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Today we’re diving into a crucial aspect of your photography business, The PR of Photography – Part 1. In this first part of the series, we’re focusing on harnessing the power of public relations strategies to get booked as a high school senior photographer. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed or confused when it comes to marketing your photography business, you aren’t alone!

In this post about the PR of photography – part 1, I’m giving you my key strategies to implement for promoting your business. I hope this post leaves you feeling more confident and ready to promote your business. Let’s jump in!

The PR of Photography – Part 1

My PR Background

I’m not sure if you know this, but I have a degree in public relations and advertising!  I went to school originally for business but quickly found out there was too much math involved for me. Then, I thought I wanted to be in broadcast journalism and my dream was to be a reporter on Entertainment Tonight. 

However, I had a professor who told me that being in the broadcast world meant that you had to do anything for the job. And part of doing anything meant looking the way the television station wanted you to look. This could mean anything, even cutting your hair for a specific news anchor style! That’s when I realized that broadcast journalism wasn’t for me. If you’ve seen me, you know I have a huge head of hair, and cutting it is just out of the question! 

So, that’s when I found a different track under the journalism umbrella, and that’s how I landed on PR and Advertising. For me, this was a really good fit. Ever since then, I’ve been able to use so much of what I learned, even as a photographer!

What Is Public Relations?

What exactly is PR? According to Google, public relations is the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company. To put it simply, it is the communication from a company to the public so that they have a positive idea of that company.

Now, how does that apply to photography? Well, of course, you want your photography business to have good PR. To do that, you want to communicate with the public, your potential clients, and current clients in a way that leaves a positive impression. Essentially, it is your company’s reputation based on what you do, what you say, and how others perceive your company!

Public Relations and Your Photography Business

As business owners, we want people to regard us and our photography services positively.  Our reputation is everything, and leads to word-of-mouth marketing and more booked clients!

When it comes to the PR of your senior photography business, you want to portray a positive image to attract seniors and their parents. PR may be something you’re already doing in your business without even realizing it!

Traditionally, PR is used as a way to get a business in the media. When I was in college, I wrote a ton of press releases to get media attention for the good things the hospital was doing where I interned. The goal was to give the hospital exposure so that the public would have a positive perception of the work it was doing.

The same thing can work with your photography business. You want the public, and your potential clients, to see your business in a positive light. Utilize public relations strategies such as getting your business in the press – the news, newspaper, and other publications. When you do, people will see you as an expert and therefore, more valuable because of your expertise. 

Benefits of Being Featured by Trusted News Outlets

When a trusted news source features your business, your credibility increases exponentially. You can increase brand recognition, establish credibility, and ultimately reach your goal of booking more high school seniors!

One of my Seniorologie students, Erin of Erin Bancroft Photography, was recently featured on a local lifestyle show called The Daily Refresh. Erin was able to share her photography business and why she loves photographing seniors. She shared the importance of senior photos and how could be the last professional photos a senior takes until they get married. 

The show featured her photos while she talked, and she received a lot of exposure from the experience. I’m so proud of Erin for finding new ways to get her business name out there and using PR strategies to gain exposure!

How To Pitch a Feature Idea

You might be asking yourself, “Why would a news outlet want to feature my photography business?” Well, it’s your job to tell them why! News outlets are always looking for stories that will resonate with their audience. So, you have to be able to pitch to them why your business would be a good fit.

Before you get to your pitch, your first step is to make a list of places where you would like to be featured. Now, there is one thing I want to point out. If your goal is to book more high school seniors, you want to be featured by a news outlet or publication that your potential clients will see!

For example, being featured in a photography magazine that only photographers see is great for being recognized amongst other photographers. However, it may not be the best way to be exposed to the clients you’re looking for. 

To be clear, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be featured in those publications. The truth is, those features can do wonders for your confidence! But if your strategy is to get booked by high school seniors, then you should look into local outlets to be featured.

Here are some examples of places to be featured:

• News stations
• Talk shows
• Newspapers
• Magazines 
• Neighborhood publications 
• Blogs from local businesses
• Social Media for other businesses you can collaborate with or be featured

Research News Outlets and Their Audiences

Now that you have your list, your second step is to do research and understand these outlets and their audiences. You want to know more about their audiences so you can craft a pitch that meets a need for the network.

Another great thing to research is their past stories and the timing of those stories. For instance, in the neighborhood publication that I’m featured in, every year around the same time before graduation they feature the seniors in the neighborhood and photos of those seniors. Of course, they credit the photographer and write about who took the photos. 

Because I know this is something they do each year, I know when to contact them about featuring me in time for this yearly feature. I can also craft a pitch that relates to something they already do. I could even come up with a bigger feature idea such as the importance of documenting senior year.

Craft Your Pitch

The third step in utilizing PR strategies for your photography business is to craft your pitch!  Now that you have a list of potential places to be featured, you have to craft a professional pitch that details why these outlets should feature you. Your pitch should be a story idea that you send to get them to feature your business. Use your list and the research you did in steps one and two to personalize each pitch specifically to that outlet. Personalizing your pitch will give you the best chance of being featured.  

When promoting your photography businesses, be proactive. We simply can’t sit back and hope that someone hears about what we’re doing in our business. It’s not so likely that a feature will fall in your lap. Instead, go to them! Contact these publications and share with them why they should feature your business.

Don’t be discouraged if your first pitch doesn’t get you featured. For news outlets and publications, it’s all about timing. So, what you pitch today may not be what they need. However, following up and pitching to them again could be the key to connecting with them.

7 Key Ingredients To Your Pitch

1. Tailor your story or pitch to each outlet and its audience
2. Make sure your story is unique and compelling
3. Be professional – make sure to check grammar and spelling
4. Showcase your expertise
5. Include visuals to illustrate your story
6. Share how this feature could benefit them as a news outlet or publication
7. Include your contact information

Potential Pitch Ideas

• Your area might have a local interior design magazine and you specialize in prints and products. You could pitch a story on how important framed artwork is for decorating your home.
• A local news station may have a series featuring small businesses in your area and you could be one they feature.
• If your senior model team does charity work, you could reach out to local news stations to share more about how you’re serving the community.
• If your town has local artists who paint murals, you could feature their murals in your photoshoots.
• Around graduation, you could contact a local news outlet and share tips on how parents can capture graduation day.

Ask yourself, what are you doing in your photography business that could be seen as newsworthy? When you answer that question, you will have a pitch to send to your list!

The goal is to constantly create ways to market your business to the public. Sure, you can sit back and hope someone shares your business with their friends. Or, you can take a proactive approach and use PR as a strategy to get booked by seniors!  

The more people that hear about you as the go-to senior photographer in your area, the more potential clients you can reach and book! Use public relations to establish credibility for what you do, create a positive impression for your business in the public’s eye, attract clients to your business, and ultimately book more seniors!

The PR of Photography – Part 1

There you have it, part one of the PR of photography series! Your homework for today’s episode is:

1. Make a list of potential outlets in which to be featured
2. Research these outlets to understand what they like to feature and who their audience is
3. Craft a pitch to tell these outlets why you should be featured
4. Follow up and continue to pitch until you’re featured

Be sure to check back next week for part two of this series where we will dive into how to create PR by using the tools you have at your disposal!

If you need more help with growing your senior photography business,  The Seniorologie Semester is for you! You can learn more about it by visiting www.seniorologie.com/semester.