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Empowered Coaching Sessions with Guest Tristan Tracy
0 Playsin 31 minutes
Episode Summary:
Success in photography doesn't always have to come from the Instagram algorithm. In today’s Empowered coaching session, Elena Blair sits down with Santa Barbara-based photographer Tristin Tracy to discuss her rapid rise as the go-to expert for family, couples, and proposal photography. Tristin shares how she leveraged Elena's Mastermind to build a solid foundation and then supercharged her business by leaning into an "old school" but highly effective marketing strategy: local network marketing.
They dive deep into the world of proposal photography a lucrative and romantic niche that Tristin mastered through strategic partnerships with luxury boutique hotels. From walking into hotels with zero experience to becoming the #1 ranked proposal photographer in Santa Barbara via SEO, Tristin’s journey is a blueprint for photographers who want to stop "scrolling" and start building a real-world reputation.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The Quick Trajectory: How Tristin went from watching YouTube videos during the pandemic to a thriving six-figure business in record time.
- Proposal Photography 101: The logistics of capturing a secret proposal, from hiding your camera in a beach basket to recording the audio of the "Yes".
- Networking with Hotels: How to approach local businesses and concierges to become their preferred referral partner.
- The Power of Authority: Why blogging isn't a "diary"—it's a tool to build trust and educate your clients before they even book you.
- Diversifying Revenue: How Tristin transitioned into education by teaching other photographers how to master the art of the "pitch".
Links & Resources:
- Tristin Tracy Photography: tristintracyphotography.com
- Follow Tristin on Instagram: @tristintracy_photography
- Tristin’s Course on Local Networking: Get 50% OFF using the code PODCASTSPECIAL!
- Elena Blair’s Mastermind: Apply here to fast-track your own growth.+1
Connect With Me:
- Follow me on Instagram
- Join my Facebook Community
- Visit my Website for More!
Subscribe & Review:
If you loved this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review! We just celebrated 20,000 downloads, and your support helps the podcast reach more photographers like you. 💛
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Transcript
Introduction to Empowered Coaching
00:00:01
Elena Blair
Hello, Empowered listeners, and welcome back to one of our Empowered coaching sessions, or really I might just call these Empowered conversations, and where I talk to community members and hopefully just give you a little inspiration.
00:00:17
Elena Blair
i am so glad you're here. i just found out that Empowered had over 20,000 downloads in the last year, which is so exciting. So if you're listening, don't forget to download, leave us a review, and let us know why you love it so that more people can benefit from
Meet Tristan Tracy
00:00:34
Elena Blair
Empowered. I am so excited today to have Tristan Tracy on. um Tristan was a member of my mastermind. She did it two times. i Gosh, how long ago was that? That was probably three years ago.
00:00:46
Tristin Tracy
thousand and twenty two
00:00:48
Elena Blair
ah gosh. Yes. Four years ago. Four years ago. kem I don't like me to do math. And um Tristan, it it she is one of those people. um i I was so honored to work with with her because I'm honored to work with anybody, but I love when somebody is motivated and when somebody has the fire under them to really implement, because we can all learn until we're blue in the face, but if you don't actually take the actual the action and implement what you learn, you won't have as much success success. And she did. And she had a very fast trajectory to growth. And um I trust her so much now, even as an educator, that she has spoke at my retreats before. She has spoke to my mastermind community. So that's something that you'll probably have noticed in these conversations. I love for my students to become experts. Like I love when we become peers. I mean, we're always peers. But for us, for for them to see them rise as experts is just like so rewarding.
Tristan's Photography Journey
00:01:46
Elena Blair
Tristan is a Santa Barbara based family and engagement and proposal photographer. And that is another cool little niche that she has that I love. And her work is dreamy, really represents that Santa Barbara beach vibe. I think it's all it's just makes me want to visit every time I see it. And if you aren't following her, you're definitely going to want to after today. So I just admire you so much, Tristan. and I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today.
00:02:12
Tristin Tracy
Oh, thanks, Elena. That's really sweet of you. Quite an introduction. Thanks.
00:02:16
Elena Blair
It's fun because I feel like over the years, well, since it's been four years and I didn't really realize that, but we've really gotten to know each other and you know you've been to my in-person events, so we've really like actually hung out. And um I just love love that. You're a lovely person. But I want you to tell us, tell our listeners a little bit about this journey that you have been on because I feel like You know, if you look at your success, it happened rapidly. i think you had a pretty quick trajectory, which there's no right or wrong way to get to success.
Transition from Jewelry to Photography
00:02:44
Elena Blair
All of us are on our own journey. So tell us a little bit about the you know, your story as becoming the go to Santa Barbara family and couples and proposal photographer.
00:02:56
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. So, uh, during the pandemic, I, um, was supposed to be kind of going back to work. I had my son and took a couple of years off and I was supposed to go back to work, but the pandemic happened. So i was like, Oh, this is sort of convenient. I'll just hang out at home a little longer with my family. But, um, I realized, you know, I don't want to go back to retail. I was working fine jewelry, which is an amazing, um,
00:03:18
Tristin Tracy
career, but the the hours were not what I was looking for. I didn't want to work for someone else's business, that nine to five every you know day, no matter what. And so I thought, you know what, i I'm going to try doing my own thing. And I had taken photography all through junior high and high school. And I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get back into that. So I went on YouTube and watched all the videos, all the education I could. Most of it was about like studio photography and models. I like, that's not you know right.
00:03:46
Tristin Tracy
And I came across one of your talks. I think it was with B and H where you had this family indoors at a conference, maybe even, and know, it wasn't like the ideal setting, but.
00:03:54
Elena Blair
but No, speak I know what you're talking about. It was in in the B&H studio, which is just like, it looks like a very generic conference room. Yeah, that I know.
00:04:04
Tristin Tracy
Yeah, but the way you were the way you were talking to families, the way you were directing the kids, i was like, this is this is what I want to do.
00:04:05
Elena Blair
I know.
00:04:11
Tristin Tracy
This is how I want it to be. And so once I got your name, I just started looking everything up that I could. and And then I realized that you sell courses. And was like, okay, I grabbed the family course first thing. I like just watched it nonstop. And then I got an email from you about the the mastermind. And i was like, well, I'm just starting out. This was like not even six months in. And I was like, no, I just got the course.
00:04:35
Tristin Tracy
I can do all the steps through the course, but like, maybe I should just apply to see what happens.
Value of Community and Mentorship
00:04:41
Tristin Tracy
And I remember I interviewed with you and you're like, I think you could use the mastermind. And I was like, I don't know. It's so early on. I'm not sure.
00:04:49
Tristin Tracy
But I am just so glad I did because learning from a course is one thing, but the handholding and the, how you break it up into bite-sized pieces that I could do every week was, i so appreciated it. Um, I am very action oriented, as you mentioned.
00:05:05
Tristin Tracy
Um, but I want to take it one step at a time and do it in the right order. And that's what i really loved about your mastermind is we started at the foundation and we built it step-by-step together the right way.
00:05:16
Tristin Tracy
So I didn't have to second guess anything. I, everything was just laid out for me. Um, and like you said, I've taken it twice.
00:05:22
Elena Blair
Mm-hmm.
00:05:23
Tristin Tracy
Um, I was an alumni mentor for you. So technically even three times. And every time I do it, I feel like, of course my brand can use a refresher. Of course my website can use some updates. Like it's, it's for anybody so I yeah, thank you very much for what you do.
00:05:39
Elena Blair
You're welcome. and that That is what you just said. i always tell people when I interview them, I say, i actually do the things that we teach in the mastermind annually. You know, we do it quick quickly in my photography business because it's been 16 years and, you know, counting. But that there are people who join who are 20 years in and people who join who are six months in and everyone benefits because there these are audits, refreshes, as you said, things that need to be tended to always. And um I think that one part that you mentioned that is why it's so effective too, is it's that focus. It's like this week we are going to work on this thing where when you're first starting your business and we could all learn on our own,
00:06:23
Elena Blair
We take to YouTube just like you did. We take to Instagram. We take to the internet, to Google. And there are so much that you should be doing that a lot of times we just don't do anything or we do like the – I don't hate to say the wrong thing, but we focus our efforts on something that isn't really going to move the needle and then we're frustrated and it takes longer. And that's really what group coaching does. um i i am I always have a coach or somebody that I'm working with for – whether it be something personal or business or whatever. And it's like that person is just, if you're looking at a pyramid, they're up on that next level and they can just kind of reach down and pull you up because they've already been where you are and they're able to really fast track your growth. um
00:07:05
Elena Blair
And that's just the power of it. But I think the the most... I wish I was the best part of the mastermind, but I think the coolest thing about it, too, is the community aspect, because when you become a photographer, all of a sudden you're like working by yourself and wondering if you're doing something right or wrong or if there's another way you're
Networking Strategies for Success
00:07:22
Elena Blair
lonely. And the mastermind really provides that community aspect, which I've seen you get really close to your
00:07:27
Tristin Tracy
Oh, yeah, there are quite a few of the peers that I met through there and we chat all the time.
00:07:34
Elena Blair
Yeah, that's really transformative. Okay, well, tell us a little bit about your your business, because here's one thing that I i want to always just bring home two to anyone who's ever thought about the mastermind, or maybe you're sick of me talking about it, is that it is not meant for you to copy my business and paste it onto yours. There there are And where our businesses are as unique as our art. And everyone, yeah of course, you're going to take the foundations and I want you to make it your own. And you have done that so much. And you have even mastered another type of marketing that I do talk about in the mastermind, but not nearly as expensive as you do. that is the network marketing. and um
00:08:13
Elena Blair
And your niche has also evolved into something really unique too. So can you tell the listeners a little bit about your business? Because I think it's different than just like a typical business. lifestyle, family, business.
00:08:24
Tristin Tracy
Yeah, so ah Santa Barbara is definitely a destination. There are a lot of people coming here travelers. And what i have realized is there's a lot of people who want to document their time here. So whether they're doing their meeting for like grandma's seventy fifth birthday.
00:08:41
Tristin Tracy
and everyone's coming into town or maybe a couple's coming here to get engaged. There's a lot of people coming here to be photographed. And so I've really tried to reach out to local businesses who are also reaching this type of client, the most obvious one being hotels.
00:08:55
Tristin Tracy
So I get a lot of bookings from these hotels that I've made relationships with where they will talk to their guests. And if the guests are talking about, you know, 75th, birthday anniversary, or, you know, birthday where everyone's coming into town, they'll actually ask, well, are you interested in doing an extended family session? You know, we have a photographer that we recommend, or what's quite, what happens a lot is proposal sessions. So the hotels will help a guy usually plan this proposal and they'll tag along photography, mention me, and then I sort of take it from there.
00:09:29
Tristin Tracy
And I had never even done proposal photography before. Didn't didn't even really know. i mean, of course I knew it was a thing, but it wasn't on my radar and it's it's a big business. There's a lot of it happening here in town. And so once that started,
00:09:42
Tristin Tracy
that idea of like working with businesses, of course, you know, networking and business networking is something that we sort of all know about. But if I'm able to pinpoint just these particular businesses that I want to work with, to have them refer clients to me and strengthen this relationship, and I just love talking with local business owners, you know, whether it be birth centers, or like children's music centers, boutique hotels, it's just really fun to get to know people and connect with people. Like you mentioned, we're sitting in front of the computer all day. So it's a nice excuse to go have an actual relationship with someone and chat for a little bit.
00:10:16
Elena Blair
Yeah. Why I think it's so unique the way the or how you do it and how you've grown it is that I would say that it's a little more common for a wedding photographer to um rely on vendor referrals. Some of you who are listening are probably wedding photographers and that's pretty common. Like if you're the preferred photographer, photographer at like a certain venue that you like to photograph weddings at, that can become like your main referral source. But until you, I hadn't heard of um a photographer in the family sector or even in this this whole proposal thing. Like, I don't think I even really realized that was a ah niche um until you started talking about it, which I love that. I think it's so cool.
00:10:57
Elena Blair
I definitely see it happen and have utilized it for like newborn and maternity photography. I used to have a partnership with this yoga studio that um was prenatal and postnatal yoga and and massage.
00:11:03
Tristin Tracy
Thank you.
00:11:09
Elena Blair
And that ended up being like a huge referral source. um And I love this type of marketing because... We're in All of us are addicted to social media, even if we don't want to admit it. And we think that the best way to find clients is on social media, which spoiler alert, it is not. um But then the next place is, you know, other online ways to find clients, which I love search engine optimization. You guys will know that. But um we are, at the end of the day, local service providers. Like, unless you're a really truly like a traveling wedding photographer or whatever, like you're a local service provider. So finding ways that you can
00:11:47
Elena Blair
make connections in your local community, it works really fast. People don't want to do it though, because they're afraid, I think, of like saying they're a photographer. They're afraid of walking into that business and being rejected.
00:12:01
Tristin Tracy
Yeah.
00:12:02
Elena Blair
so there's a lot of reasons, right? It just doesn't feel as easy as the online space. When if you're listening, it's actually a quicker way to get the word out about your business, especially when you're new, because when you're brand new, you're going to have to create the content to build your search engine optimization.
00:12:19
Elena Blair
And you're going have to create the content on social media. But you taking your physical body into a local service provider that you might share clients with is like so quick.
00:12:30
Elena Blair
And it's it's really amazing.
00:12:31
Tristin Tracy
Yeah.
00:12:32
Elena Blair
So how I mean, what gave you other than like, we do talk about it very little in the mastermind. um Because it's I talk about it, but it's not something that I focus on as much as you have done it.
00:12:43
Elena Blair
How did what made you decide that this was going to be your main source of marketing in that beginning time.
00:12:49
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. So, um, I mentioned that summer that I was learning everything. It was before I had even met you. I called up my old photography teacher from high school and I was like, all right, I want to be a photographer. What do I do?
00:13:01
Tristin Tracy
And mostly he started talking about gear and I was like, okay, you know, writing it all down, what gear to get, you know, all that stuff. And then he said just pretty casually, like there's so many hotels in Santa Barbara, you should just reach out to some of the hotels and tell them your photographer and tell them that they should refer clients to you. And was like, oh, okay. Like that sounds easy. Like, and I just thought that's just what I'll do. And I think it was kind of, it was funny because it, it felt like it would be easy.
00:13:28
Tristin Tracy
And so I had that idea in my head. I just, I'm going to walk into all these hotels and it's going to be easy. And of course, walking into the hotels, you know, does take a little bit of like, don't confidence or like, you know, the first one is always kind of a flop. You know, the second time is a little better, third time is even better than that.
00:13:46
Tristin Tracy
And i visited probably 10 or 15 hotels. And then I realized, oh, they're not calling me back or, you know, they're not reaching back out to me. So I realized maybe it's not so easy, but I still had that in my head of just go out and get them.
00:13:57
Tristin Tracy
you know that's what you're gonna do and i found one and at first one and then a second one that like really started chatting with me he loved the head con cheers love photography so we just started chatting about photography and like becoming sort of friends that way rather than me trying to sell myself i was just talking to them as a person and kind of fostering a new relationship right and so It was not easy, but I think me initially thinking it was easy somehow just, you know, led me to to do it and make it happen. And then once they started referring clients to me and realize, okay, yeah, this is, this is a good path.
00:14:35
Tristin Tracy
And I think some people think that they need like, you know, 10 hotels, 15 hotels. You don't, you need maybe one, two, maybe three, but really just let's start with one hotel.
00:14:47
Tristin Tracy
But you can do it with all different types of businesses too, which I started realizing after that, like birth centers, doulas, they can all refer clients to you, children's music sessions, like the little play gyms that babies will go to.
00:15:01
Tristin Tracy
i was talking to Jamie, you know, Jamie, she used to be a dental hygienist. She was saying, oh, I should go reach out to the dental office that I used to work with and put, you know, some postcards there. It's like it start where you already have a relationship because that's going be easiest.
00:15:15
Tristin Tracy
And then the first couple of places you physically walk yourself to, it's going to feel awkward and a little weird. But I talked a lot of in my course about like how to do it, what to say, where to start. And it it just gets easier with time as anything does, really. And the more practice, the more you do it, the easier it gets.
00:15:34
Elena Blair
Yeah. And when, what, one thing that you are demonstrating or saying that you were is persistent. And I think that that is another ah another ah quality that my most successful students have is that they're not they're not expecting something to feel super easy or to happen overnight, which, by the way, i would say trace ah Tristan's success was so seemingly overnight. It was very fast, but it was also it was because of that drive and persistence and you know being
00:16:09
Elena Blair
open to hearing no, and not taking that as a personal failure or something that went wrong, just knowing, okay, well, that didn't work that way. I'm just going to go try a different one or a different way.
00:16:19
Tristin Tracy
Thank you.
00:16:19
Elena Blair
And that is really like so effective. People who are willing to just keep trying will, it will eventually start working. It will eventually start working.
00:16:32
Elena Blair
And The in-person stuff, I can't say it enough, like it's so valuable because we are local service providers and we just are so so focused on online stuff that we forget there's this whole old school way of marketing your business that really still works very, very well.
00:16:50
Tristin Tracy
Absolutely. Yeah, you can control where you go and who you meet. And I make these little postcards that I leave. So they have something physical again, to remember me by or to come back to. And yeah, if the first time it doesn't succeed, try it again.
00:17:04
Tristin Tracy
and even at one hotel, there might be a couple different concierges. So it's maybe that you just didn't talk to the right one the first time. So I am persistent.
00:17:11
Elena Blair
Yeah.
00:17:12
Tristin Tracy
And I think some of that comes back to when I worked in fine jewelry, reps would come in, jewelry reps would come in all the time. and It was always our job to kind of be the gatekeeper and to not let them talk to the owners because they would just, the owners would never be able to get away because they'd always be talking to a rep. So I kind of learned that like, there's someone there to like kind of stop you a little bit.
00:17:32
Tristin Tracy
And by being persistent and continuing to talk to concierge and getting to know different ones and asking questions, I realized, you know, you can keep at it and they will eventually refer
Specializing in Proposal Photography
00:17:44
Tristin Tracy
clients to you. You just have to build some sort of friendship. You know, the first time they're not just going to be like, Oh, great.
00:17:49
Tristin Tracy
because they've been approached by other people in the past too, you know, so yeah.
00:17:52
Elena Blair
You have to build that trust and the relationship. Yes, so true. And that's ah I love how you said that that sort of was ah almost a skill or even an idea that sort of came also from your past job.
00:18:04
Elena Blair
And that's what's, you know, when we start these businesses, we're bringing all of that experience from before that has nothing to do with photography, per se, but that you can really apply, which is cool, which is really cool.
00:18:15
Tristin Tracy
Absolutely.
00:18:16
Elena Blair
ah So tell me a little bit about this um proposal niche, because I think ah somebody who might be listening, could you know, when you're in the discovery phase and there's all kinds of things that you can do as a photographer, that one doesn't always pop up.
00:18:32
Elena Blair
ah Maybe for a wedding and ah engagement photographers, it might. But you don't really do weddings, right?
00:18:38
Tristin Tracy
I don't do weddings. I'll do small elopements, but that's, it's not my favorite. Um, at first I thought I only wanted to work with families and kids. And one of the hotels actually asked me, Oh, have you ever photographed a proposal? Could you do it? And i was like, Oh sure. I can definitely do it. I'd be happy to. And then I run home and I'm Googling how to photograph a proposal. Um, and I realized that it's, it's actually pretty easy.
00:19:01
Tristin Tracy
um you are just working with a couple. So in some ways, you know, you don't have that wild aspect of a kid. But, um, because they don't always know, or the the fiance, the girl might not know that she's coming to a photo shoot.
00:19:16
Tristin Tracy
Um, I have some tricks that I've learned, um, to help kind of put everybody at ease. And I have a whole flow that I go over with the guy ahead of time about what he can expect, you know, where I'm going to be.
00:19:27
Tristin Tracy
There are some logistics for sure about like making sure everyone's at the right place at the right time in the right area, even. But working with the hotels actually makes it easier in the beginning because there's often a setup that they have arranged.
00:19:42
Tristin Tracy
And so I'll work with the concierge to make the sure the setups, you know, facing the right direction and where I want it to be. And I'll sit on the beach, just like a beach goer with my basket. dress really low key, know, my camera's in my basket, so you can't see it.
00:19:57
Tristin Tracy
I asked for a photo of the couple ahead of time. So I know what they look like as they're walking by me. And then as soon as I see him get down on one knee, I you know pop up with my camera and I'll make like a big circle around them trying to capture it from every angle.
00:20:09
Tristin Tracy
um And then eventually she'll look at me kind of surprised. And that's when I used to stop photographing, but I realized take like ah another five or 10 photos because when they look at you and they start smiling, that's like the best photo because it's authentic smile.
00:20:25
Elena Blair
Yeah.
00:20:25
Tristin Tracy
And so I introduced myself, say, you know, I'm going to give you guys a couple minutes to like take in what just happened because I don't want photography to like take over this really special moment. So I'll step back away for a good two, five minutes and like let them have their moment together.
00:20:41
Tristin Tracy
And then the guy will kind of wave or look over at me and then I'll walk back up and I'll say, I'd love to go, you know, for a walk on the beach with you guys. If you're interested, I have some poses that I like to do. i even have some on my phone that kind of can show you like what I'm thinking. And so I have about 15 different poses that I found work really well in a flow that works really well. And so I'll show them. And I find that it really helps, you know, to know kind of what I'm thinking, where to put the hands, you know, what,
00:21:08
Tristin Tracy
what angles I'm looking to get really helps the girl who is now like worried about her makeup. Maybe she was just crying. Right. So she's like, he's all flustered.
00:21:16
Elena Blair
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:17
Tristin Tracy
And it's like, here's what I'm thinking. Somehow it just makes everybody relax. Cause they're like, okay. I can do that. You know? And then every couple makes it their own. I'll ask them to, you know, first look at the camera to get that, you know, smiling camera shot, but then look at each other, snuggle in and kiss. Like you can do all that lovey-dovey romance that,
00:21:34
Tristin Tracy
I do with families, but of course, just with the couple on. It's really fun. enjoyed it.
00:21:40
Elena Blair
That's so cool. It's like, I i bet that that when she realizes what's going on, she's like, and there's a photographer. Oh my God. But also like, what a a good job, dude, for like planning it like that.
00:21:51
Elena Blair
Like I, you know, like how, how special and romantic and and to have those photos of that moment that you sort of black out. Like when you're surprised like that, you kind of forget.
00:22:02
Elena Blair
So like, what a gift for them. That is so cool.
00:22:05
Tristin Tracy
Yeah, they really do block out. And I try to hype up the guy to him. Look, he planned this whole thing for you. Can you believe it you know, I'm trying to like make him feel really good. And actually a service that I offer is I'll tell the guy to turn on the voice recording on his phone and actually record what he says, because i mean, I hear it all the time.
00:22:23
Tristin Tracy
The girl's like, what did you say? I don't actually even remember at all talking about, you know, blacking out.
SEO and Blogging for Photographers
00:22:28
Tristin Tracy
So then I'll transcribe what he said and I'll put it like over a photo, just, you know, some, some key parts what he said is like, you know, to actually remember that moment too.
00:22:38
Elena Blair
That's so cool. What a great extra. That's what they think is. I love hearing about this because it's such a talk about a niche like. I mean, and um if you're listening, like as such a niche, she doesn't do weddings.
00:22:51
Elena Blair
Like I would say this feels like, ah okay, I'm a wedding photographer. Maybe that they're going to ask, so but but for you to be doing mostly just these proposals, it's such a cool extra thing that you can add to your offers to diversify that.
00:23:04
Elena Blair
So I love i love hearing about it.
00:23:06
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. And proposals, such they happen all year round.
00:23:07
Elena Blair
it's
00:23:10
Tristin Tracy
Um, it's, it's, it's pretty nice weather all the time here. So it's, we do have that in our favor, but there's no real like slow season for proposals.
00:23:16
Elena Blair
Yeah.
00:23:20
Tristin Tracy
Um, which is really nice.
00:23:20
Elena Blair
Yeah.
00:23:21
Tristin Tracy
And I've written quite a few blogs, you know i don't have two websites or anything. It's all integrated into one and wrote some really great blogs, helped up with my SEO and yeah, I'm number one for Santa Barbara proposal photography.
00:23:32
Tristin Tracy
So.
00:23:33
Elena Blair
Amazing. Well, let's actually talk a little bit about that since we're sort of talking about marketing and and different marketing modalities. And I actually don't even think I have a whole podcast episode about SEO. But if you take my mastermind, one of the things that we work on quite a bit is building a website that will convert because you could learn. Here's one thing I'll tell you. You can learn SEO tricks. You could hire an SEO expert. You can do SEO things. But if your website is not professional and doesn't have a clear brand, and if it doesn't have a great user experience, that traffic actually will just bounce.
00:24:13
Elena Blair
it won't convert. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I've downloaded every SEO guide and I have all this traffic and it's not converting to clients. So it's probably more of a branding and messaging and website issue.
00:24:24
Elena Blair
um So in the mastermind, we get all that clear first before, but then i love SEO because SEO is the type of thing that takes some work.
00:24:36
Elena Blair
It takes consistency. But once it starts cooking, it works forever, kind of, kind of. I mean, we don't have to hardly work on our SEO.
00:24:47
Elena Blair
We're number one for school photography. We're getting like four school inquiries a week right now.
00:24:52
Tristin Tracy
Oh yeah, now's an interesting time.
00:24:54
Elena Blair
hu
00:24:55
Tristin Tracy
Now's an interesting time.
00:24:56
Elena Blair
I just, I'm not going to talk about this on the podcast, but I ah i also just realized, um and you can maybe... yeah but ah Connect the dots if you're listening to this.
00:25:06
Elena Blair
I just realized that that was probably what was going on. We had eight inquiries last week for schools.
00:25:11
Tristin Tracy
Oh my gosh. That's crazy.
00:25:13
Elena Blair
So we're, I mean, so but we did two big schools this week. I mean, we are at, we're going to be the high, we're like thinking of hiring somebody because it's to to handle it, which happy to do it. not happy about the state of the world and why these things are happening. But um anyway, but even without that, we get very regular school inquiries, um family inquiries, newborn, whatever. And it all just is because of the work that we've done on the back end and because of blogging.
00:25:39
Elena Blair
And if you believe that blogging is like saying, Dear Diary, here's what I ate for lunch, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about using your your website as a powerful, powerful marketing tool.
00:25:53
Elena Blair
Everyone, but when they're on their phone scrolling on social media, they're in a scrolling loop. They're not actually usually really searching. And that doesn't mean people won't find you on social media.
00:26:06
Elena Blair
doesn't mean social media is not a big part or a little part of what we do. But when somebody Googles something and if you show up on the first page, so here's a really great statistic.
00:26:17
Elena Blair
Let me compare it for you. If you post something on social media, you are killing it. You are doing exactly as good as you should be if you are able to reach one to three percent of the people who follow you. Now, if you get lucky and they make you viral and you go on to people who aren't following you, great. That might give you some like cold leads. But even so, probably not going to convert to clients.
00:26:43
Elena Blair
If somebody Googles Santa Barbara wedding or a proposal photographer, family photographer, whatever, and Tristan comes up, not even number one, but on the first or second page, you can even it's even considered good to be on the second page.
00:26:56
Elena Blair
You are the person who Googled that is 69 percent likely to click on your website. That is a crazy statistic. Now, if you can get these people on your email list, 20% of the people who you send emails to open. And that's average. a lot of people have much higher averages than that if they have a warmer email
Importance of Clear Branding
00:27:15
Elena Blair
list. So anyway, those numbers are just to show you like social media is not the game.
00:27:20
Elena Blair
It's not.
00:27:20
Tristin Tracy
Yeah.
00:27:20
Elena Blair
And everyone wants to go. It's like really funny how how everyone is so focused on it. But search engine optimization means that you are creating a website that has stuff on it that people actually are searching for.
00:27:34
Elena Blair
The people who are looking for what you do. And blogging is the fastest way to increase your search engine optimization. There's lots of things that you have to do or should do on the back end. But blogging is it's so effective because it shows Google that your website is living and breathing.
00:27:50
Elena Blair
because it likes that because we all know there's probably ah I bet there's millions of photographer websites that exist on the Internet that that photographer is not even in business anymore. And Google knows that it wants to show its users a real relevant business. So blogging does that. But blogging also becomes a powerful authority figure. Like you're able to like i am an expert in whatever you like in proposals. So there's that.
00:28:14
Elena Blair
It also becomes a powerful resource for your existing clients, too. And um this is one of the main marketing things that I teach in in the Mastermind above all the other things that we do.
00:28:24
Elena Blair
i love I love it. I love SEO. So tell me a little bit about your SEO strategy. and I'm sure some of it is stuff that I taught you, but I'm sure you've implemented other things too.
00:28:33
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. Well, yeah, um, what you're just talking about is so true. I just had a call with a proposal guy who put down a payment. It's happening right after WPPI. actually had to change my flight to come home a little earlier, earlier on the same day to make sure that I could photograph his proposal. But the first thing he said to me was he loved how I laid it all out there, how I gave him all, everything he needed to know.
00:28:58
Tristin Tracy
So he could make an informed decision about which photographer to choose. And I think a lot of photographers are worried in the beginning. They want to like keep everything to themselves. They don't want to like give all the information out there, but I think it's a disservice to our clients.
00:29:12
Elena Blair
Mm-hmm.
00:29:12
Tristin Tracy
Um, especially guys, they want to know what are they signing up for? What's going to be expected? How is it going to work? What do they need to do to prepare all this stuff that we know as photographers, just giving them that information,
00:29:24
Tristin Tracy
helps them feel so much better to make an informed decision. And then they feel like they can really trust you. They you've done this before, you know, your stuff and, yeah and I'm going to make it easy for them. And that's like the biggest thing. So while I was scared to start blogging and talking about my session flows and how everything's going to work, I realized quickly that I'm not worried about other photographers. I'm going to just capitalize on getting clients who trust me and want to work with me.
00:29:50
Tristin Tracy
So.
00:29:50
Elena Blair
Community over competition is true. there you no No photographer is going to, who cares if they steal your pricing plan or your session workflow? like It doesn't matter. it's not no No two people are alike and it it happens. but um that But I think what you what you just said is exactly another one amazing thing about blogging or about using your website as a powerful tool to connect to people is that you allow the potential client or your current client base to gain trust in your expertise. And when someone is, well, especially for that niche, but even for family photography, when someone's looking for a family photographer and they see my stuff that talks about why would we keep my baby up late for golden hour? Or what do I do if I have a kid who doesn't want to wear the thing that I said? I'm just thinking of some of the blog posts that like go really crazy. Or what should should I have my hair and makeup done? That one is like
00:30:46
Elena Blair
really done well in the last year for whatever reasons. I mean, Seattle moms are looking for that. should Do I need to hire a hair and makeup person before my photo shoot? um All of that. it just Those are just little things, but also you know what to expect on school photo day. What should my kid wear on school photo day? um When will the galleries be delivered? What kind of background do you use? Any question that somebody might have can be a blog post. And what it does is it builds that authority. It builds that trust. But again, it serves your potential clients really well because they're like, this person knows what they're talking about or this is exactly what I'm going to get if I work with them. Like I have one that's like, you know, um should I do studio or in home photography? Now, somebody who maybe eventually chooses studio, great. They probably aren't going to come to me, but they still got I still got the traffic from that search. And it also helps someone who is like, no, you know what? I think I would rather be in home. you know helps people make these decisions. There's so many ways to serve your clients with blog posts.
00:31:47
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. And I almost never have clients that are sort of problem clients or not a good fit because i lay out everything that I'm looking for and everything that I do. And then they'll know like, yeah, maybe I do want a studio photographer.
00:32:00
Tristin Tracy
This isn't right for me. Great. Please go to, to go to a studio photographer.
00:32:03
Elena Blair
Right, there's a great at Fikir
00:32:03
Tristin Tracy
I don't want you to come to me and then try to make it into a studio session. So it's a, it's best for sure.
00:32:10
Elena Blair
You learned that from me too. and I'm just kidding, maybe you didn't. But one of the things that why I really drive home so much in that mastermind is that that when your brand is very clear and there's no question about what the experience is gonna be like or what the gallery is gonna be like when working with you, you have satisfied clients, even before they've even seen the photos, they already trust you.
00:32:29
Tristin Tracy
Yeah.
00:32:32
Elena Blair
When your brand is not clear, when you're lacking brand clarity or there's not good client education, you have more unhappy clients. And for us in my business, and this is what I definitely teach in the Mastermind too, when I have an unhappy client, I take 100% of the responsibility for it.
00:32:50
Elena Blair
And it's rare. I mean, I haven't had an unhappy client in years and it's because everything is just laid out very clear. They know exactly what they're going to get. There's no questions. When I see someone in a Facebook group complaining about a client, I...
00:33:03
Elena Blair
I hate this word, but I cringe a little bit. I'm like, oh, no, don't talk badly about your clients. Take that as information. What what what went wrong? Where was the disconnect in communication? Why did they believe they were going to get this and they got this? Because that's not their fault. That's your fault. And it's not – fault isn't the right word, but that's your issue to fix for for the future. So when people say I'm getting – clients that don't appreciate my work, clients that are asking me to do all this extra stuff. I'm like, well, why did they believe that that was a possibility? Why is why was that even why was that door even open for them? you know You have to ask yourself that. And your website becomes your store. It becomes your... Like we don't, most of us, unless we have studios, don't have a brick and mortar storefront. And so your website is like where they are going to learn about your work, your style, your personality, what it's like to work with you, all of that. And if it's really solid and professional, you will have only the right ones coming into that storefront and ones who really value what you do.
00:34:01
Tristin Tracy
Absolutely.
00:34:02
Elena Blair
I could go on and on about this stuff. I i love branding. It's like such a I think that's where, you know, in my public Facebook group, I'll have people who haven't taken the mastermind or who are just in there for the tidbits of information, which is fine. And I'll see certain ones, you know, whoever in there every day, sort of like just struggling.
00:34:21
Elena Blair
And I'm like, it's cause you're trying to just implement a marketing strategy without a solid brand and a solid professional brand. operating system. And when you don't have that, it's like it just doesn't work because your brand is not clear and your messaging is not clear. And so the traffic bounces.
00:34:42
Elena Blair
And then that's frustrating. So you've got to work on the branding piece,
Exploring Education as a Revenue Stream
00:34:45
Elena Blair
too. You have to. Well, we talked about two types of marketing that I love.
00:34:50
Tristin Tracy
you
00:34:52
Elena Blair
and We talked about network marketing and we talked about search engine optimization. And if you're listening and you have been only doing social media well, there's two ideas, two ways for you to market your business that are far more effective.
00:35:06
Elena Blair
so much more um so the next thing i guess but in this last bit that we're um talking is i want you to just tell me what's going on in your in your world in your business you have a class um tell us a little bit about that
00:35:21
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. So I kept getting other photographers asking me, so like, what do you actually say to these hotels or how do you, how do you do it? You know, they wanted more information. i was like, oh, I guess, you know, I should write a class on this. And I appreciated your level two, Elena, because that's where I wrote that online course.
00:35:39
Tristin Tracy
And um it just really breaks it down from the very beginning of like who your ideal client is, where are they going be where are they going to be found in your local community? You know, which businesses to reach out to and walks you through the sort of offer or the pitch or the conversation that you'd have with the business, either the concierge or the business owner.
00:35:59
Tristin Tracy
And then it talks about, um, how to actually like follow up with them, how to kind of keep that relationship going and have it be a win-win. So I'm really yeahp proud of my course.
00:36:10
Tristin Tracy
And I want to actually offer your listeners 50% off the course. so it's a pretty hefty discount.
00:36:15
Elena Blair
Wow.
00:36:15
Tristin Tracy
I'll give you the the coupon code. But um yeah, i've I've heard it from quite a few that it's really, really helpful. And the biggest thing is you just got to get yourself out there and do it. And then you got to follow up.
00:36:26
Tristin Tracy
Those are like the two main things. and i I'll hold your hand along the way.
00:36:28
Elena Blair
Yeah. Amazing. Well, I will link that in the show notes and in our blog post where we talk about this in the actual podcast episode. We'll link all of that. We'll make sure to get that for you. And, um,
00:36:41
Elena Blair
That is, you know, this is such a ah powerful marketing tool that that the cool the cool thing is that most people won't do it. So if you do it, you're going to be ahead of 80% of your market in your area that are just going to rely on social media and um all of the other online ways to market your business. um So it's a great class. I know a lot of people who have taken it and loved it. And what she's referring to is I used to do a level two mastermind, which was about becoming an educator. It's now a class called Course Creation.
00:37:09
Elena Blair
and autopilot sales actually of 20 people going through it right now. And what Tristan said is ah something that I want everyone to listen to. When you start getting asked, how are you doing that?
00:37:20
Elena Blair
you know And by the way, you can write a course before you're getting asked that. But if you are, if you're getting asked something as from other photographers or if people are saying, can I take you out for coffee and pick your brain? Or I noticed that you are a proposal photographer. Tell me about that. you know Or whatever. um how did How did you you know get that light and airy editing style? Whatever.
00:37:42
Elena Blair
If you're starting to get asked something, that is a sign from the universe that is like, oh, maybe I'm ready to step into the educator space. And I don't think it's for everyone. I know plenty of very successful photographers who never decide to step into that space, which is fine if it's not for you. But if it's been on your heart even just a tiny bit and you think it's something that you'd be interested in and you're getting asked that question, listen. Because that um that is is and it's another revenue stream becoming an educator.
00:38:09
Elena Blair
And it doesn't require you to exchange time for dollars. Once you start once you create a course, you can you can sell that on autopilot, which is the name of my class.
00:38:13
Tristin Tracy
Yeah.
00:38:18
Elena Blair
And I'll link to the class as well. We're not enrolling right now, but um it's definitely... a really awesome opportunity to diversify your revenue stream and just to give back to our community. I talked to Rebecca last week and truthfully, when you become an educator, you are offering a past version of yourself, a little help that you wish you would have had. And it's so rewarding to help somebody um have an eye-opening experience. like Like if somebody takes Tristan's class and you go and you make a connection and now all of a sudden you're booking months out, like she just gave you that little nugget, you know, and it's so cool. It's so cool to help people with that. So. 100%.
00:38:56
Tristin Tracy
Yeah, I love it. And it builds my reputation or makes me look like an even more what would like authoritative photographer that I can say photography and education.
00:39:09
Tristin Tracy
So it's it helps both.
00:39:10
Elena Blair
and percent And I'm glad that you said that. That's something that Becca and I talked about last week too. And I've just had my um coaching call with, you know, my Q&A call with the 20 ladies that I'm in the in the class with now. And one of the weirdest transitions that people who step into the educator space have is they say, well, can I really talk about this to my, you know, community that already have? What are my clients going to think? And that your clients think, cool, this is amazing. She's also speaking at conferences. She's also teaching these classes. Like it actually...
Connecting with Tristan Tracy
00:39:41
Elena Blair
is a trust builder for your photography business too.
00:39:45
Tristin Tracy
Yeah, absolutely. They're like cheerleaders for me. It's great.
00:39:47
Elena Blair
Exactly. They get excited. All right. Well, Tristan, that was an amazing and very meaty conversation. We're going to link all of your stuff, but why don't you let everyone know where they can find you online um so that and we will link it too.
00:39:59
Tristin Tracy
Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. on My website, TristanTracyPhotography.com and I'm on Instagram, TristanTracy underscore photography. Send me a message if you have any questions. I'd love to help anyone. So yeah, if you are thinking about reaching out to a local business, but just, you know, have something on your mind, let me know. I'd be happy to help.
00:40:18
Elena Blair
And remember, she's going to give 50% off to Empowered Listeners, which is amazing. All of that will be in the description and also in the show notes. All right, Tristan, thank you so much for being here. You are awesome.
00:40:30
Tristin Tracy
um Thank you, Elena. I really appreciate it.
00:40:32
Elena Blair
Loved having you.
00:40:34
Tristin Tracy
Bye.