ursula mckinley

Co-Founder of Media Lab NI & Photo Booth Marketing

Ursula McKinley is an award-winning marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and mentor with over 20 years of experience in public relations, branding, marketing, and event management. She has worked with major global brands including Hilton, Subway, and Google, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, and Google certified. Ursula also served on Facebook’s European Marketeers board.

 

As the co-founder of Media Lab NI, Booth NI, and Photo Booth Marketing (PBM) — the industry’s largest content and education platform — Ursula has helped thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide scale their businesses, increase bookings, and grow their revenue. Since 2018, PBM has produced over hundreds of marketing videos, professional images, multiple innovative event concepts and accompany marketing materials and campaigns, and 400 hours of training content, while mentoring more than 3,500 photo booth owners.

 

Ursula is currently completing a Master’s degree in Business Coaching, Mentoring, and Leadership, and is passionate about empowering business owners through practical marketing strategies and leadership development.

The Real B’s of Boothing

Booked – Branded – Built to Scale

The booth industry has never been more competitive and busy no longer means profitable.
In this high-impact, no-fluff session, globally recognised marketing strategist and business coach Ursula McKinley pulls back the curtain on what truly separates struggling, inconsistent booth businesses from scalable, highly profitable brands.

This session will challenge outdated thinking, expose the hidden growth blockers most owners never see, and introduce The Real B’s of Boothing – the three non-negotiables every successful booth business must master:
✅ Booked – How to create consistent, high-quality leads without burnout
✅ Branded – How to position yourself for premium clients and corporate work
✅ Built to Scale – How to grow beyond “solo hustle” into a real business with systems

Whether you are a full-time booth company, a DJ adding photo booths to your offering, or a business owner stuck at the same revenue level year after year, this talk will give you practical, proven direction and the confidence to grow with intention, not guesswork.
Expect real strategies, real examples, and real clarity – plus exclusive access to tools and resources designed to help you take immediate action after the show.

Key Takeaways

  • Profitability Over Busy-ness: Being fully booked is a vanity metric if your margins are thin. Learn how to audit your business to ensure every booking is actually contributing to your bottom line, not just filling your calendar.

  • The Booked Framework: Transition from spray and pray marketing to a system that generates consistent, high-quality leads. This is about working smarter on your lead gen so you don’t burn out before the event even starts.

  • Premium Branding & Positioning: Discover how to shift your brand identity away from the cheap and cheerful wedding market to attract premium clients and lucrative corporate contracts that pay higher rates for specialized services.

  • Breaking the Solo-Hustle Ceiling: Identify the hidden growth blockers that keep owners trapped in the day-to-day operations. Learn how to implement systems that allow the business to function without you being at every single activation.

  • The Scale Mindset: Move from being a booth operator to a business owner. This involves mastering the three B’s (Booked, Branded, Built to Scale) to create a predictable, scalable revenue model.

  • Actionable Implementation: Ursula provides the specific tools and resources needed to stop the guesswork and start making intentional, data-driven decisions for your business growth.

Who This Is For

  • Full-Time Photo Booth Companies: Established operators who feel stuck at a revenue plateau and need a clear roadmap to reach the next level of profitability.

  • DJs with Booth Add-ons: Business owners who have added booths to their services but are struggling to market them effectively as a standalone or premium revenue stream.

  • The One-Man-Band: Solo operators who are exhausted by the hustle and are ready to build systems, hire a team, and scale into a legitimate company.

  • Growth-Minded Entrepreneurs: Anyone in the event rental space who is tired of competing on price and wants to reposition themselves as a premium, “must-have” brand for high-end events.