Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marissa Boucher. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Marissa, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

It’s with so much gratitude that I share this – our boudoir & women’s portrait studio, The Boudoir Divas, has been in business for 20 years. We’ve served over 4000 spectacular clients! Many of them have traveled to our studio and even flown with us on our international destination photo shoot adventures. A division we named, Adventuress.

While serving my clients I realized that I wasn’t just a creative, I had a passion for business- especially branding, marketing, and online sales. For 15 years I’ve taught other photographers my strategies to get attention and draw in your ideal clients. It was in the past few years- where we saw a huge emphasis on the new digital age we find ourselves in- that I became very invested in the tech part of booking clients. Which included ads, sales funnels, online bookings, etc. As I understood and applied these new strategies on online platforms I automated my business more and more. Bringing in far more profit. I began to teach what I was doing to other photographers, but as I helped them piece together different online applications, I knew there had to be a better way to do this. That I could make it easier for them. I felt compelled to help them get their business to the level of freedom and abundance mine was at.

Last year I took a huge leap and licensed an online platform and spent a year customizing it for photographers. So they could plug and play all the strategies I was teaching them into already created templates and sales funnels. I knew it would be a huge financial and time investment, but despite the risk I felt compelled. The tech aspect could be daunting, but with our new Platform, Catapult Funnels, we could help them automate their marketing and their advertising, allowing them to spend more time being artists and giving their clients a unique photography experience that where they feel alive and empowered.

It’s been an incredible journey helping my fellow photographer turn their marketing and booking into a well oiled money-making machine. Even though it’s been difficult and scary at times, I’m blown away by how much purpose it’s brought me. Just when I thought there’s no way photography could bring more joy, it did in a very unexpected way.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started The Boudoir Divas in 2005. I always wanted to create an experience where a woman could have the most fun day of her life. In my early 20’s I would see the show America’s Next Top Model or the models in Girl’s Next Door and think that every woman should have a chance to take epic photos. But let’s take it to the next level and make a day with a glam makeover, a dressing room with tons to choose from, help with styling, coaching with the posing and expression, and then she sees the photos the same day!!!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

It’s a tale as old as time, and it’s still relevant today! We’ve never had a ton of luck with going viral on social media, so we stuck to worked for us even when we started back in 2005…. email marketing. Wether on our socials or a paid ad, we give a really enticing reason to get their contact info. Then we send them an email nurture sequence that’s FUN, vulnerable, cute, and relatable. We want to feel like their pen pal that they can’t wait to actually meet in person. The whole time we’re inviting them to check out our website, and if we can get them on our website (aka our sales funnel) we try to get them to say “yes” online and book with us then and there. We want our website to feel like we’re inviting them to a grand adventure where they are the star. We try to answer any and every question they have, really get to know us, and then usher them to grab a spot on our calendar. And it works! It would be cool to have 100k followers and feel like an influencer, but really it’s so not necessary if you stick with the powerful fundamental marketing methods.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Putting my face everywhere. Like I mentioned before, I do still post on socials and try to develop an organic relationship that way, but it’s just working like I want it to. I’m on year 13 so it’s not a great ROI for me. So instead I put myself alllll over my website and make sure that they see me as this fun guide who is going to lead them on a photography journey. So often people think an about page is enough. I don’t think it is. I think if you own a business and it’s not at a big corporate level yet (or you don’t plan for it to be) your smiling face and charismatic personality is what is going to be your biggest asset when it comes to getting sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theboudoirdivas.com
• Instagram: @theboudoirdivas.com

Image Credits

Just me- Marissa Boucher (The Boudoir Divas)