social media

Whether you do business under your own personal name or under a business name, personalizing your product and/or service is a great form of marketing. Everyone loves a good story, so telling customers YOUR story is a great way to grab their attention. This is why branding your company with a “face” can make the customer feel more familiar with you and your product. A good strategy is to show pictures of yourself and your employees hard at work when you send emails, share pictures or post videos. Lifting the curtain and giving customers a … [Read more...] about Don’t Be Afraid To Personalize

In the fast paced world we live in, it’s easy to get caught up in time saving, cookie cutter, ready-to-use content for your SEO strategies. While this type of content can be used as filler, don’t underestimate the value of producing your own original content. By producing your own content, you demonstrate that YOU are the expert in your field! Customers will be more likely to turn to you when they need something if they see you as the expert in the field or at least the most knowledgable person they have access too. So share your knowledge … [Read more...] about Share Your Knowledge Through Original Content!

When I get asked, “What marketing can I do to increase my photography business”, I usually respond with a question of my own asking what their marketing strategy is currently for their business. I’m always amazed when I get a blank stare in return! You wouldn’t build a house without first creating a blueprint, so why start your photography business, even if it’s only part-time or “just for fun”, without first creating a content marketing strategy for promoting it. The easiest way to get started is simply by making a list of all the ways … [Read more...] about Start With A Written Marketing Strategy

Using hashtags is another great way to get a conversation going about your business. You simply create a hashtag to be used for your brand or business, share it in a post (FaceBook), pic (Instagram) or tweet (Twitter), search for that hashtag on your platform of choice, and then find and reply to anyone who shares it. While there are many examples of hashtag marketing campaigns online (just do a Google search) here is an example I’ve offered to my photographer marketing clients… Tell your followers to share their favorite picture from your … [Read more...] about #getthewordout

One difficulty I hear about all the time is creative people complaining that they don’t have enough time to be creative AND share their creativity. In other words, they either don’t have enough time to write blog posts and social media updates or they run out of content to share very quickly. Usually this is because the person share’s it once and moves on. Well, here’s a great tip for you: start sharing your old posts along with your new ones! Doing this can greatly increase your traffic. One caveat, if you do it poorly, it can alienate some … [Read more...] about Share Old Posts To Get New Traffic

Looking for a quick down and dirty way to get more traffic? Then mention others in your blog post or status update to get more viewers! A good example of this is when you mention a product or service in your blog post, reach out to them via their social media accounts and let them know you’ve included them in your content. They may very well share your article with their followers and by doing so, your content will be getting increased traffic! Same goes for your status updates where you mention someone’s else article or content. Once … [Read more...] about Mention Others To Get More Traffic

Getting new customers to come to your physical location is a challenge for any business, but it’s especially true for independent gallery owners and photo studios. Luckily, there is a tried-and-true marketing technique that works every time: the special promotional offer! Special offers always receive increased engagement and they motivate new customers to give you a try while encouraging existing customers to return and buy again. This not only brings traffic to your site/business, it engages your customer in a way that makes them feel … [Read more...] about Use Social Media To Bring Foot-Traffic To Your Art Gallery Or Photo Studio

Here’s a simple 5-step plan that allows you to use your physical photo studio location to control what is said about your brand online. Register your physical business location on a review site like YELP. Invite your customer’s to “check-in” when they come to your location. The check-in provides a link to your web site where they can view any current promotions you are offering. The check-in also makes it easy to monitor reviews on sites like Facebook and Yelp and respond if necessary. Use people’s comments on the check-in to … [Read more...] about What Your Physical Photo Studio Can Do For Your Online Brand

Editor's Note: Photofocus is proud to welcome Rod Harlan to our team of authors. Rod will primarily focus his efforts on helping visual creatives find more success. I was conducting a seminar at a very large convention a few years back where I was showing the audience how they could see what Twitter accounts had fake followers so they could identify them as spammers and stay away. Sadly, I used the twitter handles of several of the conference speakers besides myself as an example and I exposed a few of them as having massively fake followers! … [Read more...] about Don’t Be Seduced By The Numbers!