Online Marketing Tips

This past weekend I had the chance to meet with a lovely couple getting married next year. Like most meetings, there comes a time when I ask how the couple discovered my work (it's important to know the source so I can send a proper thank you and measure effective marketing mechanisms) and I thought I'd share how things unfolded. Many photographers ask how they can book more weddings without breaking the bank, so today I'll outline a few tips leveraging online and organic marketing.

Online Marketing Tips for Photographers
    1. Use text to describe the photos in a way prospective brides might search. For instance, sharing the designer of a bride's wedding dress may help with online searches and bring up your blog as a byproduct and get more views of your work.
    2. Label the photos on your blog so you can leverage SEO when a prospective client is searching for wedding related topics. For example, you might label wedding photos as follows: jimmy-choo-wedding-shoe-photo or peony-bouquet-photo
    3. Share the photos with wedding related outlets (wedding blogs, websites, social media, etc). The more your photos get shared, the more people will see them and–ultimately–reach out if they're interested.

Using these tips, I want to showcase how this played out for me this past weekend at a client meeting…
    Last year I photographed Sonya and Eric's Terranea Resort wedding and blogged the images, making sure to appropriately tag the wedding photos.
    I made mention of the wedding dress Sonya wore (a beautiful Vera Wang gown).
    I was honored to have the wedding photos featured online (here and here), so both features helped gain exposure for my work (i.e. created online marketing).
    About a year later, a prospective bride, X, was searching for Vera Wang dresses and typed this search into Google.
    My photos were some of the first to appear in the search and–in a small world coincidence–X loved the dress, but she also knew Sonya!
    Seeing the dress–on a friend, no less–caused X to reach out for her destination wedding in Laguna Beach next year.
    We met on Saturday and she booked me as her wedding photographer.

When it comes to online marketing for photographers, I don't think it's one factor that leads to creating business, there are lots of small pieces that contribute to creating momentum. Every wedding I book is an odd mix of referrals, online chutzpah, and investing in relationships with my clients. I'd love to carry this conversation, so if you have tips, I'd love to hear them as well. Together we can grow our businesses to where we want them!

Happy Tuesday!