# Trying To Get More Business



## danicali (Jun 18, 2014)

Hello!

I started my photography business 2 years ago on Facebook. In the beginning, I only used Facebook as a way to share my work and if I got business I would be extremely happy but I was not expecting it. Two years later, I'm itching for business. Most of my "portfolio" is from shooting my friends as models. The page has about 90 likes and everyone I shoot thank me up and down and constantly say how good they think I am. Am I missing something? How did you grow your business?


Any tips would be greatly appreciated!


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## JoeW (Jun 18, 2014)

danicali said:


> Hello!
> 
> I started my photography business 2 years ago on Facebook. In the beginning, I only used Facebook as a way to share my work and if I got business I would be extremely happy but I was not expecting it. Two years later, I'm itching for business. Most of my "portfolio" is from shooting my friends as models. The page has about 90 likes and everyone I shoot thank me up and down and constantly say how good they think I am. Am I missing something? How did you grow your business?
> 
> ...



Actually, I"m not sure you have business.  I don't mean to insult, but it sounds like you shoot with friends a lot.  Maybe that brings in some money, maybe it doesn't.  But any business that serves only friends and family is not likely to be very sustaining.

1.  Find a niche.  Show me a photography who shoots everything and I'll show you a photographer who probably struggles for business.  I believe that the vast majority of successful photographers (and I mean "successful" in this context as a profitable sustaining business that makes enough money to support a family well) are ones that have a specific, focused, and narrow niche.  For instance, not just a wedding photographer but a wedding photographer noted for telling a story (and thus avoids a lot of the traditional wedding shots).  Or a photographer who doesn't just shoot pets but specializes in dog agility..  Or a photographer who doesn't just shoot architecture but one who specializes in commercial interiors.  When you focus and have a niche, then you can target that niche.  For instance, a wedding photographer would have contacted and met with every wedding planner in a 25 mile radius....contacted every primary wedding location in that same area, done trade work for wedding gown and tux shops, has an associate membership with the local chapter of professional wedding planners where they've done workshops on how to pick the right photographer for a wedding.

2.  Have a business plan.

3.  If you intend to get most of your business via word-of-mouth and referrals then the people you need to be working with are those with influence and visibility.  If I shoot with my in-laws, the only people they're going to talk to are other family members and that's not going to generate me any business.  Instead, if I want a referral to have legs, I shoot with the head of the local chamber of commerce (if I do corporate head shots) and use that to get other business doing corporate head shots for other businesses.

4.  Recognize that being a good photographer has very little to do with having a successful photography business.  Your photography will be one of the least important elements of business success.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jun 18, 2014)

Have you thought of advertising locally, outside Facebook?
What does your competition do?


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## danicali (Jun 18, 2014)

I don't think I want to become "big" enough as to live off of it per say. My goal in all of this is to have enough clientele that I may have 2-3 paid shoots a month. I have done many different things so I do see your point of finding a niche. Thanks!


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## danicali (Jun 18, 2014)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Have you thought of advertising locally, outside Facebook?
> What does your competition do?



I have tried advertising outside of Facebook (on Craigslist, to be exact) but I didn't really know what I was doing. I'm no marketing guru so I'm not sure of where to begin advertising for photography services. Also, because I am such a small business. 

My main competition is also a friend. Her business has become fairly big with only word of mouth and a few paid advertisements through Facebook.


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## TheNevadanStig (Jun 18, 2014)

Start by getting an actual website, and listing yourself with places like yellow pages and yelp. And as others have stated, find your specialty. When you do, make contacts with everyone possible that has any relation with that niche.


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## AmberAtLoveAndInk (Jun 18, 2014)

danicali said:


> Bitter Jeweler said:
> 
> 
> > Have you thought of advertising locally, outside Facebook?
> ...



Though I'm the kind of person who would rather struggle alone, have you thought about second shooting for your friend? Not sure what her skill level is compared to yours but if she has a solid business lead and is indeed a "friend" I'm sure she would be happy to help you grow technologically and business wise. Or if you think that's stepping too far on someone's toes, you need to get a website like mentioned above, register it to every search engine, come up with some ways to market, maybe pick up a few charity jobs (I have done 2 charity beauty pageants and have gotten many portrait sessions booked from families attending the event and viewing my work) also talk to other local businesses, I'm in that process right now since I've been "switched" over to wedding photography, I want to get back to portraits and lower pressure event work. So I'm working with a few boutiques, ill take product shots for them every so often and in return they'll keep my advertisement poster in the shop and let customers know about me.


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 19, 2014)

As was mentioned "I don't think you have a photo business" yet.  Family and friends always love the work, it presents a false illusion.  Try adding your name to local photographer sites online, the more places your name appears, the more chances you'll get a call.  Unfortunately there are hundreds of local people doing the same thing as you, and a lot more established photographers.  It will be frustrating.


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## sscarmack (Jun 19, 2014)

Get off the internet for starters! Get out and shoot. You want people to see you shooting and start to recognize you. 

Even if you aren't interested, go to sporting events, lay down some business cards. TALK to people, introduce yourself. 

Get a website, post your photos from the days of shooting.

Get involved in the community and start keeping a calendar of all the events going on. Is there a 5k race? Is there a football game? Is there a track meet? Etc, etc, etc.


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## Designer (Jun 19, 2014)

danicali said:


> The page has about 90 likes and everyone I shoot thank me up and down and constantly say how good they think I am. Am I missing something?



In two year's time you should have a lot more "likes" if you're any good.  Your friends are not the best judges of artistic accomplishment.  Consider that at least some of them are being polite when commenting on your photography.  

1. get some third-party evaluations of your photography
2. advertise  -  you can always turn down work it it becomes too time-consuming
3. continually upgrade your portfolio  -  cull the non-good ones, pare it down to manageable size with only exceptional photographs
4. study business and marketing, and get some expert help with financial planning, legal requirements, insurance, etc.


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## KmH (Jun 19, 2014)

danicali said:


> I don't think I want to become "big" enough as to live off of it per say. My goal in all of this is to have enough clientele that I may have 2-3 paid shoots a month.



If you advertise and more than 2 or 3 people want to book shoots, you'll be turning customers away and will soon get the reputation of being unavailable, which short circuits your advertising.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jun 19, 2014)

Designer said:


> In two year's time you should have a lot more "likes" if you're any good.



Yeah, and keep in mind, Facebook "Likes" do not equal business.
I have had ZERO business from my Facebook page. ZERO.
I never set up the page to get business though, so it has met my expectations.


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## CAP (Jun 19, 2014)

Well i have 7k Plus likes on my page but i just use it as a business card and Facebook pages with high likes come up first search engines so its really a marketing thing it gets my name out there and lets me show off my work.


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## Derrel (Jun 19, 2014)

I looked through your entire 2014 and 2013 work under Photos. There's too much of Crystal, and not enough basic bread-and-butter paid photography stuff. No family reunions, anniversary parties, graduations, christenings, maternity shoots, babies, not much family stuff. I think there's literally too much of Crystal, a single female alone in a park-like setting stuff. I honestly think that your photos need better processing. You shoot a lot in backlighting, and that needs a different processing approach. The 2013 shots versus the 2014 shots show a significant difference in photo quality, and I would get rid of most of the 2013 shots because they do not look as good as the 2014 stuff.

I wrote a longish reply to your other post, the one today about your BF Crystal, who is in many of the FB 2014 Photos section. I think that needs to be edited down. I do not want to offend...I saw the FB post that you ,"Just joined a photography forum. This could be interesting." Yes, it could be. I will tell you honestly, I think you need a whole new, more-modern, more-light, better approach to how your images are post-processed. And you need to buy yourself one or two much better lenses; those deep depth of field and somewhat distracting backgrounds could be eliminated with a fast-aperture lens. Right now, the work in the main looks very much straight out of camera, and the camera looks like a lower end Rebel or baby Nikon. The pictures are too many, and too similar. I think you need to get at the Lightroom Preset game and start reallllly working on increasing the visual impact of how you process your shots.


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 19, 2014)

sscarmack said:


> Get off the internet for starters! Get out and shoot. You want people to see you shooting and start to recognize you.
> 
> Even if you aren't interested, go to sporting events, lay down some business cards. TALK to people, introduce yourself.
> 
> ...



While I agree she should be out talking to people, why assume that she can shoot sports?  It's one of the toughest fields to get good at, and generally requires a higher quality of lens to do the job right.


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## ruggedshutter (Jun 19, 2014)

imagemaker46 said:


> sscarmack said:
> 
> 
> > Get off the internet for starters! Get out and shoot. You want people to see you shooting and start to recognize you.
> ...



It's all about networking and has a lot less to do with the photos that are taken that day.  If you can get out and talk to local neighbors or potential clients then you are opening the door to more possibilities.


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## sscarmack (Jun 19, 2014)

^^^This, sorry, should of been more clear about the term "Networking".


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## jowensphoto (Jun 19, 2014)

ruggedshutter said:


> imagemaker46 said:
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It seems backward to me to advertise at a sporting event if OP doesn't want to shoot sports. IE, I wouldn't expect to gain boudoir clients at a youth soccer game. I'd put a print or two with some business cards at a local lingerie store.


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## danicali (Jun 19, 2014)

AmberAtLoveAndInk said:


> danicali said:
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> > Bitter Jeweler said:
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I have second shot with my friend many times, but I too like to struggle on my own and find my own way but thank you for your suggestions for charity jobs and advertising in boutiques! Thank you Amber!


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## danicali (Jun 19, 2014)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Designer said:
> 
> 
> > In two year's time you should have a lot more "likes" if you're any good.
> ...



I don't think of Facebook as a way to get business per say. I guess I'm not expecting business from it but I set it up to have a place where I can send people to when they ask to look at my work, instead of carrying around a portfolio wherever I go. Its also almost like "word of mouth" I equate the amount of "likes" to the amount of people that have at least heard of my page. My thoughts/expectations sound similar to what CAP said. Am I going about this the wrong way?


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## Braineack (Jun 19, 2014)

Fb is an awesome vessel to promote yourself for free.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk


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## frommrstomommy (Jun 19, 2014)

I don't have all that many likes on my FB page but it has helped me a ton! I think, too, that living on a Marine base and being very active in the community has helped me a ton recently. I organize play dates for a bunch of the local moms and have helped organize a few other events in my area (that have nothing to do with photography) and that alone has given me opportunity to meet a lot of people. I didn't start volunteering my time these ways to help my business but that has been the result! lol Make friends, get yourself an actual website, work on your editing and network with other local photographers. I have had a number of people come to me because they were referred by photographer friends of mine. Also, since you have a lot of a particular friend maybe look into modelmayhem website and work with some local models. That's another way to network with other "professionals" in your area.


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## ruggedshutter (Jun 19, 2014)

jowensphoto said:


> ruggedshutter said:
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> > imagemaker46 said:
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It's getting people to know you as a photographer.  When they see you in the store they think "Hey there's Sue, the photographer from the soccer game last week."  The more people see you with a camera in your hand, especially a pro-series (or a semi-pro) camera they are going to associate you as a photographer.  You never know if that soccer mom is having marriage problems and wants to spice up her marriage with a gift for her husband....never know


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## imagemaker46 (Jun 19, 2014)

ruggedshutter said:


> jowensphoto said:
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In this case I think she's using an entry level digital camera, and not a pro or semi-pro camera.  

It is important that people are being seen at events with a camera, but so many people at kids games have camera's and many parents are using high end gear, with more impressive lenses, everyone blends into the background.  If someone is standing there with a 300mm, then they stand out and the perception that they are a "real photographer" occurs, even if it isn't true.


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## jowensphoto (Jun 20, 2014)

ruggedshutter said:


> jowensphoto said:
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Riiiiight, because sexy photos fix marriage problems.

I'm not saying it's wrong to market that way, just ineffective/less effective. Would a sports photographer hang out in a lingerie shop just *in case* a soccer mom happens to be there trying on bras that day?


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## robbins.photo (Jun 20, 2014)

jowensphoto said:


> ruggedshutter said:
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ummm...  well not if the sexy photos are of someone other than your spouse.

probably best to just take my word for it.

Sent from my LG-LG730 using Tapatalk


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## jowensphoto (Jun 20, 2014)

haha, have a little slip up?


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## Tee (Jun 21, 2014)

danicali said:


> I don't think of Facebook as a way to get business per say. I guess I'm not expecting business from it but I set it up to have a place where I can send people to when they ask to look at my work, instead of carrying around a portfolio wherever I go.



Set yourself up with a basic Squarespace page.  Avoid Wix....nothing screams Kmart blue light special than Wix. I make things super simple for people asking about my work.  On my business card is a small QR code to my website.  They don't even have to type in the web address.  They can just scan the code and voila!


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## JoeW (Jun 21, 2014)

Here's the deal about advertising:  there's a TON of it out there.  And so we quickly become tuned out to it.  For instance, just think about the number of ads you've been exposed to just in the time you were on this site and bouncing around a couple of threads...

So...for advertising to be effective, you need to have a target audience.  That allows you to know what will or won't connect with them.  It also means your ad doesn't get lost in the millions of competing ads out there for pet sitting, house cleaning, tax services, daycare, car repair, computer assistance, and a gazillion other services.  Additionally, the best kind of advertising is from what are called NCI's:  Non-Client Influentials.  For instance, if I were a wedding photographer, I'd build relationships with popular wedding sites and wedding planners.  So when a bride-to-be visits the NCI asks her "oh, you're still looking for a photographer?  I know a good one I've worked with a lot--let me give you his/her card."  Your ad to that bride is seen as sales (and we all regard sales skeptically).  But when a NCI offers your services to the bride, it's viewed less skeptically.

That's why a niche is critical:  you can't identify who the NCI's are until you identify your core target market.  And that's also why shooting with family and friends is nice but basically irrelevant in terms of business.  As I think it was Darrel mentioned, friends and family won't be honest with you about your performance--they'll say you're golden.  And unless one of your parents is head of a major corporation or association that reaches tens of thousands of people you're intentionally targeting, they are not NCI's.

I've known photographers who talk about getting tons of business form FB and others who haven't seen even one call/email.  It starts by being clear what your business is about and who you're trying to sell to.  Then you advertise as appropriate (and your advertising may actually end up being totally word of mouth depending upon the clientele).  Which is why a business plan is critical.

The idea of...get a website, do some advertising...yeah, a lot of businesses do those things.  And you may need to do those things.  But Jack Welch (former head of GE) used to say "if you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete."  So what's your competitive advantage as a photographer?  Why should someone pick you instead of one of the 500 other people within 20 miles of you who have a good camera?  I don't mean that to be discouraging, only to say....defining your business, your strategy, your target audience, your marketing approach is critical.   Without those things, it's basically a crapshoot.  Some photographers make extremely good money.  Some do okay.  Most go out of business and go in to debt.  The failure rate for photography businesses is worse than it is for restaurants.  The way to avoid that trap is to not think of this a photography and you want to make money, think of it as a business (selling ice cream, home remodeling services, dental services, what have you).  What would you have to do to make one of those businesses work?  Apply that to photography and you can make more money.


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## SoulfulRecover (Jun 24, 2014)

dont sell your photos, sell your self. There are a ton of kids at my school who are horrible at shooting but they are good at bull****ting and it works.

put together a cohesive portfolio

set up a "real" website

a linkedin profile

print some nice business cards

go shoot in public and hand out business cards, leave business cards behind at restaurants and such when you pay your bill

if you want to attract high end clientele, dont advertise on craigslist. people searching on CL for photographers generally do not have money they want to spend. Most do not understand what it takes to be a photographer and view it as "pushing a button" so why pay money?


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