1. Determine Your Ideal Client Persona
Having a clear, concise picture of your ideal client will make it infinitely easier to attract that caliber of the client to your business. The deeper you understand exactly who you would most like to work with, the simpler it is to market your professional services to that very specific target audience.
If you don’t yet have an ideal client persona in mind, here’s how you can start to develop one.
Put yourself in your client’s shoes and consider their needs, wants, likes, dislikes, lifestyles, and more.
Now, ask yourself these questions:
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Where does my ideal client spend the bulk of their time? Where do they shop, and what do they spend money on most frequently?
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Does my ideal client have any specific interests or hobbies?
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Which websites and social media platforms do my ideal clients spend the most time using?
Your answers to these three questions will create a solid foundation upon which to build your client persona. Add additional questions as you think of them. The better you can understand your ‘perfect’ client and how they live, the more targeted and effective your marketing efforts will be.
Once you have developed a clear, ideal client persona, it’s recommended that you base all of your marketing efforts on this persona. This will ensure that you attract very specific clients for whom your services as a photographer will meet their core needs. This is important. One kind of client will be vastly different from other types, even when you are considering clients within the context of a similar type of photography—like wedding photography, for example.
Once you have a concise client persona developed, you can craft a marketing plan that conveys to your ideal clients that you understand their needs and can comfortably meet them. This makes them far more likely to contact you as opposed to your competitors.