As a wedding photographer there’s nothing worse than receiving a great lead from a big spending past client only to realise that you’re already booked!
This certainly happens to me more and more as my own business grows but with every disappointment there’s an opportunity. An opportunity to build on relationships with my referral network.
The worst thing you can do in such a case is to reply to such enquiries with a note saying….. sorry we’re already booked ……. actually that’s the second worst thing you can do….. the first is to just ignore the enquiry altogether.
This could be potentially damaging to relationships you’ve already built with past clients. At the very least letting them know you book up a year in advance will act as a call to action in regards to any other potential client they might send your way.
Your network
This requires some good research and dare I say it….. actually meeting and befriending your competition.
The first thing to do is to actually find out who your competition is. This isn’t just photographers that are local to you but ones that are at the same level as you. There’s no point recommending someone who shoots with a team of photographers, produces stunning high-end wedding storybooks and charges $10,000 just to turn up if you do shoot to burn wedding at $500 a pop and only advertise on Craig’s List.
These are not your competition.
Look for photographers that use the same suppliers as you, have experience at the same venues and most importantly are willing to return the favour.
This isn’t something that will boost referrals overnight but in the wedding industry you do have to play the long game.
Building relationships take time and for a while they might seem a little one sided but with the right people in your network you can all help each other’s businesses flourish.
This doesn’t have to stop at photographers either. A question I’m asked more and more is do I do video or do I know anyone worth hiring.
Be careful with this one as many Videographers also offer photography so might end up losing a job to them! Just make sure you have that contract signed and deposit cashed! The same rules apply to the type of videographer you recommend. If you’re charging $5000 a wedding and they’re offering a ‘add photography’ option for $500 then your clients are going to feel a little but hard done by….. no matter how much they like you and your images.
If this idea interests you then you might want to also read It’s Good to Talk (to Other Photographers) and Building Your Photography Support Network
This is the seventeenth in our series looking at different marketing campaigns for photographers.
Also in this series:
- Win a Car!
- Gift Vouchers
- The Facebook Group Tag
- #archiveday
- Refer a Friend
- The Exhibition
- The Humble Keyring
- Getting Press
- Baby Passport Pictures
- The Wedding venue blog page
- The Wedding Venue Video
- 45 mins of daily social media marketing
- The Behind the Scenes video
- Get Your Social Media 5 A Day
- Blog Everything
- Publish a book
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Michael has been working as a photographer for the last ten years. In that time he has shot over 100,000 peoples’ portraits and worked in four different continents. In 2001 Michael graduated with a degree in photography from Manchester Metropolitan University.