There is one thing that when done regularly, can put you in front of the right potential clients for free. It allows you to build trust quickly and even gives you endless content ideas for social media. And it’s something you can use time and time again to showcase your expertise and establish you as a thought leader in your field.

In my own photography business, doing this opened doors I never thought possible, and that is blogging the right content consistently.

If you choose not to blog the right content, chances are you’ll miss out on opportunities to connect with ideal clients and you’ll miss out on the ability to build trust with your audience.

As photographers, especially as baby and birth photographers, our potential clients have to have some level of trust in us before they inquire with you or hire you.

Typically, trust takes a long time to build. But you can build this trust faster with new potential clients through your blog by giving valuable, friendly, informative content.

We’ve all experienced the type of companies or blogs or websites that just sell all the time, right? How does that make you feel when everytime you see a post, a blog, or email from them, it’s ALWAYS sell sell sell. Well, you probably won’t be in their world for much longer if you’re not getting value too.

This podcast is a great example of content marketing. You all know I have courses and a shop and products for newborn and birth photographers, but I want to focus on giving more than asking, which is where this weekly content comes in.

When you have an outlet to GIVE GIVE GIVE, the ASK of booking or inquiries will become much easier.

In fact, Seth Godin who really is the godfather of marketing said, “Content Marketing is the only marketing left.” You know how it is, people are getting smarter and smarter with all the control they have over what they see and hear.

So when you create and share valuable content that speaks directly to your target audience, you’re giving them something they actually want, and that’s how you build trust and credibility with them.

And when you do that, you’re way more likely to make a sale or get a new client. It’s all about giving ’em what they want, not what you want to push on them.

“Okay, so Tavia what do we write about then? Especially if I don’t have a lot of sessions to share or I’m pivoting my business and I don’t have the right images to share?”

3 Content Pillars for Simple Content Creation for Newborn and Birth Photographers

Value Content

Value content is the type of thing your ideal client is already asking, searching or thinking. This is the content they read for fun or to learn something new. When you create this, you’re becoming their go-to source for information and solutions.

Value content is really the basis of building trust.

Imagine, if a newly engaged woman types in “best places to get married in (YOUR CITY)” and you’re a wedding photographer and your blog post on best wedding venues in your city pops up. Now this person is scrolling through YOUR website. You’ve met her need right? You’ve probably already built at least a little trust with this stranger because you’ve served her when she needed help.

WATCH OUT: Now, there is a big mistake I see photographers making with the value pillar and that is creating content for a phase of life that happens AFTER you need this ideal client to hire you.

Here’s what I mean – imagine you’re a wedding photographer and you create a blog post titled “best places to celebrate an anniversary in your city.” Could someone find this and find value in it? Absolutely! Could it be someone looking for a wedding photographer? Maybe, but it’s very unlikely.

Who are you most likely to be attracting with that piece of content about where to spend your anniversary in your city? Married people. And married people don’t need a wedding photographer, right?

So this is the mistake I see newborn and baby photographers make specifically, and hear me on this: the value content they’re creating is really good, it’s just reaching people too late in their journey.

Why would you create content around life with a newborn if you’re a newborn photographer? It’s too late at that point, they’ve already had their baby. And maybe they’re looking for a newborn photographer, but I want your business to be stable and running efficiently, which means moms booking you months and months in advance, not the week before they need a session.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: So as a newborn or baby photographer – how can you create content that will catch them much earlier in their journey? What would someone thinking about getting pregnant be looking for? Or someone even planning for their birth? Or dealing with morning sickness.

Do you see how THAT type of content works so well for newborn photographers? It gets them into your world well before they need to hire you.

Inside the Content Club, which is my membership for birth and newborn photographers, a lot of our value blog posts are written for those early phases of labor and even might focus on birth content specifically because those are the topics on the minds of people who will eventually hire you for newborn photography.

So creating value content that speaks directly to your ideal client is the key to building trust and credibility with them and it’s important to remember to create content that targets your ideal client at the right stage of their journey.

Client Content

This is blogging client sessions and I do think this is an important piece. I kinda rag on blogging client sessions sometimes but it’s because I did it wrong for a long time and I still see photographers doing it incorrectly.

WATCH OUT: Here’s the WRONG way to blog client sessions:

“Hi friends! This is the Smith family! We had so much fun at their [Dallas family photography session]. Here are a few of my favorites. So beautiful, so fun…[keyword stuff]. Thanks for trusting me Smith family!”

-End of blog post-

Now if this is you right now, I’m NOT here to guilt trip you – you’re doing the best you can with what you have and you’re actually blogging which is ultimately helping you! But there is a better way.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Blogging client sessions is important because it shows potential clients in a more streamlined way what it could be like working with you.

So write it for the potential client and make it interesting for them to read, in addition to them getting to see the photos:

• What stood out at the session?
• What’s something unique about the family or the location or the session type?
• What story is there that you can tell about something that happened while shooting or even a story about this genre?

You can even ask your clients to fill out what I call a blog post survey where they answer specific questions about their family so you can simply and easily write an interesting blog post to share their session.

By doing all this, you’re going to give potential clients a better sense of who you are as a photographer and what they can expect from working with you, which will help you to attract more clients and build your business.

Connection Content

Creating “Connection content” is a great way to expand your reach and connect with other businesses that serve your same ideal client. You can do this by highlighting their business or service on your blog.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: You can do this a few ways, you can interview the business directly and feature the interview or you could create a resource blog post that lists multiple different businesses for people to reference when they are looking for that service.

I’m obsessed with connection content because not only does this help to support other businesses in your community, but it also shows your ideal client that you’re connected to other businesses that can help them in their journey.

Remember, when you’re creating this type of content make it interesting for the READER. If it’s just a mini-commercial for the business, people aren’t going to want to read it. Think about the types of questions that reader would be asking or wondering about when it comes to the service.

Overall, creating connection content is a win-win for everyone involved. It helps to support other businesses, build relationships, and provide value to your ideal client by introducing them to other businesses that can help them in their journey. So, if you haven’t already, give it a try and see what kind of impact it can have on your business and your community.

Learn a little more about creating connection content here!

Summary

Creating content this year that will help you attract your ideal clients and build trust with them, so remember and maybe even write down these 3 content pillars – VALUE, CLIENT, and CONNECTION.

So my friend, when you sit down to create content, I hope thinking about these 3 pillars will help simplify the task for you, I have no doubt you can do it.

If you found this helpful and are just like, “You know what – can you just create this content for me?” We’ve got you!

Inside the Content Club, you get 2 pre-written blog posts for birth and newborn photographers every month, as well as social media captions to help you promote those blog posts and even more than I won’t list here. To get more info head over to thebeautyinbirth.com/content-club

My friend, if you have a passion – it’s not an accident. Not everyone loves photography, or event planning, or real estate… whatever your passion is, it’s there for a REASON. What are you going to do with that passion? Get out there and make it happen! Have a great week y’all!