The one question I’m consistently asked by other photographers is, “how do I get more clients?”

Well the answer is simple but the process is not overnight.

I’m a BIG believer in branding by way of advertising as being the fastest way to reach the masses.

Branding is the process of imprinting your brand’s name in your ideal client’s brain🧠. Okay those are my words and not the official meaning of branding, but it’s true!

Branding rarely brings in direct leads but direct leads will convert more often if you have a recognizable brand.

What does this mean?

This means that if someone refers you to your ideal client and if your name is already imprinted in their brain, they will automatically trust you and reach out.

Because while word of mouth is powerful, with recognition comes trust. Trust significantly increases your inquiries and in turn bookings.

That’s why we trust AT&T to deliver a reliable product even though we hate them at the same time. But you get my point.

For advertising to work, you need to be consistent and you need to play the long game.

When I first started out, I didn’t believe this.

I thought the ad reps for the newspaper (I know I’m old 🙄) in which I was purchasing my ad told me this because they wanted my hard earned money.

But I learned very quickly that putting an ad in the paper for a week and then stopping because I couldn’t afford it doesn’t work.

It was only until after my ad had been in the paper consistently for three months did I start to see results.
 
The primary purpose of advertising your services is to BRAND YOUR COMPANY NAME so it works in conjunction with referrals.

The secondary purpose is to get direct leads.

That said, it’s not as simple as throwing an ad up and waiting for business to pour in.

The internet and social media changed all that.

Take a look at this article on how to position your marketing tools so that advertising actually works.

Have questions about advertising? Comment below!