Senior spokesmodel teams are one of my favorite things to talk about and teach my students about because I truly believe it’s one of the best things I could have done for my photography business! This time of year is the best for recruiting the next year’s models, so I thought it was the perfect time to share 6 mistakes to avoid with your senior spokesmodel team. Over my 13 years of running spokesmodel teams, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and I hope these tips help you avoid some of the same pitfalls!
What is a spokesmodel team?
A spokesmodel team or program is a group of high school seniors that represent your photography business during their senior year. They help spread the word about your business and help you grow by sharing your name with their community. A team works well for this age group because seniors love sharing about their photos and their experiences! When a senior tells their friends about it, that means more than any marketing we could do on our own. It’s a great source of word of mouth referrals and social proof.
The basic structure of a spokesmodel team is that seniors join the team through an application process, interview and in person meeting. You have a set of incentives such as photoshoots in exchange for their time, photos from the shoots that they can share to help market your business, fun events and group activities to create a bond within the team and more! There are a list of requirements that you give your team or a list of things you want them to do in exchange for the perks or incentives. You and your team work together so everyone gets something out of this program and so that it is a great experience for all!! The exact details will be specific to you and your business.
So now that we know what a spokesmodel team is… let’s dive into some mistakes to avoid!
Mistake #1 – Assuming that models do all the work!
This was a huge mistake I made in the beginning. I truly thought that I would do very little and my models would do the rest. But it’s not true. Model programs are work, I am not going to lie to you about that! You have to be willing to put in more work than the models because its our business not theirs. The team will absolutely help you market and create buzz, but we do all the behind the scenes work.
Mistake #2 – Over promising and underdelivering!
We want so much for our program to work and for the models to love every minute of it! So we promise everything: lots of shoots, activities, photos, and more. But if we do too much (or offer to do too much!), we may wind up resenting the programs we’ve built. Take the time to only promise what you know you can deliver – and then blow them all away instead of overpromising and not being able to actually do something you said you would. Trust me, they’ll remember that! By underpromising a little bit, you’ll have the capacity to blow them away with something extra later on!
Mistake #3 – Thinking more is better!
Here’s the thing: you don’t need a massive spokesmodel team for it to help you out. Instead of getting overwhelmed with a big team that you really don’t need, remember that small can be just as powerful. When I started out in 2011 with my first team, I only had 4 girls and it was amazing! As you grow, future models will hear about the opportunity and become interested! Give those few an amazing experience, have them share that experience with their friends while you share your love of your team and excitement for your program and others will see it!!
Mistake #4 – Just winging it!
Going into a spokesmodel program without a plan is a huge mistake! I can attest to that because that is exactly what I did my first year! I had no idea what I was doing, didn’t fully understand the program strategy and just jumped in with both feet and no plan.