I can remember the last five people I have spoken to, but I can’t remember the last five commercials I have seen. The desire for social interaction comes naturally to most people. We tend to remember who we have spoken to because conversation has meaning to us. We like to know and be known by others. It is also human nature to become desensitized to meaningless environmental noise such as advertisements. Because people have learned to filter out advertisements, networking has become a more effective marketing strategy for my photography business.
People, especially the younger generation, have become almost immune to direct marketing. Direct marketing assaults us from every angle. Our mailboxes are full of meaningless advertisements announcing the latest deals. We have been bombarded by commercials for so long, we have learned to filter them out. Sometimes, we even record television programs so we can watch them later and skip over the commercials. Trying to Compete in the Sea of Direct Marketing.
As a photographer, it has become increasingly difficult for me to get noticed in the sea of direct marketing. It seems the only way for me to get noticed would be to light myself on fire and say “Look at me, I’m a photographer!” This would get me noticed, but would not convince anyone to hire me to take pictures for them. It is frustrating for me to spend time and money on a direct marketing campaign, only to have it be ineffective because it gets lost in the sea of meaningless advertisements.
There must be a better way to reach potential clients.
Photography clients want to hire a photographer they know and trust. They want to be confident they can trust me to capture pictures of their wedding or newborn baby. Clients tend to hire me because they know me, or a friend they trust has recommended me to them. As a photographer, my philosophy for using my talent is to look for ways to bless people through photography. Networking is the best way to do this. If I use advertisements to try to convince people to hire me, it seems more like I am recruiting people to bless me with their money.
When people need pictures, they will ask their friends if they know a good photographer. Word-of-mouth referrals account for most of my photography business. If someone is recommending me to a potential photography client, they will also talk about the quality and style of my work and whether or not they liked working with me. I think it is wise to give my current clients good incentives, like free prints or a free portrait session, when they recommend me to their friends. However, I have found that the best way to get my clients to recommend me is to exceed their expectations of me as a photographer. If I capture great images for a client and theylove working with me, they will recommend me to their friends.
People like to hire who they know and like. If you have a large network of friends who know you and like you, you have a large network of people who will hire you when they need a photographer and will recommend you to their friends. With the advent of facebook, the marketing potential of social networking has been greatly increased. Facebook is a great way to stay in contact with a large network of people. Facebook is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to photographers today.
Networking Is Powerful Marketing. (2022, May 03). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/networking-is-powerful-marketing/