Marketing Campaigns for Photographers

This is the sixth in our series looking at different marketing campaigns for photographers.

Also in this series:

Marketing Campaigns for Photographers #6 The Exhibition

I’ve visited quite a few different high street portrait studios before and there always seems to be one thing that the owners struggle with…… attracting walk in clients.

They have a wonderful window display…. fantastic offers and their studio is in a prime location….. and yet people still seem to walk past. Perhaps this might come as some reassurance to others who don’t have a prime location but that’s not what we’re going to focus on today!

Today’s campaign is about organizing an exhibition of your work. This campaign can be done even if you don’t have a studio. You can even organise a group exhibition with some other local photographers to save on costs.

What you won’t achieve…

I thought I’d better start off by letting you know what you probably (although some might) not achieve with your exhibition.

Easily measurable results.
Lots of sales of your artwork.
An immediate financial return.

What you want to achieve

Local awareness and networking opportunities.
Some free press!
A reason for your passers by to pop in and have a look around.
A bit of excitement!

What to show

Images that you consider to be your Signature Style
Images taken in the last 12 months
Images that you didn’t already sell to clients
Images that have won awards…. and make surre people know that fact!

Organising the Exhibition

Take time to organise your images and consider how they might be best displayed in the space you have available.
Larger images have more impact so have your images made as big as possible.
Always choose quality over quantity – the point of the exhibition is to show your best work not to make lots of print sales.
Re-edit the images you intend to show…. I’m sure you can make them better!
Have a coffee table book made of the images on show and sell copies…. but don’t make it too expensive!
Create postcard packs of the images to sell (cheaply) – moo.com is perfect for this.

The Private View

This is really where you’ll reap all of the benefits from your exhibition. Here’s a few things that are important:

If you don’t have staff to help you then hire some in. Ideally you’ll want them to be able to talk confidently about you and your work.
Have lots of food and lots of nibbles!
If you can try and get a local celebrity involved in the opening
Create gift bags for attendees, you can ask local businesses if they’d like to sponsor you by adding in some product samples.

Who to invite

First and foremost……. the press…. make sure you mention that local celeb you have coming along!
All of your past clients…. especially those whose pictures you are showing…. sent them extra invites for their friends too!
Local businesses and networking contacts.

Friends and family are great for making up the numbers but be careful you don’t have too many!

Depending on how many images you have on show you might want to consider having a pre-private viewing session with your clients who have images in the exhibition. They can invite family along and perhaps you’ll be able to put a couple of sold tickets on the images even before the exhibition officially opens!

How to promote

Promotion does depend on budget so it’s really up to you. I would suggest using your business and client network first before you start taking out press ads.

Social networking can also play a big part in your exhibitions success so make sure you utilise it!

The most important thing to remember….

Organising an exhibition like this is all about getting your name out there and reminding people who you are and what you do. In terms of bringing cold hard cash into your business this one is a bit of a slow burner but it will certainly increase your profile if it’s done well.

Good luck!

Notes

Download our action plan sheet to help you get organised and create your own campaign.

Download Photographer Marketing Campaign Action Plan Sheet

For a little bit more guidance read the introductory article or this series:

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Michael Shilling

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.

Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – The Exhibition