Marketing Tips?

[LittleRaePhotography]

As of now, I have..

facebook
wix flash site
photoblog
and business cards

I don't know how to better promote without being nagging about needing customers. Any ideas?

[andyw]

Originally Posted by LittleRaePhotography

As of now, I have..

facebook
wix flash site
photoblog
and business cards

I don't know how to better promote without being nagging about needing customers. Any ideas?

You can have as many internet sites as you want but if no one knows they are there or you are not at/near the top of the list when someone searches for photographers in your area then they are pretty useless.
Spend time getting listed on all the various search engines and business listings.

I looked at your wix site and could not see your location anywhere so even if someone came across it by accident then they would not know if you are in their area or not.
Your contact details are not clickable either.

TBH neither your wix or your blog come across very professionally.
Putting this - Canon 75-300 Lens (well, its on layaway and almost paid off) on a business site is not going to inspire people with confidence really.

Also, and I know you never asked for a critique, the images on the wix site are not very good quality. This may be because of being reduced for the web but they need to be pin sharp and properly exposed and those are not.
Your web site is a part of your showcase and must reflect the quality of your work better than it does at the moment.

As to marketing. Don't just rely on the www. Advertise in local papers and noticeboards, do "press releases" drop point of sale literature into local churches, cafes, local stores etc.

It is a hard world out there and requires hard work. For most photography businesses the actually photography part only takes up a portion of the time, the rest is on the business and marketing end.


Edit - I just looked a bit more at your wix site. You really need to redo the whole thing.
Your faq is amateurish. Telling people you have read Shutterbug and the Idiots Guide to photography will have them turning away in droves.
Your pricing. An unedited cd for 25 and an edited cd for 25???? so your editing skills/time is not worth anything then??

There are a number of other things but I think if you take a look at some other pro sites then you will get the general idea.

Sorry to be so blunt but right now if I was to see your sites I would not be using you because they come across as an amateur with a camera rather than someone who is professional and able to produce good family memories.

[Ambrosia76]

Your pics look ok on my screen not spectacular but ok.

Your prices- people can print photos at walmart for the same price, is this the quality you are giving them,because I wouldn't go to a pro for that. Plus you charge to remove red eye,if you are taking pictures correctly you should have no red eye to remove. I have never seen a photographer charge for individual PP,just general editing.Also I wouldn't even sell a disc of unedited pics for $25,much less edited ones. Not sure what people in your area charge but around here a disc of edited pics usually only about 20 pics goes for $150 and up.

I have to agree with andy. I would work on improving your quality of pics and having appropriate prices before you worry about advertising.

[Biomech]

Marketing, you want to get yourself a twitter account; it's an aweful thing but works well as a "rumour engine". Get some flyers printed and hand out locally - I'm working on mine at the moment to put in hairdressers :P Get listed in online directories, news papers. Depends what services you offer I guess.

The best trick to marketing is to NOT market to your potential clients

[Biomech]

Oh wow! You have a day job don't you and enjoy doing photography on the side.

You charge 50c for a 4x6 - for example, I charge $8.25
You charge $2 for an 8x10 - I charge $15-$25 for a 9x6

I pay myself around $65 a day (there are other factors of course), and this week that's been $65 a day for sitting at the computer marketing, networking, web design etc - no paid jobs. I'd have to sell over 650 photos a month - thats 22 a day - to make my basic salary!

[Ambrosia76]

Yeah that was my first observation, She is Basically charging for taking the photos(sitting fee) and then giving the images and prints away.

OT- $65 a day wow, guess I won't be doing pro photography anytime soon,their is no way I could live on that. I make on average $150-$200 a day and am broke all the time...LOL

[Biomech]

Well, it's not exactly that, basically I get £628 ($1037) a month (no-tax threshold), my salary is around £1200 ($1,981) a month, but I only need £850 ($1,400) to live so depending how business is I make it up with dividends to either of those. I'm happy to leave it in the company if I don't need it and the company makes a minimum of around £1,500 ($2,500) a month anyway.

If anything that makes her prices worse as on a "standard" $2,000 month I would need to sell 1,000 6x4's a month :P

[karen_s]

I found this link recently and it is all about small business marketing. It's full of ideas and tips from people who do this kinda thing all day long ...

Sarah Petty's Joy Blog

As far as your galleries, you seem to have a pretty good eye for composition so that is a big plus. But, I gotta agree with andyw about your use of light (among other things). If you don't have any reflectors, flashes, or knowledge about how to work with light (natural and artificial), get some. Good lighting can do so much to improve your images and put you into a different class of photographer.

I think your pricing is going to come back and bite you in the butt someday. You are basically giving away prints and your rates seem low. I doubt you are even making minimum wage after all your expenses and time. And you will be attracting the cheaper bargain hunter now but when your skills improve and you want to charge more, well, it will be tough to do because your client base isn't gonna like it.

And as a side note, I have found this "Earning with Photography" section here on DPS to be most enlightening. I'm not in business at this point in time but am considering it in the future and I can't even begin to relate how much the regular posters to this thread have helped me. Use the search function of this site and soak up everything you can.

[BK553]

You should listen to what these people are saying. Your website screams amateur with a camera, and all-flash sites are debatable as far as usefulness. Search engines cannot easily index flash sites, and iphone/ipad users can't see it at all, and this represent a growing number of people. Your pricing is way to low as well, even if you are beginning you have to at LEAST cover costs, which can't be that low. Nobody cares about your credentials/reading material, your portfolio of pictures is all that matters. The quality of the photos on your site isn't good, which can happen if you use flash, because everything has to be packaged in a flash file, it must be reduced in size to make loading times bearable. if you're going to re-do your site though, I'd switch to HTML with a Jscript slideshow if you need it. Basically, even if you think you're not good enough or experienced enough, it shouldn't come through on your website. It should be confident but not cocky, and your prices should reflect that as well.

[danbaileyphoto]

Marketing is all about finding creative ways to get your name out there and convince other people to view your work. Online methods and social media work well, but you also have to put yourself out there into the world and interact with people in person. You have to plant the seeds that eventually will grow into business relationships and that takes time and effort.

There is no easy road and you must continually work at the process of marketing. Right now you may feel like you're nagging people, but over time you'll develop the self confidence to do this effectively. Just keep at it and learn from others. Study trends and keep reading sites like this to get ideas.