Marketing and Promoting your Photography Business

Hello everyone.

This week I wanted to touch on another few aspects of marketing and promoting your business as we really move into the busy Holiday season.

I know we all want to be that creative geniuses that create all those beautiful imagery. It is the part of the business that I love the most. As I write this I am actually thinking about the wedding album that I submitted to my printers, Zookbinders.com and why they have not gotten back to me about the album design for my client yet.

Does not sound all that bad, but I have been working on getting photos edited and resubmitted with my client for about 2 months now and I am really tired doing this. However, it is an integral part of making sure that you get your photographs into the marketplace. You need to order sample albums, wall art and other promotional material that continual let's people know that you are in business.

Today, we see so many photographer's discounting their prices thinking that when I speak about adding value it really means offering lower prices. That is not what it is all about. If you keep doing that you are just going to be heading down a downward spiral of lower prices until you cannot afford to stay in business anymore.

One great thing to remember is that you are not only a artist, but a professional as well. You want to make a living as a photographer and to do that you have to think about the business side of your business as well. The side of the business that is going to be bringing in the clients. There is no magic formula.

It is something that you have to do on a daily basis, day in, day out. Some times you have to just sit back and think of different ways that you can make your business better. What can you offer the marketplace that will differentiate you from the other few hundred people in your area? Yes take some time out and just think about ways that you can make the photography experience better for your client. Investment in your company is not always about buying a new camera or lens. It is also not just about coming up with new innovative ideas. You have to put them into action. If you don't do it then someone else is sure to come up with the idea and they want to succeed just as much as the next person, maybe more.

Remember, that no matter what the product is in the marketplace there has to be something to buy. Yes, there is a bit of selling in everything. Many of you might think that just because you are creative that selling is beneath you. Well, a reality check. If you do not make money then you are out of a job and you might as well pack-up and work for someone else. If you prefer photographing different genre's then make different pages for your different work and see what works best for you.

I love head-shots, family portraiture and weddings. They are all people connected, but what is stopping you from branching out and photographing peoples pets or even adding some great video to your packages so that people have these additional segments to add to their buying experience. I recently added mini-albums to my orders and packages, but the thing that pulls people in is the free HD video I add to the entire order. I recently started using Animoto.com and that monthly is now part of my clients packages. They land up buying more and I can offer more to my clients.

These are the added value items that you need to consider when marketing your business. One thing that we are all aware of today is that social media plays a very important role in getting out photographs to people in the market. How are you able to tap into your clients circle of influence so that you can build this referral business. Here are a couple of companies that use social media and your photographs to help build a circle of influence.

Pass.us - If you are a photographer just starting out then this one is for you. If you keep your clients photograph selection under 100 images then everything is free. You get social media exposure and you might even be able to pick up additional sales because you are able to selling prints.

Pixieset.com - is another great client photography web site where you can display, share and sell your photography. They have some great pricing structures and well worth the investment.

So in closing a few additional things you have to remember. If you have a web site, then Google likes that you update your content on a regular basis. If you don't you might just get a call from some business saying that your score is 1.9 on Google's rating scale and they have the solution to get you to number one spot. Just update your content on a regular basis and you will be fine.

Lat but not least. Blog to your fans and friends. No you don't have to get a wiki page or free blog page. Many hosting sites where you have your portfolio might have this option already. I also use Exposure.co to get my photographs out there. It is a visual blog and the cool thing about it is that you might get your page showing up on Google browser. They have a add-on for exposure so that every time someone opens their Google browser they might just see your blog.

So get out there and just keep putting out your photographs for the world to see. Have fun and keep on shooting.

Denzil

I will leave you with a great photograph I submitted to Gurushots.com  I made the Elite level with this photograph and it is giving me some really great exposure.