5 Ways To Get More Photography

Clients
Guest Contributor 4 years ago

It’s every photographer’s dream: to have a steady stream of clients who

value their artistic vision and are happy to pay profitable prices. You’re
less stressed about making ends meet and paying bills because your
clients know you’re worth your higher prices.

You have the freedom to shoot the type of photography you enjoy most
rather than taking any job you can get. Your clients trust your artistic
vision, so you can do more of what you love without worrying about
unhappy clients.

If you’re still struggling to get enough clients, know that it doesn’t have to
be this way. There are several specific things you can do to get more
clients that love your work and don’t complain about your prices. Here
are 5 ways to help you get more photography clients and create the
business of your dreams.

1. Understand Your Ideal Client

The more clearly you understand exactly who you want to work with, the
easier it will be to get them to hire you.

Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal client and think about their lives.

Where do they shop?

What are their interest and hobbies?
What websites do they frequent?

These questions are just a starting point. The better you can understand
your ideal client and what their lives are like, the more effective your
marketing will be. To be effective, your marketing strategy should be
completely based who who your ideal client is.
What works for one type of client will be very different from what works
with other types of clients. For example, how you market newborn
photography should be entirely different from how you market headshots
for CEOs because you are trying to attract two very different types of
clients.

When you understand your ideal client inside and out, you can create a
marketing plan that makes them feel like you completely understand their
needs. This makes them much more likely to book you.

2. Create a Website That Brings in Inquiries

Your photography website is a helpful marketing tool that many

photographers take for granted. It is your virtual storefront where clients
form their first impression and decide whether they’ll hire you or
someone else.

You need to be intentional about how your website is structured so that it

turns more visitors into inquiries. If you only blog client sessions, show
your portfolio, and have a contact page on your site, you’re losing
inquiries you could be getting otherwise.
3. Understand How Clients Make Decisions

If you don’t understand how clients make decisions about who to hire,
you may be unintentionally turning away clients that might have loved
working with you. When you understand how clients choose a
photographer, you can adjust your marketing message to make sure
you’re giving them the information they need to make the right
decision about working with you. You’ll attract the kinds of clients you
really want to work with, and you’ll repel the kinds of clients that don’t
value you and are stressful to work with.

For example, if you educate your client about what to look for in a
photographer, they’re going to see you as an authority. They’ll be
thankful that you helped them understand how to make an informed
decision, making them more likely to choose you when they’re ready to
select a photographer than someone else who hasn’t helped them in any
way.

4. Go Above and Beyond to Get People Talking

When someone hasn’t hired a photographer before, it can be
overwhelming to try and decide who to hire. People trust the opinions of
friends and family, so they look to them when deciding on
a photographer. People are much more likely to book you if they know
that a friend or family member had a positive experience with you.

When you go above and beyond to create a remarkable experience for

your clients, they’ll be happy to recommend you when they know
someone is looking for a photographer.

5. Get More People to Hear About You

Fantastic photos aren’t enough to get you clients if nobody sees

them. Word of mouth advertising is a great way to get new clients, but it’s
limited by the number of clients you have. You need more people to hear
about your business so they can hire you.

Here are a few ways to get people to hear about you:

Optimize your website to show up in search results. Many people

look for photographers by looking them up in a search engine. The
better you understand how search engines display results, the more
likely you’ll be able to show up at the top of the list.
Network. When you build relationships with vendors, businesses,
and other photographers, you’ll be the person they rave about when
prospective clients ask them for recommendations.
Social media. Social media is powerful if used in the right way. Each
platform has a different purpose, so you have to understand their
 differences and what works best on each one to make sure that
you’re not just wasting your time.
Paid advertising. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, paid
ads are generally a waste of money. That being said, paid ads can
bring in a lot of clients for very little money when you understand
how to create ads that appeal to your client and how to make sure
only your ideal client sees them.

[REWIND: AN INTROVERT’S GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY

NETWORKING]

The #1 Mistake That Guarantees Your Marketing Will Fail

When you apply these tips to your business you’ll get better clients and
more of them. You’ll be able to charge profitable prices and only work
with the clients you really want.

However, there’s one mistake that guarantees all your efforts will fail.

It can be hard to find time to focus on marketing when there are so many
other things to do in your business, but if you don’t take the time to
actually do any marketing, you won’t see results.

Creating a marketing plan helps to ensure you set aside time to put these
marketing strategies into practice. The marketing plan outlines what you
plan to do and gives a game plan to reach your goals. It helps you decide
exactly when you’ll be doing each task so you can schedule time to work
on marketing. To make sure your marketing plan attracts the clients you
really want, it has to be customized to your ideal client and market.

If you need help to create your marketing plan and get more of the clients
you want, enroll in Marketog, a 6-week marketing course that will walk
you through everything you need to create a customized marketing plan
for your business. Click here to check it out.

About the Guest Contributor

Jessie Alkire is part of the team at The Modern Tog, which helps
photographers get more clients and makes photography pricing easy.

When she’s not helping photographers, you can find her curled up with a
good book with a nice hot cup of coffee.