We recently connected with Tristin Tracy and have shared our conversation below.

Tristin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

My name is Tristin Tracy and I’m a family lifestyle photographer and videographer. While I’ve been using a camera for a while, I only started my family portrait business in May 2021. I focus on family photography and video with emotion and feeling. I drastically scaled up my business when I learned the power of cooperative business development, aka local marketing and partnerships, aka referrals!

I realized I could create relationships with local businesses that served my ideal client and it would be a win-win for me and the local business! I realized I could fill my calendar by getting more bookings, as well as gain visibility, trust, and a positive reputation in my local community. I figured out where my ideal client is spending their time and strategically partnered with relevant local small businesses to grow my visibility which results in passive referrals. Once these relationships were built, the referrals started coming my way!

First, I had to decide which local business would be beneficial to partner with and how to start the relationship. Then I had to figure out what my offer or exchange was with this local business. Next were the actionable steps to make the business connection and start getting referrals. And last, maintaining the business relationship.

And bonus, I figured out I can get referrals from other local photographers as well! I reached out to other photographers in my area who specialize in a slightly different type of photography than I do. I let them know I focus on family photography sessions and that I give great referral gifts!

There you have it, my 4 part system to local marketing and strategic partnerships to grow my photography business! I have an upcoming online course teaching the ins and outs of all this! It will be available mid-summer and you can signup for more information here (along with a freebie downloadable template!) https://www.tristintracyphotography.com/a-fresh-look-at-referrals-to-book-your-calendar/

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A little bit about me: I’m a 4th generation Santa Barbara native. My passion for photography started when I bought my first camera at age 12. From then on I was hooked! I took photography classes all through jr. high and high school- I shot in B&W, and developed my own film and prints. I spent all of my professional career in fine jewelry, but after my son was born, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and my interest in photography was revitalized. When COVID hit and my husband was laid-off, I needed to go back to work but I was dreading retail. A friend of mine invited me to help out on a maternity photoshoot and I instantly fell in love! I knew this was my calling! I love being out in nature, under the sun, bringing families together outdoors. Documenting the love, joy, and connection between families and children is amazing and I feel so lucky to be doing it for a living!

Here are some things I’m doing that your readers might be interested in hearing about. Recently I’ve been working with local schools (like True North SB and Notre Dame) and non-profits (like PEP) to help them raise money through photo fundraisers. I’m interested in connecting with more local non-profits to help raise funds for their programs and photographing more families to preserve wonderful memories for their children to look back on.

I also offer branding photography and many of the businesses I work with are woman-owned. I love empowering women through photography; such as with body-positive images and normalizing breastfeeding.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

I’m writing an online course right now for photographers. It’s all about local marketing and cooperative business development. I’m wanting this course to be an evergreen and make money while I’m doing other things, like photographing local families. This is an alternative revenue source that can grow as I create more course and online digital offerings.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The most important thing you need to know about social media is you have to create meaningful content. Content other people want to read and be a part of, either by educating, inspiring, or entertaining them. There are no lasting shortcuts to social media. If you create quality content that your ideal client will want to see and read, then your following numbers will soar!

Also, you don’t own your social media following, so the quicker you can get them off social media and onto your website where they can enter their email address, the better. You own your email list and can connect with your clients whenever you want!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tristintracyphotography.com
• Instagram: @tristintracy_photography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tristintracyphotography
• Yelp: Tristin Tracy Photography

Image Credits
Tristin Tracy Photography