Calendar Contests with Jessica Wasik
marketingIN THIS EPISODE:
#020 - It's hard to believe we've already torn off half the pages from our 2020 calendars. Torn them off, fed 'em through the shredder and invited them to never come back. Or maybe that's just me.
Anyway. This week's episode features Pittsburgh pet photographer Jessica Wasik, who's mastered the art of running successful calendar contests. She shares her favorite tips on how to find a charity partner, promote and profit from a pet photography calendar project of your own. It’s a great way to build awareness of your brand while benefiting a local non-profit. Done well, calendar contests also grow your stable of cash-dropping private clients.
What To Listen For:
- How Jessica more than quadrupled her donations in only 4 years
- The magic (and potential pitfalls) of setting audacious goals
- How to collaborate with other local businesses so that everybody wins
- Stress-busting advice for handling contest proceeds
- Client-management tips to maintain your sanity during a calendar project
If the idea resonates with you, it's not too late to orchestrate a calendar contest in your market before the holiday gift-giving season! Set yourself up for success with Jessica's Creating Profitable Pet Calendar Contests program. It's usually $197, but for you, my dear Hair of the Dog listeners? You'll get $50 off through July 7th...and an even better deal if you're an HOD Academy member (check out Jessica'a guest instructor class inside the Academy for deets).
Resources From This Episode:
- Bark and Gold Photography
- GoGo Photo Contest
- MoJo Insta Story Editor app
- CreatePhotoCalendars.com
- Bark and Gold on Instagram
- Bark and Gold's Facebook page
- Connect with us on Instagram and YouTube.
- Explore valuable pet photography resources here
- Discover effective pricing and sales strategies for all portrait photographers.
- Ready to grow your business? Elevate helps you do just that.
- Check out our recommended gear and favorite books.
Full Transcript ›
Speaker 1:
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Hair of the Dog podcast. I'm Nicole Begley. And today we're talking with Jessica Wasik from Bark and Gold Photography in Pittsburgh, PA all about creating profitable calendar contests with your business. If you are looking for a way to bring more clients into your business, raise money for an incredible rescue and build lots of brand awareness in your neighborhood this podcast is for you. Stay tuned.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Hair of the Dog podcast. If you're a pet photographer, ready to make more money and start living a life by your design, you've come to the right place. And now your host, pet photographer, travel addict, chocolate martini connoisseur Nicole Begley.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody. Nicole here from Hair of the Dog and I am here with a competitor-turned-friend, Jessica Wasik from Bark and Gold photography based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hey, Jessica. Welcome to the Hair of the Dog podcast. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. Yay. I'm so excited to have you here. I have had a special honor of kind of watching you start your business from very fledgling little business blossom into this amazing business in my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Yeah, whenever anybody still contacts me for Pittsburgh pictures. And I'm like, I'm not going to be home for who knows when, call Jessica. She's great. She'll take care of you. It's so nice to have to just to watch you build your business. It's, it's been so fun. It's been even more fun than ever really anything. So tell us, I guess, a little bit about your business and when you started and, and kind of what, what got you interested in pet photography?
Speaker 3:Yep. So I'm the owner of Bark and Gold Photography and I celebrate the joy and love between Pittsburgh pets and their people through signature wall art, fine art albums and other heirloom art products. I live right outside of Pittsburgh, um, near the airport with my husband and our 11-year-old Siberian-Retriever, Hunter, who is Bark and Gold Photography's Head of Shed and
Speaker 1:photographer. I love it. Head of shed. That's fantastic. I'm Emma's chief of staff. She doesn't have an actual title. I'm just her chief of staff. That's fantastic. So when, when did you start your business? Well, I
Speaker 3:lots of someone we both know, and that is Heather Lahtinen of the Flourish Academy. Yup. I started following her way back in early 2016, I believe. And for anyone who doesn't know, I'm also a six-time US figure skating and Canadian gold medalist. And if I'm correct, I think that's why Heather started following me. So I had this photo of Hunter posted. My husband had got me a camera a couple of years prior, Hunter's always available and a fairly willing subject. So I mean, he's all over my personal Instagram. And Heather had seen a photo that I had posted that looking back today is pretty terrible on a technical level, but she commented how much she loved my photos of him and said, you should be a pet photographer. And I started thinking maybe, but at that time I had no clue where to begin. I had kind of every excuse in the book and I just was bouncing around with my camera, just enjoying Hunter. Fast forward to September of 2016. And I finally did my first mentoring session with Heather and she helped me launch my business. I dove into your post-processing for pet photographers course. And then your business of pet photography course, which was a big game changer for me. And the rest is history.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. That's crazy. It's like 2016 seems so recent, but yet, so far away. For sure. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So when you started, did you start, I forget, when did you take, you took the business pet photography fairly early in your business trajectory, didn't you?
Speaker 3:I would say it was within probably six months. It was pretty soon after you launched it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Awesome. So did you start off doing digitals and transitioned to products or have you always done the products and um, like in person sales,
Speaker 3:I always did products, but my first few months I did everything by offering an online gallery and then hoping it would order product and it was okay. Um, my sales were definitely nowhere near what they are now that I'm doing in person sales and making that transition was awesome because they suddenly just shot right up. And that was all stuff that I learned in your course. And seeing other people that came before me doing it when it seemed like the easier way was the online galleries and that level enough, but no,
Speaker 1:yes, no. A hundred percent. Yeah. The online galleries seem like it's going to be easier. It's such a trick because you're like, Oh, people can look at it when they want, they can do it at home. It sits pressure-free it's pressure-free for me, I don't have to worry about them not liking their photos in front of my face. Like there's all these things that we talk ourselves into. Oh, online sales is definitely the way to go. But I mean, once you start to experience the alternative, which is much higher sales and more importantly, better service for your clients, then, I mean, I don't think any of us look back on back in our online sales game. Yeah. And truly like one of those things, you know, if you put yourself in your client's shoes for all our listeners out there that are still thinking, well, I really just want to do these online galleries. You know, they're going to a purchase. What they know, which is prints eight by 10 would be the big one, 11 by 14 would be ginormous. They can't even fathom and they're not going to be purchasing the products that we know that they're going to love to purchase like the actual finished wall art or the albums, because they're not able to see them. They're not able to hold them. They're not able to see that value. And they also need our permission really, for them to, to purchase big wall art or albums, because a lot of people think people are gonna think I'm crazy. I'm buying this giant wall piece of my dog, or they're worried that like my gosh, 30 by 40, that seems ginormous. There's no way that's going to look okay on this huge wall. So they really need us to help them do that. And people are so busy. You know, how often do you guys have things in your emails? I know I have about 3,402 right now of things that, Oh, I need to take care of that. I need to take care of that. And it's so easy in an online gallery for your clients to push it off and push it off and push it off. Not on purpose, just because life's busy. And then by doing that, now you're telling yourself the story of, Oh, they hate it. They hate it. They hate it. Cause I haven't heard from them. So it's just a spiral downwards prior on, no matter how you go. So all of you guys out there highly recommend testing out some in person sales. There's a lot of free information on the hair of the dog academy.com site on getting started on in-person sales on the blog. So definitely check that out. All right. Awesome. Jessica, back to you, and one of the things that you have done as you are a guest instructor in the Hair of the Dog Academy, which again, I love when students come in at the beginning, they build their business. And now in just a few short years, they're coming back as an instructor because you have learned amazing things and tested out all sorts of new, awesome things. And your guest instructor class is actually on creating a calendar contest. So tell us a little bit about how many years you've been doing that and kind of what gave you the idea to, to test this out?
Speaker 3:Sure. So this is my fourth year doing this and this goes back to early 2017. I was doing a small Facebook group with Heather in the Flourish Academy with her goal setting and time management course. And she had paired us up with an accountability buddy. Mine turned out to be a fellow pet photographer based near the Youngstown area. He started telling me, I know you're new. One of the easiest ways that I was able to start building a client base and getting some new people in the door was through a pet calendar contest. So we went back and forth and she gave me some really great tips and a basic roadmap. And that got me started enough that I was able to take it from just a handful of clients who were family and friends, which really don't count as clients, right. That full calendar of calendar contest winners and private clients that I were able to connect with just from having them see what I was promoting for the following year. That's awesome. Yeah. And in 2017 was my first year and I partnered with a fairly decent sized rescue in the area and we raised just over$2,700. But through that contest, I got to know one of the winners a little bit better. And I partnered with her nonprofit the following year, but we only raised around$1,500. And I think that one just didn't go as well because I wasn't really hitting my target audience. So in 2019 I decided to approach one of the employees of a local pet supply store, where I do an annual Pet Photos with Santa event. That worker also has Biggie's Bullies, which is a bulky breed rescue here in Pittsburgh. And she loved the idea. I loved her passion and the work that she was doing. She has a great group of supporters. The volunteers are awesome. And I just knew that this rescue was going to be the perfect fit school to raise$5,000. And we ended up breaking 6,100, which was really exciting. And then seeing how easily we used to pass that goal. This year, I went in to go really big and I wanted to raise at least 10,000, which felt like a huge, scary goal at the time. And I wasn't totally convinced I could do it at first, but I figured why not? I'd rather fail, trying and still do good. Then placed 67 entries. And I think almost 20,000 votes, we were able to beat that number and we raised$12,688 for Biggies Bullies in 2020.
Speaker 1:That is fantastic. Like an extra Oh, doubled you more than doubled last year. Congratulations. What's your goal for next year? 20,000. That's awesome. Awesome. I love it. I love it. And what's the worst that happens. You end up at like 16, right? Yeah. Um, yeah, I think a lot of people become scared to make those big goals because they feel like they're, it's, it's what they make those goals mean. So if they don't hit the$20,000 next year, then they would say to themselves, see, I failed. I didn't do it. Um, I'm worthless. You know, you start to go again down that little shame spiral where really it's just a number and you're just reaching it and either you hit it or you don't, it means nothing about you other than what you decide that what a meaning you want to assign to it. So, um, being detached from that and just truly setting goals and going after it, oftentimes like you said, you're going to end up a lot higher trying to reach a high goal than if you set that safe goal down there, you know, where you're like, well, I can't fail there. I'll set that, that goal. So I love that you're setting these big, awesome goals. I've definitely found I love charitable marketing. So this kind of stuff's right up my alley, I love helping rescues in doing so in ways that build my business and help them and you know, and their, uh, their supporters get to do something amazing with their dog and create beautiful images. It's a win-win for everybody. And I have found that these kind of smaller rescues that have an incredibly supportive group of supporters that are just like, they can't get enough of helping that rescue have been the most incredible groups of people to work with. A lot of people maybe think that, Oh, a smaller rescue, maybe I should focus on the big ones, but I can only imagine how much of a difference that$12,000 that you made, you know, makes for a small and medium sized rescue like Biggie's Bullies versus, you know, a giant rescue, which they all need funding, but the big rescues have so many more sources of funding to them. So I can't even imagine how much good they're going to do with that, which is so great. I love it. I love it. I love it. Uh, so tell us, I guess a little bit about just kind of high level, what, how, what the process looks like, how do people enter and what does the process overview kind of look like?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I use a company called GoGo photo contest and they handle everything from setting up my contest to tallying both helping me set up promotions. If I'm doing a voting promotion and even distributing funds to my partner organization, their customer service is exceptional. It's so simple. It looks professional and it's completely free to use, which is a nice bonus because outside of potential sales, after the calendar contest, I don't make anything from these sessions. So I end up with 13 winners and that's determined by a leaderboard of 13 entrants. And they're winning a complimentary session with me to photograph their calendar contest image. We have one cover winner and then 12 featured throughout the calendar and they're getting their calendar feature.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So after you figure out the 13 winners and then you photograph them and then is that, what does that kind of look like? Is that a normal session? What do those sessions look like?
Speaker 3:I'm normally chunking them back to back. So I'll typically take on, um, two sessions and I try to schedule them over the course of about a month to a month and a half just to space them out a little bit because 13 winners, I can't do them all in one day. I do everything outdoors. I just need some downtime in between that. So I'm doing back to back. They're about a 45 minute session. I'm shooting at local parks throughout the city downtown everything's on location
Speaker 1:with those sessions. Are you shooting really the same amount for each client? Because when they're going through the contest, like they're, the winners are chosen based on how many votes they're receiving through the contest, correct? Yes. Right. Okay. So then they come in, they're scheduling their session with you. Are you having conversations with them before the session to see kind of essentially how into this they are and how likely they are to purchase additional things and then like, you'll do a bit more shooting for them versus someone that maybe you're getting the feeling is really just in this for the calendar. How do you start to gauge that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm trying to shoot a diverse amount of images in the event that they would choose to purchase. I would say typically 11 out of the 13 do end up buying something that it makes my time worthwhile. I do have them commit when they're committing to accepting their place. I'm sending them, Hey, this is what you're winning for free. There's no obligation to purchase. Most people do. If you're interested, here are the products that I offer and I do a special calendar contest collection that they can choose. It's my normal products. It's a package. Let's discount it a little bit because I do realize that these people aren't coming to me necessarily to book a session. They're often just wanting to support the rescue. And this is a fun bonus for them, but I still need it to be profitable for me. So I am sending them that and I send a pre-session questionnaire. And in that I do ask if they're interested in which of the following and I list wall art, um, like a smaller album, things like that. So I can get a feel if I need to shoot a whole bunch, or if I'm basically trying to get that one awesome calendar image, because some of these dogs are a little more challenging than others. And in 45 minutes, if I'm fighting to get that one image that I know I'm going to need it's more difficult to shoot 10 more, that I may not ever end up using.
Speaker 1:Right. Do you choose the image that you're going to put in the calendar or do your clients?
Speaker 3:No, I choose everything and I choose the month that they're going to be featured on. I get some people that ask and sometimes I can accommodate that, but I don't tell them, I'm just picking up on their little cues and details, you know, their dog's birthday month or which month they got them in. But no, I have full control over what the calendar looks like.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. I think that's really important because how many times have any of us been in a sales session or like, man, I love this image. They're definitely going to pick this for their art piece. And then they pick that one and you're like, really? Are you sure you want this one? So you definitely cause the calendar becomes a little bit of marketing for your business too. So you definitely want to make sure those images are, you know, the ones that represent your brand the most. So you mentioned that to most of the people from the calendar sessions do purchase additional artwork, which is awesome. I love how you are, you know, shooting to back-to-back because then that helps keep your time a little bit more condensed, which then makes them more profitable. Even if they, these sessions are a little bit less of your session average than your others. So many people don't always think about that. When they look at profitability, they just look at a straight baseline, Hey, how much money did I make per session? But you really need to break that down to how much money did I make per session versus how much time did I put into that session. So when you're able to book in those together a little bit, even if they're a little bit of a lower price point, they can still be really profitable. So I love that. Can you maybe speak to a couple of different ways that this calendar project has just helped your business or does it result in additional, you know, regular clients that then know about you and book you for regular sessions, kind of, how has that helped your business?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it definitely gets my name out there. I've had people inquire because they've heard of me through the rescue or they've seen the post on social media and they're interested and maybe they've missed that timeframe window when I'm holding the calendar contest, because I typically hold these in the winter when things are a little bit slower for me. So I'm not taking away from my prime time for my higher-paying clients as kind of set me up for a year of visibility and good clients.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Because anytime we're busy and working and out in our community and making these connections that leads to more market and awareness and just, it just comes back. Like marketing is such a long game that so many people are looking for a quick fix or a one thing. Like what's the one thing I need to do to fill my calendar. There's really like a whole bunch of things that you need to do and they all build upon each other. So when you're doing something like this, that has so much good visibility and has so much good karma, really, that you're creating for this business. Um, and the, the rescue and all these dogs and all the supporters and the community in general, it just, it always ends up coming back, uh, which is just absolutely awesome. Alright. So if somebody is listening to this and they're thinking, Oh, that could be, you know, it could be a fun thing that I could do in my community. And I think I would really enjoy doing this with my business. What are some potential pitfalls that maybe you didn't think about that you learned the hard way or some pitfalls that people should look out for?
Speaker 3:Um, my big one is finances and I would, I would recommend that you personally do not handle any money into your business or personal accounts. Go, go, photo contest makes it easy that the money distributes right through them and into the rescue. My rescue did not know this, but my first year I did this, my bank, um, ATM machine got hit with one of the fishing and I logged in and saw that there was over a thousand dollars missing from my account. And thankfully it all came right back in, but that was a nightmare for me. And it's something that would have never have happened if I wasn't trying to handle every little piece of this from the funds and distributing them. I mean, that was a disaster. So just waving my hands clean of that and having an actual company handle that has been a huge weight off of my chest.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. I can imagine. And I know working with a company like this too, they're very aware of all the rules and regulations, because whenever you're running contests, there's a lot of extra legalities that you need to keep in mind that using a company like this is, you know, just takes that all off your plate. So it's the easiest and quickest way to outsource that type of thing. And is there a fee for you using Gogo contest?
Speaker 3:There's not a fee directly with me, but they do take out the Square or Stripe fees and then a small processing fee through them.
Speaker 1:Okay. That makes sense. Yeah, because all the businesses need to get paid. Um, but that makes it so easy. And again, it makes it a legit contest for your potential contest people that are participating and the people voting, they can see that and they know that it's a, a legit thing and the money is actually going to go where that, uh, where you say it is. So that's great. Um, what other potential pitfalls did you learn the hard way?
Speaker 3:Um, I wouldn't say it was a pitfall, but I definitely was allowing people to submit one photo with two dogs my first year. And I realized that in splitting that up, it was better for the rescue because I was able to get two entry donations and people were working just a little harder to keep both dogs in the calendar. So, um, in terms of a fundraising aspect, that was very helpful to limit that to one dog per entry.
Speaker 1:Nice. I imagine that makes it a little bit easier to photograph one dog per session for the calendar too. If somebody wins, like say they have two dogs that they enter and one dog wins, but the other one doesn't do you allow them to bring both dogs for the session, but only the one goes on the calendar? How do you work that?
Speaker 3:No, it is the dog that is gonna be photographed only because it becomes too many paws, too much chaos, a little bit of a distraction, right. Time gets taken away from what we're actually there to do, which is photograph that winning dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Okay. What if they have two dogs and they both win and they're both going to be in the calendar, same session.
Speaker 3:Um, I've had that happen and no, I split them up as well, because it's just easier to have them one dog, they're focused. Um, I can do them back to back, but because I'm only taking two, it's usually different days just to make things a little bit easier for that owner too.
Speaker 1:Okay. Very good. All right. So we've talked a little bit about what the contest looks like. Who to use for our contest? We talked about shooting the different sessions. Once we choose our winners, we talked about sales doing the in person sales. And so how do we get the word out about the contest? What have you found to be the best marketing strategies for that?
Speaker 3:Definitely partnering with a rescue that's, um, active, whether that's through social media, that they have a mailing list, or maybe they're doing different events where people can actually come in person and participate with them a little better. Um, the rescue that I work with shares a lot of my social media posts. And for me, that's done best on Instagram because I can tag them in stories, I can share and repost through them. I feel like being a photography business, most of my clients are on Instagram. So that's where they're going to see everything that's coming up.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's awesome. You're an Instagram queen. You do a great job on Instagram. I always pull a lot from your stories. There's actually, I've started using, thanks to you, that mojo app. So if you guys are looking to create like cool video kind of effects with your Instagram stories, check out the mojo app, courtesy of Jessica. That's fantastic. That's a great point though, about choosing rescues that are active, whether it's on social media or active with sending out information to their followers and not just a rescue that you love that maybe just takes in the dogs and they're just busy working and they don't have a good public presence. Never really considered that little piece of it. So that is genius. What types is it mostly all Instagram marketing or are there any other types of marketing that you guys are able to do for this as well?
Speaker 3:I do share on Facebook, not quite as strong as I do on Instagram and I definitely use my email list. Um, I asked her to, if they have it to include that, um, any details throughout the contest, little updates as it's going, um, and their mailing list as well. And some of the rescues partner with a lot of our local businesses and having that as a, almost like a third point of promotion and very helpful.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah. Anytime you can bring in those other partner businesses, especially if there's a charity that you got that's between that you both support that works really, really well. I would imagine for getting entries for your contest, Facebook ads would work really, really well too, because they can be so targeted and, you know, people love their dogs and they want their dogs...they all don't doesn't every client think that they have a dog that's gonna like win a contest or half of our clients like, Hey, can I enter this image in a contest? Like everyone wants to participate in a dog photo contest. So I think that is fantastic. Oh, one other thing too, that you could definitely do with these types of things is probably get some great PR, have you explored the PR option at all or getting any press?
Speaker 3:Not yet. Not outside of anything that I've just created and shared on my own.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Awesome. As this gets bigger, especially with, you know, raising five figures this year, you should definitely send out some press releases next year. I'm in the Academy, there's some press release samples and, you know, working with the rescues, they probably have contacts cause they probably use the PR stuff a little bit more than, you know, we tend to, but I know that there's some definitely some, some places that will pick that up and share that for you and that can very easily help you get over that$20,000 donation mark. So definitely do that. So talk marketing, we've shot our sessions. We filled it up. Now it's time to start to create this calendar. Are you designing the calendar? Do you find templates somewhere? What does that look like?
Speaker 3:Um, I am using entirely everything on a createphotocalendars.com. It's very easy to drag and drop type format for designing it. And then I can sell it directly through them. I don't print the calendars and I don't require the rescue to purchase or print them because I don't want them to have to put out any additional money out of pocket. I'm trying to raise money for them, not cost them money. So anyone who wants to buy after I've designed the calendar, they do so directly through Create Photo Calendars and that shifts directly to them. I don't have to handle anything in terms of shipping or again with money because it's fantastic. Yeah. They had the option to have the funds from the calendar sales deposited directly to the rescue, his bank account, or they can send them a paper check, just keeps everything more efficient and simple.
Speaker 1:I love that. And I love that you don't have to print off, you know, 500rcalendars before you have this so that people can purchase exactly what they want. The Rescue's not stuck trying to move all of these and then the money there. I'm assuming there is a little upcharge on the calendar because you mentioned that money goes back to the rescue. So the rescue is going to make money on the entries. And then also on that chair, on the calendar sales itself.
Speaker 3:Right. And I will say the calendar sales for me has not been the big fundraising aspect. It's definitely the actual contest itself just because the calendar company does take quite a bit of a cut.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're paying for that convenience. That is nice though. That there's, that, that you can basically drag and drop it and it's all right there. Cause I know the idea of creating a calendar template makes my head spin just a little bit,
Speaker 3:try that. And that's how I stumbled across this company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fantastic. That's awesome. Um, well thanks so much, Jessica, for sharing so much about this before we leave, what's been your favorite thing or your biggest outcome, the biggest rah-rah that you can give to calendars before we leave to get anyone else excited about this possible marketing and engagement strategy.
Speaker 3:Um, definitely two
Speaker 1:and on a business level, it's been the relationships that I've been able to create by partnering with other local businesses and the rescue. I do weekly mini contests where I found out that just really boosts the donations and the votes and gets everyone excited. And it's really great because the people who are entering whose dog may not end up in that top 13. They love this because it's giving them a chance to win a little something as a thank you for campaigning so hard and earning the most new votes that week. Um, I've worked with dog bakeries, groomers, pet, supply stores, bandana and collar companies, local artists who do, um, specialized pet portraits, um, all-natural candle companies, anyone that I know that would appeal to Pittsburgh pets and they're people who I've developed a relationship with, um, has been really fantastic. And that's typically coming from either connecting with them at an in-person pet event or through social media. So we'll collaborate, we'll do some fun stuff that way. They donate great prizes gift certificates, and it's just a great way to send some love their way by getting the winners directly to their store on their website and having them connect that they can build relationships with more pet parents and get them a little bit more community visibility. So I love that it's been so much. Thank you so personally though, my favorite thing, I definitely feel has been seeing so many of these dogs that come through rescue, um, hearing their stories, which are heartbreaking and then they're, um, intake photos at the rescue and then seeing how they've changed and what I can give to these pet parents and just seeing how excited they are to have their pet's story shared, to support a rescue that helped make it possible for them to have their pet. Um, it just that's for me, my favorite reason, I love it. I love it. You know, there's a quote and I'm probably gonna mess it up, but it's basically, you know, like you can't save all of them, but you know, the one that you do save makes a world of difference for that particular dog. So hearing those stories like that while heartbreaking it's yeah, always just so heartwarming to see then how their life has changed and how happy they are and how spoiled they are laying on the couch all the time. So yes, that is fantastic. One other question that just occurred to me since you are doing this with Biggie's Bullies, which is, you know, tends to be fairly specific breed rescue, do you find that the contest winners are all kind of related to those breeds or do you find that it, it runs the gamut of all the different dog breeds?
Speaker 3:Um, that was a challenge actually, when I first started working with a breed-specific rescue because people thought it only had to be a pitbull-type dog. So marketing the calendar contest saying, Hey, any dog, any age, any breed, whether they're from a rescue or a breeder, they're welcome to join. And when people started to realize that I saw the entries shoot up because it's all Pitbull, most winters are some type of pitbull mix, but I've had golden doodles and dachshunds, and I'll kind of kick red dogs as well. So it's, it's a good variety. I would say most of my winners have been pitbulls.
Speaker 1:Nice. Nice. I do have a special little place in my heart for pitbulls, this smile. So I'm always happy when our cover winner is a big smiling pit bull. Yes, for sure. Awesome. Um, I love it. I love it. So yeah. Thank you so much, Jessica, for sharing all this with us. Um, if you guys want to learn more about calendars, we'll talk about that in just a second, but Jessica, go ahead and share where people can find you online.
Speaker 3:I am at bark and gold photography on Instagram. I have my Facebook page to be searched for bark and go to photography. And my website is Barkin gold photography.com.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I love it. So if you guys have enjoyed learning about this calendar contest and would really like to dig in and start to create a calendar contest of your own and your area working with a rescue, Jessica, as I said is a guest instructor in the Academy and she's sharing really all of her process. She goes through systematically from the very beginning to the very end and that's inside the Academy. And then we also have available for everyone, a creating profitable pet calendar contests, really program that gives you everything you need to create these calendar contests from talking about how to find the right fundraising partner, the most effective ways to organize your contest without feeling stressed or overwhelmed, promoting your contest, shooting your sessions efficiently with the attention to maximize your time profiting after the sessions with the products you sell. And we've got a lot of things included in there. Don't we Jessica? Definitely. Yeah. Awesome stuff. But here it is. We've got a video overview of the program or just, it goes through from again, beginning to end and like walks you through everything, a detailed overview PDF book, um, a contest planning timeline, all of the email templates. So you know exactly what she sends out. Like what's all, what all the different email templates that are in there,
Speaker 3:um, how to confirm their session, if they want to accept their place or decline. I have templates for requesting mini contest donations from other partnerships, um, scheduling their session. Thank yous. Congratulatory emails, contracts, what to do If your potential winner, doesn't respond and how to handle that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all of the things. Um, and then we also have the contest rules templates, and we created a PDF file that has all of Jessica's social media swipe files. So like all the social media, Instagram stories, Instagram posts that she does throughout the time throughout this whole promotion. And it gets even better. We created customizable Photoshop files of those social media templates that you can then, you know, take and make them fit in your brand, you know, change the colors and the fonts and, and make them fit in your branding and use those to promote your content. So that is everything in the creating profitable pet calendar contest program. It's awesome. It is available for everyone in the whole big, greater Hair of the Dog community land. Um, and it's usually$197, but we're actually giving you guys a special introductory offer to save$50. So it's only$147 through July 7th, 2020. If you want to, um, jump on that and Hair of the dog Academy members, you guys get a special discount. So check the guest instructor posts in the Academy to see your special offer. Um, but yeah, Jessica, since it's almost the middle of the year, is there still time do you think for people, if they jumped in this right now to get to get started and do this before the 2021 calendar?
Speaker 3:Oh, for sure. Especially if you're very aware of your time, I try to get the calendars available by mid September because people love to gift these. I hear all the time, this is what my family are getting. They're so hard to shop for. Everyone's getting a calendar with my dog in it! So if you're aware of your time and you jump on and you dive right in, now you can for sure knock this out before the end of the year.
Speaker 1:Nice. That would be awesome. So yeah. So definitely guys check it out and it's all laid out for you. So you're not going to be wasting any time trying to figure out what's next. What do I do here? What do I do there? Um, it's all right there. And if you go to hair, the dog academy.com/calendar, um, it'll take you to the page. You can learn a little bit more about it. So thanks again, Jessica, for being here with us, always a joy to talk to you and, um, yeah, really appreciate your time. Thank you so much. All right, we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to this episode of hair of the dog podcast. If you enjoyed this show, please take a minute to leave a review. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe. So you don't miss our upcoming episodes. One last thing, if you are ready to dive into more resources, head over to our [email protected]. Thanks for being a part of this pet photography community.
Welcome!
I'm Nicole and I help portrait photographers to stop competing on price, sell without feeling pushy, and consistently increase sales to $2,000+ per session - which is the fastest path to a 6-figure business. My goal is to help you build a thriving business you love while earning the income you deserve.