We recently connected with Gina Ribando and have shared our conversation below.
Gina, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My business is driven by a passion for supporting fellow small businesses in bringing their vision to life through visuals that show how amazing their business is! But, it goes beyond just photos and videos. I want to empower them with the tools they need to leverage these visuals effectively across social media and digital marketing platforms.
I understand deeply how being a small business owner means wearing many, many hats and I empathize with the overwhelming demands they encounter, particularly in navigating the ever-changing and elusive social media and digital marketing world.
There is no better feeling than seeing the transformation of my clients as they become energized and inspired to showcase the amazing details of their businesses. Whether through tailored photoshoots or personalized content creation coaching, my goal is to help ignite their enthusiasm, empower them to attract their ideal clientele, and help them achieve their business dreams!
Gina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Gina Ribando and I am a traveling branding photographer, educator, and small business content creation coach. Although I travel everywhere that someone needs me, I am mainly based out of San Diego, NYC, and Denver.
My story of how I got here is a long one and if anyone is ever interested in all of the crazy details, I would be more than happy to grab a glass of wine and tell you all about it, friend. But for the sake of saving time and text, I’ll give you a bit of a cliff-notes version.
I grew up in New York and although I have had many career adventures in my life, the ones worth notating are Hairstyling and Photography. I was a professional freelance hairstylist for almost 10 years in New York working on editorials, productions, weddings, and educating for Loreal Professionnel, and although I loved every minute of it, when I found photography, I truly found my calling. Hairstyling taught me a lot that I brought into my photography career like how to run a small business, how to market myself, and how to create luxury and affordable experiences for my clients.
When I realized that the things I loved photographing the most were my fellow small business owners, I knew I had found what I was meant to do in Branding Photography. I always understood how much of a challenge it could be for small business owners to get the images they need to market themselves or even know what types of images they need in the first place and it always lit me up to help them solve this problem.
When it comes to branding photography and video, it doesn’t matter how amazing the visuals are if you don’t know how to use them, so it wasn’t long before my branding photography business had a large focus on social media education so that I could help my clients use their visuals as effectively as possible.
I knew that there was a gap in the market for photographers who take strategic images for their clients as opposed to just taking “pretty” photos for their clients. And I was determined to fill that gap and help solve this problem for my clients.
I am very proud of the attention to detail that I offer my clients. I truly dig deep to develop the most personalized, strategic, and thoughtful plans for their businesses so that we are not just creating visuals for them, but we are setting them up for success in so many ways.
Because small business owners are the fucking best. (Sorry if I’m not supposed to curse!)
Here are some of the services I offer to my clients:
-Intro Branding Photography Package
Headshots + Team Photos
Lifestyle shots
Interiors
Select product photography
Strategy session
Custom shot list
BTS Video Clips
-Evergreen Branding Photography Package
Headshots
Group shots
Lifestyle shots
“Working” shots – computer, making, doing the thing you do
“Playing” shots – laughing, hobbies, connection photos that don’t necessarily relate to your business
Showing the process of the finished product for some cases (making something, food, etc.)
Client journey photos
Consultation client interaction photos
“Solution” what life is like after your product or service – showing a problem solved
Negative space images
Stock images
BTS Video clips + B-roll
-Maintenance Branding Photography Session
A smaller photo session than the intro session designed to help keep your branding images up-to-date with:
seasons
launches
new content needs
brand evolution
-1:1 Content Clarity Intro Coaching Session
In this session, you’ll get clear on…
Your brand focus
What content you should be creating and what to post
What to say
Your audience and how to bring value
What keywords and hashtags to use
How to come up with content ideas often and easily
A social media strategy to save you time and stress
-Videography Talking head | About us intro
-Mobile Video Content Package
A collection of mobile video clips and B-roll directly related to the content you plan to share in your digital marketing
Session duration = 1-2 hours
Includes a strategy session and custom shot list
-VIP Day
A day dedicated to you and your brand. This day will be formulated to best optimize the needs of your business. Some ways to spend the day:
Content Clarity Session, education and planning
Branding photography session mobile video creation
Mobile video creation
Content creation
(Can be split into two half days)
-Content Clarity Workshop (class)
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When I first started working for myself and doing mostly freelance work, I distinctly remember feeling immense stress if I wasn’t “busy”. If my book was not booked solid, I believed I was about to be bankrupt. So I worked….hard…all the time, often to the point of a weekly burnout.
It wasn’t until we were all forced to slow down during COVID that I was opened to the idea of being more intentional with my work and charging appropriately so that I could work less, keep my mental health in check, and still make the same amount of money or more!
That scarcity mindset is so difficult to shake but when it finally clicked for me, I felt empowered to charge my worth and build the life that I always wanted but never felt attainable.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Social media is my JAMMMM I not only love it because it is such a powerful tool for businesses, but I love educating business owners on social media because I know there is a ton of information out there and honestly a lot of it is BS. If I can take even the tiniest bit of pressure off of a business owner when it comes to social media, I’m a happy woman!
My best advice (and the thing that helped me build the most) is BRING VALUE. Share your story, bring your audience in to the behind-the-scenes, and share tips and tricks. Just serve, serve, serve, serve, serve. Use social to connect with people authentically and create not fans of the product or service but fans of the brand, person and/or mission.
This is a topic I could go on FOREVER about and I do in my coaching sessions where I am able to develop a personalized strategy plan that is doable and sustainable for small businesses.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://infulldetail.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infulldetail/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ginaribando
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgUb3xiL4s9QQSvsoKZRT3g