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Are you a photographer stuck in a marketing rut?
Are you looking for ideas on how you can market yourself, your photography, and
your business? .
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“Thank yous and gifts” – ways to tell your customers
how important they are and how much you appreciate them.
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These go a long way and are so easy to do. The
word of mouth marketing generated from past customers often is enough to have a
successful business. “Get out there” will give you some ideas on how to get
exposure in your community.
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From Facebook to blogging, and from placements at
local businesses to referral cards, these ideas will get more people knowing
who you are and why they should hire you.
How
to Promote your Photography using Facebook
Wix’s customizable templates Child
Photograpy
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The only way that you can ensure that your art is
credited to your name is to have a dedicated website devoted to your craft.
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Pro Tip: Want to keep photos on your site for your
client’s eyes only? Create individual folders for each of your clients’ pics by
creating password protected pages for clients.
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Number 1 on Organic search “need good child photographer
staten island “ Great slide show and
music on this site.
- Google Local Video
- When
you search on Google and include a location in your keyword, such as
“Madison Wedding Photographer,” Google is now putting their Google Local
listings BEFORE the organic listings in their rankings. These listings are
free, so go and get one now!
- Google+ Local,
which used to be known as Google Places, is a free online platform
that Google provides. It has two purposes – to help business
owners increase their online visibility and to help people find, engage
with, and review businesses in their local area.
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Read this article on how to get started with Google
Local. Make sure to upload some photos as well, as they sometimes show up there
in the search results. It’s a great way to improve your chances of being found
on Google when peo
- Thank you cards – send one after
each session.
- Give customers a set of wallets
with their order to use as referral cards. Pick your favorite photo from
the session, put your studio/contact information on the back.
- Reward past clients with discounts
and referral incentives. Give them more reasons to remember you when
talking to friends and family.
- Keep your customers happy!
- Include bonus, surprise prints
with the customer’s order. Write a handwritten note explaining how
much you loved working with them and value their support.
- Consider giving a few low res
watermarked images to seniors for sharing on Facebook. They will see
this as a thank you – and yet you get the word of mouth benefit when their
friends see.
- Give a magnet to each customer
with your favorite image(s) from a session. Include contact info (website
and number).
- Offer a unique gift before the
session, during or after – it could be a small gift certificate, fresh
baked goods, or any other small token of appreciation.
- Show up at local events, and with
permission from the organizers, shoot photos. Get your website
address out there by handing cards and posting the images online.
- Give free artwork and photographs
to doctors offices, hair salons, baby boutiques, etc. Include a small sign
and/or stack of business cards. Stop by occasionally to leave more cards
for sharing.
- Blogging – blog each session that
you do. Those photographed will spread the word so friends and
family can see the images.
- Use referral cards – hand these
out with every order so your past customers can spread the word easily for
you.
- For children’s portraiture, join a
“Mom’s group” and get to know the other women, who may end up your
customers and/or refer people to you.
- Take your camera everywhere.
It is an easy way to start a conversation. And always have your
business cards ready!
- Add a small label on the back of
baby and senior announcement cards with your photo studio’s name and web
address. Nothing tacky. Just simple and small.
- SEO – if you come up on specific
photography searches for your area, potential customers will find you.
- Donate a free session for a
fundraiser auction – include a sample of your work and stacks of cards.
- Don’t be shy. Hand out cards
to people when you are out – for example if a mom is at a park with their
kids, give them a card and tell them about you.
- Network with a group of local
small businesses – and help each other market.
- Get your name, website and email
listed on all the free photographer databases online.
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Get
visual
- Use images on your business cards
- Have a website with best examples
of your work, and keep it updated periodically.
- Have different business cards for
your different specialties. If you do more than one type of
photography, have cards for each type, so you hand out cards specific to
the interests of the person asking.
- Show your best images on your
business cards.
- Show it to sell it! Have samples
of wall portraits to show clients. When they think an 8×10 will do it,
“wow” them with a 16×24 standout mount or 20×30 gallery wrap, and show it on
the wall so they can see its value as an art piece.
- Have samples of any products you
wish to sell, whether it be gallery wrap canvases to albums, to photo
jewelry. People need to touch and feel in order to buy.
- Create branding that is unique to
you. Make it memorable.
- Control the process – and even if
you offer DVDs of the session, also give them lists of places to get
images printed with a high quality that represents you well.
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Pricing
- Volume discounts for large orders
- Packages and bundled pricing
- Give coupons to your friends to
pass out to their friends.
- Consider a friends and family
discount (that is if you want to take pictures of friends and family –
sometimes this can cause issues of its own).
- Offer mini shoots, themed holiday
shoots and portrait parties as a lower cost, higher volume option
- Work for free – not often – but
donating time to a charity can go a long way.
- Offer occasional deals – such as
book in X month, get a free 8×10.
- Don’t list prices on your web
site. If you do, you’ll just be another photographer in the list for them
to choose from and they’ll likely go with the best deal. You want the
potential customer to call and connect with you. Have them select
you because they want “you” to be the one to take their pictures. (I know
some will disagree – but it is something to consider)
- KNOW your target market. Know
their ages, their income levels, their interests and hobbies, and what
makes them tick. You as a photographer do not have to be in your target
market. Know your target customer’s habits. Where can you best reach them?
Is it Facebook (seniors), mom’s clubs, wedding shows, displays in the
mall?
- There’s no right answer – it
varies depending on who your ideal client is
- Traditional
advertising, such as an ad in a magazine or newspaper, is mostly
worthless. Don’t waste your money..
- Word
of mouth seems to be the best option for small businesses. Without
premises, finding places you can do it and have the clients right there
would probably work for you.
10
Free Photography Marketing Ideas That Work Like Crazy
- I
highly suggest creating a “Page” instead of using your profile, as that’s
how Facebook prefers you promote your business, and change your settings
(in Edit Page -> Apps -> Photos -> Go to App) to allow fans to
tag themselves in your photos. This is a great way to get exposure from
wedding guests and their friends as well.
- I also
post links to my blog on my page and send out behind-the-scenes
announcements to the people who have liked my page from time to time.
- Blog
as often as you can
Having fresh content on your site is
one of the best ways to let Google know that your is site active (which gives
you better rankings) and shows your customers that you are busy. When I visit a
site that hasn’t been updated in a few months, I often wonder if they are still
in business. If you don’t have many shoots, spread out your posts (do a few
images one at a time instead of all in one big post) or show some personal
work.
- It’s
also extremely valuable to blog about things that your clients want to
know. For example, wedding photographers may want to put out a series on
their blog with tips for brides for having better wedding photography
(such as hiring a professional lighting company or not getting ready in a
church kitchen) whereas portrait photographers may post about what to wear
to a session. Providing information to your clients helps them to value
you and see you as an authority about the subject.
You’ll also want to make sure that your
blog is optimized for search engines so that you can attract search engine
traffic.
- Start
building an email list right away
The more I learn about email marketing,
the more I realize that I should have started an email list right away from the
very beginning. I’m not talking about buying some random list that people are
trying to sell you. I’m talking about people who are interested in your work
and opt-in to receive emails from you.
- The
beauty of the email list is that these clients already like your work
enough to give you their email address. They want to hear about your
business and about the products you are offering. They may even love your
work enough that they want to receive an email every time you update your
blog with new photos. These people are priceless.
- Want
to do a day of mini-sessions? Tell your email list and give them the
opportunity to sign up a day before you open it to the public. Have a new
product you are offering? Tell your list about it and entice them to buy
it. The opportunities that are out
there with an email list are so vast that I’m planning on talking about
this more in-depth in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
- Network
with other professionals
Get involved with other professionals
in your local area. It’s amazing how loyal business owners can be towards each
other when you really hit if off. Make sure you’re promoting their businesses
to your clients, and they’ll be sure to reciprocate.
- Have
clients recruit their friends
Offering a free gift or a small
discount to people who find two or three friends to all schedule photo sessions
on the same day can be a huge motivator for people to find others to hire you
as well. Again, we’re harnessing the power of word of mouth advertising, but
it’s so powerful that it can’t be ignored.
- Get
featured on photo blogs
There’s a ton of wedding blogs out
there that feature photography, and there are some portrait blogs that feature
portrait photographers as well. Get featured if you can, then promote it where
your clients can see it. There’s nothing wrong with reminding them how awesome
you are. It’s simply good business.
