Photography Q&A: Real Questions. Real Answers.

Marketing and self-promotion.

Q: YOU RESPONDED TO A QUESTION ABOUT PERSONAL STYLE BY SAYING TO DEVELOP A STYLE AND MARKET IT TO CLIENTS WHO MATCH THAT STYLE. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS, WHAT DOES THAT KIND OF MARKETING LOOK LIKE? MARKETING AND SELF-PROMOTION ARE REAL WEAK POINTS FOR ME, AND I DON’T HAVE ANY SENSE OF WHERE TO START. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT MAKING IT KNOWN THAT YOU’RE READY, ABLE, AND WILLING TO WORK?

A: Let’s first look at marketing from a wide-angle perspective. Every marketing plan needs to have these key things:

WEB SITE :: Duh. A web site. Something professional with a custom URL. Not johnsmith.smugmug.com or whatever. It needs to be JohnSmithPhoto.com. That might point to some online template service but it needs to be your name/company ...