I have a feeling that when you first started your photography business, the two main things you did was start a Facebook page and open an Instagram account. Am I right? I’m here to tell you that there is so much more to marketing than social media.
Google My Business: Think about the sheer number of new clients you’d be able to get if your website showed up as the first result when people were looking for a photographer. Now I know what you’re thinking- it takes forever to rank high in Google and that you’re probably not enough of an SEO expert to get your name on the top few pages. It seems impossible with all the competition out there. I’m going to save all the SEO talk for another blog post but one of the easiest things you can do is create a Google My Business profile and list your photography business so that it appears in searches and maps.
When creating your My Business account, you will need to make sure your address, business category, business name, website are all correct and you will need to verify your address but once complete, clients can give you reviews which will help you stand out even more amongst the others in your area.
An Email List: Have you heard the saying, if your business is built on social media, it is sitting on rented land? That is because you don’t own your social media accounts. You have almost no control over your social media accounts and tomorrow Facebook can decide that you will no longer have a Facebook account either forever or just temporary ( they put people in Facebook jail ALL THE TIME) or that your Instagram account is just going to disappear for no reason at all. I’m sure you have heard of the horror stories. Marketing yourself solely on social media accounts is such an awful thing to do simply because they can get shut down tomorrow- having 1 follower or 1million, it makes no difference.
When you start to build an email list, the people are giving you their email address along with permission for you to email them as needed indefinitely ( till they unsubscribe IF they unsubscribe) and you can take their emails with you wherever you go. If you decide to switch email marketing platforms, you simply export those emails and move them wherever you want. No, you don’t OWN those emails but as long as you continue to have permission to email them, you will always have the ability to send them emails and market your business.
Now that I have convinced you that email marketing is a valuable tool in your business to market your services, you probably want to know what platform I suggest that you use and how. I use Kajabi for email marketing as well as membership platform, Woven however if you don’t need a robust platform like the all-in-one tool Kajabi is, I would take a peek at getting started with Flodesk. Flodesk is affordable, easy to use, the templates are beautiful and I love that you can build beautiful forms to capture emails. If you want to give Flodesk a try, use this LINK to get 50% off your subscription.
Heart: When you have your Ideal Client in mind and want to serve them with all your heart, you will find no better marketing tool. You never want to be the photographer that only sells sells sells, instead use your heart to serve your community to the best of your ability. Give them tools, tricks, advice, and help them without asking for anything in return. When you’re ready to sell something, your community will be eager to take you up on your offering, they will trust your authority and feel a connection to you like they wouldn’t have if you didn’t put your heart forward by serving them and helping them solve their problems.
Lastly…Canva: You want to market your business and you want to do it in a way that is beautiful, on-brand, and aesthetically pleasing BUT you don’t have the budget for a graphic designer. In comes Canva… You can create the most stunning ON BRAND graphics for Instagram stories, Instagram posts, Facebook ads, business cards- you name it. Canva is the marketing tool to have in your back pocket when a custom graphic designer isn’t in the budget.
Next time you go to market your business, think outside of Facebook and Instagram and dig into something new. Spend your time creating a Google listing, setting up an email marketing list, or just brainstorm ways that you can show and serve your community with heart.
If you’re interested in learning more ways to market your business, let’s have coffee and chat. I’m available for one on one mentorships and would love to get to know you, your business, and more about your community.
