For a sweet start to marketing your photography business, read this
This was a reader request, to write a post about what marketing things to do when starting out. Like one of my favourite expressions of late says, if you don't know a shred about marketing, it can be like throwing darts into the ocean. And the darts don't look like regular darts, but some weird alien things in your hand. So here is my quick-start guide, in common-sense speak.
I'm going to preface this whole thing with an assumption - that you have some training in photography and you are ready to take clients. There does have to be ability here, and you have to also work hard at your craft to always improve. This is a basic in order for all the rest of it to work. If you're not ready, do some portfolio-building, courses, or self-study to get yourself to an acceptable level.
1. Decide the genre you want to shoot and ideally choose a specialty, or max 2.
It's not to say that you can never shoot anything else, but specializing, among other benefits, helps you zone in on an audience. It also helps them find you. A generalist splits their time between many things, and since we all get the same amount of hours in a day, you simply cannot hone your craft as well as someone who specializes and focusses. It's also a bigger challenge to convince clients you can do just as good a job as a specialist (think of someone convincing you to go to you family doctor instead of an orthopaedic surgeon if you broke an ankle), so your marketing becomes harder.
2. Do a S.W.O.T analysis.
Sound hard? Not really, hear me out. Take a paper/pen or open a document and write down your thoughts on the following:
Strengths: What are you strong in, or good at - do you have formal education in photography? Great editing skills? Graphic design skills? A knack for breaking the ice with any audience? Ability to speak in front of large groups? You can make balloon animals? This helps you understand everything you can bring to the table in your business for a competitive edge. For example, graphic design skills can help you create amazing looking advertisements.
Weaknesses: What aren't you strong in, or good at - math, accounting, speaking in public, photography experience, editing? This helps you understand where you could use support (i.e. outsourcing) or where you may choose to invest in improvement (i.e. taking a course in Photoshop).
Opportunities: Where do you live - and what do you see when you look outside? This step is about assessing your environment and finding places where you can make an impact. No studios in your town - that could be an opportunity. Everyone offering only minis? You could create a full-scale experience for those who want luxury. Live by the beach or other beautiful landscapes - more opportunities there. Only cows? Barnyard sessions! This is about observation of what's around you and finding areas of leverage.
Threats: What might stand in your way, from outside? Lots of photographers in your area shooting the same genre, winter 10 months a year, all the beautiful places to shoot charge exorbitant permit fees? This helps you understand what obstacles you may face and brainstorm how to overcome them (i.e. expanding your geographic shooting area, or negotiating partnerships with the places charging permits to lower fees, in exchange for photos of their venues.)
Can you see how a S.W.O.T can help you and is far from scary? It illuminates where you may want to spend your time, and what problems you may encounter. It can help you set goals for personal growth and how to solve problems that stand in your way. It gives you vision based on your circumstances.
3. Do a role-play with your ideal customer.
In the latter part of this blog post, I talk about how to do this. Walk a mile in their shoes and see through their eyes. While doing this, imagine ways to reach them. For example, your ideal client may love a local coffee shop. Can you leave something there for them to find? Can you put up photos on the walls? Can you get an ad in the magazines they stock? Can you host an event there? Do this brainstorm for every place your client goes during the course of a day or a weekend. Write these all down!
4. Create your offers/prices and policies.
Google 'cost of doing business' calculator and project what you need to make, which will translate into a price list. Make a few offers to appeal to different budgets - a basic package, a mid-range and a high-end. Put this into a simple template for sending to clients. Developing strong policies is important because they outline how people will work with you. Doing this up-front will prevent you from being put on the spot when clients have questions, and helps them understand expectations. These things include payments, cancellations, and delivery timeframes. Ideally you'll have contracts/questionnaires developed here too, and included in your policies as part of your workflow (i.e. client books, you send an invoice, when invoice paid, you send contract, when contract signed, you send the questionnaire). I guess you can call this 'administrative' marketing - it's part of a positive and professional experience with your company that turns into lovely things like word of mouth referrals.
5. Create an online presence.
Ideally a paid site (free can send a message that you didn't invest in yourself, so why should a client), a Facebook business page, and then whatever other media you like and you can see yourself keeping up to date. I have a handy guide packed with advice on creating a magnetic website for your ideal clients. It's important that you optimize online channels, as they work even when you sleep, to attract your perfect audience.
How to bring elements together
Look at the list of possible marketing methods that you wrote down in step 3. Then refer to your S.W.O.T to see where your leverage is. Examine ways to mix them together. For example, you live in a farm area, and noticed your clients go to the local fairs. Since you're great at public speaking, you see an opportunity to host a photo booth at the next fair. And since you may be bad at organizing, you hire a super organized and highly enthusiastic student to help you manage the photo booth logistics while you shoot. See how this can all come together? This forms the basis for your marketing plan which is the annual blueprint you follow with all these strategies. Your plan lists all your activities, online and offline and then you work it!
This topic is much bigger than just one blog post, but it is a great start. If you do just these 5 steps, you will already have a competitive edge, as many starting-out photographers don't do some or even any of these steps. Be brave and take these actions, and see how that transforms things for you. I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments.
Do you need some marketing help? I've put together a readymade marketing plan for photographers. I've done most of the work, you just tweak to suit. Find it here.
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