Winning as a pro photographer looks like Work + Busyness + Farming
Here’s how to win:
* Do great work
* Stay busy
* Harvest social capital
* Deploy social capital
Some clarity:
Do Great Work
Early on, this is going to look like 20% art and 80% how you treat people (or, for most, 5% art and 95% how you treat people).
(I know your immediate reaction is to ask me if your art is ‘good enough,’ and if that's what's holding you back right now, please e-mail me and let's talk about it. I can tell you for a dozen different reasons that if you’re reading these words, the answer is yes: your art is good enough.)
Stay Busy
Be shooting as often as you can with any mix of clients: free or paid.
Every client you work is the catalyst to let you…
Harvest Social Capital
Farming is not a passive employ. To reap the social capital you’re earning, you have to work for it; you have to ask for it.
1. Don’t wait for a client to decide to write you a testimonial out of the blue. After your proofing or sales session, ask your client if you can ask them some questions and put together an honest testimonial. Ask questions about their experience with you and your art, write the testimonial for them, and ask them to approve it. (Absolutely ask questions that lead your client to talk about what is unique about the art and experience you crafted for them.)
2. Don’t pray a client shares your shots on social media, or writes you a nice review on Google or Facebook. Provide them a nice one-sheet one the ways they can help support your business, and what that support means for you, your family, the charities you support, etc. Then ask if they would be willing to support you in this way.
3. Don’t hope a client refers you to their friends. After helping write their testimonial, ask who they know who they think would be blessed by a photo shoot like theirs. Ask for an introduction over lunch or coffee, your treat. (This is part of the powerful concept of slowing down to speed up; get human-to-human interactions out of the too-fast, too faceless digital realm as much as possible.)
Deploy Social Capital
Get your client’s photos and testimonials in front of other people like them. Nothing you can say about yourself will ever compare to the influence of what your clients say about you.
Train your brain to see every potential opportunity to get your art, message, and social capital in front of your target market, and test every opportunity. Don’t overthink it; all marketing is just experimentation and feedback.
What questions do you have about this process? E-mail me and let's get a system going that works for you.
- James Michael
