Rachel Sorbet, a personal branding and portrait photographer from Denver, Colorado, has created a reputation for herself as someone who goes beyond just taking photos; she creates experiences. Her work exemplifies the style of portraiture that has become popular with the rise of social media. Her website, her focus on quality, the personal experiences she creates for her clients, and her niche for personal branding portraiture all work together to make her stand out in the photography industry.
Rachel explains, “I’ve always had an eye for visual arts and have an extensive background in graphic design, photo editing, desktop publishing, web design, and more.” And it shows. Her website exudes professionalism, something her clientele gravitates toward. But it wasn’t always like that.
“I started shooting professionally in 2017 and started out photographing newborns, real estate, and weddings,” shared Rachel. It’s never easy starting out. Nearly every business owner can relate.
“As any photographer knows, finding your niche is a process of elimination. Try it all and see what brings you the most joy. Life is short and the majority of your life is spent at work. It’s so important to spend your days doing things that light you up and if you’re self-employed, that aspect is absolutely paramount. Working for yourself is not easy. When things get tough, having that passion for what you do is what pulls you forward to persist and not give up.”
As time went on she found what excited her the most was telling other people's stories through photography. Rachel shared, “For me, I discovered that I really resonate with fellow entrepreneurs. I understand the value that personal branding portraiture brings to a service-based business and I love helping clients put their best foot forward. I’m a girly girl and as a child, I had aspirations of being a model one day. That was never to be, but today I love channeling that aspect of myself through my clients and posing them so that they feel like they belong on the cover of a magazine.”
”The experience” is so important to her business. It all starts from the initial meeting and continues through to the end of each project.
Rachel explains, “I believe in quality over quantity in everything that I do. A successful client experience starts with the client being prepared for the photoshoot and showing up in the right mindset. That means preparing the client in advance of the session on what outfits will flatter their body and coordinate with their brand. It means prompting them to think intentionally about where and how they want to use their images in their marketing and personal life. It also means camera-ready hair and makeup are included and we do that on-site at the studio. Most clients aren’t used to being on camera and being photographed can make even the most confident person feel vulnerable. The style consult prior to the photoshoot is critical to creating greater ease on the day of a shoot.”
Quality is key in her work. That includes creating a unique experience for her clients.
One service she offers is a branding mini session, which she dubs 'marathons’. Rachel shared details on this type of session, “The branding mini-sessions are perfect for clients that need just a few images or those that have changed their hair or glasses and need a quick update. My clients love that it’s a no-fuss, quick way to get updated headshots. There’s no hair and makeup, no style consultation, and they are in and out of the studio in an hour.”
This type of event is perfect for photographers who want to create an enriching experience with minimal setup and maximum volume, without compromising quality. Something special she does is her #BossBabe experience. Rachel shared that this portrait campaign is, “A great way to keep our shooting schedule full. Women in business hold a special place in my heart.”
Her focus on women is a huge part of her business, “Probably because I’m one of them!” said Rachel. “I believe women can be powerful, friendly, and sexy all at the same time, and I wanted to create a campaign showcasing the portraiture that I love to create.”
She also does something special for her Boss Babes clients that we find awe-inspiring. Rachel shared, “The campaign also includes a magazine, Boss Babes Magazine. Each woman is interviewed on her ideas about career and success and featured in the magazine along with a few portraits from her photoshoot.” She does this for both personal and insightful reasons. Rachel shared, “Everyone in business needs PR and the best PR is PR that comes from others talking about you, not you talking about you. The women love the magazine and being part of a like-minded group.”
This type of experience drives customers toward her clients' circles and toward her business. “The Boss Babes campaign is all about generating buzz for each woman’s business, either through the photos that are created or through the written interview. We like to help clients however we can and if the Boss Babes share the blog to their network that helps us get exposure too.”
With such a captivating experience, her website has to represent this as well. Rachel has been with PhotoBiz since the early start of her career and features a very polished and professional experience. She took a PhotoBiz website template and beautifully customized it to make it her own.
Rachel explains, “I built this website myself. It’s gone through many years of refinement and tweaks to get it where it is today. I personally have extensive web design experience going back to the days before WYSIWYG editors existed! But, thanks to the ease of use of the PhotoBiz platform, even a web design newbie can easily create a beautiful website. I really love that I don’t have to stay on top of the latest programming language to maintain the site. It’s an intuitive interface and the PhotoBiz programmers are always adding to and perfecting the [platform].”
Her website has a very clean modern design, with large call-out sections and highly expressive banners that draw you in. Rachel expanded on her design choices saying, ”I’m intentional with my brand and want to evoke emotions of professionalism, trust, and unpretentious elegance. As a full-service photographer, I want clients to feel like they are hiring the best in the area because they are hiring the best.”
Her navigation is to the point, with no filler, which is good, you don’t want to have too many options or you’ll lose people. “The last thing I want is for clients to have access to so much information that they are overwhelmed and don’t know what step to take next.”
With navigation in mind, she has one of the best looking footers we’ve seen a user design. Rachel continued saying, “The footer is a static element that’s the same whether Google brings the viewer to a blog post or the contact page and it’s the perfect place to give a summary of your business and location. It’s also a good strategy for the links that you have in the header to be repeated in the footer. When a viewer is on a mobile device there’s more scrolling to get to the bottom of the page. Having those links in the footer creates a better user experience. The footer is just as important as the header!” We agree!
Her website is visually appealing and plays an active role in her marketing strategy. Rachel told us, “The website is the hub for all marketing activities and I prefer that leads come in through the website so they can be automatically added to my CRM and keep my life a bit more organized. SEO is important, but Google also likes to see that you’re actively maintaining your website and keeping images and content fresh. With every session we complete, the website is updated in some aspect. Maybe a new image, maybe a new blog, etc.”
We agree with Rachel, refreshing your content is important. It helps drive users to your website and search engines prefer an active website to an idle one. If you have a static website you’ll see less growth in SEO, which trickles to new customers.
When asked what she loves most about her website, Rachel excitedly said, “I love that it’s incredibly easy for me and my staff to maintain. I also love the support; it is absolutely world-class. Every single time I’ve had a question, support was prompt, helpful, and polite. They are the number one reason why I’ve stayed with PhotoBiz for so many years!”
So what's the future look like for Rachel? She told us, “The future is bright! For the last nine months, a bigger and better custom-built commercial studio has been in the works. We were lucky to find a new retail space where we had the opportunity to choose the location of all the walls and fixtures. It’s a dream space with 20 ft ceilings, a wall of windows, four separate shooting areas, two dressing rooms, a private room for sales sessions, and two hair and makeup stations for my talented cosmetologists to pamper and create magic. Diversity and inclusion are important and we are delighted that it’s also handicap accessible! ”
We’re excited to see her grow and continue to be an admirer of her work. We can’t wait to see the new place!
Give us a call at 866.463.7620 to talk about how we can support your photography business and get started on our all-in-one website platform! We want to support your business.
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