MARKETING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS
Don’t flush your money
Let’s face it, when it comes to tossing money down the drain, there is no better way than spending cash to market your photography business. There are a thousand different marketing companies out there that are just foaming at the mouth to help get your photography business in front of potential customers. But when you finally pony up the dough does the phone ring off the hook? Nope. You get nothing but crickets. This happened to me so many times and in the early years of my photography business and we didn’t really have the money to spend. Not only was it frustrating but it almost put us out of business.
Hitting a moving target
To make matters worse marketing itself is constantly evolving and changing. All the while introducing new ways for you to potentially gain new clients OR for you to waste your money. In some instances it really is 50-50 whether or not the marketing avenue you’re considering will actually translate into paying photography customers. To compound the problem not all photography marketing strategies will work in all markets. What works in your neighborhood may not work someone else's. You really might do better taking your marketing dollars to Vegas.
How to find marketing that works for photographers
So how is a struggling business person supposed to find marketing avenues that will actually translate into paying clients? You simply need to ask around. Ask photographers that aren't in your market. Ask small business people that aren't in your industry. Ask local nonprofits or schools or anybody you see that is doing a great job of getting their message in front of potential clients. You'd be surprised at how many people will talk openly to you (especially if you're not in their local market) about what marketing works for their business and what doesn't.
Just do me one favor - don't ask the marketing companies. They hire people whose sole job is to put inflated numbers under your nose and tell you anything you want to hear to get you to sign on. For example the Yellow Pages. We all know the Yellow Pages are dead and buried. But nobody has told their sales force. To this day the Yellow Pages sales force is out in droves signing up people for a service that no one even uses anymore. Somehow they still have the revenue to pay their sales force. Obviously people are still shelling out the cash for Yellow Page ads. So instead of asking the marketing companies themselves and running the risk of being convinced to part with your cash, try asking the people who are using the services you're considering. They're more likely to give you an honest answer without all the inflated numbers and pressure to purchase.
Our secret marketing weapon
To get your search for an effective way to market your photography business on the right track I'd like to introduce you to the number one best marketing tool we have ever used. No, it's not some slick software that you can buy for 6 easy payments of $1499. No, it's not some marketing gimmick with a 30% affiliate commission that I used to take my family to Tahiti every year. It really is legitimately the best thing that we have ever done to market our business and I'm going to give it to you absolutely free. But only if you sign up for my seminar. Just kidding!
I would like to introduce you guys to what we affectionately call the Troutmobile. You know because my last name is Troutman and it's a play on words like the Batmobile? Yes I’m aware that’s dumb but it’s what we call it. So… just let me have it! :)
What we call it is not important. The takeaway here is that this is in fact dollar-for-dollar the best marketing tool we have ever used for our business. Let me help you dissect what you're looking at . This is a Nissan Cube that has been wrapped in printed vinyl. On every side of this car there is a sample of our artwork and a way to contact us. The images go all the way up over the windows and the windows have been printed with a special see-through vinyl. We even went so far as to put an image and our contact information on the roof. On more than one occasion someone has been looking out of their high-rise office window, saw the roof of our car and got a hold of us because our car made them giggle.
Wherever we go in this thing we are our own little parade. We generate clients wherever we are. We were at a red light and had people stop in the middle of the crosswalk to ask for a business card. When we stop for gas people ask for brochures. We have even been out to dinner and gone out of the parking lot only to find people taking pictures of our car so that they can remember our contact information. In fact, to really drive home my point, our last client was the person who was stuck in line behind us at the coffee hut. They didn't have anything else to do but stare at the back of our car and it translated into a paying client.
Double Down
Hands down a vinyl car wrap is the best thing that we have ever done to market our photography business. We were so impressed with how effectively this car is marketing our photography studio that we went ahead and bought another one. I know that seems like a lot of money, but each car brings us so many clients every year that it is VERY worth it. So obviously we're not afraid to put our money where our mouth is.
Here’s the Catch
Now hopefully at this point you guys are ready to just pop down to the store and get you one of these marketing monsters. But I do have to mention there is a catch. These puppies are not cheap. Each one of these Nissan Cubes cost about $3,000 for a full roof to tire vinyl wrap. To be clear that’s just the cost of the wrap not the car. If that price tag stings more than just a little bit then allow me to ease the pain. Our black Nissan Cube has been on the road for 5 years. Now take 60 months and divide it into $3,000 and it costs us $50 a month. Now think about that! I bet most of us spend more than that on coffee every month. (I know my wife does.) For $50 a month you can have a customer-generating machine out there driving around with your name on it. When you think about it like that I'm betting the $3,000 is looking a little more doable.
No half measures
Now I’ve got to say the first time we wrapped one of these we were unsure if it would even work. But I am a huge proponent of doing things in a very big way when it comes to my marketing. I think a lot of people are afraid to spend large sums of money and it causes them to get meager results when it comes to market their business. The most effective marketing campaighns all depend on constant repition over a long period of time and you won’t get either of those with a small budget. Simply put, I subscribed to the “go big or go home” theory. So I held my breath and ponied up the cash. As luck would have it I was right in a very big way.
Street Cred
Not only does the Troutmobile bring me customers on a regular basis but it also gives my business a certain level of credibility. When people see these things on the road they know they're not cheap. Which suggests that we must be doing something right if we can afford two of these to market our photography. Instant credibility. With that instant credibility we can also gain access to locations that we wouldn't normally get access to. When you roll up to a location in one of these things and ask for permission to shoot, people are more likely to give it to you. They take one look at the car and realize that I am not a Fly-By-Night photographer. This makes it easier for them to give me permission to use their location because obviously I'm a professional who will conduct himself accordingly. All of this is communicated without me ever saying a word because the car does all the talking for me. Speaking of the car doing all the talking for me we no longer get interrupted by security guards or looky-loos asking us what we're doing. They take one look at the car that says Troutman Photography with giant pictures all over it and it’s pretty obvious what we’re up to. It was an unexpected bonus but I will absolutly take it!
check out part two of today’s blog
In the interest of keeping today’s blog repetitively short, I’m going to split this blog into a two-parter. So for those of you interested in wraping a car for your photography business check out next weeks blog. Photography Business Marketing Hint Next week I’ll explain in detail how to design a wrap for your car and help you avoid some common mistakes. As always if you guys have any question please feel free to ask them in the comment section and I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Have a great day you guys,
Daniel Troutman