Spreading the word...how do people find your business?

[Alison]

I thought Bethany had a good idea to have some more discussion on the business side of photography. So, I'm going to start a sticky of the week, or maybe leave it up for two weeks depending on responses. Perhaps we can incorporate the information into an FAQ section for this area of the site. Anyone who has a topic can feel free to send me a PM and I'll put them up every few weeks.

So, starting from the beginning......how do people hear about your business? Do you have an Ad in the yellow pages, a webite with metatags, flyers, referrals, bridal fairs, etc, etc, etc?

When I first started the business I got some trifold glossy brochure paper and designed a simple brochure with some samples of my work and the prices for various packages. I tacked them up at bulletin boards all over our town and distributed them to our neighborhood (there was a spot for ads to go next to the regular mailboxes). I also put them at at work (I worked for a large company) and I told everyone I knew that I was starting a photography business.

When I moved to New Hampshire it was more of a challenge because it's very rural here and I decided to place an ad in our local newspaper. It went in the engagement and birth announcement section on Sundays. The cost ran about $35-45 a month and I did get several weddings booked from it. I offered a 20% discount for people who mentioned the ad. I also run an ad in our local yellow pages which runs $75/month. I have gotten the majority of our business from that ad. For whatever reason people in NH tend to use the phone book to search out businesses instead of the internet.

I do also run a website www.stalleyphotography.com . It costs me $120/year and I also have an online ordering system that costs $45/month. Overall the website has been a fantastic tool. We hear from a number of our clients that they love being able to see their photos displayed online, it's increased our sales from out of town relatives that buy photos and it's a great starting point for cleint inquiries. Anytime someone calls for a wedding I ask if they have visited our website. It doesn't take the place of a personal client meeting, but it does help to ensure that our style is what they are looking for and we also encourage them to browse through the completed weddings we have done so they can see just how many pictures we take and so they can see a full wedding from start to finish.

Referrals have also been a good source of business for us. Last year I booked a wedding for January, her cousins booked us for May and the sister of the groom from the January wedding has booked us for next year. I always make sure to have card to hand out at the wedding if anyone asks.

We have also done some donations to local charities. That is one area that really didn't work well for us. We were just starting out and while the response was great we underestimated how much it would cost us in the end and ended up in some debt that I am now working to pay off. I wouldn't say it's a bad idea all around, but next time I'm going to offer smaller scale items, like a gift certificate instead of a whole wedding! :blushing:

I would love to hear how everyone else has handled marketing. One thing we haven't done is do a bridal fairs and I'm interested if anyone has done them and if they recommend them.

[elsaspet]

Great topic Allison!
I started with two stages. In the first stage, I designed my website. In stage two, I put an ad in Respond.com. (Respond is area driven). You can sign up for free, but the leads cost $3 per lead. You can set your own lead fiters, and the minimum monthy lead fee is $50. Sounds expensive, but one wedding booked can equal several thousands of dollars, so 50 bucks a month isn't so much.
When people called from respond.com, I would direct them to the website and set up a meeting....then it was all up the presentation. (Which I have described somewhere in these threads.....somehwere LOL).
Once the weddings started to roll in, I branched out a bit with a small ad on the knot.com ($80 a month), and joined collages.net for an additional $80 a month just to help sell reprints (which can be substantial when they are presented in the way that collages does it with audio slideshows and soforth.)
Being a member of WPJA has been by far the best marketing tool I have, because it targets a specific population to the specific way I shoot weddings (candid).
That's pretty much all I have done, and I'm happy to say, my first year in business is going much better than I had ever anticipated.
I have never participated in Bridal shows, mag/newpaper ads/ or direct marketing, but I understand those things can work very well also.

[Arch]

Hi alison, coming from a slightly different angle here... but this information may be useful to you or someone else. I'm on the other side of the business, my job is to help promote people like you, to produce advertising, design and to investigate possible options for promoting clients.

One thing i'm in the process of doing now is a new business venture, one which is focused on the wedding industry and geared to not only promote photographers but all wedding services. Obviously at this stage i can't fully discribe my business plan to everyone as its still in production, (its only a local thing anyway), but what i can do is share my research into wedding advertising that i'v conducted over the last year or so. Also alot of my existing clients are wedding photogs, florists, hotel owners etc.

As for bridal shows, I have been to, and recomended several to my clients. They are great for bringing in new business, however there are a few things to look for. If the show is held at a public venue, like a city hall... ask the organizers how many photogs are already attending and its also useful to know who. Alot of our local shows have a cue of photogs wanting to reperesent the photography side, and of course they can't let everyone do it... the most i'v seen here at a show is about 6... so if you really want to do a show....find out when it is and book early. Its also handy to know who your competitors are... you'll no doubt be familliar with the 'biggest names' in your area, just so you know who your up against. Another important part is to spend a little on a good eye catching exhibition stand. I'd recomend a 'pop up' banner system which can be placed behind you and will help draw people in to your stand. They are cheep and effective.... also some large prints of some of your work behind you also adds to the effect. These shows are about getting the most out of it and the most attention, so dont be one of the ones with a dull stand that everyone walks past!
There are other types of shows, here were i am. These are bridal shows held by local hotels.... these are alot smaller and cheeper to exhibit, but can also give you good publicity.
The main reason i think shows are a good idea, is the rapport you can build with people who are otherwise just browsing and arn't sure who to book. Most of my clients will achieve at least 3-4 confirmed bookings (often alot more) from doing a show, just because they are very approachable, not too pushy and have a good service to offer. If you achieve this amount, you have not only paid for the show space... but you've also got 3-4 more families, who in future will recomend you to friends etc... thats the best way to build your business up as you would know.
So without going on (i think i have too much already!)... a show here can cost between 250 - over a thousand pounds... around 250 would get you a hotel venue.... the last 'big' one i attended was about 800.... so the equivelent in dollers may be a realistic figure. I highly recomend them, if you need anymore info or help on this or any other topic, let me know. :D

[Sharkbait]

Website and word of mouth. We decided we'd rather build slower and keep our costs down.

I built and maintain the website myself, costs us $4 a month and $8 a year for the registration.

We have 22 weddings booked for 06, and this is our 2nd full season, so we're doing okay with it! ;) Plus, by working primarily off of referrals, it's kind of neat that nearly everyone we photograph, we've photographed their friends and family...it makes our business much more family-oriented and personal.

I also have a huge multimedia marketing CD that I designed, that's given to clients after we meet with them.

[AprilRamone]

So far, I've done a number of different things to advertise myself. Some have worked great, others not at all. I put out some ads in November in different neighborhood newspapers advertising a special rate for getting holiday portraits done. Didn't work. I regularly advertise in Craigslist.org (although I try not to do it more than once a week so as to not appear to spam or desperate or just plain annoying. Especially since there are so many photographers advertising on Craigslist already). This is by far the best advertising I've done and it's free. But, it really works better if you have a website to direct them to. I've also gone to a daycare and taken pictures of the kids for the daycare to hang on their walls. I made a big collage of the images and left my business cards there. It has worked out ok. A couple of people just wanted to buy the image that I had taken and another lady wanted to set up a whole family photo shoot. I have also advertised in the back of a couple of local Kids magazines although I recently cancelled both of those because they really weren't bringing enough customers to justify the ad. (I think I only got one session in the 5 months I advertised with them). Word of mouth has been good too. I have been a babysitter/nanny for a long time so I have done a lot of my babysitting clients and then they tell all of their friends who then want to set up a session with me also. I have about 9 sessions scheduled in the next couple of months and although I am working on getting more, it is definitely the most that I have had so far since starting the business.

I haven't delved into the event photography side of things as much since that's not where I am very experienced, but I have hooked up with a Wedding planner and told her that I'd be willing to do some inexpensive wedding/event photography for people who have a smaller budget so I could build up that side of my portfolio and gain some experience.
I know a lot of you have said to try to apprentice with another photographer, but I haven't had much luck getting one to let me help out. It's understandable though since I really wouldn't want to stay under them for a long time and would possibly be competition later on.

[Christie Photo]

I also run an ad in our local yellow pages which runs $75/month. I have gotten the majority of our business from that ad. For whatever reason people in NH tend to use the phone book to search out businesses instead of the internet.

I find the same to be true here. I believe that when folks are shopping locally for a service, it only makes sense to start there. Once I get the call, however, that's usually one of the first questions... "Do you have a web site?"

Public displays is another important tool. I have not done this for some time now (and have recently been wondering why in the world it stopped), but it does bring immediate and measurable results.

The idea is to find a business that needs wall decor.... say, a bank or a restaraunt. You arange with them to display framed prints on their walls. It's easier than you might suspect. It works two ways for them: 1) They get free art. 2) Your customer's friends and family will visit the business to see the portrait on display, increasing traffic for them.

As for you, you now have a remote display being seen first-hand by a large number of folks. Not a brochure... or web site... but 20x24 framed prints in all their glory! You can tell when it's working because the call always start with, "I saw your work at Steak 'n' Shake."

I've decided to approach a local day-care to display my work. Well... 90% decided. I'm not certain I want to start working with a steady flow of toddlers.

A variation on this theme is to rent the window of an empty store at a local mall. You get mall exposure without mall rent. Sometimes, especially in small towns, you can get the library to allow a limited time display... like a gallery show.

There're so many ways this can work. You can actually "pre-qualify" your potential callers by displaying in a "high end" type of establishment... say... bridal portraits in a jewelery store.

I just convinced myself to put together a new display!

Pete

[Alison]

Wow, some great ideas in this thread!

Pete, I think I'm going to approach the daycare where our children go. We both love working with kids so getting more business there would be cool. I'll have to check out our library as well and see if they have a need for anything on the walls.

Thanks to everyone for sharing there ideas!

[Terence]

When I started my business I thought back to the time when I was getting married, and being dragged around to every pillar and post by "she who must be obeyed”:hugs: I used that as my 'format' for marketing. Church, Jewellery Store, Hotel - in that order. I had my literature printed with 'packages' and initially with Portrait samples included. After a few weddings, I had them reprinted to include 'wedding shots'. Eventually, word of mouth did a lot of the work, but if you're going to use the Church, Jewellery Store and Hotel, I would strongly suggest that a % of your 'package price' be donated to the Church, and agree/offer a % to the commercial establishments. As a rule of thumb, I always make sure the church gets a donation. It establishes 'good will' for future weddings, and quite frequently you will find that the Church has recommended you to the 'happy couple'. What really matters at the end of the day is quality of work, and service; business will follow.

[danalec99]

The idea is to find a business that needs wall decor.... say, a bank or a restaraunt. You arange with them to display framed prints on their walls. It's easier than you might suspect. It works two ways for them: 1) They get free art. 2) Your customer's friends and family will visit the business to see the portrait on display, increasing traffic for them.

As for you, you now have a remote display being seen first-hand by a large number of folks. Not a brochure... or web site... but 20x24 framed prints in all their glory! You can tell when it's working because the call always start with, "I saw your work at Steak 'n' Shake."Great idea! Couple of questions:

1. Is the frame included in your 'free' offer?
2. Do you print/write/label your contact details on the mat board?

[Christie Photo]

Great idea! Couple of questions:

1. Is the frame included in your 'free' offer?

Yeah... I do it all. But remember... the stuff remains my property. I merely LOAN it to them.

2. Do you print/write/label your contact details on the mat board?

I just sign my prints, much like any other piece of art. I've been at it for some time (23 years), and I presume folks will know who I am. I'm gonna rethink that now. In the past, I've left a stack of my cards with the display.
Thanks for the question. Maybe I'VE been around for a good while, but the viewer may be new to the area. Hmmmmm.

Pete

[danalec99]

Yeah... I do it all. But remember... the stuff remains my property. I merely LOAN it to them.Do you get in to a contract (written) with the business owner?

[Christie Photo]

Do you get in to a contract (written) with the business owner?

No... I haven't yet. I didn't see a need for one. The one long-time display I had was in a bank. After 8 or 10 years, they remoldled and had me come collect my stuff.

Pete

[danalec99]

Thanks Pete. That's a good tip!

[AprilRamone]

Hmmm...this idea is really interesting to me. Are you giving them a print of a family? They don't mind having random people on the wall? I could see this being the sort of thing you could do with more landscape/architecture type of work, but it works with portraiture? I don't suppose you have an example of a print that you have hanging at the bank that you could show us here? Or maybe something similar to what you have showing?

[Christie Photo]

Hmmm...this idea is really interesting to me. Are you giving them a print of a family? They don't mind having random people on the wall?

Yeah... portraits. Remember... one benifit for the store is the friends and families of the persons in the portraits will stop in to see the display, bringing more people into the establishment.

Of course the more stunning the portraits, the more likely you'll find some takers. Bring a good selection of your work when approaching a prospective business.

Good luck!

Pete

Oh... I'll post some samples soon.

[Christie Photo]

OK... these were part of my bank display. Now, go easy on me... this was some time ago (more than 15 years) and the work looks pretty dated. Check out the hair! I think there were 10 prints in all for this display.



http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/ChristiePhoto/display.jpg

[Sharkbait]

Love the 80s look!! Rockin'! ;)

[JodieO]

HOw do people find my business?

Website and word-of-mouth. I do a few art shows here and there but what I mentioned first is the ultimate :)

[bethany138]

Why don't you move this over to the business forum? :)

[Alison]

Why don't you move this over to the business forum? :)

I plan on doing that this weekend, along with any other business related topics from this forum.

[ZyxKor]

While I'm new to photography I'm not new to business. Some advice is to contact SCORE (http://www.score.org/) or your local SBA (www.sba.gov) (http://www.sba.gov%29). Ask them for help with marketing issues. I think that's key to what most of what you guys need. In business it's called the "technician's problem" - You have a great product but no one knows about it. Both SCORE and the SBA will be able to help with free or low cost marketing classes or to help recommend other avenues to help you out.

Here's a free thing from SCORE about promoting businesses:
http://www.va-interactive.com/score/promotingbusiness/promotingbusiness.html


Also there is one author that I recommend to people: Jeffery Gitomer. He offers a free weekly email with ideas as well as several books that are great. I highly recommend "The Sales Bible". www.gitomer.com


Just remember that you are running a business, businesses are about making money and without money there is no business. Get in that mindset. Seperate your hobby/art from the business.

[DeepSpring]

Can I ask what about someone who isn't trying to do event or portrait photography so much but more just trying to sell prints?

[David]

Most of my enquiries are from word of mouth, and I like it that way, but I too recently tried something like Pete (Christie Photo) suggested. I spent some time taking photos of the local area, some quite common views and other more unique images. I then created an album from these images and went round the local area offering them at no cost in frames, with the understanding that there would be details of me and my website on the mount in small lettering.

As a result I now have seven images in two local businesses and a restaurant, and have also approached a local hotel which I happened to notice was in the process of refurbishing. I am hoping to provide images for several of the bedrooms, and some communal areas. As yet no enquiries or referrals from them, but it's not costing me anything other than the price of a few frames as I mount all the work myself.

As Pete said, I was surprised at how easy it was to find interested parties, but keep your eye out for new businesses and restaurants, or those being refurbished.

DeepSpring, the principles behind this are sound whatever you're trying to achieve. The restaurant in which I have three images were happy to have a card with them stating something to effect of, "To purchase this image or other's like it, please contact......" Each of the three I have up has a price with it, and the restaurant have agreed that if necessary they'll take the money and pass it on. This can work for unique images or a run of prints. I decided to try this tack because I saw a restaurant doing something similar whilst on holiday, and noticed over the two weeks several images being taken down and replaced.

I am now considering taking this a step further and approaching businesses with a portfolio showing images that I've taken, across a range of subjects, and offering to provide them with new images, commissioned by them, to hang on their walls. Whether they choose to purchase them from me, or I provide them for free, subject to having a small advertising blurb on each, it matters not. Definitely cheaper than renting gallery space.

David

[Amper]

I have not done done this myself, as I'm not up to that standard yet, but I've seen photographers who good to great business out of photographing businesses and surrounding areas or connected themes (especially local ones) and then framing it and giving it to the bussiness. The places love having it and often want to purchase more shoots for everything from establishment display to website images. And I know one lady who took photos of our historical areas and donated them to the museum. Now she's getting paid for their use on greeting cards, post cards etc. Just what I've seen that works for those who prefer landscape, architecture and nature. Thought it might be useful. And I've thought about donating photos of pets to local grooming, training and vet facilities. (Once I'm more experienced)

[Alpha]

My forte is search engine optimization. Nuff said.

[Normann Photo]

The biggest challenge for photographers is managing their business. That's where we get the term "starving artist." I graduated with my degree in Business and my minor in Art just so I would know first off how to be profitable. If you have any chances to take marketing classes directed for the photography industry... Take it! The #1 marketing tool is the business card! Regardless of industry this is true. I go through about 1,000/year. Focus on making one that is really good and professional. Don't print them yourself on your own printer. The second thing I recommend is offer free sitting fees for babies 2 weeks old and younger. This is how you build a relationship and get them back. Families don't spend a lot of money on children's portraits once they are getting them done in school. Because word of mouth is one of the best (and cheapest) marketing tools, make sure EVERY customer is 100% satisfied. You need to exceed their expectations when starting and one of the best ways to do that is give them a little something extra, something free such as a simple DVD slideshow from their shoot. The funny thing is that you can typically get more work by not being the cheapest but rather charge enough to make a modest amount. You need to keep the perceived value of your work high and your expenses low. Sorry for the long post but I love business.

[fluidphoto]

I am a retouching studio, any idea's for promoting this

[Normann Photo]

To market your services as a retouching studio your cliants are 95% of the time going to be photographers or business, So you are looking at business to business sales which have to me treated differently than dealing with the general public. When dealing with business they tend to mark up all of their costs by double, (this is called keystone retailing.) You need to keep your prices in a range that you can be profitable yourself and still be competative. As far as gaining cliants I would recomend marketing directly to photographers or professional photo finishing labs. You can access them through different trade organizations and trade shows. To extend your cliant base you will need FTP or some sort of order submision on your website for clients to send in files to be worked on. Turn around has to be fast so mailing files back and forth won't work. I hope this is of some help.
Matt

[skieur]

I am a retouching studio, any idea's for promoting this

Before and after shots, even if they are humourous and extreme, will display your talent and be memorable.

I remember one example where a heavy lady was changed into super model. Almost all viewers realized it was not to be taken seriously, but it still generated a lot of "visibility" and work for the retoucher.

Emphasize also, that there are none of the problems such as picture noise, artifacts, colour loss etc. that go along with amateur retouching using PhotoShop.

skieur

[GabrielVillnius]

It's been my experience in the photography industry that most photographers are looking for one the major way to market their studiosand are not realizing that it takes multiple means, in order to be successful.



The best ways that I've found to market a portrait and wedding studio are:

Exhibits and display is in your community. This is such a powerful means of marketing your studio. By having multiple exhibits and displays throughout your community people see you just about everywhere, and it is a sense of community involvement.

A web site designed to capture names and e-mail addresses. This puts the responsibility of continued contact on you, instead of your prospect. This is so important because we want to make sure it's up to us to continue contact, rather than waiting for the prospect to contact us. Life gets busy, and our prospects have many things going on in their lives, so the more we can take the initiative to contact them as follow-ups, the better off we are.

The use of powerful testimonials throughout all marketing. I've found that people tend to respond to testimonials much stronger than anything we would say about ourselves. It lends a level of credibility to what we say, and people are always wondering what others think of us and our work. In my opinion, most photographers under use testimonials.

Multi-step marketing. The old idea of sending out one the marketing piece and having that do the job is an old-fashioned way of thinking. I have found that doing multi-step marketing can be so much more effective, because you get people to take action better. When using multiple steps. There are many people who may not respond to the first mailing, but may respond to the second or third. We don't want to lose those people as clients, by not properly following up with them.

OK, that's all for now. Let the feedback fly!

[Amys]

I think that a professional website is very important to impress customers, but the problem is getting your website name out there. I have found that sending out a high quality postcard with maybe some of your work on the front and your website & contact info on the back works really well. I have used http://www.expresscopy.com and their cards print sharply and they are affordable. Hopefully that helps someone.

Amy

[jenie_penny]

I agree, I think that a website is the number one way to close the deal. However I think a bad website is worse then not having a website or only having a splash page up. I personally like custom sites, but those can range from $2000+. A couple good yet inexpensive website companies (templates) are portfoliositez.com, bigfolio.com, and flashpalette.com. All of these come with admins that allow you to edit all your site content.

I think it is still really important to get your site seem in search engine's as well. The best way to do this is to get your link out on the web as many places as you can. Adding it to your signature in a forums, to any resource list in your area, or on sites such as the knot.com can help with this.

Another idea I think helps clients keep you in mind is having a blog. I've seen this done successfully (http://www.boutwellstudio.com/blog/), however if it is not updated regularly it can be counter productive I think.

I also personally like sending out marketing material to those interested, mostly a tri-fold brochure or a full color postcard. The cheapest place I could find that I'm happy with is gotprint.com.

:D

[JaJaPumBA]

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/clear.gifwhat do I need and how do I need to ask a daycare to photograph the kids!?!?

[Ed2007]

I agree with those who have suggested building a website, and if you are able to do this yourself it can be relatively cheap.

It is good having a well designed website, however the hard bit is actually getting lots of potential customers to visit your site.
There are lots of articles on the internet about search engine optimization, however one of the main points is to get lots of other photography sites to link to you. This generates direct traffic from those sites, but more importantly it will help with your search engine rankings.

Some sites worth submitting your link to;

http://www.dmoz.org/ - The most important one as lots of other sites use the data from this site.
http://www.PhotoSites.co.uk - The Photography Directory Project.
http://www.photodir.net/ - Another photo directory
http://www.photogalaxy.com/ - And another....
etc, etc....

If you search Google you will find a fair few photography Directories. It may take a bit of time, but it is wrth submitting to as many of the popular ones as possible.

Regards
Ed

[mannumobile]

Hi Everybody, I have received very good inputs for marketing the photography products. In most of your cases, you are professional photographers. In my case I don't photograph, i just edit them & convert them to videos, calenders, Wedding Albums etc., I would like you experts to suggest me the way is should start marketing my services. I'm just 4 months into this business & haven't had much success. I do have a website

www.binarycreation.com

Regards
Manu

[efgphoto]

Hi, I am an intern at a printing company and was wondering if postcard marketing would be an effective means for you guys to get your name out there. Do any of you use postcard marketing/ do you find it helpful? I've read all of these posts and am interested in learning more about how you all market yourself. thanks!

[GreenGate3000]

I think a very good way to start your photography business is to sell some photos to a stock photography website. Even if you cant sell the photos you can get some ideas of what professional work looks like. a really good website with a lot verity of super clean images is Glow images . com http://www.glowimages.com/
when ever i need ideas i like to do some research and see what type of pictures people are popular and people are taking. Stock image site show all different types of pics as well if u need a picture to use in any way you can get it fast and easy.

[Urban]

I completely agree with Ed2007. Today, the best way to build your business is to create a well designed website and market it online. You can cost effectively reach an enormous amount of viewers/customers by listing your photography services or company with online directories. Here are a few examples...

National/International
www.marketingtool.com (http://www.marketingtool.com)

Local example (since I live in Porland, Oregon)
www.pdxcreativedirectory.com (http://www.pdxcreativedirectory.com)

[Bthornton]

I agree a good website is a great start. I also (at no charge) take photos of the pets for the local animal rescue and meet lots of people who need portraits that way. Last week I got a booth in a great location at a busy tradeshow for taking photos of the tradeshow and it's events. Not only did I meet lots of people who have never heard of me I had a drawing for a free session and got lots of names for a future email. I also worked with the PR company that runs the shows and will be doing more of them down the road. It was a lot of work but I really think it will pay off.
What I am saying is you really have to work you butt off and always be on. Anyone you meet could be a paying customer. My company has only been up and running for a few months but we are getting tons of work and plan on getting more.

[Saint-Brown]

As someone who is just starting out in business, this thread has been really helpful. Thanks to all for the great suggestions.
Oh yeah, 1st post

[ShirleyShutter]

I'm in school. I took a flyer with my contact info, and stating i was a photographer, I stuck those flyers to the 2 sides of my binder.

My art teacher and several students have asked to see my work ^_^

[roadkill]

wow elsas pet. I just vivited your website and i am very impressed. I've been shooting for about 30 years and have just realized it is what i want as my career. (just went digi too) it's inspiring thx. all this info you guys are posting is awsome, im eating it up.

[Tennessee Landscape]

I have a good job, not great but good....benefits and all...anyway, it could easily be outdone with self employment. The trouble is making the switch. Anyway, I'm just undertaking photography seriously right now, and would like to make money at it. What better way to pay for the Camera, my current job doesn't do a good jod at it.

Anyway, I love sports..I mean love sports...I would love to do sports, but could easily find myself doing nature and wildlife too. I would do weddings and portraits too, but would like to focus on things I love, so I don't start looking at is as another job. My question is from scratch, how do you sell pictures to magazine, newspapers and the rest? AND, how do you get on the sidelines too?

Right now I plan on starting with high school football, and minor league hockey. My two favorite sports. Anyway, I expect to sell pictures to parents at least for HSFB, and who knows on minoe league hockey. Nobody really cares about hockey here in the south......

[Sandspur]

I just joined the forum yesterday, so I'm trying to catch up. This thread is of particular interest - and I appreciate all the great comments and suggestions so far.

Although I've been a photographer for a very long time (40 years) I only recently began thinking of it as my profession. I suppose it started about seven years ago when the head of the Art Department at the University of West Florida was looking for someone to teach Photoshop ... and I got the job.

Today, I teach privately - seminars and one-on-one tutoring in basic digital photography & Photoshop. I also do custom PP work for some of the local pros, and an occasional photo restoration.

My actual photography activity consists of developing and marketing my own private work - primarily landscapes - shooting a couple of big events a year (a fishing tournament and a flower show), an occasional family beach portrait, and, most recently, photographing artwork for local artists.

My primary website is all about teaching what I know, but it also serves as a link builder and a source of affiliate income (google ads), referrals, etc. Not being - or wanting to become - a website designer, I've used what I now know is the most successful online business development service in the world. (If you're interested in learning more, please PM me).
I recently launched a new venture on Cafepress.com, and have my own gallery and sales site. It hasn't amounted to much yet, but these things take time to build. So I'm being patient.

Selling prints for events - like the aforementioned fishing tournament - is handled through my Pro Gallery on Shutterfly. This arrangement, or something very much like it, seems to be the only viable way to make money with event photography (Note to Tennessee Landscape: This would be especially appropriate for you and your interest in shooting football and hockey.) It's amazing to shoot a three day event, with two other shooters I've hired, collect all the files (about 1600 last years between the three of us), edit, select and upload ... and have sales being generated before the event is even over!

Unlike most of you here, I'm not interested in building a commercial photography business that's capable of supporting a family. I'll be 65 in a couple of weeks, so this is really just doing what I can to keep enjoying my passion for photography and for teaching.

But I'm convinced that a younger, more ambitious and more energetic person (are you listening Tennessee Landscape?) could use some or all of these ideas to build a very nice business.

[ladywings]

My husband and I just opened our studio last month. We are starting out small, for now... running specials on MySpace and CheapCycle (which we've actually gotten a decent response with). We're in the process of building our website, and once that is done we will do a bit more advertising. Hubby ran his own video production company about 10 years ago, and was very successful at it (made more than he did working two full time jobs and a part time job), so we also have his reputation from that, in our favor.

[tbstimp]

I have found print marketing to be expensive, and very hard to track. Google offers a free service for your website called Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) that is a great way to track and understand your website traffic. How people found you, what pages they visited, and a whole lot more. It's free too. Free. You can also use google Ad words with Analytics. I have found this combination to be much more successful than print advertising, and it's cheaper and much easier to track.

One of the other ways you can help drive people to your website would be to make sure your site is Search Engine friendly. There is a lot of information out there about SEO (search engine optimization). Many people have websites that are not SE friendly and they loose a lot of traffic because of it.

[Fleurish]

I just joined this forum today and the title of my post may sound a little funny b/c E-commerce and portrait photography don't exactly go hand in hand. I went to the E-Comm convention in New Orleans for my FT job but I brought back a ton of info on Search Engine Optimization and how to get your name out there for free! Guess what guys, you're already doing that. If you already have a website one of the best ways for people to find you is if you have links to your site from other sites, like putting your website with your post here. Also, join Friend Feed, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, NING, etc. I am also going to start selling cityscape pics on E-bay and putting part of the profit toward the New Orleans Rebuild Project (I plan on selling CityScapes of New Orleans). I also took the test to become a photographer for istockphoto.com. Basically just doing everything to get my name out there! I may join Google Adwords soon also.

Someone mentioned print earlier.... E-mail marketing is more effective. Only 96% of postcards actually make it to the buyer. So 4 out of every 100 will not make it. I don't know about you but I work pretty hard to be able to make that little bit of money so I don't want to waste it. You can e-mail market via icontact.com or constantcontact.com

I know this was a long post but I hope I helped someone.

Donna B.
www.fleurishphoto.com (http://www.fleurishphoto.com)

[kerickpd]

Thanks to everyone for there great ideas! Being rather new to the business side of photography, it would be terrific to keep this thread alive.

[Barbiro]

This is an informative thread. In my case, it's referrals 100% of the time. A happy customer is worth a lot.

[mmcduffie1]

This topic was a really good idea. Currently i'm VP of a management company so photography is still a hobby for me. I do shoot weddings and work with some models. People find me via word of mouth only. I don't advertise at all. I don't even have business cards. I did 2 weddings in '06 and 8 in '07. I have 4 so far this year.

All of the ideas here are really good but you have to produce a good product as with any business. If you have a really good and affordable product people will want it. Whether it's a photo or a bag of onions.

Once you have clients remember that they are customers. The photos are going to be theirs forever. So give them what they want in addition to what you want them to have. Even if you disagree.

Happy customers will tell others about you and so on. My business grows about 10% every year and i am just now starting to get into digital. Why didn't one of you tell me how much i'd like it!

[visualpoetry]

I am booking weddings LIKE CRAZY through Craigslist.com... and It's FREE!
Also considered posting an add in the local tri county paper.. but not sure if that would be a good investment. It would get your name known through your community, though, and thats a plus.

[Mike Jeffcoat Photography]

Hi All~
I'm new here, but I wanted to chime in on the website side of the discussion.
I have recently "finished" my site (www.MikeJeffcoatPhotography.com (http://www.mikejeffcoatphotography.com)) and it cost me $67 for 14 months of hosting and $1.99 for the domain name.
I have Adobe CS3, so I used Dreamweaver to create the site from scratch.

I'm not trying to "solicit" here, but I can put together a website if someone needs it. I'm not a Flash guy, so nothing extremely fancy, but you can look at mine to get an idea.

Feedback would be great too, BTW. I know I need more galleries - I've got a few TFP shoots lined up to update my portfolio and then I'll add more.

[mamarazzi_hrd]

Hi there! I love this thread, I have been building my business over the past year or so and I have designed my own website and my hubby hosts it for me (we design/host websites on the side). I placed an ad on a local classifieds site similar to craigslist and have had a few responses. Most of mine has been from word of mouth and friends over the past year. I placed an ad in local restaurants menu and so far, nothing from that.

There is a local photog that has portraits of babies in the labor and delivery waiting room at the local hospital. He has a digital mat with his logo, phone number and website on it......wish I could do that.

There is a local pizzeria that has a photogs artwork all over the walls with his signature on them. Very effective, I have always noticed these portraits.

I have business cards printed and have handed quite a few out, but haven't really booked anything from them. I plan on taking some to the printing company where I used to work and the daycare that my son used to attend.

My little cousin is a senior in hs this year and I am going to take her and about 3 of her friends on a photo safari and take tons of pictures to build my senior portrait portfolio. I am going to give her some FREE prints and her friends a big discount on some prints with a few free wallets or something.

I am in the process of designing some postcards advertising specials and things for the upcoming fall/holiday season and to see if I can get some bookings. I am going to offer discounts if they book before a certain date.

[tasman]

I have 2 businesses, one is I am a contrator and I advertise in the yellow pages. And the other bieng Photography, which I have not advertised yet as I have just started it as a business. But the point I want to make is if you are advertising in the yellow pages it does generate lots of business, depending on your advertising budget. How big of an ad you want to place, the bigger the better in some cases.

But, I made one big misstake, DO NOT advertise in any of the local business directories or place an ad in any of the local magazine. I did once. And they tend to sell your info to other online directories or other local directories, and you get telephone solicitaions to buy more ads that are not worth it.

[ADELICATEIMAGE]

My husband and I just opened our studio last month. We are starting out small, for now... running specials on MySpace and CheapCycle (which we've actually gotten a decent response with). We're in the process of building our website, and once that is done we will do a bit more advertising. Hubby ran his own video production company about 10 years ago, and was very successful at it (made more than he did working two full time jobs and a part time job), so we also have his reputation from that, in our favor.



Is this Yahoo? CheapCycle?

[CharlesSmithPhoto]

I agree that word of mouth is the best option. I shoot roughly 50 weddings a year and have never advertised. Do good work, serve people like friends, and your business will grow.

[NecroBolt]

We're just getting started with our business. This thread is great. Thanks for all the input.

A few things we are doing. I know almost all the florists in my area, so getting them to recommend me to thier clients for weddings and proms, etc. is one thing we're doing. Also we are donating a free sitting and one 8x10 from that sitting to people that have baskets for charity.

We're in the beginning stages of creating the website, so thanks again to everyone here who have given so many great ideas.

[afghanjohn]

I've used search engine optimization to give my main photography site, Kabul Media, a very high ranking (usually #1) on Google for most of the keywords my customers use to search. Since my customers are in many different locations, the internet is the best way for me to promote our royalty-free photograph library.

[Alpha]

SEO is the ish.

[manaheim]

I think a lot of this stuff depends very much on what type of photography business you have. For example, my putting up pictures of buildings that I take at the local maternity ward would probably not work that well. :) (Obviously extreme case, but it's illustrative)

I would love it if people could first mention what kind of business they have, talk about what kind of clients they have, etc.

For me, marketing of my business is still in its infancy. I have two primary types of photography business I'm focusing on. The first is commercial real estate photography, which I have been doing reasonably successfully for about a year. The second is artistic prints.

For the CRE photography, I've found (not surprisingly) that it's just like my primary business (information technology)... networking, networking, networking. I'm just now starting to reach out to other clients in the area, and bit shock... I'm finding the best way to find those is to work through my usual networking channels... friends, family, old business colleagues, LinkedIn, etc.

My current (and untested until tomorrow when I actually do this for the first time) plan is to make contact, explain what I do and why I think I can help them (typical elevator speech type of thing), and ask them if I can send them a sample of my work. I have some very nice 8x12 photographs of some of my neater architectural work (not actually a building... skylines, etc.). These are nice enough to hang on the wall and have a subtle watermark of my company name on the image. I'll let you know how this works out. :)

I'm currently planning to try the "display your art at local businesses" angle, but I'm literally just ramping up on this now, so we'll see.

As I said, I'm REALLY new to this, so take anything I say here with a grain of salt.

This has, however, been a great thread and I appreciate everyone's remarks.

[christm]

I sell some of my photos and nearly all of them are sold via the website. I set it up in February this year and its running okay. Its not a job income, just some nice side money, for new equipment now and then.

Im still a student and so I'm quite pleased with my achievments so far.


www.templemurray.com

I am currently writing a new website which should be ready around January.

[wandalassiter]

Hello all,

I have been using another powerful marketing tool to promote my business. It is like participating with the members of a certain community. Just like that Mediahalo (http://www.mediahalo.com/) provides everyone to self market in entertainment industry.

Hope you would also enjoy using it in addition with the benefits you get from it.