Why most photography ads don't work and what to do instead
Image by: Emily Bauman
Do you struggle with ads or promotions for your photography business? I’m not surprised. It is one of the biggest pain points that new and even established photographers complain of. They create an ad and put it out on social media, and then it’s the proverbial crickets. In this blog post I talk about three costly mistakes in ad creation. But let’s go even more basic to examine one of the biggest reasons why most ads don’t work.
The time/ price/ files trap
If you’ve ever created an ad that is composed of those three elements, then this message is for you. It might go something like this:
Spring Minis
10 minutes
$100
5 digital files
I call it the trifecta that photographers often use in advertising. The only thing more saturated than the photography industry is the photography ad industry that uses this largely ineffective formula. Especially if you’re new, the strategy for your ad design is typically looking around to see what other do and doing that. But if we keep in mind that a ton of photographers are posting on social media every day saying their ads aren’t attracting any clients, it means that all those who copy them are also risking similar poor results. It’s then a good idea to do research that may have gotten you to this blog post rather than doing what your photographer neighbour does.
At the very least your ad won’t stand out to prospects if it look like a dozen others. But more importantly, this trifecta of details simply does not motivate people to buy. Buying is emotion first and wallet second. Don’t believe me? For example, you don’t think to yourself - well I’ve got a thousand bucks lying around, may as well book a flight to Jamaica. You see an ad with turquoise waters, fruity iced drinks, white sand beaches and brilliant sunsets. This activates your senses, your desires, your longing for a horribly dull winter to end and to get away from the kids who are constantly bickering. It awakens a desire you didn’t even know you had. You’re sold, and then you try to make the numbers work to take the vacation of your dreams.
Let’s use the trifecta approach for our Jamaica ad. Imagine seeing this in your FB feed:
Jamaica Trip
One week
$2000/ person
Accommodation, drinks and meals
Woah, now, calm down. I know you’re about to contact your travel agent ASAP and you’re already packing your bag, right? Or maybe not. Maybe this is the dullest ad for a tropical resort that you’ve ever seen. Even if there’s a picture included. It’s pretty apparent how lacklustre it is, and yet we do this with our photography ads and somehow can’t see that this is not a formula that ignites a desire to buy.
Time could be a motivating element for some companies like UPS, Amazon or Dominoes pizza with their famous “30 minutes or it’s free” guarantee. The clock time of a photography session is not really a motivator rather than a logistical detail, so that busy people know how much time of their life to book off for this activity.
Price could be a motivating element if you are a transactional business relying on sales volume. For photography, what people are actually buying is arguably priceless.
The amount of something could be a motivating element for companies like car dealerships - like the number of standard features that a car possesses. For photography, the number of digital files could maybe do the same, but most people are more motivated by their personal and intimate story in those digital files rather than the sheer count.
I can put that all in an email after someone inquires, and for free. I don’t need these things taking up valuable ad space that has space and text limitations in a social media feed.
The Ad Myth
Ads don’t actually sell anything. Ok, in essence they do, but not how you think they do. The ad is the pre-cursor to the sale. It primes the sale. It triggers emotion, desire, positive associations, lifestyle aspirations. It creates the conditions under which someone wants to say YES and buy. The ad leads you somewhere to buy: a shopping mall, a web page, a dealership.
The purpose of the ad is to lead people to the sales tool, just like a resume leads to an interview. And that’s why ads have the potential to be so powerful. When someone follows an ad to the place where the sale will happen, the sale has been primed and is well on its way to completion. And there is infinite more time and space to give all the informational and transactional detail. But since emotions and desire have been activated by that ad, the informational and transactional details don’t become deterrents, but more like bumps in the road to get across. In the Jamaica ad up top, the $2000 could stop you in your tracks. You don’t have $2000. You’ll stay home. But if you’re engaged with those fruity drinks and white sand beaches, you may decide that you’ve been working really hard, that you have a tax return coming, that you haven’t gone anywhere in years and have done well with saving. You deserve that trip! You’ve always wanted to drink from a coconut! You click to get to the sales page where there is more beautiful imagery and videos of ocean waves softly lapping at toes. Congratulations, you’ve sold yourself. The $2000 looks different when presented after the other emotional stuff. And all it takes is a few more nudges. A good ad and a good salesperson or sales page doesn’t even have to do any heavy lifting - you’ve sold yourself as a response to wanting what they are advertising. Are things coming into perspective more? A good ad lowers the pressure for you to be any kind of sales person. Isn’t it worthwhile crafting something effective and powerful?
The beauty of the ad is that what it needs most is creativity to engage emotion, and the directions to get to the place where someone can say YES and buy. Some ads do put in prices, or times or amounts, but I’m not talking about strategic use of those elements that skilled ad makers can craft, or the commodity ads like your grocery store circular. Ads that sell bigger ticket items intentionally leave those things out, to entice on the emotional level, and to get the prospect to do one thing: take the action asked of them.
You are a creative
Do you consider yourself a photographic artist? A creative at heart? You tap into your creative self often through the lens. And then you might sit down at your desk to create an ad for that creative business and…. the dry trifecta manifests in your Canva file! You can be more creative. You should be more creative. If you can do it with photography (and the ad is about photography) your creativity is transferable. You just need to put in a little elbow grease instead of defaulting to the trifecta. Spend time imagining what you can create that would be so irresistible that your ideal clients are frantically searching for that call to action!
Most ads I see will have some sort of call to action but it’s often diluted and weak - a website address, an email, or a phone number. Make it even easier and clearer and urgent - BOOK YOUR JAMAICA TRIP RIGHT NOW kind of easy and clear and urgent.
The sales page
The key to a good sales page is that it is created as a landing page JUST FOR THAT AD. In my opinion, every ad you make should have a corresponding, individualized sales page. Leading someone to the main page of your site creates pause where the user must orient themselves to where their action took them, where that ad offer went and the momentum of those emotions gets interrupted. This is not what you want! The sales page is an extension and continuation of the ad message. And it has infinite room to sell more, to put all details, to place added calls to action or where they can finalize the transaction.
Summary of the Steps
Lead with emotion and creativity on the ad. Understand that an ad does not need to contain any transactional details, unless they strategically support the ad message. It is not bait and switch, it is not dishonest. An ad has a tiny amount of space. Its job is to pique interest enough that people look further. You aren’t taking any of their money yet, you are not lying to them. The person has full choice of clicking on the ad or not. You are simply engaging them and you can use humour, drama, and any number of other techniques to do so. There is a reason why Superbowl ads are so popular - they are the pinnacle of advertising creativity and no one needs a price or a time just yet - they are being engaged and entertained and becoming interested in the product.
Craft a specific call to action on the ad with direct language. “You may want to think about going to my website and finding out more” is wishy-washy and doesn’t urge anyone to do anything. Another ad with a “YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS OFFER” will grab their attention and they’ll be gone. An ad has a job - to move someone to the next step. Do them a favour and help them get there with clear language of what to do.
Create a custom sales page. A web page has no added cost if you’re already paying for a subscription. It costs only your time to add a few more images, some enticing closing copy, the details or trifecta of the offer, and the BUY button.
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