So this one is a doozy but in a good way… LOTS of great info so we are breaking it down into a three-part series over the next 3 weeks! 

What do I do during my off-season? How should I be marketing my business and how am I attracting my ideal couples, in this slower period?

It’s a great question to ask I’m going to answer for you all today. Below are just some of the things I try to make sure I am focusing on in my off-season. I would totally recommend you try to incorporate added these into your off-season plans to really dive into and grow your business. 

Reflect, Re-evaluate and Adjust

After being in business now for almost 10 years one of the things I have learned is despite how it sounds my off-season is actually one of my busiest times of the year. There really is no such thing as a slow season. While I don’t have as many weddings or sessions on my calendar or schedule, I am spending a lot more time educating myself and planning out with the rest of the year is going to look like. This time is where I am taking care of things on the business end, the not so fun, not so creative part of my business that needs to get done. All the things I may not have had time to do during my busy shooting season. The off-season for me is time to take a moment and reflect back on my year and to really look into what I can do to improve and grow my business. It is also a time to take a little breather. This time is meant to dive in deep, stop and figure out what’s been working in my business and what hasn’t been working and what needs a little bit more attention. This is the part that is the hardest. No one wants to look at their business and see any parts that are failing but it is one of the best things you can do. Address them and make adjustments. 

First up is on my to-do list and the one thing I’m doing during my off-season that I highly recommend you also be doing in your offseason is focus on marketing!

Marketing

What does that mean? Why should I focus on Marketing? How do I even do this? 

Now, you should always be marketing yourself but the off-season is a particularly good time because you just simply have more time.  More time to dive in and focus on your marketing. A few ways that I go ahead and market myself is working on Blogging. Now I know Blogging sounds like a daunting task but I have a hack for you I am going to mention below to speed up the blogging process. 

What should you blog first? 

I first start by blogging any shoot that I may not have had time to blog earlier in the year. You know when  I was having back-to-back weddings. (Which I won’t lie, happens a lot). I go back through my archives and I make sure that I take some time to blog these images while taking Special Care to tag vendors and let them know. Which in turn gives me the potential of being reposted by each of those vendors. Which helps build our rapport with the other vendors. 

What is this HACK, please tell me? Google Docs has a built-in feature that allows you to talk and it will transcribe it to text. It’s how I made this blog post. Now keep in mind, it’s not perfect and you will need to format and correct some things but it makes writing my posts so much easier.

So we started off with a few of the easier things on the list… slow and steady right!?! But that was just the beginning of what I have in store for you. Next Wednesday’s blog post is jam-packed with 4 more things to do during your slower season.