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It’s no surprise that a lot of photography businesses have lost a lot of revenue in the past few months. But, as things start to open back up and events resume, are you ready to start gaining new clients with your photography marketing plan?
Marketing for photographers is a lot different than marketing for a lot of other businesses because photographers are creative and people who are seeking out photographers are usually looking for someone with a personality similar to their own. Essentially, you have to put a lot of yourself into the marketing you’re doing.
To help you along this journey, we compiled some photography marketing tips that you can start doing now (even if you are still under a stay at home order). Then, when you can start hosting and attending events more often, you can continue using these photography marketing tips to build up a steady flow of clients for yourself.
Use a Marketing Calendar
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If you don’t have a marketing calendar, then all of the down time you currently have means you should make one.
Marketing calendars track different types of marketing your business is participating in. For instance, your social media marketing, your networking events, and affiliate marketing should all be down on this calendar.
This ensures that each small piece of photography marketing your business is participating in is part of a larger strategy, but it also helps automate your marketing. The best photography marketing tips are ones you can set and forget. That’s the whole point of a marketing calendar.
Host New Events
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This may or may not be one of our photography marketing tips that you can implement right now, but it does take some advanced planning so we chose to include it anyways.
Depending upon which type of photography your business does, you can host a slew of different events that will bring in new business.
You’ve seen this strategy before, because none of the photography marketing tips on this list are brand new ideas. One example is when a photographer will host headshots at a local community center for a small amount of money.
But, don’t limit yourself. You can host a costume party for kids in your neighborhood if you do family photography, or you can take a day out of your schedule to do a limited number of discount boudoir photoshoots in your studio.
Hosting events is a great way to get clients in that may never otherwise have thought to get a professional photoshoot done. It’s also a great way to get your name out there if you do a great job.
Learn More:
Do Your Marketing Research
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It’s a start that you’re reading this photography marketing tips article, but articles can really only cover so much ground. If you are serious about implementing a wide array of photography marketing tips into your business plan, then you need to do some serious research.
Some books I recommend are Think Big, Act Small, Building a Story Brand, and The 1-Page Marketing Plan.
Think Big, Act Small covers how mega-corporations keep the spirit of a startup alive and is best for photographers who need photography marketing tips to help scale their business.
Building a Story Brand explains the best way to be intentional about conveying the reasons your photography business exists.
The 1-Page Marketing Brand is best for beginners that just need basic tips to get things rolling.
Blog, Blog, Blog
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Blogging is on every photography marketing tips list and as a beginner photographer I hated it. That’s because blogging is not a short-run game. If you start a blog on your website with the hopes of bringing in additional web traffic, you aren’t going to see the fruits of your labor for months or even years.
But, blogging works. You need to blog as often as you can each week and use SEO keywords, but it will bring in additional traffic. Plus, blogging about your business can be really cathartic if you’ve never done it before.
Get Some Formal Education
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Finally, no amount of photography marketing tips can make up for formal education. You should join a local photographers’ networking group in order to learn what marketing tips have been working for people in your area. This is especially true if you live in a small town because small towns tend to have their own way of doing things.
I’ve also found that more formal educational pathways, like taking a marketing class at a community college, has kept me up to date on different changes in the marketing field.
For instance, I took a marketing class this summer since I had so much free time and was introduced to a new marketing tool that literally transformed my business.
The tool, Podium, takes messages your business receives from Yelp to Facebook to emails, and puts them on a single platform so you can always be the first to respond to new clients.
I took the opportunity to use Podium’s free trial access while I was in school and immediately purchased a subscription when it ended. Some of my clients even noticed that I seemed more “on top” of things.
I even send invoices off of Podium, which has helped me to get paid faster, and I would never have learned about it if it wasn’t for my formal education.
These aren’t just small benefits that I’m getting, either. I’m working faster, communicating better, and have more time to actually take and edit photos rather than chasing down messages and invoices. This, in turn, gives me more time to focus on marketing and expand the reach of my business even further.
Not bad, right?!
Learn More:
- Use These Photography Business Tips to Make More Money
- The Most Overlooked Success Tip for Photographers