Facebook Ads versus Google PPC: Which Is Better For Your Photography Business?

Let’s say you have a little extra money this month and you want to take it and use it for advertising your photography business.

Should you invest in a Google PPC (pay per click) campaign? Or should you use it for Facebook Advertising?

On the surface, both have incredible backing and a lot of statistics to support them.

  • Facebook has 845 million active users, who as a whole post over 1 billion posts per day.
  • Google is said to have around 1 billion searches per day.

Which puts the two fairly equal when it comes to people you can potential market to. Yet that’s where the similarities end.

When you head to Google, you are actively looking for information. You head to Google with a question or thought in mind, ready to find the answer. You add in keywords looking for results. Which means you’re just as likely to click on an ad as you are natural results – if it provides you with the answer you are looking for.

With Facebook, they rely on “push” marketing when it comes to getting their ads in front of visitors. People on Facebook aren’t raising their hands asking for information; they are there to keep up with their friends. They want to hang out. Clicking on an ad means removing themselves from the conversation. And in many cases its not something they are willing to do.

So the two right off the bat are completely different. If you’re going to jump in an advertising campaign on either one, you have to approach them differently.

Google

With Google, you have to think like your customers. What are they searching for? What could you advertise to make them want to click on your ad?

Dig Deeper: How To Run A Successful Pay Per Click Campaign

Let’s look at an example to see how you should approach a Google campaign. We’ll assume we are a photographer trying to boost up our clientele for model portfolios.

Our average client will head into Google and use keywords like “model portfolio photographer” to find someone to help them. We want to be there. And if we know they are using the key phrase “model portfolio photographer”, chances are that’s exactly what they want. They need someone with the experience and expertise to help create a dynamic portfolio that will help get them modeling jobs.

So we know our ad should use keywords that showcase our talents as a model portfolio photographer. When I typed that into Google, this is what I found:

Google makes it easy to create as many ads as you desire, and focus each ad to select keywords and phrases. Yet we can see a wide variety of the results here simply don’t match up with this keyword. Would someone looking for a model portfolio really trust a dog photographer? So these are wasted ads. They aren’t targeted enough to attract attention. And more than likely won’t be clicked on. [Read more…]

Spending Millions To Promote A Dying Industry

Last night we were watching a little TV and a commercial came on I couldn’t help but notice.

It was for a major yellow pages business. They were advertising their services, stating they could help a variety of buisnesses in many manners. They could provide you with a host of advertising methods, including the hard copy phone book and online resources. What really caught my eye was the industries they were targeting: weddings. They were speaking directly to people within the wedding industry, venues, planners, photographers, etc, stating they could help you reach out to your potential customers and give you top results with the people who are looking for you.

Really?

I’m sure a ton of people buy into this. I know they do; I meet them all the time.

Yet if you take the time to think about it, you can quickly see why this is a complete waste of money and time.

Lets start with a target market. If you are targeting weddings, predominately you are targeting people 20-ish to 40-ish. 20 somethings grew up with computers and utilize technology every day. Even 40 somethings have spent most of their adult lives using technology and probably have a good understanding of how to capture information.

I seriously doubt if most of this audience has a phone book in their homes. And I also doubt if they head online, and go to the yellow pages directory to find what they are looking for. They Google what they want and rely on natural search results.

Which brings me to my next point. The yellow pages company offers online services in the form of pay per clicks. They will offer you a great package deal in which you get a listing in the phone book, a custom site they control, and lots of traffic they buy using pay per click technology. If you pay, you get the traffic. If you don’t, its gone immediately. And even if you do pay, its in the form of sponsored ads – yep, those great little ads you see on the side of your search results. Do people click on them? Yes. But in a lot less frequency then they do a great position on the natural placement.

So are you better off spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on advertising with old, traditional methods that don’t have much weight in your target community?

Or are you better off spending time learning how to capture natural placement, spending a small amount of money increasing your understanding of online marketing?

Before you jump into any type of advertising, think first. Make sure your clientele uses whatever you are thinking about investing in. Make sure they rely on it as a resource. If you’re not sure, ask.

Then make a smart, informed decision. Go to where your audience is. Never expect them to come to you.

The more you give them what they want, the more business you will attract.

4 Easy Ways To Lose More Than You Make With Groupon

Its hard to imagine a world without coupon sites anymore. You can buy everything from dinner reservations to hotel reservations, and everything in between. I’ve talked quite a lot about coupon sites here on Virtual and have read a variety of opinions on the subject – are they good for business or bad?

Dig Deeper: The Pros and Cons of Using Groupon

Dig Deeper: Using Social Media Coupons To Bring In More Business

Yet no matter what side of the fence you are on, one thing is for sure. They will not go away anytime soon.

If you are looking for new ways to bring in traffic this year, coupon sites may be a great way to get more people in the door. Keep in mind there is a right way to it … and a wrong way. If you learn how NOT to use coupon sites, you’ll have a greater chance at using them successfully.

Money Losing Strategy #1 – Sell Your Basic or Most Popular Product

Groupon and other social coupon sites are designed to introduce you to new customers, bring existing customers back in, and build up a new revenue stream. If you use it to connect up with your regular customers and offer them a discount on what they already buy on a regular basis, you’ll be severely cutting into your expected profit margins. Instead, think of Groupon as a way to test out new ideas. If you are a wedding photographer, maybe you would love to get into Trash The Dress sessions after the big day is over, or Love Portrait sessions taken of happy couples throughout your community. Invent something new and make an offer. This will bring in new clients for your new idea, and give you a way of building up an entire new area within your existing business.

Money Losing Strategy #2 – Sell Long Term Products and Services

Groupon works best when you sell today and bring the people in tomorrow; not next week or next month. The goal is not to have offers trickling in over many months down the road. Instead you want to find something that immediately brings people in to connect with you. The longer they wait, the less chance you have of making a connection. [Read more…]

How To Make Your Facebook Page Attract Customers

Putting up a Facebook Page is easy. Click on the Create A Page button, and it walks you through a few screens to add content.

The challenge comes from turning your page from a stand-alone, no one knows you’re there Page, into a Page that brings in new clientele every day. After working with Facebook steadily for a couple of years now, I’ve discovered there are four key steps that will help you move from a Page know one knows about, to a Page everyone raves about.

Use The Features

One of the reasons Facebook is so popular is its user friendliness. You can check in on your desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone. You can use your browser window, or use an app. Phones, cameras and video equipment now come with “push one button” technology that allows you to go from concept to sharing in a matter of minutes. And in today’s me-society, that’s powerful stuff. Everyone is a reporter. Everyone stays connected.

With Facebook features, all of this is easy.

It may seem overwhelming at first, but most features can be enabled and used in a matter of minutes. Start with the basics. Then commit to trying something new everyday.

“I’m scared to post anything. I know it will be there forever, what if I make a mistake?”

I had a client ask me that recently. So we talked for a while. We had just set up her page, and she had 25 people liking her page – most were friends. With 25 friends, they will be forgiving. So I had her start out small. She photographed a few images on a hike, and sent them to her Page with a simple caption. She included photos of a conference she attended, and learned to tag the people in the photographs. And she made a couple of “mistakes” – spelling errors, and incomplete thoughts. But she learned, and is now much more confident about posting. And her friend base is growing in the process.

Develop A Strategy

What if I asked you what your marketing strategy is? What would your answer be?

I’m betting you would have a variety of ideas in place.

  • Advertise in the local magazine every month.
  • Monthly mailers to my client base.
  • The local bridal show.

I’m sure you have a number of campaigns and tools in place in order to keep clients coming in all the time.

Now let me ask what your Facebook strategy is? Hmmm… [Read more…]

Creating a 12 Month Marketing Calendar

This post is Day 13 of 30 Ways In 30 Days To Redesign Your Life With Photography. This series seeks to provide you with practical steps to get you from wherever you are today, to exactly where you want to be – this year! If your goal has always been to take your photography to a whole new level, hang on and start enjoying a new lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of.

In Day 12 of this series, we talked about finding different types of promotions to use during the year to promote your photography.  Special promotions allow you to find new clientele in a out of the ordinary way. But special promotions are designed to be above and beyond your normal marketing. They are designed to work in conjunction with your normal marketing routine.

On Wikipedia, one of the definitions for marketing is:

the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising

I like that definition because it stresses two things.

1. The word action. Marketing isn’t about creating a few marketing materials and expecting clients to flow through your door. It’s about taking action. As long as you are in business, it takes work – action – to continually bring in new prospects, and convert them to paying customers.

2. It separates out the concepts of market research and advertising. In order to market your products and services, you have to know who your market is. It’s not “every female between the ages of 18 and 80”. The more you define it, the better you will be at marketing. And only when you know whom your market is can you reach out with various types of advertising – free or fee based – and reach them effectively.

Once you have these two pieces down, then its time to create a plan.

Start With A Plan

Think of your marketing plan as your guide to success. It’s what will guide you along month after month, dictating what should be done, and more importantly, what shouldn’t.

With a plan in place, you’ll have the foundation laid down for what you want to accomplish. You’ll quickly know if something fits into your plan and what doesn’t.

You already have a budget in place from Day 9. So you know how much funding you have to work with each month.

You already have your special events lined up from Day 12. How can you accomplish tasks every month that fit within your budget, and help you accomplish your special event goals?

And now you need to know how to market your business overall day after day, month after month, to bring in a steady flow of customers that meet your basic requirements. These aren’t the people that will find you through your special events. These are the people that love what you do, and hire you based on your standard packages and offerings.

Continuity

The key to any good marketing plan is continuity. Just because you are tired or bored with something doesn’t mean your clients and prospects are. They may just be recognizing you, just have you on their radar, and if you pull your marketing, you’ll disappear forever.

If you are just starting out in a photography business, choose a few forms of marketing, then dedicate the time to stick with it.

Grow on Facebook

  • Post twice per day
  • Add two friends per day
  • Build one connection to my page per day

Grow with a Blog

  • Blog once per day
  • Comment on one other blog per day
  • Grow with a Networking Group

Join BNI

  • Attend every weekly meeting
  • Join a committee
  • Do one 1 to 1 every week

That’s your base plan. Take your calendar, and add these tasks to your work schedule.

Then add in your special events that you planned from Day 12. If you have three events, circle the three dates in red on your calendar. Then work backwards with tasks to complete before the big day. Add dates for meetings, planning sessions, design days for brochures or other marketing materials, and days for shopping for props or other necessities.

And there you have it – a complete 12 month marketing plan, ready to put to work to help you grow your business.

What’s Possible?

Marketing tools and advertising methods can take on any shape or form. I have a list here on this site – 25 Ways To Get Clients – to provide you with some out of the box ideas. Or read through the hundreds of posts I have on this site, and you’ll undoubtedly pick up many more ideas. Or head to Google and do a quick search. You’ll quickly receive hundreds of different methods to advertise your business.

Don’t be overwhelmed by ideas. You don’t have to try everything you read about. Instead, choose your favorite strategies, strategies that you can do over and over again, can easily afford, and can dedicate to your monthly marketing plan.

It isn’t what you choose; it’s how you put it into action. Even a bad plan acted upon day in and day out can achieve great results because it has follow through.

While I’ve listed out a few methods here, its important that you select ideas you can personally commit to and are willing to do every day, week and month from here on out. Don’t be sidetracked by the “latest and greatest” idea. Stick with your personal choices, and make them work for you.

Rinse and Repeat

At the end of the year, sit down with your calendar and decide what worked and what didn’t.

If a special event didn’t work, change it out and try something else. It may not be the event itself – maybe it’s the way you promoted it. Take what you learned from the year, and build a new plan around it.

Never stop your daily marketing methods cold. Instead, phase in an additional task, and fade out an old one.