The Long Game of Building Your Know, Like & Trust Factor... and Hamilton with Susan Stripling #004

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On today’s episode of the Know, Like & Trust show, I’m talking with Susan Stripling, a nationally award-winning photographer and educator. Susan has been photographing weddings for almost fifteen years. She’s won multiple awards at the WPPI print competition including the Grand Award in Photojournalism and the Grand Award in Weddings. She is also a Triple Master of WPPI, a position held by very few!

Susan has been an educator for Photo Plus, WPPI, PPA, and Creative Live. She is also a co-founder of The Wedding School, an online learning resource for wedding photographers. Susan likes reading, annoying people by talking about crossfit, trying to persuade everyone in the world to listen to Hamilton, watching horror movies, sleeping with the lights on, and spending time with her husband, stepkids, daughters, and Chloe the dog.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

Full circle: her education background fell by the wayside as she built her business and now she’s drawing on it again.
In the immortal words of Ricky Bobby, if you’re not first you’re last.
There’s a long period of time to establish yourself as a trusted person.
How to craft a compliment that strategically contacts big names.
When approaching influencers and those in the public eye, know that they get approached often.
There’s a tipping point when your prep turns into action.
How to use one niche to boost your credibility for another.
Susan wanted to expand her photography interest by pursuing theatrical photography, a personal project for herself, since one of her first “loves” was the theater.
Susan’s challenge was to get these actors to trust her to come to her studio (with their limited time as well) and allow her to photograph them.
Susan built a real relationship, over time, with someone that she liked. She claims many time people build a un-organic, false relationship with them to get something out of them.
Building a network is part of any marketing goal.