How do you get Known (photography Jobs)

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DinoS

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Hi,

How do you get people to know you contact you to hire you? how did you first start out advertising yourself?

Any ideas greatly appreciated, as i want to get out there and do some jobs get known but no-one ever seems to contact me?

are leaflets through doors a good idea?

thanks

Mark
 
What do you do with leaflets that come through your door? In my house they go straight in the bin but others may be different. Local press is a good place to advertise but they can be expensive, Yellow Pages probably paid off best for me in my business years (it's the one thing people always have to hand)
 
Yellow pages is a good idea, but your best bet is to advertise locally.

Also try to get yourself on the first page of Google, thats ALWAYS the first place i go to when I am looking for something local.
 
Register yourself on Google Local Business and you'll start to appear on page one of search results for your area.

Apart from that get out and tell people rather than place a few adverts and wait for the phone to ring. Find out about local events and contact the organiser, see if they've got anyone lined up. For pets the local vets normally has a noticeboard with adverts. Start thinking about who are your target market and where they'll be then get creative in finding ways to be at those places. Never stop talking to people and selling yourself every chance you get.
 
Pimp yourself ragged my friend. There's no point being shy.
Once you do a few, you'll likely find that more follow without too much effort. But, it depends what area of photography you're going for I guess to a degree.
 
Get out there!!!! :D

One day out for me at our local arts festival has created a lot of interest, I handed out loads of cards and got an order this morning :)

My first wedding resulted in the friends and family pimping me out, and I had an enquiry from someone the bride works with.

Word of mouth is where its at :)
 
i'd also invest in a better website if you're serious about it
 
Talk to people, talk to the management at places where your target audience frequent. eg mothers' groups and creches if you were going for kids portraits. As said already, vets for pets.

Gumtree and Facebook can be surprisingly effective depending on who you're aiming for. All you need is one or two bites, and then they'll do your advertising for you. (Provided you do a decent job :p).
 
I'm just gonna reiterate what's already been said, word of mouth is the best way of advertising, in my experience. Tell everyone you know that you're a photographer, get your friends to pass your card to their friends, work colleagues, bosses etc.

I'm only running my business part time alongside my full time employment, but just about all the work I've had has come through word of mouth.

Also don't be shy, phone promoters of local events, phone the local paper, basically talk to everyone you can and sell yourself!

good luck.

Dave
 
Business cards, and hand them out like candies! It's just a great thing and you never know who you might meet. Even if you meet a friend and give them your card, your friend might remember that he has a tog's business card and will pass that along to another friend.

And know your target audience/clients! The wedding togs and video people here know where and when each marriage course is happening. They stand outside the doors to these places and give out...business cards! When you're at a concert, give the band some...business cards! etc, etc.

(I love business cards...)
 
I started off doing nightclub photography (after being an avid clubber for a couple of years), and through getting to know the DJs and promoters (at a time when they're not busy, don't want them feeling harassed), I've ended up with lots of photoshoot bookings and my photos have been printed in some magazines and used for promotional purposes.

Draw up an action plan.. Mine went like this:
1) Identify the areas of photography you want to work in and set up a portfolio for each area
2) Identify potential clients and contact them to arrange a meeting
3) Draw up a price/fee list (if you don't feel comfortable charging to start with then just ask for free drinks/free entry to events for you+1.. again, depends on the type of photography)
 
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