Getting Photography Clients
Learning the best methods and putting time and effort into marketing your photography business, brings more opportunities to attract high value clients. Learning how to start a conversation, attract people with professional branding, and communicate with new clients will have your phone ringing more than ever before.
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The mentorship and coaching you’ll receive at Photography Business Institute can provide guidance for a more profitable portrait photography business. The boutique business is focused on identifying and marketing to right-fit clients versus clients who won’t value photography.. When you focus on attracting your ideal clients, you’ll not only increase your income, but you’ll have more time to spend with your family and to do the things you love.
Finding Your First Clients
If you’re just getting started with a portrait photography business, you may be wondering how to book photography clients with little to no experience.
Getting photography clients may seem overwhelming for a beginner, but at Photography Business Institute, we offer expert guidance and roadmaps for business owners at every level. You won't be left floundering on your own. To help get you started, here are a few tips for finding your first high-value clients:
1. Talk to Everyone
With all of the different marketing strategies out there, you can’t beat word-of-mouth for booking your first clients. The success of word-of-mouth marketing for photographers is in the power of personal recommendations. Talk to everyone about your new portrait photography business and what makes you different from digital file photographers. The more people who know about you, the more they'll recommend you to others.
2. Network and Collaborate With Other Professionals
Get to know other leaders and business owners in your community. It’s especially important to network with those who share a similar ideal client. Through our photography business coaching and mentorship sessions you'll also get the chance to connect with other photographers from all over. Collaborating with like-minded people and those who follow the same boutique business model can be a great boost for both of your businesses.
Mentorship and photography business coaching are amazing resources for photographers at any level. Working with established professionals whose work you value and who have reached the level of success you’re looking to achieve can be invaluable.
Create a Photography Marketing Plan
Whether you’re just getting started with portrait photography or looking to take your business to the next level, a thoughtful marketing strategy for your photography business will help you grow. No matter where you’re at in your career, here are a few tips for creating an effective marketing plan and getting photography clients.
1. Maximize Your Marketing Budget
Especially at the beginning, you won't have a huge marketing budget. You will want to keep your focus on the most rewarding efforts.
Partner with local charities in your community. Co-host events and promotions to bring awareness to causes you care about and your portrait photography business will benefit. Find ways to get featured in your local news outlets. Speak to new mom groups, PTO, and other groups that your ideal client is involved in. Ensure that the people you'd like to work with know who you are.
2. Get Noticed
Branding choices from your portfolio images, website design, color palette, marketing materials, and more will impact attracting potential clients. Your portrait photography branding represents your photography style and justifies your pricing. It can be helpful to run these choices by a mentor or photography business coach and to work with a professional graphic designer.
3. Invest In Photography Business Coaching
Starting a portrait photography business without any business experience can feel intimidating. One of the best ways to learn all the skills and strategies you’ll need is through business coaching and mentorship.
Photography Business Institute is different from a traditional photography school, offering business coaching designed to work with your schedule and help guide you to a more profitable portrait photography business.
4. The SPIKE Strategy
Photography Business Institute leans on the SPIKE strategy for creating a successful marketing plan. The SPIKE strategy stands for:
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Set Objectives Based on Needs
Set your business goals based on where you want to be the following year. This first step considers your current monthly income and your income aim for the future.
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Plan
How do you plan to reach your goals? Get specific on what it’ll take and create a marketing activity roadmap.
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Identify and Set Your Budget
A successful marketing plan includes a defined marketing budget. It’s ok if it’s small. But you will need some budget to get started.
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Knuckle Down on the Details
Keep on track with an outline of your marketing strategy activities.
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Execute and Evaluate
To gauge success, you will need to track all of the results of your efforts. Evaluating these results will give you a better idea of how to move ahead.
Boutique Photography Clients
What is a boutique photographer? How does the boutique business model we follow at Photography Business Institute differ from other models?
1. Client Customization
A boutique photographer's services are customized to each client's needs. Boutique portrait photographers work with their clients to ensure the final images and wall artwork reflect each client's style and vision.
2. Start to Finish Service
Boutique portrait photographers offer full service from start to finish. Clients will be guided every step of the way, from consultation to product delivery.
3. Limited Number of Clients
With more time spent on each client–from meetings and consultations, session advice and communication, location scouting, in-person image presentations, etc., boutique photographers typically have fewer clients than digital file photographers. This comes from a commitment to quality over quantity and the desire to provide the best client experience possible.
4. Premium Products
Boutique photographers do not offer clients a gallery of digital image files, but instead focus on creating premium wall art products they can hang in their home, as well as books and albums. Boutique means high-quality, heirloom products.
5. Higher Investments
Boutique portrait photographers spend more time with each client and offer premium wall art products. This means that boutique photographers can charge higher prices and will book clients who are happy to invest more.
The boutique photography model focuses on building strong client relationships, providing customized, high-quality services, and producing cherished family heirlooms.
Responding to Client Inquiries
How you respond when your business gets a new photography inquiry is crucial. If you wish to start booking $1,000+ clients, you'll need to learn what to say to a potential client and how to say it. At Photography Business Institute, our coaches and mentors advise photographers on how to get photography clients to fall in love with your business right from the start.
Here are a few tips for mastering your response to new client inquiries:
1. Respond Immediately
Be sure to respond to any client inquiries within 24 hours; however, the sooner, the better. A phone call is always more impactful if the potential client has included their phone number. If they have not, your goal is to get their phone number and connect with them via a phone call ASAP.
2. Connect With The Potential Client
Work towards building connection and rapport right from the start. Show interest in who the client is, their family, and their portrait session goals. Ask questions about their life and story, including what they do for work, where they’re from, their children’s ages and names, etc.
3. Meet Them In-Person
Move the conversation off emails or texting and onto the phone as you can. An on the phone consultation can go a long way in building trust and convincing clients that you're the photographer they want to work with.
4. Educate
Educate potential clients about the differences and advantages of working with a boutique portrait photographer. This distinction will help your business stand out from others they may have inquired with.
If you wish to take your boutique photography business further, consider our photography business coaching and mentorship. Photography Business Institute coaches lean on the boutique photography model of effective business practices, superior client experiences, and boutique marketing.
Common Marketing Mistakes
Sometimes, avoiding the wrong things is just as important as doing the right things when it comes to boutique photography marketing. Here are some common marketing mistakes made by photographers at every level of experience:
1. Copying Other Marketing Strategies
Getting photography clients is not a one-strategy-fits-all situation. What works for one photographer is not going to work for everyone. Before copying another photographer’s marketing strategies take a long look at whether their ideas will actually be as effective in your business model.
2. Relying on Discounts
Discounting should never be a marketing strategy. Discounting will not lead to booking your ideal clients or establishing strong client relationships. Sales and charging lower prices will devalue your brand’s reputation.
3. Considering Marketing Optional
Clients will not just show up at your doorway eager to spend money. Learning how to market your photography business effectively is critical for success. Even the busiest photographers must schedule time to work on marketing every week. If you're not experienced with marketing a boutique business, consider a photography business coach.
4. Staying Behind the Computer
Not everything can be done from your computer. Get out and meet people in your local community. Word-of-mouth networking with local leaders, business owners, and creative professionals can significantly boost your business.
5. DIY’ing Your Design Work
Being a great photographer doesn't necessarily translate to being a great designer. Unless you have actual experience with professional graphic design, delegate the design of your marketing materials.
6. Wasting Time on Social Media
While social media can be effective for building client relationships and a lot of fun, it should not be considered a marketing tool. The boutique business model taught by the Photography Business Institute focuses on marketing strategies that other photographers aren’t doing. Create a high-touch marketing plan that includes things like personalized notes to prospective clients, interactive mailings, and in-person interactions.
7. Not Keeping a Client Database
A client database is an essential element of a boutique photographer's marketing plan. It's important to keep an updated database of everyone you do business with. This database includes potential clients, previous clients, charitable partners, vendors, business associates, and more. Routinely marketing to happy previous clients can help increase your session bookings by leaps and bounds.
Learn How to Find Your Ideal Clients
The coaching and workshops offered by Photography Business Institute will help you identify and attract your business’s ideal clients. We offer expert guidance and support on business practices, client experiences, marketing, and how to offer photography services.
Gain more confidence whether you're just starting or looking to expand your business. Join our community of passionate portrait photographers, mentors, and coaches today.
