Wedding And Portrait Photography - Using Offline Methods To Advertise Your Business
There are so many ways to advertise and market your business and this article discusses all the offline methods that you can use to really get your business out there.
Wedding Fayres There are plenty of wedding fayres out there - do not necessarily go for the cheapest, go for the ones that attract the market you are aiming for.
When you get enquiries at wedding fayres, try to get any interested persons' email address so that you can send them additional literature or an email follow up at a slightly later date.
Any interested party visiting your stand could be enticed to give their Name and Email address in exchange for a free report that you email them afterwards.
Bride and groom to be will be milling around numerous stalls and yours will be just another one.
If you do not follow up with an email, your details tend to get lost in amongst all the other literature they pick up and you will be forgotten.
Competitions and editorials There are so many photographic competitions out there today.
Try and enter as many competitions as you can.
The more you win, the more prestigious you will be viewed as hence helping the selling of your services.
Also try and get as much editorial as possible in local publications.
This is not always easy, as individuals and companies who are wanting editorial just as you do, are also bombarding editorial staff.
If you think up an interesting article with a good twist and provide lots of photos, try contacting all the local magazines and newspapers to see if they will print it.
If they have some spare page space and you have done the hard work for them in terms of the write up and preparation of images, they may just publish it for you.
It may be a good idea to contact local charities and offer to photograph their events free of charge that could be worthy of a newspaper article.
Or for example, offer to photograph for a local radio station for free publicity on air.
Shop windows An excellent way of advertising is using shop window space.
This could be in a hairdresser or beauty salon for example - somewhere where future brides frequent.
You may have to pay for it, or some shops offer their window space if you are an existing customer as it changes the face of their window for a few weeks.
You could also offer a commission on every wedding booked via them.
Affiliations with other wedding providers Contact other good wedding service providers (local wedding venues, car suppliers, florists, bridal gown shops) in your chosen area and swap details so that they can recommend you if you recommend them.
As an added incentive, you could provide them with free photos of their cars / flowers / dresses that you have photographed on a wedding shoot.
Bridal shops always need wedding photographs and if you know a bride has bought her dress from there, submit some stunning photographs of the bride and dress on CD to the bridal shop and then give them permission to use the shots for their marketing purposes (as long as they credit you and pass your details onto potential clients).
Then aim to get your framed photos hung up in their shops for all to see.
I have known photographers to become established in major stores where they have a Wedding Services Department and they have their marketing literature within their department.
These stores sometimes take part in wedding fayres and if you are already affiliated with them, it is good idea to do this with them and get their big name associated with you in this public domain.
Some wedding venues like to give out information packs to potential clients so supply them with an A5 or an A4 leaflet of your photos and services for them to include in this pack.
This can be a good way of getting business at those particular venues.
However you may find that they are already affiliated with another photographer and like to stay loyal but again perseverance is the key and you may find some that are willing to include you in their packs.
Once you are well established in a venue, it is a good idea to leave a wedding album for display at their premises and this album should show photographs of that particular venue.
Your Own Brand Make sure that you create your own identity that people crave for.
Market that brand with your logo in any publication you may be in (even if your name is just credited against a photo).
Also strike up an association with a well known supplier (maybe an elite venue) within your local area.
Jointly you can run a competition in a newspaper/magazine and it is amazing what response you will get when you have a well known logo attached and associated with yours.
Wedding Fayres There are plenty of wedding fayres out there - do not necessarily go for the cheapest, go for the ones that attract the market you are aiming for.
When you get enquiries at wedding fayres, try to get any interested persons' email address so that you can send them additional literature or an email follow up at a slightly later date.
Any interested party visiting your stand could be enticed to give their Name and Email address in exchange for a free report that you email them afterwards.
Bride and groom to be will be milling around numerous stalls and yours will be just another one.
If you do not follow up with an email, your details tend to get lost in amongst all the other literature they pick up and you will be forgotten.
Competitions and editorials There are so many photographic competitions out there today.
Try and enter as many competitions as you can.
The more you win, the more prestigious you will be viewed as hence helping the selling of your services.
Also try and get as much editorial as possible in local publications.
This is not always easy, as individuals and companies who are wanting editorial just as you do, are also bombarding editorial staff.
If you think up an interesting article with a good twist and provide lots of photos, try contacting all the local magazines and newspapers to see if they will print it.
If they have some spare page space and you have done the hard work for them in terms of the write up and preparation of images, they may just publish it for you.
It may be a good idea to contact local charities and offer to photograph their events free of charge that could be worthy of a newspaper article.
Or for example, offer to photograph for a local radio station for free publicity on air.
Shop windows An excellent way of advertising is using shop window space.
This could be in a hairdresser or beauty salon for example - somewhere where future brides frequent.
You may have to pay for it, or some shops offer their window space if you are an existing customer as it changes the face of their window for a few weeks.
You could also offer a commission on every wedding booked via them.
Affiliations with other wedding providers Contact other good wedding service providers (local wedding venues, car suppliers, florists, bridal gown shops) in your chosen area and swap details so that they can recommend you if you recommend them.
As an added incentive, you could provide them with free photos of their cars / flowers / dresses that you have photographed on a wedding shoot.
Bridal shops always need wedding photographs and if you know a bride has bought her dress from there, submit some stunning photographs of the bride and dress on CD to the bridal shop and then give them permission to use the shots for their marketing purposes (as long as they credit you and pass your details onto potential clients).
Then aim to get your framed photos hung up in their shops for all to see.
I have known photographers to become established in major stores where they have a Wedding Services Department and they have their marketing literature within their department.
These stores sometimes take part in wedding fayres and if you are already affiliated with them, it is good idea to do this with them and get their big name associated with you in this public domain.
Some wedding venues like to give out information packs to potential clients so supply them with an A5 or an A4 leaflet of your photos and services for them to include in this pack.
This can be a good way of getting business at those particular venues.
However you may find that they are already affiliated with another photographer and like to stay loyal but again perseverance is the key and you may find some that are willing to include you in their packs.
Once you are well established in a venue, it is a good idea to leave a wedding album for display at their premises and this album should show photographs of that particular venue.
Your Own Brand Make sure that you create your own identity that people crave for.
Market that brand with your logo in any publication you may be in (even if your name is just credited against a photo).
Also strike up an association with a well known supplier (maybe an elite venue) within your local area.
Jointly you can run a competition in a newspaper/magazine and it is amazing what response you will get when you have a well known logo attached and associated with yours.
Source...