Many business owners and marketers make the mistake of thinking of mobile marketing as a medium like radio, TV, a Website or social media pages. In reality, mobile marketing is a subset of digital marketing and can’t operate effectively as an independent channel. It must be integrated with local search, social sharing, SMS (text messages) and traditional, printed marketing materials.

 The key to make mobile marketing work for your photography business is to understand that 50% of local Internet searches are on mobile devices. After all, you operate a very local kind of businesses. It’s unlikely you are prepared to shoot a wedding, family portrait or even accept a commercial photography assignment from a client at a distance of 500 or 1,000 miles, or certainly the other side of the world.

 Here are some other statistics about mobile phone users to keep in mind.

 ·         Millennials, or adults, 18–29, are 36% of mobile ad-friendly American shoppers; however, 47% of them are members of Generation X, adults, 30–49.

 ·         More than half, or 52 percent, are employed in a white-collar position or profession and 29 percent earn more than $100,000 annually.

 ·         During the next 12 months, 47% are more likely to plan a marriage and 33% are more likely to plan to have a baby.

 For mobile marketing to pull its weight, you must have a mobile-friendly version of your Website, primarily because there is a limit to how much information can be presented on a mobile Website. Plus, people don’t like to spend time expanding and pinching the screen and clicking on page and other links to view your regular Website on their phones. It’s just not conducive to the mobile environment.

 A mobile Website’s equivalent of the home page on your regular Website should fill most of a smartphone screen with your logo or a photograph. Since you’re a photographer, an image that represents what kind of photography service or services you offer is the best choice. The remainder of the “home page” screen should include simple text links to “make an appointment” about a photography job, your address and a location map if you have an office or studio and possibly social media icons, so people can quickly jump to your social media pages.

 Although your mobile-friendly Website may generate direct contacts from prospects who need your photography services, mobile marketing works best as a lead-generation tool. It will help you build a database of prospects and clients you can communicate with regularly through emails, social media and SMS. This regular engagement with prospects and clients will lead to more jobs and referrals than just your mobile-friendly Website.

 As mentioned above, traditional, printed marketing materials play an important role in your overall mobile marketing strategy. A mobile landing page is one of the best lead-generating tools. It is typically a single page, again configured for a smartphone screen and not a desktop or laptop computer, which features an incentive to motivate people to click through to a page with the free offer or discount that they receive when they provide you with their contact information.

 To drive smartphone users to a landing page, you add a QR code to your business card and all other printed materials – brochures, flyers, etc. – and it can also be placed on your regular Website and embedded in emails. When someone scans the QR code with his or her phone, it connects him or her to a mobile-friendly landing page with its free offer or discount. If you shoot weddings or corporate and other events, then you could also display a poster or use table tents that include your QR code.

 A primary benefit of this strategy or process is that you know when someone is willing to exchange his or her contact information for your incentive, he or she is an excellent prospect. Not only are you generating leads, but also generating highly  qualified leads.

 As a photographer, however, you can utilize mobile marketing at even a higher level. In addition to a mobile-friendly Website that anyone can see, you can now provide each of your clients with a customized app. Its “home page” is a photo they select from those you shot for them (or of them) and the app contains all the images you shot. A wedding couple may only purchase a small percentage of all their photos to place in an album, but they are very likely to want to show all the pictures to everyone. Now, your mobile marketing strategy has actually penetrated the private lives of your clients. Word-of-mouth is still the number one form of referral from all advertising media and when you can present each of your clients with their own mobile app, their “word-of-mouth” will be very active.

 Ubookoo is the one company that understands how beneficial customized client apps are for photographers. It’s a definite marketing advantage, which is why Ubookoo offers its app service at very affordable rates. Often, your clients will be happy to consider it a special service only you can provide for which they are willing pay. Alternatively, it can be simply a “hidden” charge that is included in every client’s first job.

 Either way, you’ll want to visit ubookoo.com today and learn about its customized photography client apps and the many other services the company offers specifically to photographers to maximize their mobile marketing effort and investment.

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