Remember how I said being an entrepreneur and photographer means stepping both feet into the ring? Hanging a shingle that says “Photographer for hire,” publicly sharing your work, and effectively standing on the same ground that preying wolves stand on? How’s that going? Does the whole world love what you are doing? Do 100% of your followers rave about your work? Are you getting paid enough? Or… is there skepticism and criticism?
Guess what? I want to let you in on a little secret…
“You don’t actually have to be the very best photographer to be the most successful photographer. ”
There I said it.
So here’s the deal, you aren’t the best photographer, but you can be the best at understanding your customers and future customers. You can be the one that speaks directly to them, that understands their needs and consistently offers them great value before and in between each shoot they hire you for.
You demonstrate that you understand their needs and show that you are thinking about them and care about them. They are the ones that are driving your business after all, not the naysayers off to the side reminding you of your deficiencies.
How can you demonstrate that you understand and care about your potential customers? How do you attract the right people to buy your services?
Well, let’s say for example you are a family portrait photographer and your clients are well, families: a mother, father and their young children who run a busy schedule. Post about how to take the best iPhone photos of busy toddlers. Tricks to get them looking toward the camera, tricks you use to get them to sit still or smile, common locations for the best lighting, outfit and geographical location suggestions.
Let’s say you’re a wedding photographer: your customer is a bride or perhaps a wedding planner, post a free template for planning a wedding day (reserving the golden hour for portraits of course!), posing tips for brides, best hair and makeup tips for achieving the greatest portrait results. Boom!
The goal here is to attract the person who will ultimately be looking for the thing that you are selling. Think about exactly who you are talking to, where they are located online, and write it as if you are talking directly to them, over a latte (if that’s what your target customer would do).
And when the naysayers rear their heads, talking about your overexposures, f-stops, image tonality, and other social media follies, please, always remember it is what your customers think that matters. Period.