networking

Photography Marketing: 11 (FREE) Ways to Pump Up Your Marketing

If your calendar is not completely booked up yet, you are not done with marketing. Maybe you haven't gotten started yet. That's OK. We can fix that. Here are 11 great ways to get some marketing mileage when you've got zero budget for marketing.

Some of these ideas are quick and easy and others are more of a long term strategy that you should start now and will build up steam over time. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

How a Single Networking Event Landed Us 2 Famous Baseball Player Weddings (Video)

You know by now that networking is important right? It's ~~one of the best ways~~ the best way to start your photography marketing, period. In the following video, I share the story of how a single networking event (and my first actually) led to our studio landing the job to photograph a major baseball player's wedding. And that wedding led to us photographing another major baseball player's wedding. Plus a bunch of other weddings actually.

Networking is the foundation of vendor relationships. It's where you have the opportunity to meet and mingle, get to know people outside the hectic event day. Networking can be very powerful when done right. It's why I want you to network for your own business. Attend events, talk to strangers and then follow up. So many great things are in store for your business, but YOU have to get out there and make it happen.

This is the story of how we made it happen-how we launched our wedding photography business. And how networking led to us meeting one of our favorite people in the industry who became one of our biggest fans and supporters. It completely changed the course of our career.

I promised another video soon, here it is. If you enjoy this video, I would LOVE for you to share it. I need that kind of positive reinforcement to keep doing more videos!

If you feel that your business would benefit from more bookings I encourage you to check out my latest ebook, Get Connected: How to Build Relationships to Drive Your Business. It's only $29 right now, it's a-step by-step guide to creating powerful vendor relationships that will lead directly to more bookings for your photography business. It's packed with stories, case studies, examples, tips and as much goodness as I could pack in to 160 pages. From the feedback I've gotten, people who bought the guide last week have ALREADY gotten leads from implementing some of the strategies right away.

What’s Your Marketing Secret Weapon?

When it comes to marketing, what is your secret weapon that gets you dozens of new weddings each year? Ponder this concept for a moment. What's really working for your business? Hmm. Not sure huh? OK, well I tell you what. I'm going to introduce you to one of the secret weapons in our vault of high performing photography marketing tactics. And it's not advertising in the traditional sense.

Photography Marketing = Sample Albums

Sample albums are a VERY effective part of our strategy. We create these for many of our best weddings and all the vendors we would like to get more referrals from. I'm going to explain our process in detail.

Networking Ninja: 17 Tips to Be a Great Team Player at Your Next Wedding

Every single wedding you photograph is a new opportunity to network and build relationships with wedding professionals. But how do you network at a wedding?

Think of it this way-every wedding is an event created by a team of people, usually wedding professionals. Each one of these people is someone you have an opportunity to get to know professionally. Weddings are team events, so getting to know your teammates is good business practice. You are spending the entire day with them, so why not take advantage of that?

A wedding goes much smoother when the professionals work together as a team to provide a seamless experience for the guests. When you step in with a collaborative attitude, vendors take notice. They will recognize that you aren't one of those types to just show up and do your job without concern for the event as a whole. If you show other vendors that you truly care about the clients having a great experience and not only great photography, you will win friends and build relationships. Those relationships can blossom into a wonderful source of referrals if you work at it.

17 Tips to Be A Team Player

Be respectful to everyone, vendors and guests alike
Be courteous to other vendors
Be a calming influence on the bride and groom
Be on time (be early!)
Park in the vendor parking area
Use the vendor entrances
Dress professionally or in all black if the planner prefers
Stay off your cell phone: turn the ringer off and don't text
Never use offensive language or swear
Never gossip about other vendors or clients
If you take the bride and groom away during cocktail hour, let the planner, caterer, and facilities coordinator know where you are going and how long you'll be gone
Lend a hand when you can
Smile even though your feet are killing you
Smile through the frustrations of the day
Ease tension; don't create it
Don't act impatient when the bride is running behind
Always do the best you can and assume the same about others

Follow these tips each time you work a wedding, and you will be making friends in the wedding industry in no time at all. Follow up with an offer of complimentary prints and digital files, and you will be well on your way to earning a coveted spot on referral lists all over town. This is how you do it folks. Be fun to work with, and follow that up with great work. It's a killer combo when it comes to marketing your photography.

If you are interested in learning more about how to build relationships that will turn into referrals for your business, look for my brand new book Get Connected: Build Relationships to Drive Your Business launching on February 7th.