9 Ways to Make Word-of-Mouth Advertising Work for Your Photography Business in a Social Media World
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If you expect people to talk about your professional photography services, then the first word-of-mouth advertising tool you need is a Web site and online portfolio. Three of the major strategies that will motivate visitors of your site to recommend you to others are a Flash Web site, benefits-driven copy on your home page (in fact, throughout the site) and customer testimonials. Learn more about professional photos for Linkedin here.
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With a Flash Web site, you are more likely to attract more qualified clients. Once the spectacular visual elements capture their attention, they will spend more time on your site, viewing your images and reading content. This creates an immediate and stronger bond with your site, and by inference, you. You’ll have a greater opportunity to open meaningful dialogues with more visitors, which leads to more clients and revenue.
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Visitors to your site certainly want to know who you are and what services you offer, but serious prospects are more interested in how you will solve a problem for them. They want answers to the question, “Why should I do business with you?” Your name and services don’t answer that question. Your home page should have a strong headline that helps to answer the “why” question immediately, such as “I Will Make Your Wedding Day More Enjoyable and Hassle-Free,” or “Improve the Publicity of Your Corporate Events with Complete Coverage from Beth Smith Photography.” Also check best profile picture tips here.
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Customer testimonials are very effective word-of-mouth advertising tools. No one can convince prospective customers about the quality of your photos and services better than satisfied customers. Testimonials are much more likely to be believed than whatever you can say to toot your own horn.
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Make sure to create a Gallery of your images on PhotographyTalk.com. As a PhotographyTalk member, you’ll be able to expose your work to more than 375,000 visitors every month, more than 134,000 Facebook fans and more than 209,000 Twitter followers.
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Become a master of social media with a Facebook page, regular Tweets on Twitter and a blog for your professional photography business. People will talk about you when you share information about current projects, provide helpful tips that will promote you as the “go-to” pro and reveal more of your personality. Link your Facebook page, Twitter feed and blog to your Web site and your PhotographyTalk.com Gallery.
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Create an email newsletter to send to your database of former, current and prospective clients. This is another opportunity to share “objective” content that helps to solve client problems, related to photography, instead of constantly hitting them on the head with advertising copy.
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One of the easiest ways to put your name first in potential customers’ minds is to promote yourself as the digital photography expert in your community. Contact local media outlets—newspapers, magazines and radio and TV stations—and develop relationships with editors and producers, so they will contact you first whenever they need expert input/content about photography. You can also propose a regular column on digital photography for a publication’s Web site or a talk show on radio.
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Leverage the technology of tablets and smartphones that compel people, including your clients, to share photos with family, friends and business associates and acquaintances. With the help of StickyAlbums.com, you could double your referrals in six months by creating a custom photo-album app for each of your clients, containing images from your recent projects for them.
Give each of your clients a free StickyAlbum with just a few images, create a complete version to sell as a premium or promote it as an incentive that only comes with your highest-priced packages. Clients will want to show everyone they know the outstanding photos you shot for them…and that’s some of the strongest word-of-mouth advertising available to professional photographers in the age of social media!
Try StickyAlbums for 30 days and create one album with 12 images. Choose the annual Professional Membership and receive an unlimited number of StickyAlbums, unlimited images, unlimited hosting and a password for each album.
Visit StickyAlbums.com for complete information.
Image credit: andresr / 123RF Stock Photo
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