The Modern Tog

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Partner with a Charity to Grow Your Photography Business

grow your photography business through donating services to chartiable organizations
Marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a successful photography business.

It’s also one of the areas where photographers often struggle.

I’ve found a great method that will get you in front of your target client, set you up for press releases that will get you exposure, and help your favorite charity!

Partnering with charities has been one of the most beneficial marketing strategies for my business.

This marketing strategy can take many forms and can be custom designed to the needs of the charity you are working with and the workflow of your business.

The focus of my charitable marketing work thus far has been with shelters and rescues since I focus on pet photography, but these principles can be applied to working with schools, 501(c)3s, or any organization that is charitable and has supporters that are your target market.

Not all partnerships are equally beneficial to your business. So let’s look at how to ensure your donations and partnerships with charities will be mutually beneficial for both of you.

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When Should You Show Clients Your Full Pricing?

when to show clients your full pricing
If you started asking strangers for kisses, how many do you think you’d get?

You’d likely get a lot of really confused looks, some rude comments, and maybe a few kisses if you’re not too creepy.

However, built into each one of us is a sub-conscious desire to be consistent that is so strong that it could get strangers to kiss you and clients to book you that might have otherwise said no.

Don’t believe me? Watch this video and see if you can figure out how they did it. It’s worth a few minutes of your time.

Besides being ridiculously entertaining, this demonstrates the principle of consistency, which can be super powerful in converting people into clients. Let’s talk about what’s happening here and how you can use these same principles to get more clients, specifically by making sure you’re showing your pricing at the right time.

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6 Effective Photography Marketing Areas to Focus On to Book More Clients

6-Effective-Photography-Marketing-Areas
What are the best places to focus your photography marketing efforts to get the most new clients without wasting a ton of money?

Over the past few years I’ve done a lot of experimenting, wasted a lot of money, and come up with 6 places that I focus on every single year to keep our photography business getting the clients we need.

Let’s look at each of the 6 effective photography marketing areas and why they are important to focus on.

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Surprise Delights: Your Secret Photography Marketing Super Power

Photography Marketing Surprise Delights

Marketing can be a mystery, but I’m going to share one of my best secrets with you today.

So many places that tell you they can get you results, if only you spend the money to advertise with them or buy their cool marketing templates.

It’s hard to know what will work and what won’t. The last thing you want is to spend money and not see any return.

However, there’s one thing that is guaranteed to bring in new clients because it’s so very powerful, but so many people neglect this aspect of their marketing.

What is this secret photography marketing super power?  [Click to read more]

How a Pumpkin Spice Latte Can Get You More Photography Sales

How a Pumpkin Spice Latte Can Get You More Photography Sales

Confession: I tried my first ever Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks just a few weeks ago.

I’m not a huge Starbucks fan in general, much preferring the delicious Chai that I get from my local coffee shop, but with all the hype and people saying how much they loved one, I decided it was time to give one a try.

It was delicious, I admit. Much like drinking a slice of pumpkin pie with coffee. But not mind-blowing at all.

The most astounding thing to me is how much of a cult following it has. I mean, even the generic coffee creamers and cookies in the grocery store are coming out in “pumpkin spice” flavors, so you know there’s a large size following.

I’ve seen posts on Facebook about how excited my friends are that it’s back, and whenever it leaves for the season I always see people complain that it’s gone.

So why would Starbucks only offer one of their most popular drinks for a very limited time and not offer it all the time?

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Pay Up: Facebook is Holding Your Fans Hostage

Pay Up Facebook is Holding Your Fans Hostage
One of my biggest pet peeves over the last year has been all the hype about Facebook suddenly charging people to show up in newsfeeds when in reality nothing had changed except that they added the option to get even more views by paying. So you’d get the same views or more, but not less at all.

But last month that all changed, and Facebook finally lived up to all the hype and started charging for views.

Last month, they changed the algorithm to reduce page veiws by 5-40%, although many people (including myself) saw decreases closer to 60% or more on average. This was the case even with really great engagement which was the important part in the past.

That means unless I want to pay to promote my posts, I just effectively lost over half my fans. They’re still there, but they’ll never see my posts. Thanks, Facebook!

To get back my prior amount of views, I’ll have to pay Facebook between $10-20 PER POST to get the same views as before. That gets expensive. Seeing as Facebook is the main source of marketing for many photography businesses, this algorithm change could have a significant impact on your bookings.

So how should we as photographers deal with this? Is it worth promoting posts? What’s the best way to promote something? Let’s jump right in and look at it all.

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The Most Simple Way to Get More Photography Clients

The Most Simple Way to Get More Photography Clients (via TheModernTog.com)
It’s the scenario I dread as a mother because it always ends in tears and yelling.

My daughter wanted a toy that my son was playing with. She’s still young enough that when she wants something, she does anything she can to get it.

But this time, instead of ripping it out of his hands with brute force, she tried a different tactic.

Not only did she get the toy she wanted, but she did it without any fighting. He willingly handed it over. There was no arguing, screaming, and I didn’t have to stop working to dole out the consequences.

I was in shock (and thankful not to have to intervene!), but it reminded me that this is exactly the same thing we need to do to get more clients.

So let’s dive in and break it down, step-by-step, so you can get more photography clients for your business as well.  [Click to read more]

How to Get More Ideal Clients Using Your Website

How to Build an Absolutely Irresistible Photography Website

Unless you own a studio, your website is your virtual storefront where people come to decide if they want to hire you as their photographer.

This is one of the most important aspects of your business, yet many of us simply put something together when we create our first website and don’t put a lot of time or thought into anything except what images we want to show and maybe the colors of our branding. Not only that, but it looks a lot like all the other photography websites out there.

While I think having beautiful images is a very important part of getting clients to hire you, it’s not even close to the most important part. Everyone shows photos. It’s REALLY hard to stand apart from your competition on image quality alone, especially considering most people don’t know a good photo from a great photo.

So how do you stand out and attract your ideal clients like crazy?

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7 Mobile Marketing Ideas For Photographers Using StickyAlbums

Mobile Marketing Ideas for Photographers Using StickyAlbums
As a modern photographer, it’s becoming increasingly important that you understand the impact of mobile devices on your business.

Photographers that ignore the impact mobile devices have on their business will lose clients. Those who embrace it early will have a huge advantage over other photographers, especially in the next few years as others attempt to “catch up”.

I was SHOCKED when I looked at my stats for this past month for my wedding photography business and saw that 24% of the pageviews came from mobile devices!

So when Nate, the founder of StickyAlbums, sent me free access to his new product that creates apps for your clients with their images, I saw the huge marketing potential they had and could not wait to give it a try.

I could not be more excited about it! So to help you get an edge over other photographers, here is an introduction to StickyAlbums and 7 Mobile Marketing Ideas for Photographers using StickyAlbums (plus a coupon code at the end, WOOT!)

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How a Handshake Can Get You More Photography Clients

Get More Photography Clients with HandshakesThis week’s post is a guest post is written by Lea Hartman.

In our day and age of technology driven enterprise we often overlook the tried and true method of building a business: a good solid handshake. Yes, it’s true, back in our parents’ day there was no email marketing or online presence. Building a business was all about building a relationship – you couldn’t have one without the other.

This is a reality that has hit home for me living in the south. Down here the corner drug store is still going strong and independent beauty salons can be found throughout the area. How do these small businesses thrive with larger, often time cheaper, chain stores being built up all around them?

Relationship. People will continue to frequent a business that makes them feel at home, one that offers them personal attention and invests into their life.

When I was a kid, my dad used to order pizza from the same family owned pizza parlor. As time progressed, they learned who my dad was, what he normally ordered and eventually he was able to call up, say, “This is Don on Sparks. Could you send my usual?” and they’d know exactly what he needed and have it on it’s way. Who doesn’t love attention like that?

So, how can you incorporate this into your photography business?  [Click to read more]