008: The Wisdom Mill – The Importance of Believing in Yourself & Investing In Your Business

July 31, 2020

“Yes, look at what other people are doing and be aware, but, remember, this is your journey. You’re at a different stage to those people that you’re looking at. Make your journey unique  and have full belief in yourself”

PIPPA & IAN – THE WISDOM MILL

Hey everyone! It’s Sally here, from Studio Ninja. Today we welcome Pippa & Ian from The Wisdom Mill and Pippa Mackenzie Photography – we are really excited to have them on the show.

Pippa & Ian have been building their very successful photography business since 2005. They have photographed 300+ amazing weddings and events around the world, and are recommended photographers at numerous luxury venues in the UK and work with some of the top luxury wedding and event planners both in the UK and overseas. With over 45 years of combined experience, we are very excited to welcome them onto NinjaCast.

Check out some of the biggest points from Pippa & Ian’s interview below:

How did you start getting in touch with wedding planners?

The wedding planner is a human being, and they want to hear from you. As much as you want to contact them, they want to hear from new photographers that they haven’t necessarily heard of. Or maybe they’ve heard of you, and they’ve been following you on Instagram, and they’ve been meaning to reach out to you, but they haven’t had time. So it’s about just going to for it, and contacting them as you would anybody. The amazing thing, now, is that there’s so many ways to reach out to people.

When we first started, wedding planners were right on my radar, right from the beginning; so way back in 2005, 2006. And there were so few wedding planners, then. But I would pick up the phone and I would just chat to them, or I would drop them an email, and then follow in with a phone call, and then arrange to meet up.

Now, there are so many more planners to contact, there are many more ways to reach out. But whether it’s on Instagram, whether it’s on … DM them, or whether it’s phoning, whether it’s email, whatever way it is, it’s about finding the planners that feel right for you. It’s not just about, “Okay, she’s a planner, or he’s a planner, I’ll contact them.” It’s about looking at their work and seeing whether they resonate with your brand, whether you feel a connection, whether you feel that you would work well together.

Can you share one of your most amazing memories of your favourite wedding or event that you’ve shot to date?

I had the amazing privilege and opportunity of photographing an incredible four-day wedding in the Serengeti. Which was … Was it three ye- … Four years ago, I think it was.  The story began from the UK, so the client had a private plane that flew everyone from the UK out to the Serengeti. So we flew to Kilimanjaro, and then there were hopper planes, and then there were Land Rovers that then took us to the Four Seasons in the Serengeti. And they’d taken over the hotel for four days.

For me, because of my background in documentaries, and I spent three years focused on wildlife filming, so it just embraced everything that I love; travel, wildlife, a love story, it had everything. The most loveliest of couples. Yeah, it was a great team of suppliers that we were working with. And there was obviously the wedding day, but there were shoulder events on either side; they had cocktails out on the Serengeti; there were safaris that went out at dawn; I got to have an afternoon with four of the Masai warriors, taking photographs of them. And they’d never been really professionally photographed before, and they were just … It was, on so many levels, it was just off the scale.

Do you guys have any tips for working out who your ideal client is, and how to get to them?

It’s a real buzz subject at the moment, in the industry, you know, understanding your ideal client. But I think the key to understanding is why you’re doing it, okay? The reason you need to understand your ideal client, and who you are as a business, is purely so that you can understand how to speak to your ideal client, find out where they are, so you can market your business to the people you want to work with.

So it’s all about understanding on a deeper level. Where does your ideal client hang out? Because it’s all about deciding how, if you’re going to get those bookings, if you’re going to get the clients to come to your business, look at you, and decide whether you’re the right photographer for them. You need to understand what their values are, where they hang out, their personality. And then, once you know that, you know what marketing streams, you know how to get your message out. Whether you invest in your SEO, are they the kind of clients that will search the internet to try and find a photographer? Are they the kind of clients that hang out on Instagram, or hang out on Facebook? Are they the kind of clients that have wedding planners? Are they the kind of clients who invest in a really good venue, and trust the venue, and are going to look at their supplier list?
So understanding your ideal client, at the end of the day, is all about working out how to find them.

It’s also about time efficiency. Because the finer the net, the more clarity you have about your ideal client, the easier they are to find. If you’re not, and you’re just targeting weddings, you’re going to have all these people coming to you, who, a) might not be the right kind of character that fit with you, or having the kind of style that they want, that you fit with, or the right budget. And so, you’re spending so much of your time, dealing with those inquiries that don’t end up coming into a booking.

Thank you!

Thanks again to you all for joining us and a huge thanks to Pippa & Ian for coming on and sharing their vast amounts of knowledge and expertise.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, I hope you all enjoyed this episode.

See you soon,

Sally