Micaela (00:00):
Because people log onto business.facebook.com or ads.google.com and panic, and I've done that before. I avoided Google Ads for a very long time because it's way, way more complicated than Facebook Business Suite I find. But what that means is that not everyone else is doing it, and sometimes it's quite good to run in the opposite direction of where everybody else is running.
Danny (00:32):
Welcome to that Wedding Videographer Summit special episode, our first of quite a few that are going to be here. Yeah. How many have we got? I don't know at this point, but we've got quite a few coming up.
Jason (00:45):
We're going to be introducing everything that you can expect from that Winning Videographer Summit in April next year because we are super excited and we've got some amazing people coming up to Glasgow to talk with us about everything you can imagine.
Danny (00:59):
Absolutely. And we are so, so excited about just overall the response that we've had to the summit. Jason and I have been planning it for what feels like quite some time, just the idea of it and then trying to bring everything together. So we're super excited that we now have an actual event and an actual place with awesome speakers and industry pros that are going to be here to help give an adrenaline shot for your business.
Jason (01:22):
Exactly. Because being a videographer is more than just being a good cinematographer. It's more than just turning up the day, being the biggest hype personality can be. You've also got to wear a hat like marketing, figuring out your website and all of that other nonsense. But today we want to introduce one of our station pros that's going to be with us on the day we have McKayla from Get It Together, who's going to sort you out with Meta and Google Ads? How you doing McKayla?
Micaela (01:50):
I'm doing well. How are you guys doing today?
Danny (01:52):
Crack alike. We are grand. Thank you so much. And thank you for coming on and for joining us at the summit.
Micaela (02:00):
I'm very excited.
Danny (02:01):
Yeah,
Jason (02:03):
It's going to be lot fun. I think we've
Micaela (02:05):
Forget with the party what can go wrong. Exactly,
Jason (02:08):
Exactly. And I met you years ago when you did a course on Facebook ads that was so correct for the time and it transformed what I was doing online in terms of marketing and yeah, you've just got a great background when it comes to all that, but I thought I would give you the opportunity to introduce yourself to that wedding videographer, a podcast family, and let us know what we can expect.
Micaela (02:33):
Yeah, so I am a wedding photographer. I've been doing it on and off now almost, I guess in three countries. So started in South Africa about 10 years ago, I think. Moved to the uk, got a quote, real job for a bit and put it to the side, lost my job, was made redundant, didn't get fired.
Danny (02:55):
I was way tasked.
Micaela (02:58):
This was in 2019 and I thought, you know what? I'm not made to work for other people. I'm going to go back into wedding photography and properly start it, not just have it sort of fizzle on the side. And so when I did that, I was like, right, let's get a marketing strategy. How am I going to go from nothing to suddenly being able to pay my rent in London and implemented a lot of the things that I talk about and that I get quite passionate about? So things like workflow, paid ads. I didn't have a network of people that I went to school with who were suddenly getting married. I didn't have a network of colleagues who knew what I did. I really had to go from zero to everything very, very quickly. And so over the course of that year, I can't remember now how many bookings I got, but spent a good amount of money on Facebook ads, got really good at Facebook ads in particular, and booked out 2019 and 2020. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And obviously we all know got married as well that year
Danny (03:56):
In
Micaela (03:56):
2018. Had a really busy year
(03:59):
And didn't really have that much time to faff about with my business. Had to be super strategic. And then obviously in 2020, at the beginning of 2020, I was kind of finding out that a lot of other wedding creatives didn't really have the same systems that I thought were normal for me. They didn't necessarily have CRMs, they had never spent money on marketing before. And I was kind of finding that there was a space for me to encourage people to do this if it felt right for them. And then the pandemic hit and I really saw how quickly people panicked and how quickly the lack of systems really started to scare people and people didn't feel as in control of their businesses as they should. And I think this was also back when you kind of had to plan your wedding business three years in advance. You'd get bookings years and years in advance. And so it was almost easier to keep on top of bookings, but if you didn't plan for bookings in three years time, you wouldn't have them in three years time. And so this is what was happening with people. They were sort of realising, well this, so I started get it together where I predominantly taught people how to run. Back then it was just called Facebook ads. Meta didn't exist yet
(05:14):
And really enjoyed that. And I found that a lot of people felt empowered through the way that I taught and realised that it's okay to spend money on marketing and it doesn't have to necessarily be at a wedding fair or I dunno any other way that you might want to, taking out ads and magazines, things like that. There are other ways to target your ideal clients. And did that for a while. Shot weddings for a while, started some other businesses pre being diagnosed with A DHD. Went through IVF, fell pregnant with twins and it sort of all fizzled out very quickly over the last two years, which is absolutely fine. I call it the Great Pause I had. The great was I was able to be present for my pregnancy, take off a year of maternity leave. And then since then my family and I have now moved up to Scotland because it's of the best place, it's the best place on that.
(06:08):
And I sort of find myself in a very similar position that I did in 2019. I didn't make myself redundant, but I have less time than I've ever had before. I am in a new environment, in a new area that I need to target and I need to basically get it together all over again. So that's what I'm doing on a daily basis. I've been working on Google Ads and getting back into meta ads and I'm happy to just spread the word of this as an option for people who don't know that it's possible to target ideal clients this way and to get bookings and also just to let you know that it's okay to spend money to make money, that's completely fine. You're allowed to do that.
Jason (06:53):
I think apps like Facebook, which preach on their user-friendly interface and then you go into the ad section and it looks so overwhelming, you're talking about pixels, talking about demographics and it can overwhelm some people. They'll type in business law facebook.com and then go, nah, not for me. It can be best post. And of course that seems good because you see what your reach would be and people go, oh, that sounds great, but of course it's not targeted. It can be a very overwhelming experience for people. So I think just to give people the knowledge on, okay, this isn't actually that scary. It actually is pretty easy to navigate if you figured out one or two simple things. I think having that confidence is really beneficial to everyone because we all know that having eyes on your product is insanely more valuable than not having ads in your product. And look at companies like Coca-Cola who spend fortunes having their brand in front of you at all times. I think it was Greg, I think, and he said, when you're not posting Facebook is posting for you with ads,
Danny (08:06):
Remember
Jason (08:06):
That point?
Danny (08:07):
Oh right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great talk. And you're able
Micaela (08:10):
To be present.
Jason (08:10):
You're able to be present through
Danny (08:13):
Without being present.
Jason (08:14):
Exactly. Yeah. So letting algorithm, the adverts sort of work for you while you're busy running your business.
Danny (08:22):
It isn't it, it's like we are all super, super busy, especially if you, everybody is, but I think especially if you've got a young family and you've got kids and it can be overwhelming sometimes. And it's one of those things that people are just like, they feel like it's too overwhelming to look at it. Like you said, as soon as you go into the business meta ads the business page and you're just like, oh my god, what does that even mean? And you just go, no, not today. We will deal with that another day. And it just gets put off and put off. But it's such an important of your business for instance, if you are struggling to get the inquiries in ads is going to be a good way to go about that. It's going to get people you in front of people that are wanting a wedding photographer wanting a wedding video over.
(09:10):
So yeah, I think of people will get a lot out of chatting to you just even just to alleviate some of the fears and myths that go along with it. I still find, I don't really use ads that much if I'm honest. I do a little bit of Google ads and that's it. Whenever I put on meta ads, I kind of feel like, was that worth it? Was it not worth it? I can't really figure that out. So I think even I will get a lot just from, I'll be hanging about your stall for a little bit, just so you know, taking notes.
Jason (09:45):
That winning video over podcast has a sponsor
Danny (09:47):
Proudly sponsored by Ful. So I have been using Vid Flow pretty much exclusively now for, I dunno, I've used it since I've started but exclusively been using it now probably for the last year and a half. And in my opinion, there's just not a better way to deliver your wedding. Films such a sleek interface for not only just for you to upload your films but also for couples. They can download the Vid Flow app to their smart TV and smartphone and play their films on the big screen. No wires, no connecting HDMI cables to a laptop sitting on a stool waiting for someone to kick it over and your laptop's gone. You can just download the vid Flow app and watch their films on the big screen as intended. Thank you so much VFO for sponsoring the podcast and the event.
Micaela (10:34):
So there are a couple of interesting things about running ads and spending money. One of my favourite things is that because people log onto business.facebook.com or ads.google.com and panic, and I've done that before, I avoided Google Ads for a very long time because it's way more complicated than Facebook Business Suite I find. But what that means is that not everyone else is doing it and sometimes it's quite good to run in the opposite direction of where everybody else is running. So people might be, yep, people might be hashtagging Glasgow wedding photographer and taking out time to be at wedding fairs and spending money and meeting up with people, but they might panic at the site or the thought of spending money on aid advertising,
(11:22):
Which means that not that many people are doing it. And if you can take the time and if you can kind of push through that block and run some ads, you might have slightly less competition than you think. And this is especially if you are in an area where maybe there's less competition. Obviously I worked in London for a long time, everything is a lot harder in those sorts of places. I can tell you already SEO, it's a lot easier in Scotland than it is in London. So if you are somewhere in the country or in the world where people aren't running ads, that can really be a much more effective use of your time to be present. And that brings me onto my next point, which is that if you aren't targeting your ideal clients someone else's, there's going to be, whether it's organic or the best thing about our careers and our jobs that people need our services at a very particular time. It's why weddings do quite well. Family photography, maybe less so because maybe we're not going to do it this month, maybe it's too cold, maybe we'll do it next year. But our couples, what are really prime buying moment in their wedding planning journey where they are actively looking for and seeking out suppliers to be at their weddings and to give money to provide a service.
(12:43):
And so if you can be visible, and I think we often think about advertising and promoting and this sort of negative, there's a lot of negative connotations. If you shift that to visibility and what you're focusing on is just being visible and accessible and known to the right people, then they might stumble upon you in the same way that they might hear about you through a colleague at work. It's a very similar process, it's just the medium is very different.
(13:13):
And so if you can be present in whatever way you choose that works best for your business, if you can make sure that in your marketing strategy there is a level of visibility, then you will get bookings. And that visibility will either be through referrals or social or organic social or Pinterest me pick your poison in my case. And for maybe other people who have less time, maybe just sort of don't have a love relationship with social media at the moment. This is a way that you can consistently be present, consistently be visible without having to do not work, but a different kind of work. Especially with Google Ads, you can set those up and you can pretty much walk away meta ads you might want to be checking on a bit more regularly because they can be shown to people who maybe aren't actively looking for your services a little bit more than Google Ads can.
(14:07):
But at least I'm out there, at least I'm out there and while I'm walking, pushing the buggy around while I'm at a wedding, someone out there is seeing my ad. And that brings me wrong to my third point that people often get wrong and something that I do kind of get quite passionate about is targeting. And so this is what happens when people do things like boost posts or so if you're boosting, you're often clicking that little button on Instagram and you can actually do it on the Facebook, but I don't think many of us post organically on Facebook that actually more and Facebook kind of looks at who engages with your content and goes, cool, I'll send your content out to more of those people. Give me 30 pounds, which is great and sometimes it gets it right, definitely with, and there's an element of Facebook getting that right a little bit more than it used to, but you have less control over who's seeing your ads. And this is the point in this chat where we raise our hands if we've been served at the wedding photography, videography venue ad and we are married and some of us of a certain millennial generation probably have the fact that we're married on Facebook and we're still being targeted with wedding content because we are, according to meta and the algorithm, we are interested in weddings. Yes, I'm interested in weddings, they're my life, which it is how I claim my films. I'm very interested in weddings
(15:28):
But I'm not interested in paying
Danny (15:30):
Want to get married again.
Micaela (15:32):
Yeah, that's not going to happen. So where people sort of get panicked is with correct targeting.
(15:40):
And the best way I can think about it is you're not going to go stand at your local. I mean we've got a little event in my town of 5,000 people, great, that's 5,000 people maybe I'll pay 200 pounds and I'll have a little booth on what is it, the last Sunday of the month. And I'll stand there with some flyers and I'll just give them to every single person who walks past. That's basically me just targeting a certain area and saying, do you need a wedding photographer? And they're like, no dear, I'm 72 and my husband's dead. I'm not more target, but I am very active on social media and I do like every single one of your posts. That's kind of what boosting is, what you need to be doing with your targeting. And this is more important on meta than on Google, but on meta, what you need to be doing with your targeting is thinking about it like a wedding fair and making sure that all the people that you're targeting are the types of people who would be at a wedding fair who are not suppliers. So they are engaged at the very least, if you're not targeting directly engaged people, you're targeting people who are not married, which is you're not targeting married, widowed,
(16:45):
I suppose widowed people married, but you're kind of using that demographics, you're targeting people who are within the area that potentially you want to work. Again, it's not going to be precise, but you're essentially creating a little mini virtual wedding fair and there's one booth and that booth is your ad and and that's kind of what you're doing. So you're making sure that all these people that I'm going to stand here if I'm going to spend money or time standing here and handing out flyers about my business to all of these individuals, I need to make sure that they're the right individuals that potentially might be interested in my business. And I've never done a wedding fair, I dunno how much they cost, but I would much rather spend 400 pounds on social media ads and not have to leave my house and have it target the right people than spend 400 to a thousand pounds at a wedding fair on my feet handing out flyers surrounded
Danny (17:38):
By
Micaela (17:38):
Other guest providers,
Danny (17:41):
Two grand
Micaela (17:41):
Grand. I see. I don't even know.
(17:44):
And that brings me on to my last little point and then I will get off my so box, which is that in your business you have a limited amount of resource unless you are a fan of burnout, which I think a lot of us have all been very close to or have experienced in this industry. And so what you need to understand is every decision that you make, especially when it comes to marketing, it's either going to require your time or your money and your time is your money. It is a resource. And so when people say, oh, I would never want to spend any money on social media ads because I get all my bookings for free, I'm going, that's great. But they're costing you time, effort, energy, resource to promote constantly on Instagram to engage with other suppliers on Instagram, to research the right hashtags, to research the correct SEO blog and create it and optimise it.
(18:36):
That is all a form of resource and effort and energy and you need to acknowledge that that is something that is costing you. And at the same time, it might work for you at different times of your life, different times of the year or just for your personality to incorporate paid social advertising or paid search advertising as a part of your marketing strategy or to take over your marketing strategy or in my case at the very least to be present somewhere. Because without things like SEO and paid ads, I mean I think I've posted probably in the last two years, I would be shocked if it was close to 15 posts. In the last two years I've just not been active on social media, but I have still gotten just enough bookings to see me by which is what I wanted at the time. And that's because I kind of was happy to put some money for someone else to do my marketing for me and that someone else just happens to be Mark Zuckerberg.
Jason (19:32):
I think when you know that feeling you get when you post something new for the first time, there's a flu of activity. If you actively target something, you're essentially saying to meta and Google essentially that you want that feeling to just keep going. If you're too busy, you are constantly being seen.
(19:52):
And of course she says something else as well, like targeting your ideal couples. I've seen some wedding films where I look at the couple and I look at the wedding and I go, that should have been an after glow video. I've seen that sometimes because I know my couple and I ask myself, did I do everything I could to be in front of them when they made that decision? And the answer is no, because I wasn't necessarily, I wasn't doing all the steps I could possibly do to be in front of them. I may or may not have got them, but had they seen an advert of my wedding film, maybe they would've chosen me. And of course they got a great wedding film regardless. The wedding film was great, but I know that the kind of the vibe they were going for suits my niche completely. So this is definitely something that I will be working on in the future and I'm excited to have the knowledge of Makayla to sort of just tap into now and again when I need. But obviously at the summit as well, people can come into your stall and just get into a conversation about this, ask any questions they need to know about this because I think we could all do a better job of understanding this
Danny (20:58):
More. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on and I joined this at the summit because we're just super, super excited to have you involved with it.
Jason (21:11):
So also next year, not only is our summit taking place in April, achie, you've got plans for your own summit happening in February, is that right?
Micaela (21:22):
Yes. So I am organising the Set for Success Summit currently sort of page photographers, but there's no reason why videographers would get plenty of value. It is all about the business side of running our wedding businesses and it is bringing together a bunch of people. It is virtual, you can attend in your pyjamas. You don't even have to really attend. You just get access to a bunch of presentations over three days that are free for you to access, free for you to watch for 24 hours. But essentially I am bringing together a bunch of industry people to talk about. So there are three topics. Day one is make more money, so how can you make more money from certain packages? How can you restructure, how can you budget? Lots of things around that day Two is book more weddings. So lots of stuff around marketing.
(22:08):
We'll be chatting to people about TikTok marketing. Let's see if anything resonates and again, that you might want to incorporate in your business going forward in 2025. And then the third day is how to spend less time working on your business. So things like balance, efficiency, workflow. And the idea is that we'll have all these people come together and just like everything that you guys do, pick what resonates, pick what might make sense for your business and try it out and see if you can have a better 2025. I really want a better 2025 for me. And so I'm kind of putting this event on for me. And anybody else who feels a bit lost, feels a bit antsy and would like to kickstart and get set for success in 2025,
Jason (22:48):
Well I'll be there. Yeah, full disclosure, our summit is in person, but if you want to wear your pyjamas, we're not going to kick you out.
Danny (22:54):
We won, but not that sounds amazing. And I think that is the part of, I think when it comes to education, a lot of it can be, it's all motivational and inspirational. And whilst that is great, people just want the practical stuff. They want to go right hundred. If I am, I do not have enough bookings right now, how do I get that's great about mindset and stuff like that, but I need more bookings, I need more money. And what you're talking about at your summit sounds like people will be able to walk away from that and go, right, I'm going to do this and I'm going to try this and see if it works and if it doesn't work, I'm going to try the other thing and try and hopefully make a difference.
Micaela (23:36):
Exactly. There will be one session on speed editing, but beyond that, nothing to do with the creative side of being a photographer. The rest is all to do with business. And I've explicitly banned any presentations on mindset. I am not interested. I don't want any, not that mindset is fluff has its place, but I want practical, useful, tangible tips that we can actually all use to build better businesses.
Jason (24:02):
Yeah,
Micaela (24:02):
Mindset doesn't always pay my bills. Sometimes it might, but most of the time it's just being, just running my business really well is what pays my bills.
Jason (24:10):
Probably going behind the curtain on actionable things that you can do. It's what we all want. It's what we all ask. It's what we all wish everyone would share. So yeah, that sounds great. Where can people find any more information about that or can they follow you just now or
Danny (24:24):
Yeah, where can people find you? McKayla?
Micaela (24:26):
Yes. So as a photographer, if you'd like to see the last two years, 15 posts over the last two years, you can find me at McKayla no h McKayla Carina photography on Instagram. But if you're looking for any of the education stuff that is on get it together.co.uk.
Danny (24:45):
Perfect. Amazing. Cool. Well, thank you again so much for joining us as part of the first TWVS team event. We are so excited to have you on board and yeah, we cannot wait for April and meet you in person. And Jason and I will 100% just be standing about your stall whilst you're talking to people just with our notepads taking notes. Yeah, we definitely need to work on ads and I'm sure we'll be able to take something away, maybe put ads on for the podcast and the event as well.
Jason (25:17):
Yeah, and you'll get to rate our pyjamas too, so it'd be great. I'm definitely
Danny (25:21):
Not wearing pyjamas, so you wear pyjamas all you want.
Micaela (25:26):
That sounds great, guys. Really looking forward to having something in the diary for next year that's also really exciting. So it is going to be a great event and it's so nice to do it in person. I think that is lovely, especially because it's not that far away from me.
Jason (25:40):
No, yeah, you are the only one in Scotland that's sort of on the team, so that's great. Amazing.
Danny (25:47):
Cool. Well, thank you very much for joining us for our very first of the TWVS special episodes. These episodes are going to be distributed a little bit sporadically in the run up to the event, but certainly in the first few weeks we're going to be introducing more of our speakers and more of our industry pros that are going to be at the event. And then as we go along and there's more to announce, we'll update you on a Monday out with the normal schedule.
Jason (26:13):
Look at you getting two episodes a week. I know.
Danny (26:15):
Lucky, lucky people. But McKayla, thank you so much for joining us for our very first one and we can't wait to meet you in person at the event.
Micaela (26:22):
It's going to be great.
Danny (26:23):
It's going to be awesome. Well, I've been Danny,
Jason (26:26):
I've been Jace,
Micaela (26:27):
I've been McKayla.
Jason (26:28):
That's been that wedding video of a podcast. See you next week. See you Thursday. Oh yeah. Shit.