Student of the Month

At SWU, we're all about creative and profitable marketing campaigns. Our Student of the Month feature will highlight a SWU member who has created a fun, profitable, and popular marketing campaign.
Each month a colleague will share details about how they designed their campaign and how effective it was. Sharing knowledge among each other is another benefit of the SWU community.

Student of the Month

Student: Julie Rhodes

Studio: Julie Rhodes Photography

URL: julierhodesphotography.com

Location: Chatham, Ontario. Canada
How long have you been in business? I have been doing photography professionally for almost 3 years.

Who are some of your favorite mentors? Sandy Puc!!!, Audrey Woulard, Tara Whitney,

Branding:
Why did you chose the brand/style that you did?  wanted to have a clean modern look that worked well for family, children and weddings.

Did you hire someone to create the look for you?  I hired Rachel from www.sevenworks.ca to create my logo and we are continually working on my branding. Although I don't need her very much with all the marketing materials from Sam's world. With my design and logo I can customize any campaigns to Julie Rhodes Photography.

Studio share:
Please tell us your story! Include all details on how you went from your previous job to renting space for your own studio. The 48 Hour Sale has been my most successful marketing campaign!  The campaign was the first one I saw when I joined SWU.  So I took it and ran with it!

Is this your dream studio? Not yet, but in time it will get there. I can't wait to get rid of the brown office carpet that runs throughout the entire space. I secretly hope to one day have the entire upper space. There are 3 other offices up there, that are currently empty. One day it would be awesome to have it all! I am a firm believer everything happens for a reason. I had tough decisions to make but I am chasing my dreams and loving every second!

Marketing share:

How did you come up with this concept? One thing I am doing differently is instead of a "Watch me grow" package, I am offering a "Year of Memories" package. I came up with a Year of Memories (YofM) because i wanted to encourage everyone multiple visits at the studio. By purchasing this package they will visit 4 times each year. Their purchases will make up for the session fee. 

What marketing materials did you create for this campaign? An Eblast, working on post cards, and put out a sale through facebook and email.

How did you execute this campaign, and how was it received in the community? It is being received with great response. I am working on educating everyone, what I offer is new to them. I need to teach them about the program and about how my studio works, with the limited edition sets.

If you do this campaign again, what would you change? Not sure yet. I will let you know next year!


Just because:
Tell us about a country you would like to visit most and why? Right now, Haiti. All those orphaned children. I read before the earthquake 365,000 orphans, after the earthquake they are estimating over 1 million. Not enough places for them to go. My heart breaks. If I could go help, build, comfort, adopt, whatever I would.

Tell us about your favorite music / song / band? I love all music. The music that makes me smile the most are the songs my girls sing. If I hear one of their songs, even when I am not with them I smile. I bought Disney Sing It, because it has Butterfly on it and I get goosebumps when my girls sing it. lol

Tell us about something you would happily do again? I would show my girls that even though it is scary and a huge decision, they need to follow their heart and chase their dreams. Not to ever settle and hard work will pay off.

Name your 3 favorite foods? We play this game: if there was only one food left on earth to eat what would you want. My answer is always ~ pizza. I also love black pepper & garlic triscuits with a piece of old cheddar cheese and Tim Horton's coffee.

Tell us about someone you really admire? I admire a little 5 year old girl. She wasn't handed an easy life, she was choosen to fight from day one. She was born with cerebal palsy. She is never angry. She is incredibly funny. She works hard every single day. She never gives up. She never says " I can't". She is a pure joy to be around. She radiates positive. People are drawn to her. I love her for what she has taught me and the lessons I've learned from her.