The other day I picked up on the frustration of a photographer who commented about how his business “just isn’t coming together this year!”  When asked about his marketing efforts, he was excited about totally reworking his website and it really did look terrific, but that was all he’d done.   So, what do you do when you build it and they don’t come?

Marketing is a full time job or at the very least requires consistent daily focus.  It’s like planting a garden and then never watering anything!  The seeds will never sprout – the flowers will never bloom and in the end you’ll just have a beautifully turned over plot of dirt!  Just like your plants needing water and sunlight – your business needs brand awareness fertilized with some good solid promotions to keep people interested.

Here are a few things to think about:

1) Patience!  No matter what you do, nothing is going to happen overnight – yes, there are stories all over the industry about promotions that absolutely took off, but in virtually every case you’ll find the photographer already had the brand recognition in the community.  Vicki Taufer did her pet portraits day two years ago and had 150 sittings and 40 people on the waitlist, but she already had brand awareness for VGallery.   On everything you start doing, go in with no expectations for the first month or two.

2) Social Media: I’m much better off to just send you back toScott Bourne’s two blogs on how to use Twitter than rewrite it all in my own words.   Whether blogging,  Twitter or Facebook, don’t under estimate the power of social medial to reach out to your client base, but you’ve got to do it with helpful information.  If you’re a wedding photographer start a blog or Facebook page and then put up some great generic suggestions for brides.  If you’re a children’s photographer then come up with some great tips for parents – give them tips on how to take better family photos – honestly, they’re not going to cut into your business – but you’ll enhance your reputation and be giving something back at the same time.

3) Publicity doesn’t happen by itself.  There’s already a template for you to use on a past blog, but you have to make the effort.  You have to be involved in projects around your community to get the exposure.  You have to be the one to send a photo into the local paper.  Most important of all, you have to be the one to meet all the people who you consider opinion leaders in your community.   As you get to know each other better, you’ll find the publicity will happen easier and faster.

4) Network!  This goes well beyond “working the room” at a workshop or convention.  You’ve got to network a little every day right in your own community.  I’ve written about Dawn Shields in Missouri – but here it is one more time.  She invites everybody she can find that has anything to do with the wedding business to a monthly luncheon – caterers, wedding planners, travel agents, bakers, restaurants, bridal salons, limo companies, tux shops etc.   The cost is $10 and that’s to pay for lunch.  Everyone gets together and talks about what’s going on with weddings in the area.  

Now apply it to being a children’s photographer – clothing stores, restaurants that cater to kids, shoe stores, toy stores, even taking a shot at the manager of a pediatrician’s office would at least be worth the try.  Pull everyone together to talk about kids in the community – maybe a fund-raiser for a new playground – something that gets your name out there and identifies you as a focal point.  And don’t forget the local barber shop or salon – there isn’t a beautician in the world who doesn’t know everything that’s going on in the community or which kid just got his/her first haircut!

5) Promotions!  You don’t need to become the local version of Levin’s Furniture here in Akron – they literally have over saturated the market with promotions, running them back to back all year long!  Too many people now wait to hear what the next offer is going to be and actually delay their purchase decisions. 

You need to have some promotions out there that create a sense of urgency.   They need to be long enough to have impact, but short of enough for your target audience to think about how time’s running out.  My suggestion is try your first few and have them run for a month.

For example, spring and Easter are right around the corner, so why not do a children’s promotion for April or May?  It can be anything from a free sitting, to a tie back to a local charity, donations to a new playground, free framing with one print, discount offers etc.  The issue is the importance of having something that gets your target audience thinking about getting new portraits of the kids.

6) Advertising - don’t under estimate the power of a well-placed ad.  So many times I’ve heard photographers say that advertising didn’t work.  Then I learn they only ran one ad.  You need to run at least three times in a row and with print, you’ll be most effective if you’re in the same place in the magazine or newspaper each time.  You should also look for opportunities on websites of other companies in the area and see if you can develop a relationship to cross promote on each other’s sites.

7) Direct Mail- It still works and there are some people that believe it’s back and far stronger than email blasts.  The issue here is to think about how much you delete in email, usually through your iPhone or Blackberry, before you even turn on your computer.  A well done post card is definitely going to get some attention and lists are so easy to buy today, especially when you’re sorting by zip code.  It’s all so easy and if you’re stuck in how to get started Marathon Press has a whole staff ready to help. (It’s a plug, but they deserve it!)
8) Email: Just because it’s a challenge to keep from being deleted doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still be doing email blasts, but they need to be effective.  There’s a whole science around getting through the noise when it comes to email.  I heard a great speaker at a convention last year from Constant Contact and was really impressed.  I haven’t used them, but they’re certainly a player in this arena and worth checking out.

So, here’s the bottom line – having the greatest website in the world won’t do any good if people don’t know who you are.  Creating the greatest images of your life won’t build your business if people don’t know to look at them!  You need to weave a web around your target audience and it demands full time attention!  You need to be in their mailbox, in their email box, in the newspaper they pick up and read every morning, in local magazines and you want everyone talking about who you are, the great images you’re creating and the way you’re giving back to the community.  You can’t just build a great website, sit back and expect people to beat on your door when you’ve done nothing else!

“At the end of the day, anybody who thinks there’s a reward for nothing, ends up losing.” Kerry Stokes, one of the richest men in Australia.