How do you market to the MySpace generation?

[CrimsonFoxPhotography]

So, I've been a little torn about the best way to market to the partygoers. To help explain a little more, when starting out I would simply show up to public events such as parades and festivals. With permission, I would shoot for free and pass out business cards to get my name out there. As time progressed, I started charging people I handed my business cards out to to purchase prints of their photos. This worked fairly well since I live in a very family-oriented community.

But how does this translate to club life..attending parties/clubs, tailgates, etc? We live in a facebook and myspace generation where young people just want to put their photos online to share with their friends. For most of them, prints and albums likely mean little. Makes sense, but the problem is that giving away digitals is [potentially] business suicide for residual income.

I have shifted my attention to weddings, quiceaneras, and family portraits. Along those lines, I'm selling more than simply my photos..I'm preserving memories so the quality and presentation of the albums and frames is an important part of the pitch. If they were to get digital copies, in my eyes, they should be charged quite a bit for them since the chance that they will reproduce the images themselves is very high. Do this with the MySpace crowd, and they're likely to turn away.

So what are some good ways to pitch and market great photography to the MySpace/Facebook crowd? I love Facebook, and it can be great for marketing since potentially hundreds of people can get to see my work if someone is proud enough to post it. But a customer merely having a digital copy of an image of mine...will they bother coming back?

 

[Karen_esmerelda]

Its my generation and younger that you are talking about. I personally sell prints directly to most of them. I also pitch the gift idea to them. Because most of them don't have houses yet they can buy for someone who does. So far thats been my experience.