Latest / The Nerdy Photographer Podcast / 157 - Purpose, Not Purchase: Surviving the Holiday Marketing Blitz

Transcript

157 - Purpose, Not Purchase: Surviving the Holiday Marketing Blitz · The Nerdy Photographer Podcast

• 0:00
  Casey Fatchett: Casey. Hello and welcome to the nerdy
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  photographer podcast. I'm your host, Casey Fatchett, and since
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  Black Friday is right around the corner, in this episode, we're
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  going to talk about having more purpose to your holiday
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  endeavors instead of just racking up some credit card
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  debt. Here's something, some things to keep in mind. Instead
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  of just going out and like falling victim to the marketing
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  machine that's just trying to hype you up, first of all,
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  recognize the hype out there. You're gonna see tons and tons
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  of things like 50% off, 75% off, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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  I'm not gonna say that. I am also not like offering discounts
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  on things, you know, in our own store or our own offerings, but
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  I just want you to think about this. There those things are
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  designed to create, like, a fear that you're not getting the best
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  you're not going to get the best deal. And you have to take a
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  step back from that and analyze it and think, Is this, you know,
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  be mindful in your purchasing mindset, and think, Is this
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  something you actually need? Is this something you actually use
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  versus, you know, you're just like, getting bombarded by the
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  marketing that's telling you, like, don't miss this deal. Act
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  now for to make sure to lock in your 25% off. Here's thing. If
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  you don't need it, if it's not something you're going to use,
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  don't purchase it. I have fallen victim to that at times where
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  I've just said, Hey, oh my gosh, I can't miss out. You know, I'm
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  gonna save myself $200 Well, if I'm saving myself 200 bucks, I
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  also just spent, you know, 600 or whatever that I didn't need
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  to spend. You know that those sorts of things, and again, be
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  mindful. Think about what you really, need and are going to
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  use, instead of just getting sucked up into the maelstrom of
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  discounts and offers that come around the holiday season. Next
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  I'm going to talk to you about like, hey, there's a way to grow
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  as a photographer and to grow your business as a photographer,
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  if you're running a business without spending a ton of money,
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  and that's going out and practicing that is making
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  connections, networking with people, building your community
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  of with other photographers. Because here's the thing, if
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  you're a other photographers are going to, you know, you're going
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  to create a community of people who you can like count on to
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  give you feedback. Or if those there are people like you're in
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  business, you can find out from them. You know, how things are
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  going in the industry, it's not always about getting a referral
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  for a job, though. Again, that sometimes happens too, but one
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  of the things that I have found very valuable is to be able to
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  reach out to my community of photographer friends and be
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  like, Hey, I'm noticing that things are slow this year. Are
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  you experiencing the same thing. And it's not just in like, one
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  particular industry, but I might ask about like, oh, you know,
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  how are weddings for you this year? It asks like, 510 people
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  that I know, and you know that's telling me, Oh, I'm not
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  experiencing something completely different than
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  everybody else. So taking that time to expand your network,
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  expand your skills, either through education, which you
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  know you might have to spend some money on, or, you know, hit
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  up youtube University, do some search, do some purposeful
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  searching for things that you know you don't have to spend
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  money On, but can help improve your skills. Practice, practice,
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  practice, and, you know, without, like, having to feel
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  the need to, I got to spend money on gear, because gear, you
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  know, it's not going to make you a better photographer. Gear will
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  not make you a better photographer. So refocus on your
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  own creativity as well. You make the investment with your time
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  because your time is the most valuable thing that you have.
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  And if you're not a professional photographer, this isn't your
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  full time job, you have other things to do with your life, and
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  you have to make the most of what's going on, what the time
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  that you have. So investing your time in getting better, like I
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  just said, you know, practicing education, building your
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  community that helps your photography in itself. With if
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  you're running a business again, you're improving your skills,
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  you're improving your ties within the community. You're
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  networking, growing your business without feeling the
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  need to go out and spend 1000s of dollars on just because
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  something is a deal right now. And finally, you need to build a
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  mindset around your photography that's sustainable. Unless
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  you're independently wealthy and you're raking in hundreds of
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  1000s of dollars a year, you can very easily put yourself in a
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  very bad position just spending without thinking about how
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  you're going to sustain this. Have a long term purpose and try
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  to balance things out, instead of just like being driven by
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  your impulses, because that's what a lot of this marketing
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  during the holidays is about its impulse driven purchasing. It's
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  again, making you fear, like you're missing out on some deal,
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  some amazing deal that's it's only going to be around this one
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  time. Let me tell you, there are some deals that I've I've made
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  the purchase on that like got a huge return on that investment.
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  I The the money was well spent, but I sat there and thought
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  about like, Okay, this is something that in the long run,
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  is going to make money for my business or make my photography
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  life easier if I spend the money on it now, as opposed to
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  thinking like, Oh, I just need to have this. I just need to
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  have this. I need to have this new piece of gear because it's
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  25% off right now or but I'm never going to use that lens, or
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  I'm never going to use that light, or whatever the case. May
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  be some accessory like, I've got a box full of accessories that I
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  never used more than once, and it's just like, when I think
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  back, like, if I had the money back from all those what would I
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  spend it on? And probably be on educating myself more, or in my
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  marketing budget, or some, in some ways, like, you know,
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  there's probably 1000s of dollars that I spent on stuff
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  that I really didn't need. So as we head into this marketing
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  blitz that we're likely to get from all of the photography
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  businesses over the next few months, just remember, take a
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  step back. Think about what you really need and what's really
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  going to help you. And I hope you found this helpful. I wish
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  you a happy holidays. There's still gonna be more episodes
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  left of the show coming up, but I wanted to get this out there
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  and just try to help people. Like, just take a step back,
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  take a breath and be mindful about your purchasing and until
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  next time, stay safe and stay nerdy. You.