The importance of building your brand

One of the most significant changes in the professional photography world began with the advent of the sharing professional images through online posting. Since the majority of professional studios offer all of their clients this highly desirable and highly-profitable service, it is more important now than ever to set yourself apart from the competition by building your brand through effective marketing techniques.

Professional photographers who have already successfully incorporated online posting into their businesses are now taking the marketing potential of this service to the next level. There are several key elements that are crucial to maximizing the brand-building benefits of online posting for your studio. These elements are as follows:

1. Driving traffic to your event sites
2. Increasing reprint orders and studio business
3. Using event sites to market to potential clients
4. Learning from others in the industry
5. Using a studio logo to strengthen your brand
6. Developing a competitive edge in your community

This week we answer the question, "How can I drive more traffic to my event sites?"

You’ve posted your images in an online gallery, and they look stunning. So how do you get more people to visit the site to view and to order them?

The most sure-fire way to drive more traffic to your event sites is to collect e-mail addresses at all of the events you photograph. By gathering e-mails, the event guests will be notified when the site of the event they attended goes live. Your studio’s exposure and profits will skyrocket as guests log in to the event site, view your images, and make their purchases. In fact, it has been proven that photographers who collect more than 40 e-mail addresses for each event experience an increase of over 150% in reprint orders from the event guests

Collecting event guests’ e-mail addresses is an extremely effective marketing tool that is practically effortless, and the process is made even simpler when your online posting company provides you with tasteful downloadable e-mail collection forms. Such forms, when placed on event tables or near the event guestbook, provide you with an automatic list of potential reprint purchasers and future clients.

Some companies give you the option of sending your event guests a number of e-mails during the life of the site. Typically, three notification e-mails are optimal.  First, a welcome e-mail should be sent to notify guests that the site is active, and this e-mail should also include the username and password information needed to log in to the site.  Second, an e-mail should be sent halfway through the life of the site to remind guests to view the images and place their orders if they haven’t already.  Finally, a last-minute reminder e-mail should be sent to notify guests that the site will expire shortly and that any final purchases must be made.

These event e-mail notifications serve as valuable marketing tools, reminding event guests to view and purchase their favorite images while at the same time effectively building your studio’s brand. For more information regarding the benefits of sending e-mail notifications, please visit www.collages.net/studiomarketing.