3 costly mistakes in creating ads for your photography business
There are lots of requests for ad reviews on in photography groups and forums. The ones that are posted are the ones who have failed to attract client bookings as successfully as hoped so they are posted to gain feedback as to how to improve. Just from the volume, it’s clear that many photographers struggle in this area. You may be one of them, so it’s great you found your way to this post!
What are 3 costly mistakes in creating ads for your photography business that I’ve observed?
1. Not using the real estate in your ad to its maximum.
Unlike our websites where we can lay out pages and have endless scrolls, online ads are restricted in space and characters. Similar to the original Twitter’s 140 character limit, we face the issue of getting our message across with significant constraints.
What fits? Well, you have to tell them the details right? Date, time, price needs to be there, and then you add your name and your website address and a few images and well, there’s no room left. But what you really have to challenge yourself with is - are the elements you chose to be on that ad the absolutely most effective elements that will make people take an action?
Do me a favour. Scroll through your social feeds right now and take a look at the ads that are there. What do they look like? What information are they sharing? Do they appeal to you or not, and why? This is a check-in because you are a consumer too!
Let’s take an example. You’re scrolling and there’s a sponsored ad for a local coffee house. How would you react to each of these? We’ll keep the image the same to illustrate the power and psychology of the accompanying text.
A perfect break with your perfect coffee buddy.
Coffee break: 227ml coffee, $2.75 plus tax.
Which one appeals to you more? Maybe if you’re really into the value for the buck, the second one will because then you know exactly the volume of coffee per ml you’re getting. But I’ll bet the first one has a stronger tug.
First, if you aren’t a coffee lover then both ads will be ineffective - that’s understanding that your ad first has to speak to the right person (more on that in point #3). A tea-lover will keep on scrolling. Next, while the coffee itself is very important, most also love all the surrounding features of coffee drinking. Cozy coffee houses. Customized, delicious flavours and toppings. Sipping something warm over conversations with friends and loved ones and taking a break from stressful obligations. Thus, targeting the ad towards those features instills the desire for the purchase of the cup of coffee, more so than the price. When someone will want to imagine holding hands with their perfect break partner over a coffee in a cozy cafe, it appeals to their desire to have that lifestyle, or to reinforce their identity as someone who has that and does that. How important will the price of that coffee be, really? The price will often be justified to achieve the inspirational elements. Is this a bad thing? Are we taking advantage of people by appealing to their sense of desire to make them spend money? While there are devious marketing tactics out there that mean to part people with their money, the difference is this: You are not trying to sell them something they don’t want or need with a hard line tactic. In the example above you aren’t pressuring tea lovers to come to your coffee house. The coffee lover is already wanting to spend money on coffee. You’re simply getting in front of their eyes and giving them reasons to come to your coffee house over the one down the street.
With so little space for messaging, think about how you will use that space for the greatest impact. Focus on why someone would want your service over any other. The image in important, but so is the copy. The details that previously took up room can be smaller, or be on a separate sales page that links from the ads.
Article continues after the cut…use this hour long consultation specifically to get help on ad creation! Lucy will help you create the foundations for successful ads that you can create yourself with confidence!
2. Taking a casual approach to making ads
An ad is often an afterthought to what the ad is trying to advertise. Are you getting ready for Spring minis? You may spend hours scrolling through inspirational photos of other sets for ideas, buying props, setting things up, testing lighting and creating compelling images. So exciting! But when it comes to the ad, you spend only a little time finding a Spring template in your fave platform, enter the details of time/price/files and post to a few mom groups. But that ad, unless you have multiple other advertising channels, is the ONLY thing out there that will alert people to those Spring minis. And you may have spent some money on it too! If it doesn’t do its job, there won’t be anyone on that wonderful set, paying you wonderful dollars for those wonderful photos. I will venture to say that the ad is just as important as the event itself. The ad has the power to make or break the campaign. You can have the most beautiful set but if the ad doesn’t get in front of the right eyes with a compelling message to the right person with the right amount of intensity and frequency, the set may collect dust.
3. Not truly having the client in mind when making ads
This one goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. Our casual approach to throwing something together may not have the power to attract attention. But here is the thing about attention - you want to gain ONLY the attention of potential clients that are your ideal (or near-ideal). When you are putting your ad content together, who are you really thinking of? You! What photos you think will look good. The fonts you like. A template that screams cute to you. A price that makes you comfortable rather than anxious. What kind of response you’ll get and how much money that can be made if you book out. Hoping you’ll get people who look incredible in the photos so that you have great content for social media.
It’s natural that we come at things from our own point of view - it’s the only one we really know intimately. And we are driven by trying to find success; especially when we have a lot riding on making it as a photographer. While those are worthwhile pursuits, we can’t forget the people who would help us make it - the clients!
Next time you sit down to create an ad for something you’d like to put out there, play that tape forward and reflect on the person who has found that ad, clicked on it, booked you and has received their final photographs. Who is that person? How are they feeling about what they received and about the experience with you? Did you satisfy something? Solve a problem? Create joy and tears? Helped them to feel beautiful, worthy, successful for doing something important for themselves or their family? Hold that person in your mind - give him/her/them a name and write down their traits, their feelings. And then, using the advice from the other 2 points, imagine the elements in that ad that convinced them you were the one. Against popular belief, your ad isn’t just a date, a number of files and a price tag being shouted out to all ears with a megaphone; a trawler’s net thrown and dragged across the bottom of the ocean to pick up anything and everything. It is your half of a conversation that you want to start with a specific someone, a relationship that will bear fruit more than once, an act of service using the talent and skill that you have for the benefit of another. We often feel that we have to speak to everyone and then it’ll be narrowed down to enough bookings. In actually, you should speak to ONE person and you’ll find that the one is reflected in several others, and it will up-level into enough bookings. The difference is that in the latter, you’ll have tapped into the right people, paving the way for champions who will help with your success!
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