Photography Business

U8 Marketing Tips for Your Home Photography Business

Where do I find new photography clients? How can I stand out from the competition? What are the most effective marketing tactics for me? Here are essential marketing tips to help you answer the above questions and create a working marketing strategy for your small photography business.

1. Develop a marketing plan

Even most talented photographers have market in order to stay afloat in the competitive photography industry.

There are hundreds of ways you can let your community know of your photography services, but trying to do everything all at once is overwhelming, inefficient and ineffective. Instead, you need a game plan by which you determine your best options for reaching your market and putting them in a marketing plan.

• Start by doing market research
• Identify your ideal client and target market.
• Check out your competition and determine how your business is different.
• Be specific with revenue expectations
• Be realistic with schedule expectations
• Determine what you need you need to reach goals (photo website, portfolio, CRM system, etc.)

2. Manage your website like a pro

A photography website is your single most important online marketing asset. Make your web visitors want to return again and again by implementing the following website management tips:

• Use a mobile-ready website template so your website can be viewed from any mobile device, as well as help in SEO.
• Write an interesting About Me page that entices visitors to want to work with you.
• Show some behind-the-scenes moments in a full-screen image or video background
• Include captions for every image in your portfolio
• Actively seek and post testimonials
• Have a portfolio of all the sample of work you offer.
• Examine your photo site at least once a year to make sure it utilizes the latest web design trends

If you're overwhelmed by the idea of creating a website or a blog (see below), you can use a turnkey photography marketing and business management service, such as Defrozo.

3. Blog like a pro

Blogging is a form of social media that not only allows you to share news and interesting tidbits, but also to engage and connect with your market. Here are a few tips to using a blog to attract new new clients and generate referrals:

• Update your blog regularly with new. valuable, and interesting content
• Write and host guest posts. This cross promotion technique is a great way to get you in front of other resources your market uses.

Here are a few ways to find guest blogging opportunities:

• Make a list of influential sites in the photography niche (search “photography” + “write for us” on Google)
• Make a list of sites your target audience visits. For example, a wedding photographer might look up wedding blogs.
• Submit your blog on guest blogging communities like Blogger LinkUp and Guestr
• Make a list of influential photographers with blogs in your niche and offer to guest write for them.

4. Market to your email list

A large volume of traffic to your website and blog is a great goal to achieve.

However, traffic alone isn't good enough. Too many people who visit your site may not hire you nor ever visit your site again. An email list gives you the opportunity to stay in touch with visitors, and hopefully encourage them to hire you when the need for your services arises. Some of best practices of email list building and running successful e-marketing campaigns include:

• Use a free email list service, such as MailChimp, MadMimi, or VerticalResponse, to get started and then upgrade as your list grows.
• Provide a freebie incentive to encourage people to sign up for your list.
• Segment your list by different criteria (e.g. wedding / portrait clients, referral / first-time visitor, etc.) and let your newsletter subscribers join these groups when they sign up
• Adjust your email content to fit the wants and needs of each segmented list.
• Write enticing subject lines to encourage subscribers to open and read the content.
• Use mobile-friendly email templates
• Use auto responders to automatically send your free offer and other evergreen tips or content your readers should have.