The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast

Your December roster (aka your clients) were decided back in September (because of marketing). That means right now, in September, you're deciding what February looks like. If your marketing falls apart every October and January shows up with an empty calendar, you don't have a time problem or a discipline problem. You have a decision problem, and that's much easier to fix. I promiseThis is Part 3 of my September marketing series for family photographers, and it is the one that holds the other two up. In Part 1 we covered the three layers of a marketing system. In Part 2, we covered the 4C Framework and what goes inside those layers. Today I am walking you through the marketing rhythm that keeps both of them alive during your busiest, messiest, most over-committed season of the year.I am also spilling the tea on what this looks like in my own business right now!!!!What you'll hear in this episodeWhy marketing is the first thing to fall off your list in busy season (and why it has nothing to do with how hard you work)The reason 70 of your 90 marketing minutes disappear before you write a single captionHow to pick your weekly marketing day, and why the day you choose does not matter one bitThe three separate jobs hiding inside the word "marketing," and why doing them at 9:47 pm on a Sunday makes your brain stall outWhat I do in 20- and 30-minute pockets now that batching a full month is off the table for meAND SO MUCH MORE!Resources & Links Mentioned In This Episode▸ Read the full blog post that goes with this episode (that way, you get all the links mentioned): https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/family-photography-marketing-plan/▸ The Family Photographer's Marketing Society, my monthly membership where I hand you a marketing plan every Thursday: https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/the-family-photographers-marketing-societyConnect with Me (Dolly DeLong Education)💻 Website 📱 Instagram 🎥 YouTubeThanks for joining me on The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode:✅ Sign up for weekly reminders + free resources here → Business Tools🥳 Share a screenshot of this episode on your IG story and tag me https://www.instagram.com/dollydelongphoto/ so I can cheer you on!🔗 Affiliate links included. I only recommend products I personally use and lovemarketing plan for family photographers, weekly marketing rhythm for photographers, busy season marketing photographers, why my january is empty photography, slow season marketing for photographers, batching content for photographers, marketing cadence for solo photographers, how to market a photography business consistently, family photography business marketing tips, 4c framework for photographers, email marketing for family photographers, instagram marketing for family photographers, family photographers marketing society, marketing systems for creative businesses, photography marketing during maternity leave, how far ahead to market photography sessions, minimum viable marketing plan photographers, marketing for busy mom photographers, nashville family photographer educator Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's 9:47 PM on a Sunday night. You open Instagram, tap the plus button, type three words into the caption box, delete them, and somehow end up two hours deep in another photographer's feed with nothing posted. Friend, you are not out of ideas, and you are not uncreative. You're asking yourself the wrong question, and in this episode (watch it on YouTube or listen right here on the podcast) I'm spilling the tea on the question I want you to ask instead.This is part two of my September marketing series. In part one, we diagnosed what keeps you from a consistent marketing system. Today, I'm walking you through why "What should I post?" freezes your brain, and how my 4C Framework (Connect, Clarify, Celebrate, and Call to Action) shrinks your options from infinity down to four, each tied to a stage of your client journey. I'm talking about this because almost every family photographer I teach posts one type of content on repeat, and it leaves gaps in how she talks to future clients.What you'll learn in this episodeWhy "What should I post?" has unlimited answers, which means it has zeroThe smaller question that turns a frozen Sunday night into a decision your tired brain can makeThe one job your Connect content has (hint: it isn't selling, and it isn't teaching)How to write Clarify content that answers the questions moms wonder about but never DM youWhy posting nothing but galleries and testimonials leaves holes in your client journeyThe three pieces every call to action needs, and what happens when one goes missingA 10 to 15 minute homework audit of your last 12 Instagram postsAND SO MUCH MORE!Resources & Links Mentioned In This Episode▸ Read the full blog post that goes with this episode (that way, you get all the links mentioned): https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/content-ideas-for-family-photographers/▸ The Family Photographer's Marketing Society, my monthly membership where I hand you a marketing plan every Thursday: https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/the-family-photographers-marketing-societyConnect with Me (Dolly DeLong Education)💻 Website 📱 Instagram 🎥 YouTubeThanks for joining me on The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode:✅ Sign up for weekly reminders + free resources here → Business Tools🥳 Share a screenshot of this episode on your IG story and tag me https://www.instagram.com/dollydelongphoto/ so I can cheer you on!🔗 Affiliate links included. I only recommend products I personally use and lovecontent ideas for family photographers, what should I post as a photographer, Instagram content for family photographers, 4C Framework marketing, content pillars for photographers, family photographer marketing plan, Instagram caption ideas for photographers, client journey marketing for photographers, content planning for photographers, how to market a family photography business, top of funnel marketing for photographers, educational content for photographers, testimonial posts for photographers, call to action for photographers, weekly content rotation, Family Photographers Marketing Society, marketing consistency for photographers, September marketing for family photographers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You made the color-coded content calendar back in January. Then an inquiry came in, one of your kids spiked a fever, three galleries landed in your queue, and you needed to prep a mini session day. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, the calendar stopped existing. You did not decide to quit. You just stopped, and a few weeks later you opened Instagram, saw you hadn't posted in eleven days, and felt that low-grade guilt settle in your chest.Before you go one more minute thinking this is a you problem, I want to say something. You do not have a discipline problem; you are not lazy, and you are not bad at marketing. What you have is a marketing plan without a marketing system behind it, and those two things are not the same thing at all. A plan is a list of what you hope to do. A system is a structure that holds you up when your life gets loud, and if you are a family photographer heading into busy season, your life is about to get very loud.This episode is part one of a three part September series. In it, I break down the three layers every family photography marketing system needs, why running your entire business on one of them is wearing you out, and a 20-minute audit that will show you which layer you have been ignoring the longest.Resources & Links Mentioned In This Episode▸ Read the full blog post that goes with this episode (that way, you get all the links mentioned): https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/family-photography-marketing-system/▸ The Family Photographer's Marketing Society, my monthly membership where I hand you a marketing plan every Thursday: https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/the-family-photographers-marketing-societyConnect with Me (Dolly DeLong Education)💻 Website 📱 Instagram 🎥 YouTubeThanks for joining me on The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode:✅ Sign up for weekly reminders + free resources here → Business Tools🥳 Share a screenshot of this episode on your IG story and tag me https://www.instagram.com/dollydelongphoto/ so I can cheer you on!🔗 Affiliate links included. I only recommend products I personally use and lovefamily photography marketing system, marketing for family photographers, marketing plan vs marketing system, SEO for photographers, blogging for family photographers, email marketing for photographers, Instagram marketing for photographers, marketing cadence for photographers, photography business systems, solo photography business, content batching for photographers, family photographer podcast, systems and workflow magic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is the first week of September, which means your inbox is filling up, your calendar is filling up, and somewhere in the back of your brain there is a quiet voice asking whether you forgot to follow up with someone who emailed you two weeks ago.If that is you, hear me before we go one sentence further: you are not a disorganized person. You are not flaky. You are not bad at business.You are missing a system. That's it.And systems are learnable, which makes this a fixable problem before your fall season really gets going. In this episode, I'm walking you through the three Dubsado features I use to organize my family photography client work, plus the visual Trello board I built to catch every task a CRM cannot touch.Here's why I'm covering this now instead of in November: September through December is when most of your year's work shows up and when your capacity is stretched the thinnest. The experience you deliver this fall determines whether you have a busy season next fall. Your client workflow is not just an internal organization thing. It is client experience, it is retention, and it is marketing.What you'll hear in this episodeWhy a chaotic workflow does not fail loudly, and what it actually costs you in October and NovemberWhat a CRM is in plain English (no tech jargon, I promise)The three Dubsado features that will change your fall, and the ones you can skip for nowAnd So Much More!!!! Resources & Links Mentioned In This Episode▸ Read the full blog post that goes with this episode (that way, you get all the links mentioned): https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/family-photography-workflow/Connect with Me (Dolly DeLong Education)💻 Website 📱 Instagram 🎥 YouTubeThanks for joining me on The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode:✅ Sign up for weekly reminders + free resources here → Business Tools🥳 Share a screenshot of this episode on your IG story and tag me https://www.instagram.com/dollydelongphoto/ so I can cheer you on!🔗 Affiliate links included. I only recommend products I personally use and lovefamily photography client workflow, Dubsado for photographers, Dubsado workflow setup, CRM for family photographers, client experience workflow photography, canned email templates photographers, photography business automation, Trello board for photographers, project management for photographers, busy season systems photographers, fall session workflow, photography inquiry follow up system, client onboarding photography, mini session scheduler Dubsado, photography SOPs, backend systems for photographers, photography client retention, how to organize photography business, Dubsado project statuses Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is December 22nd. You have three last-minute sessions on the calendar because a family messaged you begging for updated photos before the grandparents arrive, and you said yes. It is 11:30pm, you are culling one gallery with five more stacked behind it, and your own family keeps asking when you will be done with work.Sound familiar?Here is what took me way too many years to figure out: the December you get is not decided in December. It is decided in September.The choices you make over the next four to six weeks around your numbers and your marketing determine whether your holiday season has margin in it or whether you get burned to a crisp by New Year's Eve. So today I am spilling the tea on the exact three things I am working on in my own photography business right now, at the end of August, and how each one connects to what December and January will actually look like.I am also sharing something personal: I am taking January, February, and March off for maternity leave with baby number three. None of this is hypothetical for me. It is my literal September to-do list.What you'll hear in this episodeWhy saying yes to every December session is not a discipline problem (it is a missing system)How to calculate your December number, and the three pieces most photographers skipThe tax percentage I set aside every single month, no exceptionsWhy fall is peak season for shiny object syndrome and how to spot it before you check outThe farming analogy that explains why your January is dead silentAnd so much more!!!! Resources & Links Mentioned In This Episode▸ Read the full blog post that goes with this episode (that way, you get all the links mentioned): https://systemsandworkflowmagic.com/slow-season-planning-family-photographers/▸ Get your free ticket to the Black Friday Virtual Summit: https://blackfridaysummit.com/Connect with Me (Dolly DeLong Education)💻 Website 📱 Instagram 🎥 YouTubeThanks for joining me on The Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode:✅ Sign up for weekly reminders + free resources here → Business Tools🥳 Share a screenshot of this episode on your IG story and tag me https://www.instagram.com/dollydelongphoto/ so I can cheer you on!🔗 Affiliate links included. I only recommend products I personally use and love.slow season planning for photographers, family photographer business planning, how to prepare for slow season photography, december overhead costs photography, family photographer taxes percentage, paying yourself photography business, bookkeeping template for photographers, marketing for family photographers, seo blogging for photographers, long form content for photographers, january bookings for photographers, winter family photo sessions marketing, black friday for photographers, photography business maternity leave, sustainable photography business systems, photography marketing cadence, family photographers marketing society, shiny object syndrome small business, booking slow months photography Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.