We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michole Forks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

I am truly grateful that people choose me to document their unique stories and I do not take that task lightly. Being able to capture those intimate small moments between family members takes trust and vulnerability. I show my appreciation to my clients by doing yearly giveaways and during the holiday season I send them a 8×10 print to their homes from one of our past sessions.I also take the time to understand my clients and diligently curate and edit their photos one-by-one to evoke the emotions they felt during that special time with their families. My goal is to rekindle their memories, and to create photographs that can stand the test of time. Client experience is more than just providing a service and offering beautiful photos to a client. The full experience begins before your client even speaks to you, it begins when they are viewing your portfolio and seeing the organic expressions of joy, laugher, and comfortability that they want to experience in their session.

I want my clients to walk away from their experience with me knowing that they weren’t just another transaction. They were loved and appreciated throughout the entire process and beyond this is how I show my appreciate to them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Michole, and I’m the owner of Micholiano Photography, based in the beautiful city by the Bay of San Francisco, California. My journey into the world of photography has been filled with amazing experiences and the privilege of capturing and creating moments for families is truly an honor. Micholiano Photography is founded on the principle of crafted timelessness which is to create with the intention of documenting & preserving family legacy.

My artistic roots began as a kid in the 1990’s running around darkrooms at my mom’s job at Chroma Copy Imaging. Chroma Copy was a San Francisco-based comprehensive large and small-format graphic solutions provider. My mom and dad worked together in the shipping and handling department where they would package and send out big print jobs for the advertising departments of Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, and other high-end retail companies. Fast-forward to college where I met an old high school friend Rey, who was doing street photography with a cannon AE1. He took me under his wing and taught me foundational photography skills. We worked together on a few small projects, and I fell in love with portrait photography, capturing the essence of my subject in a single frame. Rey at the time was doing galleries, and he inspired me to have my first solo gallery show in 2011. After my show, I decided to pursue photography more seriously instead of as a hobby, and I took the leap of faith to dive into the professional field. I worked for a photography company called Shoott for 8 months that focused on family & couples sessions and then I ventured off to begin Micholiano Photography.

I also work in education and taught PE in elementary schools here in San Francisco. I blended my passion & playfulness for working with youth with my passion for photography, and that’s how I’m able to keep my sessions playful and engaging with families I work with.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Some might call it old-fashioned but having an email list is my most effective strategy for growing my clientele, followed by providing and upholding my standard of going above and beyond for every client. My email list is powerful because there’s no middleman algorithm dictating how many people see my emails, I have full control and access to contact my clients directly. This is my most active and effective way of booking clients. I send an email reminding them that I have session openings and I give them a quick and easy way to book a session. Social media is important, but I think it’s the least effective way to market small businesses. Why? Because you don’t own that space. You are subject to algorithms and other systems in place in order to make the platforms more money, not in order to make you more money. That’s why I have decided to focus my marketing strategy on having limited social media presents but funneling everyone to my website and to organically grow my email subscriber list by in-person interactions at pop-up local markets and in the community.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

For me, the client experience begins with the first contact, be it via my website, Facebook, Instagram, or a phone call.
I’m my client’s concierge for life’s most precious moments, capturing the miracle of life in a maternity session or a child’s first steps into the ocean I treat every client like a human being and not a number, People value connection. I find ways to connect with them as directly as possible in person is best or a zoom call and then stay in touch.My family sessions include a complimentary 11×14 heirloom print a tangible piece of their family’s history to display in their homes. Having the heirloom print in their home celebrates the unique story of their family and also foster that brand loyalty because it when friends or family members come over they will ask “who took that photo on the wall?”and it keeps me at the top of mind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.micholiano.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micholiano/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/micholiano-photography-san-francisco-2