How to find photography clients when you have no idea where to start

When it comes to running a photography business, there’s far more to it than just knowing how to a good picture. You also need to understand how business works and figure out what your target market is – or at least learn what a target market even is if that’s a whole new concept to you. Not everybody is a potential client.

But how do you go about identifying who they are? And how do you reach out to them once you know? In this video, Daniel Norton walks us through… Well, it’s more a mindset than a process. How to identify the people you want to become your clients and how you can approach them.

The biggest thing for me that Daniel mentions in this video is something I’ve been doing for years, and that’s to talk with other businesses who are already servicing the clients you want to attract. Their customers are exactly the people you want to attract, so it focuses your marketing without you having to spend a fortune showing ads to people who will never become your clients.

For example, have you second shot for a few other wedding photographers and now feel you’re ready to go it alone? Sure, you could put up a few Facebook ads to a few thousand random local people, but it probably won’t help you much initially. You might be much better off talking to wedding venues in your area, caterers, DJs and other companies that already work at weddings. If they’re impressed with your work and they like you, then their recommendation to their clients who happen to be looking for a photographer is going to hold a lot more weight than some random ad they may have seen on Facebook. If they’ve seen your ad on Facebook, they’ve probably seen ads from a dozen of your more established competitors, too.

The same principle can be applied to just about every genre out there, but this isn’t (and shouldn’t be) the only approach. There are lots of ways to communicate to your target market that you exist and that your work stands up to the task. Also, make sure your work stands up to the task before you decide to make it a business.

The video is well worth a watch if you’re struggling to find clients.