photo by Leonardo Patrizi via iStock
Marketing for photography businesses takes up a ton of time. Unlike some less creative industries, when you’re in the photography industry, most of your marketing is going to be in-person and via word of mouth. It’s definitely one of those industries where you need to ruthlessly harass friends and family in order to properly get started.
For this reason, some photographers don’t have a ton of experience with digital marketing for photography businesses. In turn, this means that some photographers have pretty terrible photography marketing skills.
If this is you, you don’t need to worry because you can follow these simple photography marketing tips to bring in a ton of businesses in 2021.
Focus on One Social Media Channel
photo by alexsl via iStock
Since a lot of marketing for photography businesses happens via word of mouth, social media is an excellent way to reach out to potential clients. The problem with using social media as a tool for marketing for photography businesses is that it takes up more time than anyone actually has.
That’s why you should strictly focus on one social media channel at a time until your business is big enough to hire a social media manager.
I personally focused on Facebook when I was starting my marketing campaign because it was the most popular social media channel at the time, though I could feasibly see it as a good move to begin with Instagram now.
The point is that you should pick one social media channel and focus all of your social media hours there in order to really make it work for you before thinking about expanding.
If you already have more clients coming in through LinkedIn than you do on Instagram, then that may be a good place to start. Although, you should get the same results regardless of the channel you choose to focus on so long as you put some serious thought into your posts there.
Stay Focused on the Task at Hand
Speaking of staying focused, something that helps me focus on the task at hand and stay organized is using my reMarkable 2 tablet.
I've had this tablet for a while now, and it has proven to be one of the best tools I have for staying productive.
There's something to be said for sitting down and organizing my thoughts about how to market my business while using a tablet that has the feel of writing on paper. It simply feels more genuine and authentic to write out my ideas than to sit at my computer and type them.
In addition to a great user experience, the reMarkable 2 helps limit distractions because there aren't any apps and you can't connect to the internet.
So while my iPad enables me to get way off-task with movies, games, and so forth, my reMarkable keeps me laser-focused on getting my thoughts down about business and marketing. It really is a fantastic tool for improving productivity.
And improving productivity is what 2021 is all about for me - and it should be for you as well.
We had a rough 2020, and 2021 is an opportunity to make up for all that lost time. When time is so precious, I don't need to be distracted by outside influences. What I need to do is make the most of my time and get things for my business done. reMarkable 2 helps me do just that!
I can use pre-loaded templates, convert my handwriting into text, and set up folders to organize my notes. I really is gold from a note-taking standpoint. It's thin, light, and user-friendly, easy on the eyes (literally and figuratively), and is super responsive with great battery life as well.
No matter if you're jotting down notes about your next marketing strategy or you're taking notes about your new client or something in between, this gadget will make it a much more productive and enjoyable experience. Try it yourself and see!
Focus on Your Most Important Marketing Content
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If you’re really looking for photography marketing made easy, then you need to be willing to narrow your focus. This means that you should put far more effort into one piece of key marketing content and then repurpose that piece throughout your marketing campaign.
For instance, if you have decided that you are learning everything you can about social media marketing for photography businesses, then you can take that knowledge and use it across all of your platforms.
Let’s say you just finished crafting the perfect Instagram campaign. It is going to last for the whole month of December and you created 31 posts, one for each day. Well, that obviously took a lot of time and you can repurpose those posts elsewhere.
For example, you could take some of the content of those posts and create some emails for your email campaign. You could take some of the content from other posts and add them to your FAQ page. You could take some of the content from more posts and create longer blog articles on your website.
Marketing for photography businesses should be cohesive and focusing on key marketing content is one way to make it so.
Learn More:
Focus on One Event at a Time
photo by SDI Productions via iStock
Just like you need to focus on one social media channel at a time, you should also only focus on one event at a time.
Let’s say you’re a wedding photographer and there are seven different wedding conferences every year in your area. It is tempting to try and make sure that you can be at all of them. But, not only is this costly for your business, but it’s going to take up so much of your time. There’s no way a single person business can feasibly be at all of them.
So, focus on one event at a time. Think about it. Just the leads from one wedding conference could fill up a half a year for you, so long as you were really present at that one conference.
Focus On In-Person Marketing
photo by SDI Productions via iStock
No matter how important people say digital marketing is, I still find that my in-person marketing is far more valuable to my photography business and I really don’t see that changing anytime soon.
While there are hundreds of beginner marketing tips for photographers that all focus on in-person events, I think my favorite is to simply display your photography in small businesses around town.
This is a great way to get more involved in your community. While you are going around talking to business owners about your photography, you’re also pulling off some excellent networking.
Of course, if you’re going to hang your photography in small businesses around your town, then you need to make sure that your photography looks the best it can. For this, you need to use CanvasHQ.
CanvasHQ is a small canvas printing company that is as focused on the quality of their products as you are with yours. Every canvas that CanvasHQ creates is handcrafted. Their canvas frames are hand-built and their canvas is hand-stretched.
CanvasHQ canvases are also made with the highest quality ink available, which means that you can expect your canvas to last well over a century.
Plus, the quality of CanvasHQ’s canvases doesn’t mean a high price tag because you can get a canvas printed for as little as $20.
When it comes to putting your best foot forward and marketing your business effectively, there’s nothing better than a high-quality canvas print!
Learn More:
- How to Give Your Clients Free Photography Gifts (and Why You Should Do It)
- 4 Simple and Effective Marketing Strategies for Photographers