Mini sessions are popular for family photographers each spring and fall. They are a great way to expand your network of clients and boost income. The fall season is by far the most popular time for mini sessions and now is the time to be preparing for a successful launch! Much of the success of these sessions rely on the photographer’s ability to book sessions, which requires strategic planning in advance.
During these summer months, here’s what you should be doing to prep for fall mini sessions:
#1: Choose your dates now and share with your VIP clients.
Pencil in your mini sessions dates NOW for your benefit and for your clients’ benefit. The fall season is a crazy one for family photographers, which we all know (and tend to forget). Block off the dates in your calendar for your mini sessions BEFORE you start getting fall booking requests. This will reserve the ideal dates you want and what will work for you, your family, and your studio. Remember to also block off a few days for editing and delivering galleries, too! Once you’ve decided on the dates, you can share with your VIP clients… AKA your email list. The whole reason they signed up with your email list is to be the first to know about things like this, so use that to your advantage!
#2: Choose your location(s) and reserve anything you need for those spots.
Once you have your dates, begin mapping out the locations for each date. If required, you may need to reserve your time at that space or put a deposit down, so make sure to take care of that right away. Otherwise, you might miss the chance to use those spaces for your sessions. Tree farms, greenhouses, private estates, studios are a few examples of common locations that require prior permission or reservations in advance. If you aren’t sure where you’ll be hosting sessions, make sure to go scout some great options and decide quickly so you don’t miss out. Find more tips on scouting mini sessions here!
#3: Market to your audience to generate interest.
A lot of the success for your mini sessions comes in building the excitement, prepping your clients and creating some hype. Once you have the early details in place – make sure to share with your audience online. Many families rely on booking the mini sessions for their annual family photos and they will appreciate the heads up. Share these with your mailing list, social media, existing clients and more. This will serve as an early promotion and begin creating hype and anticipation for your minis. Remember, mini sessions are limited and scarcity can be a great thing for your business when used correctly (more tips on that here!)
#4: Implement a lead collection for those interested!
During the early promotion for your mini sessions, make sure you are collecting leads. If you make your mini sessions exclusive to your mailing list this will incentivize those interested to subscribe. At that point you can nurture this list and prep them for the launch of your minis.
Creating lead collection could be done using polls on IG to gauge interest. For anyone that participates, you can DM them with details on where to sign up. Or maybe you ask them to drop their email to you to join the list. Whatever it is, keep it simple. Don’t forget to include an easy and seamless way for those coming to your website to sign up for your mailing list in the section about minis.
There you have it! These four steps are key to prep fall mini sessions for success! Generating interest for your sessions comes down to having your information in place, a system to collect leads, and a way to contact those people when you’re ready to begin booking. Keep things simple and streamlined, and you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to have sold out sessions!
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How to Grow Your Family Photography Business with Mini Sesisons
