Photography Marketing From Many Sources Works Best
You and I are not professionally trained marketers. We don’t have a Marketing degree from Harvard. No – we’re professional photographers who love photography and basically don’t like marketing.
But, there are three photography marketing secrets you should know. These three secrets are life-changing, and no one has probably ever revealed them to you – until now.
Photography Marketing Secret #1: It’s critical you create a huge demand for your “limited supply” and then control the volume of work you do with the price.
When I first started in photography, I didn’t “get” this at all. I thought like this: “How much marketing do I need to do anyway? I’m just one person. How many clients can I possibly work with anyway? I’m small, so my marketing can be small.”
No! In an artistic profession such as photography, it’s important to realize that you must create a HUGE demand for your limited supply, and then you control the volume of work you do with the prices you charge.
So what you need to do is think much bigger. You need to have “multiple streams of marketing” out in your marketing area. (See #3 below.)
Photography Marketing Secret #2: Remember, not everyone with a pulse is a good prospect for you. In order to be successful, you must be willing to send some people away.
I first learned this from the great Donald Jack, with whom I understudied and apprenticed with for two years at the beginning of my photography career. I owe so much to him, and am so thankful for all he taught me.
The point here is that there is only a certain limited number of people you are going to be able to work with, so you need to pick and choose very carefully who you allow to hire you.
So what you do is create that HUGE demand for your limited supply, as I talked about above, and then you carefully pick who you will work with out of all the people who contact you as a result of your great photography marketing.
Now, I know this sounds strange – most photographers are thinking all the time about how they can get MORE clients to work with – and not really thinking at all about whether or not a certain client “qualifies” to work with. And that is one of the reasons most photographers are not successful.
So, starting right now, you want to qualify each person who contacts you (by asking them questions) to make sure there is enough potential there for you to take the time to work with them. (More on this in upcoming articles.)
Photography Marketing Secret #3: The most dangerous number in photography marketing is the number one. Don’t put all your “eggs” into one basket when it comes to photography marketing.
What I mean by this is that you can’t just “use the Internet” and expect to get all the clients you will ever need. And likewise, you can’t just “do a mailing” and have that be the only marketing you do. Not in this day and age.
I have found that you need about 16 different marketing methods, or “medias” to get enough good qualified people actually sitting in front of your camera. So stop thinking that just one single way is enough!
You see, the shocking, honest truth about photography marketing is this: It’s way more work than you thought it was going to be when you first decided to get into the photography business. It takes planning, study, research, testing, good copywriting, calls to action, closes, double readership paths, multiple means of response, guarantees, and so many more things for your marketing to be effective and bring you the people you want to work with.
So there you have them – three major photography marketing secrets that 95% of all photographers in the world do not realize. Now you do, and if you will take action on what I just revealed to you, your photography business will grow and prosper while your competitors are complaining and dropping like flies!
For more photography marketing tips, click here: photography marketing
All the best to you,
Charles J. Lewis, M. Photog., Cr.
