It can be hard to go running a successful business even though it has much potential. There are many opportunities for new photographers, whether their goal is to make extra money on the side or to start a full-time business.
The most common query is How to Get Your First Photography Clients? Well, it’s a little challenging to get your first client. It can be disappointing if you do not find your first client quickly after spending so much time, effort, and money building your photography business.
If you want to attract clients, you need to build a portfolio of work samples. How do you get started? Don’t worry, In this article, I’m going to discuss how to get your first clients for your photography business or how to generate photography leads quickly.
Step #1: Choose Your Niche
You can become an expert in different types of photography niches such as weddings, engagements, families, newborns, kids, seniors, real estate, and sports.
Rather than only focusing on one field, you can specialize in several. If you’re just starting out, you probably don’t want to limit yourself to only offering one session.
You might consider focusing on maternity, newborns, kids, and families. Choosing your specialties first will dictate the type of photos you should include in your portfolio.
A portfolio showing at least one engagement session is helpful if you are going to offer engagement photo sessions to potential clients. Over time, keep adding new pictures from various niches.
- Related: How to Become a Private Photo Editor Without a Degree (5 Steps)
Step #2: Build Your Killer Portfolio
A portfolio or samples of your work is one of the best things you can do if you want to attract paying clients. If you want to have a client judge your skill, you should have some quality samples of work to show off.
Tip #1: Consider offering some free or low-cost photo shoots to get some sample photos and add them to your portfolio.
This step will make your portfolio heavier and get you good money in the future. No matter whether you’re paid or not, make sure you’re doing your best work.
Now don’t ask me where can I find people? You can offer your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, social media friends, etc.
Your mission is to build a portfolio so you’re offering free or discounted photo sessions to build your photography business.
There are many people who want free or low-cost photography services. A small portfolio of high-quality photos is fine to get paid clients.
Tip #2: When giving a free or low-cost service, you can sign a contract that says you will be allowed to use their photographs for marketing purposes. Then you’re safe.
Note: Once you have enough photos for your portfolio, don’t do this type of cheap or free work for a long time.
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Step #3: Create Your Website
Nowadays having own services related website is a must. Yes, it will dramatically help to increase your sales.
Start to create your portfolio website once you have some sample photos to upload. Even if you’ve never had a website before, you can do it quite easily.
You can use a few different platforms to easily create a website that highlights your work and lists your services. Some platforms to consider are:
- WordPress (My favorite) – Choose the best web hosting and create the site easily.
- Squarespace
- SmugMug
- Zenfolio
These platforms will allow you to choose different types of templates. Your next step will be to upload your images, create the pages, and add the text.
The basics that your portfolio site should include are:
- A gallery of your photos
- Add “About my services” page
- Add the “Plans and Pricing” page
- Add a “Contact us” page with your contact information (email, phone, location, business hours, etc)
- Add the “Newsletter Sign up option” so your visitors can receive a notification when you make updates to the site.
Warning: In my experience, new photographers make the mistake of setting up a website and hoping the clients will come to them automatically. Don’t do that. That’s why you should learn how to promote your photography business.
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Step #4: Promote Your Services
How do I promote my photography business? You will need to do some marketing so that people can see your work when you speak to them. If you don’t actively market your services, you can’t rely on the portfolio site to bring you, new customers immediately. Now, how do I get photography clients fast?
Let’s see the top 10 photography businesses Promoting methods
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Method #1: Apply the friends of friends technique. Networking is the best way to promote your services and find clients quickly. Engage with everyone you know.
Everyone you know also has a network of people and friends you do not know. Get referrals from people you know. Offer them a reward if you wish.
Method #2: Active on Social media. Engage with social media sites and forums sites to create networking (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Quora, Medium, Thumbtack, etc).
Connect with the local photographer community in our area. In these groups, sometimes people search for photographers. You can also get trust by solving other photography-related issues.
Method #3: Get Google Organic Traffic. Upload SEO-friendly helpful and informative articles to your site. They will naturally attract new visitors if they rank well on Google. This is a lengthy process but very effective.
Method #4: Run Paid Ads. Run Facebook, Google, Instagram, and Pinterest Ads to get paid clients. You can filter different options to easily reach out to potential clients.
You can place an ad in your city or town, as well as in nearby areas. Running ads isn’t time-consuming. Include some sample photos and website portfolio links in the ad, so people can see your work.
If you face challenges when running, you can hire an ads campaign manager from the Fiverr marketplace at a reasonable price.
Method #5: Use Freelancing Marketplace. Upload your services on Fiverr, Upwork, or freelancer.com marketplace. Create a Fiverr account (free) and upload your gigs.
Method #6: Get Referrals from clients. Provide excellent service to your clients, and if they are satisfied, ask for referrals. Provide them a 25% discount offer if new clients come through them.
Tip #3: Collect reviews from existing clients on your work and show them to new clients.
Method #7: Post and Tag clients. Post clients’ photos on social media and tag them. Be sure to ask their permission first, but most people will be happy to allow you to do so.
If you tag the client, their friend or family will see the photos, which is a great way to get exposure and get more clients. Facebook and Instagram is the best platform for tagging people.
Tip #4: Make sure to mention that you’re currently accepting appointments and provide a link to your website or a way to contact you.
Method #8: Share on Youtube. Create a YouTube channel and share valuable content. Put your website link in the description.
Method #9: Offer mini-sessions. A good way to promote your services is by offering 30 or 60-minute mini-sessions.
Post on social media that you are taking appointments for mini-sessions on a particular date and place.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re photographing your friends or strangers, you should set some ground rules so everyone knows what to expect. You should clarify the following points:
- Photo session length
- Photo session location (a park, their home, etc.)
- What they’ll receive (for example, 20-30 edited digital photos)
- What you want (permission to use their photos in marketing materials)
Method #10: Work with Professionals. It can be helpful to work with an experienced professional when you are trying to gain experience in the photography industry. Many photographers need a second shooter for various reasons.
If you follow these steps on how to target photography clients, you should be able to get your first few paying clients.
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FAQs – How to Get Your First Photography Clients
How to Get Photography Clients on Instagram
1. Optimize Your Profile
2. Posting Good Photos
3. Use Proper Hashtags
4. Finding Brides & Grooms
5. Target Clients with Engaging Ads
How to Get More Photography Clients on Facebook
1. Select Your Niche
2. Give your audience a reason to share
3. Tag people
4. Upload video
5. Continuasly Upload High-quality Photos
