By Amy Froughton of Photo Business Tools
With the end of school coming just around the corner, I am sure that many of you are booked crazy with last minute seniors who need to look fabulous and have their pictures done asap, right? It’s so fun, but so crazy all at the same time!
As you are building your senior photography business, you might want to start thinking ahead to next year, and how you can grow your brand awareness and your clients even more. So, we wanted to share a few ideas that may help you get your name out there, build trust with your potential clients and bring new business your way.
Have you thought of working with the local high schools? The schools are a fantastic place to be, in front of the kids who are soon going to be seniors. It’s a great idea to start building a relationship with different departments in the high school to see how you can help them, and still get exposure.
Why not offer to be a guest speaker in the photography class? Bring in some of your best senior work to illustrate the topics that you choose to share about, and offer the students a discount, or coupon to use with their next session with you.
You may also want to contact the Student Council, find out what events they have going on throughout the year, and see if you can be a part of them in any way, of course, leaving your branding everywhere as you go.
Another couple of groups you may want to consider offering your photography or guest speaker services to is the home economics and business classes. Be sure to start everything off on the right foot by clearing with the school what marketing pieces you will or will not be able to provide as part of your services!
And of course, if any of your clients that are or were students at those High Schools then ask them who you should talk to first, and if there are any teachers or classes that they think would benefit from what you have to offer then get those contacts and start there.
At Photo Business Tools, we help photographers gain more clients,
more sales and more time through better organization!
Photo Business Tools is giving away one annual memberships and two 6 month memberships to THREE lucky Seniorologie fans.
How to enter the contest:
- Add a comment telling us what your biggest business challenge is.
- Make sure you “LIKE” Photo Business Tools and Seniorologie’s Facebook page. This is required for entry, but please do not add an additional comment once you have done this.
Gain Extra Entries:
- Share about Photo Business Tools, Seniorologie and this fun giveaway, link it to Seniorologie/PBT Giveaway. Share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, etc. For each social networking site where you post about it, add a comment on this post telling us where you shared.
- Visit Photo Business Tools Facebook page and leave a note sharing what you love most about shooting Seniors and leave a comment here confirming that you did.
- Visit Seniorologie’s Facebook page and leave a note sharing what you love most about Shooting Seniors and leave a comment here confirming that you did.
- If you’ve been a fan of Photo Business Tools before, leave a comment here telling us how you are using PBT to help your business. This is for an extra entry.
We will announce the winner Monday, May 21 on the Seniorologie Facebook page and the PBT Facebook Page!! Good Luck!!
Tips from Photo Business Tools and a Giveaway
heck, yes i do!
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My biggest business challenge is marketing … I know you have to spend money to make money, but I have trouble figuring out where my money should go.
Thank you for this contest/giveaway!
Posted the giveaway on my Facebook page! 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/sharilyn.c.wells
Biggest challenge? Easily, it’s not being a softy or pushover for every sob story. The sob stories often wind up leading to asking for free services or multiple unlocked proofs or full high res CD’s or even splitting s ession into 2 sessions (when they show up @ the original shoot). And this isn’t limited to just adults, even my seniors have pushed. I’m trying so hard to be immovable, but the culture a lot of these kids are being raised in today is a “get a steal wherever you can, and if you can’t throw a fit & threaten to leave” mentality. It’s hard to feel respected when bombarded w/ this. On the flipside I don’t want to lose clients either. Grrrr…
Tweeted about the giveaway! @kr_romm
Left a comment on PBT’s facebook page. 🙂
Left a comment on Seniorologie’s facebook page. 🙂
Thanks for the contest! I would LOVE a subscription to photo business tools.
My biggest challenge as a photographer is that I don’t own all the equipment I need for shoots, so I’m renting equipment for almost every shoot, which of course is cutting into my profits. Can’t wait till I have enough saved up to get my own gear : )
Already a fan of both on FB. My biggest business challenge is getting clients and getting my name out there. There are way too many shoot and burners in my area.
I struggle with finding new clients and finding good locations that aren’t all the same.
My biggest business challenge is overcoming my shyness and marketing myself! Also, selling products. I tend to just sell my DVD with photo printing rights, and I feel I need to move to the next step and start selling high quality prints and other products
Left a comment on the Photo Business Tools Facebook page 🙂
Left a comment on Seniorologie’s Facebook page 🙂
Tweeted about the giveaway!!
I posted a why i love seniors on your facebook page. Hope I win!
My biggest challenge is marketing as well. Thanks for the tips in your post and for the opportunity to win a subscription!
My most challenging business area is marketing.
I’ve shared what I love about seniors on seniorolgie’s page
I’ve shared what I love about seniors on Photo Business Tools’ page
Hey Shari,
There is alot of things you can do to market your business free, and you should be spreading your marketing efforts around. Don’t put your eggs all in one basket. Thanks for sharing on FB!
Keely,
Do you give your clients a “what to expect” type of list or even contract before the shoot? That will really really help. Add your branding, and they’ll take you more seriously. Thanks for getting the word out about this contest!
Sara,
You can do it! Earning as you learn is a great way to go! You’ll appreciate the experience next year more than this year, right?
Tiffany,
Find ways to create more value than those shoot and burners and get the buzz about your business out… stay a step ahead and there will be people who will pay for you! Good luck!
My biggest challenge has been marketing myself and figuring out the right prices for me.
I have done tones of marketing techniques that have not worked yet. most of my business is friends/family. I have even done a conference where i had a booth and got 200 emails for my newsletter and have gotten 0 business with that!
I am starting to learn some great tips on seniorologie like visiting a local school and spokesmodels. But I need to figure out what I can do to really get my name out there in my community.
My biggest challenge is dealing with the shoot and burn stay at home mommies posing as pros. I have to really look hard in my area for the clients that truly want quality work with proper lighting, editing, and service and not just the ones that want it cheap and to see who can use the most baby hats in their session!
My biggest challenge? Myself. I’m in year #4 of my (part-time) business, but with no significant progress on the business end, the technical skill end, the marketing end, however many ends there are. I love photography, but unless I learn the discipline for improvement, I’m never going to move the business to a sustainable level.
My biggest challenge is definitely taking all the information I read and organizing it so that it is easily referenced. Then, once I read it, to figure out what to do first…the overwhelm of info overload takes over.
I’ve been a fan of PBT for a while and recently listened to the free webinar on FB and have started filling in my FB calendar that was free to download. My challenge though is figuring out what info is best to post to my blog, FB, and also my newsletter. But that webinar was really helpful!