One of the great things about being a photographer is that you get to be part of people's special moments.
Be it their engagement, their wedding or their kids' school pictures, you've got a front row seat to the beauty of life and growth.
But, of course, simply opening your studio doors and saying "I'm open for business" isn't enough to get people to hire you.
Instead, you have to work to get photography clients!
Here's how.
Focus on Your Salesmanship
Even though you're a photographer, you're also a salesperson.
That means you need to focus on how you market yourself in a way that's attractive to potential customers.
But the last thing you want to do is come off as a pushy, sleazy salesperson. The question is, how do you do that?
Quite simply, you need to focus your salesmanship on the experience you offer your clients.
Don't rant and rave about this sale or that discount. Instead, tell potential clients how working with you will make them feel. Explain how the products you offer will help them preserve those special moments in their lives. Show them how you're there to help them, not just sell them something.
In other words, your sales proposition needs to focus on emotion, feeling, and results. If you can do that, you'll find that more people will be interested in working with you.
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Show Them What You Can Deliver
As they say, the proof is in the pudding, and if you want to completely convince potential clients that you're the photographer for them, you need to take your salesmanship a step beyond just telling them how you do things.
You can do that by showing them exactly what kind of product you will deliver them.
This can be done in many different ways - your website, your portfolio, with testimonials from past clients, and so forth.
But none of those mediums are something that a client can hold, feel, and touch. For that, you need to show them actual photography products.
And when it comes to the photography products you offer your clients, you can't just give them a product that is available to anyone. Instead, you need to partner up with a company like nPhoto, which makes the premier photo albums and photography products and offers them excuselevy to professional photographers.
Remember - part of your sales proposition is evoking an emotion and a feeling of exclusivity, and trust me when I say that potential clients will get all the feels when they get their hands on a nPhoto photo album.
These albums are second-to-none in terms of their quality - after all, they're handcrafted by skilled artisans in Europe's largest printing lab.
Right out of the box, you can tell that these albums are a step above anything else on the market.
There's a weight to them that screams "family heirloom" that you just don't get with cheap, quick-print albums that have become so ubiquitous in the past few years.
And then when you open the album, you see vibrant, colorful image spreads on layflat pages. Again, the weight of the paper used in these albums feels great in your fingers as you flip from one gorgeous page to the next.
And since nPhoto offers tons of customization possibilities, you can work with your clients to create a custom album that's suited specifically for their tastes.
Talk about evoking a feeling and emotion!
nPhoto has many other photo products you can offer your clients, too, including USB Memory Boxes, Parent Albums, Folio Boxes, and more. That means you can create a complete product line for your clients with nothing but the finest products.
If that doesn't help you convince people to hire you, I don't know what will!
Learn More:
- Get More Details About nPhoto Photo Albums and Other Photography Products
- Why We Need Photo Albums Even in the Digital Age
Commit Time Each Day to Marketing
My guess is that you became a photographer so you could take photos each day, not spend time marketing your business.
But guess what, to survive and thrive, you need to set aside time to do at least one piece of marketing each and every day.
You don't have to spend hours and hours on marketing, either.
In fact, just do one thing each day to market your business, and you'd be surprised at how much business can result from that.
Post to Facebook on Monday. Write a blog post on your website on Tuesday. Create a quick YouTube video for Wednesday. You get the point...
If you can get into the habit of marketing each day, you'll find that you can get most marketing tasks done in less than 30 minutes, freeing up the rest of your day to focus on meeting with clients, taking photos, editing photos, and so forth.
In the end, building your business and attracting more clients doesn't have to be hard or frustrating work.
What it requires, though, is good salesmanship, excellent products, and a commitment to developing and implementing a smart marketing plan.
Learn More:
- Fun Photography Products to Boost Your Sales
- Ingenious Ways to Market Your Wedding Photography Business