Marketing Partner: Paula Watts Expands Her Reach

BY 28 February 2023

I started working with beauty photographer Paula Watts in April 2022 when she came to Wonderful Machine interested in our Marketing Partner service. From the first few minutes of our introductory call, I knew that we would make an excellent team. I could sense that Paula understood the purpose of our partnership. This is essential for success as the word “partner” is what embodies the heart and soul of this process.

Paula already has an impressive portfolio and knows what it takes to continue to build on this trajectory. Even though we have never met in person, collaborating with her and seeing her work was a pleasure. Attentive, kind, detail-oriented, and creative – Paula never stops bringing fresh ideas to every project. Also, working with someone for 11 months allows you to build a comfortable professional relationship based on trust.

Our Strategy

In the first month, we created and implemented an email campaign targeting both agencies and brands. For the second month, I recommended that we concentrate our efforts on brands. We started with categories such as personal care, hair care, and cosmetics. This strategy proved fruitful as Paula achieved a 90% open rate for the clients we targeted.

This approach would yield success after success. For example, Paula achieved a 100% open rate twice – in November 2022 and January 2023. Also in the first month, we included the brand Billion Dollar Beauty, and a couple of months later, Paula connected with the client, which led to a project.

**_{In the emails we send to potential clients, we include these digital promos to show a sample of Paula’s work.}**

To complement her beauty photography portfolio, Paula wanted to promote herself to fashion editorial clients. So last fall, we launched a two-month campaign focusing on Mexican fashion publications with a Spanish-speaking audience. For the promotional content for this campaign, Paula put together a special shoot. The crew included a Mexican designer, a Latin model, and a diverse team of hair and makeup specialists. Paula used the results of this shoot in a printed portfolio, a social media collaboration with the other crew members, and we included a selection of images in the email campaigns sent to the 25 selected publications.

In Mexico, we have a popular expression that says: “who does not risk does not win.” Paula embodies this sentiment. She took a risk in expanding her specialties and is now even including jewelry photography on her website’s portfolio.

Next Steps

For the next few months, we will be focusing our efforts on following up with the best contacts from publications contacted in 2022. As a Wonderful Machine consultant, working with photographers like Paula gives me an immense sense of pride. I look forward to building our continued professional relationship.