How to Generate More Business??

[stacia_harrington]

<p>I am a newer wedding photographer. I graduated college two years ago and have been second shooting and assiting for the last two years to gain experience and build my portfolio. I set up my website in the fall and have booked a few weddings for the year. I would love to book more! I know most wedding business comes by word of mouth, but does anyone have any other cost effective suggestions? I've tried to go to networking events for local wedding vendors but haven't found that helpful. Most people at those events don't seem to take me seriously because A- I'm so young and B- I'm so new to the industry. I would love any suggestions! Thanks!</p>

[duncan_holmes2]

<p>The thing is, most other vendors, whether it be florists or chauffeurs, are busy folk with their own concerns. You have to find something you can give/offer them for little cost to yourself, but which will give great benefits to them.<br>

In my own case I am currently working on building a relationship with the Florist's in my town. I'm taking pictures of their displays, bouquets etc. for their book, in return my portfolio (along with the pictures I have taken for them) is being shown in a digital frame in their shop with my name and logo all over the place. They also have my business cards, if anyone asks. They are getting free product photography, I get free exposure (less the cost of my digital frame), it's early days yet, but I am confident that this will begin to bear fruit over the coming months.<br>

Being persistent (not insistent) pays off as well, be polite, recognise their needs, talk clearly and express yourself well, hit the points you want to hit, all the usual sales techniques you might use with a wedding couple should be used when selling yourself to another vendor.<br>

The more expensive route is "Be Seen", go to some of the smaller bridal shows with all your wares on display, build up your relationships with other vendors at these events. You need to have your display materials up to scratch for this, albums, prints of whatever extra pzazz you are selling! If you impress them, and make friends with them, they are more likely to entertain you when you want to talk about cross promotion</p>

[fuccisphotos]

<p>If you'd post your website on your listing that'd be helpful so we can look through that.</p>

[stacia_harrington]

<p>Thank you for the response so far. My website is www.StaciaHarringtonPhotography.com I would love any feedback or suggestions there as well!</p>

[thesaltypeanut]

<p>That's awesome Duncan!<br>

The only thing that I would add is to still take on those second photographer jobs. You will probably get a handful of referrals from them when they can't do a job because they are booked.</p>

[bill_clark___minnetonka_mi]

<p>Hi Stacia!</p>

<p>Best to Your Success as A Professional Photographer.</p>

<p>Just a couple of ideas to help:<br /> M<em>aybe put where you are located somewhere on your main page along with a telephone number and email.</em> <br /> I find that people are so busy that the main web page is sometimes all they look at.<br /> <br /> <em>Would it be better to have the music off when the site is first seen and the opportunity to turn it on? </em><br /> I've found that many of my potential clients look at my web site from work and if they are in a cube with the volume up then many co-workers will know when she first sees your site.<br /> <br /> <em>Flash </em><br /> The majority of businesses headquartered here block flash web sites. What about your potential clients?<br /> <br /> Do you have a local organization of photographers you could network with and also have the opportunity to attend seminars offered that could help you?<br /> Do you use social networking sites to broaden your business contacts?<br /> Owing a successful business is challenging. Keep positive. I have plenty of ups & downs. I try not to let the downs get to me but every once in a while I will scratch my head asking myself why Am I doing this? I love people and I love wedding photography. It's in my heart & soul.<br /> Find someone in the photography business who would be willing to be your friend, mentor & coach.<br /> Stay tuned here as we want to help each other.</p>

<p><em><br /></em></p>

<p> </p>

[michaelchadwickphotography]

<p>Stacia,</p>

<p>I second the notion of continuing as a second shooter. When I have a bride that asks about a date that I already have booked, who do you think I send her to? : )</p>

<p>Building vendor relationships is also important - you need to offer them something so that they will offer you something in return. That's the way it works. Duncan's example is a perfect one.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Read the following.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00Jbns">http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00Jbns</a></p>

[steven_podlecki]

<p>Stacia,<br>

<br /> Young & New is never a bad thing. I myself, being 24, feel your pain in that sense. My profession is web master & programmer. I love all types of art and try to assist people when I can. One thing I've learned is that age is just a number in the business world. Present yourself as a business and that is how you are treated. Goes for the 15 year old walking around offering to mow your lawn and for the 72 year old business owner who flies around the world gathering leads. No matter what you're industry -- be a business. You are in it to survive. When you act upon that -- you'll do just fine.<br /> A few ideas & tips for the web portion of your business:</p>

<ul>

<li> Currently the website is a template -- you may want to (down the road) customize it to your business. Be unique & creative.</li>

<li> Your home page is fine, consider putting 1-3 sentence paragraph introducing your business.</li>

<li> Your website is very informative, possibly too informative. Consider condensing a little bit. If that isn't a possibility, not a problem. Just know that people are lazy. Our eye's are even lazier. In this technological day, we want our information and we want it NOW. Not 30 seconds ago, not 30 seconds from now, we want it this instant!</li>

<li> Blog, it is a great thing! Your last post was in March -- you should really post (it doesn't even have to contain photographs) every month. Blog's are a commitment and is a very important part of your business. If not for your viewers, do it for the search engines.</li>

<li> Flash vs HTML... If you are looking to gain leads from the internet, I really suggest not using Flash. Search Engines, for the most part, can not read swf (flash) files. If you do want a full flash website, consider creating a HTML/Flash hybrid in which the user can select what they want to view. SEO is important if you are using the website as a sales tool.</li>

<li> The link that was posted by Nadine is a good one. Full of information and ideas to promote your business without shoving it someone's face.</li>

<li> Make sure you use the website. You will gain leads through your website... but only if you actually use it. Place it on business cards, e-mail signatures, forum signatures, faxes, voicemail, the works.</li>

</ul>

<p>For marketing your website....<br />There are plenty of solutions out there. PPC, Postcards, Flyers, Seminars, ect. You'll have to really test which has the best ROI for you specifically. What works for someone else may not work for you. The real challenge with this is to calculate the actual ROI. 1 person is not equal to another. You may have 1 client that wants their wedding done, but know 4 people that wish to have an engagement session done. The "word-of-mouth" is very powerful. Use it to your benefit, when they are crazy about your services and they come back to pick up prints and such... ask for a referral. By ask, it can be simply.... "It's be an absolute pleasure, here is a few of my business cards, if you know anyone in need of a Professional Photographer....." -- that tiny action could easily turn 1 event into 4. All for the cost of 5-10 business cards.</p>

[cathy_and_david_bock]

<p>Don't waste your money with advertising, local events etc. Spend that money on making your clients happy, on taking amazing photos, and providing your clients with excellent service and products. You'll get more business from doing your job right and taking your time than you will trying to jump on in and paying your way into the business.<br>

Don't get me wrong you can still do awesome with word of mouth and providing great service. But that should be where you're getting business. As well, communicate with other photogs in the area and network. It will help a lot too. :)</p>

[rachel_peek]

<p>Never give away anything for free. All kinds of business owners will ask you to do stuff for free in exchange for "advertising value". Don't buy into it. Always make sure you get something tangible in exchange for your effort. It might not be money or goods, but it should be something that is of value and is immediately of use to you.<br>

Word-of-mouth referrals and your website will always be your biggest resource and building your website is the best investment (in time and money) that you can make. Your money is definitely better spent on search engine optimization than on printed advertising. Some printed advertising may work for you, but the experience of most people I talk to is paying to advertise in most magazines and publications is too costly with no return on investment.</p>

<p>You do need to put some time and effort (and a little money) into building name recognition in other ways. In the beginning, the most inexpensive way to get your name out there is to hand out business cards everywhere within your targeted location (we leave a business card with the check for the waiter whenever we leave a restaurant!). Leaving promotional postcards at targeted stations (like at your hair dresser's, who is more likely to hand them out to a potential client than say your mechanic) is also a good way to spread your name around. And, even better, since the wedding dress is almost always the first thing a bride shops for when planning her wedding, if you can strike up a rapport with the owner of a local bridal salon who will let you leave some of your marketing materials there, maybe even a professionally printed photo book of your work, you'll really start to make your mark in your community. (If you do decide to leave a book with a bridal salon, don't spend too much on it because they get beat up pretty quickly and sometimes they are even stolen).</p>

<p>Tossing around business cards is the shot gun approach, but it is necessary in the beginning and if you order cards through Overnight Prints when they have sales, your annual investment for these types of printed materials will be remarkably low. You can also brand your car (put a logo with a URL and phone number on the back) BUT you must get the right kind of business license to legally do this AND you must make sure your insurance will cover any loss, theft or damage to your car or (items inside your car) if its crashed, stolen or broken into. We've talked to many photographers who wanted to brand their car but were fearful they'd be painting a big target on it to crooks and thieves and the like. We've branded our car for the past 5 years and have never had an issue--knock on wood (just in case, while we may leave lights and extension cords in the car, we never leave anything really valuable like cameras, lenses or CF cards of images--those things are always on us when we're out in the field). The decals only cost us about $35 and it was only $10 to add vehicle advertising to our business license fee, and we've booked at least 2 high-end weddings as a direct result of someone seeing our car for the first time, and we book tons of portrait sessions because we constantly meet people who say, "Oh! I know you! I see your car all the time at -- (insert whatever location they saw us at). Hey, I need new photos. How do I book a session with you?". They may not have ever even seen our work, but they instantly trust us because they see our name all around town. Car branding really does work if you're willing to try it out.</p>

<p>Whatever you end up doing, just know that it will take a couple of years for name recognition to really build up. It's just something you have to keep working at it.</p>