Ever wanted to get a behind the scenes look into what other brand photographers are doing to make their businesses run well?
We’re here today to tell you just that!
We are going to give you a sneak peek of the top programs we use in our photography business and how they benefit us so you can use them in your own business as well.
1. HoneyBook
HoneyBook is the customer relationship management (CRM) tool we use and it is the turnkey solution for streamlining your booking process**, converting more clients,** sending client proposals, getting paid quicker, and more.
Using HoneyBook ensures that our client experience is top notch from start to finish.
Our inquiry form on our website links directly to HoneyBook so the information automatically funnels into our pipeline, and we’re then able to track projects from the inquiry all the way to completion.
Inside HoneyBook, we use our HoneyBook template to:
➡️ Automatically welcome and educate clients on us and our business from the moment they inquire
➡️ Send proposals to our clients within minutes
➡️ Empower our clients to make their own custom selections
➡️ Allow them to choose the additional services they might want to purchase from us
➡️ Automatically generate an invoice based on their selections
➡️ Automatically get our contract signed
➡️ Automatically collect our initial payment
➡️ Immediately, and clearly, send next steps, what our client can expect, and how they can contact us
Talk about a powerful CRM, right?!
HoneyBook also allows you to customize everything with all of your own branding! Hello, beautiful aesthetics that flow with your brand and provide brand reinforcement and consistency which ultimately showcases your professionalism and leads to client trust.
And because HoneyBook is an automated workflow, that means that it’s working for you even down to the communication. You can schedule client emails and have HoneyBook working for you so you can do other things and live life, while not constantly being worried about work.
If you’re interested in HoneyBook, click here and save big off your first year of using HoneyBook!
2. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is the email platform we use! One of the top reasons why we chose ConvertKit was to make sure that everything we sent out to our email list could be measured and so we could visually see our email sequences mapped out. Instead of building out these massive email sequences to our clients and students, and crossing our fingers that they are in the right order and sent on time, ConvertKit allows you to see the full map of it all and make any changes through their visual editor.
This platform has been extremely helpful in allowing us to connect more directly with our clients and students, and if email lists are something new to you, we couldn’t recommend it any more.
Grab your FREE plan with ConvertKit and first 10,000 subscribers on ConvertKit by signing up here.
3. Kajabi
Kajabi is the platform we use to host our online courses. We chose Kajabi because it really is the Cadillac of online course hosting. This platform allows us to create everything we need within one platform. Kajabi can handle course related email, create landing pages, sales pages, checkout process and even hosts course content. Literally everything is done through this platform, and their support system is incredible which was another huge win for us!
We knew that with something as big as creating courses and education, we wanted to have an amazing team behind us that would help us through the whole journey. Teamwork makes the dreamwork! Kajabi has not disappointed us. If you are enrolled in any of our courses, than you’ve already experienced the power of Kajabi.
If you want to see what Kajabi is all about and why we chose it for our online education, sign up here now for a 14-day free trial using our link!
4. Photo Editing
We use Lightroom for all of our global edits in post processing. Any edit that we make to the entire image (aka; global edit) is done inside of Lightroom. More times than not, all we’re doing to our client’s photos are edits that can be done in Lightroom as we’re adjusting white balance, color temperature, exposure, shadows, highlights, etc. If we need to get really in depth with our post processing, like we do when it comes to our commercial level retouching our product photo retouching, then we bring those images from Lightroom into Photoshop.
Within Photoshop we do all of our extensive retouching. Photoshop gives us a lot more control over the image by allowing us to create multiple layers on top of the images and adjust specific areas. We’ve found that it’s the best program for detailed retouching because the tools are more refined and it allows us to correct an image on a micro level.
Any time we have to bring an image inside of Photoshop, that’s usually a sign for us to pull out our favorite editing tablet. And if you’re like we once were and wondering what in the world an editing tablet is…let us explain.
This tool allows Jon (he’s the one with the mad editing skills) to work with a pen and paper type of set up to make fine edits and retouching for really detailed editing work. Instead of trying to use a mouse or trackpad for precision work, using a stylus on the editing tablet allows the retouching work to feel much more natural and accurate and it’s even pressure sensitive so it’s really realistic for fine detail work.
5. Calendly
We use Calendly to schedule all of our client consultations. When it comes to reclaiming time and eliminating unnecessary back and forth communication between us and clients , there hasn’t been a better tool for us. Once you get through the super easy initial set up, you can send a link and have your clients schedule a call at their convenience based on your availability. Calendly syncs with all of our Google calendars so that things are updated in real time and blocked out when we’re booked or unavailable. It’s that easy!
Calendly is free for your first event! 🎉 Click here to get started with setting up your account and giving it a try for your first event. If you find that you live it and want to have multiple events and include your own branding, then there is a low subscription cost to the platform.
BONUS #6. Canva
You’re probably thinking, “Canva…seriously? Everyone knows about Canva.” And you’re right, most photographers already know about Canva and are likely already using it in their businesses.
But did you know about the branded Canva templates that are out there? TONIC (our favorite website template by far) created Canva templates to match your Tonic website template! This allows for more brand reinforcement and it makes sure that your brand is consistent from your website to your social media and everything you create in Canva to share for your business on Instagram.
Whether it’s for a sale or a promotion, a launch, or a post we want to share to add value for our clients or students, I love how simple these templates make it for me to tie in our branding colors, logos, and fonts, and create a visual post that makes it look like something I ripped right out of our website.
You can save on a Tonic website here and if you want to check out more about the Canva templates, click here!
Want one more peek into what we have going on BTS in our business?
We’ll give it to you for free!
BONUS #7. Photo Mechanic
Those two words were a game-changer for our business.
Photo Mechanic is where I (Erica) can cull through a client’s session in no time at all.
As I click through, photo by photo, inside of this program, I keep my pointer finger hovering over the ‘T’ (which tags it) on my keyboard and when I see a photo that’s a keeper, I tap ‘T’. When I see a photo that I want to send to our client as a sneak peek, I tap ‘T’ and the number ‘1’ which will give that photo one star. As I continue through culling, if there’s a photo that we adjusted in real time at the session to make stronger or better in any way, then I indicate that photo as the “before”, by tagging it with a ‘T’ and the number 2 and then I tag the better image that we took by tapping ‘T’ and the number 3 to tag it as my “after”.
And if there is an image that needs to be edited that second, exported and sent to every brand in the world because it’s so strong and it’s guaranteed to land us a new branding client, then I give that baby five stars by tapping, ‘T’ and the 5 so that it has my full attention. The best part is that these tags carry over into LR when I bring our photos in for editing which allows me to see the thoughts I was already having and flagging in order to communicate with myself about all the photos.
Photo Mechanic has allowed me to support all the crazy ways my brain works by implementing a numbering system so that I know what photo is what as I’ve culled through a session.
The further and further I get from a session, the more I forget about what I might have done during the session or which photos were our favorites, or our client’s favorite when I showed them the back of camera during the session, so having a numbering system in place really helps me in post-production!
Which programs will you use?
Go ahead and save this post so you can refer back to it to learn more about the top programs we use in our photography business and why!
And let us know – Which of these products do you use and love? Which programs do you need to use in your brand photography business? We can’t wait to hear!
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