Archive for email marketing

Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Email Triggers

Firstly I’m hoping that you use database management software to organise all of your lovely clients. If not put it at the very top of your shopping list as it will make you more money than any lens, Photoshop action or whatever else has caught your eye at a trade show.

You might only have one client and think its not the right time to invest in software that you’ll not really be using that much for a while. In fact it’s the perfect time as you don’t have to waste hours inputting old data from a spreadsheet and you’ll have time to develop your system and processes.

If you can’t afford much then you can’t go far wrong than the free version of Studio Cloud to start you off. Although the email triggers are a paid upgrade ($30 per month) to the free service but it’s done as a monthly subscription which will certainly make things more affordable.

Marketing your business can be a tiresome affair so it’s a delightful relief when

  1. Things are automated
  2. You don’t have to look for new clients because you already have a database full of them.

One of the best things about photography is that it’s not a one off event. Weddings are arguably one offs but they’ll probably have kids and want pictures of them at some stage. The point is that just because you sold a £1000 wall art to someone last year doesn’t mean they’re not going to want another one this year.

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Marketing Campaigns for Photographers – Shooting Santa

When I talk about Shooting Santa in the run up to Christmas other portrait photographers often look at me baffled and ask ‘Why do you bother? You can’t make much money doing that.’

In a way that might be true but short term financial gain isn’t what I do it for. My real reason for shooting Santa……. Data collection and promotion.

Last year I had a Santa set-up at a Christmas market which cost me nothing as I agreed to take a handful of ‘promotional’ shots for the event organisers. I wasn’t by any means the official photographer for the event but as they had paid for the Santa they just wanted some images of him walking around a bit. For the sake of a few happy snaps I’d saved myself a nice bundle for the pitch rent and my model fees.

I had done similar shoots in the past and experimented with selling and printing onsite. This always proved to be a logistical nightmare and the weather always threw it’s spanner into the works.

Last year I changed tactics and rather than worrying about making a little extra pocket money I concentrated on getting the numbers in and capturing data.

The set-up was simple enough….. Santa sitting on a chair….. Put child on Santa and shoot.

Instead of putting images online or previewing the shots on a laptop I simply showed the the back of my camera and offered the parents the digital image for a small sum (about £5). I then got the parents details and emailed them the image the very next day. Read More→

How to “Nudge” Your Clients to Pick Up the Phone and Call

A while back I wrote a Weekly Business Tip titled “Email Marketing is Not Dead. Here are 8 Tips to Help You Build a Successful List”. I truly believe email marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with past and future clients. It’s a soft-sell approach to keep in front of them on a regular basis so when the need arises to hire a photographer you will be the first one they think of.

Hopefully those who read that article took my advice and created a list of your current clients and prospects and started your email marketing campaign. For those of you who didn’t or if you are just coming on-board now, there’s no better time than the present.

If you’ve been running an email marketing campaign for a while you may find yourself getting frustrated with the results. You spend the time creating your newsletters, company updates, special offers, etc. but are seeing very little return on your time investment. Don’t worry this is normal! On average if you are getting a 20% open rate you’re doing good and remember that the 20% who are opening your emails may not necessarily be in the market to hire a photographer at that time.

Unless you are a commercial photographer doing repeat work with advertising agencies, graphic design studios, etc. the need for a professional photographer doesn’t come up on a daily basis. But if you’re a wedding photographer who also shoots portraits you could find yourself getting new work from existing clients as their lives change. You may start with their wedding, then roll in to baby portraits, then yearly holiday family portraits. The objective with email marketing is to stay in front of your past clients so when these life changes happen you’ll be there to capture them. Read More→

Starting a Photography Business: Part 27 – I’m here are you?

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your support and kind comments that you made as you took a look at my site this last week. I was touched and humbled by your emails, tweets and FB messages. I have passed on all of your comments on the ease of the site navigation, and the design, to my web designer at SmartDeCat, as apart from my sign up box, and inclusion of four photos on the homepage, the design is one of their templates.

It’s been really exciting launching the site, there were a couple of butterflies on Monday as it went live, and then it took a while for it to sink in that you are now able to see it, which is fantastic! I’ve kind of had to keep pinching myself this week to realise that it’s really happened, but the fact I don’t have to go to the site via the admin page tells me it’s real. A few months ago my web designer said it’s been ages since he’s been to the front of the site to see what his customers see, and I have to say I thought this was a little odd. Hmm, well actually my ego thought this was a little odd, wouldn’t I be on my site every day to look at my beautiful photos? Why of course I would!

Well actually I’ve not! I’ve found a far more addictive thing to do; watch the footfall of visitors across the site, it was, and well still is, really addictive. The software lets me see how many people are on the site and how many visits each page has; it was a bit like when I first got a Twitter and Facebook account, where I felt the need to check it every two minutes. Read More→

Tools for Your Photography Business – Software and Online Presence

There are dozens of tools you’ll need to set up a successful photography business. The bad news is that simply owning a nice camera doesn’t make you a professional photographer…… although sadly some folk seem to think it does!

We’re going to be looking at some of the essential tools you’ll need to acquire in at least the first year (if not the first month) of your business. There are cheaper alternatives to some of the suggestions I make but my advise is buy the best you can afford otherwise you’ll end up paying twice for it.

Many of the suggestions are in fact free so I am suggesting some the cheapest tools you can source! In time you’ll make upgrades but these suggestions are a good place to start.

Part 1 – Software and Online presence

In this section we’re going to be looking at your businesses digital presence and just some of the software you’ll be needing. Of course there are dozen of other programs and applications that I use that I’m not going to mention here but this is just dealing with the essentials.

Photoshop

I’m going to start off with the most obvious as it really has to be THE essential tool for a photography business. Lightroom and Aperture are both great tools but if I had a choice of only one then I wouldn’t think twice about shouting Photoshop at the top of my lungs.

The reason this is such an easy choice for me is that running a photography business is not just about processing images. You’re going to be doing lots of design work that other software just isn’t built for.

Photoshop does also have the advantage of working very well with other programs. At a later stage you’ll be adding other programs like InDesign or the very powerful (and free) PhotoJunction from Queensbury then Photoshop works wonderfully with both.

In the beginning Photoshop is probably going to be one of your most expensive acquisitions, but know that even Photoshop Elements can be upgraded to a full version eventually if cash is tight. Read More→