As photographers, we’d love to spend all of our time just photographing and working with our clients. Unfortunately, in 2024, it takes a little more than that to attract new clients to your business, but cultivating a successful marketing mindset doesn’t always feel intuitive to creatives.

So in today’s episode, I’m talking to Carolina Guzik, expert photographer, host of the TOG Republic podcast and marketing genius, to discuss the way she successfully markets her own business. We cover so much ground here, including how we should reframe the way we present our marketing on Google, Pinterest, and social media, how we can use our unique interests to create connections with our clients, and how we’ve got to let go of how we feel about our marketing and use data as our guide instead.

Carolina also reminds us that marketing is a long game with many layers. It’s much more like training for a marathon than a short sprint, so if something doesn’t garner results immediately, that doesn’t mean it’s a failure.

This is such a good episode full of actionable tips. You’re going to love it. Let’s dive in!

What’s in this episode:

• [02:22] The unique experiences that lead Carolina to her photography career
• [04:49] How Carolina stays on top of the marketing for her business
• [08:52] How Caroline plans her ideas for social media and marketing
• [15:18] How Carolina’s love of reality TV helps her market her business
• [22:10] How to boost your social media engagement as a photographer
• [25:05] How to rethink the way you approach SEO and how this applies to both Google and Pinterest
• [33:52] Why Pinterest and marketing for your business in general is a long game that pays off over time (like training for a marathon)
• [40:50] Carolina’s lightning round where she dishes out advice for photographers just starting out and the creative pursuits she’s passionate about right now

Tune in to this episode to learn how you can shift your marketing mindset to attract more clients, both now and in the future.

SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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Meet Carolina Guzik

Carolina has been a Miami wedding photographer for the past 10 years! As she started her business, she quickly realized her degree in Mass Communications & Advertising and her previous work experience working in marketing wasn’t for nothing – the knowledge and experience she had in marketing was equipping her to serve her brand and clients well. A few years back, she created The Tog Republic Podcast because she wanted to share her knowledge of marketing strategies with other photographers. Since then, her podcast has been downloaded over 150k+ times with listeners from over 30 countries. Her goal is to share with you this knowledge, so you too can have a business that you love + supports your lifestyle!

Connect with Carolina Guzik

Visit Carolina’s photography website

Follow Carolina on Instagram

Follow Carolina on Facebook

Follow Carolina on Pinterest

Visit the TOG Republic website

Follow the TOG Republic Facebook page

Follow the TOG Republic on Instagram

Did this episode make you rethink the way you approach marketing your photography business in 2024? Check out this episode Modern Marketing : Sustainable & Authentic Marketing for Your Photography Business with Stacey Owen from Meet Pepper that shares how another photographer markets their business.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Carolina Guzik: Some of the things that are good for any market is the best locations in your city for family sessions. What to wear for summer, spring, winter sessions. Those are like important keywords. So once you have that information, you can take a look at your sessions and see, well, this session of the Smith family is going to be fantastic for this topic.

[00:00:24] So I’m going to use their images and I’m going to blog about this topic that has nothing to do technically with them, but it has everything to do with my future client. Remember the Smiths already paid you. They moved on. We already delivered the photos. They’re happy. You don’t have to make them extra happy per se.

[00:00:43] What you need to do is go and get that future client using those images.

[00:00:51] Lisa DiGeso: Welcome to the Art and Soul Show, where we dive into heart opening chats on photography, business, life, and that messy in [00:01:00] between. I’m your host, Lisa DiGeso, a mom, a photographer, and entrepreneur. And I’ll be sharing honest conversations and advice for photographers, with insight on mindset, entrepreneurship, and creativity.

[00:01:13] The goal of this podcast is for you to be able to gain insights and strategies that will get you real results, because let’s face it, having a photography business can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be, this is the place you can go when you need a boost of encouragement, a kick in the pants. and inspiration to pick up your camera.

[00:01:32] This is the Art and Soul show. Hello, my beautiful friends. Welcome back to the show today. I am super excited to dive in to this conversation with Carolina Guzik. She’s a Miami based wedding photographer and host of the tug Republic podcast. I love getting to chat with other podcasters and I knew when I stumbled on her, we had to get her on the show.

[00:01:54] So without further ado, here’s Carolina. Welcome. Yeah, welcome. I mean, welcome? No. [00:02:00] You’re so used to hosting. I get that. I do that, too. I’m like, welcome to my show. I love it. That’s exactly what I do, too. All good. All good. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. I love it. I can tell we’re already going to have a good time.

[00:02:16] I hope so. So tell us who you are and what you’re really passionate about. 

[00:02:22] Carolina Guzik: Okay, so I am a dog owner, I am a wife, I am a fan of reality TV, and I’m also a photographer. Yeah, I’ve been doing it for, I think, 15 years. I remember going full time in 2000 and 10. Is that correct? I don’t know which year I am. So it’s been like, it’s been a long time.

[00:02:45] And I love it. I went to school for mass communication and advertising. So one thing led to another and I became a photographer. I started as a family photographer. I said, I’m never going to be a wedding photographer. Do not want [00:03:00] to do that. And here I am today. I am. A wedding photographer that sometimes photographs families.

[00:03:06] I love that. 

[00:03:07] Lisa DiGeso: I love that. I started in 2010 myself, but I am a maternity newborn 

[00:03:12] Carolina Guzik: and I 

[00:03:12] Lisa DiGeso: completely like that’s my niche. I do a little, I dabble in a little family, but give me the bellies and the babies like all day long. I’ll 

[00:03:19] Carolina Guzik: send them to you all day long. That’s the only thing. I do maternities every now and then, but like the baby situation, love them, love a cute baby.

[00:03:28] I, I think that you really need To be extremely talented to photograph newborns. I do what it’s called lifestyle sessions when the baby’s like three months old, but, but yeah, no, those cute little, you know, burrito babies, as I call them. You can’t do. 

[00:03:45] Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. Oh yeah. I’m post photographer through and through and.

[00:03:48] I’ve only photographed two weddings in my life and I will never again. They’re so much easier than babies. What are you talking about? Oh, is that funny? I was like, well, I used to be a wedding [00:04:00] planner. Oh, that makes sense. Right. And so I dealt with, I used to work for university and I would have at least five weddings going on on every weekend.

[00:04:08] And then after that I became a makeup artist. So I did wedding makeup. And then, so when I became a photographer, And my friends were like, obviously you’re going to do weddings and I’m like, no, obviously I’m done. Right? Don’t blame you. Don’t blame you. I love it. So I want to talk a little bit about creativity, but also using your creativity with your business and your marketing side, especially when it comes to content creation for social media and other platforms, because it honestly, it kind of just feels like it’s never ending.

[00:04:40] And do you have any strategies or maybe any approaches so it doesn’t feel quite as daunting? I don’t. This is the end of the podcast. 

[00:04:49] Carolina Guzik: The end. Goodbye. It was nice chatting with all of you. No, I’m kidding. I mean, I think that you do need to be organized, right? So, like, I do have a calendar where [00:05:00] I say, like, Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays I am posting on my social media.

[00:05:04] What that post is going to be. I don’t know what kind of content is going to be. I don’t know. I do it weekly. I know people that are extremely organized and they can do a whole month. That for me, for my personality seems a little bit too overwhelming. And if I get overwhelmed, I don’t get to do anything.

[00:05:23] And then that becomes a horrible cycle where I don’t promote my business. So I figure it out. Mondays is the day where I Brainstorm what I plan and when I schedule what I’m gonna do for the week. Awesome So that’s one thing that I think it’s important for people you try to take on a lot. You’re gonna get overwhelmed You’re not gonna do it.

[00:05:45] So the easiest thing is to break down the task now today we have so many things right because Three years ago was just like, Oh, we’re posting on social media. Now the term of like content creation has like entered the [00:06:00] photography industry. And it’s not only about like those beautiful photos that we have to showcase, but it’s like the behind the scenes, the process.

[00:06:08] And that seems very tedious for a lot of people. And I’m not here to sugarcoat it. It is. A little bit tedious. Okay, good. Cause I feel that way. It is a lot. And I think that we need to like pace ourselves. I myself, I think that I’m really good at creating content with what I have already. For example, my photos, right?

[00:06:29] Yeah. Edited, beautiful. I can create a blog post. I’m okay creating carousels on Instagram. Now I’m getting into maybe a little bit of the behind the scenes. To be honest, hasn’t been really easy for me because when I am, for example, at a wedding. My main focus is the couple. I’m not there to create content for myself, but I also understand that other couples want to see behind the scenes.

[00:06:54] So I am just, you know, venturing a little bit into this new [00:07:00] extra content that I’ll have to create for my brand. 

[00:07:02] Lisa DiGeso: You hit the nail on the head because I think that is the struggle for so many photographers is we’re supposed to be in the moment doing what we do best, but then we have this sort of shadow lingering in the background like, Oh, I need to be doing and making sure this is being recorded.

[00:07:16] So I have something to share on social media, which can definitely take you out of your zone of genius, which is creating, doing what you’re supposed to do. And I think that like, I love that you mentioned this because it’s something that I do with my newborn sessions. I love having the behind the scenes after, but.

[00:07:32] When I’m in the moment, it sometimes takes me out of what I’m doing when I know that there’s a camera recording me. 

[00:07:38] Carolina Guzik: I also don’t want my clients to feel that I am there to create content for my business. I think that’s, that as a client will give me the eek. Like you’re here for yourself, but I pay you.

[00:07:49] Why are you doing this? So I think that a very thin line gets to be walked. And I think that If you plan ahead, if you have somebody, like what I’m thinking about doing [00:08:00] is I already spoke to a girl that is really good at behind the scenes. And I said, I think I want to bring you on to weddings to capture not only behind the scenes of Carolina, but also the couple.

[00:08:12] But before I do that, I want to ask my couples if they’re okay with that, because I cannot assume that they’re going to be okay with somebody filming them. I myself, I project a lot of like my personal Maybe insecurities into my clients. I wouldn’t like somebody filming me without me knowing what’s happening.

[00:08:31] Yeah. So maybe, maybe that’s a Carolina problem that I need to address, but for me moving forward with like this new idea of content creation, I would get permission from my clients to do that. 

[00:08:43] Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. I love that. So when it comes, you mentioned that you do brainstorming sessions usually on Monday. So how do you approach the planning those ideas for your social media?

[00:08:52] Carolina Guzik: I am very methodical and I am very type A. So like if I have a plan, I know I can stick to it. So many years ago [00:09:00] I decided that for my business, I was going to talk about three things, right? Like my business, obviously, but I also want a little bit of like, personality into what I create. So another pillar that I talk a lot about is my dog, my yoga practice and my love for reality TV.

[00:09:19] So when I am thinking about scheduling my, for example, Instagram posts, even though all of them are, you know, if you go to my Instagram, there is no like, Pictures of me per se, it’s all clients, but in the content, in the description, it’s like, what am I going to be talking about? So sometimes I’m like, okay, today I’m going to talk about, you know, a vendor that I love.

[00:09:41] So I’m going to showcase my vendor. The next post is going to be images of my clients, but I’m going to be talking maybe about the latest reality TV show. And then the next one is going to be again, a picture of perhaps of my couples, but I’m going to. Talk a little bit about my personal life and how, you know, that connects with like me being their photographer.[00:10:00] 

[00:10:00] Right. So for example, I would say like, here is a picture of Tommy and Max and their dog, Simon. And I love dogs, my dog, Olaf. And if you own a dog and you want photos of them, let’s get in touch. I mean, obviously I would craft a better description, but you know, along those lines. So I have my pillars of content, which would be like my clients, my vendors, My yoga practice, my reality TV shows and my dog.

[00:10:28] And then when I’m looking at photos, I’m like, how could I involve any of these topics in that image? 

[00:10:34] Lisa DiGeso: So do you have any advice on someone who maybe doesn’t have pillars and is like, what are my pillars? Like I am so boring. Like nobody cares what I’ve had for lunch. Right. And you’re approaching it from that way.

[00:10:44] So how do you figure out what your pillars are? 

[00:10:47] Carolina Guzik: So I think it’s important to understand that. I mean, now on social media, we have like. Oh, you need to be vulnerable for people to, and I am extremely private. I’ve been married for over 20 years. And just [00:11:00] recently people were like, I didn’t know you were married because I never talk about things like that.

[00:11:03] So you don’t have to disclose things that are very private to you. But as you mentioned, we all have our little things that we think that they’re so vain and that nobody cares about when in reality there’s people that perhaps care about, maybe you are an introvert and you love reading. You can talk about the books that you’re reading.

[00:11:22] You can showcase a little bit more of that. Perhaps you like to talk a lot about your clients because maybe they’re very nervous the day of the session or they have insecurities and you’re really, really good and calming down their insecurities. So talk about that. Perhaps let’s say as a family photographer, you are also a mom and you understand how challenging it is to get your kids looking all pretty out of the door.

[00:11:47] And maybe you can talk about like, Hey, your family photos don’t need to be all perfection. It is okay. If you know, the kids run wild a little bit, because that is reality. So, you know, talking about those things are important. Again, if you’re [00:12:00] super private, let me think about what would you share with somebody sitting on a plane right next to you?

[00:12:05] Oh, that’s a problem. Talking about my dog, yoga and reality TV. Talk your ear off about those things. And again, I’m not sharing anything that I don’t feel comfortable sharing. I don’t like to be pushed into like, oh, you need to be vulnerable for the sake of being vulnerable. No. 

[00:12:19] Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. 

[00:12:20] Carolina Guzik: You, you just have to honor what you’re comfortable sharing.

[00:12:24] Lisa DiGeso: I love that because I think, you know, with all the Brene Brown things that we’ve had over the past 10 years, that sometimes vulnerability and oversharing. Yeah. And you know, like you’re being vulnerable, but also sometimes you’re just like, wow, that was maybe too much. Like maybe you should have kept that a little close to the heart or, and I see, I always have worried about myself too.

[00:12:48] I’m married. I rarely talk about my husband or my family on social media. I’m quite private and it’s, I, that’s something that I’ve always struggled with is like, how much do I share of my own very personal life? [00:13:00] Because I want, I want people to know, like, trust me, but I also want to maintain. The privacy for them.

[00:13:06] Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:13:07] Carolina Guzik: And again, 

[00:13:07] Lisa DiGeso: I don’t think 

[00:13:08] Carolina Guzik: there’s a right or wrong things because sometimes I see people sharing a lot and for me, that’s like, Oh, that’s a lot, but for somebody else might be, Oh, I love that you shared that. So I think you just have to do what feels comfortable for you. Yeah. 

[00:13:22] Lisa DiGeso: I love 

[00:13:22] Carolina Guzik: that.

[00:13:22] Also, how is that going to move your business? Right? Because if you’re sharing something that yes, it’s very, you know, private to you. I mean, it’s, it’s a very sweet thing. Dance that you need to do. Like, how is this going to advance my business or, you know. Or am I just sharing this for the sake of sharing it?

[00:13:39] Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. It’s like, should I maybe have coffee with a girlfriend or should I put 

[00:13:43] Carolina Guzik: this online? And sometimes it doesn’t even have to make sense. Like I talk again, a lot about reality TV and people will say like, okay, Carolina, how is that advancing your business? And the reality is that my DMs get absolutely crazy when I talk about reality TV because I know my ideal client [00:14:00] is into those shows.

[00:14:01] So there I am creating trust by talking about something that we both like. Yeah. For other people, it might be like, that makes no sense. But a lot of my clients are like, Oh my God, I love that you, that we watch the housewives together and we can talk about that. So little silly things like that. 

[00:14:19] Lisa DiGeso: Are you 

[00:14:19] Carolina Guzik: watching Love is Blind Reunion tonight?

[00:14:21] Of course I am! Every single season, I’m like, I’m never watching this again. This is absolutely trash. And here I am. Here I am. I don’t even know what happens. Exactly. I’m learning Swedish, uh, just because I love a lot of, like, Swedish TV. So I’m like, I want to learn Swedish. And then Love is Blind Sweden came up and I’m like, well, I need to practice my Swedish.

[00:14:44] Well, I’ve 

[00:14:45] Lisa DiGeso: heard it’s been dubbed in English, but I’ve heard it’s actually better if you watch it in its natural form because everybody’s voices are their real voices. 

[00:14:53] Carolina Guzik: That should be horrible to hear it in English. I’m going to go and play it just now. But like when I watch something [00:15:00] from another language, like I like to watch it in their native language with subtitles.

[00:15:04] Yes. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I love it. 

[00:15:06] Lisa DiGeso: So storytelling has really been a big buzzword in marketing for the past few years, especially in content creation. So do you have any thoughts on incorporating maybe storytelling techniques into your posts and social media? 

[00:15:18] Carolina Guzik: Absolutely. I mean, but then again, I feel like a storytelling is a word that obviously there is a description on the dictionary, but I also feel that is very.

[00:15:27] Personal to your brand, right? I could see somebody else’s post and be like, this is doing nothing for me because I am not the right audience for that post. And I could see vice versa with my own, you know, post, but I do believe that you should, whatever your topic is or whatever your audience is. there should be a beginning, a middle and an end.

[00:15:47] People should be like, Oh, tell me more. Oh my God, this is really exciting. And they’re like a call to action to close that kind of like storytelling. Uh, it happens many, many often, for example, I follow, you know, because of the [00:16:00] talk with public, I follow a lot of photographers and sometimes I like, I start a story, right?

[00:16:04] Like an Instagram story where they’re like taking me along into like a photo shoot. And they’re like, there’s like two stories, right? I’m like, Oh, I’m excited. I want to see what happens. And that’s it. It drops. I’m like, what is the conclusion of this? I need to know what happened. So, so whatever that is, I do believe that whoever is reading or watching your stories or flipping to your carousels should feel like, Oh, there’s a beginning, a middle and an end.

[00:16:30] And again, this sounds very vague, but I don’t think there is like a X, Y, and Z to follow. I think that is more personal to what you have, but you should always be checking like. Did I tell the whole story with this post? Did I leave my audience wanting more? Cause that’s always exciting, right? Like not wanting more as in like, you didn’t finish the story, but like, this was so good.

[00:16:52] I want to know what like the next story is going to be. So, you know, you get people engaged. That’s at the end of the goal. That’s what we want. What people with [00:17:00] eyes on our brand engage, wanting to know more, wanting to know what’s going to happen next. Maybe that’s where I love reality TV so much because I’m like, I want to know what’s happening.

[00:17:10] I love 

[00:17:10] Lisa DiGeso: that. I actually had a really big epiphany when it came to social media recently with a conversation with a friend of mine, because my target market is specifically maternity, newborn family photographers. So she was telling me, she’s like, I love watching your stories, Lise, but you’re always talking and there’s no like captions.

[00:17:29] And she’s like, a lot of the time, I’m like, That I’m feeding my baby or I’m trying to be really quiet and I’m trying to get just that time in while baby’s sleeping and I don’t have volume on. So if you have the captions or, and I don’t, like, so I was like, that’s brilliant. I never thought of that. That is a Cardi L scene, Liz.

[00:17:45] Right? I didn’t know it. Didn’t know it. I was like, oh my gosh. So, and also, I was under the assumption that no one actually read what I was writing. I thought no one was reading my stories anyway. And she said, no. She’s like, if anything, write [00:18:00] the entire story. She’s like, figure out how many characters you can actually have and fill the whole thing and see what happens.

[00:18:05] And the crazy part is, is so I did an experiment. I put a picture of myself and then I wrote a story about sort of my journey and what has been happening in my life over the past year. And it is like the most commented, most liked post I’ve had in at least 10 years. Like, it blows my mind. People love it.

[00:18:26] Carolina Guzik: Yeah. So, okay. So, one of the things that you should do when you’re creating stories, especially on Instagram, captions is always a must. Yeah. And it’s so easy. It’s not like you have to write it. No. It’s like, automatically. Like, it just posts. There are some countries that don’t have captions. Oh. So, that I understand.

[00:18:42] There is people like, if you are based, for example, I have friends in Sweden, they don’t have captions. Wow. Didn’t know that. you don’t have captions, you should at least give me the bullet points of what you’re talking about. Because not everybody is listening and not everybody is, so a lot of people are watching stories at [00:19:00] work.

[00:19:00] They’re not supposed to have the volume on. So, you know, give them like a reason to connect. Another thing that I do a lot is on my stories, even if I’m like right now, right now you can see that I’m in my house, I’m not gonna put what I leave, but if I’m talking about a wedding, I’m going to geotag of the venue.

[00:19:18] So when somebody is looking at that venue, my story is going to show up. So that’s always a plus. Another thing that is really good is to tag people. So maybe they can repost their story if it’s like a public profile. So there is many ways to like, within what you can do to amplify. You reach per se. Yeah.

[00:19:38] Have you done much on TikTok? I am not on TikTok at all. No. And the reason why is because I don’t enjoy creating that kind of content. I don’t enjoy creating reels. I don’t enjoy a lot of the dancing and I know TikTok is more than dancing, but in general, like I don’t enjoy that type of content. So one of the things that I have set up [00:20:00] for myself and for my brand is I’m only going to create content where I enjoy creating content, because if not, it’s going to become a tedious task that I’m going to drag.

[00:20:11] And if I drag it, I’m not going to do it. And I don’t want to have a profile that is empty on TikTok. If people was like, Oh my God, look at Carolina on TikTok. Oh, there is nothing. They’re going to be like, maybe she’s out of business. So I don’t want that. 

[00:20:22] Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. That’s a really good point. I love that. So we don’t have to be everywhere, but we do have to be 

[00:20:26] Carolina Guzik: where it matters and where we are feeling comfortable creating content.

[00:20:30] Now, do I love blogging? Not really. It is a pain, but I love the results that it brings to my business. So I make an effort into creating, you know, blog posts. So not everything has to 

[00:20:42] Lisa DiGeso: be that you love it, but it has to make sense for your business. So let’s talk about consistency and the power of consistency, because I think that’s one thing is like.

[00:20:52] You start doing it, you get really excited about it, life happens, and then it slips off for like three or four months. So, if you haven’t been consistent, how do you get back into [00:21:00] it? You have to schedule 

[00:21:01] Carolina Guzik: things. Yeah. It comes down to like putting it on your calendar. Do I like to write a blog post? No. It’s on my calendar, three hours a week, that is just for writing.

[00:21:10] Whether I have an idea or not, I have to sit down for those three hours and figure it out. Yeah. I put my phone away. Okay. I feel sometimes, not I feel like in my mind, like I can change perceptions really easily. So I’m like, I am at a job and I have a boss. And if I don’t get this done, I’m going to get fired.

[00:21:29] So chop chop, get to it. 

[00:21:31] Lisa DiGeso: Totally. Or if you’re thinking of it like, you know, it’s just necessary even though you don’t enjoy it. Like my son hates brushing his teeth and I hate it, but that’s what we do every night. We brush your teeth before bed, right? Exactly. So it’s like brushing your business teeth, I guess.

[00:21:46] Carolina Guzik: It is. It is. If you just wait for inspiration to arrive or if you wait for like the right moment, nothing’s going to get done because inspiration really never arrives, to be honest. Exactly. It’s like a muscle. You have to work it. [00:22:00] 

[00:22:00] Lisa DiGeso: So we hear a lot from photographers that they are posting consistently, but they’re lacking in engagement.

[00:22:05] So do you have any strategies on engagement boosting types of posts? Okay. 

[00:22:10] Carolina Guzik: So like technically boosting, I don’t boost, like I don’t pay for my engagement, but if you paid and it works for you, good for you, you have to do what works for your business. What I do for my. my engagement. Let’s say let’s talk about Instagram because that’s where I am a lot.

[00:22:25] I post Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Generally speaking, after I post, I create a set of Instagram stories talking about the post. For wedding photographers, it’s really easy because we have 10 vendors that were a part of the wedding, right? So when you describe what happened at the wedding, Tag all the vendors, you know, it’s good juju, you know, you’re showcasing them.

[00:22:50] If they see your photo, most likely they’re going to repost it. Now we have collaboration. So if you’re a family photographer and your client has given you, you know, the [00:23:00] green light, invite the parents to the post to collaborate. What it means is like, they will get a notification. And if they accept the photo appears on their feed.

[00:23:09] So all their audience now sees that photo and they like and comment on the photo. So that amplifies your reach for wedding photographers. You have 15 people that you can, you know, tag on your post. And I think it’s like a max of five or six that you can collaborate. So you can do that. Then I create Instagram stories about it.

[00:23:29] Then because I don’t post on Tuesdays, for example, and the majority of the times I create carousels, because I think that’s what my audience enjoys the most. And it’s also really good for storytelling, right? I can post 10 photos and I’m telling the story of a wedding day or a family session. On Tuesday, I go and I talk again about perhaps the photos that I didn’t highlight, right?

[00:23:50] I go to like the middle of my carousel and I’m like, Hey guys, you know, look at this photos, whatever. All right. If I create a blog post, I publish the blog post. Then I go [00:24:00] into social media to talk about the blog post. Now, the thing with social media is that people have the fear that they’re like showing up too often.

[00:24:08] They’re like, Oh my God, but I talk about this already. What are people going to say? Nobody’s remembering what they saw this morning. So you can talk about it again tomorrow and the day after and nobody’s keeping tabs on you. And if they’re keeping tabs on you, good. That’s also good. So for blog posts, I promote them the week, you know, that I.

[00:24:26] Let’s say publish that blog post and two months later I come back and I read talk about this and I do this over and over again throughout the year. So I am not shy about talking about my business and I think it pays off. People listening to this, you need to embrace that because if you don’t talk about your business, nobody else will.

[00:24:47] So you have to get over the fear of like, Oh my God, people already saw me or people I already talk about this session. Do it again. Repetition leads to success. I don’t think that’s the actual quote, [00:25:00] but it’s, you know, that’s the sentiment. I love it. 

[00:25:02] Lisa DiGeso: It works. 

[00:25:04] Carolina Guzik: Yeah. 

[00:25:05] Lisa DiGeso: I love it. So let’s talk a little bit about SEO, search engine optimization.

[00:25:09] So what are some key SEO tactics photographers can implement to improve their visibility and ranking on search engines? Alrighty. So SEO 

[00:25:18] Carolina Guzik: is not even a marathon. That’s a triathlon. It’s a lot, it’s a lot of work and it takes like a long time to start ranking, but you have to start, right? If you’re going to start today, you’re not going to be ranking a year from today.

[00:25:32] So a couple of the things that people should be focusing on is relevant keywords. What do I mean by that? You might be thinking that your keyword is, and I see this a lot in Photographers, like storyteller for, you know, contemporary families. What is that supposed to mean? Nobody’s Googling for that. Make it simple.

[00:25:52] Do some good keyword research and start using keywords that actually matter. Second thing, the images that [00:26:00] people are uploading into their blog post or website are really big. Obviously as photographers, we want the images to look crisp and beautiful, but the larger the image is. It’s going to slow the website and Google doesn’t like websites that are slow.

[00:26:15] So you need to compress those images. So for example, I export my images at 2, 500 pixels and even after that the image is still too big. So then I run it through a program that is called when it compressed the image so much that is so little. In size, but on my website looks beautiful. So compress all your images.

[00:26:39] That will be my second advice. Third advice is that Google. likes text, but you don’t have to write a seven, eight hundred, you know, words essay for your family session, but you do have to answer some questions that perhaps your future clients have. I think the mistake that we all make is that we, let’s say, [00:27:00] because the majority of your audience is family photographers, right?

[00:27:02] Yeah. So let’s say they photograph this beautiful family and then they blog about it and it’s like, Oh, the Smith family, they were so nice and so amazing. And we had a great time. Okay, well, first of all, nobody’s Googling who the Smiths are, so you need to give me something that people are actually Googling.

[00:27:19] Best location in California for a family session. What to do with kids that don’t cooperate during a family session. What to wear for a family session in the summer. And then you use the images that you took of the Smiths. to write that article, right? So those are like three good components, but most importantly, patience, because SEO is a huge 

[00:27:44] Lisa DiGeso: thing that takes time.

[00:27:47] Now, what if someone that has not been blogging for a while or they want to start blogging? Where do they begin? Especially if they’ve got like a, a number of, of sessions in the past, should they be blogging past sessions or should they just like [00:28:00] draw a line and start? I think that the first thing they 

[00:28:02] Carolina Guzik: should do is a list of like, what are their future clients interested in?

[00:28:06] What are the future clients looking for? What’s important for future clients, right? We’re not talking about Susie and Max. They’re lovely. They paid you already. Goodbye, right? It’s the next client. What are they interested in? Once you have that list, you’re going to Google and see if people are actually asking for those things.

[00:28:24] Some of the things that are good for any market is the best locations in your city for family sessions. What to wear for family sessions. Summer, spring, winter sessions. Those are like important keywords. So once you have that information, you can take a look at your sessions and see, well, this session of the Smith family is going to be fantastic for this topic.

[00:28:48] So I’m going to use their images and I’m going to blog about this topic that has nothing to do technically. With them, but it has everything to do with my future client. [00:29:00] Remember the Smith already paid you, they moved on. They’re already, you know, you’re ready and deliver the photos are happy. You don’t have to make them extra happy per se.

[00:29:08] What you need to do is go and get that future client using those images. How many images are you using in a blog post? Storytelling. So it really depends, but I would say for family sessions, a solid 15 images should be enough. You don’t want to give them so many images that they get overwhelmed. You also don’t want to give them just two images that they’re like, I need to see more, right?

[00:29:31] Is this a full gallery? Exactly. You need to give them a good amount of images for them to be like, this is what I want. Let me contact this person. 

[00:29:40] Lisa DiGeso: I love it. So it’s like a showcase. Exactly. Yes. 

[00:29:43] Carolina Guzik: And give me different things. Cause I also see with a lot of family sessions that they give me like a photo of like the whole family looking at the camera and the next photo is like exactly the same photo, but like everybody’s looking at little Jimmy.

[00:29:55] Yeah. No. Give me just one. Pick one and then give me like a complete different photo [00:30:00] next because as a future client, I want to see diversity, not only in, you know, portfolio, but also in poses and things like that. So show me different things. 

[00:30:09] Lisa DiGeso: Love that. That’s great advice. So let’s shift our focus a little bit to talk about Pinterest.

[00:30:13] So I know that you love chatting about that. So what are some best practices for photographers to optimize their Pinterest profile and boards for maximum visibility and engagement? Thanks 

[00:30:23] Carolina Guzik: Pinterest is a search engine platform. So exactly the same concepts that apply for SEO, we’re going to use them on Pinterest.

[00:30:31] First mistake that I see people doing on Pinterest is they are just linking images to the homepage. Let’s back this up. In Pinterest, you upload images. Every image has to have a URL that, you know, that image goes to that URL. So let’s say that I’m Googling for maternity sessions in Vancouver, and I find your photos and I click on that photo.

[00:30:54] Like I opened the photo on Pinterest and it’s this beautiful location. This mom looks [00:31:00] fantastic. And I want to see more of that. And I click on it. And now that image has sent me to your homepage. Maybe your homepage is just newborns. So now I’m lost as a future client, right? I’m like, Okay, cute newborns.

[00:31:13] Eventually I’m going to need photos of a newborn, but right now I need a maternity session. The mentality of a lot of photographers is like, well, if they love what they see, they’re going to search for it. And I’m here to tell you that in Pinterest, it’s not a branded search. People are not searching for Karolina Gusik.

[00:31:30] They’re not searching for Pepita Perez. They’re not searching for like a specific name, right? They’re just searching for a maternity session. So once they land on your website and they only see, let’s say newborns. They’re gonna be digging for your maternity tab and to find that blog post where that beautiful woman is being showcased.

[00:31:49] So what you need to do is You need to incorporate your blogging into your Pinterest strategy. So once again, maternity sessions in Vancouver, I find a beautiful [00:32:00] lady that looks fantastic. I’m like, Oh my God, I want to, I want more. I click on that image and that image sends me to a blog post where those images are being showcased.

[00:32:10] And maybe that blog post is like the best locations in Vancouver for a maternity session or what to wear to look like a goddess on your maternity session or the best ones. To do a maternity session when you’re pregnant. You see, those are three questions that people perhaps have about a maternity session.

[00:32:26] Now you’re giving me answers with beautiful images. So you’re solving two problems in one. Now you’re convincing me that you’re the right photographer for me. And you’re also giving me security because I’m like, Oh, this person is really an expert. 

[00:32:39] Lisa DiGeso: That’s great advice. Yes. Is there any specific content that you find performs best for photographers when it comes to Pinterest?

[00:32:48] Well, for me, because I’m a wedding photographer, 

[00:32:50] Carolina Guzik: majority, a lot of like decoration does really, really well. A lot of the, I still have family sessions in my Pinterest and the ones that do best [00:33:00] are things that are like a lot of inspirational, right? Like styling. Yeah. Like a really beautiful birthday party or a really beautiful, you know, should, those do really, really well, because again, I am tracking my keywords.

[00:33:16] What are those keywords? Right? Like birthday parties in the summer so that, you know, whatever blog post I have that is doing really, really well. So make sure that you are tracking your keywords and you’re giving content that people want. In Pinterest it’s really easy because you go to the search bar and you just type maternity sessions Vancouver and it’s going to give you seven different things that people are looking.

[00:33:40] Yeah. So use those leads and create content that matches that lead. 

[00:33:45] Lisa DiGeso: Love that. That’s great. So do you really incorporate Pinterest into your overall marketing strategy as well? It is. 

[00:33:52] Carolina Guzik: This is the important thing that we need to understand. Obviously the goal of marketing is to get you clients, right?

[00:33:59] That’s what we want, [00:34:00] but that is like the end end goal. I’m going to give you an analogy. When people train for the Olympics, the Olympics happen every four years. They’re not just training six months prior to the Olympics, right? They’re training four years before the Olympics, right? And between getting to the Olympics and the first day they start training, there are going to be other competitions that they need to perform really well.

[00:34:24] Same thing happened with marketing for your photography business. The end goal will be the Olympics will be to get the client, but between you, you know, start marketing and the client, there’s other things that could happen. If we just think about the client at the end of the day, we’re going to get really disappointed because we’re going to do a lot of things that we perhaps don’t see, get a client in return.

[00:34:44] We’re going to be like, Oh, I’m not going to do that because that doesn’t give me clients. So what I want you to do is to break down what you are doing and the platforms you are using into like a smaller goal. For example, for me, SEO means that I’m going to get more [00:35:00] eyes on my brand. That’s what I need. I need eyes on my website.

[00:35:04] So when I check my analytics every month and I see that I have X amount of visitors to my website, I can assess if my SEO efforts are being good or bad, and then I can readjust. So for my Pinterest strategy is to get people out of Pinterest into my website. If I do that every month, I know that I’m doing a good job.

[00:35:26] Now you might ask, okay, but what about the client? Well, that’s a different task. Now my website has a different job, which is like whole people on my website for an X amount of time over one minute. If every month I check my website and people are leaving before reaching one minute, I know that I need to fix my website.

[00:35:46] And then that will lead, you know, to like the next step that will be like a contact form and then a discovery call and then decline. So many, many steps. So when I incorporate by Pinterest for me, it’s really important because I need eyes on my brand. So [00:36:00] the first thing that I do is SEO. So that’s the first task that I do that gets a lot of eyes on my brand.

[00:36:06] The second thing is Pinterest. So I put a lot of effort into my Pinterest. I check by analytics every month, because once again, I want to see how many people are actually leaving Pinterest. Going into my website, where are they staying and all that. Once I have the data, I can make changes. What happens a lot in photography is that we let feelings dictate what we’re going to do next.

[00:36:31] And that could be very tricky because feelings are not real. You can either be like, Oh, this is not working. Or you can be like, I had a great time on TikTok because I had all this, whatever. And then. If you don’t know exactly what your strategy is, that can distract you. So for me, Pinterest is a strategy that I use a lot because it incorporates with my blogging strategy.

[00:36:53] So that is really, really important to me. Now, is it easy? Technically it [00:37:00] is. You just upload images and write descriptions. Is it time consuming? It is. And people get frustrated because they say, well, I pinned 10 images and I didn’t get any results. Okay, you pin 10 images. When did you pin them? How did you pin them?

[00:37:17] Did you use the right keywords? Did you use the right descriptions? When I do like Pinterest audit for people, they’re like, it’s not working. I’m like, it’s not working because one, you’re not pinning enough. You’re not using keywords that people are searching for, and you’re sending people to your homepage.

[00:37:33] Pinterest is a search engine platform. You, people are asking for a specific thing. You need to give them the specific answer. Yeah. So we need to analyze all those things before we make decisions to see if something is working or not. 

[00:37:46] Lisa DiGeso: I love that. That is such, such good advice. Cause I think that’s, uh, Pinterest is not really something that’s talked in the photography industry as being something that we can use to our advantage as photographers.

[00:37:57] So there really aren’t that many photographers that [00:38:00] are doing it. 

[00:38:00] Carolina Guzik: That’s why I have a class. You can get it. And also another thing that is important to understand is like, But again, timing, I think that Instagram has joined our brains with like immediate likes, immediate comments, right? We want that like in the moment.

[00:38:15] Pinterest can take six to eight months to leave results. So once again, you need to be consistent and 

[00:38:23] Lisa DiGeso: you need to be patient. I think one thing we often hear in a lot of our groups is that I don’t have time to work on my business because I’m working in my business, doing editing and emails and all the things growing the business ends up being sort of on the back plate and doesn’t ever get done.

[00:38:42] So do you have any advice talking on that? Scheduling? 

[00:38:47] Carolina Guzik: You have to, I mean, you have to, once you have to realize that that’s what you’re doing, right? At least you have to acknowledge. So it’s like, okay, I’m working in my business, but not on my business. How can I fix this? So the first. Thing is [00:39:00] acceptance.

[00:39:00] Also, you need to give yourself grace because I think that people also be like, Oh, now I need to work on Pinterest and I need to blog. Oh my God. No, just take a deep breath and we just got to do one thing at a time. For Pinterest to work, you do need to have a blog. So let’s start with blogging. So with that easy breezy, and then you start incorporating everything else.

[00:39:22] You should ask for help, right? If you can afford a VA, if you can delegate, those are things that, you know, that will be very helpful for you. But if you cannot afford a VA right now, then you need to schedule your time better. One thing that I learned in a timing class that I took long ago was like assign a theme to your days.

[00:39:45] So for example, I have my podcast, which is the talk Republic, and I have Carolina go seek photography. I know that on Thursdays is my podcast day. That’s when I record my episodes. That’s when I write the content for my [00:40:00] episodes. So I know that day is only for podcasting. Now, do I honor that every single week?

[00:40:07] Sometimes I don’t, but at least I try to like have something very, very Clear that on Thursdays is podcast day. If you are a family photographer and you want to start working on your business, then for example, say Mondays is the day that I’m going to think about networking. I’m going to send those emails that I need for networking.

[00:40:28] I’m going to do a blog post once a month. You don’t need to blog every week. Once a month, I’m going to do a blog post, but on Mondays is when I’m going to think about the topics that I’m going to write about, I’m going to do my keyword search, maybe on Mondays, I also create two images for Pinterest, you know, little by little, we don’t have to like get overwhelmed, but we do have to have a little bit of a structure.

[00:40:50] Lisa DiGeso: I love that. Oh, great advice, Caroline. Thank you. I love this conversation. Thank you. Love it. I love it. Okay, well, we’re going to head into our lightning round a little [00:41:00] bit, if you’re okay with that. Oh, okay. Sure. Let’s do this. If you like to cook, what do you like to cook the most? 

[00:41:05] Carolina Guzik: I love to cook, I call it chicken cacciatore.

[00:41:09] I don’t think it’s called chicken cacciatore, but it’s like a chicken stew with a lot of vegetables. That is my favorite thing to cook. I love it. Okay. Oceans or mountains and why? Both. Yeah, I live by the ocean, so like I take it for granted, and I just love the mountains. Like I love a good sweater, I look, I love a good, like a smell of pine tree.

[00:41:29] Love it. Favorite guilty or not so guilty pleasure? Oh, reality TV. Reality TV. No shame on that. I 

[00:41:37] Lisa DiGeso: love it. What three 

[00:41:38] Carolina Guzik: things do you want to be remembered for? That I’m kind, that I tell really good stories and, uh, and that I cook a good chicken cacciatore, I love it. I love reality TV. I know that’s engraved in people that know me.

[00:41:54] They’re like currently, you know, so funny because I go to, I’ll go to a lot of networking events. And people is [00:42:00] like, this is Carolina Gosek. She’s a fantastic wedding photographer. Do you like reality TV? You need to watch her stories. So love it. It works fantastic for me. Love that. I love that. So what’s been the best piece of business advice you’ve ever been given?

[00:42:14] Look at the data. Don’t let your emotions dictate what you do. That’s a good one. It’s difficult because sometimes you’re like, this isn’t working and I hate it or, or I don’t like doing this, but you have to look at the data before you make anything in your business. 

[00:42:30] Lisa DiGeso: Love 

[00:42:31] Carolina Guzik: that. What advice do you have for someone just starting out?

[00:42:35] Pace yourself. Yeah. And be patient. This is not going to happen overnight. Yep. I mean, it might. You might be super lucky, but the reality is like, when we see somebody like, oh, this was an overnight success, it wasn’t an overnight success. Go back and look at the story. It’s been years of that person working towards a goal.

[00:42:52] I 

[00:42:53] Lisa DiGeso: agree. 

[00:42:54] Carolina Guzik: Where can our listeners learn more from 

[00:42:55] Lisa DiGeso: you? 

[00:42:56] Carolina Guzik: So people can find me on carolinagusik. com if they [00:43:00] want to see, you know, pretty photos, and if they want to know more about marketing, if they like podcasting, then thetalkrepublic. com, T O G republic. com. 

[00:43:09] Lisa DiGeso: I love it. So I love to end my interviews just with this last question, and it is, what are you currently curious about or artistically curious about?

[00:43:18] Carolina Guzik: I am curious about right now, behind the scenes, how could I record them in a way that is entertaining and also advance my business? Yes. And personally, I’m learning Swedish, so I’m very curious about anything Scandinavian related. That’s it. I love 

[00:43:39] Lisa DiGeso: it. That’s a good answer. Well, Carolina, thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:43:43] Carolina Guzik: Lisa, thank you so 

[00:43:44] Lisa DiGeso: much for having me. It was a pleasure. Oh, my beautiful friends. I hope you have loved this conversation just as much as I have. I am sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day. We’ll see you next time.[00:44:00] 

[00:44:01] I wanted to take a moment to ask you a little favor. I so appreciate you spending your time with me and tuning in and listening to the show. I would be so incredibly grateful if you could take a quick moment to leave a review on Apple podcasts. Your review helps other photographers discover the podcast and learn how to grow their own photography businesses and gain confidence to go after their dreams.

[00:44:25] It also means the world to me personally and helps me know what content you find most helpful. Thank you so much for your support and for being part of our amazing community.