Running a wedding photography business requires you to set up systems and processes to help you streamline your workflow and grow. For you to create a path to success for your wedding photography business, you must focus on the most important tasks. Every wedding photographer will have a different path and things that are most important to them.
In our 5 Keys to Absolutely Succeeding Guide, we talked with a few professional wedding photographers who are successful in their business to gain their insights. The list below is commonalities each pro has – ways to stay top of mind, how to increase income, and techniques to book more wedding photography shoots. Take a look at the 5 most important tasks you can work on for your business.
1. Networking with Vendors
Network with vendors in the wedding photography industry by creating meaningful relationships, investing in them, and sharing images with them. This takes time to plan and effort on your part to maintain. Make an effort to find out what you can do for vendors, rather than what they can do for you, and spend time working toward building their trust.
Image Compliments of Jared Platt
You can also network and build a relationship with vendors by sending them images after every wedding. These images can include examples of their work, so they can use the photos to promote their work. Simple gestures can help you build a strong networking circle of vendors, which can provide you with future referrals.
Related: What are the top secrets from wedding photography pros for networking?
2. Encouraging Client Referrals
Encourage client referrals for your wedding photography business by having quick turnaround times (for everything), creating true believers, and reminding your clients to talk about you.
Have quick turnaround me for everything, right from the beginning of the client experience (right when they fill out the inquiry form). This means your response time, image turnaround time, and product fulfillment should be fast. A simple way to speed up your turnaround time is to outsource to a wedding photography post processing company.
Also, speed up your communication with clients from the start with templated emails, newsletters, and more to stay in touch with them. The faster you are with communication and everything else in your workflow, the more believers you create. These clients will refer you to others because of YOU and what you do and will refer you to others because of it.
Related: Have you implemented our 49 free email templates for wedding photographers into your workflow?
3. Sharing on Social Media
Share on social media to showcase your unique photography brand. Platforms where you must share your brand are:
- Facebook with over 1.79 billion monthly active users
- Instagram with over 600 million monthly active users
- Pinterest with over 100 million monthly active users.
Of these platforms, find out where your clients are. Be relentless about figuring that out, and then spend your time there. You can tell your unique stories, share your brand message, and get in front of ideal clients. It is incredibly valuable to understand where your clients are on social media and use the tools available to grab their attention.
4. Posting Consistently to Your Blog
Post to your blog consistently to interact with your target market, share your message frequently, encourage shares from followers, and incorporate SEO tactics. We’re so convinced that blogging is vital, we acquired the leading blogging-as-a-service company in the industry: Fotoskribe.
When you post to your blog, you stay top of mind with clients – meaning they will think of you when it’s time to book a wedding photographer. Plus, you can incorporate SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which places your blog posts in front of ideal clients on search engines. Techniques, such as adding keywords targeted at your ideal clients in your posts and on your images, can help you increase your ranking and become more findable.
5. Building Other Revenue Streams
Build additional revenue streams through portrait sessions (family, mini, etc.), albums, and print sales. Because most wedding photographers are so busy, they do not have enough time to focus on additional revenue streams. But, as a wedding photographer, you have referral sources for years to come through your past and current clients (who will also likely book you for their other events).
Most of the time, wedding photographers do not sell albums because they are too much work. But, with a little help, you can streamline albums and you will increase your profit. Additionally, print sales are often forgotten about in the endless task list wedding photography business owners have. That is why we created Extra, for guests who attend the wedding or who want to own prints from the day. Extra is free for all ShootDotEdit Customers and allows them to bring home more money from the wedding day – without any more work on their plate.
The list above may not necessarily be your top 5 most important items but are tasks that help you place your images and content in front of ideal clients, and allow you to book more weddings. Discover other tools that can set you up for success with our free Guide: 5 Keys to Absolutely Succeeding in Your Wedding Photography Business! Download your copy today.
