Does Email Still Work To Find Photography Clients?

I opened up my email program to find 350 new messages.

Now I’ll be the first to admit I don’t use email like most. I don’t have them downloaded into my mobile so I can keep a pulse on what is happening at all times. I usually open up email three times per day – morning, after lunch and before I turn off my computer for the day. If I’m out on appointments, that may decrease by one.

Out of the 350 email, I deleted around 340 of them just by looking at the subject line and the recipient. And I’m sure I’m not alone. I’ve read statistics that show email is now around 90 percent spam related – 10 percent true email. And I can definitely attest to that.

Which means to get an email opened, it has to have a great subject line and be from a trusted referral. Without one of those two items, it doesn’t stand a chance.

Do you use email in an attempt to gain photography business?

After reading that question, you probably went one of two ways.

Yes, and I gain new clients every time I send an email.

No, email is now a complete waste of time.

If you are in the yes crowd, congratulations. You’ve learned that email is a long way from dead, and it still offers a lot of potential in connecting up with potential business.

But if you are in the no crowd, now may be the time to rethink your approach to email. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Online Marketing Tagged With: email, getting customers, Online Marketing, photography clients

3 Things Your Photography Clients Will Never Tell You … Unless You Ask

by Virtual Photography

What’s the best way to grow your photography business? If you said “through referrals” you are correct. The concept of referral marketing involves two things:

1. Being able to make your clients even happier and more profitable throughout the years

2. Having each client refer you to their friends and family.

These two steps are all you need to grow your business without spending a ton more on marketing.

And while its easy to assume your clients are happy and referring you, its completely different than really knowing if its true. To get a handle on these two things requires you to ask each customer these three things.

#1 – Why did you choose to use me?

Customers are selfish by nature. When they decide to use a company or service, its because you have met all of their qualifications as a business owner. Yet every client has different qualifications. For some that might include great prices, good customer service, or a strong rapport – all of which they will rarely volunteer unless you ask for the information.

So ask them.

Find out what you are doing right. Then use that information to hone in and do more of it. When you start seeing patterns – multiple people focusing in on what they like best – you may have found a unique selling point that you can use in your marketing to attract more people, just like them.

#2 – Is there anything you wish I offered or would do differently?

As a small business owner, chances are you operate to a certain extent with blinders on. That’s not bad – its easy to do. You get so close to your business because you live it and breathe it everyday, that its hard to look beyond the norm for something new. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Get Clients Tagged With: get customers for your photography business, photography clients, referral marketing

I Have A Blog But No Photography Clients – Now What?

by Virtual Photography

As a small business owner, you try everything to get the clients in. And if you’ve been around a while now, that probably means you’ve started using social media. So you blog, you tweet, you like, and you share. You spend more time doing that every day, and yet nothing is helping. How much more can you do?

It might not be what you’re doing. It might be what you are sharing. Just because you write doesn’t mean its considered valuable by your viewers. If it’s not new, funny, functional, or in some way makes us say “wow”, it won’t be shared, retweeted or viewed. You can’t create traditional 1.0 digital content in a 2.0 conversational world.

We are no longer passive consumers that sit around watching commercials and making decisions based on what a company tells us. We are well informed, and make decisions only after we do a significant amount of research.

Think about your last purchase. Did you jump in quickly, or did you do your research. Did you buy blindly, or did you rely on a friend for more information. Buying is much easier when you share the same beliefs as someone else, and you know others are buying what you are. Even though we like to be independent, we really want to be independent while gaining acceptance from our friends. It’s much easier to be happy about a new item when others value it too.

Because society is changing, so is the way we market to this society. We don’t watch television – we TiVo it to avoid the commercials. We may see ads a hundred times a day on everything from billboards to buses, yet when was the last time one influenced you?

We get our information online because that’s where we spend our time. And we don’t go searching for ads, we search for informative information that helps us make our decisions. We don’t just rely on friends we hand out with on Friday nights. We also rely on friends that we’ve never met, even if they are half way across the world.

Which means the content we put online is more important than ever. You can’t promote yourself, you have to inform people. Try putting up a pure sales pitch without providing anything that provides quality content and you are sure to fail.

So what makes us laugh and smile, and want to follow you? What should you blog, tweet and write about on all of your social sites?