When the economy took a dramatic nosedive at the beginning of 2009 , many businesses, including photography studios and photographers, were caught off guard. Since then, smarts photographers have made significant changes in how the run their businesses. Among those who have taken a proactive approach to keeping their businesses on track are photographer like me and may be you. I may said that “2009 season was half full, but we could see what was happening in the local economy and knew we were in for a very bad position in 2010. Our bookings dropped by two thirds, customers and clients interested in my high quality photography started making decisions based on prices. Facing this reality, I made substantial adjustments in how I run my business. I’ve eliminated staff, fixed expenses and paid down business debt with personal savings”.
One thing I haven’t eliminated is marketing. In fact I poured considerable effort and resources into getting the word out about my business. Instead of pay advertising , this year I made a conscious decision to avoid pay advertising and to spend my time, not my money , on marketing.
Here some Marketing ideas to follow;
- Display your work locally – There are shops, restaurants, museum, even libraries that will showcase your work for free.
- Identify worthy pro bono project – Photographing a local non-profit organization or two at no charge every year is a win-win arrangement. I had been doing it for several years, giving my expertise and free time to organizations as “LA Fondita De Jesus”. By doing this work , my business has caught attention of people who associate themselves with this causes.
- Think of Catching Promotions – Give away something that is in as a IPod to the first booking job for the month, or a 11” x 16” free.
- Consider Business + Home as a good investment – Instead of expend money in remodeling your studio or paying rent, prepare your home as your studio and save that money.
- Generate Buzz online – Publishing your latest work , photos, schedule activities on timely bases on your blog or web site expand your reach and keep your business name in clients and prospect mind.
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