We recently connected with Miriam Morales and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Miriam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

Now that the picnic event industry has grown so much in the last 3 years since the pandemic, I have seen how much it has changed, specially in today’s customers and clients. I feel like the demand for the picnic events is still there, however it is not as much in demand as it was during the height of the pandemic. Such changes has made me think, how can I still service to our clients knowing that now they have a larger avenue of where to spend their money on special occasions, date nights, small party events. Some of the trends I see now, is that instead of only focusing in offering picnic date nights, at locations, many more people are instead of using our services to celebrate in small parties, and they are more looking for more detailed events, specific color themes, or trends that are very popular. Like barbie themed, spring themed like the series of Bridgerton, or 60s and 70s theme, with disco themes and fun color schemes. I”ve also seen that the picnic trend has also evolve to a smaller picnic event for kids, and some companies have made the picnics fun and kid like centered.

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

I’m a professional photographer, and have been photographing for the last 10 years, specializing in portraits, family, weddings, engagements. I have my own photography business and was freelancing for multiple companies that offer similar services as well, and a part time job in the hospital photographing newborns. When the pandemic began I was furloughed from that job, and stopped photographing like many others for about 3-4 months. However during those months, I had a lot of time to think about how I wanted to move forward, and realized I enjoyed creating a beautiful scene in San Diego locations, for proposals, I’m a huge romance movie enthusiast and reader, and I love the grand gestures that people do. I realized I had done this for a couple of clients that requested proposal photography, a version of a picnic, very romantic. I started researching if there was one here, and how I can offer a special package for clients and it slowly grew from there From there I started brainstorming packages, worked on branding, marketing etc, people where so interested because at the time everything was closed down, and people where in lockdown, and where willing to have a picnic experience outdoors, that felt safe. I”m most proud I think of how far and how everything has evolved in the last few years, everyone was willing to help me and offered advice and the help to do picnics when the demand was so high.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I really enjoy after the stress of setting up and have the clients arrive, the moment of them sitting down, stopping their lives to sit down, breathe, enjoy the moment, in a great location, with a romantic picnic. We are so busy sometimes living our daily lives, full of worry or stress sometimes, that we don’t stop and enjoy the moment, I feel like our picnics provide a time to do that, stop and enjoy the moment, look around, enjoy the view, talk to your partner and catch up, away from other people, and technology.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I began my social media account before anything else, and after spending years learning from other social media marketers and other business owners that have had great success I felt like it was finally time to put it in order. I started making a business plan, and marketing plan, thinking of who my ideal clients where, where I could find them, and how to appeal the picnic idea. The good thing is that I already had photographs ready I could use, from the picnic proposals that I had done in the past. I used the social media constantly and updated everyone on when I could start offering picnic services, safely, once restrictions where open to go to parks and beaches. I used every resource that Instagram offered, and got my first clients through there, and then from friends that followed and share my page to others, it slowly grew from there. Another thing that helped me a lot, was that I am always following the new trends and the new social media apps that are in trend, I started to use tiktok and used the videos of my first picnic clients, and slowly my audience and services grew so much, a couple of our videos went viral and many across the nation found our services and even inspired many others to grow a business in the same way. I would say definitely having a social media marketing plan helps a lot, and creating a plan to post consistently and also have a professional website where people can go look for more information and take your business services seriously.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sandiegopicnics.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandiegopicnics/reels/
• Other: Tiktok: San Diego Picnics

Image Credits
Miriam – San Diego Picnics