Before the lockdown, you’d probably realise that wedding photography is a tough market. With so many providers out there, couples in love have an almost endless choice. That’s when photographers start throwing prices and giving away freebies just to lure new customers. (Hint: throwing prices is often an indication of a saturated market)

Meet John. John was one of the thousands of wedding photographers out there. His work is solid, but he realised he’s not getting customers fast enough, and he’s often treated as “one of the options”. Usually, customers will just pick based on price.

During one of those empty months, he decided to study his customer journey, and realised that before the wedding, a proposal would need to happen first. (duh…)

And what is the one thing that is always needed for during the proposal?

Yes. An engagement ring.

So he went to all the jewellers in town and gave them 5 free vouchers for a proposal photoshoot, each worth $500. John told the jewellery shop owners to give out the voucher whenever a man bought an engagement ring (a sign that a proposal is going to happen real soon).

For the jewellery shop owners, they were happy because they do not need to give out additional discounts.

For the young men in love, in their minds they know that their future fiancée would love the photoshoot. They will then arrange with John to book his time, and on cue, when the men kneel down for the “proposal” move, John and his team will pop up like paparazzi and capture the special moment.

Now, the girls were obviously caught by surprise. A mix of emotions, really.

But the magic happens when they saw John’s works, especially how he turned their surprised and unprepared looks (light to no makeups, sometimes in just a plain old Disney T-shirt) into influencer-class snapshots. They immediately wanted him to be the wedding photographer! In their minds, if they could look so stunning even when they are unprepared, imagine how the shots would turn out with a full-blown makeup, beautiful gowns and after a slimming regime!

And John’s calendar started filling up. So much that he has to turn down some jobs.

With the help of some smart thinking, he managed to cut off all the competitors. He captured the customers way before everyone else. Some say, he wowed his future customers, way before they expressed any interest.

Now, imagine if you can pull off a partnership like this. Think about the marketing costs you can cut down (John’s cost was only designing and printing the stacks of vouchers), and still be able to capture your future clients before anyone else.

So here’s the thing:

Do you want to create strategic partnerships like what John did with the jewellers?

Do you want to expand your market access by working with key brand partners?

Do you want to have a steady stream of customers lined up, without much effort on your side?

Then hop over to our JV Profits Playbook webinar happening this Wednesday, 28th October. I’ll be sharing the 3 Essential Elements of a Successful JV, based on my experience of structuring over 90 joint ventures, with the largest being $600+ million.

We’re only opening the session to a small group, so if you want to a peak at the behind-the-scene strategies and learn how to implement them in your business, better snap your seats fast!