Before

VistaCut Media was a new business in Orlando, built around real estate photography and social media. Jonathan was running it part time, and the whole operation was an Instagram account and whatever work he could find by going door to door. He was shooting for local businesses one gig at a time. That effort had produced two clients, and each one was a single project that paid between $1,000 and $1,500 before it ended. He had no website, no set pricing, and no simple way to explain what VistaCut offered. He also had very little money to invest, and the bills did not wait. Anything we built would have to come together one piece at a time.

The hidden cost

Going door to door is slow, and it starts over every morning. Each pitch began from nothing, because there was nothing for a prospect to look up once he walked away. An agent or a shop owner saw one person with an iPhone asking for work, and plenty of them made up their minds before he finished talking. Even the jobs he won did not last. A single project paid once, and then he was back out looking for the next one while the bills kept arriving on schedule.

What we did

Because money was tight, we built VistaCut in pieces. We started with the value proposition, the pricing, and the positioning, so Jonathan could say clearly what he offered real estate agents and local businesses and what it cost. Then we built the outreach engine. It is an automated cold DM system on social media, backed by landing pages written for new prospects, and it landed a couple of additional contracts before the website even existed. Next came the site itself and the validation systems behind it, which we connected to the cold DM system so every prospect had somewhere to go. Last, we added dynamic case studies for each location he serves, so new clients could find him through search.

How they felt

Outcome

Four months in, the outreach was doing the knocking for him. The cold DM system brought in 150 warm leads, and those leads turned into repeat and recurring clients. VistaCut went from no recurring revenue to $3.5K in recurring revenue, on a business that had started with two single projects and an Instagram account. The other change was harder to put a number on. With a clear offer, a website, and case studies for the places he works, VistaCut looked like a legitimate business, and prospects started treating it like one.

How we did it

We started with the offer, because nothing else works until a prospect understands what they are buying. Jonathan’s photography became three packages for real estate agents. Basic covers everything a listing needs to hit the MLS. Pro adds drone photos and is marked as the most popular choice. Plus adds a cinematic aerial video for agents who want to show the home and the lifestyle around it. With the offer set, we built the cold DM system on social media and the landing pages it sends prospects to. That system landed a couple of additional contracts before we started on the website. The website came next. It opens on his own listing photos and a button to book a shoot, then moves through his services, his work, his pricing, reviews from agents in their own words, and a tabbed FAQ. Behind it sit the validation systems, and the whole site is hooked into the cold DM system, so the people the outreach reaches find a business that backs up the pitch. The last piece was a set of dynamic case studies for each location he serves, which help local clients find him through search.