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There are a lot of photography services out on the market, but only a few that stand out from the crowd. The competition is stiff and you’re going to have to come up with some amazing marketing strategies if you want to compete.
To help you with just that, I’ve gathered all of my top marketing strategies from years of working in the industry. So before you get started with your next campaign, read through this list for some ideas, and then use what you like!
Why Photography Services is a Unique Business
Building relationships with new people
One of the great advantages of starting your own photography service business is that it allows you to meet new people and put yourself out there in the world through networking opportunities. Many professional photographers say they love their jobs because they get to meet so many interesting people every day.
Applying your skills in a new way
If you’re trying to decide between pursuing freelance photography or starting your own photography business, it’s helpful to think about how much you enjoy learning and applying new skills. While there is certainly some additional training that comes with starting your own business, such as learning how to communicate with clients, bookkeeping, and marketing, on the whole, having your own photography service business means that you’re getting paid for something you would do for free anyway.
Gives you flexibility
As a photographer who runs his or her own business, you have all the freedom to choose your favorite genre of photography. If you enjoy taking pictures of landscapes and nature, then this is exactly what you should do. You will be able to take pictures during the day and at night whenever you feel like it. Plus, your clients do not expect their pictures immediately after they have been taken because they know that you have other projects that need attention as well.
Earns commissions
As a self-employed photographer who is running her or his own business, you get to pocket every commission that comes in as long as there are no taxes involved. You will not have to share anything with any company because everything is entirely yours.
Help others achieve success
Your job as a professional photographer is not only to take great shots but also to help others achieve success through their businesses by providing them with great images for their marketing materials or advertisements. You do not need to be a great photographer for this to work; it just needs someone with enough knowledge and creativity to create wonderful images.
Traveling
As well as being able to travel on holiday you will also find yourself traveling for work. You will be able to travel around the country or even the world if you want to as a professional photographer. This means that you will be able to see sites and experience new cultures firsthand, something that many people will never get the chance to do.
Learning
The more experience you have in your field of photography, the more knowledge and skill you will have acquired over time. This means that the more experience you have, the better your pictures will become and the more people will enjoy looking at them and hiring them for their purposes too.
Photography Services Business Challenges
Managing time
Most photographers tend to have little time in their schedules as they juggle with their client’s expectations, deadlines, editing, and managing workflows. Every time you get new jobs from clients, you have to start from scratch which will consume most of your time. Aside from this, you have to set aside some time for research so that you can come up with ways on how to deliver projects within the allotted time frame.
Building the right team
As a team leader, it is important to build a team that can deliver quality work and can learn. This is not an easy task as most of us are biased towards our friends because we trust them more than a stranger. Also, it is very important to make sure that your team members complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses to perform better as a whole.
Pricing and negotiation
If you think pricing your services will be simple enough, you’re wrong! There are multiple factors involved when pricing your services for clients, including the quality of work, industry-standard pricing, and competition among others. Another factor that affects pricing is negotiation with clients who may request discounts or bundles such as when making bulk purchases.
Pros and Cons of Photography Services
Pros
- This type of business doesn’t require previous experience.
- You have a great opportunity to earn money while doing what you love.
- There is no shortage of demand for photography services in the world today and it is constantly growing.
- You will be able to set your hours, which is a huge perk for many people who don’t want a job that requires them to be at work every single day.
- It’s an easy way for you to make some extra money on the side without having to give up any of the things that are important to you.
- You have complete control over the quality and direction of your work.
- Your hourly rate is determined by the number of hours you want to work per week and how much you charge for each hour of work (which is up to you).
Cons
- It does take hard work and commitment on your part.
- You’re working with fragile equipment, dealing with clients, and dealing with staff.
Best Photography Services Marketing Strategies
Getting started with Instagram
There are many ways to promote your photography business online, and Instagram is one of the easiest and most effective. In addition to being a fun way to share your photos, Instagram offers photographers an opportunity to build an audience and uniquely showcase their skills.
It’s also a great place to connect with potential clients, especially if you’re already getting lots of engagement on your posts.
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of Instagram as a photographer:
1) Know who your audience is
Who is likely to hire you? Who is your ideal client? Knowing who you’d like to reach out to will help you craft the right message for them.
2) Have a plan and strategy for how you’ll use it
You can’t just post random photos hoping for likes and engagement. You need a plan of action for when, what, where, and how often you’ll post photos using Instagram.
3) Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags allow people looking for a photographer in your area to find you. If you’re trying to reach new clients, search for hashtags specific to your area and use those in your posts.
4) Posting-frequency
Instagram users expect to see fresh content from their favorite accounts, so be sure to post regularly (at least once every 24 hours). If you’re posting more than once a day, it’s best not to post more than four times in a row.
5) Offer deals on Instagram.
Give your followers discounts when they follow you on Instagram and tag their friends in comments on your photos. This will make them more likely to join and stay loyal to your page.
Invite customers to do a photoshoot
Now that you’ve established your photography business, you need to let the people know that you are there to serve them with your best service.
Telling them is easy but bringing them to take a photo with you is not as easy. But don’t worry, it’s not impossible. You just have to get creative and invite them for a photoshoot.
Inviting customers for a photoshoot is the best marketing strategy for photographers especially if they want to build their portfolio of wedding and portrait pictures. Here are some tips for inviting customers to do a photoshoot:
1. Invite them personally. Inviting your customers for a photoshoot personally is the best way to invite them. In this way, you will be able to have a better relationship with your customers.
2. Make sure that you schedule your session during the right time. Scheduling your session during the right time is important since it can help you avoid being too busy during the weekdays and it can also accommodate your customer’s schedule as well. It is also important that you take into consideration the weather since you wouldn’t want to make your customer wait on rain or shine just to complete their photoshoot task with you.
3. Prepare a basic contract that includes details like compensation, shooting location, and other requirements before inviting them for a photoshoot. Having a contract with your clients can help protect both parties should the need for one arise later on especially if the customer isn’t satisfied enough with their results or if there was an issue regarding payments between both parties which could lead to future problems down the line.
Offer tips in exchange for retweets on Twitter
I’ve used the strategy of offering free tips in exchange for retweets for almost a year now. I think it’s a great way to promote your services and get some extra exposure. Here are some tips that have helped me:
1. Offer something unique and valuable that is worth retweeting.
2. Clearly state the offer in your tweet.
3. Make it easy for them to take advantage of the offer by including a link or QR code for easy access.
4. Be generous, but not cheap or too costly for them.
5. Include a short description of what you’re offering in your tweets so it’s easy to understand and share with others who may be interested in taking advantage of your offer as well.
6. Make sure to include a link to your website, blog, social profile, or anything else you would like people to visit to learn more about you and what you have to offer.
7. If possible, make the incentive time-sensitive by saying something like, “Offer expires at midnight tonight,” or “Today only.” This will help get the word out quickly and help spread the word about your offers and services as well as generate traffic back to your website or blog.
Build your portfolio
Have you ever wondered how to build your photography portfolio? The portfolio is the key to getting more clients or jobs. It’s a compilation of your past work that potential clients can look at and see examples of your skills. If you don’t have an online portfolio, you are missing out on business.
The following are the steps on how to create an online photography portfolio:
Step 1: Find a place to host your portfolio
There are numerous free options as well as paid ones. Flickr is a free option that can be used, but it’s not the best for longer portfolios. You can also create a website using WordPress or Blogger.
Step 2: Organize your portfolio by categories
Make sure you organize your portfolio by categories such as weddings, events, and portraits. You want to make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for. If you have thousands of photos in one long stream, no one is going to want to look through all of them. No matter which option you choose, make sure you’re using tags for each photo and also add captions that name the client and any other relevant information about the photo.
Step 3: Add some polish and personality
Even if you use free themes, you can still add some personality with customization. Choose a simple theme, yet still shows off your personality. Make sure that you have at least three contact methods on your site (phone number, email address, and social media links).
Step 4: Promote your work
You’ll want to share your new portfolio with everyone so they can see all of your amazing work!
Use the power of video
It might seem like a no-brainer, but one of the best ways to get your photography business off the ground is through video.
It’s time for you to rethink what you have always thought about video and embrace it as a powerful tool for marketing your photography business.
There are many reasons why photography businesses should use video in their marketing efforts and a few ways that they can do it:
1. Video is more effective at communicating information than text or images alone.
2. It drives better engagement with your content and brand.
3. It builds trust with potential customers by providing them with more information about your business.
4. Video can be used on social media as well as websites and blogs to reach more viewers and tell more stories about your business.
5. You can use videos to promote your services instead of relying on photos alone.
6. Video allows you to share customer testimonials and other real-life examples from current or past clients to help potential customers see how you work.
Hold a workshop on one of your favorite photography skills
To keep your photography business growing, you have to learn new things. You also have to help other photographers gain new skills. One of the best ways to do this is to host workshops on your favorite photography skills.
1. Plan a workshop that is geared toward photographers who are just starting, so that you can share some of your knowledge with them and get them excited about learning new things.
2. Create and promote a flyer for your workshop that provides details about the workshop and includes tips on how attendees can prepare for the class.
3. Advertise your workshop on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as through email marketing campaigns.
4. Make use of free marketing materials, such as postcards, flyers, and brochures, to publicize your workshop to local businesses in the area where you live or where you’re going to hold the event.
5. Use online communities like Facebook groups, Google+ communities, and LinkedIn groups to advertise your workshop by posting advertisements on these sites and answering questions posed by other members regarding how they can get involved in taking part in the workshop.
6. Decide whether you want to have your workshop at a studio or if you would prefer to have it outdoors.
Expand your reach with a blog
The first thing to consider when looking at expanding your reach with a blog is what you hope to gain from it. Is it an easy way to get links back to your photography website? Do you have something of value to offer readers? Do you want to drive sales directly through the blog or would that be a bonus?
A photography blog gives you the chance to educate potential customers about the art of photography and everything that goes into it. You can also add in stories about your experiences and adventures as a photographer. Share tips, tricks, and lessons learned along the way from mistakes you’ve made as a business owner.
Connect with other photographers and share information that will help them in their businesses. People are always looking for ways to improve their lives, whether it’s personally or professionally. It’s no different when it comes to the art of photography.
By including valuable information that benefits your readers, you’re establishing yourself as an expert in the field and giving yourself a platform for people to contact you if they need your services or want more information from you.
With so many blogs out there these days, standing out can be difficult but by providing value through your content, you’ll build an audience that appreciates what you have to say.
Use online tools to get your business noticed
Pinterest – Pinterest provides an excellent opportunity for photographers to showcase their work excitingly. You can create boards based on specific themes or types of work, which will make it easy for people who need your services to find you.
Jing – This is an online screen capture tool perfect for sharing images of your work. It has some great features including the ability to add text, effects, and annotations. The images can be shared on blogs, websites, and social networks.
SmugMug – This is one of my favorite photo-sharing sites because it allows you to create professional galleries, upload large numbers of photos, and offers high-quality prints.
Sprout Social – Sprout Social is a social media management tool for monitoring and engaging with your audience across multiple social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and more. The Sprout Social dashboard lets you easily manage all your social media profiles from one location, saving time and helping you get more work done.
Buffer – Buffer is a social media scheduling tool that lets you connect to multiple accounts and schedule your posts in advance. Buffer also allows you to track the performance of your posts in real-time, as well as receive detailed analytics on each post as it’s being shared across various networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Segment your market online and offline
To grow a successful photography service business, it’s important to find your target audience, then market to them.
If you want to start a photography business, or simply improve your current one, there are ways to segment your market. Segmenting your market is the process of separating potential clients based on their needs and wants so you can tailor your services for each specific type of client.
Tailoring your services to each target group allows you to maximize your marketing efforts in a more efficient manner.
Here are four ways to segment your market as part of your photography service marketing strategy:
Segment by age. If you’re doing maternity sessions, you may want to target mothers in their late 20s. If you’re shooting senior pictures, then focus on high school seniors.
Segment by gender. You can use this approach to find clients if you’re interested in doing family or engagement shoots. You may want to focus on family portraits or engagements depending on the gender of the photographer. Male photographers and female photographers tend to attract different kinds of clients.
Segment by location. This is a particularly important segment if you do travel photography or photojournalism. You want to stay close to your target market so you can reach them easier and more often. For example, if you’re doing corporate photography, you should stay near major offices and businesses so you can easily meet with clients who may need your services more frequently than others.
Segment by event type. Wedding photographers, for example, have different types of clients depending on the wedding event type they are seeking to book (for example the bride’s parents may be willing to spend more on their daughter’s wedding photography than her grandparents).
Final Thoughts
A good marketing strategy is perhaps the most important element in a business plan for a small business. Without a firm foundation, you cannot expect to gain much traction or support.
You need to have a solid plan in place to attract customers, keep them coming back, and increase your revenue which is why I reviewed these best photography service marketing strategies. They are very useful in helping you to market your business effectively.
