Hi everyone! I was going to do a Q&A for this month, but I realized that so many of the questions I have been getting have been about how to get senior clients when you have no connections. I wanted to do a whole post on this topic because I know it is something that many people are struggling with as they are trying to break into the senior market. You want to photograph seniors, but where do you start?

The first thing I want to say is that when nobody knows you, you are not going to get clients just by posting amazing deals on your page. You’re wasting your own time if your putting all your effort into social media when there is nobody from your target market there to see it. So how do you go about getting senior clients when you have no connections? You make connections. Grab your camera, some business cards, and go to a high school football game, pre-prom pictures, spirit week events, graduation, or anything else the school will allow you at. Make yourself familiar to the students. That is so important. If there are multiple high school senior photographers in your town, teens are going to go with the one they are familiar with. They have seen them around at games and they know their name because that is where most upperclassmen went for their senior pictures.  That doesn’t mean the teens are never going to go to you, you just need to make yourself familiar as the other photographers have. Many people have asked me if it would be weird if they went up to a junior/senior and just started talking to them. It’s not weird unless you make it weird. Go around to each group of friends at the event and take a fun picture of them. Then give your business card and explain that you are a senior photographer and you are trying to get your name out there because you don’t know anybody. Make sure they have a reason to follow through and actually go to your website/Facebook page and not just forget about you and your card. After you take the picture tell them it will be up on your Facebook page later and they should go tag themselves. (Again, if that is allowed) And just like that, you have all these juniors/seniors going to your page to see the pictures you got of them, tagging themselves so now your page will be showing up to more and more people connected with these high school students.

Throughout all of this, keep an eye out for outgoing/spirited students and ask a few if they would be interested in doing a photo shoot, again explaining that it is so you can get your name out and have senior work for your portfolio. You may want to wait to do this until the next event but that is totally up to you. Tell them that in return they will get the digitals to post in Instagram/Facebook. Make sure that they tag your pages in the caption when they post. Their friends will see your senior picture work and if they like it they will start following you. Now people know who you are. Also, it is very likely that once you get one or two students from a group of friends, you will get all of them. As teens, we like to do what our friends are doing. Another reason is because your friend will be able to give all the details about their experience working with you so they know exactly what to expect.

Yes it will take work but if you put the effort in you will get clients. If you stay behind your computer posting to nobody, good luck. Being familiar to the seniors and having the connections is everything when you are working on breaking into the market. I just recently started booking for the class of 2015 about a week ago and I already have 17 seniors booked. That is because they know me and they trust me. They see my name on Instagram all the time. I am also marketing differently this year than I was last year. Last year at this time I was like “I’m planning on doing senior pictures this summer, message me for info!” I was timid in my marketing because I had no idea if anyone would actually book me. I ended up with 21 seniors but only had 5 booked at the end of July because most didn’t book until August (my fault for starting to market too late). This year is more along the lines of “Now booking! This is going to be a busy summer so don’t wait, so excited to work with you guys!” (There was more info to it but you get the point) The difference in this caption to last years caption is that you can tell I expect seniors to book me. I am also using my @saracooneyphotography Instgram which I didn’t have last year which is definitely helping with marketing. And I will say this again, if you are a high school senior photographer: GET AN INSTAGRAM. It is another way to get your name out and we are on it all the time.

I hope this post helped some photographers who may be struggling to get their name out in the senior market, or even well-established photographers who are looking to reach even more seniors. Let me know if you have any questions!

Sara Cooney is an aspiring photographer and monthly contributor to Seniorologie.  Sara shares information that help photographers reach the teen market by giving real tips on how photographers can reach the teen market.  Sara started Sara Cooney Photography when she was a junior in high school and she photographs seniors, dancers, families, couples, musicians and has been a second shooter on a few weddings, which she plans on doing more of this year.  Sara spent one semester at the University of Rhode Island and now will be attending the New England School of Photography in October to pursue her dream.