Welcome
Loving this week!
It's an easy one for sure! Just a few more shoots and a few more meetings and then my wife and I are heading out of town for a little spring break action.
And at my age, I use the term 'action' very loosely.
Not quite sure what spring break looks like in the age of Covid, but even if I spend the week sitting on the porch sipping Beach Blonde Ales for 10 days, as long as it's warm and I don't have any 90 pound seniors complaining they look fat, I'm good!
Anyway, please read on as this issue is a good one. We've got a fun interview with a favorite SeniorInspire photographer, Misty Malterud (though her friends call her Misty Moments). I also ran across a great article about making compelling videos and I have an Amazon life hack that will change how you buy things.
Enjoy!
Marketing and Branding
You only have 5 seconds
Other than a few short Instagram stories, video has never been a strong suit in my marketing bag of tricks. But with the emergence of TikTok and now Instagram Reels, it is becoming more and more important.
In doing a little research I ran across this informative article from Social Media Examiner about how to make highly watchable videos.
Here are a few takeaways...
(1) You want to hook your viewers FAST! Don't save the best bits for the end! When I see a video that says, 'make sure to watch this to the end', I generally don't watch it at all... or skip to the very end.
Put your best stuff right up front! You typically only have 3 to 5 seconds to hook your viewer before they move on to the next thing.
(2) Make an emotional connection to your viewer. People need to see themselves in your content.
(3) Views are great, but more importantly your best videos will motivate your viewers to take action. Make sure your viewer knows what action you want them to take and how they go about doing whatever it is you want them to do.
Meet the Photographer
Sharing a moment with Misty Malterud
For this week's photographer interview we're heading up to Minnesota dontcha know, to sit down with Misty Malterud of Misty Moments Photography.
SeniorInspire Hi there, Misty! I've always loved the name of your studio, Misty Moments. Where does that come from?
Misty Malterud Actually, I have to give props to my husband for that one-I was going with Misty Memories, and he said “Hun, people have a 'misty moment' when they see the photos you took”, and Misty Moments was born! I find it funny how many people think my last name is really “Moments”.
SI When I think of Minnesota I think of cold and hockey. List three things you love about Minnesota.
MM Three things I love about MN: our lakes, our summer weather (which is unbeatable), and as corny as it sounds, our “Minnesota Nice”. Up in northern MN, people are genuinely nice, wonderful people.
SI And three things you aren't crazy about?
MM Three things I could do without? Well, that's easy. Winter, cold, and snow. But the best part of winter is no mosquitoes, so there's that.
SI Do you have a wood chipper in your backyard?
MM My dad had a wood chipper growing up, and yes, I used it, along with literally swinging an axe chopping wood. I have split and stacked an entire cord of wood more than once! (I wonder how many people even know what that is)
SI Not going to ask who's in the wood chipper so let's move on and say you had to eat the same meal, three times a day, every day for the rest of your life. What would that meal be?
MM Pizza, of course! The most versatile meal there is! And you can make it healthy or indulgent. Although cauliflower and pizza should never have met.
SI If you could instantly pick up any skill, what that skill be?
MM Not to brag, but I could get a recording contract in my shower! Singing (singing well, that is) is the one skill that I have always wished I had.
SI Without telling us who it was, describe the worst photography workshop you've ever been to.
MM I have only done two workshops in my career, one with Joel Grimes and one with Ben Shirk. I couldn't even name a bad second from either of them, they're both fabulous! So I'll do one from a conference. The photos the speaker had looked like they were straight out of the 80s, and not in a “trendy” way, so it was hard to take anything seriously. I think I fell asleep.
SI Name a photographer or two (not necessarily senior photographers) you follow for inspiration.
MM The two photographers I mentioned above are my heroes. But when I first picked up his book at a Sam's club well over a decade ago, and who I giggled like a weirdo in front of when I met him at his conference and had him sign that book, and who will always be the guy who taught me core photography skills and more...Scott Kelby. Today, I would say Lindsay Adler is who I follow the most (with another drooling fan girl moment when I met her), along with Aaron Adams, who I aspire to be like because his lighting is phenomenal. Seriously, the dude should be teaching his skills!
SI You betcha about Scott Kelby. I spent hours poring through his stuff back in the day. I bet a lot of us did.
That's it for today. I'm going to let you get back to the wood chipper. Watch your fingers ya know...
Miscellaneous
Do you shop on Amazon?
I may as well be asking you if you breathe, right?
Well assuming you're like everyone else in the world and your heart skips a beat every time one of those Amazon vans passes your house, here's a little life hack designed to save you some money.
You know this feeling. There's something you kinda want to buy but you swear it was twenty bucks cheaper the last time you looked.
Happens to me all the time!
Enter camelcamelcamel.com!!
Besides winning the award for the worst named website of all time, camelcamelcamel.com is a nifty little web tool designed to make sure you're getting the best price you can on any of the millions of products sold on Amazon.
Next time you're looking to buy something where you're not sure about the price, head to camelcamelcamel.com, copy in the product's Amazon link and camel will immediately give you that product's complete Amazon price history.
But it gets better!
If you're not happy with the current price, you can plug a target price into camel, and camel will email you as soon as the price for your product drops to what you want.
Over the last few months I've saved a bunch of money using this poorly named website. Check this one out!
Advertisement
Client add-on idea
If you're like me you're always looking for new ways to add a few hundred dollars to each sale.
Over the years I've found composites are an easy way to get clients to add a little mustard to their order once they've picked out their album and wall portraits.
And if you're halfway decent at Photoshop you could easily set aside a couple of hours to create a set of templates your clients will love.
Or, if you're looking to save some time and get yourself up and running fast... SeniorInspire has got you covered!
We've put together a package that includes 8 easy to use Photoshop templates, both wall and desk sized pieces. The package also includes a tutorial to show you how to create your composites quickly using Photoshop clipping masks.
We've priced the package of templates at a very reasonable $48, but for a limited time SeniorInspire newsletter readers can get all 8 templates for just $24! That's only $3 per template!!
Click here for all the details...
And Finally
Leaving you this week with a quote from Maya Angelou.
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Peace!