Welcome back to another episode of the Business Journey Podcast. Today, we are continuing our conversation on mini sessions. The topic that we're going to talk about today is one of those that I get asked a lot. We're talking about what to do when your minis aren't booking. I talk about this a lot. I feel like I'm always answering this question. People are asking me what's going on with my mini sessions? Why can't I book them? And there are really four main reasons that mini sessions aren't booking. And so today we're going to talk all about those. Before we dive in, I did want to let you know that at the time that this episode airs on the podcast, the doors will be open for my Profitable Mini Sessions Course 2.0. This course only opens a couple of times a year. The doors have been closed for months and the doors are going to be open on Monday, March 1st. I am so, so excited to get everybody in. Now, if you've been on the fence or you're not sure if now's the time to hop in, I am telling you, the doors are closing on Friday, so this now is the time to hop in before they close again, because the doors will not open again until the fall. So definitely go check that out.
So let's dive right in today to four reasons why your mini sessions aren't booking. I know this can be a really frustrating part of booking mini sessions, especially if you feel stuck and you feel like you have no idea what you're doing wrong. Whatever you try just isn't working. I'm here to tell you to take a deep breath. It is OK. We will get your minis booking. There are four things that I want to cover that could be reasons that your minis aren't booking and you'll be able to adjust and tweak as needed and go from there.
The first main reason I see why many sessions don't book out well is the timing is bad. The timing could be the time of year, but could also be timing based on what's going around in current events. For example, if you're trying to book minis in the middle of summer in Texas, when it's 100 degrees outside, it may not go well because people literally melt in Texas so that's not the best time to be running minis. And maybe you're up north and snow is on the ground and the temperature is below zero. Probably not a great time to do minis. The time of year definitely comes into play.
The good news is right now we're headed into spring. Now is the perfect time to be running minis. There are some like weather factors that come into play because it's so cold outside. People are a little less likely to be in the mindset ready for spring minis. And so you have to kind of convince people to be ready for spring. But, you know, there are all these things we can keep in mind that you want to try to book those minis in that peak season. So we're headed into spring.
Now is the perfect time. Whenever we talk about timing of current events, I have the perfect example. So a couple of weeks ago, I was so excited. I had an email scheduled to my email list. Right now, I'm living in Nashville, Tennessee, but we just moved from Texas. So a lot of my client base is still in Texas and I still shoot their seasonally because I love all my families there. I could never walk away from them. So I scheduled the email and I was so excited, ready to open up my spring minis for my Texas peeps, sent the email and then like literally within probably thirty minutes I get a text from my family that's in Texas saying that they have no power. I was like, well, that's kind of weird. I knew that they were getting hit with cold weather and whatnot. Well, of course, if you've been paying attention to current events, we know that almost all of Texas was without power for extended amount of time and it was just chaos.
Obviously not the best time to be trying to book spring minis because people we're trying to conserve power. They were not worried about checking their email because they're trying to make sure that they can boil their water whenever there heat turns on. It was just crazy. Good news is I did end up booking six minis still, which honestly, I was surprised with the amount of crazy things that was going on in Texas. Even then, we booked six minis and I took that as a sign of, you know what? Now is not the time to be pushing my spring minis because there is just so much craziness going on. Timing matters. So I took my foot off the off the gas and said, you know what, we're going to just wait this thing out. Texas is bipolar. It's going to warm up again. And thankfully, it has warmed up. I resent that email this week so that my Texas families could be booking their spring minis. All that to say seasons do matter and timing does matter. If your mini sessions are not booking, the first thing you want to ask is, "Is it a timing problem? Am I booking in a prime season or are there any current events that could be hindering my stuff from from booking?" Season does matter.
The next thing that you want to check, if you are in prime season and you say, OK, no, we're in a good season. Current events are fine. The next thing you want to ask yourself is, is it a desirable theme ? This is one of those things that tends to be a little bit of a touchy topic with people. I walk very gracefully when I talk about a theme because people work so hard on crafting this theme for their mini sessions.
If the theme is not something that is desirable or like a must have theme, then they're probably not going to book that well. For example, let's say you wanted to book ice cream minis as cute and adorable as ice cream minis sound. They're probably not going to book that well because as a mom, I know I don't need professional photos of my kids eating ice cream. I can take them outside and grab my phone and take pictures of my kids eating their ice cream.
I know I wouldn't pay for professional photos of my kids eating ice cream. There are some themes that, although they are very cute, you want to ask yourself, "Is this something that my client would hang on their wall?" or "Is this something that's a must have kind of theme?" If you struggle with coming up with ideas for themed spring minis, I do have a freebie that I'm going to link in the show notes. It's 12 Theme Ideas for Profitable Minis. If you want to type it in, it's www.rebecaricephoto.com/12ideas
The next thing that I want to hit on is marketing well. If you're not marketing well, you're not going to book, period.
You can have the most stunning images in the world. The best theme, the best set up, all the things. If you're not marketing, well, you're not going to book. I have people all the time that DM on Instagram and say, "Rebecca, I need your help. I don't know what to do. My mini sessions just aren't booking." The very first question that I ask is "Where you marketing?" And they say, "Well, I've posted all over my Facebook page and all over my Instagram and all my stories and I'm just not booking."
I'll say, "Well, that doesn't surprise me then, because posting to your Facebook and your Instagram, although it is beneficial, that is not a marketing plan." That cannot be the entirety of your marketing plan. You have to get in front of a larger audience. For those that are attending my free class, I know that at the time that I'm recording this, my free classes are Wednesday and Thursday.
If you're attending my free class, we talk a lot about this, but it's really important that you get in front of a larger audience to be able to book your minis because your own followers are not enough to book your sessions. And the only reason is because of algorithms. We love them. We hate them. Algorithms exist and we have to live with them. The way to get around that is you have to market well with a true marketing strategy. If you attend my free class, we talk a lot about that. Then when the doors open up to my Profitable Mini Sessions Course 2.0, I have three full modules about marketing. We talk about social media marketing, of course, we talk about email marketing and we talk about Facebook. There are three major ways that you could be marketing. If that stuff just totally overwhelms you and you're lost, I'm telling you, jump in this course and I will hold your hand and walk you through every single step that you need to be able to market your minis.
Now is the time to be getting that stuff ready. Spring is upon us and it's time to start marketing. And so if you're not marketing well, your minis are not going to book. I will say now is still a good time to start booking. I have several students who have been posting in our student Facebook group just raving about their minis booking like that, like so fast. They post it and then within 30 minutes they've booked eight spots. They're doing amazing.
It can be done. You have to have a solid marketing strategy. then the fourth major reason why your mini sessions aren't booking is if you're not giving yourself a head start. So that's a really, really important piece of the puzzle. I know when I first started out, I thought it was OK, like two weeks for marketing. I thought that was plenty like plenty of time for people to be able to check their schedules and see if they're available and all the things. Well, I'm here to tell you, two weeks is not enough time to market your minutes.
I suggest giving yourself like four to six weeks. I wouldn't go any less than four unless you have two. But that's really ideal. Like six weeks is really ideal to get all your spots filled. Now, people ask me all the time, well, when should I start advertising ? Like what ? What are the steps ? What should I be doing ? I talk about that completely and my mini sessions course, but I also have a mini sessions playbook available in my shop and I'll link it in the show notes.
Basically, it is a step by step checklist that walks you through from like nine weeks out all the way and what you should be doing every single week. And so if you want to check out that playbook, it's included for free in the mini sessions course. But if you don't hop into the course, you can get it in my shop. So definitely check that out. But giving yourself a head start is a huge bonus because you need that time to market effectively. You can't just expect unless you have a massive client base.
That's what I would say. If you have a really big client base, two weeks may be fine. But if you do not have a massive client base, which most of my students don't, most of them have a smaller client base or they're just starting out and they do very well with Menis, but it's because they give themselves plenty of time to market effectively, because odds are you're not going to book out the very first time that you post or the very first time that you run the ad or whatever that whatever you're doing, send that email.
It's going to take prolonged exposure for people to come around, because maybe the first time you send that email, they're busy and they can't book and they put a little bookmark in their mind. They say, oh, I'll come back to that. And then, of course, they forget. So effective marketing you have to have I want to say the average person takes like three to five exposures to something before they make a purchase. And so you have to give yourself enough time to have those exposures with people.
And the more that they see it, the more that you are getting in their ear, getting the word out, the more likely they are to book. And so you really want to give yourself enough time to make all of those happen. Now, just to recap, the four main reasons that I hear that people have problems booking Menis is that it's a bad season. It's an undesirable theme. You aren't marketing well and you're not giving yourself a head start. Now, I can tell you you absolutely can do it.
Like, please don't let this discourage you. Don't let this be like, oh, my gosh, that's why I'm not booking. Don't worry. I would love to hold your hand and help you to see the success that many sessions can bring. I'm telling you, I believe so strongly in many sessions, I think that they are the best way, the biggest bang for your buck, especially if you are a busy mom, busy parent, whatever. That is the best way to use your time effectively. And it absolutely can be done.
Episode Transcript
