Marketing tips for a starter-photographer

Family Session at the Pearce Estate Park
May 9, 2017
Instagram. Learning notes. Followers app.
May 12, 2017

Marketing tips for a starter-photographer

I am a self-educated photographer. Everything I’ve learned came through my hardwork, online research and looots of hours of experience. My real photography life started when I borrowed the old full frame camera to our cousin and started practising my family photography about 5 years ago. My own camera was not a great one (Canon 700D), so an old full frame Canon 60 or 40 (I don’t even remember) was a treasure for me! But this article is not about my professional biography, it’s about userful tips that I would like to post. A starter needs a lot of passion, patience and time to skill photography. It’s a long road and what I like about it – it’s endlessly interesting and diverse!
I don’t know what can be the most useful, so I just post everything I find helpful in my work: technical skills and programs’ knowledge as well as marketing tips.

I get emails from a talented photographer and Lightroom presets creator, sometimes very useful to me as I still learn a lot of things about marketing! Here is the link to her website with a lot more tips about this business. I took couple tips from her emails.
So, let’s get started!

HAVE A STRONG SIGNATURE AT THE BOTTOM OF EMAILS.

The signature of your email is a great place to promote your presence on other platforms – places like Facebook, Instagram, etc. etc. However, don’t just list a hyperlink to your Facebook page or something; instead, make your P.S. (which stands for post-script btw, if you never knew, now you do) sound like you’re chatting with a friend. Something like “To see some of my latest sessions and light your fire, come join me on Facebook” or “To see some of my fav pics and see what I’m eating every day, follow me on Instagram!”

(Ok maybe not add the part about seeing what you’re eating, but don’t lie to yourself because you know you’ve posted food pics on your Instagram before. It’s pretty much what it was created for.)

Basically, make it sound relaxed and personable, and give them a reason to check you out on other platforms. If they’re a potential client who’s inquiring with you, the more you can sound like someone easy to work with and show off some of your best work at the same time, the better chance there is of them booking you.

And the best part? Email signatures are free, and after you set it up the first time you pretty much don’t have to ever do it again. Pretty sweet huh“.

Easy, right? So why not?
You won’t believe, but I still don’t have it and I guess it’s time to change it…
Don’t be surprised to get an email from me with all my info. Hope I’ll win over my Yahoo mail-box.

The next pretty easy step is:

ASK EACH CLIENT TO WRITE A TESTIMONIAL.

Ok I just saw you roll your eyes and think, “I’ve tried that before and nobody ever does it!” I hate to tell ya, but that’s probably because you’re doing it wrong.

Don’t just email them and ask for a testimonial. It won’t work. You know this, because you’ve tried it. Instead, give them a reason why they should do it. Tell them you’re creating their debut blog post that they can share with their friends and family (because they’re going to want to show it off once it’s done) and to make it more personal, you’d like to put in a few quotes from them.

And don’t just ask them for quotes either – they really won’t know where to start. Be specific, and hold their hand and lead them to the kinds of things you want them to say.

I do this by asking them a few questions, like how they felt during the session, what their favorite moment was (or if it’s a wedding what their inspiration was for the color palette they chose). This will make them excited to write something because they know it’s something their friends and family will see.

Then, and only then, at the end, ask them for a short testimonial about their experience with you. Chances are, if they already took the time to answer other questions about the session, they’ll take the time to write a few short sentences for a testimonial.

You can do this all in one email, and before their blog post comes out. I always tell the client that I will wait to post the blog post until I receive the questions back, which usually motivates them to get it done pretty quick because they’re super super excited to share the post and have everyone see it.

And testimonials are another amazing form of marketing, pretty much right up there under word of mouth advertising.

Well there you have it.  3 easy ways to market your business!  No go forth and do them!

I really tried to do that few times, I even tried to lower prices for a testimonial – it didn’t work! I guess it’s time to apply new strategies!
I believe that easy steps can build a change. I am always open to try new things.

Nathalie Terekhova
Phone: 403 719 22 36
https://weddings.photont.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/photont/
https://www.instagram.com/nathalieterekhova/