Wedding/portrait photography second business - marketing?

etchacan

Long-time lurker, first time poster!

I've started a wedding/portrait photography business, all registered with HMRC etc, with the aim of making a decent second income from my hobby (photography obviously;)) I'm based in Aberdeen, but covering the whole of mainland Scotland - I have all the equipment required, and the knowledge - got a few weddings under my belt, and a decent portfolio of images. I don't charge the earth either...

What I'm looking for some advice/suggestions/feedback on is how to get myself marketed. I'm on Google local business, and a multitude of free listing sites, but would like to keep my costs down by not spending too much on advertising! My current outgoings are simply travel costs, blank CD/DVDs, DVD cases and padded envelopes (for posting the disc of photos out)

I'm a bit stuck on this, so any help appreciated!!

nixinixi

free lisitng on yellow pages is always worth doing...though not worth paying for.

Honestly best way is word of mouth, I'd also say do a few wedding fayres....make sure you pick the right ones to do. I think you need to be persistent, I have done a couple of wedding fayres and got nothing but I know other people who take bookings on the day. It really is a business where reputation can preceed you. I was a photographer but hated doing weddings!

I always thought though, if you are cheeky enough and want to up your sales then what you could/should do, is attend the reception too. You can get a powerpoint slideshow going of the wedding photos and take photos of all the guests and you take orders there and then! More family members will buy pics of the bride and groom, and also themselves all dressed up for the occasion....did it once (days before digital though so rushed to get a proof album ready...but sold alot and was worth it, and fun because everyone was happy!!) Obviously you need the permission and agreement of the bride and groom for this!

Idiophreak

Get yourself a good, professional, website set up - may cost a bit of money if you can't do it yourself, but will be money well spent. Then attend wedding fairs with some good leaflets, pricelists and business cards...and as nixinixi says, it's all about word of mouth, so as soon as you get a couple under your belt, things should get much easier...

db21111

Join DWF Forum. All the best wedding photographers on there, amazing advise and well worth the fee. And coming from me, the person that is tight as anything... it is worth it. You can do a trial if you need convincing.

Never undersell the service. I'm really tired of people charging ridiculously low prices for what is a premium service and an investment.

Word of mouth is best. Use social media. Brand yourself. Stay inspired.

Guess what job I do

Dizzie77

Also look around for local wedding fairs - if there aren't any, organise one yourself....!
I have organised quite a few for charity now, and only invite new/small businesses who can't afford to exhibit at the big shows....

rao_2

I would agree with the above poster to get some kind of website up. It opens up so many avenues for advertising/marketing. Easiest way to do something quick and cheap yet not bad looking would be to use one of the many photographer portfolio hosting sites. Some that let you customise a little are:

http://www.photoshelter.com
http://bigblackbag.com/
http://www.zenfolio.com/
http://www.pictage.com
http://www.smugmug.com/
http://www.dripbook.com
http://www.fotki.com/
http://fotopic.net/

Probably many more as these are just what I found searching around. Some are more pricy than others depending on the features you want.

If you want to setup your own website here's some step by step advice.

Step 1) Get some cheap hosting. Check out Web Hosting Talk for some advice on that or price quotes. Make sure the site has Cpanel (control panel software) most hosts do anyway. And a domain name e.g. yoursite.com. Usually only cost a few bucks a year.
Step 3) If you can't put down the cash for a bespoke/custom design get a cheap Photography-themed layout. e.g. via Themeforest. Either a web template (like these or these) or Wordpress blog template.

If you went for Wordpress:
Step 4) Use the Cpanel (usually at yourdomain.com/cpanel ) to install Wordpress in a few clicks using Fantastico. Guide to Fantastico.
Step 5) Here's a 3 Step Guide to installing a template on your Wordpress. If you need any help using your Wordpress site there is a lot of Support since its widely used.

For either here's a video on Uploading Files using Cpanel.

Then there's about a billion ways you can promote the website around and gain work.

For general marketing here is a good list that covers some key things like word of mouth, referalls, local ads, chamber of commerce, joining local trade shows, networking. There is a section near the bottom directed just at photographers but the rest too is stuff a photographer might use.
http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/101-ideas-to-get-more-freelance-work-and-generate-new-client-leads/

Some more photography specific lists I found:
http://blog.apollo-imagizing.com/blog/bid/10943/How-to-Find-New-Clients-for-Wedding-Photography-UPDATED
http://www.all-things-photography.com/wedding-photography-marketing-and-advertising.html
http://digital-photography-school.com/6-direct-marketing-tips-for-wedding-photographers
http://blogs.photopreneur.com/category/photography-marketing

You could check meetup.com to see if there is a local photographers, freelancing, creative business group near you where people might swap ideas on getting work and other topics. Or more general business meetups where you could give you card to local entrepeneurs.

Best of luck.

Jodda

Find as many local business networking events in your area and go and meet and talk to people there! I go to a BNI meeting weekly and our photographer does a blooming roaring trade from recommedations from other members. He's a lovely guy and v talented so not hard to recommend him.
Another photographer I know (from networking events...) who specialises in pet photography has business cards made up from her work (cards from moo I think)...some with dogs/cats/rabbits and they are such a good talking point.
Another one... offers free portrait sessions as prizes for charities... with £25 runners up prices... so people have the sessions and end up liking the pictures so much he easily covers his costs.