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8 Lead generation strategies for your photography business

Key Highlights

  • Try Paid Advertising with Facebook (Meta) or Google Adwords
  • Invest in SEO for organic lead gen
  • Create effective Social Media Campaigns
  • Implement a Content Strategy
  • Go Networking
  • Integrate Email Marketing to nurture leads
  • Utilise your current client base for referrals
  • Outsource your marketing

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of getting potential customers (leads) into your sales funnels and converting them into paying customers. Leads are individuals or organisations that have expressed interest in what a business offers by providing their contact information, such as name and email address.

In the photography industry, particularly portraits and weddings, there is a severe need for reliable and consistent lead generation but pursuing lead gen brings its own struggles.

Hands up if you identify with any of the following struggles:

  • Photographers lack the time to actively learn lead generation and create campaigns.
  • Money can be a common struggle. Building multiple advertising streams can be costly, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. 
  • Lead generation isn’t taught at school! No one teaches you how to do these things (apart from us) you need to seek them out yourself and once you think you’ve learnt something, algorithms change.
  • When leads dry up, it’s easy to switch on “panic mode”. That’s why we teach you multiple streams of lead gen strategies. 
  • Quality of leads can be tedious and time consuming to deal with. 
 

If you associate any of those struggles with your photography business, definitely read on.
In this article we’re going to discuss multiple ways you can generate leads for your business. Get ready to learn and take notes!

 

How to get photography clients

There are a vast amount of ways you can generate leads for your photography business – some you might not have even considered as a form of lead generation.

Here’s a list of all the major lead gen strategies you can employ in your professional photography business.

  • Paid (Facebook, Google)
  • SEO
  • Cold outreach
  • Social media
  • Content Strategy
    • Start a Blog
    • Guest posting
  • Networking
  • Email marketing
  • TikTok marketing
  • Utilise current client

 

Preparation before lead generation

Your ideal client

If you’re targeting everyone, you’re targeting no one! 

You need to really think about who you want to work with. Some of our clients have studios that will take anyone from the leads they get in, others are more selective.

One of our clients has created customer profiles that includes:

  • Their  names
  • Their hobbies
  • Their family & lifestyle
  • Their hobbies
 
By know exactly who they want to target, they can identify how to get in front of them. They know where their client goes for coffee, what communities they’re apart of, what publications they read etc. 

Strong branding

Make sure your brand is on point. You could take the best photographs in the world, but if someone comes across a dated brand, it can really knock their confidence in you.

Showcasing your portfolio

You need to be showcasing your work everywhere! Your social media, website and in your studio. Use the right hashtags on instagram to get in front of the right people and post consistently.
Have a clear portfolio page on your website too. 

Fast website

Speaking of webites, your webstie needs to be running smoothly. One of the major aspects of SEO is pagespeed – how fast your website loads.

Slow websites offer a poor user experience. Many photographers think they need to upload their images at the highest resolution possible, but that can be detrimental. 
Ideally you should be uploading images at the size they’ll be displayed at. Bear in mind a typical screen is 1920px wide. 
If you use WordPress, consider a Cache plugin to help improve loading speeds for returning visitors.
You could also use EWWW Image Optimizer to compress any currently uploaded images without effecting their quality.

# 1 Using paid advertising for your lead generation strategy

Using Paid Advertising in one of the most effective ways to gain new leads. The premise is to create attractive Ad Creative that captivates audiences into buying your services. There are a few options when it comes to choosing a platform to advertise on, but only two you’d likely consider – Facebook (Meta) or Google Adwords.

Advertising on Facebook 

Advertising on Facebook is relatively easy to set up, but difficult to master. Ideally you should have a professional create your advertising campaigns, as mistakes can be expensive.
When creating your Facebook campaigns, you need to have Ad Creative that catches a Facebook users eye. Your Ad text needs to tell them why they need your service and encourage them to exchange their details for your offer.

Advertising with Google Ads

With Google Ads, there is more search intent. This means that a search engine user is actively searching for your service. This is great, however Google Ads don’t particularly look captivating. Google Adwords is also complicated to get started and to master. 

For Photographers, generally Facebook Ads works better due to the visual nature of their business – you can show off your skills in your creative.

Here’s an easy comparison of Facebook and Google Ads.

Facebook Ads

Google Ads

#2 SEO as a organic lead generation strategy

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It’s the practice of optimising your website in order to climb positions in search engine results pages (SERPs). Getting your website to page one or even better, position one, will increase your website traffic greatly. The amount of traffic does depend on the demand for the query a user has searched though.

The search intent behind a keyword or phrase also plays a big part in the quality of traffic and whether they become a lead.

If you appear for a keyword with a commercial intent, that means the user is in a purchasing frame of mind – they are actively out to search for a paid solution to their problem.

Search intent example

Wedding photographer Surrey” would have a commercial intent behind it. This suggests someone is actively looking for a wedding photographer in their local area.

Wedding photography” as a keyword has informational intent. It could be that someone is looking to get into the wedding photography industry.


How to optimise your website for organic lead generation

On-page SEO

On-page seo is all about optimising your content to perform better in search rankings. Typically on-page is everything you can see on your website’s pages such as:

  • Page titles
  • Meta descrpitions
  • Image optimisation
  • Headers/ Heading structure
  • Keywords
  • URL optimisation
  • External linking
 

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO involves optimisation techniques outside of your wesbite. You can look into link building practices and optimising your Google My Business page for local SEO. Off-page SEO practices include:

  • Link building
  • Local SEO
  • Google My Business Profile
  • Social Media
  • Guest posting
 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO covers more advanced background ways to improve your SERPs rankings. You should look into: 

  • Pagespeed
  • Sitemap generation
  • Mobile responsiveness
  • Site structure
 

#3 Social Media to generate photography leads

Photographers can effectively use social media for lead generation by showcasing their work through visually stunning content on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. Creating a consistent aesthetic and engaging storytelling helps build a brand identity that resonates with potential leads. 

Actively participating in conversations, responding to comments, and fostering a sense of community around your brand encourages repeat engagement and referrals.
Educational content, such as tutorials and tips, establishes you as an authority in photography, while collaborations with industry professionals and exclusive offers create a sense of exclusivity, attracting and retaining followers who may convert into clients.

These organic strategies not only showcase your skills but also contribute to building trust and credibility within your online community, ultimately driving lead generation.

#4 Implementing a content strategy to generate leads

What is a content strategy?

Content strategy is creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and engage potential leads. This could include blog posts, articles, ebooks, whitepapers, and more.

Start a blog

Creating your own blog as part for your content strategy is something you should already be doing. Blog posts and articles create fields of keywords and opportunities to answer questions 

Guest posting

Guest posting is an excellent way to gather backlinks to your website, as well as spreading your knowledge to a different client base. You can approach other blogs in your niche and ask if you can write a guest post for them.  You would create an article that would benefit their clients, perhaps offering new insights and perspectives and include a link back over to your website.
Often websites will have criterea for you to meet before they consider posting your content, for example minimum or maximum amount of words.

#5 Can networking generate leads for my business?

Essentially yes, Networking can generate leads but there’s a caveat. Networking should never be approached with the mindset of getting leads – you’ll likely be disappointed! 

Instead, networking should be seen as building rapport and relationships with other local businesses. As you build rapport, you build trust. Once you have trust, your new business contacts are more likely to recommend your services, should they ever be asked externally from the group.

#6 Email Marketing to gain more clients

Photographers can harness the power of email marketing to generate leads by building and nurturing relationships with potential clients.

Start by creating a visually appealing and concise newsletter that showcases your portfolio, recent work, and any special offers.

Use compelling subject lines and personalised content to capture attention and encourage recipients to open your emails.

Segment your email list based on factors like interests, location, or previous interactions to send targeted and relevant content.

Incorporate a call-to-action in your emails, guiding recipients to your website or a dedicated landing page where they can learn more about your services and easily contact you.

You should also consider implementing a sign-up form on your website to capture email addresses from interested visitors.

By consistently providing valuable content, updates, and exclusive promotions via email, photographers can nurture leads and stay top-of-mind, increasing the likelihood of converting subscribers into clients.

#7 Using current clients to generate leads

Encourage satisfied clients to become brand ambassadors by requesting referrals or testimonials. A positive word-of-mouth recommendation from a happy customer can carry significant weight and attract potential leads who trust the endorsement.

Implement a referral program that rewards existing clients for referring new business. Offer incentives such as discounts, exclusive promotions, or even free prints for successful referrals. This not only motivates your current clients to actively recommend your services but also creates a sense of loyalty and appreciation.

#8 Outsourcing your lead generation

Outsourcing lead generation to a professional company like The Lead Source can be a strategic decision for photographers who want to focus on their craft without the complexities of managing lead generation in-house.

First and foremost, if lead generation is not within your expertise, attempting it independently can be costly. Professionals at companies like us, are equipped with the knowledge, formulas and experience to navigate the intricacies of lead generation effectively, minimising the risk of wasted resources on ineffective strategies.

Learning the skills for lead generation is a time-consuming process that takes away valuable time from your primary focus – photography.

Outsourcing to a specialised company allows you to redirect your energy toward what you do best, ensuring that your creative efforts are maximised. We can employ proven methodologies, leveraging their expertise to generate quality leads efficiently, while you concentrate on capturing exceptional moments through your lens.