“I love photography, but I cannot do photography if I don’t have a business.”
That sentence sums up why Jasmine Star is so passionate about marketing. No matter what business you are in – marketing is essential for getting clients and staying busy. Which is why she included her favorite marketing tactics in The Complete Wedding Photographer Experience.
Marketing tells the story of who you are as a business owner and highlights how you work. Jasmine make the distinction this way, “what I do is photography, but what I sell are my services.”
That small differentiation pushes Jasmine to put a personal touch on what she shares when the big event ends – she doesn’t just post about her product (photographs), she shares a little bit of herself.
Add a truly ‘personal’ touch to your blog posts. It is common practice for photographers (and other wedding pros) to publish blog posts highlighting memorable moments of individual weddings, but Jasmine takes it a step further by making sure her posts feel authentic and personal to the people it features: her clients. “I don’t blog for the industry, I blog for my clients, for their friends, and for their family.”
That doesn’t mean you should ignore the business implications of each blog post. Jasmine recommends leveraging the rest of the post for business-y purposes by including links venues, vendors, and other relevant outside sites. Those efforts support her SEO efforts and build the bridges Google favors.
Use watermarks sparingly. Watermarked images, shared by the fans of your brand, can be a boon to business. As Jasmine says, “evangelists for your work are going to take care of your business far better than you could take care of your business in regard to talking about it.” So shareable content, attributed to you and amplified by outsiders, creates great, authentic word-of-mouth marketing.
But (and this is a big but) watermarks are reserved for those somewhat anonymized shares. She has a different rule for the creative teams that work on weddings and for the folks who got hitched; “people who participated in the event and are close to the event do not get watermarked images.” Instead, she asks and trusts that they’ll do the right thing when it comes to attribution.
Employ the right mentions and hashtags in socials posts. Rare is the wedding that doesn’t have a hashtag. As a wedding pro, it important to know what the couple came up with and to use it in your posts so attendees (and long-distance admirers) can search for it and see your name.
Beyond that, social posts are a great way to create industry connections. Tagging other vendors builds relationships that bolster referral business and cultivate goodwill between peers.
Whether you are wedding photographer, floral designer, or coordinator – the way you market this year’s wedding is going to dictate what you book next year and in every market there is competition. Make sure the way you talk, post, and tweet about your business makes you stand out.
For more advice on post-wedding marketing and for a super-easy watermarking secret, check out the video below:
