G'day,

Currently have a terrific photography business which has been progressing pretty well.. But, we would like to see a greater number of people calling us and engaging in our services.

We currently try to target Sydney businesses in terms of portraits, events, functions, product photoshoots, etc. (You would almost think that i am advertising the business, but i am simply trying to give you and idea of the target market).

We have a website which we believe is doing us well, and have tried different methods of advertising including:
Mailouts - Did not work that well and we can not afford the investment to have a copywriter draw up new material.
Magazines here and there, again, we received little traffic.

If you guys were to make three suggestions of potential low cost marketing or advertising strategies that you have found that worked, then i would love to hear them!

Currently we are running a VERY target google Adwords program which seems to have a higher conversion rate than other meduims, but costs are incurred even if we do not receive a contact! and we believe that paid cost per click is not a solid busines foundation.

What are your thoughts?
Cheers,
George

How do Co's pick a photographer when they need one... this is the question you should be asking clients first up, then target those mediums...

Direct mail could work well IF you follow up the mail with a call to the right person. "Did you get out info?" if yes ask them the first up question above...

Did your mail out include a photo shoot or three of great photo's?

Do some brainstorming... who picks photographers (ad company's, marketing Co's or do they go direct?) what companies do we want to work for, (make a HUGE list and target them).

Is the signage on your vehicles BRILLIANT (these days photo's on vehicles are easy to do with Vinyl printing) is your web address part of your vehicle signage?

Do all your staff, friends and family really support the biz by having a vinyl cut web address on their vehicle windows?

Have you asked your current clients why they love working with you? and perhaps what you could improve on... survey them with a bunch of great questions to find out. Then take action on the tough responses.

Hey do you have a vid on you tube? a slide show or such... make it corporate but edgy and send people to it.

do you have an email or blog newsy bit to mail out on interesting stuff for your clients (be top of mind...)

what about promo gear, do you and your team look great at the job (uniforms) and give out great stuff for people to remember you by?

finally (I think) do you have fantastic business photo cards people go WOW! with when they look at them?

Thanks for the reply,

to answer your questions:

- I will be keeping the follow up on the direct mail out in mind. Previously we simply sent a bulk lot to a targeted region. However these days we have been sending the mailouts to selected people and will definitely follow up on them.
- I didnt think of the car signage of families and friends cars... Dont you worry, each of them will have a brand new sign on their cars
- Yes, We have YouTube Videos. We didnt like them though as they diminish the quality of our images.
- Yes we do have a newsletter that goes out and we are trying to encourage subscriptions on our home page.
- Our team does look great at photoshoots, we have branded carry bags, and shirts, etc. And we hand out branded USB's to our clients as a thankyou once we have completed our jobs.
- Business Cards, Its my opinion that they look good, but have photos.. We are waiting to use up our current bact and will be getting absolutely flash business cards with the foil and other fancy add-ons.

Your tips were great, certainly made me assess my business a little. Thanks for the help.

Are there any further suggestions that people can give?
I know that going to business networking events are absolutely terrific and are a great way to get your name out there.

Steve has offered some fantastic suggestions. I might just borrow some of those myself.

You seem to be trying to capture so many different types of clients. Perhaps you should just focus on one genre such as portraiture and then slowly expand Trying to target your marketing to so many different areas can be exhausting and expensive, unless of course you have a team of photographers, each of whom can focus on their specialty area.

Photography is such a competitive business and apart from word-of-mouth, your website is perhaps your most cost effective form of marketing. Getting visitors to your site is the first challenge, engaging them and converting to sales is another. My first tip would be to smarten up your web site, especially if you want to appeal to corporate clients. I would definitely get rid of the pink and make sure you are displaying only your best images.

I had a quick browse through your galleries and at first thought you only had a couple of images in some categories. I then realised that you had to scroll over the image to find the arrows to lead you to the next image. On those images with white backgrounds it is very hard to see the arrows.

There are some really nice gallery templates available. I think with photography, the KISS principle always works best. If you are building your own web site using a template I would be tempted to choose one with a less complex background.

Of course, these are just my opinions. I would love to make lots of similar changes to my own sites.....when I can find a spare moment that is.

Also belonging to professional organisations such as AIPP or WIPM help with your profile and to instill consumer confidence. They also allow for networked marketing opportunites. I know from experience (from having worked in the photography industry) that many brides will search for a photographer who has previously won awards for their work, especially AIPP. Enter your work in as many competitions as you can. Winning entries are often displayed at large events such as PMA and wedding expos. That's great exposure that doesn't cost much at all.

Other little things which cost very little are;

* when photographing a wedding, make sure all members of the bridal party leave with your business details and if you can, get their email details. After the wedding, send them a quick email thanking them for helping to make the bride and groom's day and photo session so successful. Learn their names and leave a great impression. Chances are that they might soon be getting married too and will be on the lookout for a photographer.

* A blog and social networking

* Sponsoring competitions run by industry related web sites.

OK, I know I have given more than three idea and they are not all specifically advertising ideas, but perhaps they might be helpful.

Hi George,

Just want to say the last two posts offered great advice. Good to see the level of expertise in this forum. With that said what more can I add.

Depending on who your target markets are should determine what you do. As mentioned in the other posts don't stretch yourself out and cater for all these different markets.

Sit down with a product, look at the most viable and profitable market and focus on that. Then expand as you go. I had one idea for you.

Weddings: have you thought about contacting wedding planners and leaving your details with them as an option for their clients?

Regards,
Carlo

A great idea for wedding photography is to leave something lasting with venue providers. Quite often the venue is the first item booked by couples and can be a great source of referrals. When I say something lasting, a album of 10 6X4 images wont do. Make up a coffee table album, or some big enlargements for them to hang on the wall in the office. Obviously the images should be from that venue so that they serve as advertisements for the venue too.

You could expand this into an agreement with venues whereby you offer some incentive to promote your business. A carton of beer, free photography for their website, or cash.

If I had a venue I would want a direct commission kickback from the photographer for every referral not just a beer or three... Hey it's a good start but... cash is king!

Also think about what your ideal job is, is it weddings? really focus on the ideal jobs you want to do.

Agreed Steve.

One of the best things than you can do in the wedding industry is form a "referral group". There is one near us where there is a range of services (limo company, photographer, suit/dress hire/sales, ice sculpture etc), but only one of each type. They all chip in for a run of booklets and distribute to all their clients. If you can set something similar up, then it is well worth the effort.

You should do a lot of research into what your ideal market is. Coming from the husband of a wedding photographer, it isnt as easy as it looks. For every hour behind the lens you are looking at two to three hours behind the screen, not to mention time making albums etc.

Interesting side thought, a mate of mine wanted to use his dig camera more and justify the expense a bit, he thought, hmm offer cheap wedding photo's no frills they get a pile of photo's on a dig usb stick, yeah sounds good, VERY few takers. You see the bride to be wants the glitz and glamour of that special day in an album with all the trimmings etc, not just a usb stick... While his point of difference was different, it was different in a bad way.

Yep, but it is this new breed of photographer who keep me busy as a retoucher. The bride and groom end up paying almost as much as they would have if they had just hired a decent photographer with some pp skills in the first place.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your valuable tips, Marketing a photography business is the key to a photographer's success, Sure he has to have good product, But of what business value is a good product if the product is not made known to others.

Nice to meet you
Romen esko