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10 Free Photography Marketing Ideas That Work Like Crazy

10 Free Photography marketing ideas that work like crazy

You’ve started your business, now how do you find clients to hire you?

Traditional advertising, such as an ad in a magazine or newspaper, is mostly worthless. Don’t waste your money. I’ve tried it. They don’t work. Especially when there are so many free photography marketing tips you can implement.

Instead, imagine having people love your photography business so much that they send all their friends your way. Think about what it would be like to show up #1 in Google for your desired keyword, and to have enough people finding you to meet your profit goals without stress and without spending thousands of dollars on advertising.

It can happen.

It may take some time, but here are 10 free photography marketing ideas that work like crazy.  [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Email Marketing/ Free Photography Marketing Ideas/ How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Marketog/ Social Media Marketing

Why I’m Happy About Instagram’s Feed Changes and Why You Should Be Too!

instagram feed changes 2016

A few days ago, Instagram announced that it’s going to be changing your feed from chronological order (with most recent posts showing up first) to a ranked algorithm that shows you “what you want to see most” instead of what was just recently published.

As expected, there was a huge public outcry. People are angry. They don’t like the change. They feel like they are losing control. They claim it’s all for the money. They can’t see anything good about this.

However, I think this is going to be a fantastic change. Before you start throwing your rotten tomatoes at me and commenting about how I am terribly wrong, let me explain why this is such a good thing and why you should be happy about it too!  [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Instagram/ Instagram Changes/ Marketing Photography/ Social Media Marketing

Get New Clients By Donating To Silent Auctions

Donate to silent auctions and get more clients

It was the third time this client had hired me. They were a family consisting of a mom, dad, and four beautiful children. This client had also referred a headshot client to me in the past. I was super excited to be able to work with them again. But this time was a little more novel than the previous two times. Allow me to explain.

The mom wanted me to do their family portraits on what she called their new “41 foot boat” out on the lake. OK, I’ll admit that I know nothing about boats and not much about local lakes, either. Sounded like a big boat, as far as boats go, right? My wonderful assistant/hubby and I got to the lake on an overcast day and were met by the mom. She led us, with all our equipment, through the maze that was the dock area and then …. Well, I’m sure my jaw dropped. Let me tell you that boat was not the right word. This beautiful floating home was a yacht. And this family trusted me to take their family pictures on it. Sounds like a dream come true, right?

How I met them in the first place

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I would never have even met this family if it hadn’t been for the fact that, several years ago, I donated to a silent auction at their children’s school. Silent auctions are a sure-fire way to get new clients. It does not have to be expensive for you to participate. But, the best thing is that silent auctions allow you to help raise money for great local causes.

How does a silent auction work?

In case you don’t know how a silent auction works, I’ll explain a bit. Silent auctions are normally run in one of three ways:

  • Bidders write bids on pieces of paper, which they put into a sealed container. At the end of the auction, an auction worker goes through the bids and awards the item to the highest bidder.
  • Displays are set out beside bidding sheets. A bidder writes her bid next to her name (or other identifier) on the bidding sheet. Bidders can see previous bids and can bid multiple times if they want to. The highest bidder wins the item.
  • The auction process is done all on-line, with images and information at the bidders’ fingertips. A bidder submits an on-line bid and at the end of the auction, the highest bidder wins.

The bidder then pays what they bid directly to the charity, and receives her item.

Who benefits from a silent auction?

One thing I love about silent auctions is that everyone benefits:

  • The winner benefits because she gets an item or service at a reduced cost and she is also donating to a great cause of her choice.
  • The charity benefits because they are getting money to use toward their cause.
  • And you benefit because you help facilitate fundraising for a cause of your choice, AND you can get new clients who are in your target market.

It’s a win-win-win situation. Doesn’t get much better than that.

How to find silent auctions to donate to

Where I live in Texas, silent auctions are normally held in the fall or in the spring. Many auctions want the donations and supporting paperwork turned into them well ahead of time, so don’t wait until the last minute to find silent auctions to donate to.

I’ve found one of the best ways to find out about what silent auctions are coming up is to post on my personal Facebook page, asking for contact information for charities or schools that are having a silent auction in my area. Another way is to google something like “silent auction yourcity”.

How to attract more ideal clients

If you want to use silent auctions to help get new customers in your target market, you should give to charities whose bidders are in your target market. This is the key to making sure you get the results you want from donating your time and services.

For example, many elementary schools hold silent auctions for their fundraising. Let’s say your target client is in her early 40’s and has some disposable income each month. She probably lives in an upper-middle class neighborhood. So, if you want to use silent auctions to help grow your customer base and you want to donate to an elementary school, be sure that the parents of children at the school are in your target market because those parents will be the ones bidding.

To be clear, I’m not saying at all that you shouldn’t donate your services to great causes even if there is nothing in it for you besides doing a good deed. But, if you give away a small package or one that doesn’t include any digital files and the person who wins the bid cannot afford to purchase anything else, you may get yourself into an uncomfortable situation. You need to be sensitive to that.

The Donor Form

Once you’ve identified some auctions you are interested in, contact the person in charge of the auction and ask them what is required to donate. Ask if you are allowed to attend the auction. (I do not do this, but many people do.) Often, the charity will send you what is called a Donor Form.

On this form, you will write your contact information, your company information, what your are donating, and the item’s value. This value helps them determine the starting bid for your item. The description is where you should sell your item to the bidders. In other words, you will likely have competition at the auction, so tell people why they should bid on your item and what they will get if they win.

Most donor forms have a space for restrictions. Consider these carefully. I always list restrictions on mine, like these:

  • Non-transferable. I learned this one the hard way. I want those winning my certificate to qualify themselves. When someone wins a certificate and gives it to a friend, that friend may not be very comfortable with my prices, which will affect them if they want to purchase something additional. I avoid that by making the certificate non-transferable.
  • Because I don’t love shooting large groups, I restrict what I’m giving away to 6 people or fewer at the session.
  • I restrict where I will shoot, like a 30-mile radius around my city.
  • I tell them how long the session is. Mine is an hour.
  • I list the expiration date as a year away. Some places have laws against expiration dates, so look into the laws in your jurisdiction before doing this. I want them to know they can use their certificate any time of year which is why I give them one year to use it, but I personally still honor it after the expiration date. I haven’t had a problem with this at all and people appreciate the extension if a year has gone by and they haven’t had the session yet.
  • If your offering does not include digital files, make that clear here.

Deciding what to donate

Choosing what to donate can be complicated, but I’ll tell you what I do.

First off, let me tell you a bit about my philosophy with my business. I run a low-volume, high-end photography business. I meet with clients in their homes for consultations and ordering sessions. So I cannot afford to “give away the farm” every time I donate to a silent auction. If I gave away everything, since I don’t do a zillion sessions a year, I could not stay in business.

By being up-front about what I’m donating, there are no surprises. And that is the key. You don’t want to get into a situation where it is not clear to the bidders exactly what they are buying.

Most silent auctions will not accept donations for items that would require the winner to purchase something additional. So you could not give away just a sitting fee because the client would not get any tangible goods. But you could give away a sitting fee with some digital files.

Since I spend so much time with each client (and I want to stay in business), I give away a sitting fee and a print credit. The winner can use the print credit for whatever she wants to, and, most of the time, she orders additional items. These sales help offset the fact that I’m in the hole financially if they don’t purchase anything more.

I’ve heard of others who donate a large print in an odd size that the client cannot easily find a frame for and then they offer to frame the piece at a normal rate. I don’t really like this method, though, because it feels unethical.

Over the years, I’ve found that people don’t really ask what they could buy with a given print credit (which I find puzzling). Because I don’t want to get myself into a situation where a winner is uncomfortable with my prices after the print credit is used up, I have the auction people display what I call a Setting Expectations Card stating the prices where my prints start and where the collection prices start. I print these at WHCC on 5×7 folding cards. You can get download the free templates I use for this here.

silent auction template

What goes to the silent auction people ahead of time

Now that you have the background, here is what I send to the silent auction coordinator for an in-person silent auction. (Most of these apply for an on-line auction, too):

  • An 8×10 print mounted on foamcore to be used for display at the silent auction. I used to send a little tabletop easel, but I rarely got them back and that got expensive, so I quit sending those. On the back of the print, I write: “Please Return To” along with my mailing address and phone number. Sometimes I do get a print back, which saves me the cost of printing it next time.I choose a print that is representative of the type of session the winner will likely choose. In other words, I wouldn’t want the auction to display a studio shot when I’m wanting to do more outdoor portraits. I put a large watermark on the print in the corner. It is for promotion and intended to show them what I do but the watermark introduces them to some of my branding, too. Plus, I don’t want someone to take it, so having a larger-than-usual watermark helps deter that.
  • The completed Donor Form.
  • The Setting Expectations Card.
  • The silent auction certificate that goes to the winner.
  • A note about how to redeem the certificate. I put this certificate in an envelope. On the outside of the envelope, I write my business name and this: “IMPORTANT: Please email or call within 5 business days in order to authenticate this certificate!”. My contact information is on the silent auction certificate itself.

    This forces the winner to get in contact with me immediately, when she is still excited about winning. If she doesn’t contact me pretty soon after winning, she may never contact me. With the instructions on the outside of the envelope, she will get in touch quickly and I will have her information and can follow up, putting the ball in my court. (Oh, and in case you are wondering, I allow the winner to use the certificate even if they missed the 5-day window.)

    The people running the auction don’t always contact me with the winner’s contact information, due to privacy concerns, so this method is my best chance of getting in touch with the winner. When the winner contacts me, I ask what time of year she’d like to have her session and we go from there. I treat her just as I treat any other client, with my full service, including in-home consultation, ordering session, and delivery of products to her door. My goal is that she clearly understands how I run my business so that she will call again next time she needs portraits.

I’ve gotten some of my best clients (and made some new friends, too) via silent auctions because I’ve taken the time to build relationships with them. By the time I deliver their products, they know and trust me and are likely to call again if they want another session. Donating to silent auctions is such a great way to give back to your community, but it’s also a great way to introduce people to your business and to get some new customers who are in your target market.

Have you had success with silent auctions? Or do you have any other pitfalls you’d like to mention? Be sure to leave a comment below.

Dawn Attebery of Ever IlluminatedDawn Attebery owns www.EverIlluminated.com, a website featuring the very best in current portrait photography. She dreams of vacationing in Ireland, where her great grandmother was from. Check out the Ever Illuminated podcasts here, where Dawn interviews successful photographers. You’ll take away ideas that you can implement today to help your business. Please join her on Facebook and Instagram, too.

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Silent Auctions for Photographers

How to Create Facebook Ads that Get You Photography Clients

effective facebook ads for photographers free ebook

The majority of Facebook ads are a waste of money for photographers.

But not all.

Before you can create effective ads, you need to understand what makes them a waste of money so that you don’t keep throwing it away, hoping that somehow you’ll get a few clients somewhere.

So let’s talk about the mistakes photographers are making with Facebook ads and what makes an ad get good results. Then I’ll give you a step-by-step method that makes creating effective Facebook ads easy.

Let’s dive in.  [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Facebook/ Facebook Advertising/ How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Photography Advertising

The Secret to Running a Successful Senior Photography Business

senior portrait marketing seniors ignite

By Jen Basford of Seniors Ignite

Like me, I’m sure you hear these things all the time:

‘The senior portrait industry is dead.’ ‘You can’t make a living doing senior pictures.’ ‘Everyone has a camera now and I can’t compete with their low prices – they are putting me out of business.’ And so on.

Maybe you’re even one of the ones who feel this way.

I’ve cringed every time I heard this for so long, simply because I know it’s not true. It’s actually not the case at all.  [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Business Help Tags: Marketing Photography/ Photography Business Tips/ Senior Portrait Photography

10 Reasons Why Your Mini Sessions Fail (and How to Rock Them)!

successful mini session tips

Mini-sessions, or smaller-than-normal photography sessions, are often touted as a great way to get new clients in the door and introduce people to the custom photography experience.

Yet I know of lots of photographers who open up a set of mini-sessions and then can’t fill them.

Then there are others who fill their sessions, but then don’t actually get repeat clients from them and don’t get any additional sales beyond what was in the initial package.

So what is going wrong? Why aren’t your mini sessions successful? What can you do to rock them?

 [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Photography Mini Sessions

Show Up Higher In Search Results Using Google Local

google plus local pages explained

Think about how many new clients you’d be able to get if your website showed up as the first result when people were looking for a photographer.

Seems impossible with all the competition out there, but this post is going to give you one of the most useful tools out there to have the best possible chance of being that first result. Not only that, but it’s completely free.

Even better, lots of people are ignoring this tool because they don’t want to deal with another thing. Yet it’s one of the most effective ways of showing up on top for people in your area looking for a photographer.

You’ve got to use Google+ and their local pages to help you on your quest for first page Google ranking for your business in your area.

This is not nearly as difficult as you may think. You can easily take advantage of this even if you break into a sweat just thinking about doing anything technical. It’s all about including relevant words and locations in setting up your Google+ business profile. After all, who knows your relevant business words better than you? Use your location and knowledge to your advantage! So let’s jump right in!

 [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Google/ Google Local/ Google My Business/ How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Social Media Marketing

Facebook’s New Promotional Guidelines & What it Means for Your Photography Business

Facebook-contest-rules-2013

Believe it or not, this is a Facebook change that you’re going to like.

Since Facebook went public as a company, they’ve instituted a boatload of changes to make it harder to market your business on a Facebook page without paying for promotion.

Yes, you still get some free exposure, but they took something that was super-effective and changed it into something that was hardly effective at all, making anyone who relied on Facebook for their marketing strategy rather upset. Last year’s algorithm change was particularly destructive.

But this week, Facebook changed their promotional guidelines for the better.

No, really. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.

So lets dive in and see what this means for your business and how you can use it to get more clients.

 [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Facebook/ Facebook Advertising/ Facebook Contest Guidelines/ How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Social Media Marketing

Shoot and Burn vs. Shoot and Share:
How to Make Money in an Increasingly Mobile-Based Marketplace

shoot and burn vs shoot and share

Thanks for watching this live webinar replay with Nate Grahek of StickyAlbums and myself as we explore the best way to share images, get new clients, and still make money when people are becoming more and more tied to their mobile devices.

In this free webinar replay, we talk about

  • Is it okay to sell digital images?
  • Why do in-person sales when you can just send an online gallery?
  • Why is it so important to think about mobile apps and how it affects your business?
  • How do clients use their mobile devices and what does this mean for our business?
  • What is the best way to deliver images to your client?

 [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Marketing Photography/ Mobile Marketing/ Mobile Marketing Ideas/ Photography Tools/ Recommended Photography Tools/ ShootProof/ Sticky Albums

Are Bridal Shows a Good Idea or Waste of Money?

Wedding Faires and Bridal Shows

Ahh, the bridal show. For some brides, it’s the first thing they want to do after getting engaged. For others, the mere thought of attending one can give them hives.

So how do we, as photographers, know whether bridal shows are right for us, and how do we create a booth and an experience that’s more joy-inducing than nauseating?

This past year, I finally decided to sign up for my first bridal show. Between September and February, I participated in three area shows, with varying degrees of success. Read on for tips, ideas, and a breakdown of my costs!

 [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Bridal Faires/ Bridal Show Tips for Photographers/ Bridal Shows/ How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Wedding Photography Marketing

Why You Can’t Ignore Google+ Any Longer

Google Plus SEO

I’ve avoided writing about Google+ for ages because frankly, I’m annoyed that there’s another thing I have to learn and do.

However, if you’re serious about getting new clients online, you can’t ignore Google+ any longer.

I’ve spent the last few weeks studying Google+ so I could tell you exactly what you need to do to get maximum results with the least amount of time.

This post is not a beginner’s guide to using Google+. In fact, if you’ve never checked out Google+, take a moment and read that article first.

Instead, I’m going to tell you why you need to be using it and how to use it in as little time as possible to to help your website show up higher in search engines so you can get more clients who are searching for a photographer on Google (This is also called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization).

Once you’re set up and ready to go, I believe you can rock this in less than 10 minutes per day (or less!) and see a significant impact on where you show up when people search for photographers.

 [Click to read more]

Categorized Under: Photography Marketing Tags: Google+/ How to Get Photography Clients/ Marketing Photography/ Social Media Marketing

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