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Why you need a Great website - Cindy Suzuki - Episode 93
181 Plays1 year ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays
Hot topic: Why you need a Great Website for ALL wedding pros
Guess what: We added DONE FOR YOU copywriting services. DO you need a website and brand refresh?
https://heckyesmedia.co/copywriting
Cindy is my team member/partner here at heck yes media. if you haven't heard, w
With my expertise coaching and with the magic of Cindy's writing, voila.
It's about time for your website to work as hard as you do.
Cindy Suzuki, founder of Copybento, helps new entrepreneurs write their own copy through the use of her “bento-box”-inspired copywriting resources. With over 7 years experience in sales and business development, a BA in English, and obsessive neurosis to break things down into easy-to-understand compartments, her guides and resources will appeal to anyone in need of copy that achieves clarity, conversion, and emotional storytelling. She proudly escaped her traditional 9-5 after feeling trapped and anxious and hopes to inspire others in a similar situation to restart, explore their untapped creativity, and build a life they’re proud of. She is a mom of three who traveled across the country to make a home in Austin. She takes 1:1 clients on a limited basis. Follow Cindy on IG @copybento for copywriting tips, freebies, and inspiration.
Connect with Cindy
https://www.instagram.com/copybento/
Connect with Carissa
https://www.instagram.com/carissawoo
Free mini masterclass - text "vendor list" to 310-582-5464
DM me the word audit to get a FREE website audit
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Transcript
Introduction and Announcements
00:00:00
Speaker
Happy Woo Wednesdays. A couple of cool things in the pipeline right now. I have a free mini masterclass. It's called Get on Your First Preferred Venue Vendor List. It's absolutely free. You can text the words vendor, space, list, L-I-S-T to the number 310-582-7.
00:00:21
Speaker
5 4 6 4.
Importance of a Great Website
00:00:23
Speaker
Or you could also DM me the word training to my DMs at Carissa Wu. We also have a free website audit. This is all going to tie into today's episode. Today I have Cindy Suzuki in the Get a Heck Yes House from Copy Mento.
00:00:38
Speaker
She's also on my Heck Yes Media team. I love this girl to the moon and back and she speaks and writes magic into the universe. Today we are talking about why you need a killer website and tips and tricks. Enjoy!
00:00:57
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:26
Speaker
time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
00:01:48
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes. It's me, Carissa Wu. I have a special guest, Cindy Suzuki. She is the founder of Copy Bento. She is a sales copywriter who packs personality into copy through storytelling. She has 10 years of experience in sales, marketing and writing.
00:02:08
Speaker
and she manages a $3 million in sales in her corporate career at San Rio. Hello, Hello Kitty and Studio Ghibli, Tokyo, OPOP and UCLA. And most importantly, she is a team member slash partner here at Heck Yes Media.
Copywriting Services for Wedding Professionals
00:02:27
Speaker
If you haven't heard, we added done for you copywriting services for your website. This is for all wedding professionals. So my expertise with the magic of Cindy's writing and voila. And it's about damn time for your website to work as hard as you do. So check out it. Heckyesmedia.co and go to copywriting. What's up, Cindy?
00:02:49
Speaker
Hi, Krista. Thanks for having me. Yay. And I told you I didn't get much sleep. So I'm a little bit out of it, but I'm here for you to wake me up right now. I think we're all still waking up. It's fine.
00:03:04
Speaker
Don't worry. So today we are talking about why all wedding photographers and wedding professionals need to have a amazing website and some tips and tricks. You just can't have Instagram. But first off, tell us about yourself, Cindy.
00:03:22
Speaker
I think you did a pretty good job kind of, you know, introducing me. But yeah, I've been writing, I've been in sales, I've been editing for my whole career. I have a degree in writing. It's just something I've been doing, you know, my whole life and storytelling as well. I love, you know, like dorky things like manga and anime. I love, you know, like your
00:03:42
Speaker
your like big little lies, those kinds of like, you know, stories and yeah I love like these like parks and rec and just kind of like you know quirky little little stories and just from different you know across different cultures. I've always been really interested in that.
00:03:58
Speaker
But yeah, so I decided to combine my expertise in like, you know, sales and marketing in my corporate career and combine that with my passion of writing. And it's a really nice kind of mix. And because I've done other things, you know, including like project management, you know, working with really big brands, like, you know, even Nike, OPI and Puma. And so I have like, like a big picture view, and I'm able to take, you know, all those big picture pieces and put them together into like a really nice, cohesive message for my clients.
00:04:26
Speaker
Oh, I love that. Tell everyone where you're from and how did it all start like just writing as a kid? Where your parents, did they encourage you or a certain teacher? Did you journal? How did it all begin?
Cindy's Writing Journey
00:04:38
Speaker
Take us back.
00:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question because, you know, my parents didn't speak a lot of English, so it's kind of crazy. They were math people, obviously, like, you know, a lot of the Asians from Asia are. So, you know, I thought I would be a math person too, but it just turns out that I loved, you know, writing, whether it was in English or Japanese. Like, anytime we had to journal at school,
00:04:57
Speaker
you know, or do like, you know, English classes or language courses, those are the things I like to do. And, you know, from a very young age, I was reading manga, the Japanese graphic novels. And that's how I really like, you know, spruced up on my Japanese. But my parents just allowed me to read anywhere. Like it wasn't rude for me to read at the dinner table. So I was reading, you know, every time I eat a meal, like I'm reading like over and over and over again. And I think just doing that for, you know, my whole life, it's just
00:05:24
Speaker
you know, it's just become a natural thing I do every day. So I don't have to find time for reading. I read when I eat to the day. And then also, you know, after doing this, you know, like copywriting for a while too, I'm writing in my head all the time, I'll be doing dishes, I'll be like, oh, I have a good idea, I need to write that down. So I'll stop what I'm doing to write it. Same in the shower, you know, all these ideas just come to you when you're kind of doing something, you know, that's like boring or just redundant. And
00:05:49
Speaker
And then so I'll have an idea and I'll want to write it. I'm writing, you know, during my kids, kids jujitsu course classes, you know, after school programs. And so I'm just kind of always, you know, thinking about writing and thinking about storytelling. And if I have like any good ideas, I'm immediately writing them down.
00:06:04
Speaker
So I recommend everybody do that. Just have a Google dog called like brainstorm. Every time you think of something, just like write it down. Who cares if you don't use it, you know, just go through like, it's kind of like an ideas vault, you know, like when you don't have a lot, there's sometimes when you're really inspired to write or have ideas and sometimes there's just like, it's, you're dead inside. You have nothing. So when you go back to that vault, you know, this brainstorming vault, you're like, oh yeah, I can write about that today. I could do this, you know? So it's a really nice, nice thing to get it out. You don't have to keep it in your head.
00:06:34
Speaker
and then a nice way to jog like your memory. But don't write when you're driving. Yeah, don't write when you're driving. Yeah, try not to do that. You know, you can do voice recording though if you want to. Tell the story of how me and you met and started our love affair.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think we met I, you know, we've crossed paths before because you we have like mutual friends, but we never like talk to each other, I think. Let's see. And I wanted to get like family photos done. And every time like I saw your pictures, they were like the most beautiful pictures. And I didn't know it was you I would just see my friends. I'm like, wow, this photo is so good. And then another, you know, like a family member would get I was like, oh my god, this photo is so good. It's like, oh, it's
00:07:18
Speaker
Carissa Wu, like I recognize this name, you know, over and over again now, it's like kind of in my network, like you infiltrate it. And then so I asked my sister-in-law for an introduction to you. And then coincidentally, I saw you at my kid's school and I was like, I think that's Carissa Wu, I'm going to go up there. And then so I just went up to you and then we just started chatting and then we found out we knew other people, you know, in common and stuff. So then you took our family photos and then you're like, oh, let's see how this copywriting thing is. And yeah, we started working together like that.
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah. How long could it have been now? Like three? Oh my God. Yeah. Three years. It went by fast. Wow. And yeah. You mentioned manga, manga about our kids. Well, mine still do go to a Japanese school. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Chinese, but my husband's Japanese. Take me back to maybe early 20s, Cindy. How did you get started with your writing career?
00:08:12
Speaker
So I went to UCI and I decided to major in English there. The reason I did that was because I did like writing, but I also wanted to take as few like math classes as possible. So I researched, I said, okay, which majors don't require me to take too many math classes? And English was the one. And so I just decided to, you know, major in English, double majored in Japanese as well. And just, you know, I wrote every single day, you know, for four years basically. And, you know, writing
Balancing Life and Writing
00:08:38
Speaker
really ridiculously long papers, some were really short.
00:08:41
Speaker
And yeah, I think that's really where I started writing a little bit more seriously. Wow. What is a typical day in your life or week look like? Because I know you're still part-time Sanrio. You're a team member for Heck Yes Media. Yeah. Yeah. Take me through. I knew you moved to Texas a couple of years ago. Yeah. I kind of like a day in the life of Cindy.
00:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's usually yes, I still work, do some work for Sanrio, I manage a lot of their digital partnerships right now. And so, yeah, that's, that's a lot of fun, because it still keeps me you know, like one foot in the corporate world, which, which, you know, it's kind of a nice, nice medium.
00:09:24
Speaker
And then, you know, I have like whatever, you know, clients I'm working on, I don't take on too many people at once just because I want to really protect my time. And so the clients I do take on, you know, they get like my full attention and I'm able to move through the projects, you know, pretty like seamlessly. And, you know, I'm working on those at night, you know, during my kids, during my kids after school activities, you know, anytime I have time, I'm working on those things. And I put a lot of like thought and effort into each one.
00:09:53
Speaker
For website and sales page copy clients, I do wireframing, like branded wireframing. So I'll use your colors that you want in the wireframe itself, and I'll do it all in Canva. So then when somebody's looking at a website, the web copy I created for them, it's not just this boring black and white Google Doc that they see. It's this really colorful, beautiful wireframe that really takes you through the web experience. And so my clients have really appreciated that.
00:10:22
Speaker
So yeah, and then also, you know, when we're working on stuff together, it's, you know, your stuff is, you know, I feel like I've gotten to know your audience like pretty well. And so we don't have to do as much research, but you know, I'm always asking questions like, you know, what did they say, you know, what are they doing? What is a photographer, you know, doing when they're not being, you know, when they're not making money, you know, I want to like, I'm trying to just get information so that I can write the best copy because
00:10:43
Speaker
You know, that's really how it is. If you don't have the research done, if you don't know who your client is, the copy is going to come out pretty generic or just kind of off, you know, it's going to miss the mark for sure. If you don't know who you're talking to or, you know, what your clients are doing on a day to day basis. So just trying to figure that out for, you know, for you and for my other clients as well. Wow. And yeah, and just a lot of other like kids. Free three kids. Yeah.
00:11:08
Speaker
Because we moved to Austin, we don't have, you know, family health like we had before. So yeah, it's just a full plate here. Wow. Yeah, I mean, just shout out to your assistant-in-law Lisa from Ollette Studio, but she introduced us, well kind of introduced us to your services of copyright and you wrote my
00:11:29
Speaker
website copy first. And I was in tears when I got it back because like, wow, that's me like it just, it felt so me but just like an elevated version and I was just so proud of myself. And that's what we want for our clients today.
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I kind of a lot of like, well, not a lot, but like some people have said it's like very like a therapeutic process because they could just dump themselves on somebody. And then that other person, which is me, has to figure everything out and spit out this, you know, almost like perfect version of who you are and like what you've accomplished and your unique story. And so, yeah, people do get goosebumps and it's nice to be able to do that, you know, for people. And yeah, only work with, you know, really great people that are passionate about what they do. So.
00:12:14
Speaker
I love that amazing. Okay, let's get to our hot topic, which is why you need an amazing website. We're talking to wedding photographers and wedding professionals and all creatives and not just an Instagram.
Establishing Credibility with a Website
00:12:30
Speaker
So take it away, Cindy.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think Instagram is great, especially for creatives, like photographers and wedding professionals. You guys have the best content. You're so lucky. Your content is so beautiful. I always tell you, you have beautiful flowers, you have the gown, you have the guys actually looking really nice and sharp too. And there's just so much beauty there in the venue, the people that are working. It's just you at your best. And so it's just nice that you have so much content.
00:12:59
Speaker
And so that's definitely gonna be the thing that, you know, attracts people into like your orbit. And so, you know, once people see you on Instagram, a lot of times they're kind of already sold, but they just want to do like a final check, like, oh, you know, is this person like a real person? Or are they just, you know, stealing other people's photos and posting it as their own? And so a website will really help you establish like your authenticity and your credibility. And so I don't think like a wedding professional's website needs to be like super complicated or anything, but it just needs to show that you're legit.
00:13:29
Speaker
and that you're honest, and that you're able to tell your story a little bit longer than, you know, just like 100 words on Instagram, you know, 100 words or less on Instagram. So you get to, so your prospect is to see your pictures on Instagram, they go to your website, they're like, okay, this person is legit, they have the website, they're not some, you know, weirdo in the basement.
00:13:48
Speaker
And so they see that they see your story like you know why did you become a wedding photographer or professional, and then each of them usually has their own, you know, cute little story of why they chose that route because you know that's a pretty unique profession to join you know and it's just, it's like, it's a pretty tough one to because like you're on your feet all day you know.
00:14:07
Speaker
It's a really high stakes position, I think, because it's such an expensive day. And so it takes a certain type of personality to be able to give every client the VIP treatment. And so when you have to do that, you want to be able to really clearly articulate how you're different. Some of your clients do that well after you're coaching them.
00:14:28
Speaker
um you know some like uh your client danielle like she's like a creepy photographer you know she's so colorful and she's so different and you know you're really able to show that on your website and why you're like that and talk about yourself and i don't know she just doesn't in such a you know in a nice beautiful way and you've taught her how to you know incorporate her values and things like that in a way that you know makes sense to people and that you know makes people care about those values not just like oh yeah i'm an honest photographer i'm a nice photographer i'm very friendly you know it's just like that's not enough these days like
00:14:58
Speaker
And yeah, and why it matters to me. And so I think that's what a website allows you to do in this like really structured container versus Instagram where you're just, you know, I'd be scrolling and you scroll out and you're like, Oh shoot, I forgot to save them. I don't know who they are, you know, but you could go on your, if you have a website, you have like the history there, you know, you can
00:15:16
Speaker
you kind of remember it a little bit more because of the story, because of the way the website might have been structured. So that's why I think, you know, if anything to establish authenticity, because people are, you know, a lot of scammers out there on social media too, and a lot of like fake people doing awful things. So
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'm thinking of like online dating, like Tinder versus maybe match.com and maybe Tinder is like a little brief and you're just there for a hookup. Maybe like match.com or Coffee Meets Bagel
The Power of Niching Down
00:15:45
Speaker
or one of the ones I'm not keen on them anymore.
00:15:49
Speaker
kind of like want to take a deep dive and like, who am I going to best time if I'm going to take a whole two hours for lunch? Or if you're a guy and you pay for it, like, you kind of want to do a little bit of research before you reach out. And yeah, shot real weddings on their own. Apple galleries on their website and what they're all about before you reach out. So I think
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head, like websites are very important. Do you have any tips or tricks on what to put on your website or the front page?
00:16:23
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And it's actually, I think it's not that complicated to figure out what to put on. I think it's like kind of the overall structure and the storytelling, which gets to be a little bit more complicated, you know, but as long as you have like your header that says, you know, what you do, who you do it for, and what makes you a little bit more unique than others, you know, what are those things, you know, you have that in your header,
00:16:47
Speaker
And then, you know, you're pretty much going into, you know, your about me section and what services you offer and potential like a portfolio or gallery. And I would highly recommend also having a sign up for your email list because, Carissa, you've taught me that brides and couples are often looking, you know, years before they decide to get married, like who am I going to hire as a photographer?
00:17:07
Speaker
And I want to get to know them, and I want to see what freebies they might have, what tips they might have for shooting pictures. And so you want to capture their information. It's kind of a lost, like a missed opportunity if you don't have that. And whether or not they read your emails or they forget about you, it doesn't really matter. Just capture it. And who knows, maybe they will open it up. Maybe they won't. But if you don't have it, they're definitely not going to open any emails from you. So just make sure to capture that.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah, okay, let's go back into the header your I would call it what Nathan Holritz always teaches from the Boca podcast is your value.
00:17:42
Speaker
position. Yeah. Yeah. What is a value position? Like who you serve? Why is it so important to speak to this one person? And I would be talking to maybe wedding professionals that think they just want to shoot any wedding or do anything because they think it's more money. Why do you think it's so important to kind of niche down?
00:18:04
Speaker
Okay, so I have like a two part answer to that. So I think at the beginning, it's really hard to like niche down because you don't, you haven't shot anything, you haven't done enough work. And so I think if you get too hung up on that, when you're just starting out, you may never get the ball rolling. So I like your approach, Carissa, your first year, you kind of shot like 80 weddings, which is crazy. Yeah.
00:18:28
Speaker
And so I think that's great though. You didn't get too hung up on the details. You focus on taking action, which is so much more important than any website. So I want to preface it with that. So once you've done the legwork of shooting different kinds of weddings, maybe you did garden weddings and hotel like ballroom weddings and some Chinese weddings or whatever you can find, just take action because then you'll start to understand who you want to work with. Do you want to work these,
00:18:58
Speaker
like 15 hour weddings, you know, maybe maybe not, you know, so I'll do like a shorter one that just does like ceremonies and stuff like that. I think just getting to know yourself in this, you know, career that you've chosen is really important, because that's how you're going to be able to niche down. So once you do the work, then go ahead and niche down, you don't have to niche down right away. And I think that pressure to niche down causes like, confusion and fear, and then you don't take action, then nothing happens. And then you're like, and then you just get into this
00:19:26
Speaker
cycle where you're doing nothing and just posting, but nothing is really happening. So take whatever job you can. If you can afford to do so, just take the jobs and then things will become more clear to you.
00:19:39
Speaker
Yeah, and so once things are more clear to you, then you can start thinking, okay, I don't want to do these really, really long ones out in the hot sun. I actually do like the ballroom ones because it's very shaded inside and there's AC and it's just so much more comfortable. And I like to walk on carpets, so I don't want to be out there on the hard asphalt somewhere.
00:20:02
Speaker
And so, you know, you just find different things. So then like, okay, what's comfortable to me? What made me the most money? What types of couples did I resonate with the most? And I think that's really how you figure out how to niche down. You're not gonna be able to do it from day one. You can, but I don't know if that's the best use of your time. Yeah, you need experience. You don't know. I was just thinking,
00:20:24
Speaker
What if someone's website was like the ballroom carpeted wedding party with only white girls? Yeah maybe don't say that but just you know you're an expert in shooting right like you would say like in um
00:20:39
Speaker
not natural light you know in light from the ballroom and you know not everyone can do that because a lot of people I think you told me that a lot of people can shoot really well in natural light but once the sun goes down you know and it's like artificial lighting you know it doesn't look as good and you know so you can you know position yourself as the one who's able to shoot like expertly in a ballroom setting you get these really cool angles and you know just just see that then it serves you as well as the person who wants the ballroom
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, like our girl Michelle, we cleaned her as like a flash photographer that shoots bold imagery. And the daredevil photographer that gets in the trees can really sense a photographer doing all the river party photography. Super niche like I'm the Los Angeles pops of color wedding photographer that loves food trucks and I'm a foodie and so so are my clients. So
00:21:35
Speaker
It's okay to get super, super niche and super fun and you're going to attract. And also you could attract other people too and they could be awesome as well. Yeah. As long as you're just saying, yeah, really clear on, you know, who you serve and then, then people know what they're getting. Even if they don't want this, you know, ballroom setting, they still like your photos. They still like your personality. They're like, okay, I want this person. Even though, you know, she may not be an expert in outside ballrooms.
00:22:01
Speaker
And also, like, you know, you can always change your niche, right? You just need, you know, you don't have to, like, be married to it forever, like, if it doesn't work for you. You know, we are allowed to evolve as, you know, you know, brands. And so if it doesn't work for you, it's like, OK, I know some copywriters that change their niche, like, you know, five, six times before they found something. And so I think just don't get too stuck on, you know, figuring that out and just go ahead and like shoot those weddings and, you know, go all out and enjoy yourself.
00:22:31
Speaker
Yeah, interesting question, but you worked at Sanrio for a long time, but have they ever rebranded or changed their niche or changed their audience around forever?
Adapting to Market Changes: Sanrio's Strategy
00:22:45
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but me and the Get A Heck As team have some exciting news. If you haven't heard, I have a free mini masterclass how to get on your first preferred venue vendor list, the Holy Grail of Bliss. Hot leads and these couples don't really care about price. It's 20 minutes and packed with goodness. The link is in the show notes.
00:23:07
Speaker
Also, we are offering website copy writing for all wedding professionals. With my digging and coaching skills and my team member Cindy with 15 years of copywriting experience, we will create your perfect website copy.
00:23:21
Speaker
We want you to cry of happiness when you get it back and say, wow, I'm so proud of myself as a business owner. Get a free audit of your current site. Go from meh to heck yes. Just DM me your website and I will send you a loom audit back. My Instagram is at Carissa Woo. Back to the conversation.
00:23:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. For sure. It's always been, you know, Holokiri has always been like this super iconic, you know, character from Japan. But, you know, like when you and I were growing up, it was just all about like the in-store experience. And, you know, having the stuff that came from Japan is like, oh, it's authentic. This is made in Japan. These erasers smell so good. The gum is so delicious, you know, and
00:24:04
Speaker
It was all about that in-store experience with which left this huge like impression upon these young girls that which made them love it as adults, too And so, you know because you know, Hello Kitty's been around and like the marketplace changed, right? You know, there's very few, you know store experiences now It's all about, you know being online and it's just like where are the customers at, you know? So that's where you want to be for a brand like Sanrio so then now you know Sanrio is on you know, it's they have like a YouTube channel like has an Instagram account and I
00:24:33
Speaker
um you know going into like gaming and things like that wherever like the young kids are um young kids and you know people like me are hanging out and so for people like me you know we did a lot of the collaborations because that's what you know we want we want a little bit more quality we want something cool but we still want that cute little thing you know so I worked on like the Levi's collaboration and then it was just the classic Levi's oversized jacket with you know Hello Kitty you know patches on the back
00:24:57
Speaker
a Hello Kitty was like lasered into the shorts and like it was like a Hello Kitty hat but everything is made by Levi's so you know you're gonna get the Levi's quality same with Puma you know we put like um like the Hello Kitty bow you know like emblazoned across the side but it's a Puma shoe so you know you're gonna get that and you know same with Nike too they wanted to design it they just wanted our characters and you know they took one of their classic shoes and they're like okay this is what we want to do with it this is what we envision our audience will like and so then it you know takes care of like
00:25:27
Speaker
the Puma and Nike Levi's audience but also you know our audience is just like oh yeah yes I want that and they're willing to pay a lot of money for it. So yeah they've you know instead of like I don't know if they've like changed their niche because it's still you know we want to appeal to like young girls and also like grow you know grow with them too and so we have to make sure that they're appealing to
00:25:49
Speaker
You know, young girls as well as, you know, older women and just, you know, everybody in between. But, you know, that's a that's a big, big, like, global brand like Sam. So, you know, for like a service provider, you don't have to, you don't need to appeal to that many people, you know, you just need to find, you know, your core audience and like who you love working with and who, you know, who is happy working with you too.
00:26:11
Speaker
Oh, that's so interesting. That's so cool. With these big brands and our chorus is all about collaboration, like collabing with planners. So that's interesting that you said that because it goes, what you said, where are the clients at? You know, you gotta find them through other audiences and that's all about collabing. Let's talk more about the website. Give a little tip and trick on how to make your bio stand out.
00:26:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good one. So you have your bio in different sections of your website, right? You obviously have a very short one on your homepage and you just want to talk about how you can help your audience, you know, how you're a little bit different and who you love to work with. And if they, you know, they'll see like a really small bit of your personality in there and then you give them, you know, obviously give them a call to action on, you know, learn more about me. They click on that. Then you could give them like the full like enchilada on, you know,
00:27:05
Speaker
like your bio if you wanted to. But this is a cliche copywriting advice, but making sure what you're saying about yourself, how does that matter to your core audience? How does being a photographer that hangs in the trees, how does that help your audience?
00:27:23
Speaker
Yeah, because like I'll hang in the trees so I could get these crazy shots that nobody will ever be able to get of you because no one is willing to, you know, climb a tree or climb a wall to get these incredible shots. And so just always like tying back your expertise to how it benefits the client. So just making sure to do that.
00:27:42
Speaker
Not a story of, you know, some random story in high school or like when you're right. Right, right. Yeah. And not every single thing needs to do that. But just if it doesn't, you're leaving it up to your audience to decipher what you've meant. And so if you want to do that, fine, you know, but not everybody is going to take the time to do that. They're going to be like, OK, so you hang in trees, you know, and they're like, OK, so what?
00:28:07
Speaker
So yeah, and like also like your cotton candy, uh, skies photographer, you know, is just like, well, I'm going to be, you know, having like
Engaging Website Photography
00:28:15
Speaker
a daytime wedding. You know, how does that matter to me? You know, like, is there going to be a sunset, you know, like, and then, um, I actually don't know the answers to those questions, you know, so I would like her to tell me, you know, how, why does that matter? You know, to the person, if we're ha if we're not having, um, that type of wedding, can the, can the sky still look cotton candy at, you know, at noon? Yeah.
00:28:36
Speaker
I love that. I was just going to say, let's talk about how many photos to put on your front page of your website and how to choose them. I mean, it should be an easy job for a photographer, but do you have any tips and tricks? And I guess I could chime in too. Yeah. I think I would defer to your expertise in that because it could, it feels like it could be anywhere, but yeah, you let me know. Yeah. I mean, for me, like I'm the pops of color photographer in LA, so I'm going to put,
00:29:03
Speaker
you know colorful walls my front cover is at the fig house and it's like a blue wall with the veil flying and i just added some more you'll be proud of me photos from my book and they're all pops of color all crazy vibrance um
00:29:21
Speaker
personalities, cracking up, really authentic emotion, and just statement pieces that people are going to look at it for one second and just be like, Ooh, and ah, and wow, and let me check out more her bio. Let me look at the blog. And, you know, they always say you want your website to be sticky, which means you stay on it long, you know, at least for five minutes or longer. And then if they see more and more and more, they're more inclined to reach out to you.
00:29:51
Speaker
Yes, yeah, yeah, I love that. Like the photos on your website, you know, do majority of the heavy lifting for sure. And I think that would be for any good photographer. So yeah, like the statement pieces for sure, you know, different, like right now it seems like it's good to have different, different like nationalities, you know, very like representative of different like groups, which I see on your site, which is awesome.
00:30:17
Speaker
And I see like stuff on yours, you know, not just about the couple, but like the table settings too. That's really nice to have because of course people care about that. They're going to spend a ton of money on that. You want to make sure you capture it well. But yeah, that's great advice. Do you think they should put on the front page the process or do you think they should leave that for maybe later when they talk to you?
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think you could do both. The homepage is really about snippets of different pieces of your entire website. So you can have your header, you could have your services, and you could have a quick process. One, two, three. Very short and straight to the point. And then if they want to learn more, they could click the button. So I think it's just always leading your visitor. Where do you want them to go next after they see this piece of information? And so giving them too much information on the homepage, you don't need to do that. It's just very top line.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah, what do you see on websites now today that you think people are missing the mark? And like, what are the yeah, well, the biggest mistakes out there right now.
00:31:23
Speaker
I don't know if there are mistakes, but when I do look at some of the websites, I see some of them trying to get really clever, and then I get confused at what they're saying and what their business is about. So this is not limited photography or anything like that, because that's pretty obvious about what you do. But yeah, some of them are trying to just get really clever.
00:31:45
Speaker
And so they try to spell things differently, which can be kind of confusing too. So I think most copywriters would agree that unless you're this huge, huge brand, like a Nike or something like a global brand, just be clear on what you do. You could add personality to something that's boring. You can do that, but just get the main message really clear first and then spruce it up.
00:32:11
Speaker
Because I think if you try to be clever first, and then you're just like, okay, wait, what am I trying to say here? Like, you'll confuse yourself. So just, yeah, be clear on exactly what you do. Otherwise, in high school, I used to call myself like Wu-Tang, like W-O-O-Tang. So it would be like the
00:32:31
Speaker
like the gangster photographer like wearing like Adderall jackets in the 90s. It's actually pretty funny. I think back then, you know, I think, you know, websites weren't as sophisticated as they are now. So it was more about like your blog, which you smartly, you know, put a lot of your attention towards, you know, right now it's, you know, more about the full
00:32:56
Speaker
website experience so people, you know, there are like certain expectations. So if they're not clear, you know, they, but if you have good photos, you know, I'm not sure, it's just,
00:33:06
Speaker
If you have great photos, that makes up for a lot. That makes up for a lot for bad coffee, even. Yeah. So I wouldn't get too hung up on the coffee. Just be clear, you know, be sincere. It's, you know, you don't know. That's a good one.
Copy Bento: Crafting Client Stories
00:33:21
Speaker
How did you get the name Copy Bento and kind of tell us a little bit about Copy Bento?
00:33:28
Speaker
Yeah. So it's my little coffee shop and, um, I'm Japanese, you know, I've worked with all these like Japanese brands. So that's part of my identity, obviously. And, you know, a bento box is really about taking all these like, you know, little bits of pieces, some vegetables, some protein, some carbs, and, you know, making it into this like a beautiful, um, you know, like meal that's like on the go, that's really beautiful. That's healthy. Um, that's like really straight to the point. And so I try to do that for my clients too, right? Like, you know, take their different stories and different information.
00:33:58
Speaker
you know about like you know like you Chris I like your own story but like your client's stories and you know like your your whole history and what you're doing now and other stuff like you know weave it into the research about like what you're doing now in the industry and how you're shaking it up and all of that different information that's like kind of like all over the place and like making it into this cohesive like you know in a container where it's very clear and easy to understand and it's easy to enjoy so that's kind of the goal behind
00:34:26
Speaker
Yeah, and also, you know, people are so like layered, you know, you're not just a photographer, you're so much more than that. You know, you care about like Los Angeles, you have a family, you have a certain way of taking photography, your clients are a certain way too. So you're so like multifaceted, and you're not just, you know, a person behind the camera, like a director, you're a coach, you're like, you're like a BFF at the
00:34:51
Speaker
at the on the wedding day you know when people don't when other vendors don't step up they know that you will and so we just want to make all those like great things about you really stand out without being like wait what does she do what it like oh you know you don't want to confuse people and information overload them so just taking those pieces and putting it together in a nice like you know beautiful like bento
00:35:11
Speaker
Oh, I love that. It's to always say like the Nakayoshi teachers, the preschool teachers probably think we're like the beats because our bento boxes are like so lame. They're like, I don't know, you have to write. Yeah, you know, in that space, my bento boxes are really lame too. You know, I only could do this with words. Don't feel too bad. Oh my god. Okay, so one more question before the rapid fire questions, but
00:35:35
Speaker
I guess this is not copywriting specific, but FA wedding photographer or professional is struggling right now just to kind of get the ground running. What is like one tip you have for them to get them unstuck that they could do today?
00:35:51
Speaker
Um, that is a great question. Okay. Well, first I would, my one tip is to actually listen to your podcast because I think I think that's, you know, it gets a lot of ideas going. It's really motivational. And when you're stuck, you just kind of need someone to like.
00:36:09
Speaker
you know bring you out of that funk if you can't do it on your own it's really hard to do on your own so when you listen to somebody that you know is you know has done what you've done has stories of their own just like you and i have struggled in similar ways i think that's very you know it makes you feel like you're not alone and that you're not alone in your struggle and so you kind of need that mental boost
00:36:27
Speaker
So from there, just get your Google Doc, your brainstorming doc and document and just jot down ideas and actually execute on them. Take the tips that you hear in Carissa's podcast, write the top tip down or one tip down and just do it. And do it every day. And eventually you're going to get momentum.
00:36:47
Speaker
And like all the things that you teach in your coaching program, I think you'll learn like people will learn a lot just by reading what's on your program, you know, like just by reading the sales page, they'll learn a lot too. And so I think they'll learn so much.
00:37:02
Speaker
But I think it's, you know, when people are in a funk, it's like lack of action, you know, and so just like taking those tiny steps, like not trying to make these big, you know, don't try to get your ten thousand dollar client, you know, work on the little stuff and, you know, you'll build that momentum. And, you know, just if you love it, you know, keep going, like don't give up, show up consistently. It's such cliche advice. I know it is, but it's cliche because it's true. You know, you just need you need some motivation from the outside, you know, that that triggers something like deep within you and then take that action and then you'll you know, you'll see something.
00:37:32
Speaker
you know, just like sitting, you know, inside, you know, not doing anything, you know, feeling sorry for yourself. Yeah. Do that for like a day and then, you know, then listen to Chris's podcast, get some ideas and take some action. I paid you to say this, but I didn't.
00:37:50
Speaker
Your podcast is free. So there's not much benefit and you know, like, you know, like selling it too much. But I mean, it's it's a great podcast and it works for not just like photographers, but you know, in any industry, it's a lot of classic business, you know, good advice that, you know, that works. So thank you. You're going to be ninety third episode. So it's oh my goodness. Two hundred, which you were saying they want. That's incredible. Crazy. OK, mom, my questions. What's your best mom?
00:38:20
Speaker
hack mom boss hack mom boss hack uh yeah work while they're doing their after school activities like think about it jot stuff down in your brainstorming document and then you won't forget it and then you know if like yeah pay attention to half of it and then you know like jot ideas down that is a good hack that i have that's helped a lot oh nice what is one thing you do with your husband to connect
00:38:44
Speaker
We do jiu-jitsu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu together. We go to class together every week, you know, and then we roll, you know, we fight on the mat and then, yeah, good exercise. And we also do, it's not just with him, but we have a family meeting every Sunday and then the kids get to pick like, you know, their favorite, you know, like breakfast foods and then we eat and then we just, you know, talk about what we're grateful for. It's so cheesy, but it works. It's really good for us.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah, I talk about what we're grateful for and like what problems have we been having, you know, so like Nolan is like, yeah, Eden is so annoying. I hate it when he does this. And then we'll talk about that, you know, and like, it helps like during the week, like if they have a problem, like, hey, we're going to put it on the agenda for the family meeting. And we're going to talk about it. So at least it has a place to go. And then they know we're addressing it. We're not just like blowing it off or ignoring it. We have a place to, you know, talk about it. Oh, I'm going to steal that for me. Yeah, yeah.
00:39:40
Speaker
And why did you move to Texas and what has been your, I don't know, kind of like your experience in a nutshell? Yeah, well, we moved just because LA just started becoming really overwhelming and we wanted a new adventure and something different for our kids than what we had.
Life in Austin
00:39:56
Speaker
Like Garrett and I, we both had a great life and everything, but I think we just wanted, you know, to see what else is out there and we could always move back. And so we're thinking, let's try this new adventure. So we've obviously, not obviously, but we've never been to Texas before or Austin.
00:40:09
Speaker
so we just sold our house and you know did that you know uh trekked it over here and um what i've noticed about people in austin is that everyone's just really like friendly and nice and you know texas has like kind of bad pr about a lot of things going on you know but yeah there's issues but like the people here are like truly like so nice and so great and so supportive and it's just like we don't have you know any like family here but it just like we've
00:40:35
Speaker
we've built our own little communities here. And it's because people are so nice and open and it's been a really kind of like life-changing experience to do this. Wow, yeah, that's your great goal. So everyone, me and Cindy are doing a free website audit for your existing website. So you could go to my Instagram, Perissa Woo, W-O-O, and DM me the words,
00:41:01
Speaker
free space audit. And we will go through your website, you can put the website and we will send you a video loom back and just audit your website with some suggestions all for free. And tell everyone where to find you, Cindy, and I guess just last mic drop advice for life in general. You are like your words are so eloquent.
00:41:32
Speaker
Well, thank you. Well, you could find me at poppybento.com. That's just copy, C-O-P-Y and bento, B-E-N-T-O.com. You can sign up for my emails. That would be great. But just like advice, I follow this weird guy on Instagram. And he was just talking about how people who succeed are really good at the middle. And what he meant was,
00:41:58
Speaker
that, you know, like when you're running a marathon, you know, in the beginning, like I've never ran a marathon, but, you know, people that do, you know, in the beginning, you know, people are really cheering you on and like, they're like, go, go, go. And then when you cross the finish line, there's all these people like clapping for you, you know, being really encouraging. So the beginning and kind of, you know, that time when you succeed, like a lot of people are there for you and they're really excited. You said, you know, miles, like, you know, three through, you know, 25, those are the hard ones where there's no one around and it's grueling and you're
00:42:28
Speaker
Yeah, you feel like you're so exhausted and you're like, just trying to make it to the finish line. So he said, you know, people who are successful, you know, set like little goals, you know, in, you know, within the whole marathon to like, Oh, I'm just gonna, you know, run this much more. And then, you know, they get a they're gonna whatever get like some a drink or something. And then they
00:42:46
Speaker
set these small little milestones that help them along the way. Because if you're just looking at that one goal way far away in the future, you're going to get tired. And so just like kind of rewarding yourself, you know, throughout your, throughout your journey. He said that's kind of how, you know, a lot of people will succeed or drop off. And so just like, you know, being, you know, own the middle, you know, make it through the middle. And then he says, you know, you're gonna, you're gonna be better, better off than so many.
00:43:14
Speaker
Wow. I thought that was really great advice. That's good for me. I really needed to hear that. Thank you so much. Thank you for being the guest. Absolutely. This was fun. Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros.