Starting a photography business gives you the best of both worlds for combining your great love for art with a lucrative creative venture that pays off financially. As a photographer, you’ll enjoy helping people in your community document their life journeys while earning a comfortable income. When you’re just starting, marketing your new business is essential for bringing in new clients that help to expand your reach. Using these five ideas will help you market your photography business to a wider target audience that helps you find success.

Volunteer Your Services For a Community Organization

In the beginning stages of starting a business, it’s often challenging to get people to take a chance on using your services. The good news is that many people are willing to try a new business when the services are free or low cost. While you don’t need to give away all of your work for free exposure, volunteering in your community is a great way to give back while also expanding awareness about your business. Many local schools, religious organizations and community outreach programs need photography services, and this could be a great way to put your business name into more people’s minds.

Offer Mini Sessions to Recruit New Customers

You can also offer low-cost services while still getting paid for your time and creative skills. Sometimes, people are worried about investing in a pricy photo package when they aren’t sure of a new company. Mini sessions allow people to take a chance without a major investment. These shorter photo sessions are perfect for new parents, high school seniors and sports teams that may only need one or two shots to meet their goals for the shoot. Even once you increase brand awareness, you might choose to offer mini shoots during slower times of the year to keep your business flowing.

Run a Local Television Commercial

There’s power that comes from using marketing strategies that have been proven by the test of time. Television advertising is well-known for driving people to act, and you can reach thousands of people at once with a single commercial. Talking to a television advertising professional can help you determine if your company can benefit best from a simple animation ad or one with a voice-over. You can also choose to run the commercial at a specific time or on a preferred network based on your target audience’s demographics. Being able to reach people when their minds are relaxed and eager to find new opportunities helps you to receive more quality leads for future photography session appointments.

Launch a Social Media Campaign

Combining traditional TV advertising with a digital approach helps you reach even more potential customers. Take some time to explore the various social media platforms to determine the ones that best fit your brand. Then, you can begin building a following that encourages people to see the latest highlights of your photography sessions. One way to generate more of a following is to offer rewards for liking and sharing your company’s posts. You can also set up contests to encourage more views and shares.

Network With Other Local Business Owners

Networking events are a great place to find new customers. Many business owners want professional headshots for themselves and their employees. Or, you might make a connection with an event planner who could refer people to your business for services for their wedding celebrations and other types of parties. If you specialize in outdoor photos, then you might find a landscaping company that could use your services. Whether you forge a new mutually beneficial business relationship or land a major account for ongoing photography services, you can accomplish a great deal of marketing within only an hour or two.

Making sure to analyze the effects of your marketing strategies helps you identify which ones provide the greatest impact. While large companies might focus solely on online marketing strategies, the truth is that you need to think locally. Using methods such as television advertising helps you to quickly see when those appointments start to flood in, which allows you to direct your marketing funds to where they have the greatest impact. Sticking with the tried and true methods while slowly introducing new ones to your campaign helps you maintain a steady flow of business.