S14E14 | This is what success in the UK looks like as a pet photographer
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Today’s guest is a videographer turned pet photographer after documenting his mum's senior dog for the last 6 months of her life. Fast forward to today, his website is ranking page one of Google in the highly competitive London market, and his layered marketing approach converts super well thanks to a refined enquiry process. I’m talking about Alex Class and if you want to know what building a successful business looks like- tune in!
We covered:
Wendy’s story
Transition from video to photography
Alex’s Ideal client
How Alex’s clients find him and what they buy
IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:
Alex’s client process
What is Cinemagraph Pro
Adding a website lead magnet
How Alex added a website chat bot
What has helped Alex’s website rank so highly
Mentioned links:
https://www.thefullybookedphotographer.com/
Alex Class
Paws Celebre, England
Hey there!
I've got an amazing story to share with you—one that kickstarted my love for pet photography. It all began when I picked up my camera and embarked on an unforgettable adventure with my mother and her incredible Australian Shepherd, Wendy. We spent countless hours together, capturing their unique bond through a series of heartwarming portraits and a captivating reportage. Those moments we captured became some of the most cherished treasures our family holds dear.
Sadly, Wendy crossed the rainbow bridge six months later, but her portraits remain an invaluable reminder of the love and joy she brought into our lives.
That experience ignited a fire within me, fuelling my passion to capture the extraordinary connections between pets and their families. My goal is to create a relaxed and enjoyable space where furry family members can truly be themselves. Together, we celebrate those precious lives and capture the essence of their unique personalities.
Transcript
Today's guest is a videographer turned pet photographer after documenting his mom's senior dog for the last six months of her life. Fast forward to today, his website is ranking page one of Google in the highly competitive London market. And he's a layered marketing approach converts super well, thanks to a refined inquiry process.
Before we get into the episode covering the nitty gritty of all of that, though, I just wanted to remind you that this year's virtual. Pet photographers conference is coming up. It's all on zoom and it's over three days, Saturday, the fifth, Sunday, the sixth and Monday, the 7th of August. If you can't make it live though, tickets come with a seven day replay access.
This year, when mixing things up, you've got the option to purchase a weekend only pass. which has business classes suitable for the up and coming pet photographer, but everyone is welcome. And then there's the pro only pass, which includes access to Monday's small group classes, which are covering more advanced topics suitable for the established pet photographer to find out more head on over to the pet photographers club.
com. You will find a. Bunch of banners everywhere advertising the conference. So just head on over there and grab your ticket now.
Welcome to the Pet Photographers Club. Tune in as experts share their insights to help grow your business with higher sales, creative marketing, and kick arse business strategies. Now onto the show.
Hello, and welcome to season 14, episode 14 of the Pet Photographer's Club. I'm Kirstie McConnell, and today I'm chatting to Alex Klaas of Pause Celebre, welcome to the club. Hello, hello everyone. And Alex, did I get the pronunciation of your business name correct? It's pause, celeb. Celeb. Okay. Without the R E at the end.
Got it. I was like, Hmm, is this you know, is this a French word? Am I supposed to pronounce it this way? Actually why don't you go into detail? Maybe you can tell us a bit of the backstory behind the business name, actually Alex, and then we'll get into who you are. Yeah. So it's it's always very interesting when, when they ask me, Oh, so why is it Paul Seneb?
Because it's basically a cause Seneb, so in a, in a way it's it's a bit of a, a bit of a game with the with the pause and the cause. So I, I, we just thought that it kind of worked for the kind of ideal client that that I'm looking to attract. And And it's it's fun at the same time. And and it is there's always something happening.
There's always something something surprising in every, every single experience. So that's it. Okay, nice. And I bet, you know, it's also a bit of a conversation starter as well. People double checking pronunciation, unless it's just me. I just live under a rock. Yes, yes it is. Everyone's just like, what, what is it?
And and it's interesting, so it's good. It is a conversation starter. Nice. Excellent. Now before we get too far into the interview, Alex, let's just wind back a little bit and give the listener a little bit of an overview for who you are, where you're based and how it is that you ended up being a pep photographer.
Right. So who am I? So I'm a former bass player. I used to do music and I still do music. And all of a sudden, I was I just found myself kind of creating a story of my mother and, and her dog, Wendy, a beautiful Australian shepherd. And Wendy had cancer at the, at the time. And I thought I wanted to do things, something special for her for my mum.
And I started taking pictures and, you know telling the story, the last six months of Wendy's story. And by the time I finished... I knew that was going to be my job for the rest of my life. I thought that is what I want to do. I want to celebrate these fur babies, for their, for their parents, and and create something special for them.
So, that's what I started doing. So, when I moved back to the UK from Italy, I started putting all my efforts and my, you know, concentrating on that. I don't know if it's just me, but I'm pretty sure it's not. I imagine that the listener also has goosebumps. I mean, that's a, that's the thing about being a pet photographer when your, your passion begins with a love of animals, right?
Is it these stories that really hit us like, oof, I can, you know, I can put myself in those shoes as well. What a beautiful project for your mom as well. I mean, six months worth, not just like. One last minute shoot because it was her last day. I mean, six months worth. That's so special. What kind of images were you creating back then?
Like, did you have a. Understanding of camera basics. Were you completely new? Had you already been shooting for a while? I mean, what were those images looking like? So I was coming from many years as a videographer and I'd been doing events and weddings and all kinds of stuff, mostly events. Reportage style.
So it was a kind of I felt like a kind of photojournalist in my home. And. The, the idea was simply to tell the story of their relationship. That's all it was. There was no posing, nothing. I normally don't do much posing in general, even though the website might give that feeling. I don't really do that.
But this, this incredible relationship that they had was, was so strong that I felt that I it was such a remarkable thing that they had between them. And, and I, and I, you know, I thought, yes, you know, it's, it's going to be. Incredible. And, and I think it was one of my clients not long ago said that, said that photography is, he was like he was talking, he was quoting someone about photography being the only language that's understood around the world.
And I, and I, and I thought to myself, this is exactly the kind of language that I want everybody to you know, to, to hear. And and. Slowly, slowly you know, watching them, you know, the first, I think for the first month, all I did was watch them because I had to, I had to find the key for the, for the rest and how to actually start, you know start taking these pictures.
And and it all started when, you know, one day Wendy just looked up on my mom and I. Just saw the shine in their eyes, and that was the first picture. So I took that picture, that was the very, very first one. And from there on, it was all kinds of things, very, very natural, as if I was like a little fly on the wall, that's the kind of feeling and thing that I wanted to do.
So you really did approach it, like you said photojournalistic style, I mean, to observe for a period first. I mean. Yeah. When possible. I mean, that's, that's often photojournalism as well. Yeah, beautiful. I mean, I, I imagine that they're completely of such high value to your mom. I mean, it must be so, so special.
I mean, how amazing it would be to be able to create the same thing for all of our clients. Of course we can't, I guess you worked that out. But you're still able to create something for your clients. So. Thank you. When was this, sorry, that you did this doc, this series of Wendy with your mum? Let me think, must have been, I don't know, it was 2010?
Okay. A little while ago. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It must've been, I don't know, maybe between 2010 and 2013.
Something like that. Okay. And yeah, about 10 years ago, give or take. And when did you start your professional pet photography business? So I started a few years a few years before coming over to to London. So I came over in 2016, I reckon 2015. So 2014, 2015, I reckon it was around there. So it was not long after you did the series with Wendy then, or a couple of years?
So after the series with Wendy, I started taking photos of random dogs and and their owners. And that was just like, it was me, it was a consolidation. It was like it was, it was determining that. I would then do that for the, you know, as a job it was, yeah, it was taking a step in that direction.
And then in 2014 and 2015, me and one of my best friends, who's a dog trainer, we started doing some yeah, we started hiring this studio in Northern Italy and we did a few photo shoots there. And that's, that's how it all started, basically. It's so nice to hear. I mean, and we do hear this quite often, I suppose, but it really came from a place of passion for you, a place of caring, a place of love for animals, you know, and honestly, I think the most, if I can say successful in air quotation, successful pet photographers, it has to come from that, that place because otherwise, you know, it.
It doesn't last. I mean, you have to be able to manage, you know, it's okay if a dog pees on your camera bag or, or whatever could happen in a shoot, you know, like I've been bitten on my lip by a tiny puppy, an Aussie shepherd with razor sharp teeth. You know, we have to manage all of these situations and not, and not be upset by it.
And only a true, like really passionate animal lover is able to do that. So it does make sense, but yeah, I can see you've really walked yourself through this quite, I don't know, like slow, maybe. Process, making sure that you, yeah, it was really the right thing for you. You've done like textbook steps basically.
So that's great. Okay. So you've done this series of Wendy before that you're a videographer or you, you know, you've worked as a videographer, so you already understand composition and lighting, all of these kinds of things. And then you've done this series with your friend, who's the dog trainer, and after that you moved to London.
So at some point along there, you launched this this pet photography and fast forward to today. And are you doing it full time now or how, how's it going for you now, Alex? Yeah. It's, it's going well, how can I say it's life is a process and it, it, it never, it never ends. So you're always learning and implementing new things you're learning.
So if let's say that I that I value and I think that my my business is something that reflects who I am and, and I can live on it. Then yes, it's going well in that sense. It's going well. If I had to say that I'm a, a 1 million pound a year studio, then no. But then again, then again, yeah, it's you know I, I always think that if I wake up in the morning.
And I cannot wait to put my, you know, my really horrible park clothes on to go and do a photo shoot and make someone, you know, really happy, like profoundly happy and celebrate their lives. Then. You know, what, what else can be better than that? Yeah, for sure. So yeah, in that case, it's a success. It is. Now, so just to clarify, sorry.
It's your primary income, right? Yeah. Okay, great. So yeah, fast forward to now, that's what you're. That's what's going on. You're running this as a full time business. It's your primary income. And the reason that I got you on the show I didn't know about that beautiful story and of starting out with Wendy and everything like that.
Although I'm so glad you shared it, but it was actually because, and I was telling you this before we started recording, but just for the listener, I, every now and again, you guys, I do a random search on Google, like a London pet photographer, parrot. Okay. Not Paris. I've never done it. I should. New York pet photographer, Texas.
Pet photographer, this kind of thing, just to see who's ranking, who's doing well, what's going on in the world. Just to say like, you know, sometimes outside of my own circle to find somebody new anyway, last week, the week before I did one of these random searches and I typed in London, London pet photographer.
And on page one, somewhere near the top was Alex's beautiful site that was ranking really high. And of course I clicked through a bunch of them. And when I looked at Alex's, I was really impressed with what I, what I landed on. First of all, his work is super creative guys. If you haven't already go to the show notes, click on the link to check out his website, go and have a look.
The work is great. I love your approach. And now that you've told me this Kind of backstory as well, Alex, that, you know, you started out by photographing Wendy and it was all documentary style. I can kind of see that coming through in your entire gallery, actually, even though it's more like editorial vibe a little bit, it's, it definitely shows through and it's really nice.
It's refreshing to see, to see some, yeah, really different images. I particularly love this one where you have the, the, the Vogue magazine in front of the, the woman and the little. A dog of a side, guys, go and check it out. It's awesome. It'll make you smile. Anyway, so first of all, I love your work.
Then I started looking through and I could see, you know, you've got this really defined process down pat. And we're going to talk about that later if we get some time, but what I liked was that you, if I gave, and I do in fact have a checklist, if I, if I gave you my checklist and said, do this for your website and it's going to help you rank on Google.
You've done it literally everything on there is done. And so I was like, okay, well, that's why you're ranking well on Google. So I just thought, let's get you on the show. Let's talk about this website. And then then we'll see where the conversation leads as usual. So first of all, I'd love to know what website builder are you using if any, or have you built it from code or how's it all going?
I'm basically sticking with the same one that I started with like years and years and years ago, which is Wix. com. Perfect. Yeah, I use them. It's straightforward. So it's a bit buggy sometimes, but, but then again, I just like, it's, it's, it's very simple and it works really well for someone like me that doesn't want to spend too much time on these things.
The reason that I asked you, Alex, was because I actually figured out somehow, I don't know how, that it was Wix. So it was a trick question a bit, but I asked you because we hear this debate quite often of photographers asking or, or all small business people really asking, you know, can I use Squarespace or one of these platform builders, or do they not actually rank on Google very well?
Does Google, you know, push you down because of that? And I. From what I understand years ago, that was the case, or at least that was the myth, that that was the case. But certainly today it's not. I mean, all of my websites are Squarespace and they all rank well. Yours is Wix. And like I said earlier, in a very competitive market, London pet photographer was the key word.
You are ranking page one. So certainly you can. Stick with Wix. And I actually really like that you've, you've gone with this simple layout, as you said and it's because I like it because it's what the client expects to see. And so nobody gets confused. Like, where do I go next? It's just there laid out nice and clear and and simple.
Was it a deliberate choice or was it just like. Pick the one that you like. No, no, no, no. It's absolutely, absolutely deliberate . Yes. Simplicity wins always, and, and still I think there's too much stuff in it. So I think the the idea of having something extremely simple, very eye-catching, and the has, you know, those two or three quotes send a message, convey the, the message, and and get people feeling that them.
It talks to them and they can already trust it. So that's, you know, those are the reasons why I, I really wanted to do it. That's him. I mean, it is simple, I hope. So it's just very straightforward. There's not much you have to do. So, yeah, no, I love that. It is straightforward, but it is also more than just a portfolio as well.
I mean, you're, you're taking people through the steps, you're building trust, you're showing testimonials, you've even got video testimonials. You've got a lead magnet, you've got the chat bot. You've got your call to action. I mean, you're ticking all of the things and then, you know, you've kept it simple, you know, in the footer, it's like, this is how you contact me.
If you don't want to do it in another fancy way, you know, everything is there. Testimonials, everything is there. So I can see that you've gone with simplicity, but still functional, not just. Pretty portfolio. And I love that. Now, speaking of all of those things, actually, first of all, you've got this call to action, which I've never noticed anybody else doing before.
And I love it. It says, guys, go and check it out by the way, but it says I'm a pet parent and I want my pet's life to be captured and celebrated. And then there's this big button that says, yes. And I love that because we're always taught in sales that, you know, the more times we can get our clients to say yes, then it might, then it gets much easier later on, is that the reason that you did that?
Or was it just again, simplicity just came to your mind? Like, I want them to say yes. So I just make it. Yes. Well, I think anything that is positive switches on the endorphins. So even if you read the word, yes, it kind of switches it on. It makes you, you know, it gives it a tiny bit of a smile. So in that moment, it's really happening inside.
If you read the word no, then it's already full of negativity. And obviously you're not going to say no on a call to action, but but the idea is that anything that's positive and what's more positive than yes. You say yes, even, you know in any difficult or critical situation. Yes. It's just like, yes, I'm going to deal with it.
Yes. I'm going to take the opportunity. Yes. I'm going to create something out of what happened. Yes. I'm going to be curious and see what's behind you know, behind this story. It sounds like you have a training in sales psychology. Do you Alex? No, not at all. I think I'm, I'm probably the worst salesperson in the world, but I do.
I have been part of a of a community, a fantastic community called a fully booked photographer for, for some time. Not, not very long actually since November last year. And and I've learned so many things from them. And so yeah, in, in that sense. That community is really helping out a lot.
Did you make some changes to your website since then, or is this stuff that's already been there before? I changed a few things. Don't ask me which ones. I cannot remember what I changed. No, no, I think the lead magnet. It wasn't there, so it was there originally years ago, but it just wasn't working, it wasn't interesting.
Okay. I want to ask you about the lead main, actually, but I'm going to keep it for the second half of this interview, because before I wrap up the first half, I wanted to ask you a little bit, just briefly about your what is it you're actually offering, because you mentioned early on that the business name was deliberately chosen because it speaks.
You, you knew that it would speak directly to the client you want to work with. So you had a target client, a target, ideal client in mind. Clearly, is that the type of client that you are attracting? Does it align with who you were originally picturing and what is it that you're doing or what is it that you're offering?
So my ideal client has changed over time. So it's, it's, it's very interesting you ask this because I think it's one It always does, you know? I mean Yeah. It has to I think I'm, I'm, I'm still learning a lot about, you know, the, you know, your avatar. So it's it's not an easy concept and it's not an easy thing to to nail and it's definitely not going to happen the first time you try.
So talking to your ideal client is definitely a very, very difficult thing. I'm still in the process of, honestly, I feel that I'm just like like a little toddler. In, in this world and I'm, I'm just starting now to understand and implement some of the things that I've learned. So I'm, I'm still in the process of trying to understand it myself.
So, okay. Let me rephrase the question then. Today. How would you describe most of your clients? I mean, are they living in the suburb right next to you? Are they traveling a distance to find you? Are they working? You know, are they, are they couples? Are they retired people? Are they families? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
So say that they are normally people that don't, it's either a a single, a single parent or, or a couple that don't have kids and their, their animals, their pets are their kids. And these are normally they are normally managers. So they, they have they have very good jobs and at the same time, they don't have much time to dedicate to their, to their their pets.
So there's all, all kinds of stuff that happens inside of these people. They feel that they need to invest more time. So they will spend the money. Sometimes they do out of guilt. I know. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of things, but they live normally I get, I do on location mostly. So they live in just outside London.
Not in the center of London but that's not true for all of them because some of them do live in in exclusive places like Chelsea, Kensington, places like that. And yeah. So that makes sense. I mean, I think most of us would probably describe a lot of our clients like that. Although some people have like a particular niche, you know, like working with.
You know, retired empty nesters, for example, or working with like I used to work with lots of young vet nurses just because of a few promotions. I did target those people and then word of mouth, but yeah, certainly not really surprising that you've attracted this kind of client. So that's who comes to you.
Where are they finding you? Is your website, your best lead source, or are they finding you through social media, through events, through, through a different. So the website does, does a good job but it's not only that, because that implies that they are actually looking and they've decided that they want and they desire something like a photography experience.
If not, it's it's social media. So ads. On on social media and and referrals and alliances. So yeah,
you know, A layered approach. Good. When you say ads on social media, are you talking about giveaways? Are you talking about promotion? Are you just talking about general brand awareness? So giveaway I'm, I'm absolutely allergic to. I would, I can't even say the word, I just repeated it because you said it.
Okay. Yeah. So what I would I normally do there's two, two kinds. It's either a register to win and what they win is not, it's not like a competition where you win something for free. The, they win a credit. A value and that gift certificate of, I don't know, whatever whatever I choose it goes towards any artwork that they decide to purchase after the the photo shoot.
Okay. And if not, it's an offer. So they, they will still get a gift certificate instead of spending 400 pounds say they're spending like 75 pounds just for June or July. Okay. Yep. Got you. Which one works better for you, Alex, in conversion? So far in conversion, I would say that the register to win brings more leads.
Yes. Okay. And what about bookings? Yeah. In terms of bookings, I suppose, I mean, I mean, once they're qualified, I would say that the register to win does. It does a good job. Okay. Okay. And what about an average spend? Do you see a difference between the two strategies or are they both on par with each other?
No, they're very similar in that sense. I think. It's not so much what I'm offering in that moment on social media, but what happens in the discovery call itself. Yes. Okay. Awesome. I'm actually, that's perfect spot to finish up this part of the interview, actually, because I really want to get into your discovery call in the second half of the interview and a little bit more about your website as well, because like I mentioned before, you do have Yeah, like the chat bot, which I don't see many pet photographers having the lead magnet and a few other things.
I think it's really interesting that you're doing, but definitely I want to talk to you about this discovery call and, and your process as well. Of how you do take these these, what do you call it? Enter to win entrance and registers to win. Yeah. Okay. And and other inquiries as well. How do you take them through your.
Funnel. So they end up being, you know good clients, good paying clients. So let's talk about that in the second half, but before we wrap up part one, can you just let the listener know where is the very best place to check out your work and what it is that you do? Want to check out my work? It's it's on my website, isn't it?
So that's, yeah, so that's yeah. www. pauseceleb it's pronounced celeb, but it's actually written celeb er. So celebbrah com. So pause, celeb, pause, not like taking a pause, but like pause, pause. Perfect. And is your Instagram or Facebook handle URL the same? Yeah, right. You can find me on Instagram as Alex Class and, I would say, yeah, I mean Facebook, actually, the funny thing is I don't use Facebook too much, . So Instagram is the is the main one for social media. So it's just instagram.com/annex class. Perfect. And don't worry if you miss anything or any of those links, because I've got them in the show notes as always, just head on over to the pet photographers club.
com slash the dash podcast. And you can search for Alex or class and you'll be able to find this episode there. That is it for part one of the episode. If you're a member of the club, don't forget, you can keep listening to part two. Either in the member zone or through your private RSS feed in your favorite podcast player.
Don't forget if you're not yet a member, you can join today for just 10 a month. Club membership includes tons of perks, including amazing discount for the upcoming pet photographers conference, the virtual conference on the first weekend of August and a bunch of other perks as well. Just head on over to the pet photographers club com to find out more.
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