Last week I talked about inbound marketing for the photographer Day 92 – Inbound marketing for Photographers. Today I’m going to share a very simple strategy which utilises inbound marketing for the baby photographer.

There’s no real reason why this idea can’t be used in other photography disciplines but baby photography just seemed to be a good example.

This strategy won’t suit every client and it’s not really for photographers who only do one off shoots and don’t try to gain repeat business from their client. It’s more about creating quality referrals from existing clients and keeping those client for life.

The key to making it work is affordable quality products, having the first shoot at bump stage and a client who very much in Generation Y.

Inbound marketing strategy for baby photographers

SEO

It begins with a stand alone and keyword enhanced baby photography website. It doesn’t matter if you don’t only shoot babies but if you really want to concentrate on this area the befits of having a stand alone site in terms of SEO are huge.

This site is the hub for your marketing campaign so when your client arrives you’ll want plenty of calls to action. This includes offering enquiries via email and phone.

Blog

This goes hand in hand with SEO and will be a driving force for your traffic. It’s always good to have your blog attached to your site even if it’s hosted elsewhere.

The posts can’t just be of pictures from your latest shoots. While they’re still good to show, who is really searching for “your name photography’s latest pictures”….?

I’ve talked about this before on Day 70 – Blogging for photographers and on Day 69 – WordPress Stats – understanding the basics so have alook there to get some ideas.

An idea that you could use is having a baby photo contest or posting some tips about taking great baby pictures with a compact camera. See what works and what gets the best response.

Social media

Find out what your client uses, it’s no use posting images on a Facebook page if your client doesn’t use it! Always ask, this is so important especially when working with children. Some people love the idea of Facebook previews some will loose it if you start posting away.

Slideshows

These are a great way of sharing a handful of images without worrying about images being copied. Use YouTube or Vimeo or host the slideshow on your blog. The key though is having a ‘share’ option. This is when your little collection of images becomes viral.

It’s normally better to share the slideshows after the client has seen the images, don’t use it as their first preview of the shots.

Preview images

Again find out what they use. Google buzz is a wonderful way to share quick previews of watermarked images. Even if your client hasn’t used it before they still might have a Gmail account. Even if they don’t, it’s still a great way for anyone to showcase their work. Have a look at Day 65 – Google Buzz for photographers for some more ideas.

Speed of delivery is always an effective strategy with preview images. Have at your preview image up within 24 hours of the shoot. This not only builds excitement for the viewing but the client is more likely to recommend you while the shoot is still fresh in their mind.

What’s most important with everything you put out there on the social networks is always having a way for some to get back to your main site.

The Baby Website

You can quickly create your clients their very own baby website using Ning for free in under an hour. I wouldn’t do this after the first shoot. Ideally the website should be used as a freebie incentive for a Newborn session after a maternity shoot.

The beauty of Ning is that it creates a mini social network. Clients, family and friends can upload their own images and view your preview shots. It doen’t have the association of weariness that Facebook evokes and the whole site can be private.

What this site becomes is a constant reminder and marketing tool for your business. Having this constant contact and connection with your clients will not only keep you in the forefront of their mind when it comes to referrals but it also makes it easier to share your latest offers and promotions.

The really can be the difference between having a one off client and having one for life.

Interaction

With all of these ideas what’s important is interaction. Offering something that your client not only wants but will help you to promote yourself. While you might not see instant results like you will in more traditional forms of data collection it’s a pretty effective tool to have at your disposal.

Consider what your costs are for current outbound marketing strategies and compare that to the time it takes for you to put these ideas in place.