website to check you out, what's your favorite part of the new website? What are you most excited about?
00:38:13
Speaker
You know, it's so funny. I tried to get everything out of my head and give it to Krista and she was able to put some design elements on the website that I was like, I would have never thought of that. So it's really cool. But I think the favorite part is putting more of the my legacy part into the website. So I found an old newspaper clipping of my father holding his camera in front of
00:38:40
Speaker
a backdrop of his work or in front of a display of his work. So I'm incorporating that photo into the part of my why of the website. So that's meaningful. So as soon as I show it to him, well, I can't wait to show it to him so he can see it and read about that part because he knows what influence he's had on on my work. But then to see him incorporated more into the site, I think is going to be very special for him and it's very special for me. So that's probably
00:39:10
Speaker
right now my most favorite part, that's in my why section on my about me page. And then, gosh, the other part is probably my galleries. The way that we've laid out my photo galleries is still very clean, but someone can really look at, I did the tiled galleries for a lot of my galleries, so someone can look at a wedding
00:39:35
Speaker
And really good to get a feel for what they're getting.
Future Plans and Gratitude
00:39:38
Speaker
Instead of just seeing. Yes, it's like you can get a snapshot of a wedding day with me and what that looks like.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Cool. Well, I'm excited to see it finally launched and we'll include a link to your new website in the show notes so that anybody listening or watching can make sure that they can go in and find that. So as we wrap up here, is there, you know, if people want to learn more about you, where should they go? Definitely terrybaskin.com.
00:40:12
Speaker
website. I'm on Instagram at Terry Baskin and on Facebook at Terry Baskin Photography. A couple of the other things, I will be speaking at some conferences this year, so I'm excited about that. I'm talking more about frosting, helping people decide what their frosting is and making them stand out. So I'll be at Creative at Heart in November. It's exciting.
00:40:39
Speaker
And I've done a couple of online speaking engagements as well that you can find through the website, through my website as well. So yeah, I'm excited. I'm back at a place where I want to put myself out there a little bit more. So I was so naive in the very beginning. Then I had this phase where I was like, hold on, slow down. Now I'm like, okay, you know what? Just go for it. Yeah. Yeah. And I bet that, I bet that feels good.
00:41:04
Speaker
Yeah, it does. So that's awesome. We'll also be at Creative at Heart. We're excited to see you there and connect again and again. For those of you listening, Terri's going to be talking about finding your frosting. So she's going to be going even into further depth about finding your niche, figuring out what that is, being able to find clients that you can really serve well that you also really enjoy working with.
00:41:30
Speaker
So, take a look at that, and if you're going to Korea with a heart, we can't wait to see you there. So, Terri, thank you so much for taking the time this morning and sharing a little bit about your wisdom and your journey in photography for the last six years. Yeah, thank you so much. Awesome.
00:41:49
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the Brands That Book Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to the podcast on iTunes and leaving a review so that others are more likely to find it. For show notes and other resources, visit DavianChrista.com.