1# Google Business Pages
Google is now placing its business listings before the organic search results. For example, while searching for a keyword like “Wedding Photographers” on Google; you will get the following result:
Listing your business on Google is really important for you and definitely, you can’t afford to skip it.
It’s one of the best ways to boost your chances of being found on search results whenever people search for a Photographer.
You need to create your business profile with complete details and start getting customer reviews in order to stay up in the local listings. And make sure to upload photos, as they usually show up in the search results.
Moreover, these listings are absolutely free. So go ahead and get one now!
2# Build your online presence via automation
The best way to build authority is via consistent participation in dialogues and strategy of helping others on social media. It sounds good but it is not a photographer’s task to become a social media freak. If you can afford, you can even hire a social media executive or freelancer for building relationships on social media platforms. For those who cannot afford it, automation is the key. It’s easy to use and save your time and efforts as well. Here is a list of tools do the job for you:- Buffer, for automation of social media updates. With Buffer, you can dedicate 20 minutes of your time and schedule updates for the upcoming one week. Great way to be consistently present in front of your online networks
- Follower wonk for building Twitter followers base. Building your Twitter followers base pays its dividends in the long run. With Follower wonk, you can choose to target and follow a particular niche of users who can in return also choose to follow you back. For example, you can choose to follow other photographers, marriage bloggers, event managers and many other niches that are likely to be indirectly connected to your business and may request your services soon
- Hootsuite, for updating and managing multiple social media networks at once. With hoot suite, you can manage multiple streams of social data such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn within the same dashboard and schedule posts or retweets directly from those streams. Other free tools you can try out are Manage Fb and Deliver it.
3# Embrace This Secret Content Marketing Strategy
This sound bizarre as photography and writing are two different domain. A mightier pen not only helps you in enhancing your communication with your customers but also provides you the opportunities to write guest posts on high authority blogs. Moreover, this helps you to establish yourself as the subject matter expert in your domain. It provides you with the chances to associate with influencers in your industry. The first front where you can get active on content marketing is your personal blog. It’s extremely important to provide your users with the stuff they are actually looking for. For example, a wedding photographer can share a series of posts on wedding photography tips. Providing value to your clients will help you in building trust. Moreover, your clients will start considering you as an expert on the subject. You can even connect your online portfolio with your blog, just take the extra leap. And start blogging weekly or even daily and watch as Google starts recognizing your site as authoritative within your niche and increases your average position in search results. But I Don’t Have So Many Blog Post Ideas..? The reason why you may feel trapped in your content marketing strategy is your own lack of understanding the context on which a potential lead may look for your services. To demonstrate how you can outgrow that, have a look at the following matrix:
You will definitely pay more stress over the first quadrant which is “Hiring a Wedding Photographer” because it portrays customer requirements with an immediate need for your service.
But here the main concern is that your competitors are doing the same.
How do you stand apart? How would you make Google rank you higher on its organic search result for the term “hire a wedding photographer”?
Answer – By focusing on the remaining 3 quadrants. They are likely to be neglected by your competitors because just like you, they also opt for the quick win.
This is your chance to generate more leads and shine out amongst your competitors.
You can choose to target your content marketing strategy for any of these 3 quadrants or all the 3 if you have the time and resources.
The best part of this strategy is that you get to target people who are still not in the mood of hiring a photographer. You will have more chances of getting found and remembered as compared to others.
How Can You Do This?
Start by picking any one of these 4 quadrants and brainstorm possible content ideas. Let’s choose the third quadrant where you can choose to blog about something that is in the context of your direct service offering (wedding photography) without being necessarily focused on photography.
Here are a few examples:
- What to look for when hiring a florist.
- Tips to make your wedding day go smoothly.
- Referral list for the best vendors in your market area.
- How to plan the perfect honeymoon.
4# Start building an email list
Email marketing is not about buying some random email list to promote your business. In reality, it’s reaching out to the people who are interested in your services and opt-in to receive emails from you. The benefit of building this list is that these clients are already like your work enough to give you their email address. And these people are precious for your business. You can use tools like MailChimp for free to design your newsletter. Send your latest work to your clients every week. Tell stories about a client’s photo shoot. Share behind-the-scenes videos. Offer discounts and coupons during holiday or festival seasons. Actually, there is no end to the type of content you can create and send.5# Offer referral bonuses
Word of mouth is the most powerful thing for any business. One way to encourage your users to tell their friend about your business and how good is your services is to reward them. You can offer them either a free print or print credits as a referral bonus.Conclusion:
The objective of this article is to provide you the quick tips to design your marketing plan that help you boost your sales in 2019. These are the tips that most photographers wish they knew before starting their business.
