Sunday, September 28, 2008

FAQ: Marketing?

Many of you have sent us emails asking questions like these:
"How do you get business and set yourself apart from other photographers?"
"What do you do to market yourselves?"
"How do you book someone on the spot?" 
"How can I get my booking percentage up?"
etc.....

We would like to answer one of these questions this blog post, and hopefully the answer will help you with your other questions....

Marketing:
Marketing is sooooo important to your business. When talking with Photographers I have found that the most popular forms of Marketing are these: Networking, word of mouth, wedding expos, Magazines, and wedding ADs. We have tried them all, and so have our friends in the biz. They are all great areas of marketing, and they will ALL help your biz. Of course word of mouth is a slam dunk. You get the Brides you want,  they will value your work, and they spread your name like it's free candy. I would say the second best is Networking. When we first started photography, we had an excellent group of photographers that would pass biz around. And we are still Blessed beyond all belief with great referrals from other photo friends. Also networking with Vendors has really helped our biz. They love our style and they believe in our product of photography. Any referrals we get from our vendor friends are very strong, and much more effective then a 1/2 page ad in some random magazine. 
Marketing your biz is fun, and if you do it right you will grow your business successfully. 

In our next post I will spend more time talking about different ways to network and get referrals. 

Completely off subject: Mark just got back from "Man-cation 2008!" He, Doug Boutwell (Totally Rad Actions), Victor Sizemore, Alex Hill, and Micheal Heddin of Evoke Photography, headed out to Vic's home town. 
They did many manly activities: Victor hooked it up and got us some private tours of the Louisville bat factory, Four Roses Bourbon distillery, Church hill downs (where the Kentucky derby is held) and shot some guns.....Yes very manly things!








7 comments:

Nicole Neff Photography said...

Those are some AWESOME images of Churchill Downs. Your work just keeps getting better and better. : )

Holly said...

Remember I asked you if I could use your images for my article that I was writing? Well it's published here now: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1044519/top_10_wedding_photography_blogs.html?page=2&cat=23 I guess they thought I was trying to steal the images that I attached so they didn't approve any of those, but you're still on the list :)

Great advice on marketing on this blog also ;)

Caitlin said...

Hey I don't know if you guys are into the [b]school, but becker also has some valuable advice on the subject of running a photo biz...

Anonymous said...

LOVE the Churchill Downs photo!!!

On a side note, you guys snagged us at the LA bridal expo...one of my girls picked up a flier and I looked you up online when I got home...so that worked for us!!

Anonymous said...

It was cool meeting you guys at church yesterday! (great service by the way) I really enjoy your work and hopefully I'll run in to you guys again. Oh, and the picture of the old barn is so killer!!

Brandon Williams said...

Mark you images are awesome as ever... I love the last one. Look forward to seeing you at the [b]school and maybe we can get you down our way for a PPT meeting.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post on marketing. Looking forward for more.