Hi Everyone, my name is William. I believe I’ve come up with a marketing strategy that can help photographers get leads fast and free depending on the amount of work that they put in!
So pretty much throughout this entire year I’ve been trying to figure out why it was so difficult for me to get clients and I did my research and found out there is really no reason for a client to come to you for a paid photoshoot when there are countless photographers who don’t charge anything so that they can “build a portfolio”.
But I put together a marketing strategy that has so far been working; photographers offer products and services right? So I’ve been marketing my photography services for free and charging them for the photos alone afterwards.
What do you guys think about this? If you more information I can send you a link to my discord and we can discuss it!
You’ve come up with a fairly well established business strategy for a lot of beginning professionals.
The problem with that strategy is that there’s a lot of work on the photographers part, and no guarantee about getting paid. You have to shoot and edit BEFORE you get paid. Theres no guarantee clients will buy images/prints - and it doesn’t matter how good you are as a photographer.
When you market something as free, people tend to take it at face value - it’s free, so what have they got to loose? Your clients might decide to try a shoot since it’s free - and not put any effort into it. Things like making sure their toddler has a clean shirt, and snacks/toys so that they’re happy and smiling in the pictures. Even making sure the adults spent more then 10 seconds looking at themselves in the mirror before they headed to the shoot. Making sure people show up on time…or at all.
Then there’s the people who will get sticker shock when they see the image pricing. Even if you told them beforehand, they either forget, or don’t understand that the dollar amount for the image isn’t just for the image - it’s for your time, editing, shooting, travel/location expenses, etc.
I think it can be okay for quick mini sessions, but for other larger things, I want to be sure I’m paid for my time.