Dr.Nikon Loc: Honolulu Hawaii

Well ..., indeed your portfolio shows you are ready to launch your career as a photographer and get paid for it ... nice job ..
You will have to do some leg work marketing of your skills in your area and branch out from there into other geographical areas ..100 mile radius circle and work out from there ..

Put together your Portfolio with inserted business card and hit all the realty agencies ... make sure architectural shots are in the Portfolio ...

Next take your Portfolio to all the Wedding / gown / Tuxedo rental shops and include wedding planners .. they advertise as well ..find out where and advertise along side them ..

Drop off Your portfolios to various churches ...a lot of wedding happen there and the planning starts there .., a lot ask the pastor for advice “do you happen to know of a reasonable priced photographer”?

Google “ How to market my photography skills”

Google “Where to advertise my photography business “

Make sure you have a web sight up and running and have meta tag links that make your business show up whenever .., say “wedding” anything is googled ...

Little by little .., word of mouth .. testimonials from others. referrals ...advertising locally ..internet .. and make sure to market your skills with a name that gets you started ..

“AFFORDABLE SHOTS” or “PHOTO BLISS” or “INPIRATIONAL PHOTOS”

For instance .., Just an example .. Your Internet Title says “AFFORDABLE PHOTOGRAPHY” followed by the words “By Pasquale Furnaro Photography” ...and so on ..

In your web site and portfolio .. show other than the Fire works ...and never say you have still a lot to learn .. and never ask for help how to make your web site better ..

You want to come off as one of the best ..not still learning .. as an accomplished photographer cabable of any environment and photo requirements ... not .., you are just starting and and still learning ...people who will pay want to know you are good at what you do ...your Portfolio shows you are ....so don’t market yourself as a beginner ...people who are going to pay for your services don’t want a novice ...

Remember .. your photos will do your selling for you ...

Wish you good luck ...

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

Here: here!

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Thanks!

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Great suggestions, thanks.

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

I’m actually a real estate broker and a house flipper, so thankfully I won’t suffer from starving artist syndrome. These are good suggestions, thanks, and I have been hustling doing free portrait shoots for about a year now. I could reach out to fellow realtors and shoot their listings, but I would like to build a portrait business and see where that goes. I also own a hardware store, and I agree, waiting for the business to come to you is a huge mistake, you have to hustle on a daily basis.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

With all your goings on, you should have marketing down pat.

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Thanks Andy, I really appreciate your positive feedback and suggestions. At this point I’m not interested in shooting weddings, and would really like to focus on portraits and possibly glamour and lifestyle work. I’ll look into the weekly shopper in my area, as well possibly doing some FB marketing. Thanks again for your help!

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Thanks Paul, I see my typical client as either male or female, interested in getting some professional headshots as well as women seeking something glamorous and/or somethings on more of an edgy side. I’ve been posting my work on IG and FB, but I haven’t yet marketed my services there. Perhaps now is the time.

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Thanks! Checking it out now!

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

It took me a masters degree in marketing to figure out how to put it in two or three sentences!

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Thanks DB for sharing your story. I know this will be a challenge, and thankfully I have other businesses so I won’t need to rely on this income to survive. This market certainly is saturated, so finding a competitive advantage is what I’m after. Not sure what that is yet, but I think providing the highest quality images possible is a great place to start. Keep plugging, and I will as well!

Pat F 4119 Loc: Branford, CT

Actually, not to be too technical, but I see marketing as presenting your product or service to a market which you have already determined. In my case, I’m interested in catering to male and female professionals seeking head shots, and female clients who are more interested in glamour and fashion shoots.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Have you done a marketing survey? Like who is doing what and how many will photographers who do the type of work you are interested in are there, and will the market support another shooter?
Do you have a target demographic/client type that you want to work with?
Do you have a marketing plan?
Do you have a business plan?
Do your goals correspond to what is possible doing the work you would like to do in your target market?
Can you make enough with your idea(s)?

But the biggest question has to be - Why would someone want to hire you? Most people have some idea of all of the above, but choke when it comes to answering this question.

Along with this you have to consider how good a salesman you are - and since you are in a service industry, how exceptional your customer service skills are. At the end of the day, I can give a camera to a chimpanzee, teach him/her how to use it, and it will likely take pictures as good, if not better that the herd of paparazzi out there with everything from a cellphone to a Phase One. But when it comes to people skills - an essential component to delivering a high level of customer service - you either got it or you don't. This is something that must be innate - though if you don't have a natural tendency to work in service to others, you can learn some of it, you won't likely reap the rewards until you have made it part of your personality.

There is no magic bullet or short cuts in this or any other business - and you have to create your own magic - give people a reason to want to hire you.

I will give you a clue - it has almost nothing to do with how nice your pictures are. And another clue - your most successful clients will come from a high-energy effort on your part to network with people who might want to hire you to do the work you want to do. There is no substitute for hard-core networking.

For example - high school senior shoots - I'd be knocking on every door of every school getting to the correct level of contact (decision maker) to make a case for yourself.
If you want to do corporate portraits - I'd start with HR and work my way through the maze of middle management until you find the right person. And so on.

You may want to find an established photographer to work with or even intern for - to get a sense of how the business works from the inside.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I interpret marketing that way also.

PaulBrit Loc: Merlin, Southern Oregon

And is that borne out in the sales you have made so far?