Marketing your photography business - who are you talking to?

Do you struggle when it comes to marketing your photography business? 

Marketing is essential to getting your work seen and selling your services. But WHO do you want to see it?

Getting clear on this is actually the most important part of your business plan.  

If that doesn’t make any sense to you right now, stick with me through this video (or the blog post underneath it) and it will all become clearer…

Whether you’ve been in business for a while or you’re just starting out - it’s amazing how many photographers don’t have a really clear picture of the type of clients they want to serve.

Yes, I said WANT.

This is YOUR business! It is completely and utterly and totally up to you who you work with. You choose them!

Do you say yes to anyone who comes your way?

Lots of photographers find themselves in a place where they seem to be serving clients they don’t enjoy working with that much. 

Clients who perhaps don’t appreciate their work, clients who don’t value what they do and the way they do it, unpleasant clients, bargain hunting clients, complaining clients, the list goes on…

They don’t say no to anyone because they are in a situation where they NEED the work and the money so why would they say no??!!

It’s like a vicious cycle though because the more of these clients they work with the more of these clients they’re going to get!

But the truth is, this is almost always caused by a business not having a clear set of core values and a level of service that’s perfectly suited to the type of client they’d ideally like to work with. 

So how do you stop attracting the wrong type of clients?

When you have these things in place and you communicate them clearly and constantly then you will repel the clients you don’t want and you’ll attract the clients you do want.

Is it as simple as that? 

Hell no! 

There is a whole load of learning and hard work that goes into getting that right but we’ll get there in time. 

One step at a time, right?

But that’s the gist of it at least….

Get clear and consistent with your messaging

The right messages communicated clearly and constantly = The right clients being drawn in and booking your services and the wrong clients looking elsewhere.

But that doesn’t help you unless you actually know who the ‘right’ client is for you.

Do you know?

To understand who that is you need to carefully consider your business values, your level of service and your style of photography.

Who is it all PERFECTLY suited to?

Who will identify with it? Who will appreciate it? And importantly, who will pay you what you want for it?

When you know who this person is you can then start targeting every piece of communication you create directly to them.

What you need is a BUYER PERSONA

Here are some of the headings you’re going to need to create your Buyer Persona:

• Their background and demographics
• Their hobbies and interests
• Who they are influenced by
• What their challenges, problems and fears are
• What they want, love and aspire to
• Where they hang out
• What their past experiences are with professional photography

You want to write some bullet points down under each heading with your ideal client in mind.

Or, you can use this photography business plan template (section 2) to help you work this out. 

If you have been in business for long enough and have worked with some of your ideal clients already then you’re very well placed to really nail this pretty quickly. 

You already have people to base your buyer persona on.

But don’t worry if you’re just starting out. You probably know people who you would consider your ideal client. Use them.

If you’re really keen you can even conduct a survey of those you feel are in your target market and find out as much as you possibly can about them.

How will this help with marketing your photography business?

Once you have your buyer persona (or personas if you want to hammer out a few) then you will have someone in mind every single time you work on your marketing.

For example:

• every time you write a social media post
• every time you create a special offer or promotion
• every time you design a brochure, pdf, flyer, business card
• every time you write a blog post
• every time you write an email

You will write it just for this person. 

You forget about everyone else and you write to them. 

You appeal to their values, you identify with their challenges, you connect with their desires.

I can’t tell you how much easier your marketing will be when you create it all for just one person (or a few if you struggle to narrow it down).

But don’t stop here - you need to DISPLAY IT

You can pretty it all up if you like and make it read a bit better and then you need to display it.

Why display it?

Because this is who you are communicating with every single day! 

If you keep them hidden away you’ll forget all about them! 

Remember, they’re vital when it comes to marketing your photography business.

From now on - every single thing you do within your marketing and communication - you do specifically for this person. 

You write to them.

When you know who you are communicating with, WHAT TO SAY becomes so much easier

Just wait and see!

And they will hear you. 

They might take a while to hear you but they'll hear you. 

What you’re saying will resonate with them and they will feel a connection with you. 

And when they’re looking for a photographer, guess who'll be top of mind?

So...your marketing and your photography business success really depends on how well you know and understand your ideal client. And there’s a section in my Photography Business Plan Template to help you with this - do check it out.