As a photographer you are both a product provider (the prints) and a service provider (the photography). It’s a mixed bag that most people don’t quite understand. Why does an 8×10 cost $85? It isn’t the price of the paper or the printing, it’s the knowledge that you have as a skilled artisan. This is the same whether you’re shooting weddings or doing micro-stock photography.
Every photographer is the same. Every photographer is trying to be different.
Better.
Stand out.
Service your clients and your customers in any way that you can and they’ll begin to see the value that hiring you or buying your work sets you apart. This is ultimately what creates a mutually beneficial relationship between art buyer and photographer.
These are just things to think about really. You have to get creative. You have to figure out how you could stand out to your clients and become someone they would recommend to anyone.
When I was shooting weddings and portraits one of the ways I stood out was to offer help to my clients. Any help.
How? I’d ask them. It was simple.
See…I was involved with a networking group in my town that met every week. We’d have very structured meetings where we would pass business to each other. Not leads. Real business. We did this by really getting to know what each business had to offer the community. No competing businesses were allowed and there was an application process because every single person’s reputation was on the line. Basically, these were some of the best businesses and business people in our town. Life Insurance, Dentist, Law Firm, Aflac Rep, Mechanic, Car Salesman, etc. We had a very active group and I’d see thousands of dollars in business get passed back and forth every week. Oh yeah…I was the photographer.
I would get a wedding booked from someone who worked at a bank where our Aflac Rep had, during normal conversation, learned that this person was newly engaged. Oh yeah, that Aflac Rep got that bank job from the Lawyer who happens to do his banking there and knows someone up top (then the banker comes to a meeting and becomes a member thus increasing our overall reach). This is how it worked every week. Real business getting passed. Not leads. Before Twitter. Before Facebook.
What about my clients? How did I help them?
I’m a conversationalist. I like to talk and learned to listen. So during normal conversation I would pay attention to any pain points that my clients were having. I’d inquire about their lives. If they brought up taxes, I knew a great CPA I could introduce them to. If they were having car problems I had the right mechanic “I’ll call him after this shoot and see what we can do.”
All of my recommendations were top notch. They had to be. That was my reputation on the line every single time I referred one of my clients to a member of our network group.
I became more than just a photographer to those people. I became a problem solver.
You’re clients have pain points. We all do. And we all want to talk about them. We all want answers to our questions.
Results?
When you provide a service that goes above and beyond the scope of your “title” you stand out. Those clients that I was able to help with their pain points became my walking billboards. They sent me more referrals than any traditional advertising I was able to afford at the time.
This is one way how networking works at it’s core. This works off-line as well as on-line. It’s something to think about.
You can do this.
Join a local networking group if your focus is local and find people outside your industry that you can refer to your customers.
Pay attention to your twitter followers and facebook friends when they have questions. Try to answer them. Become a resource.
Be a problem solver.
Promo Opportunity
This week’s promo opportunity comes via one of the sponsors on my photo tips blog.
Lensbaby is running a call for submissions to a new book they’ll be putting out. Details here. So if you have a lensbaby lens you should look into this. It’s always good to be able to put on your website resume that you’ve had work published.
December 31, 6pm PST: Submission window closes
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend.
Special thanks goes to everyone that participated in the twitter photographers promotion 50+ Photographers on Twitter You Should Follow Now! It went great. Everyone who had suggestions and recommendations has their Twitter profile somewhere in that article and has their profile in the sidebar here on this blog.
In keeping with the theme of this post I’m opening up my email to questions you may have about promoting your photography online or off-line. I answer every email I get so email me your questions at damien[at]yourphototips[dot]com and we’ll see what we can do to get you to the next step.
Until next week keep shooting and keep promoting!
"I'd Rather Be in the Studio"
by Alyson Stanfeild
as one of the most comprehensive
self-promotion books for artists
of any genre.
