BusinessHABBut even though it’s important, many stereoscopic business people are struggling.I know many professional stereoscopic business person, who say that the greatest challenge in their stereoscopic business is marketing and promotion.
If you feel like one of the photographers that I just mentioned, you’re in the right place.
We compiled a list of ways to promote your stereoscopic business.
And we’re happy to share it with you, hoping it will help you do better marketing and get more clients.
Focus on a few simple strategies to help you get the word out there about your company.
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Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
1. Create a brand image, or logo.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
2. Network.
Meeting professionals from other, related businesses is an effective form of business promotion.
As it provides you with opportunities to learn about your competitors, ask for referrals, form mutually beneficial partnerships in complementary industries and spread awareness about your business throughout a group of like-minded people. Network with other professionals in the following ways:
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
- Attend networking group meetings. You can find networking groups and clubs on the Internet, in newspapers and in trade publications.
- Introduce yourself to people at the meetings. Explain what it is your business does, what you offer that makes you stand out from your competition and what you are looking for in business relationships.
- Ask relevant questions during group discussions. In addition to promoting your business, you can learn a lot at networking meetings. Additionally, asking open-ended questions encourages others to participate in the conversation, and sets you up for more introductions.
- Hand out your business cards. Set up private meetings with those who express an interest in getting to know more about your business.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
3. Advertise.
Consider these methods for advertising your business:
- Signs. You may opt for storefront signs, billboards, marquee boards or street-side yard signs.
- Print. Place print ads in magazines, newspapers, coupon books, trade journals and industry magazines. Choose print mediums that are suited to your business. For example, if you run a technology parts recycling warehouse, then you may consider placing ads in computer classifieds and technology magazines.
- Commercials. Television and radio commercials are effective ways to promote your business to a broad audience, but they are relatively costly forms of advertising.
- Advertisements. You may opt to pass out promotional materials at trade shows, at store fronts, in parking lots or in any other highly-populated areas. Some businesses, like nightclubs and entertainment venues, hire street crews to hand out advertisements and attract new customers.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
- Direct mail. You may purchase mailing lists targeted to your segment of the consumer market, then mail out letters, brochures, catalogs or postcards. This method is effective when you want to provide potential customers with paper coupons, vouchers, business cards or promotional merchandising.
- Public relations (PR) firms. You may hire a PR firm to create publicity for you in the form of news write-ups and press releases.
- Internet. Promoting a business online involves setting up a business website, participating in industry/trade forum discussions, running a blog , setting up accounts on social networking sites, using pay-per-click and banner ads, listing your business information in business directories and employing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Every business, regardless of its size or scope, could benefit from Internet marketing, and many Internet marketing mediums are free to use.
- AR Advertising. Short for Augmented Reality Advertising. It enriches the user experience by bringing life to the prints, when it’s enhanced with extra layer called a digital layer.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
4. Build business partnerships with other organizations.
In effect, piggyback off the success of another business.
Taco Bell has recently unveiled the Doritos Locos Taco.
Which is a branding coup for both Taco Bell and Doritos.
Whenever you think of one brand, the other brand comes to mind, and vice versa.
Business partnerships can be very effective advertising tools.
- Note: it’s tough to build a business partnership with an established company when your company isn’t yet established.
- Businesses understand the value (or lack of value) you’re giving them.
- And may want something in return or simple avoid business with you in the first place.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
5. Rely on the power of social networks.
Social networks have become the new darling of advertising.
Because much of the legwork is being done by dedicated fans, for free.
You could pay someone to advertise for you.
Or you could establish a social community of fans who advertise by word of mouth, at little or no cost.
What’s it going to be?
- Try harnessing the power of viral media campaigns.
- Dollar Shave Club did very good business for itself simply by making a (funny, exciting, relatable) music video.
- It took off on social networks.
- And now has over a million combined subscribers and followers on Facebook and Google+.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
6. Offer freebies.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
7. Develop relationships with your customers.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
8. Encourage customers to talk about their experience using your business.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
9. How do I promote my clothing line?
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
10.Event management company promotion
Tell your friends and family about it and ask them to spread the word. Create social media profiles for your company. You can also give out some promotional deals or work with a company like Groupon to get the word out.
11. Use keyword targeting to get more traffic
We could write an entire post about keyword targeting, but we don’t really have to, since there are lots of articles on this topic. We recommend reading this beginner’s guide by Moz, which will help you understand how you can use keywords to get more traffic on your website.
Moz is an authority in SEO and we wholeheartedly recommend reading and following them.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
12.Optimize your website’s loading time (& optimize pictures for web)
Fast loading pages rank higher and get lower abandonment rates.
Since you are a photographer you have loads of pictures on your site, which can slow it down.
Keep the file size in check and compress your images in Photoshop.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
13. Make your website mobile-friendly
Making your website mobile-friendly should be a priority because of two reasons: people and search engines. Google will penalize your website if it’s not optimized for mobile view and people will simply abandon a website that doesn’t look ok or doesn’t load fast enough on their smartphone browser.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
14. Keep adding fresh content on your site/blog
This will keep people coming again and again to your website. The more traffic you get, the better.
If you’re a wedding photographer you should make a habit of posting something on your blog from each wedding you photograph: a few pictures and some text about the wedding. This applies to other types of photo sessions as well, not just weddings. The people that you photographed will probably share the blog post on their social media, and that will boost your exposure.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
15. Get backlinks
A backlink is an incoming hyperlink from one web page to another website. If you have any partners that you collaborate with, try to convince them to link to your site from their own websites. (If they accept to also write something about you to accompany the link, even better). Each backlink is like a recommendation and Google treats it as such.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
16. Submit your studio location to Google Maps
Often when people search on Google for a photographer from a specific location, the first result is a list of local businesses on Google Maps. You want to be listed in that highlighted result, trust me. So submit your studio location to Google Maps, to increase your odds.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
17. Get on Yellowpages.com, Yelp and Foursquare
It’s good to show up in as many places as possible. Submit your business to local business directories like Yellow Pages, Yelp and Foursquare.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
18. Give all your photos good ALT attributes
You shouldn’t forget to give all your images good ALT attributes or ALT tags, to make them discoverable on Google Images.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
19. Give all your photos relevant file names
Customize the names of the images that you post on your site. Replace that generic “img2341” with a relevant and more descriptive name, such as “wedding Toronto 2019”. This, along with the ALTs, can help your images get discovered on Google Images.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
20.Print out business cards and offer them to clients and acquaintances
Business cards are still important, even nowadays. They will make you look more professional. So…always have some business cards with you. You never know when you’ll need them.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
21. Go to local wedding fairs
Fairs are a fantastic way to promote your photography business. It’s a good place to meet people who need your services, but also partners and collaborators. Bring those business cards that we just talked about. If your focus is not on branding but on sales, you can be even more aggressive: run a promotion, hand out flyers, bring photo albums/portfolios to show off your work and some blank contracts.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
22. Build a relationship with your customers
Be friendly with your clients to make them feel comfortable with you. Make them smile, compliment them to make them feel more confident. Many people feel insecure when you point your camera in their direction, but you can help your clients overcome that. If you show that you care, clients are more likely to recommend you and book you again for other events/ photo sessions.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
23. Surprise your clients
I haven’t met a single person yet who doesn’t like good surprises! Throw in a little bonus for your clients, something that is not listed in your offer or contract: a framed picture, small aluminum or acrylic prints, the online version of a photo album. You get the idea. It should be something that you get a good price for, but the client doesn’t expect to receive that. It will make people feel special, and it will get your clients to recommend you.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
24. Volunteer to shoot an event
You never know what opportunities might arise from shooting a local event. Show up, bring your A game and deliver high quality pictures that make you look professional.
It’s a great way to get your work in front of a large audience and strengthen your brand.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
25. Differentiate your photography business
Do something different, something that not one of your competitors does, or that no one else does better than you. There are endless ways to differentiate from your competitors, from your attitude towards clients, better offers, extra perks (offering polaroid prints or bringing a mini-printer to events). Find out what makes your clients tick, and what they currently love about you, and use that to further promote your photography business.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
26. Create pricing lists / pricing guides
There are some photographers who don’t reveal the price for a session or event until they meet with the client and discuss all the details. This strategy rarely works in the photographer’s favor. People like transparent pricing; it makes the photographer look trustworthy. So why not publish your pricing lists in a very nice, magazine-style flipbook?
You can easily integrate them into your website, and also share them via emails or social media.
27. Offer photo albums, both print and digital
If you already offer printed photo albums to your clients, you should consider including a digital version as well. It’s actually very easy to do this. Export the album from InDesign as web PDF and upload it to Flipsnack. You can add links, videos and other interactive elements after upload, or leave it as it is.
For example, I have my wedding photo album in print, but I also have this online version, which is actually more interactive and more shareable. Not to mention that it was a great way to display the video together with the pictures.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
28. Make an online portfolio featuring your best shots
Your portfolio should be easily shareable and look fabulous. Turn it into a stylish magazine with the help of Flipsnack, and share it with people who send you inquiries about your work.
29. Create a mini-ebook or guide for your clients
Put together a mini-ebook or session guide to help your clients get ready for the shooting. You can include chapters about choosing the location, clothing, styling, how to pose (or how you can help them with all of these aspects) and some contact information.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
30.Post often on your Facebook page
Fresh and beautiful posts will get you more engagement, and engagement will help your page’s posts show up on more people’s feeds. It’s like a spiral, and once you master it you’ll see your page grow. Obviously you should post mostly pictures – your pictures.
31. Tag your clients in pictures
Most of your clients will be excited (and proud) to appear on your page. They will wait impatiently to get that Facebook notification that lets them know they’ve been tagged, and then they will share the post. You know what that is? That is free promotion!
Some of you clients will be very careful about their privacy and not want you to post pictures of them on social media. Most people are ok with it, but it’s important to ask for permission and respect the client’s wishes.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
32. Link to your website
Whenever you have a fresh post on your blog, share it on Facebook. We’ve noticed that photo posts that have a link in description perform better than link posts. So the recommendation here is to post a picture that is featured in your blog post and put the link in the description, along with an invitation for people to click the link to see the entire session.
33. Get into local Facebook groups for weddings, pregnancy, newborn moms etc
Find out if there’s a local Facebook group that fits your niche, and ask for an invitation. Some of these groups prohibit self-advertising. Respect the rules, but when people ask questions that you can answer, don’t hesitate to do so. Be smart, diplomatic and friendly, and you’ll be able to tell the members of the community about what you do and without making it sound like a promotion. You just have to wait for the right context.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
34. Create an Instagram profile
As a photographer you need to be extra careful about what you post on your Instagram profile. Go easy on selfies and phone camera shots that don’t do you justice. Upload pics from your computer, and tag your clients on Instagram. You can even use a service like Schedugram to schedule posts from your computer and save time.
35. Use Instagram hashtags
Hashtags make your photos more discoverable, but use only relevant ones. Posts that use hashtags and mentions tend to perform better in terms of likes and comments.
Perhaps you’ve seen some of those #365daysof or #30daysof hashtag projects. You could start a unique hashtag that no one else used, a creative idea that represents you and your business and some determination. A project like this will keep you motivated to post every day over a certain period of time. It will inspire your followers, boost your engagement and keep your posts constant in your follower’s feeds, and remind them about your great services, in the nicest way possible.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
36. Follow your clients
This is a easy to use technique to promote your photography business. You may want to use it when you’re just starting out on Instagram. Follow your clients and people that you know and most of them will follow you back.
37. Follow your competitors’ followers
Check other fellow photographers from your area on Instagram. Look at what type of images they post, their image descriptions, hashtags – there might be something to learn from them and their marketing. It’s always good to know what your competition is doing. And while you’re at it, you can follow some of their following. The people that you follow will get a notification and some of them will check your profile, which could convert some of them into your followers and – maybe later – clients. The idea is to use this as both a learning experience and get more people to find out about you.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
38. Pin from your website
Make some Pinterest boards exclusively for your photos, and pin them directly from your website, as opposed to direct upload. This way when people click on your photos they will be taken to your website.
39. Use your Pinterest as a resource for clients
Another great way to promote your photography business is to get clients to follow you on Pinterest for inspiration. It’s ok to have boards with pins from other people: cool locations, styling ideas, hairstyles, makeup, fashion. Use these ideas for creative photo sessions and let Pinterest inspire both you and your clients.
40. Always write photo descriptions
Pinterest is perhaps one of the best social media places where you can promote your photography business. Use pin descriptions to understand what the pin is about. By adding a good description you can make sure that your photos show up in Pinterest searches.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
41. Install a Pinterest sharing plugin on your site
I’m talking about Pinterest buttons that show up on images on mouse rollover on your site. This will encourage more people to pin from your site.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
42. Start a G+ page
Google + is Google’s own social network, so being present there is points for good behaviour. Start a page even if you don’t post that often, and link the page to your website.
43. Start a LinkedIn page
If you do corporate photography, than I’d say LinkedIn should be very much your focus, being the largest social network for professionals and companies.
For wedding and portrait photographers this is just another one of these optional, go the extra mile promotional activities in your to-do list, basically another place where you can be found.
44. Encourage engagement
This can be applied to any social channels you might be on. Use tags, hashtags, mentions, ask questions and get involved in other people’s conversations.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
45. Organize contests
If you’re looking for a quick boost for one of your profiles, think contests and giveaways. You can offer a photo session as prize or a physical product. Another idea is to organize the giveaway in collaboration with someone else (eg: florist, makeup artist, hairstylist).
You can require people a follow or another action to enter the giveaway.
46. Try a social media automation software
To make things a bit easier, try a social media automation tool, that lets you schedule posts in advance for multiple social channels. A good example is Hootsuite, Buffer or SproutSocial. We tried it and we like it.
47 Engage with fellow stereoscopic on photo communities
Upload your best shots on sites like 500px and PhotographyTalk and engage with your peers. You’ll learn, socialize, make friends and build your brand.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
48. Be active on Q&A sites like Quora
Follow topics like “photography”, and include your website link in your profile description. Also, follow topics like photography and don’t be shy about giving your opinion when you have something to say.
49. Submit your work to other photography blogs
Make a list of blogs that feature similar work to yours (similar style and type of photography) and then contact the publishers. In addition to getting backlinks you will also get exposure and branding. Don’t be disappointed if your work doesn’t get published from your first attempt, and don’t give up.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
50. Connect with local influencers
Try to get local celebrities to book sessions with you. It will help you get more recognition, and more business.
51. Connect with professionals who can promote your photography business
Networking goes a long way. Make friends with hairstylists, makeup artists, florists, videographers and other professionals from your area that will definitely help you.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
52. Collaborate with other stereoscopic on various projects
When it comes to promoting your stereoscopic business, keep in mind that photographers are not just your competitors, and they are certainly not your enemies. They can be your collaborators for certain type of projects. Be open-minded about collaborations, because they can turn into money-making opportunities. If that goes well, they might refer some of people to you, when they are fully booked. And you might return the favor one day.
53.Build email lists
The more people you have on your mailing list, the more people are exposed to your marketing messages. An efficient way to build an email list is to have a subscription form on your website, where people can enter their email addresses, to receive information from you.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
54. Send newsletters
Don’t make all your emails about promotion. Newsletters are a great way to communicate with your audience, to send people useful content. Keep your email short and interesting. Focus on topics of interest for your target audience: wedding tips, photo session tips and so on.
55. Offer discounts for less busy seasons
Plan a promotion for that time of the year when you usually get less money coming in. For example, you could give a discount to winter time weddings.
56. Online advertising – Facebook Ads or AdWords
If you’ve never done online advertising before but you’d like to give it a try, perhaps you should ask a professional to take care of that. Bannersnack could run your campaign for you or you could use the banner maker to create your ads and run the campaign yourself.
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
57. Sponsored posts on Facebook/ Instagram
Boost your best posts. You’ll get more likes and more exposure, which will lead to more sessions or contracts. It’s as simple as that!
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
58. Make photo slideshows
There are so many ways you can use photo slideshows: embed them into your website to highlight some of your best shots, display entire photo galleries, make separate photo slideshows for each session/ event, share them on social media or via email with clients. Animoto is a very easy way to make and share photo slideshows. You can even add music and export the slideshow as video to use as a promotional tool.
59. Make promotional videos
You can collaborate with a videographer to make a promotional video, or you can turn your music photo slideshows into videos (as suggested above, with the same tool)
Promotes Stereoscopic Business Online
60. Take advanced courses
At the end of the day, all the promotion in the world will not turn you into a great photographer.
And if you want to grow your business, your primary focus should be photography, not marketing.
So invest your time in learning from world famous photographers.
We recommend you taking some courses on CreativeLive.
Better photography = more contracts
BusinessHAB