66: Stop Marketing Your Photography Business Like a Hot Mess

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Ever scramble to throw together a mini session at the last minute and then hate your life while trying to market it? Yeah, we've all been there. And honestly? It's exhausting, stressful, and completely avoidable.

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Marketing your photography business doesn't have to feel like a constant fire drill. In this episode, Melissa and Alison are pulling back the curtain on the ONE thing that will transform your entire approach to marketing your photography business: an actual annual marketing calendar.

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We know, we know - you've heard you need to be "marketing all the time." But that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about sitting down with a calendar (yes, like pen and paper), reverse-engineering your year, and creating a marketing runway that has you booking clients WEEKS before your sessions instead of panicking days before.

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Here's what you'll learn in this episode:

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• Why planning your marketing calendar 8-12 weeks in advance will save your sanity (and get you fully booked faster)
• The exact timeline you need for marketing Santa sessions, fall minis, and other seasonal events
• How to reverse-engineer your marketing runway so you're never scrambling again
• Why blocking off editing time is just as important as blocking off shooting dates
• The VIP waitlist strategy that lets you test offers before you fully commit
• How to batch your marketing content so you're not reinventing the wheel every week
• Why your clients NEED that long lead time (hint: they hate figuring out what to wear too)
• How to plan around PCS dates, deployments, school schedules, and family life

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Plus, Melissa and Alison share their own "oops" moments of last-minute planning and what they learned from being reactive instead of proactive.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Kat Schmoyer giant quarterly calendar
• Target $5 annual wall calendars (July to July)
• Plum Paper planners
• Flodesk for VIP list forms
• Google Calendar for marketing planning
• The Motherhood Anthology
• The Blogging Club

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Ready to stop the marketing madness? Block off 2 hours this week to audit what worked last year, dump out all your event ideas, and start putting actual dates on the calendar. Then tag us on Instagram @keepitmovingpod with #keepitmovingpod - we want to see your planning process!

 

Tired of being invisible on Google? Learn the 5 SEO mistakes keeping photographers from getting found (and how to fix them) in Melissa's free masterclass: https://pictureperfectrankings.com/mistakes

Thinking about a pivot or transition in your photography business? Book a free 15 minute discovery call with Alison to talk through your next move.

Ready to streamline your content? Melissa's got you covered with her 35+ Blog Post Topics freebie—grab them here: <a href="http://35topics.com" data-prosemirror-content-type="mark" d