photo by mixetto via iStock
Marketing strategies for photographers look a lot different than marketing tips for other professionals.
I think the first reason for this is that photography is a really personal industry. Some of my favorite photography businesses that I’ve used as guides to build my photography business share deeply personal posts, both about their clients and about their photographers.
For this reason, it would feel weird if marketing strategies for photographers included things like shameless self-promotion or automated bots on websites.
But, another reason that marketing strategies for photographers are so different are that they are much more creative than typical marketing strategies, or, at least, they can be if you’re using them correctly.
In this list, we’ve got four different marketing tips for photographers that should be fun to implement and should be effective in bringing in extra revenue for your business, even during these difficult times.
Offer Free Prints
This one is a no-brainer. People love free things.
This can look different depending on how you’re using this tip. For example, you can partner with a specific print company for a giveaway on social media. I’ve seen this be really effective in reaching more people than you otherwise would since it often involves social media users tagging their friends in your post.
Conversely, you can offer free prints when a potential client purchases a big package from you.
While any free prints are going to be helpful, I’ve found it especially nice to give away free canvas prints to my clients and I use CanvasHQ to do it.
CanvasHQ only uses the best quality materials for each of their canvases. Their inks are UV-resistant, their canvases are museum-grade, and they hand build every single frame. This means that each canvas print is guaranteed to last decades on decades.
So, while you can market this free product to your clients as a family heirloom, you really don’t need to spend an arm and a leg on it.
In fact, CanvasHQ prints start at just $20.
While the other marketing strategies for photographers on this list don’t directly cost any money, this one is worth it because by providing free prints to your clients you’re letting them know that you really value their business.
Work With Local Nonprofits
photo by Hispanolistic via iStock
One of my favorite marketing strategies for photographers is to work with local nonprofits.
Most nonprofits are pretty desperate to bring in funds and this means that they are always putting on charity events or doing marketing campaigns that they need photographers for.
That’s where you come in. You can partner with a local nonprofit in order to provide your services for free so long as the nonprofit promises to link back to your social media pages and websites when they post your photos.
This is an especially fun tip because there are probably hundreds of nonprofits that could use your help in your town, so you can work with a charity you truly care about.
A lot of times, photography business tips also allow you to get a little creative and have a blast doing them. This is definitely one of those times.
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Incentivize Reviews
photo by Chainarong Prasertthai via iStock
If you’ve been in the photography industry for a while then you know word-of-mouth referrals are absolutely essential, as are crowdsourced review sites like Yelp and Facebook.
If you’ve ever received a negative review on Yelp, you know how long it takes to get your rating back up and you know it directly negatively affects your business (even if the rating may be a little ridiculous).
Since no business is ever perfect (and since there will always be some people who just aren’t happy no matter what you do), you should start combatting this problem before it even happens by incentivizing happy customers to leave reviews for your business.
photo by franckreporter via iStock
You can incentivize them by providing a free print, like I talked about above, or by offering them a discount on future sessions with you.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the more reviews you have, the more likely these websites will be to boost your place in their listing since your business is seen as more credible.
This isn’t necessarily one of the direct photography sales tips you’ve probably seen out there, but you’d be surprised what putting in a little effort on the backend can mean for your business down the line.
Be a Little Extra
photo by Spinkle via iStock
Rounding out our marketing strategies for photographers list is one of my favorite tips: be a little extra. Write down information about big days in your clients lives, like birthdays and anniversaries.
I write a handwritten card for my past clients for big events like these and you’d be shocked how frequently people call to thank me for them and book another session.
If you don’t have the time to create handwritten cards, then an email offering a discount on their next session will also be helpful.
People just enjoy knowing they’re remembered!