Advertising

Scootersbabygirl

I'm really curious how everyone who has a photography business doing portraiture - weddings/senior portraits/family portraits/ect, have gone about getting their name known. Where I live there is one established photographer, so everyone immediately thinks of only him when they think of their photo needs, and I'm trying to figure out how best to get my name known without having to spend a fortune on advertising. I've currently got $50 per month budgeted for advertising (it costs $22 for a business card sized ad in the local paper. Any other advertising tips and tricks that have worked for you? Thanks!

njdrumrun

Scootersbabygirl wrote:

I'm really curious how everyone who has a photography business doing portraiture - weddings/senior portraits/family portraits/ect, have gone about getting their name known. Where I live there is one established photographer, so everyone immediately thinks of only him when they think of their photo needs, and I'm trying to figure out how best to get my name known without having to spend a fortune on advertising. I've currently got $50 per month budgeted for advertising (it costs $22 for a business card sized ad in the local paper. Any other advertising tips and tricks that have worked for you? Thanks!

i have a new embroidery business. going on 2 years and i have found that paying for advertising is the biggest WASTE of money. i also have the problem of the local, been here for 20 years guy. he is friends with everyone and i think he is a great guy too. 95% of my business is referrels. 5% is internet or phone book. my thoughts, i am doing things cheaper than i would like but every time i get a new client because of a referrel, it pays off. small profit is better than no profit and it is growing.

i am starting to get back into photography. concentrating on sports. now maybe this is not the way to go about it but i have time, it is money i am lacking. i am shooting pics for many things at cost. soccer, baseball, lacrosse, equestian events. i need the practice, examples of my work and it gets my name out there. when i am confident that i can deliver consistantly for each sport i will be charging. i am contacting soccer clubs, individual teams, tournaments.

do some freebie portraits for friends. they will show off great pics of their kids!

dogwood

Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, google profile, and even blog templates are free. These resources can be invaluable in networking and SEO. Personally, I find twitter the most useful, but take some time to learn the best ways to use it. Check out "Twitter up your business" by Rockable Press (you can purchase a pdf version for $8). It's definitely worth it.

Print advertising is going the way of newspapers, in my opinion. And keep in mind online advertising on online newspapers and facebook, etc can easily be blocked by browsers. It's far more effective to use social media to generate buzz about your services and turn up in google searches and get word of mouth referrals than purchase print ads, in my opinion. Most of my clients under age 30 use smartphones for internet access so keep everything simple too.