Although a Website is a critical element in a wedding photographer’s overall marketing program, it is no longer enough in today’s multi-channel digital media world. Social media, a blog, video content, mobile and other “new media” components are necessary if you expect to engage fully with your prospective customers.
1. Consumers have taken charge.
Maybe, the most important concept to understand is that consumers are no longer the passive creatures that responded to the mass marketing messages and merchandising of the past. Not only do they refuse to be lumped together as a homogenous mass, but also they are taking the initiative and researching brands, stores and services, such as wedding photographers, and already have a good idea what they want to buy and from whom before they contact the first company on their list.
·Research conducted during 2014 found that of all smartphone owners, 73% of men and 63% of women interact with their devices at least once every hour.
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- More than 90% of today’s consumers are more trusting of online sources for the information they seek and 70% read reviews before choosing where to spend their money.
- More than half also want to be influencers of others’ shopping decisions by sharing their stories and telling them about the businesses they prefer and 34% are using social media to convey their opinions.
2. Content Is King.
The new consumer is unresponsive to a constant blast of sales messages. What they want is informational, even educational, content, which will help them improve their lives, careers, homes, etc. This is why major companies are producing white papers/e-books, Webinars, videos and case studies regularly and making them the centerpieces of their customer-engagement strategies.
3. Reveal Your Expertise and Personality in a Blog.
As a wedding photographer, establishing and maintaining your expertise and personalizing your business are paramount goals. Couples must be absolutely sure you know the wedding photography business and how to manage the photographing of their wedding. Because you’re in a “people” business, prospective customers also want to know you personally, to know you are a good fit for their personalities and their family dynamics. Writing and posting a blog regularly is the best new media tool to make these connections. Blog entries don’t have to be long, 300 to 500 words, or written every day. In fact, 2013 research found that if you add just one blog entry to your Website every week for a year, or a total of 52 posts, you could generate as much as 48% more traffic than if you had fewer than 51 posts.
4. Say It in Videos.
Video content is simply exploding and becoming many consumers’ favorite informational medium. For instance, the amount of time US adults spent daily with digital video has increased from 6 seconds during 2010 to almost a minute during 2014. Of those smartphone owners on the Internet viewing digital video ads during July 2014, 64 percent were highly attention of the ads and planned to purchase the products in the ads. A video case study of a wedding that you've shot, for example, is an excellent way to show prospects how you prepare, organize, manage and shoot a wedding. Make sure your case study includes a testimonial from the couple happy with their photos.
5. Going Mobile with Your Website.
If a Website was the first essential digital media tool you had to have as a wedding photographer, then today you must have a mobile-friendly version of your Website. Last year, 2014, was when Internet searches on smartphones exceeded searches on desktops for the first time and 85% of Millennials, your prime audience, owned a smartphone.
At the Speed of Photodex
Finding the time to produce content and engage with customers and prospective customers through multiple digital media channels is often the biggest challenge for a small business owner. Photodex understands this challenge, which is why it developed ProShow Producer and ProShow Web to be easy and quick to use – to create amazing-looking, professional quality video slideshows that will be the highlight of your digital media content.
Include ProShow Producer as part of your desktop editing, production and workflow management system. Once your images and video clips have been finalized, ProShow Producer is ready with a seemingly endless array of tools, themes, effects and styles to create stunning video slideshows. You can also add soundtracks and voiceovers and titles, brand each slideshow with your business identity and then publish to hard media as well as the full gamut of digital channels.
ProShow Web from Photodex is the online and mobile app equivalent of ProShow Producer. You have an equally strong palette of creative tools to produce a video slideshow on a laptop, smartphone or tablet, and wherever your photography takes you. Once you’re done, you can share your slideshow immediately via your Website, an email link, social media etc.
Visit http://www.photodex.com/proshow to learn more about ProShow Producer and ProShow Web and download both today. You can’t overlook the marketing opportunities of digital media for your wedding photography business and Photodex is ready to be your partner to make the process easier, quicker and less stressful.
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