[pullquote]Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.
― Brené Brown[/pullquote]
How to do Marketing for your photography business when you don’t have a clue?
Maybe the term marketing scares you a bit. Maybe you think you can’t do it.
But have you ever recommended a shop or a restaurant to someone else? You were doing marketing right there. Not so scary after all right?
Marketing doesn’t have to be sleazy, in your face or pushy. I know a lot of people feel that way.
So let me tell you how to do marketing exactly as you are. Authentic, real, genuine.
Two Things You Need To Start Doing Marketing
The only things you need in order to start doing marketing:
- You have to be convinced that your product, your photography rocks!
- You are willing to get out there, to be seen.
Is Your Mindset Getting In The Way?
[pullquote align=”right”]Change your thoughts and you change your world. Norman Vincent Peale[/pullquote]
If you read the two above statements and thought… BUT.
Then I would advise you to spend some time on those thoughts first.
There is a good 4 question system from Byron Katie, explained in this blog “How to become a client magnet” on ShootZilla, that can help you with that.
Okay when you are ready to show the world your beautiful work, let’s do some marketing!
Exercise: What Would You Do If…
Now I want you to do an exercise with me.
Imagine: if money was no object and there are no limitations in your life, what would you do?
Most people would go traveling first, but think beyond those first spending days, months, years. People are not designed to sit on the couch all day, really it’s not going to happen. So imagine for yourself and ask yourself the question: How would you spend your time?
More inspiration on this question: “What if money was no object” by Alan Watts
I did this exercise recently and I really didn’t want to spend my time doing anything else but:
- Teaching & creating
- Taking good care of myself and my family
And the last one includes a lot like: eating healthy delicious foods, doing fun exercise, feel connected with friends and family, rest and enjoy, going out in nature, reading, etc. Just to name a few ;-)
I am pretty sure a variation of this is on everyone’s list. But what are the other two? What else do you like to spend your time on?
Some Examples
For most photographers their thing is photography. The art of creating.
Now how can they make it marketable?
Some photographers put all their love in the images. They love going the extra mile for that special photo. They bring a second shooter if they have to so they can play around, feel more free to create that award-winning shoot.
When I just started out as a photographer the wildly decorated cakes were becoming the new thing. Since I wanted to grow my portfolio and my photography skills I reached out to some cake vendors that I followed on Twitter. I noticed they were posting badly lit photos of their gorgeous cakes and offered them some great images by me. After spending an afternoon with a cake vendor and having a great time I realized she was doing quite well in the wedding business, she referred me to all her clients. Another cake lady approached me to photograph all the cakes in her upcoming book. I never realized my ‘reaching out to learn and get more portfolio and help someone else with great images’ would turn into this great marketing for my business. Since I was just having fun, this felt completely effortless to do!
Some photographers like to do video, they do a periscope after the shoot or create a behind the scenes video.
Some photographers love to write. They could write blogs every day. About their business, themselves, their work, their vendors, etc.
I loved details as a wedding photographer. So I took the time to capture all the delicious details at a wedding. And because I wanted more people to enjoy my work, I created a marketing tool out of those images. I made categories of all the photos in an online gallery and gave some selected wedding blog editors the passwords. So whenever they needed an image of a bouquet, or rings, or a bridesmaid, they would have a perfect image from our gallery in no time. That gave us lots of backlinks to our site and free exposure. Because this was something I loved doing, this way of doing marketing was completely effortless for me.
What is it for you?
For me, it has evolved into writing and other sorts of creation.
So my teaching, writing blogs, & doing webinars, is how I perform marketing these days as the owner of ShootZilla and the Radiant Photographer. And I aim to get better and better at it.
Give yourself some quiet time and ask yourself this question. If you do, an answer will pop up slowly but clearly.
After that, it is maybe a challenge to create a marketing system out of it, but think outside the normal channels and realms and who knows what you can think of. I am happy to help you, see below how!
After you have found your thing, the journey is just beginning.
Reach People With Your Thing
Now you want to broaden your reach.
I could write a blog post and wait… And nothing would happen. Maybe I would accidently reach one person… And maybe that person would read the headline and not be interested at that time. All that work in writing a blog post and nobody to read it!
So I am sharpening my entrepreneurial skills as well.
- Learning SEO: my blog post needs to reach as many people as possible organically, so I want to optimize it to the keywords that people are already typing in at Google.
- Learning copywriting: my blog post is of no use with a non-interesting headline. If I can’t draw people in with a good headline, all that effort in writing it was almost useless.
- Creating attractive images: in order to make the blog post interesting to read and share it needs some images.
- Share it: in order to reach more people I share it a couple of times on my social media channels and through my newsletter.
- And there is so much more you can do, let your creative juices flowing!
But it all starts with your thing. If you have your thing it is much easier to sharpen your entrepreneurial skills because now suddenly it will be the right thing to do, it will have more meaning to you. Pablo couldn’t have said it better.
Shameless plug: ShootZilla can help you make a habit out of marketing something you love. When writing feels effortless to you, create the steps in the workflow in ShootZilla to share your blogpost with as many as possible. Use the email templates for that and it will become effortless to share it!
[pullquote]“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso[/pullquote]
If you need help with how to market your business with your thing, post it in the comments and I am happy to help you! You can also book a session with me and we’ll dive deep into what you want to create in the world in one hour.