Are you ready? Marketing to the next level.
Sunday February 25, 2007 by David Beckstead
I receive many emails a week from photographers asking how I market my wedding photography business. At first I used to tell them my marketing techniques. However, I found that most of my marketing concepts don’t apply to many of the photographers that are asking. Marketing is like mercury: it cannot be frozen and finds a constantly changing path. Most photographers are baffled by my own brand and style; I live farther away from a metropolitan city than any photographer I have every met. I book brides from around the world without ever meeting them. They send me, upfront, the entire payment and contract to photograph destination weddings around the world. I rarely photograph in my own state, yet my business is very successful.
How? This is what drives photographers to email me.
I will be the first to admit that without the Internet, I would not be living where I am today: 25 acres, on a private lake, wonderful views and a lifestyle I love. I have traveled to 60 countries and have successfully mixed my business with my lifestyle. What more could anyone want? I have all I need. Yet I embrace change! Risk is a good word in my own vocabulary. I turn failure to success 100% of the time.
One of the offshoots of this marketing question is how I book high-end brides. There are many levels (budgets) of high-end brides! There are also personality and status styles of brides. At this time, I know what style and level of bride I am targeting. It would not be the same target for every photographer who emails me.
So now I reverse the logic and ask the photographer a few questions: “Are you completely excited about your website?” 95% say no. “Do you have a recognizable style in your imagery?” Most don’t truly know how to attain this. “Are you totally ready to go to this new level of clientele?” Most photographers don’t even understand how to target the level of brides with whom they would like to work.
Maybe now is the time to describe my website brand. I designed www.davidbeckstead.com for myself, and in turn, for marketing to a specific bride style: independent brides that generally pay for most of their own weddings. Also brides that are very interested in art of all kinds: photography, architecture and paintings to name a few. She is a little more eclectic in her tastes. She loves all things modern. Loves to travel. Her age is 30 to 50. She has a great job and education. She is a risk taker (she hires me sight unseen). She enjoys a little interaction with fun and cool vendors at her wedding. She would rather see that you are enjoying yourself and fed at her wedding than never see you (fly on the wall). She has a man that is more involved in the whole wedding process. It is an international gathering of friends and families of 200 or often much less. She wants it all to be different and unique. And best of all, she sees photography as an art form and me as an artist! Much of what I describe above is a description of myself! My marketing is targeting me!
I designed my site, yet Bigfolio worked perfectly by taking my concepts and customizing them into a unique site. They built in the ability to change imagery anytime I want to update the look of my style. I am shooting new imagery constantly and this back-end interface is vital to my constant evolution.
I am not the only one that relies on the Internet and websites to get my brand to the world. It has become the strongest marketing tool for most of the successful photographers with whom I am in contact.
“Is your website working for you, to the best of your knowledge, at this time?” This question is completely relevant to 99% of the photographers who contact me. I feel that your image-style and website brand is foundational to what level and style of bride you want to market.
So let me ask you: “Are you ready to go to the next level of bride style?” Being fully honest, most will say “not yet”, so go back to your photographic foundations (composition, style, brand, website) and improve. If you jump too quickly, I know personally that it can cost a great amount in wasted time and money. On the flip side, when the puzzle pieces are put together and you should be ready, the feeling of inferiority can hold you back. Learning discernment and knowing yourself is a skill you need to develop.
Some ask how it feels to finally be ‘There’. I don’t know how it feels; there is no ‘There’ for me. ‘There’ is not a destination, it is an evolution. I always have new places to go, new levels to attain, and that is why my business is so challenging, and dare I say, FUN!
