# 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## Christie Photo

Alison said:
			
		

> 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


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## 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!


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## 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.


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## danalec99

Christie Photo said:
			
		

> 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?


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## Christie Photo

danalec99 said:
			
		

> 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


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## danalec99

Christie Photo said:
			
		

> 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?


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## Christie Photo

danalec99 said:
			
		

> 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


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## danalec99

Thanks Pete. That's a good tip!


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## 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?


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## Christie Photo

AprilRamone said:
			
		

> 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.


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## 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.


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## Sharkbait

Love the 80s look!!  Rockin'!


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## 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


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## bethany138

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


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## Alison

bethany138 said:
			
		

> 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.


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## 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).  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". [SIZE=-1]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. 
[/SIZE]


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## 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?


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## 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


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## 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)


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## Alpha

My forte is search engine optimization. Nuff said.


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## 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.


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## fluidphoto

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


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## 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


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## skieur

fluidphoto said:


> 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


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## 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!


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## 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


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## 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.


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## JaJaPumBA

what do I need and how do I need to ask a daycare to photograph the kids!?!?


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## 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


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## 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


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## 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!


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## 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.


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## 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

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


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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 ^_^


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## 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.


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## 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......


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## 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 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


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## 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.


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## Barbiro

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


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## 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!


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## 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) 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.


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## 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

ladywings said:


> 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?


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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* provides everyone to self market in entertainment industry.

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


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## LarissaPhotography

We get a lot of word of mouth customers.  Our website also brings a lot of business.  Some people search for us on Google.  We also get new customers from existing customers showing off their pictures on our website to friends.
We're going to be trying the phone book this next year, so we'll see how that works.


----------



## msf

AprilRamone said:


> 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.





visualpoetry said:


> I am booking weddings LIKE CRAZY through Craigslist.com... and It's FREE!



What category are you guys advertising on craigslist?  Im curious whats best for both portraits and weddings.

I can see the ad being placed in these categories:
community - artists
community - local news
for sale - general
for sale - arts and crafts
for sale - photo and video
services - creative
services - skilled trade
gigs - creative.

What works best for you all?

I wonder if you can stick in a page counter with stats into craigslist, so you get an idea of how many people are seing the ad.


----------



## msf

msf said:


> What category are you guys advertising on craigslist?  Im curious whats best for both portraits and weddings.
> 
> I can see the ad being placed in these categories:
> community - artists
> community - local news
> for sale - general
> for sale - arts and crafts
> for sale - photo and video
> services - creative
> services - skilled trade
> gigs - creative.
> 
> What works best for you all?
> 
> I wonder if you can stick in a page counter with stats into craigslist, so you get an idea of how many people are seing the ad.



bumpity bump bump.    Im still curious what category works best for everyone here.

Im trying the community - general for now.  I added a statcounter.com to see how much its being viewed, and so far its about 11 people a day, but they are not staying to long.


----------



## LarissaPhotography

I usually look to see what other photographers are using for the service I'm listing before choosing a category.


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## msf

Does anyone here do cold calling?  Randomly call people up in the phone book in the area to see if they are interested in having a portrait done?  I bet this would just annoy alot of people and create a negative image for the company, but I could be mistaken.


----------



## CrimsonFoxPhotography

visualpoetry said:


> 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.


 

Hi,

What kind of wording are you using on Craigslist?  Are you cutting and pasting info from your site, simply listing your packages, or writing up a unique ad?  How long is it?


----------



## modlife

elsaspet said:


> 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.





Respond.com has increased their pricing to $10/lead - $100 minimum account balance, and $199 and $499 per year.

Has anyone else used them? I'm considering this, as they seem to have a lot of quality leads for qualified companies.


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## modlife

Alpha said:


> My forte is search engine optimization. Nuff said.


 
I'm finding that this works the best. I'm starting to blog about SEO, detailing what I have found if you feel like reading. In under a month I've taken the #2 spot for the google search of "atl photographers" just by focusing on SEO. It's more than doubled the hits to my websites in 30 days and turned into a little business.

-Josh


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## tleduc

I've been trying for a while to break into the business.  I finally feel that I have an angel that will appeal to others in my area.  Thank you for the great ideas to help improve my market.


----------



## a_kraker99

Mostly word of mouth but I have been doing facebook ads for a while now and they are awesome.  You can pretty much narrow it down to the exact type of people you want targeted.


----------



## mamun

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.


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## msf

I had an idea today.  I could get a tshirt, and print my logo on the left chest on the front, and a large graphic on the back with my company name and a breif explanation of what I do.  Perhaps even a cute kid portrait.  Then I could wear this in public when im out and about.   I wonder how effective this would be.  :0)


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## newbe

I like the info that you provided about staarting a business. I am just starting out myself, and dont know where to start. What is the membership you mentioned, WPJA? Can you suggets a  sitethat will help with selling nature photos.
Thanks for your help
Newbe


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## guitarkid

Word of mouth isn't getting many jobs for us. We're in the Chicago area so I keep telling myself there is SO MUCH WORK to go around...but we just can't get the visibility. Maybe previous clients don't know anyone getting married, I don't know. I pulled all online advertising; costing me $150 a month to get no calls or emails. I kept thinking "maybe this month, maybe this month!" And still.....nothing. Our service and crew is great, we get compliements all the time. It's as if I'm not advertising at all.

I have to unfortunately rely on just the website, and cheaper more creative routes. Our clients love our work and services but that unfortunately doesn't seem to be enough.

Respond.com didn't work for me at all and I was there for about a year. What few responses I got emailed me back saying they weren't looking for photo services. 

There are hundreds of photographers on the knot, which is where I used to be...and that did work out ok a couple years back....but way too pricey and way too many people on there now. 

I'm going to focus on the t-shirt idea someone below just had (I already made the shirts) and vehicle magnets for advertising on the road. Next year when we get more cash I may start up with the knot again. As of now, marketing dwindled the account to nothing with no leads to show for it. 

I would still love to get photo and video going full time so I don't have to do the day job...we'll see.

I'm really happy for you guys with success stories...keep it goin!


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## ckphotography

I just launched my professional website this past February and while I am getting decent traffic, it is not currently leading to bookings.  I do rely on word of mouth because that means that those customers are happy.  I have 8 weddings this year and my goal is 15-20 next year.  

One idea I have is that I have bookmarks made at whcc with just my web address on them.  One set has a wedding photo on each side and the other has children's photos on each side (advertising what I specialize in).  I am thinking about randomly dropping them around town so that people can pick one up.  Each bookmark says "Book Your Date" on them.  My goal is that the photos are good enough to generate interest in my work and visit my site without giving them all the information right away.  I do get compliments on the bookmarks and that they are good ideas.

I love the creativity in advertising!  Keep 'em coming!

CK Photography Your Life Naturally


----------



## JerryPH

Probably the BEST is word of mouth.  

Second is getting your walking shoes on and going face to face with related businesses (wedding planners, locations, cake makers, and on and on and on)

Third is  is wedding shows, seminars and what not.  

If you are not getting word of mouth referrals... it possibly could be people skills are lacking or you are not presenting things in such a manner that your clients cannot stop talking about you to anyone and everyone they know.

Silly question, but... have you ever done a customer satisfaction survey with your clients after doing business with them?  

I'm not saying just asking if they were satisfied or something, I mean a full blown series of questions asked face to face with the client asking for how their experience with you could have been made even better.    They are the ones with the answers, not us here... well, not as directly.

I was surprised to hear that at the first time I mentored with him, he booked 2 weddings, an E-session and a "Trash The Dress" in one evening by word of mouth alone.  When I said I was surprised, he said that it happens that way more than any other.  As I spend more time with him, I see that it is true.  It has not happened yet where one of the guests or someone has not asked for his availability or was eager to get this guy as their photographer after seeing us "in action".  I feel that if you are not getting WOM referrals, there is an issue in how you work, and the last place I would say to look, is your photography... it could be excellent, and you still could be in the same boat.


----------



## loopy

I don't own a photography business, however I own a fine art reproduction company, and have a background in design and marketing.

Twitter: I was the anti-twitter at first, but when I started an account for my  company I was surprised at the responses. It's isn't a lot of work, it's free and helps get your name out there. 

Other Social Networking: Don't underestimate the value, think of it this way; many younger adults are involved in social media and these young adults are going to be getting married one day  It makes sense to connect with them.

Word of Mouth: I also try to get testimonials from any happy customers to post on our website and in other material.

Search Engine Optimization combined with a nicely designed site. It won't matter if you rank #1 in google, if your website looks like crap. So, don't put up a freebie site designed by your friend's son. Get it professionally designed, and you'll see a better return. 

Also, add a website tracker to your site, who is visiting? what are they looking at? where are they coming from?


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## ashleykaryl

Word of mouth and reputation obviously go a long way. Personally I am a bit dubious of the internet only in as much as it seems to invite less realistic offers than those which arrive through other channels. I do need to update my site though with newer work and never seem to have enough time. The whole social networking thing is rather alien to me but I am making an effort now to try and understand it.


----------



## msf

I am starting to try direct mailing.  I like doing Church directories, so I designed what I hope to be a nice brochure, and mailed it off to the Churches in the area.  So far 50% of them have been returned to me, the main reason being no mail receptacle.  I also mailed off some brochures to some dance studios, and the majority of those got returned to me.

Is this a normal thing, these sort of places not having mail boxes, at least not ones that are on the yellow pages?  I wonder what I can do to reduce my returened mail.  Im not a huge fan of talking on the phone, I do it when I have to, but I rather speak to people in person.  If mail doesnt work, I may have to invest some time in going around to the different Curches and hope the pastor or board member is around.


----------



## msf

Thats a bit off topic.


----------



## puzopia

Since I don't rely on my little business for money, I find that word-of-mouth works well. Do a good job for someone and word should spread.


----------



## c.cloudwalker

It was a long time ago but it should still work fine today. When I switched from photojournalism to commercial work, I worked for about two years as an assistant which gave me time to think about how to go about marketing and this is what I did.

I decided on the date my studio would open and started mailing monthly postcards to about 500 businesses. On one side, a photo. Make sure that photo is as good as or preferably better than what you know they use. On the other side, my logo and "There's a new studio in town." No name, no address, no phone number.  All addresses were handwritten and I used good looking stamps. Believe it or not more than a few clients mentioned both of those as catching their eye.

First 4 months were B&W postcards that I printed myself. Cheaper. Months 5, 6 and 7 had progressively more color. Since there was no way to hand-tint 500 postcards a month those went to a printer. Months 8 thru 12 were full color.

Month 12, we invited everyone to a grand opening/open house. We picked a week day so as to not have to serve booze lol. We opened at 10 am and ran until 8 pm so we had a buffet set up around lunch time and some snacks around dinner time. Had a lot of help from friends and were able to keep the cost down.

Result: Over 350 people came through and the business was launched. We kept the monthly postcards going for another 2 years after that. Marketing is an ongoing thing.

From talking to people, I think a big mistake that is made often is to slow down the marketing. Bad times like now, not much money coming in, people slow down. Big mistake. Good times and people think they don't need to market as much. I tend to believe that's a mistake too.

In commercial you have a lot more repeat business than in retail photography but you still never know when a client he's going to drop you because there's a new shooter in town. And don't bother with this idea if you can't do the research and address the postcards to a specific person (the photo buyer) by name.

By the way, my first client was the print shop that did the postcards. They liked my marketing idea and I traded photos for my postcards from #8 on.


----------



## erphoto

I experience my best bookings after I attend a bridal show.


----------



## Russell S

Internet using a good SEO company, word of mouth and exhibitions work for us.


----------



## Jamie71

Great advice everyone!


----------



## dcoffee

hmm, i think the best way is with word from your client & friend...


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## templatephotoshop

I highly rec bridal fairs.  We set up a booth with our best work.  Give out a printed brochure and a slideshow DVD (we use Proshow Producer for that)  nothing is better than being in front of hundreds of brides face to face. Good luck!


----------



## templatephotoshop

PS Direct mail has been terrible for us.  But if you do try it, vistaprint  is the cheapest we've found around for good color printing.


----------



## tamaramurphy

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to look into some of them. I'm finding that word of mouth is the best, and hopefully some day that's where all my business will come from. For now, I'm listed in a local directory that's online and on the web. They also give all their vendors leads each month. But the best thing I've done is advertising on Facebook.


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## DanEitreim

The absolute best business you can get is a referral. It is easy to book and they are pre-disposed to like your work - which equates to bigger sales.

Find a business that would like to do something special for their  clients (like a local realtor), then you create a gift certificate offering a free session and a small free photo as a gift FROM THE REALTOR not from you - then have the realtor distribute the gift certificate to all their past clients.

This is good for the realtor because they get credit for doing something above and beyond for their clients (plus the certs. don't cost them anything).

It's good for the client because they get a free family portrait.

It's good for you because you get yourself known very quickly and the client will ALWAYS buy more copies of the photos. By being referred by the realtor, you are piggy-backing on their standing and reputation in the community.


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## msf

I love this idea.  I wonder how many past clients a realtor would have in general.  I know this would vary greatly between different realtor companies.


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## msf

I figured there would be more discussion on this.


----------



## msf

DanEitreim said:


> Find a business that would like to do something special for their  clients (like a local realtor), then you create a gift certificate offering a free session and a small free photo as a gift FROM THE REALTOR not from you - then have the realtor distribute the gift certificate to all their past clients.



I finally have some time to persue this venture.  

When you went to the real estate company, did you call ahead to make an appointment with the person in charge at that given location?  Or did you just walk in and ask to speak to them?  I know some places dont like solicitation and this is somewhat like that.

When you did this, did you create the gift certificate up, or did you let the real estate spend the money on a nice card/envelope with the information in it?  I dont know how many previous customers a real estate company could have, but im guessing it would be around 100 in a town of about 10,000 people, but thats a total guess.

Would you limit these gift certificates for the free portrait/print to those that bought houses above a certain amount, or to anyone that bought a house, even a trailer, double wide, modular home?  Theres lots of those around here, and there are some pretty nice ones.


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## kkphotos

I've been given the suggestion in the past to email first, then follow up with a phone call when trying to cold-call.   Hopefully they've had a chance to peruse your email first, and will be familiar with the issue by the time you call.


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## dripper

Its not as easy to spread the word as it used to be, people are too busy to stop and listen!


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## Fifthphotography

jenie_penny said:


> 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.



Thanks for this post my old website was terrible but I didn't think I could afford anything better at the time. Didn't know about portfoliositez for just a little bit more than what I was currently paying i got a site that was 100x better.


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## David Dvir

It's always tough to start a business.  Word of mouth is the number 1 for me although lately our website has been taking over but I think that's as a result of word of mouth in all honesty.

I created my website and maintain it myself.  It costs less than 100 dollars and without it I know I would ultimately have zero business.  Even the word of mouth clients check the website before calling in.  The website is key.

Marketing in general is a really tough process, and it really depends on what kind of photography you're getting yourself into.


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## Joey_Lei

We have a website that is drawing in business.  We update it with new pics and specials often so customers (old and new) have reasons to return frequently.

We also use social media quite a bit and have had great success.  We even advertise on them since it is so cheap, you can set your advertising budget, and you get exposure even if no one clicks on your link.  We update that at the same time as updating our website, so it's new and fresh.

We tried Craigslist and were overwhelmed with spam.


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## EmbassyProBooks

Marketing your business online, with a great website and other marketing tactics is a good way to have people find your business.  Become involved in social media too as it is a booming place to be.


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## GerryDavid

Ive been tryign community boards.  Its free and it does get some brand recognition, so far no actual paying customers.  I recently printed up some 8x10 ads that Im going to put on or near these boards, along with a pouch and business cards in it near the sign.  this pouch is a modified origami wallet.  it holds 10 cards, has space for a card above the other cards so people can see the entire design and then at the top either my logo or "please take one" or something.  much better than sticking a thumbtack in the center of 10 cards, and much easier on the hands, its hard to push through 10 thick cards. 

around here the usual spots for community boards are grocery stores and banks.


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## cici1240

i think first you should get in touch with the businesss owner.


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## GerryDavid

Got a call today from someone that seen my advertisement in the grocery store community board, wanting to know my prices.

This got me thinking I need a better phone presentation, to help them not focus on the price so much, but more on the quality of service and product.  Any one got any advice?


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## redgazza

to make a bit of extra cash i use digicamcash as it is very rewarding making money with some of my favourite photos.i have been telling alot of people about it and not had any complaints hhttp://14a07kg1m55xku5yx4n5c8glff.hop.clickbank.net/


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## GerryDavid

Im going to make up some referral cards and I plan to include 5 or 10 per print order.  I do explain that I am trying to keep my prices as low as I can by avoiding expensive advertising such as newspapers, etc, which was recommended in the guerrialla marketing book.  And Im offering a promo that I will match the loyalty points from the first referred portrait session of each referred person to the person doing the referring.  I just have no idea how to word that so its not so aqward.  Ill get help from my wife later.    Shes the smart one here.  so if the referred person was to spend $200, both parties would get 200 loyalty points, good for a free 8x10 on their next portrait session.  Im hoping this will go over very well with seniors.

Ive been putting up cards and 8x10 posters at community boards around town, got some calls but mostly asking about prices.  Instead of giving hwo much each sheet costs, I simply state that packages start at $$ and a typical portrait ends up with a sale of $$$.  This part is new, so im interested to see how it works.

Im also thinking about putting up 8x10 posters in plastic sleeves on polls on heavily walked areas.  This area doesnt support walking to much, but theres a great street in a near by town that usually has lots of college kids, so im thinking of doing this on a couple polls.  I just hope I wont get in trouble wtih the town, but others have put stuff up there brfore, usually musical artists.


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## Wedding

Forget the Yellow Pages. Well, forget having a paid ad anyway. Get a free listing and you may get a call once every 2 years. Paid for an ad and got the same response!

It's all hard leg work, get yourself out there, network meetings can get some business but by far and the best way I find work is by calling people. Google whatever you are into and call. THEN email. THEN set a reminder on your phone, google calendar, outlook, whatever. Then ACT upon it. Set a target of 20 calls a day. Not hard.

Working example.

I have professional printers for events, but also do weddings, conferences etc. I joined the local camera club and found out that a colleague had gone to the local motocross / scramble / motorcycle event and they didn't have a photographer there. So I googled it, called the organiser, met up, went along to see how it works, arranged to go the next time with assistant, printer and laptops for viewing and printing. Luckily they had a caravan I could use, otherwise it would be a pop-up gazebo. You need a generator or leisure battery with inverter.

Next event - £150 of sales. Not a huge event, but ok for 6 hours work. Other events can get you more. A lot more. Some you make nothing at all. Some you make a loss at. Only by doing it will you find out. I was speaking to another longer established photographer after I did this motocross event. He said he used to do it when it was first big and the printing technology was new. The uptake in a new sport or when the event photography first started made it VERY lucrative. He said a large meet ould get over £1000 of business. Possibly double. Not now. Same with horse events and cheerleading. Been done so long that the demand isn't there so much, but there is still a good wage compared to working in MacDonalds...

It's hard being out in all weathers, so I leave this to younger folk now. I'd rather be in a nice warm hotel, so I now cover conferences, weddings and portraits most of the time now.


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## EmbassyProBooks

You've got to approach spreading the word from multiple angles, both online and offline, having a website, and ensuring that it can be found online, is very important, especially in this digital age where everyone goes to the internet to find information.  Marketing yourself also offline is very important, wedding expos, referrals from other vendors, word of mouth, all great ways to market yourself.


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## j-dogg

I have been getting all of my work from going downtown with the biggest lens I have attached to my camera with the hood (noobs see it and instantly recognize you as pro) we swap business cards and bam. 

I also go out to a lot of car meets (I'm a car guy, naturally) and pretty much the same premise. Noobs see guy with huge camera, show them some of the shots I've taken, swap cards / numbers / facebook and set up a date. I've got about 4 cars to do this month = all my bills for the month of February.

I've done it for the last two weeks and I'm almost completely booked for the month. I landed two potential customers and one definite job today in 10 minutes just walking around with my gear. :thumbup:


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## GerryDavid

Interesting way of doing it J-dogg.  

What kind of gigs are you getting from walking down town with the big lens?  if I seen a person walking around down town with a big lens, my first reaction wouldn't be to hire them to do a shoot.

now the car meet makes sense.  Ive been meaning to go to some car shows, but haven't been able to yet.  And when I do, I don't have a clue what to say to them, I enjoy nice cars, but don't have very much knowledge of them.  Whats a good opening line for the car guys?  "need a portrait of your car?"?  

whats a typical car portrait go for?  I'm just curious how much people tend to spend on a few pictures of their car.


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## philsphoto

I have found that marketing had been much harder than the photography itself.  I have shot many weddings and portraits, they have all been word-of-mouth.  I have done a lot of photography at my church; which has been an excellent way to both take pictures, and become known as a photographer.

Online marketing has been harder.  I use Smugmug Professional, which is an excellent hosting an fulfillment solution.  I have gotten my website together in about a month.  I am still working on the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - this is the hard part I was speaking of.  Getting found on Google's pages 1-5 is not easy.  In fact, I think I am on page 100!  Hahaha....

Phil
San Antonio Wedding & Portrait Photography - Phil Photographer


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## FattyMcJ

j-dogg said:


> I have been getting all of my work from going downtown with the biggest lens I have attached to my camera with the hood (noobs see it and instantly recognize you as pro) we swap business cards and bam.
> 
> I also go out to a lot of car meets (I'm a car guy, naturally) and pretty much the same premise. Noobs see guy with huge camera, show them some of the shots I've taken, swap cards / numbers / facebook and set up a date. I've got about 4 cars to do this month = all my bills for the month of February.
> 
> I've done it for the last two weeks and I'm almost completely booked for the month. I landed two potential customers and one definite job today in 10 minutes just walking around with my gear. :thumbup:



Interesting techniques....I'll have to try some of those, though walking downtown with my biggest lens may not attract the...shall we say "paying client." 



GerryDavid said:


> Whats a good opening line for the car guys?  "need a portrait of your car?"?
> 
> whats a typical car portrait go for?  I'm just curious how much people tend to spend on a few pictures of their car.



Being a car guy and having shot my entire "club"...and some random cars at local meets, I usually approach people and first compliment the car.  Ask questions, mainly how much power, how long did it take (great question for restored classics), do it yourself or have a shop do it, etc.  The best part of that is it gets them talking about their pride and joy, and those questions are in laymens terms.  Even if you don't understand what 500 horsepower means, just "ooh" and "ahh" to give them another, more subtle, compliment.

After I break the ice with the above, I lead into something along the lines of "Well hey, I'm a photographer and you've got a beautiful car.  Do you post pictures of it on websites anywhere?"  If yes, go straight for the sale.  If no, don't worry about it..."prints" of people's cars are really only for the hard-core car fans that own REALLY rare cars.  Most weekend warriors won't want a print.  They want digital images for their facebook or website.  Your prices for digital images then apply and you can close the sale/book the gig.  YMMV


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## TylerV85

Here is an idea I have but not yet tried...If you are extremely confident in the work you produce...rent a kiosk at your local mall and display huge framed prints of your best images....Be there for the busy mall hours and have blank contracts ready 

Some kiosks in my area rent for as low as $500.00 per month...Not bad if your retainer for one wedding is $1000.00 or if you can book 15 seniors in a single day during a weekend.

Would like to know your thoughts on this...


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## GerryDavid

I was curious how much these cost.

The local mall near me has the "major" photographer in the center next to the food court on a pillar with two columns of photos on all sides.  Recently it was taken over by a photographer that left the "major" photographers studio.

Then down on the other end of the mall there is another kiosk that has pictures on both sides, and in my opinion is far better than the new guys that took over the main spot.

There are a few blank walls by the Sears side that I was thinking of asking the mall how much it would cost to display my work there.


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## RockstarPhotography

I always thought you just go to wal-mart, buy a dslr, and put and ad on craigslist making sure to include a cd of all images!!!!!!!!!


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## DS Photographers

One great way to be found by your target audience is by optimizing your site for local keywords (city name, zip code, street names, etc).  If you are from a larger city, you could even do neighborhoods.  Title tags like "Best Chicago Photographer" or "Best Photographer in 60657" are less competitive and would be extremely targeted traffic.


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## MikeSmithMSP

Greeting John,

I too have my own website but I have been looking into Google Ads. I was curious to know if you had any experience with this or if you think it would be worth the cost?

Michael
Commercial Event School Portrait Photography Sacramento Elk Grove Roseville Granite Bay El Dorado Hills


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## vitor

Google Adwords is now offering $75 coupons for first time users.  You do need to pay a $10 sign up fee though.


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## Pixz

WOW - so many people started the same way that I did. I also used local areas around town to showcase my portfolio - hospitals are an amazing place to showcase. I have received so many bookings through them it's amazing. Just think of the amount of people who are in and out or there for a long haul that have visitors and need a place to take their mind off reality for a moment. I would use my childrens showcase and my families showcase portfolios. Makes people feel good and gives you exposure at the same time. A lot of hospitals will allow you to showcase for a few hours for no charge - but it depends on affiliation. Good Luck!


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## FattyMcJ

Pixz said:


> WOW - so many people started the same way that I did. I also used local areas around town to showcase my portfolio - hospitals are an amazing place to showcase. I have received so many bookings through them it's amazing. Just think of the amount of people who are in and out or there for a long haul that have visitors and need a place to take their mind off reality for a moment. I would use my childrens showcase and my families showcase portfolios. Makes people feel good and gives you exposure at the same time. A lot of hospitals will allow you to showcase for a few hours for no charge - but it depends on affiliation. Good Luck!


 
Wait, so you stand there at the hospital...like at a booth with a table set up...for a few hours letting people look at your portfolio?  Or you set up a table with the photos spread out and come back in a few hours?  Or...hang prints in the waiting areas?  I'm confused.


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## AnthonyRyanPhoto

So it seems as if social media is a great place to start.

I just launched my website two weeks ago.  We have a facebook presence.  My question is 1. How do I get "likes"  and 2.  What ads have you ran that were successful


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## msuggs

Yeah, I tried Craigslist for selling other stuff and 1 out of 10 might be an acutal response of interest.


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## msuggs

Get friendly with a real estate agent and do shoots for houses. The better agents don;t mind paying for good photos. 
Agents can also be good for leads to other jobs since they know everyone just about. 
I'm going to try this once I'm ready to give it a go. Don't have the nerve just yet.


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## bluebendphoto

I think it's a combination of all these things. Meeting people (networking), doing a good job for referrals, advertising on the internet and print... IMO there is no one 'silver bullet'


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## Diddy2theJJ

Great thread. My main source of advertising is Facebook. I become friends with the couple who I photograph (wedding, portraits etc) and then tag their images on there. That way, ALL of their friends see them and know where to find me. I also designed a website for myself with an ordering system called PhotoCart that was a one time fee and free after it's setup. I've been very happy with that. 

I've had weddings come from referrals, which I believe is the highest form of compliment you can get. But the majority of my wedding bookings have come from two wedding shows that I do in January. I have a little booth/table space to set up my photos for display and give out flyers with my prices on there and what you get with each package. This also gives me some one on one time with the clients, usually the brides, to talk and listen to what they are looking for.

The shows are $300 a piece, but get me really great exposure.

I work full time, so I don't want to be too busy...but I did book 9 weddings this year and some events and t-ball photos....so I've been crazy busy this summer!


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## dnavarrojr

ASHLEY.GREGG said:


> We tried Craigslist and were overwhelmed with spam.



It depends on where you live I guess... Topeka is a "small town" in the grand scheme of things, so I don't get much spam from CL ads.


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## JohnHendry

Some great advice guys and girls....now where did I put my Facebook login details......


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## Ian Kirkland Isaac

For me, we use facebook and twitter to promote our business along with word of mouth and business cards. We are building our web site to help further our interaction.


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## rustic2728

Is there a place on here for photographers to add their contact information?  I'm just a hobbyist, but my family is all getting together for x-mas this year...all 5 generations and we need to find a photographer in an area that none of us know anyone to take a family photo session.  Not sure if this is the right place to post, but maybe someone can point me in the right direction since I am new to the forum.

Thanks,
Emily


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## photoentrepreneur

Before I had a portrait studio, I went around my area and got chummy with independent shops, playgroups and tourist attractions. I ran did free shoots in parks and made some great contacts. Eight years later I have returning customers who first met me from those meetings.

Now word of mouth is king. To encourage it I give away a free 7x5 72 dpi of any print paid for. This gets show around on facebook and mobile phones. Just had a booking in London from a client who has been to me twice over 5 years, because all her friends have seen here facebook page and want my portraits. 

The other thing to do is make sure you are offering a better service each time someone comes. I change something every year. Even though I was doing well over the last few years, I have just ditched my old shooting style and have started offering a brand new look. More old clients are coming back to experience it.


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## sherim

I'm so happy I stumbled across this posting. There are so many great tips here! I'm trying to start off as inexpensively as I can. I did several free shoots to get my name out there and am finally getting a few refferals for family portraits now. I mainly shoot outside but for Christmas got all of my off-camera flash gear to get my in-home studio setup.  I'm planning on doing Valentines and Easter mini sessions for children. One of my biggest issues is trying to get people to "like" my Facebook page without being annoying or seeming desperate. haha  I will probably contact my son's school about doing Easter portraits there and also take out an ad in our local paper or city magazine. Thanks for the tips and if anyone has anymore I'd love to hear them!


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## skiboarder72

We get a large amount of our weddings from other vendors. Impress a high end wedding planner... and get lots of referrals for free! My favorite kind of advertising!


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## Ilovemycam

I don't have a biz, but they find out from emails and direct mail solicitations.


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## herrickphoto

I like these ideas! Most of my business comes through word of mouth or via my website. I do think having one (I have 2 for the different types of portraits/headshots I do) is essential, though, and I've found it works to put a lot of the pricing/what's included in different package-type information right on the site, so people don't feel they have to call with a lot of questions.
I also do vouchers for charities to auction off. Not sure this drives people to me, but good karma? 
I don't bother with phone books or print ads, though. Not sure many people still use them?


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## rjessc

Which of the social networks is the most effective in terms of getting clients? It seems that photo-sharing websites like Flickr are losing their popularity.


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## GerryDavid

herrickphoto said:


> I like these ideas! Most of my business comes through word of mouth or via my website. I do think having one (I have 2 for the different types of portraits/headshots I do) is essential, though, and I've found it works to put a lot of the pricing/what's included in different package-type information right on the site, so people don't feel they have to call with a lot of questions.
> I also do vouchers for charities to auction off. Not sure this drives people to me, but good karma?
> I don't bother with phone books or print ads, though. Not sure many people still use them?



What kind of charities do you focus on?  And how do you find them?  Ive been trying to find expensive charities in the area but im not really coming up with anything, I only hear about a few after it happens.


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## EddyP

These are great ways, targeting charities is a great option. Although you need something more guaranteed. I do not know your budget but I know companies like Calumet Photographic use Paid Search tactics to gain visibility on what they do.

My experience on the topic is not very high but I know they have got some really good results from it, well from the press releases I have seen.

Worth a try?


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## Ruth Ellen Brown

Most people discover my business because I ring them up and let them know I exist! There are also word of mouth referrals that come from friends of satisfied clients. That's about it. Very rarely any other method is effective. Social media is ok - but nothing makes an impression and leaves someone wanting to check you out than a personal approach.


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## GerryDavid

does that work for new clients?  pick up a phone book and call them to see if they are interested in a family portrait? 



Ruth Ellen Brown said:


> Most people discover my business because I ring them up and let them know I exist! There are also word of mouth referrals that come from friends of satisfied clients. That's about it. Very rarely any other method is effective. Social media is ok - but nothing makes an impression and leaves someone wanting to check you out than a personal approach.


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## TamingRoman

When I first started out I was like an internet hero before there was internet.  I was on myspace, I was hashtagging everying, I was everywhere.  I never offered free stuff.  I made the pricing crazy.


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## table1349

The op posted this on March 6, 2006.


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## Advanced Photo

Trade shows, events, fairs, festivals, and gallery exhibitions.


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## Vtec44

Previous clients, other vendors, venues, various social networking, and from search engines.  I shoot weddings and engagements only and I have never been to a bridal show.  Most of my referrals are from word of mouth.


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## Jamesaz

When I was starting out I did a lot of slides for artists needing to get into shows. The pluses: you get a lot of lighting and tabletop experience. The minuses: the clients are always working till the last moment so every thing is rush and they are artists and don't have any money. I acquired several pieces from people that are now represented in high end galleries though so, for me at least, that was a good investment. I also had a day job in a photo lab for rent


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Fruto

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.


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## Jason Alvares

Hell, I am going to mention only this that worked for me and my partner (my future wife) when we started our business. First thing for you to do is to find a SEO (search engine optimisation) company that to bring your website on the top when someone in your area types a certain word. For example, if they type wedding photographer you will be on the top. This will cost you some money, but it is a neccessity. The second thing we did was to make sure that the people was spreading word about us. The buzz marketing is very usefull in our business. From a friend to a friend, even to strangers in different forums and social medias. 3rd thing, uprade your portfolio regularly. What we did was to start competing in online contests without or with a minimal entry fee. We participate only in contests, where the theme is close or atleast related somehow to what we do. For example,  there is a contest "Beautiful smile". If I were you, i would pick my best photo from a wedding, join the contest and at the end, to update my porfolio and my website with the positive feedbacks from the contest. This will make your current customers happy, gain you some recognition and it is a perfect way to advertise yourself.
One more thing I would like to mention and suggest. During the weak months, when you are not so occupied, come up with some promotions.


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## JoeN

Google ad is expensive , Keyword " product photography" min bid $10, I cant afford it.
There are some free software to collect email addresses from google search keywords.
My target is eyewear retailers, so I am using keywords " eyewear, sunglasses".
I got positive result from this way.


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## Elizabeth Cunningham

I have started a few businesses and, personally, I have found SEO and any kind of search should not be counted on to build a business. You have to get in front of people or pay someone to do it for you. There are industry services that do not cost much and offer many features. Some include getting you in front of potential clients. I do not know this company (picappoint) but, I certainly could have used something like this when I was shooting real estate.


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## John Fantastic

May I know how the professional photographers are doing during the pandemic?


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## Deon Reynolds

I have tried many forms of advertising over my thirty years as a commercial photographer, this has NEVER worked for me and I find it to be a total waste of time and money. My commercial work has been largely word of mouth, not to mention a good website. It's important to keep your website up to date and change it regularly based on what your current projects are. Plus, I occasionally send out direct mail pieces that are custom designed and targeted to specific industries that I like to work in. I create them myself since I'm usually only sending just a few out at a time. These direct mail pieces need to be amazing, especially the envelope, make them curious. Otherwise they end up in the circular file before they make it to their desk.

My fine art work is attending portfolio reviews, showing up with several portfolios and an over the top leave behind (by the end of the review, I'm being hunted down by other reviewers to get one), then following up a few months later, I create a one off direct mail piece, tailored to the individual curator or gallery owner. However, most of the museum shows I have been in came out of the blue. I later found out the curators were following me.

I feel over the last couple of years social media in general has become ineffective as a business tool. I quite Facebook years ago and have been only on Instagram, finding it to be barely OK. Instagram in the last few years has become the new stock photography source for many art directors and magazine editors. Create collections you have fun with and make sure you use appropriate hash tags so you can be found.

I think the most important thing is simple, be nice! You would not believe how many clients, museum curators and gallery owners share stories of photographers and artists who are NOT fun to work with, mostly due to their arrogant attitudes. I am constantly being complimented on how nice I was to work with and looking forward to the next time.

Since the start of the pandemic I have had zero work, period. Believe me I have been trying, but photography is deemed nonessential in most areas. So, I've been working on creating lots of new fine art work and designing books that some will work nicely as direct mail pieces.

Deon


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## Felixkoch2312

One of the best ways is through internet


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