Most of us photographers try cold ads. By meaning cold I mean not the
targeted ones. Print, online, media, anywhere. They can get very expensive and
the return might be pretty frustrating. You might not get the numbers up. What
are the current marketing trends? Marketing trends for 2019? It is money
Monday, marketing for photographers, episode number 9.
For the new people here, welcome. My name is Zdenka Darula. I work as a
photographer for many many many years. I'm a former model and few other things.
Let's answer a question. Why those ads or why those cold ads are not working
as much for photographers anymore? Well, they lack authenticity. What does it
mean? What does it mean authenticity or authentic?
In other words real, trustworthy, being what is actually such to be. So if you
place an ad to strangers which never heard of you before we should never seen
you and you are trying to sell them your very expensive service, your chances for
sales are lower. Most of the people today trust recommendations from their friends.
They rather work with person, not a brand. You can reach that by being more honest.
On your website and on your social media. Let's look at your website first.
Example. If I go to a website and I read. James such and such, works as a
photographer for 16 years, won these international awards, call for
appointment today.... blah blah blah.... Does it sound personal or does it sound
as a brand, as a business? Well, definitely it sounds as a business.
Another example. If I go to a website where I read, my name is James
such-and-such. I have been working as a photographer for 16 years and what I
love is to make people laugh. Sometimes I'm gonna be even tripping because I am
so comfortable with you I'm trying to take great images of you showing the
real you, your emotions, your love, your happiness... How does that sound to you? Is
it personal or is it business? Well, this one is much better. It is personal.
The more you connect with your visitors, email marketing, social media, people,
they'll feel that you are their friend and they will trust you more. That way
you will land potentially more jobs. You will get new clients, what you want.
On your website, you want to be more personal.
Perhaps show your personality. Share your hobbies, your work, a little bit about
your family, of course doing it in a safe manner. You don't want to share a little
bit too much. Don't cross the line. You know you don't want to show your license
plate, banking information or where the kids are going to school. You would be
surprised what people are sharing these days online. Similar thing you are
probably already doing on social media. Now, we talked about Facebook in the last
episode but we didn't talk about Facebook live. Well, I admit that the
first time I saw Facebook live I was kind of like... oh great, another thing to
do, like I'm not busy enough. I'm a pornographer, what am I gonna do live on
Facebook? Are you nodding? Well, you know what? I pretty much changed that opinion
during last year. If you want to connect with people personally, the best
way to do it is by video. They will watch your video and maybe it'll be like oh
this is how the person looks like, oh oh that's his personality. It's actually
pretty funny. Well, this is how you get personal. This is how people will see you
as a person. And if you are still unsure about this whole thing then here are
baby steps you can do to make you feel a little bit cozier and more comfortable
in front of the camera. The easiest thing is to set up a camera on a tripod and
record behind the scenes as you're shooting. Let people watch you as you're
working. Introduce them to your own world. Show them your studio, give them the
Grand Tour. Or take them with you on a cool location you're about to shoot at
or you can also show them very nice venue. Introduce them to your team. You can
introduce them to your makeup artists, to your wardrobe stylist or assistant. If
you don't have a team, how about introducing them to your model? Good idea
is to also interview someone. You can interview someone in your niche and it
doesn't have to be necessary another photographer. For example, it can be
another fashion designer or it can be makeup artists. If you work for weddings
it can be a wedding planner. How about, how about showing them some tips? You can
show for example how to pose in front of the camera or how to get ready for a
shoot with you. If you show on the video that you are confident and that you are
expert in the field, they will trust you more. So they will not be afraid to share
your offers and deals with their friends. And you will see some people will get so
hooked that they will be looking forward to seeing your next post, your next
Facebook live feed. And that brings me back to Facebook ads and ads in general.
You can target it to people who are already your friends or they are already
on your mailing list. It will no longer be a cold ad because they know you, they
saw you personally, they can trust you and the chances that you will make a
sale are much higher. And there is another chance that they will actually
share your ad, they will share your offer. Well, I hope I picked your brain the
right way. I hope that you know what to do you, know what to change to get that
business going. If you liked today's video, please give it thumbs up and if
you have any questions or comments or you know what if you want to let me know
how Facebook works for you, what are your doing there, what did work, what didn't,
what are you planning on doing, please do so in the video comment section below or
if you want to say hello I'll say hello back do that do that there as well.
Thanks again and I'll see you in the next week's video.... Cau.... Ahoj...