Attracting more clients, booking more of the right clients, growing your business, making more money – all stems from marketing.

I decided to put up 30 tips on Instagram, I’m about half way – here’s a recap of the first ten.

Number One.

Know who your Ideal Client is.
If you know who your ideal client is, it’s much easier to attract because everything you write, everything you say, everything you do is going to be directed towards this client and that’s how you’ll attract them.

Number Two.

Attracting more clients, which is marketing, by the way, isn’t something you do once. It’s something you do every single day. Most photographers aren’t consistent about this. If you do show up every single day, you will quickly rise to the top of the competition.

Number Three.

Invest your time in creating solid content that speaks directly to them and that explains to them what your photography superpower is so that you stand out amongst the crowd, against all the other photographers that they’re looking at.

When you invest your time in creating solid content like this, you’re creating a foundation. You’re planting seeds that the more you water them, the bigger the tree that will grow. You’re planting the seeds for your business to grow for years to come.

And remember, trees need to be watered. When I referenced Marketing your business every single day, that’s watering these seeds.

Having a sustainable photography business for the long term boils down to how much you water these seeds. Keep up the marketing.

Number Four.

When we start a marketing strategy we we have to begin with the end in mind. Envision your business six months from now, what is it that you would like it to look like?

First journal prompt: Write down how would you like your business to change over the next six months. For some of you, maybe that’s to make more money. Others, it might be to shed clients that you’re not happy working with. For others, it could be to niche down, create a price list that you can stand behind 100%.

Whatever that is, you have like (really love) what you want to change in your business over the next six months.

And then the second journal prompt: How much do you want to make in your photography business over the next 12 months? What is your goal? What is your goal income over the next 12 months?

The reason this is one of the first things that we should do is because if we don’t have a number, if we don’t have something that we’re working towards, we end up not being able to measure the progress that we’re making. Also there’s something magic about having something to strive for because when you have a goal or you have an outcome that you’re looking for, it’s much easier to create the steps to get there if you know what there is.

Creating a marketing plan when you don’t know what your goal is, is almost futile because not necessarily knowing what to do and where to work on in your business.

If you do these two short journal exercises, it’ll at least give you the parameters for where to begin.

Number Five.

Photographers. Your Client wants 2 Things: Status + Differentiation.

[This is true not just in photography marketing. why do people post on socials about their kids accolades or their most recent trip or new car or accomplishment? Because they want status and differentiation. They want to stand out in a positive, sort of I’m better than you way. (even if they don’t realize this is what they are doing/seeking!)]

Your photography clients seek status and differentiation. You need to show them how you provide this for them with the content you have on your website and socials, in your texts, emails and in person interactions.

You will attract more clients when your potential clients understand what you will do for them.

They want more status. People want to feel good about the choice they made when they chose their photographer. When they show their photos, they want compliments. They want to hear good things like, What a great photo. Oh my God, you look so good. Wow. Your kids are so well behaved. I want photos like these. All those sorts of things.

And secondly, they want differentiation from their peers. I’ve found over the years that whoever’s booking you for your services, the main thing that they want is to feel that they have a photographer that’s doing something different than all their friends.

They may look for a photographer that does something similar, but they want to have something different. That some superpower from the photographer that they choose that’s different than the photographer that all their friends choose.

When you can demonstrate that you do something differently in your niche, that you stand out for a particular reason, it makes it easy for the client to hire you because they realize that you’ve provided something for them that they’re seeking and they’ll really be happy with the decision they made.

Number Six.

A client will not buy from you until they are heard.

This is why you quickly need to figure out what is important to your ideal clients. And of course you’ve done that because you’ve created content for your website that speaks directly to them.

When they land on your website, they need to understand that you understand them. And that’s paramount, whether that is on your website, through emails, phone calls, or a sales meeting, your client needs to be heard.

They need to feel that you understand exactly what it is that they’re looking for, and they really don’t care about your degrees or how many years you’ve been doing it.

And while those things are semi important to some people, the real important part of communicating verbally and through your content creation is that you have to make the client feel heard.

You have to understand what they want and demonstrate that and everything that you put front facing to them so that they know that you get them.

Remember what we sell isn’t the photography. People buy what they think the photography is going to do for them.

I’ll say that one more time.

Remember, what we sell isn’t the photography.

People want what they think the photography is going to do for them.

Number Seven.

Photographers. Put yourself in a truly unique niche and you will find that your business becomes infinitely easier.

I’ll say that again.

If you put your business in a unique niche, I promise you that your photography business will become infinitely easier.

Number Eight.

Messaging takes time to get right.

But clarity and authenticity in this messaging is what it takes to create the business that you want.

And when you are being honestly you, your ideal clients will find you.

Number Nine.

When you continuously choose to really chase down or book every single job that comes your way or that inquires with you, I can guarantee you that your message is not clear enough.

Number Ten.

Photographers, you have to embrace not working with everyone.

It is freeing and empowering to say no, let these clients go. If they’re not meant to work with you, let them go and let them find the photographer that’s right for them.

Because it’s not you and that’s okay.

Let the wrong clients go and you will forever see your business change in ways you never expected. For the good.

This is the first 10 book more (of the right) clients / marketing tips of 30 that I will be sharing in no particular order! I’ll share the next ten next week. I think I’m up to maybe 15 or so on instagram right now.