Starting out in photography – Getting your name out there

[To learn more about the 'Starting out in photography' posts, please read this post]

Lesson number 5 – If you expect the phone to ring, then people need to know that you exist

A couple of weeks after finishing photography school in November 2005, I boarded a plane with my wife-to-be, bound for the Maldives. In terms of photography and work, I had no idea what lay ahead for me work wise in the Maldives.

What I did know was this – I needed a web site and a I needed to get my name out there.

Getting a web site was easy enough. I was bootstrapping, so I took a canned, off the shelf product. So now I had a web site, only problem was, I didn’t really have any content! I went out and cobbled together some content – not as easy as you might think given how hard it is to actually get around to the other islands in the Maldives.

Lastly, I found some larger photography sites where you can list your business profile.

And then I waited.

Two weeks later, I received an email from a potential client asking if I was available for a four day assignment down in the southern atolls of the Maldives.

Now I will be the first to admit, there was more going on here than just being listed in a major photography directory. At the time, to the best of my knowledge, I was the only western working photographer living in Male’, the capital of the Maldives. While this is a case of the right time, right place, it is also a lesson in getting your name out there as best you can when first starting out, because you just never know who might call you.

Today my marketing approach is a little bit more sophisticated than what it was back in 2005, which is a good thing.

Don’t expect to knock up a web site, list yourself in some directories and live happily ever after. Far from it. Today, photographers everywhere are becoming more and more astute with marketing their businesses.

One of the key prongs of your marketing approach has to be Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of your web site. If you are not convinced, then you should read this article about stock photographer Randy Santos and how he generates 20-30 work inquiries a week thanks to Google.

There are plenty of resources for photographers wishing to learn more about marketing. Two of my favourite books on the subject are:

All Marketers Are Liars, by Seth Godin

This isn’t specific to photographers – rather it is marketing in the new age. (If you haven’t read any of Seth’s work, then get over to his blog and get ready to think)

Successful Self-Promotion for Photographers, by Elyse Weissberg

Though this book is a bit dated, the content is quite timeless. If you were to buy only one book on this subject, then I would thoroughly recommend this one. It is specific to photographers and has great chapters on creating your portfolio; meeting with potential creatives (Photo Editors; Creative Directors) etc..

On the web there are numerous sites with marketing related information for photographers. One of my regular reads is a site called Burns Auto Parts Consultants. Run by Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua, this site has some great content, including a number of free, short white papers. If you are into the podcast thing, make sure you subscribe to her podcast feed.

Whatever you choose to do when starting out, do this: sit down and think about the purpose of your marketing strategy. Sure it might be tempting to bang out some tweets on Twitter or update your Facebook page or even start up a blog, but unless these are part of your marketing strategy, you are probably wasting your time.

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