Hey welcome back to the Six Figure Mastermind. Today, we're going to talk about
one of my passions, photography. I was a photographer for almost 20 years and I'm
going to give you some tips and tricks from the pros. Stay tuned.
I love this topic. I spent almost 20 years as a photographer. I still take my
camera out and shoot some fun stuff every now and then. So I'm going to talk to
you specifically about how to grow your six-figure business by attracting
photography clients. So photographers listen up. When I first started in
photography, I started back when I was in junior high school ,right?
I noticed downstairs in my parents basement, they had one of those big and
larger machines, they had all of the canisters for developing film and before
I knew what it was, it was all there and when I found out what it was, I was
psyched. I didn't know I had a darkroom in my basement. It was one of the coolest
things ever. So, I started in junior high school with photography. I studied it in
high school. Started out with my film camera then translated into my
multi-thousand dollar digital camera and now I run a very fun photography
business that you know it used to have super bunch of clients and now I've just
transitioned into different things and now I just do it as a hobby on the side.
So, I want to talk to you about how to attract photography clients, okay? People
may think that you need a website for photography and you actually don't. Maybe
five, maybe four years ago you used to have to need a website you know. There
was that there was an essential for building a photography business. You
actually don't need one anymore with the proliferation and and the availability
of imagery on the internet with using Instagram, with using Facebook with using
different hosts for distributing your photos. You don't actually need to own
your own website. Believe me I used to own one and I would pay every single
month to have people host my website, and people design my website. It wasn't
where my customers were going anyway. So, you don't need a website. However, if you
don't have a website, you must have a stellar Instagram feed. You must have a
stellar Facebook feed. You do need to have something online for people to go
to. Whether that's a blog that you use, whether it's Instagram that you use but
people generally speaking have somewhere to go to look at your portfolio, to look
at your work. So you do have to have something digital but it doesn't
necessarily have to be your own website, alright? When you're sharing and looking
for photography clients, you have got to leverage social media. You know feel
free to have every kind of social media account there
is. Have a LinkedIn account, have a Twitter, have an Instagram, have a
Facebook, make sure that they're all talking to each other. So for example if
you have a blog you're running on Wix or maybe Weebly or WordPress or using
some kind of a blog platform. On that blog, have links to all of your social
media websites. Have a link to your Facebook, have a link to your Instagram,
have a link to your LinkedIn profile. So, every social platform that you have,
needs to have links to every other social platform that you have, alright? So,
have that how those communicating at each other. Another great way to have a
boost in your photography clients is to collaborate with other photographers. Now,
some of you may hear that and say, "well, why would I want to collaborate with my
competition?" And that doesn't make any sense, right?
Now, that's scarcity thinking and that's going to sabotage your business. When you
get into abundance thinking. This is where you really start to blossom and
grow. When you're collaborating with other photographers, you're gunning have
ideas bouncing off each other. In fact, there's a group that I highly recommend
that you join on Facebook. It's called The beauty and Truth Facebook group. Now,
this is a group for collaborations for photographers from all over the country.
You know I've used this group when I've got an imp inch and I didn't have a
battery for my camera and I've used this group when I've, "oh, I need an inspiration
for this image or I use this group when I, "oh, is this area over here
still you know have apple blossoms on it?" You know there's a huge collaboration in
this group and there's also a lot of business ideas that are bouncing off
each other. Also, when you're collaborating with other photographers,
and let's say there's a photographer that you're collaborating with and they
have a style very similar to yours. But let's say they're all booked out. If you
have a good relationship with that photographer, guess who's going to send
you referrals? That guy, okay? In this Facebook group for example, there are
referrals all over the place and it's either because they're busy that
weekend and they have too many requests or maybe they're just booked out
completely and they need someone to spill over into. So, get with what you
used to think where your competitors and make them your allies. So do a bunch of
collaborations. When you're wanting to build your photography client base and
attract more clients, you need to stand out.
Have some kind of a photography that has your own flair on
it, has your own feel to it, has your own spin on whatever anybody else is doing.
You know that every photo that you make is going to be unique. So give it your own
flavor, your own taste. Become known for something in your industry.
Maybe you're the expert sports photographer, maybe the expert low light
kind of moody light photographer, maybe you're the expert wedding photographer,
maybe you're the expert outdoor wedding photographer, the more specific you can
get with your niche, the better off you are because you're building a brand name
for yourself with what you're producing in your photography. You've also got to
be aware of what your clients want. Are they wanting something that's going to
sit on their hard drive. Do they want mostly digital prints? Do they want
something that's going to be hung up in their home? Do they want something for
publication? Do they want something for billboards? You need to know what your
client base is looking for in order to find your clients, okay? So, if you're
doing commercial work and you're producing images that are made for
billboards, for brochures, for pamphlets for press, for media. Those people that
are using that, they're going to want to know what your restrictions are for
printing and releasing photos. They want to know how much you charge for the bulk
quantities. You've got to know exactly what your client wants. Last but not
least, you've got to be an effective marketer. Meaning you've got to have a
list, be utilizing your list and like check out one of our other videos for you know
how to use MailChimp and how to get those emails out and how to just
communicate with the people on your list. You've got to have great photography. I
mean especially in your marketing guys. You're a photographer. You can't use
stock photos or someone else's photography when you're using your own
marketing. So use your own work in your marketing. God! like it should be a
no-brainer, right? But sometimes we forget. So use your own work in your marketing.
Make sure that you're using Facebook Ads wisely and charting that specific market.
Make sure that you are using email campaigns wisely. We've talked about discounts
and sales. Make sure that you're using those on a timely manner. So for example,
if you know it takes you six weeks to produce a photo from a photoshoot, and
you say, "I need to have a Mother's Day sale', you need to start promoting
Mother's Day at least six weeks probably more before
those photos get pushed out. So be an effective marketer. Target your target
market and know exactly what it is that you're doing in order to find those
photography clients. Get out of the idea of scarcity, get out of the idea of being
afraid of the competition because no one can compete with your specific skill and
what you can do in your field. Hey, I hope you enjoyed today's video. I had so much
fun producing it for you. Hit the subscribe button and I'll see you
tomorrow.