We recently connected with Melissa Cook and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

There are a number of factors that makes a person or business successful. Determination, focus, and a passion for what you do are all crucial components of success. Being in a business where you’re the only employee can be stressful but can also be very rewarding.

Confidence is key when it comes to running a business. I started my marketing freelance business with no clients and no real direction to head in. I knew I wanted to help small businesses but also knew that their budgets might be smaller. as well. The confidence I had in my abilities really helped me sell my services to businesses on the fence about digital marketing help.

In photography, your passion will seep through to every corner of your business. You must have a strong work ethic and really show your clients that you love what you do. This helps sell your services and builds trust with the clients.

Knowledge really is power when going off on your own. Become educated on how to market yourself, know what channels people are looking for services on, understand your offering so you can promote confidence in the buying cycle.

Melissa, 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?

I’m Melissa Cook, owner of Melissa Cook Photography, Melissa Cook Weddings, and Melissa Cook Marketing.

In the photography realm, I handle family and wedding photography for a number of phenomenal clients. My style is true to color with a touch of vibrancy because I love how color plays into our every day lives. I capture the important moments as well as the moments in between to show how your life really looks.

On the marketing side, I’ve been a digital marketer for almost a decade. I specialize in analysis, making sure that your assets are working for you in the right ways. I offer freelance website building, analysis, and guidance on how to grow your business.

In both businesses I really value dedication to what I do. I want to make sure that my clients are comfortable and that they’re feeling confident in the results I’m putting out there. In photography I really aim to see smiling faces from clients, making sure that I’ve captured their special moments. In the marketing realm I want to make sure that clients understand what’s going on and that they know what their next steps are.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Brand loyalty is so important to many businesses. It’s one battle to gain clients, it’s another battle completely to keep them. There’s a huge difference between bringing a client on and keeping them happy.

For my photography business, my goal is to stay in constant communication with my clients to let them know what’s going on. I’ve automated my entire process for my wedding photography, from the welcome email to the forms they have to fill out to the congratulations email and beyond. This saves me so much time so I can use my time to personalize each experience. I send out gifts to each client, add special touches to their process, and make sure they know what each step is along the way. I’ve never had a client ask me when their photos will be done because my communication to them puts their minds at ease.

For marketing, it’s about consistency as well. You really want to make sure that you’re staying in touch and providing details to each client. I’ll be the first to admit that this is difficult, but it’s a hard lesson I’ve learned over the years.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I apply my digital marketing brain power to everything I do and I’ve learned that this isn’t always the best thing to do. Photography is a wildly creative field, one that requires a lot of attention to detail. In digital marketing, numbers are very important. In photography, the individual client is important. I’ve tried in the past to treat my photography business like a digital marketing campaign, only to learn that clients want a more human touch.

Having a digital marketing background in photography can be immensely helpful but it can also be something that holds you back. You’re trained to look at large scale numbers and find trends. Photography is more of a one-on-one strategy because clients are so different. You can bring people to your site in the same ways as you typically would in digital marketing but once they’re there, the sales cycle begins and you have to switch gears.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.melissacookphotography.com
• Instagram: @melissacookphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissacookphotography