MARKETING I by Joshua Hudson

There are always posts on here about marketing and about business of wedding photography. It is the sticky wicket of all photographers--- I want to shoot and express myself and may photos--- but at the end of the day they also need to pay the electric bill.

So I thought I would share my $0.02 on things that I have learned about business as a photographer, and other businesses.So here it goes--

When a couple decides to get married, you hope that they will search the lands high and low for you and your special skills. When they do finally find you and you meet them you want them to like you. You feel that if you build a solid relationship and bond with the client that it will set you apart from your competition. This is called "buddy-buddy" marketing. You think it will create trust, client loyalty and networking.

"In our business," you tell your other photographer friends, "My clients can hire anyone, but they trust me and they know me."

Buddy-Buddy marketing is a fantasy.

Customers should like you. You are in an industry where trust is important. When it comes to choosing a photographer, many people will go with who they know, for sure. But do not confuse this with honest networking and marketing or even brand loyalty. If a client finds another photographer that they like who is cheaper, faster, and with more to offer--- you will only see your buddy clients on their christmas cards (that the other photographer shot no doubt.).

Most of your market has the same needs, the same problems and similar attitudes about buying. But generally clients look for convenience, quality, consistency, service and price. If you offer solutions to those five problems better than anyone else you will get business.

And now you need to make a giant paradigm shift--- your quality of images only gets you so far. Your clients aren't photographers. Their level of critical artistic opinion does not exist. While your clients can clearly see the difference between good and bad photography, they probably do not have the "eye" to separate good and great photography. For this they will become more pragmatic and mix their gut instincts about you against what you offer for packages and stuff.

So you need to meet each prospective client as a potential sale and your business as a product like any other widget that is sold on the free market. And if buddy-buddy marketing doesn't work, then what does?

I deal with a lot of military recruiters in one of my jobs. They spend every month making goal. They follow leads, they pound the pavement always looking for their next new defender of freedom. But they aren't marketers-- they are sales people. They live by ABC-- Always Be Closing!

The "ABCs" are great for car salesmen but not for service people. Salespeople do not live and die by word of mouth. They do not care about repeat business. It is myopic.

Some people do Canvas Marketing. They do direct mail outs, paper advertisements, billboards, etc. Canvas Marketing is really effective. It is what a friend of mine use to do at the bars. "Ask a thousand women," he would tell me, "and you are sure to get at least one to go home with you." As good as it is, it is expensive. To be done well, you really need to understand your "lead-to-contract cost." And as you analyze what works and doesn't, you spend lots of money until you get the balance of $$ out versus contracts in. (I mean I spent tons on magazine ads till I found out that they didn't work in my area).

So what does work that doesn't cost a fortune?

To paraphrase what a great salesman told me "Cultivate Orchards not Apples."

In stead of working to get contracts. Instead of trying to reach and touch every person in your area (who probably don't need you right this second). You put yourself in front of people asking "You need a photographer?" It is time consuming and annoying-- as well as making you look needy. In other words, you are spending all your time on each apple hoping that you can find a ripe one.

If you market to the orchard, you don't worry about each apple, but each tree full of apples with light, water, and care. This is great because it not only saves you a lot of time, but it in turn you get bushels of apples instead of one or two.

Find ways to get yourself wider exposure in more direct ways. I have seen photographers volunteer to do projects like taking portraits of a local fire department. A quick day of shooting for a fun charity turned into five or six jobs. Another photographer I am friends with took some photos at a hospital and turned it into a steady job with multiple doctors' offices.

But Josh, you said that people choose their services based on the "best deal." This is true...but remember the five things you can offer a client to get them to hire you: convenience, quality, consistency, service and price. I didn't put them out of order.

Convenience is the number one thing for people. It is why you can increase sales by being A-1 Service in the phone book (because you are the first in the list). It is one of the reason why word of mouth works. Because a friends recommendation is really just a time saver from shopping.

Think about other service industry people. How do you choose your mechanic? your plumber? your barber? Did they find you or did you find them? How did they get their name out there?

Someone on mentioned that we are a service industry and that is where you need to find inspiration. But remember to cultivate the orchard and not the apple.