Seven Valuable Secrets For Photography Marketing - Both Online and Off Line
By Charles J Lewis
"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know
what you are doing, but nobody else does." - Stuart H. Britt, New York Herald Tribune
Charles Lewis here, at Charles Lewis Photography, and I've spent over 30 years
discovering, testing, PROVING, and perfecting the most effective techniques for marketing
and selling portrait and wedding photography. I did this for one reason, and one reason
only - I wanted to make a great living doing what I love: Portrait and Wedding
Photography. And I discovered very early, that, in order to make a great deal of money in
portrait and wedding photography, I had to become a MASTER MARKETER AND SELLER.
On the subject of photography marketing, here are seven secrets I have found to be very
powerful and effective for both Online marketing such as websites, email marketing, etc.
and off line marketing such as sales letters, advertisements, etc.:
1. The more you tell, the more you sell. Longer copy, if well written and interesting,
almost always outsells shorter copy.
The key here is to be INTERESTING in all your marketing, to your "Target Market." The
absolute killer is to be BORING. So for me, my target market consists of what I call
"Female Warm Fuzzies" - women who love their family and value photography and all the
things sensitive photography can capture. So I want to always talk in terms of warm,
sensitive, emotional terms that she will really find wonderfully interesting.
2. Always have a double readership path. Some people are readers, others are skimmers.
Write for both types. Use lots of bolded "subheads" which contain the main BENEFITS of
your message.
Really what this means is you're going to have other "headlines" scattered throughout
the webpage or sales letter or ad. These smaller headlines are known as "subheads" - and
they are usually in slightly smaller type than the main headline at the top of the page,
but still larger than the regular "body type" used on the page.
3. The headline is the most important part of your marketing message . Without a doubt,
the headline must stop your target market dead in her tracks. That's its job. It must
contain a clear benefit. It must get her to read the first sentence of the message (and
then continue on from there, of course.)
So work hard on that headline, it's very important. And NEVER write anything that
doesn't have a headline. It's the "ad" for your ad, webpage or sales letter.
4. Talk in terms of benefits - always benefits. What's in it for her? Why should she
contact you now? What will she miss out on if she does not contact you right now?
Is there some special reason for her to take action right now, such as a discounted
special price for example. Just keep asking yourself, as you're writing the webpage, or
the sales letter, "What's in it for her?"
5. Stories sell, facts only tell. Always include a few emotional stories (since people
invest in photography for emotional reasons.)
Women who are "Warm Fuzzies" especially like stories - emotional stories - that they
can relate to and empathize with.
|