Marketing help

[Breezy85]

In short, only show what you want to sell and your perceived value is everything.

Definitely agree with that.
Funny thing is that I can network like a boss. LOL! I've got networking down solid, it's just turning that into selling is where I lack.

 

[KmH]

Are you selling in person? Or do you put images online and let your customers browse through them.

Photographers that sell in person generally have, at least, a 4x larger average sale than those that don't sell in person.
The Kindle edition of this book is free:
The Psychology of Salesmanship

I read this salesmanship classic years ago:
How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling

 

[Breezy85]

Are you selling in person? Or do you put images online and let your customers browse through them.

Photographers that sell in person generally have, at least, a 4x larger average sale than those that don't sell in person.
The Kindle edition of this book is free:
The Psychology of Salesmanship

I read this salesmanship classic years ago:
How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling

Thanks for the reads, I'll check those out. I do both online and in person. Just nobody ever bites. Everyone wants close to nothing, they just don't understand the concept of services aren't free.

 

[Vtec44]

In short, only show what you want to sell and your perceived value is everything.

Definitely agree with that.
Funny thing is that I can network like a boss. LOL! I've got networking down solid, it's just turning that into selling is where I lack.

You're not just selling but you're selling something intangible. Some people treat photography as a service, which is a standardized process that can be repeated by anyone. Others sell it as something intangible that can only be done by a few. Some take it a bit further by leveraging social proofing and the strength of the brand. At that point, you're not selling based on quality but based on the name of your brand. It goes back to perceived value. Is a Porsche 918 ten times better than an Acura NSX? Some people don't think so, some people do. Regardless, the Porsche brand can draw enough demand to charge 10x more than Acura brand.

 

[Olivia Green]

Have you tried marketing your brand online? People now are searching for everything on internet first and then go for offline work. If people around you are searching for "photographer in specific area" and your website shows up with outstanding images, you're getting hired. Build a decent portfolio website with your best 20-40 images and link an about and contact page with it. I personally do not like when people add the pricing on website since it can reduce the number of leads but again its personal. You can always decide the pricing when you meet. Optimize your website for local area and make sure that your website ranks when people search for photographers around your area.

 

[Breezy85]

Have you tried marketing your brand online? People now are searching for everything on internet first and then go for offline work. If people around you are searching for "photographer in specific area" and your website shows up with outstanding images, you're getting hired. Build a decent portfolio website with your best 20-40 images and link an about and contact page with it. I personally do not like when people add the pricing on website since it can reduce the number of leads but again its personal. You can always decide the pricing when you meet. Optimize your website for local area and make sure that your website ranks when people search for photographers around your area.

Yeah I'm in the process of rebuilding my website and will be making it so that it will come up in searches.

 

[ac12]

. . . . Just nobody ever bites. Everyone wants close to nothing, they just don't understand the concept of services aren't free.

Then that has to be part of your marketing.
If they don't understand, you have to educate them on what they get for what they pay.

WHY should they hire a pro, when Uncle Jim can take the pictures. Uncle Jim has a fancy camera.​

WHY should they hire a pro, when friend Bob can take it with his camera phone.
​

You have to have a GOOD reply to these types of questions, that is not degrading of the relative or friend.

 

[Breezy85]

. . . . Just nobody ever bites. Everyone wants close to nothing, they just don't understand the concept of services aren't free.

Then that has to be part of your marketing.
If they don't understand, you have to educate them on what they get for what they pay.

WHY should they hire a pro, when Uncle Jim can take the pictures. Uncle Jim has a fancy camera.​

WHY should they hire a pro, when friend Bob can take it with his camera phone.
​

You have to have a GOOD reply to these types of questions, that is not degrading of the relative or friend.

Oh I get that and try to explain it. They still would rather go with a friend or family member who will do it for free, then realize after the fact that the pictures are crap and they wish they hired a pro.

 

[ac12]

A reverse ad might be possible.
Ask them if you can quote their after-the-fact feeling, when they used a family member/friend, and it did not work.
It would not be endorsing you, but endorsing the service of using a pro.

However, this is very tricky to do right. Negative word can get back to the family member or friend, and problems can arise from that.
So it has to be generalized to hide the identity of all parties.

 

[Breezy85]

A reverse ad might be possible.
Ask them if you can quote their after-the-fact feeling, when they used a family member/friend, and it did not work.
It would not be endorsing you, but endorsing the service of using a pro.

However, this is very tricky to do right. Negative word can get back to the family member or friend, and problems can arise from that.
So it has to be generalized to hide the identity of all parties.

Interesting. Though I know there's only so much you can do to fix bad photos. Haha
What kind of wording would you recommend?

 

[ac12]

You will have to combine the experiences of several people, to hide the individual identities.
Off the top of my head, something like these two.

For my X event, we asked Uncle Y to take the pictures for us, to save money.
But Uncle Y was not a pro and did not get the shots, poses, people that we wanted.
And he spent half the time at the bar.
When we got the pictures, we were less than happy. The tops of head were cut off, no pictures of some of the important guests, etc. The pictures later in the evening were bad, because Uncle had too much to drink.

Cousin M was a good landscape photographer, but he did not know how to pose people, so the group pictures were not as good as they could and should have been. People just lined up and he shot it. He did not arrange people or directed them on how to stand. So Uncle A was not next to his wife, you could not see everyone's faces, cousin J was texting on his phone, etc.

 

[Breezy85]

Ah okay.
Yeah a couple I'm friends with "hired" a friend of theirs to do pictures at their wedding. Then I saw my friend post to FB saying they were completely disappointed in the photos and asked for anyone who had gotten pictures at their wedding to send them. When I saw the pictures I was astonished. Very bright, blown out from the sun. Formal portraits were not very well framed and you can see the parking lot and cars in the background. There was no consideration for what was in the background, obviously no idea how to compensate the photos for the bright sunlight, so exposure was way off, some even completely out of focus (background in focus, people blurry). She said it took MONTHS for them to get the photos and when they finally did, they were very disappointed. It was sad. This was her wedding day and the photos sucked.

 

[ac12]

Ah okay.
Yeah a couple I'm friends with "hired" a friend of theirs to do pictures at their wedding. Then I saw my friend post to FB saying they were completely disappointed in the photos and asked for anyone who had gotten pictures at their wedding to send them. When I saw the pictures I was astonished. Very bright, blown out from the sun. Formal portraits were not very well framed and you can see the parking lot and cars in the background. There was no consideration for what was in the background, obviously no idea how to compensate the photos for the bright sunlight, so exposure was way off, some even completely out of focus (background in focus, people blurry). She said it took MONTHS for them to get the photos and when they finally did, they were very disappointed. It was sad. This was her wedding day and the photos sucked.

Heard similar from a friend.
But in their case, the lighting at the venue was difficult. BRIGHT sun lit background to shadow where the people were. It was like backlighting.

 

[DaviFlody]

Digital marketing is a diverse and complex thing which requires a bit of experience and understanding of the market in general. You should find a marketing expert which will analyze the whole situation of your company and create a special personalized strategy that will make your promotion go faster and more effective. Also I can suggest you to read information about groove funnels on xnura and use it. This is a really useful tool when you want to sell your product on the internet. Personally I considerably increased my sales with groove funnels.