camz
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2009
- Messages
- 1,878
- Reaction score
- 285
- Location
- Bay Area
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Man if I only knew then what I know now as the saying goes...
If I were just starting out and had to do it all over again to promote myself, I would probably invest the 500 dollars towards my business relationships. Like mentioned above, this is a referral business. But from my experience, other photographers fail to realize is what is the break down of that referral business? Most photographers believe that referrals only come from the existing clients, and that maybe the case in the start but what I saw is that after a few years, the referrals from existing clients dropped significantly. Today we get about 30% business referrals from existing clients. The rest of the breakdown comes from other relationships, like other photographers, videographers, DJ's, event planners, friends, favors, boutiques, relatives, Priests, Pastors, Church organizers and I actually booked a couple of weddings through TPF, our business group, realtors.
So how do you spend that $500 towards those relationships? Easy...you become their friends. Go out to cofee with them like you were going out with a friend for example. Shoot as a second shooter for another photographer, or help out another videographer. Give other vendors referrals and they will also give you referrals. Do shoots for free in the industry your in as favors. Be involved in your community. Build a solid relationships and be around your target market.
Good luck!
If I were just starting out and had to do it all over again to promote myself, I would probably invest the 500 dollars towards my business relationships. Like mentioned above, this is a referral business. But from my experience, other photographers fail to realize is what is the break down of that referral business? Most photographers believe that referrals only come from the existing clients, and that maybe the case in the start but what I saw is that after a few years, the referrals from existing clients dropped significantly. Today we get about 30% business referrals from existing clients. The rest of the breakdown comes from other relationships, like other photographers, videographers, DJ's, event planners, friends, favors, boutiques, relatives, Priests, Pastors, Church organizers and I actually booked a couple of weddings through TPF, our business group, realtors.
So how do you spend that $500 towards those relationships? Easy...you become their friends. Go out to cofee with them like you were going out with a friend for example. Shoot as a second shooter for another photographer, or help out another videographer. Give other vendors referrals and they will also give you referrals. Do shoots for free in the industry your in as favors. Be involved in your community. Build a solid relationships and be around your target market.
Good luck!
