A new year brings new opportunities to make tweaks to your business as a whole. You might add new services, evaluate your pricing structure, revamp your website and more.

There are tons of new marketing tips you can start using right away. I talked to a few different professionals to get their take on the new year with some marketing quick tips.

James Maher, Street & Portrait Photographer (New York)

Photo by James Maher

“Everyone should start out by embracing their personal connections. Particularly for photography, everyone needs a photographer of some sort or knows someone who does. Put together a mailing list of your close friends and acquaintances and send out an official announcement about your business, letting them know how your business can help all types of people and businesses. Make sure to ask for referrals as your network won’t know to help you out unless you let them know how they can. Then, whenever you want to meet influential people in your community, always see if you have a friend in common who can put you in touch. A referral will always get you further than a cold call.”

Follow James online: https://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/

Giulio Sciorio, Portrait Photographer (Austin, TX)

“The best thing a creative can do to generate new business is to get out and meet people. When you meet someone in person you can accomplish in five minutes what it would take several social interactions to get across. Potential clients will get a sense of your personality and if you offer something special, it will be a talking point for future meetups.”

Follow Giulio online: http://www.giuliosciorio.com/

Jamie MacDonald, Nature & Wildlife Photographer and Olympus Visionary (Eaton Rapids, MI)

Photo by Jamie MacDonald

“I’d say the one message I have to deliver to people, is to be yourself. Don’t try to sound like a company or a brand; just sound like yourself. People connect with people, not with companies. I think that’s why what Olympus does is so successful. Happy New Year!”

Follow Jamie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MacDonald_photo/

Scott Wyden Kivowitz, Family Portrait Photographer (Freehold, NJ)

“Work with your accountant to see if there is any additional cushion you can make available to do more advertising in 2018. Social media is becoming more pay to play as time goes on. So advertising is going to become more important to your online marketing efforts from here on.”

Follow Scott online: https://scottwyden.com/

Nick Ulivieri, Commercial Photographer (Chicago)

“Marketing your business to attract new clients is a necessity, but never forget about your existing ones. It takes more time, energy, and money to land new clients than it does to keep your current clients happy and returning to you for recurring projects.”

Follow Nick online: http://nickulivieriphotography.com/

Valerie Jardin, Street Photographer (St. Paul, MN)

Photo by Valerie Jardin

“Always be yourself. No matter what you are trying to sell as a photographer: Wedding packages, commercial shoots, workshops, etc. YOU are part of the package. Your personality sells as much as your talent. Trying to be someone else or emulate someone else’s work will only take you so far and it’s a lot of work to keep it up. It is important to always be true to yourself and, truth be told, being you is the easiest way to be!”

Follow Valerie online: http://valeriejardinphotography.com/

Steve Brokaw, Fashion, Beauty and Portrait Photographer (Indianapolis)

“As background, I’m a studio-based fashion, beauty and portrait photographer. It’s a competitive field with many photographers creating amazing work. Therefore, to stand out my recommendation is to ALWAYS treat your photography as a creative pursuit, but ALSO as a business. A photography business that runs like a smoothly run professional business is a competitive advantage and an amazing marketing tool. This means making it easy for clients to get ahold of you, easy to find your rates, answering emails and messages promptly, stay humble and friendly, delivering your images as promised, always being professional, keeping your commitments, making it easy to be paid, keeping your books in order, being on time, etc.

“Sounds simple right? It’s surprising, then, that not all of us do it. From my experience, this is just as important as your social media activity and delivering amazing work…be a well-run business.”

Follow Steve online: http://stevenbrokawphotography.com/

Happy New Year!

 

For more on Photography Marketing, see our weekly column.