Last week we started talking about marketing and different forms of advertising that work…. and a few that don’t in Are you the decision maker?

Today I’m going to share a few marketing best practices. There’s certainly no definitive set of hard and fast rules but hopefully these ideas might help you out a little bit.

I’m going to start of with a few links……

We already have a large archive here at PhotoCreative365 so check out our Business Ideas for Photographers Podcasts and our posts under Ideas and Opinion . We do also have some free downloads in the Members Area so feel free to sign in and have look through those.

For the past few weeks contributor James Spencer’s series Starting Your Own Photography Business continues to offer a wonderful insight and some tips and tricks from a working professional photographer.

When I first started PhotoCreative365 my first source of marketing and business inspiration came from Rosh Sillars’ New Media Photographer. Two articles you really should read are
189 business building ideas for photographers and 505 marketing ideas. Although Rosh still keeps up with a weekly podcast at New Media Photographer all of his latest articles can be found at The Driven Business.

287 Marketing Ideas for Small Business is a good place to start.

Current Photographer is another site which is an absolute goldmine for marketing ideas. For the past few months I’ve been a regular contributor and at the start of the 2011 I began a series of Marketing Campaigns for Photographers.

This is what we have so far….

• Win a Car!
• Gift Vouchers
• The Facebook Group Tag
• #archiveday
• Refer a Friend
• The Exhibition
• The Humble Keyring
• Getting Press
• Baby Passport Pictures
• The Wedding venue blog page
• The Wedding Venue Video
• 45 mins of daily social media marketing
• The Behind the Scenes video
• Get Your Social Media 5 A Day
• Blog Everything
• Publish a Book

While we’re on the subject of inspirational photography websites 100 Awesome Photography blogs should keep you busy and fill up those bookmarks!

Podcasts have also played a large part in the development of my own business and if you’re looking a for a few good ones then my list of 10 Great Photography podcasts are all worth downloading.

Utilising social media is always top of my frequently asked questions and something that I post about at least once a week.
Facebook and Twitter are of course the big two that people focus on so check out our Social Media Archives.

That’s already a mass of information for you to digest but I’ve also come up with a few other ideas plus there’s a couple which other photographers have sent me….. enjoy….

Marketing best practices

Email marketing – keep building your database as it can be a powerful tool. Services like Mailchimp will not only help you manage your lists but you’ll also have a valuable insight into what works.

Read Trevor Current’s article Email Marketing is Not Dead which will give you 8 Tips to Help You Build a Successful List.

Direct marketing – both email and postal lists can be purchased from various sources and do work. Be aware of what return you might make from each set of referrals as this will help you manage your pricing.
Direct mail, for example might only get you a 5% response but that doesn’t mean that it can’t still be am important part of your marketing plan.

Random flyer drops are just that…. random, so expect a much lower reaspose rate… about 1%-2% is about standard so play the numbers game.

Calls to action – whatever you do always include a call to action. It can be a simple as suggesting a day to meet a potential client in a email or a big button on your website’s homepage that says BOOK NOW

Printed advertising - NEVER pay list price! Asking for a 30-40% discount is acceptable. 10% discount? Don’t make me laugh!

Here’s a couple of questions you should be asking

• What is your circulation?
• Where and how is your product distributed?
• How many other photographers are advertising with you?

Don’t forget your details!

Recently I visited an exhibition where all sorts of different business were on show. After collecting dozens of flyers and business cards I was dismayed at the lack of information on many of them. Pretty pictures and funky designs are one thing but missing out contact details is a sin!

Here’s a few things I’d like to get from a flyer

• Business Name
• Website
• Business Address or at least a rough idea of where they are based.
• Contact number
• Contact name or the business owners name
• An Email address

Optional extras

• Prices or special offers
• Office/Studio hours
• Product examples
• Social media links – don’t just write ‘find us on Facebook’ give me the URL!

It’s not just business cards and flyers that need this information.
Put at least one form of contact on everything.

General Tips

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Concentrate on a small area and grow from there.

The notion that “If you book one job that’s the ad paid for” is ridiculous sales speak. If you only book one job then your marketing budget is entirely consuming your profits…… and that ain’t good business!

My normal view is that each discrete spend has to pay for itself 10x over for it to be worth while, so if something costs £1k then it must return at least £10k (Hugh Miller)

Are you looking to take on more work? This is a pointless question designed to have only one response yes! There are lots of these so watch out for them!

Don’t be duped by shameless name dropping from cold callers “Hi I’m Jane from the Google team at somedirectorylistingsite.com” – They have nothing to do with Google other than the fact that they’re selling Google ad space.

Ask for client references – if 95% of there clients return then it could just be that they make it very difficult to cancel their service

Online advertising

To quote The Social Network “Ads aren’t cool” How cool do you think your managed Facebook ads are going to be verses an awesome business page?

Use companies that offer monthly rolling contracts and ask how you would cancel the service. 60 days notice in writing is NOT an acceptable term ….. so keep an eye on the small print!

And lastly…..

When it comes to marketing and advertising it really comes down to a little bit of trial and error.

It’s very easy to make a lot of expensive mistakes along the way (I know I have) but we’re in the lucky position that we’re not alone.

The photographic community has become more open than ever before.

There are plenty of working professionals out there who are willing to offer a helping hand to those who aspire towards building a successful photography business.

Join a photographic society, contribute in forums, meet as many other photographers as you can and keep asking for advice from those who have experience rather than those selling you an ad space.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post as I know it’s a bit of a long one but there is a lot of great information out there and it’s literally at your fingertips!

If you have any useful or helpful links then please share them in the comments.

I’ll continue to share new ideas and things I discover along the way as I develop my own photography business so if you haven’t already become a member and sign up for our weekly digest email.

The best is yet to come…..