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Kenney Ellison joins the podcast to talk about the preparation it takes to get the right shot, balancing your home and work lives, and why you should pay attention if you’ve been told you have too many hobbies and need to give up PlayStation games. In this week’s tip, we prioritize your marketing through continual testing.
Transcript:
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles Podcast, I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We’re going to talk about marketing, and we’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice that business owners can use to keep moving forward. This week, we sit down with Kenny Ellison. He’s a photographer, storyteller and creative, and we’ll learn he’s even more than that. But first, we’ve got a quick marketing tip as part of this complete breakfast.
For today’s marketing tip, we’re continuing our series on how to prioritize your marketing. I want to quote Glengarry Glen Ross to start this out, not because it’s about sales, but it’s about the ABCs. A always, B be, C testing.
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992):
A always, B be, C closing. Always be closing. Always be closing.
Jeff Randolph:
All right, I know, I know, C is for closers, just like the coffee. But I’m switching it around because you should always be testing. Testing helps you prioritize your marketing while you’re marketing. What you can’t do is be satisfied with a marketing program and just keep hitting repeat. You always want to be looking for that thing that you gets you just that much more of a result or response rate, or conversion. You always want to be testing some variable in your marketing.
There’s a leaky bucket theory that comes into play here, too. I know we’ve talked about that. If the bucket has holes in it and you keep filling it up, the water still leaks out, you will eventually run out of water. At some point, some variable in your customer base is going to change. It could be an algorithm change, it could be the audience ages out of our product or service, or your members or customers could pass away and you’re targeting an audience that is getting smaller and smaller as they go along. Or they start searching for products in your category, using a totally different search term than they used to search for it. Or they start preferring a competitor because of a specific feature, either a perceived feature or a real feature. If you’re not testing on an ongoing basis, you might miss a change that leaves your bucket empty.
What are we testing? You don’t have to be broad and sweeping in your testing. We’re not saying that you need to test a new social platform or new magazine ads alongside what you’re already doing. If you had enough budget to go into a completely different tactic, you should probably just include that tactic in your marketing mix. No, we’re starting small here. Test a different image in your ad creative each month or test a new way to phrase your copy. The AI that’s built into most of these tools in our industry do a lot of that suggesting for you already, so just say yes to testing that variation. Test copy points for a new benefit that you don’t talk about as much. Test a new keyword. Test something small within the channel that you’re already in to see how that goes. The next month, test something else.
Do all of that testing a small portion of your budget. Whatever works with your ads, you don’t want to put that at risk with something new. We’re looking for smaller indicators here. If you take 10 or even 20 percent of your media budget on a platform and test something new, you’ll see a positive impact, and then you invest a little bit more into that because it worked. Or you don’t and you move on to a different thing. If it continues to work at scale with your bigger budget, you’ve just improved the bottom line. If not, test something else next month. ABCs, A always, B be, C testing.
I am joined on this segment of the show by Kenny Ellison. Kenny is a photographer, storyteller, creative. You’re also vice principle at Northeast Middle School in the KC Public School system. So many hats to wear.
Kenny, welcome to the show.
Kenney Ellison:
Thank you so much, thank you so much.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s good to have you. I wanted to have you on the show, we can talk about all kinds of things, but I wanted to talk about photography for a minute because bring a lot of passion to photography. To give a sense of just how much passion you have around this, you traded your PlayStation games for a camera lens. Do you just hate playing PlayStation games now, or does it say that much about the passion you bring to photography?
Kenney Ellison:
It says that much about compliance with my wife.
Jeff Randolph:
Is that it?
Kenney Ellison:
My wife, once I started picking up the camera, my wife just like, “Hey, it’s either one of the two. You’re not getting in bed until midnight, so it’s either one of the two. It’s either PlayStation or photography.” Since she bought the camera, I figured that-
Jeff Randolph:
This is a good, safe choice for you? Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
This is a good, safe choice, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
And maybe it brings some income in, and your PlayStation career, you weren’t going to end up on Rocket League doing whatever.
Kenney Ellison:
I wasn’t. But the funny thing about it is my siblings, my two younger brothers, and I have another younger cousin, we’re all within the same age range. I’m going to say they’re about five years younger than me. We’re all in this group text, and they’re talking about the new game, the new update still to this day. I’m like, “Ah.” They’re like, “Well, Ken, we know that your wife isn’t going to let you get a game.”
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right.
Kenney Ellison:
I’m currently advocating for one right now as we speak, and it’s not looking … I don’t think that this interview question helped me at all.
Jeff Randolph:
Probably not, yeah. She doesn’t have to listen to this show.
Kenney Ellison:
No.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s something you can choose to share.
Kenney Ellison:
I’ll just fast-forward through this part right here.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. “We talked about you a little bit, but it was all nice. It was all nice.”
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
When the wife says you have too many hobbies, you pay attention to that. That’s an important thing to pay attention to.
Kenney Ellison:
That’s right, that’s right.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s talk about your photography, because we will link to your portfolio in the show notes as well. I’m looking at it. Do you have a particular style? How would you describe your work? It looks like you very seamlessly move between lifestyle work and business branding. Your images look spectacular, no matter what style that is.
Kenney Ellison:
I appreciate that.
Jeff Randolph:
How do you describe it?
Kenney Ellison:
I appreciate that. Photography is an art form for me. I still look at it as an art form. I was taught by an old school photography photographer who said, “Photography is the play of lights.”
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
Capturing the eyes, capturing the smile from across the room. Looking here at your beautiful, spacious studio and the way the sun’s beaming on you from this side, you can just tell a story from it. Like you said, I appreciate you for identifying it. It is a storytelling art form. That’s where we’re at with it.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Well, I appreciate you looking at the light coming in on me. Now I’m self-conscious.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
How do you approach a creative challenge? I’m trying to think about goes through your mind and how you think about it because you’ve been hired by H&R Block, and JE Dunn, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. I’m just namedropping a few names there. When you start that creative process of capturing a moment, what’s going through your mind? How do you begin that process?
Kenney Ellison:
The first part of it is asking them about their vision. Asking them specifically, “What is your vision?” A lot of times I tell people, “Hey, this is my set style. If you’re looking for someone who can give you sitting on a roll of money with the Mercedes Benz in the background, I’m not that guy.”
Jeff Randolph:
Okay.
Kenney Ellison:
You know what I’m saying? But, “Hey, this is my set style.” I’ll do some research on trying to find the best angles and the best lighting, or the best to mirror your vision and meet us halfway.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. Is there a difference when you’re looking at something that’s a very business brand kind of thing where you’re doing brand work, versus something that’s, “I’m shooting some lifestyle stuff at an event and I’m trying to capture that person from across the room in a moment that’s just perfect?”
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah. It goes back to the original component. What is their vision? Some people have a vision of just, “Hey, I want it to be very plain.” It’s like this is vanilla yogurt, served-
Jeff Randolph:
“I just need this.”
Kenney Ellison:
Bam, right. I’m just like, “Well-”
Jeff Randolph:
I’ll give you that.
Kenney Ellison:
“Do we want to spray some sprinkles on it? Do we want smoke coming from behind?” Going back to it originally, what is your vision creatively, thinking about that. Then also, just creating art because at the end of the night, I’m the one who’s digging in deep, doing the editing, reviewing the image. Was the label right? Was that person’s smile right? Okay hey, I identified earlier that that person had a pimple on their left side of the face, so I’m going to work the room and get on this side. Just incorporating and adding all those things together creates the art form.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s scouting that out. Man, that’s a lot of things to think about. What is the best advice that you’ve gotten? This could be business advice, this could be personal, either one. But if you were sharing some advice?
Kenney Ellison:
There’s two things that I think about. One comes from my uncle. He says, “You’re too young to mess up.”
Jeff Randolph:
Oh.
Kenney Ellison:
“You’re too young to mess up.” He’s still saying that to me, he’s 83-years-old, knocking on the door, you know what I’m saying?
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
He’s just like, “Hey, you’re just too young to mess up.” I really captivate on that.
The other one is, “Moving from faith to faith.” A lot of people say, “Hey, I’m in faith for this podcast to be a syndicated podcast, national syndicated podcast. Hey, I’m moving from faith to faith each interview or each time I’m able to present.” You’re just adding those little things up.
Those are the two things I operate in life. You’re too young to mess up, and just move from faith to faith.
Jeff Randolph:
I want to get to the meaning of that, “You’re too young to mess up.” That’s not saying, “Look, don’t mess up, you’re too young to get it wrong so soon,” or is it really just, “Hey, don’t worry about it, you’ve got a lot of time in the future to get it right?”
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, yeah. Just hey, we’re going to get better. I was a former athlete. I was saying earlier that I came from the Lincoln University, HBCU. Shout out to the HBCU.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right, that’s right.
Kenney Ellison:
Lincoln University played their national championship last night. But you got to realize, you look at their trajectory, last year they were 23 and four. The year prior to that they were one and 23. You know, for those kids who came in as freshmen, they came in as freshmen at one and 23. Their sophomore year, they’re 23 and four.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
Their junior year, they are fighting for a national championship.
Jeff Randolph:
Right, right.
Kenney Ellison:
You look at that case in example and you say, “Hey, did I waste my life?” It’s just like, “Hey, man, you’re too young to mess up.”
Jeff Randolph:
A lot of road still left in front of you.
Kenney Ellison:
It’s a lot of roads.
Jeff Randolph:
You’ve got a lot of road.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
This not the end of the world, you can get there.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
I know you wanted to shout out some important people in your life, so first go ahead and do that. Let’s give you some space to shout people out.
Kenney Ellison:
I want to shout out to my barber, to my ice cream store. No, I’m joking.
Jeff Randolph:
Let me tell you, if you thought your wife was upset about this while PlayStation thing, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, I know. She always sends me memes about me irritating her. But most importantly, my wife, my wife and children. My wife, we’re at 11 years married, 14 years together. Huge shout out to my wife. She had two beautiful children for us, and that’s Kennedy and Kenny, Kenneth Alexander.
Just really, all of my mentors in life who just really helped me move from faith to faith.
Jeff Randolph:
Right, right.
Kenney Ellison:
Even thinking about old Mr. Terry there.
Jeff Randolph:
Theo Terry, engineer, that’s right.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, thinking about Mr. Terry. Mr. Terry was a staple in our community growing up, growing as kids. Now that I’m in education and I’m like, “Hey, Mr. Terry, I need this, or I need that,” those type of people always pop up in your life.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
You just got to be thankful for them whenever you’re able to continue to build relationship with them. Not only build relationship with them but partner, and grow from it, and move forward. I can go on, and on, and on, both in photography, real life, church, school, community.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, yeah. That’s kind of where I wanted to go with a question, because the role of having that support system … You are an entrepreneur, you’ve got a photography business that, it looks great, you’re working that hard, you can tell. You’re also vice principle at Northeast Middle School, so that’s an entirely different kind of hat to wear.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Then you’ve got the family as well. Talk to me about that achieving a work life balance and having that support system in all those people you shouted out?
Kenney Ellison:
Again, you just really can’t say no to them. You can say no to any of those people. I say all the time that, prior to be an administrator, my wife financially supported my lifestyle of being a teacher. I was an educator and working in public education, there’s not a lot of money. Someone has to support you.
Jeff Randolph:
Right.
Kenney Ellison:
There’s coaching, there’s after school projects, we had children, young children. You think about those things and it’s just like when the wife say, “No PlayStation-”
Jeff Randolph:
Get rid of the PlayStation.
Kenney Ellison:
Or she says, “You’re folding clothes,” you know.
Jeff Randolph:
You fold the clothes. Yeah. No, totally agree.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s having that balance is really important and being able to focus on the important things, and putting your time and attention into the things that can get you somewhere.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s a great thing. Kenny Ellison, I am about to take you into the Lightning Round.
Kenney Ellison:
Okay.
Jeff Randolph:
Are you ready for the Lightning Round?
Kenney Ellison:
I’m ready.
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s find out. Lightning Round rules are simple. It’s shorter, soundbite questions and you have no way to know anything that I might ask from this point on. We’ve probably talked about topics of questions before this. Now, you’re just all on your own. Are you ready for this?
Kenney Ellison:
I’m ready.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay. What’s the best part of your education job? At the end of the day you get done and you’re like, “Man, I made a different today.”
Kenney Ellison:
Seeing the smile on a kid’s face.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah?
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah. Super big smile, “Hey, I accomplished that.” I tell people a lot of times that, deep down inside, I might cry. I’m a crier, deep down inside, but it’s more like a … I don’t know.
Jeff Randolph:
You hold it back publicly?
Kenney Ellison:
I hold it back publicly. But it’s just that moment when you see a kid smile or they accomplished that one thing. Their goal finally came true.
Jeff Randolph:
Nice.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Let me switch it up a little bit. What’s the best part of your creative job, the photography side?
Kenney Ellison:
Again, just going back to the success of someone creating a post for their birthday, and you don’t know the backstory until they’re creating this, “Long post alert.”
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
It was just like, “Oh, I just got done fighting cancer.” Then, it’s like, “What?”
Jeff Randolph:
Then, “This was the photo shoot that we did afterward.”
Kenney Ellison:
Right.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
Like, “What? She was fighting cancer this whole time?” That part of the creative.
Jeff Randolph:
Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on on the photo side?
Kenney Ellison:
I always love taking pictures of my children. That will always be my favorite. I will say that my … Have you heard of the 90 Day Fiance couple that’s here in Kansas City?
Jeff Randolph:
I’ve heard of 90 Day Fiance.
Kenney Ellison:
Okay.
Jeff Randolph:
But I should probably stop talking about it at that point and go I don’t have any other knowledge about them.
Kenney Ellison:
Right. Well, I didn’t either. It’s a couple, they’re a 90 Day Fiance Couple, had no idea who they were. They just booked a session, “We’ll meet up at the library.” I was just like, “Okay.” They didn’t add any context, I didn’t request any more context. We take the pictures. But I’m starting to see that there was a lot of handlers that were there. The gentleman had a handler, the lady who was there, she’s in full Muslim garment, Hijab and everything. I’m just like, “I don’t know, best friends.”
Jeff Randolph:
It’s a shot, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
They’re giving her water and patting her down. I was just like, “What’s that all about?” It was just like, “Oh yeah, that’s the 90 Day Fiance Couple.” I was just like, “90 Day Fiance?” Communicating in text messages back and forth with the young lady and she was just like, “Hey, just letting you know, these pictures are going to be on E.”
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
On E News, Entertainment Tonight. I’m just like, “What?”
Jeff Randolph:
“Then yes, I would like photo credit please, and here’s my link.”
Kenney Ellison:
Right. The Instagram popped up. I remember the day it posted, the followers, gained like 800 followers that day.
Jeff Randolph:
Wow.
Kenney Ellison:
I was just like, “What? This is cool.”
Jeff Randolph:
That just happens.
Kenney Ellison:
Then I ended up having to do my research to find out who these people were. They were like, “The husband was a total jerk.” I was just like, “That guy? He was so cool. Bilal, he was so cool.” We was dabbing it up, but I didn’t know.
Jeff Randolph:
But you don’t know because you don’t have any of the context of the show.
Kenney Ellison:
I have no context. But yeah, Bilal and Shaeeda, shout them out, good friends. Like I said, I work over in the Northeast community, so I work with a lot of students, female students who wear Hijabs. I had her come to the school and talk to girls, and stuff like that. Bilal’s a real estate agent, we chit-chat on Instagram and text message, seeing each other at the game. Those kind of projects are cool, especially when you can break down the barriers of, “Hey, this is just a job,” or whatever the case may be.
Jeff Randolph:
And leverage it for success on all your other hats that you wear. Do you have a desert island food, something that would be the one meal you could eat for the rest of your life?
Kenney Ellison:
Man. Shrimp chicken fried rice.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, that’s not a bad way to go. I get it, I understand it.
Kenney Ellison:
Extra egg, extra green onion.
Jeff Randolph:
And very specific, too.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
With hot sauce, though.
Jeff Randolph:
Like a traditional, not a Japanese kind of hot sauce?
Kenney Ellison:
Traditional hot sauce.
Jeff Randolph:
Or Chinese hot sauce.
Kenney Ellison:
Traditional hot sauce. I had it one time in Atlanta.
Jeff Randolph:
Wing sauce.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah. No, like hot sauce.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, like hot sauce hot sauce? Okay.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, like red-hot Louisiana.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, Louisiana? Absolutely.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, Texas Pete’s, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
I get you, I get you. We caught up with you at a Chamber of Commerce small business event, where we saw you there. What do you get out of attending that kind of networking community gatherings? Do you go in there trying to accomplish something, or are you just there to see what happens and meet people?
Kenney Ellison:
Go in there to see what happens and meet people. Be in a relationship built community. Finally able to put some names with faces, like you all. Putting some names with some logos like, “Oh, okay.” Then also, just really finding out does their personality match their brand as well.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah. Interesting, interesting.
Kenney Ellison:
Then doing the two-and-two and say, “Hey, I take pictures, if you want to take pictures.” You all were like, “Hey, we do interviews if you into that kind of thing.”
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah. I noticed on your portfolio at 3shotsphotography.com, we’ll link that, you list that you are a husband, father, photographer, creative. Is that a very intentional order?
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
You can bank on that being the right order.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can’t have one without the next. Husband first, my wife bought me my first camera.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
That became as a result, her buying me a camera because I was taking pictures of our daughter every moment I possibly could. The wife said I can’t take pictures, then I can’t go.
Jeff Randolph:
Right, right.
Kenney Ellison:
If the wife is not willing to watch the kids, if I’m in a shooter slump, I’ll go take pictures of the kids.
Jeff Randolph:
I’m hearing that those are the favorite kind of pictures that you take and it is fascinating to look at the kinds of clients that you have, and how absolutely down-to-Earth you are on, “No, I love taking pictures of the kids. That’s what I’m in it for.” That is so nice to hear that and see that.
Kenney Ellison:
Well, you got to rephrase that. Look, I love taking pictures of my kids.
Jeff Randolph:
Right. No, no, your kids.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like taking pictures of my kids. Family photos, family photos are fun but boy, when you have a family of mother, father, and they four kids, it is straight.
Jeff Randolph:
Wrangling a cat, yeah. Just wrangling cats as much as you can.
Kenney Ellison:
You can see the mom, she’s smiling, and the whole time she’s smacking the kid, “Shut up. Shut up. Jonathan.” And the dad’s doing one of these. That’s one thing.
Jeff Randolph:
That could be it. One of the takeaways I had from … There was a keynote motivational speaker that I saw one time, this guy was a photographer and also wanted to climb Mount Everest. Had a nature photography kind of thing. One of his big pieces of advice for the crowd was that you have to do your own legwork, you have to do your own scouting, so that you know the difference between a shot at 7:00 and a shot at 7:01.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
The difference between those two, and it was really powerful to look at that with the two pictures side-by-side and go, “Yeah, if you’re not right there at this spot, it’s not going to work.” You said a few things earlier about capturing the light coming in and hitting somebody across the room. What is the most important prep for you when you start either working an event or taking pictures, or working with a couple that happens to be famous from reality TV, or whatever the case may be, how do you approach that from a prep?
Kenney Ellison:
That guy is spot on. It’s crazy that he says that because, in my phone, I have a certain gallery in my phone or where I drive around and take pictures of locations.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
I also have it timed of, “Okay, I know this side of town is going to be real shady during the 5:00 hour, this is cool.” Then also, just doing my research as well, of knowing hey if this person, if they want natural light, they want natural light but their timeframe is only 3:00, okay cool, I’ve got to go to this shade-
Jeff Randolph:
Here’s where we need to be.
Kenney Ellison:
Here’s we need to be. So really, just doing your homework and your research, even including with the flash photography and all that kind of stuff. It’s really important. That guy was really spot on when he said you have to do your homework. You absolutely have to do your homework.
The other thing too, is that I like to watch the young kids as well. I’ll dig into a young kid’s Instagram page real quick.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Kenney Ellison:
I really following this photographer, I can’t even think of the kid’s name, but he’s out of Savannah State. That’s what, Georgia or something like that? I don’t know. But he is the midnight photographer.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, okay.
Kenney Ellison:
How is he doing it at midnight? Absolutely I have no idea, but he’s killing it. I’m watching everything he’s doing. Just following people and doing your homework, doing your research.
Jeff Randolph:
Get inspiration.
Kenney Ellison:
Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
There’s so much more that goes into a creative job and being prepared. Luck favors the prepared, it’s that whole thing.
Kenny, I’m going to take you out of the Lightning Round. Where can people find you? Where would you send them if they want to know more?
Kenney Ellison:
Well, 3shotsphotography.com is my website. I can be found on all of my social media platforms under the name Kenny Ellison. Kenny, K-E-N-N-E-Y, Ellison, E-L-L-I-S-O-N.
Jeff Randolph:
All right, Kenny Ellison, photographer, storyteller, creative, thanks for being on the show today.
Kenney Ellison:
Thank you so much.
Jeff Randolph:
That is our show. Thanks to our guest, Kenny Ellison, and thank you for listening to the Small Business Miracles Podcast. Remember to subscribe, leave us a five-star rating and review, drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any thoughts. Until then, we’ll be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.