WEDDING AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY – MORE MARKETIG TIPS IN THIS INDUSTRY

Any interested client will have initially checked out your website so do not skimp on this area of your business – initial impressions last and it will be your biggest selling tool. It needs to look professional and not too ‘home made’ and the images need to be plentiful and inspiring. Remember this is your shop window. You can view so many websites from great photographers that are just not inspiring, are hard to navigate, have very little information on as well as being a year out of date! The idea is to make sure that any visitor stays on your website for as long as possible. It is well known that the longer they browse your website, the more chance you have got for that all important phone call. The last thing you want is for them to simply click on then click off. If you are going down the paying for Google Adwords route, you want to make sure they have plenty to read and look at. Put on your weddings (several of them), prices and packages, editorials and competitions won, wedding fayres coming up, any newsletters and other services offered. Keep it up to date and fresh. We cannot stress the importance of this.

If you have got an interested person onto your website, don’t just let them go. Offer them a free report on for example ‘Really Useful Local Contacts for Your Wedding Day’ in exchange for their Name and Email address. You will need to construct a report with contact details/website addresses/location on all your local florists, wedding car suppliers, local venues, bridal shops etc. but it will be worth the effort to gain that valuable customers contact details so you can take a second bite of the apple.

You will need to learn a bit about Email Marketing packages and Autoresponders to capture these details. They have to fill in their details before they can download your free report. You can then contact them again to see how they are getting on with their Wedding Plans and have they found a photographer yet.

Good email marketing software I can recommend areiContact for mac users and Aweber for PC users.

Appearing professional and experienced

If an interested client is looking to commission you to undertake their wedding photography, they want to see that you are fully conversant and competent with your work, your equipment and with people. They want to feel comfortable and relaxed with you as their wedding day is one of the most important days of their life. The more competent you are, the easier their day and the better the photos.

A Good Portfolio
To attract clientele you need to have a good portfolio of work to show. To build up this portfolio, be prepared to shoot weddings for free, for friends and family or at a very competitive price. Another good way to make a start is to contact other photographers in different geographical areas. Explain your situation to them and that you are willing to assist free of charge providing you can use some of your own photos from the wedding and gain some experience.
It is important to be able to show a whole wedding album from start to finish to illustrate consistently good work throughout. It is no good showing a selection of 20 images, all from different weddings – this is just cherry picking and will look incoherent and unprofessional. Present the work well in nice albums and mounts and, if possible, when they come to see you, present a digital slide show to romantic music. Setting the mood will transform your photographs.

It is important to remember that the whole aim is to create a storybook of the couples’ day and this involves careful forethought prior to the wedding.

Britain's Best Photography is a Photography Training Centre owned and run by Elaine Sanderson. We employ top pro tutors to teach on our photography courses and we run these courses in fantastic venues across Britain. Please feel free to browse our website and videos!
http://www.britainsbestphoto.com

Elaine Sanderson

CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRrVfXKZkWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6lWIo3p6AU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hv5RjS878U