Keeping marketing costs down while creating and running a photography business is necessary to help your company create a healthy profit, so here are some free marketing ideas for photographers.
However, with an array of marketing and advertising options available, it can be challenging to know what works, what appeals to your audience, and what provides a good ROI.
In all honesty, print advertising seldom works for photographers. Not to mention, it isn’t easy to measure its success rate with customers either.
Digital marketing, on the other hand, when used effectively, can help your business to create a much-needed online presence.
Marketing online is essential to reach a wider audience and should be the pinnacle of your marketing strategy. An excellent online presence shall help your photography business get the attention and limelight it deserves, and it needn’t be expensive either.
For tried and tested ways to elevate your business’s reputation and presence online, here are a few, free, ideas to get you started.
Google Business Listings
90% of people worldwide who conduct searches online, only ever look at the first page of SERPs. Which is why your photography business needs to appear on the first page. Furthermore, the higher a listing appears on the first page, its chances of being selected are increased.
While paid advertising, such as PPC (pay per click), can help to get your photography business to the top of the first page of Google. It can also be quite expensive.
This is where Google business listings come. Google business listings appear at the top of the page, above the organic listings, and they’re entirely free for businesses to use. Meaning you can reserve some of your business’s budget to hire cameras of exceptional quality, and a new backdrop for your photo studio. By claiming a business Google listing, you can give your photography business an instant boost in the search rankings. Enabling your company to be found, seen and selected by new clients.
To make the most out of your Google listing, upload an image of your brand logo. And pictures of your studio and most recent work. Also, don’t forget to add the correct contact information and a link to your website. To enhance your listing, kindly ask customers to leave a review.
Make Use Of Your Blog Page
Assuming you have an excellent, user-friendly, SEO optimized website, it’s time to put some work into the blog page.
New, relevant, helpful content for your target audience uploaded to your blog page regularly does several great things for your online presence.
Google works hard to maintain its position as the number one search engine people use. By ensuring the results pages for people’s searches are relevant to what the customer wants, and the website links provided work, the site is user-friendly and has relevant content.
Fresh content on your site shows Google your website is alive and well. Which shall help to position your site higher up in the SERPs and give your business a better opportunity of being found online.
Additionally, offering helpful guides, hints and tips on your blog that are relevant to your target audience, such as ‘Tips for choosing the best photographer for your wedding day’. Shall entice customers, encourage them to take an interest in your brand, look at your work, and perhaps even make an enquiry or booking.
Giveaways and Competitions
For a free way to gain followers and likes on social media channels, and to improve your brands’ reputation, consider creating a contest to help spread the word about your business.
However, please be mindful to only rely on contests once in a while. As continuous competitions may cheapen your brand, or attract an audience who can only afford to offer lower rates for your work.
The intention of the competition is for you to utilize a free avenue of marketing to reach out and get your company seen in front of a wider audience online. While also fluffing up your following on social media channels – to leave a trustworthy, likeable impression on customers who see your social pages.
Guest post
Another free and effective way to attract people to your photography business is by guest posting on blogs where your target audience is likely to be found. For example, infant photographers could contact parenting blogs and offer to create a relevant and engaging post, which shall include a link back to your photography website.
Using the free marketing ideas for photographers above, you can enhance your photography businesses digital marketing plan without breaking the bank.
